[AMC-list] 195.6 ohv engine out and stripped (63 American)

[tom jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

Got it out today, man it's a tight squeeze out the top! No wonder I see so
many cut fender braces... The trick to getting the engine out is below.
You'd discover this on your own. No I did not cut anything.

Two surprises (uh oh surprises):

1) trans input shaft pilot bushing fell out of the flywheel recess in four
pieces.

2) about half the bearings were down to copper.


One 1, the car has had a very, very, slight shudder on first clutch release
since I put the new trans in. Now I know why! I've never seen that happen
before. It fit, I checked. So all I can think is that I dropped the trans
down at an angle during install and crunched it in the end of the crank.
Very odd.

The eaten bearings, wow, talk about 'in the nick of time'. There was almost
no gunk in the pan, and the crankcase was very clean. We know this much
about it: the engine was 'recently' rebuilt (recent in miles, long ago in
years), and that it sat for some years behind a house. Joe hauls it to me, I
immediately change the oil, fix the head, etc. Religous 3000 mile oil and
filter changes since then (20,000+ miles worth). My guess is, during the
time it sat, acids ate the bearing material, and my use just wore it all
off. Very, very mild scoring on the crank, what you'd expect from a motor
without an oil filter and 1,000,000 years old. Damn, forgot to mike the
crank before I dropped it off!

So I dropped off both blocks (the NORS one and the one from the car) and the
NORS pistons. Hopefully the NORS bored block is still good (no pitting where
the rings sat all those years). My crank (it is flat-butted) in that block.

The NORS block is 1958; my block is late1963, as it has the block oil outlet
off the front cam journal, and that cam has the funny slot. The outlet is 1"
or so above the "old" main oil gallery outlet. What's funny is that  the new
outlet is plugged, and the head and filter was plumbed like the older
motors. That makes total sense for a rebuilding house to do -- all AMC 195.6
OHVs get built exactly the same.

I'll use whatever system my least-worn camshaft is! That will almost
certainly be the 1958 NORS shortblock. I am absolutely doing th efull-flow
oil mod to my pump, it's an afternoon project and looks to be 100% simple
and reliable. The only catch will be that the oil filter will need to be
filled with oil on installation.

I'm having ALL my engine parts cleaned and crack-checked, and I'll pitch or
whatever the bad ones. Not cams though (I have one with wear pitting) those
are scarce and can be reground.

My crank damper is "OK" but I'm gonna get it rebuilt (sigh, $125 or so
work+shipping). But aha! I'm gonna drill it to accept a Ford EDIS spark
timing wheel (get 'em on eBay for $25) on the front, so I can go
DISTRIBUTORLESS! Won't that be sweet. And I can do that work later, run the
distro for now.




PRE-64 AMERICAN ENGINE REMOVAL FORTHWITH:

* Drop the rear leaf spring front mounts, only. Rear shocks, parking brake
cable at 2nd x-member.
* Drop rear axle on the tires onto the ground.
* Push it back til the yoke pops out of the trans (catch it!)

* Pluck forth transmission and all that crap.
* 10" square 5/8" ply on oilpan with jackstand under it to hold up rear of
motor (sounds bad, isn't).
* Remove bellhousing, clutch, flywheel (PITA!).
* Remove even the 'engine plate' (two slotted screws) from the block rear.

* Under hood, remove the usual suspects, radiator, battery, blah blah. Plus
throttle linkage from firewall.
* Remove heater box. I did not, it *just* squeezed out, the oil drain plug
scraped it, not badly.

This leaves you no more than one inch of room fore and aft. It's tight in
there!
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