February, 2009

and continuing in February

Floors preparation

We started to repair the floor panel under rear seat. Left ide was in much better condition than the right side. We cut all worn parts as seen bellow.

Cutting the original right side panel Whole right side view after cutting. The rust needs to be removed first.
Overall view of rear ide of he interior after all metal cutting and cleaning.

Left side I was abel to made from one piece steel patch panel 1,3 mm thick. I try to not overlap panel where not needed for strength and rather keep the original look. This require a lot of trimming especially when creating complex shapes. The good idea is first made a paper template which will give an idea of the shape or how it looks after bending. After making the metal patch, I drill 8 mm holes for plug welds. I am not sure if this is good idea, but I paint all overlapped panel with zinc paint to prevent corrosion.

Cutting the basic shape with metal scissors. Bending the panels. I do not have a bender tool so I clamp the pice over the edge and hammer it to required angle.
Final left side patch.

Right side was much more worse. I decided to make it from four patches due to pretty complex shape.

Cut part shows the rear seatbelt anchor point. Original piece is on the top and paper template at bottom I cut the metal according the paper template and bend it into proper shape.
I am welding the patch to the floor. And my brother correct from bottom.
The back side is repaired from two patches. Bending the next piece.
Fitting and trimming the new metal part. Overall view - the back side finalized.

Trunk floor

With next bodywork I started to cooperate with the bodywork guy. The back cross rail connection need to be pulled for few centimeters in the middle as the car was hit to the back. Next the new trunk floor was welded in place which reinforced the rear of the car a lot.

Trunk floor in place as well as the bottom transition panel rail. Another view.

So we continue to cut the floor on driver side. We deiced to replace floor rail support. So it was made from two pieces of thick steel. Than trim it according to the original and weld in place. You can see cut floor panel on the pictures.

Front view to cut floor and view of the original floor support rail which will be replaced. Back view. Panel was cut and drilled around the torque box and sill.

I repaired also the seat support brackets. It will be sandblasted from bottom and then welded back to the floors.
Left side was quite ok, I just patched the lips and welded new nuts for seat rails. Right side was much worse. I need to make complete new lips and nuts reinforcement.

Thats all for the bodywork in February. But it is not all. Look bellow...

Engine build up

As I have collected almost all part for the engine assembly we move to this part as well. I have never done this before, so I do a lot of Internet tips and tricks research and also used a step by step Tom Monroe's book "How to rebuild Ford Small Block engines". The orignal parts on the engine are the block, crankshaft, rods and heads. Everything else is brand new. I deicide to keep original cast iron heads with smaller valves which will limit the engine performance but I like the stock look.It can be replaced in the future easily, if I want. I estimate the power to 300-320 Hp and effectively around 220 Hp at rear wheels.

First step the camshaft installation. I used a Comp cams set High Energy 268H. The max lift is 0.456" , duration 268 degrees, so it is a mild cam. For proper break in I used a cam lube on all lobes. Piston with rods and crank , all is cleaned and ready for assembly.
Insertion of crankshaft on the oily cam bearings and torqued according to the spec and in right order. Before full torquing you can check if the crank was machined properly with plastagage tool. It is a stripe of wax was which is inserted on the crank bearing surface and torque to the specific torque and then remove the bearing. The width of stripe can be measured with supplied ruler. For me I have the stripe width according to the ruler for the gap 0.0015 -0.002 ", which is in tolerance range.
Checking the crank endplay with dial indicator. You need to do it before the pistons are inserted. For me it is 0.006" , which is again within the spec, good enough... Piston installation. Be careful on ring positioning In the book they recommand touse a specific angle of the piston rings locks Put the piston in the can of the engine oil before insertion. Than use a ring compression tool and gently hammer into the block. If the piston is blocked, I'd rather stop and start again. Also be careful on the rod threads to not scratch the machined surface on the crank. Any rubber boots are recommended. Once the pistons are in place, I torque the bearing to the spec.
I prepared timing chain covers. apply a thin layer of the engine high temperature gasket sealer and stick the paper gasket. The new sealing ring is hammered in with big socket or pipe. I put the new timing chain and wheels. The alignment marks on the wheels should be in line. The new fuel pump excentric is in place. Originally there was two piece fuel pump eccentric but I purchase Ford Racing one piece only. This needs to be machined a little bit because it was too tall and hit the timing cover.
I apply a small layer of gasket sealer on the block surface and slowly insert the timing cover. You can use a harmonic balancer to centre the cover over the crank and achieve perfect sealing and no oil leaks. I turned the block in the stand and put the new oil pump in place with new gasket - no gasket sealer is required there.
I put the new oil pan with cork gasket and rubber gaskets around the crank. I used a thin layer of gasket sealer there as well. Be carefull on tightening. Do the tightening of all screws in couple of steps. The cork gasket can deform easily. I have the heads with valve job done already from the engine machine shop. I cleaned the surface. Put new head gasket with proper orientation. Front means front at all cases even it seems some passages are clogged with gasket. Then insert the head and torque the screws in three stages and in right order from middle to outside screws. One thing I can remind is to check piston to valve clearance. In case of big cam lift or too machined head surface, than it might be an issue. The trick is to put a model clay on the clean piston over valve reliefs and than oil it s little bit. You put the head on with gasket but do not torque. Install one solid lifter, rocker arm and turn the engine for two revolution. Disassemble the head and check the thickness of model clay. You can see the valve relief transferred into the clay. From measured distance subtract the difference of the compression of the gasket which is typically in the vendor catalog sheet. Compare this number with the spec. You need to do same excercise for both intake and exhaust valve. For me, I was fairly OK with the distance.
Heads installed and new water pump is in place as well. Now it's good idea to determine correct pushrod length. The proper length reduce the pushrod and valve wear in the guide. You need to use the an solid lifter instead hydraulic one. I made one myself from old hydraulic one. Open it, removed spring and insert washers in. You can purchase a checking variable length pushrod. Paint valve tip with black marker, install the rocker arm and than turn the crank for full stroke cycle. Remove the rocker arm and check the pattern. It must be as close to the center. Repeat again with different length of the checking pushrod to achieve the propper pattern. The pushrod length might be affected by couple of factors - length of the valve, block or head surface machining.
This is the final ideal pattern for proper force distribution on the valve over the revolution cycle which cause minimal valve guide wear. The pattern should be symmetrical around the valve tip centre and thin as much as possible. The top mark shows zero lift and no valve force. The bottom one is with maximal valve lift. I checked all 16 valves on the engine. Unfortunately each require different pushrod length. I ended with three lengths actually. I ordered chromemoly hardened Comp cams pushrods in lengths of 6.8" - 4 pcs, 6.7"- 10 pcs, 6.65" - 2 pcs. The original pushrod length was 6.9" which was too much. and finish for now...
My brother is welding a wheel stand for the engine for easy manipulation. Engine was lifted and layed on the stand.