80 Malibu Build (Motor's in)

[patmckinneyracing]

Re: 80 "Franken-Bu" Build

Good morning gents. Here's the latest update:

Spent all last Sunday digging around the yards for a forged crank as my cast one is pretty chewed and it would have had to have been turned .030/.030. So after dropping the pans on a 68' C-10, 68' C-20, 71 C-10, and a 76' 3/4 ton van, every single one had the "2442" cast crank instead of the "1182" forged crank I was looking for. I ended up just going home after spending almost an entire morning and part of the afternoon searching.

Just my luck though, that night I came across an 1182 forged crank on Ebay sitting at 86 bucks and free shipping. It is turned .010/.010 and needs a polish as it has already been turned. Two other guys kept trying to outbid each other long before the auction was over, kinda pissin in each others cheerios I guess. So in the end I snatched the crank for $160 with free shipping. A crank out of the junkyard would have been $35 and then $125 to get it machined.

In the mean time during the week, I made an order from summit to get the matching Lunati springs, valve locks, and retainers to match the lunati 60103 camshaft I'm going to be running. Also bought a set of Sealed Power 4.010 Moly Rings.

Today I went to my good buddy Mike Crowley, former Chrysler Engine builder during the 60's and 70's, who was nice enough to teach me how to file fit piston rings, how to do valve lapping, honed my block for me, and let me borrow a lot of his personal tools. He allowed me to borrow his pneumatic spring compressor and ring filer as well.

So I spent a good chunk of tonight cleaning the pistons. Used Mr.Crowleys piston groove cleaning tool to clean up where the rings go and sanded down the sides of all pistons to eliminate any burrs or score marks. After the pistons were finished, I began valve lapping the heads and cleaning the heads of the valves themselves. With the pneumatic spring compressor, assembly was simple. Only time I had a problem was when one of the valve locks shot across the garage.

Now I'll be heading to bed and begin file fitting piston rings tomorrow.

[imghttp://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n211/DarkSnipe5/000_0848.jpg][/img]

 

[pontiacgp]

Re: 80 "Franken-Bu" Build

unless you have cold beer in that cooler I'm not impressed..... 8)

nice find on the crank and I hope when you send it out to get polished it's rotates true.....it's nice to have a friend to give advise and lend you tools that makes the job easier. I get that in the race shop and although I have been around the block more times than I want to remember there are still lots I have learned from guys even older than me.... :shock:

 

[patmckinneyracing]

Re: 80 "Franken-Bu" Build

Actually yeah I did have beer in that cooler. Real shame I had to drink it all lol

 

[patmckinneyracing]

Re: 80 "Franken-Bu" Build

Was hoping to spend most of this Thanksgiving break putting the drivetrain together and breaking in the motor, but the machinist told me yesterday when I dropped off my piston rods to get checked and re-sized that they would not be ready till monday. So I decided to really play catch up with the wiring in the car.

I wanted to re-organize my gauges and at the same time, the wires under my dash were far from organized and I think the phrase "Rats Nest" is a pretty accurate description. So I began with removing the steering column since I needed to paint it anyways. Then pulled the gauge pod, radio, and the seperate gauges. The next fun part was pulling all the old ductwork since I removed the Heat/AC anyways. And at the same time, ripped out all the jute padding since it was capturing moisture and causing some rust. That SH** IS ITCHY!! But on a positive note, there is a ton of room under that dash and is so easy to work under there with no duct work.

These pics seem to capture everyones natural fear and nightmare of wiring. So I began snipping, zip tying, etc. Pulled an all nighter since were fixing to get a cold snap and I don't wanna be outside when that happens. Overall I'm very happy with how clean the wiring is now.

Other thing I knocked out was making face plates for the center vent and the bottom dash. Took a sheet of plastic about an 1/8 or 1/4 inch thick and a little bit of elbow grease. Much easier to cut and drill in plastic than it is metal. Sanded both pieces down a bit and shot'em in black. Also installed the switches for overdrive lock-up, electric fan, and maintenance light. Hoping to knock out as much as I can before the rods are done monday.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

Re: 80 "Franken-Bu" Build

Well fellas, needless to say I wanna kick my own *ss at the moment. Staying up all night for some black friday deals came back to bite me.

