[AMC-list] slow it goes

[tom jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

Decent Rambler day today. I got the used axle and hub, new bearing and seals
from Galvins last night. I'm driving a rental car, have to return it in the
morning so I fast-tracked today. I had to get the new bearing pressed onto
the axle, so I finished off my work on the cylinder head, brought that plus
the axle and bearing to the machine shop, they did the axle on the spot and
I took it home to finish the Classic axle repair.

I spent the last three weeks picking at the head. Polished the combustion
chambers and as much of the port runners I could reach with the "big"
Foredom at work. There's still rough stuff in there, but it's minor, and
about 10% of the surface area; it would have required removing too much
metal to get at, and improvement, not perfection, was the goal.

Except for a wee bit of metal removal around the valve guides in the pocket
floors I did all the work with abrasive rolls; I was terrified of taking off
too much metal. Man those castings are rough! Smooooth now (80 grit), lumps
gone, sharp edges radiused. I removed crude lumps of iron around the valve
guides within the pockets with a small carbide bit. I wasn't going after
FLOW, I was going after HEAT. Hell, the whole ENGINE pumps 240 cfm at 5000
rpm, each runner is 80 cfm. I did remove some hilariously bad flashing from
the intakes, and polished (80 grit again) those as well. That could be a
waste of time, but so what. Looks nice.

I drilled the water jacket for two Stewart Warner electric temperature
senders, between 3 & 4 and 4 & 5. They ought to read the same, right? We'll
see! I knew I would regret not having both holes and they're easy enough to
plug.

I also put a 3/8" NPT bung in the bottom of the thermostat housing, towards
the front. The water pump will draw head coolant from that. If it's too much
flow I can restrict it easy enough.

All new valves and springs.


Got the used axle and matching hub installed. The job was a breeze. It took
longer to get the end play right than do to the rest of the job. Lucky me, I
ended up with a lot of unused shims. I haven't shimmed an axle in more than
a decade, but I managed to not lose my extra shims in all that time! That
alone is a miracle. I Loctited the hub in lace. Wish me luck. The other side
(driver side) nut was loose! like only 10 ft-lbs tight. Damn. Gave it a good
250 - 300 ft/lbs, about three? more flats of the nut.

I doubt I will ever forget to retorque an axle again.

Now that I have the wagon again, I can pick up the motor tomorrow morning.
It sure looks pretty! The block is painted cast iron. I mean, Cast Iron
Paint -- cast-iron-colored engine paint. Sheet metal parts (timing, valve
covers, etc) are bright green, matching the interior of the car. The block
deck has a nice fine surface, and the piston tops are all polished, the
whole thing looks mirrored.


I'll eventually document the whole thing, but -- this engine has exited the
normal world of engine parts. Nearly nothing was available. No one makes
bearings for it any more. Most of my internals came from Egge, and were
EXPENSIVE. Best makes crucial gaskets, the rest is old stock.


My 1965 oil pump is no good, turns out, after a thorough cleaning. The body
is too corroded, it would leak past the gears for sure. Bummer. Have to
regroup here, and fast. The question for me is, when the temperature is
cold, say 0 degrees F, will 10w-30 be so thick that it will be hard to push
through a filter, such that the peak pressure pops the filter inner end cap?
I REALLY WANT full flow filtration!
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