I had dropped off my piston rods on Wedenesday to get checked and resized and they told me that they probably won't be ready till monday. I get home at 930 this morning from buy deals and whatnot, and pass out lol. Then I get a call at 115 from them telling me that the rods were done. Let me tell ya, I was jazzed! But then my brain pulled the plug and I passed out again. Woke up at 630, no sun, freaking out as if I had missed a big test. They're not open on the weekends and I'm completely pissed at myself.

I go back to school on mondays hence why I'm fuming. I go back at noon, so the plan is GET EVERY LITTLE THING DONE AND READY, so that way I can get there when they're doors open, run back to the house and finish assembly of the motor in 2-3 hours. SOB! GOD DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!! I could have had the thing built and put back in this weekend!

 

[pontiacgp]

Re: 80 "Franken-Bu" Build

well you didn't expect them to be done til monday so your just back to plan A...and you have all weekend to play with the toys you bought on black friday...

 

[patmckinneyracing]

Re: 80 "Franken-Bu" Build

Well gent I can finally take a break being back at school. I got very little sleep over the Thanksgiving break as I was pulling all nighters and working almost non-stop to get as much done as possible.

During the first two days I spent organizing and partially restoring the wire harness under the dash. This also included ripping out the rest of the duct work (since I removed the air/heat), jute padding, and untangling the rats nest of wires behind my radio. This can be seen in my previous posts.

I received a call Friday from the machine shop to tell me that my piston rods were done (checked and resized). But unfortunately I was up for 58 hours prior with only 4 hours sleep, from both working on the car and black friday sales. The phone call woke me up, and as soon as i got off the phone, my brain pulled the plug and I passed out again. Woke up later that night (Friday) and the shop isn't open on weekends, which really got me pissed at myself. Then again, the shop is a 20-30 minute drive one way and I probably would have fell asleep at the wheel.

New plan was to start prepping all the parts for the engine and get them painted. Also involved cleaning all the bolts and what not. Managed to get almost all the parts done, except valve covers which turned into a pain.

Sunday was spent finishing up painting parts, repairing my exhaust, and cleaning up my headers and painting them black.

Today, I typically go back to school at noon. Plan was to pick up the pistons at 8 and spend the rest of my time getting the pistons and short block set up, and hopefully getting the heads and intake on. So I woke up late at 830, and got to the shop at nine. Basically worked from the time I got home till noon trying to get as much of the motor done as possible. I managed to get 1,3,5,7 and 2 pistons in the hole. You wanna know something funny? I just realized I put the #8 piston in the #7 hole. Jeez I'm tired. Guess I'll finish assembling the block and engine overall friday.

 

[Mike P]

Re: 80 "Franken-Bu" Build (Engine Getting There)

I think I see something in your pictures you may want to look at before you go any further.

Pistons usually have a dot, notch, arrow etc to indicate which way they go into to block. In the years I’ve been building engines the mark ALWAYS go to the front of the engine.

Now if your pistons are in backwards chances are your rods are also backwards. On a SBC there will be 4 left and 4 right rods/piston assemblies. Where the 2 halves of the rod are assembled the cap and rod will have a small squirt hole. When the rod goes into the engine the squirt holes will be toward the center of the engine (NOT facing outward to the side of the block). These squirt holes are what lubricate the cam and lifters and with them facing the wrong direction the cam would be lucky to live 5 minutes.

I'm just bringing this up because it would be a shame for you to have to go thru all this a second time.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

Re: 80 "Franken-Bu" Build (Engine Getting There)

I put them in based on the writing on the piston being right side up and the rods are numbered anyways.

 

[pontiacgp]

Re: 80 "Franken-Bu" Build (Engine Getting There)

one thing that looks like is missing is the oil....when I put an engine together even for a mockup I have all the parts oiled up...