1964 Rusty Bucket transformation

[Crumley]

threewood,
Thank you for the suggestion.....I may try that. I hope, I have a washer in my stash that will fit inside the sleeve and will give it a try.

 

[threewood]

threewood,
Thank you for the suggestion.....I may try that. I hope, I have a washer in my stash that will fit inside the sleeve and will give it a try.

Here is a thread I started on removing and replacing.
http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/threads/lca-bushing-replacement-how-to.118098/

 

[retractable]

Crumley your car is looking good. LCA bushing removal is easy if you have a tap available to screw in and then press it out.

 

[Crumley]

Gents thanks you for the input. Threewood, I will give that a try. retractable if I had a tap that big it would be worth a try.
I did manage to get out to the shop and began the leaf springs re-assembly. The spring sliders were been pressed into the holes using a hot air gun, c-clamp and socket. Pictures:

Oh, look something else has shown up in the shop floor....lol.

A 1966 833 4-speed transmission. It turns smoothly by hand but won't know about the internals until the side cover comes off to do a visual inspection.

 

[Crumley]

A small up date, one leaf spring pack done and starting on the other....that's about it....a little done is better then nothing done. Pictures:

I also took a an 1 1/4" socket to the front crank shaft bolts of the 383 and 440 to see if the engines were stuck. The 383 is turning over by hand....the 440 not at all. I will soak the 440 cylinders and valve train down with marvels mystery oil for few days and see what happens. If there is no luck on rotating the 440, I will pull the heads for a visual inspection. Shinning a light thru an open valve, the cylinder wall look good....we will see...lol.

 

[Crumley]

A little update from today. The other rear leaf spring pack is together with fresh sliders and the paint is drying.
The 440 I got a few months back, that doesn't rotate, it has been soaking in Marvels Mystery oil for a week now...no luck on getting it to free up. So, it is time to start tearing it down to see whats up.....not pretty. When you shine a light into the spark plug holes, fresh hone marks can be seen on the cylinder walls......at some point this engine has gotten water into it. Pictures:

You can see where the water has been laying in the valley pan.

When the valley pan was removed.....there is water in the lifter valley area, that still hasn't evaporated. It can be seen laying in the center valley/ lifter area. This 440 has been sitting inside my shop for the last 6 months. There is what looks like assembly lube at the bottoms of the push rods? Other then the rust so far, this engine is very clean inside, including the water pump. When I get the time, we will dig deeper into this 440. I am looking for feed back from you guys that have been there and done that...opinions are more than welcome. Will this engine be worth saving? Or should I move on to the 383 that is a rotating assembly?

 

[Superfreak]

You need to tear it down all the way to find out if it is worth saving.

 

[Crumley]

superfreak... thank you for the prompt reply. I will continue the tear down, pictures will be forth coming....is there anything in particular that i will need to be looking for? I know if there is heavy pit rusting on the cylinder walls, it is usually an indication to not continue a rebuild due to the costs...any and all input is welcome.

 

[malex]

Hey Crumley.
You need to tear it down, you'll need to drive the seized piston out with a BFH. There will likely be some pitting on the cylinder wall(s) that will clean up at boring stage at some point. This is where standard bore is a good thing.

 

[miller]

fresh hone marks can be seen on the cylinder walls...

Almost have to wonder if it was an overhaul, that went bad...spun bearing, or the like.

Any ideas on the year, type of crank, so on. Sure not an HP motor. Don't think so, anyway. Man, that's alot of rust.
I pulled one down, not quite that rusted, wouldn't turn. Belly up, pull the pan, and get to every rod cap you can, goal to get the crank clear. No fun, but can be done.

Going to depend on bore size, whether it's worth fooling with, and the parts inside. Pistons will now be junk. Bang away!

 

[threewood]

That poor motor! Start disassemblimg to see what is sticking. Rings are probably glued to the cylinders. Stuck lifters will hold it up as well.

The 440 that came with my car was laying in the guys backyard for years without being covered and missing a valve cover. There was one piston stuck at the bottom of its' stroke, solid. Soaking didn't touch it so I ended up having to drill the parameter and busting it out with a steel spud bar. The cylinders were factory diameter and .040" was enough to clean it up. So there is hope and yours looks cleaner than mine.

 

[Crumley]

Gents, thank you for the input. Keep them coming. It is a 70's engine with a cast iron crank, not an HP block.
The heads have been pulled. Hey look the right side cylinder head came with the special spider web option...lol. I don't see any carbon build up on the valves. Picture:

The left side cylinder head. Rust can be seen in the #5 combustion chamber. Picture:

A look into the right side cylinders.

A look into the left side cylinders. Rust can be seen around the bottom edge of #5 cylinder. Unfortunately, I cleaned the cylinder before taking the picture..it was full of rust. The #5 piston is probably the culprit causing the sticking.

Some of the cylinders look really good,

and some have pitting that looks like they where there before the build???

That's about as far as I got with the tear down. Since my engine stand currently has a brand X engine on it, another engine stand will need to be procured to continue the tear down.

So, I spent the rest of my time checking the gear depth pattern on the rear end. The pattern was good. I also begin bolting on door hinges.....at this point the wife called me in to eat supper....lol. Hopefully, I will be able to slip out to the shop tomorrow..

 

[malex]

You're off to a good start. Likely won't take too much to break that piston free neither. You should be able to measure and see what the bore is and while you're at it, check to see how far down the pistons are in the hole. What are your rebuild plans for it?

 

[Crumley]

Malex, thank you the support.
I am not an engine builder by any means, so some of this may be wishful thinking...lol. My current plan:
Build a street friendly engine that produces a lot of reliable torque and HP. That can run on pump gas. Sit and idle at multiple red lights without over heating...but when the gas pedal is pushed, it takes off like a bat out of hell. When you hop in it, it starts every time. The current plan is run a 4 speed transmission. For me a manual shifted car makes street driving much more fun. It will make an occasional pass down the 1/4 mile.
So,
1) See if the block is worth using.
2) A slight ridge can be felt at the top of the cylinders, I would assume that ridge is where the top of the piston stops before heading back down the cylinder? There is some pitting in some of the cylinders which will probably require boring?
3) It has a cast crank shaft, I am not a big fan of cast cranks...would like a forged crank. Is the forged crank worth the cost? Being that the primary use will be street driving.
4) If I end up buying a forged crank, I might as well get one that is stroked? Or should I find a forged steel stock 440 crank?
5) Would like some good breathing heads...is it worth the money to buy modern aluminum ones? Or have stock ones worked over by a machine shop?
6) A cam that has a good lope at idle but doesn't idle so rough that it has bad red light manners.
I am sure I am missing something but, all of this will need to happen on a poor pipefitters budget...

 

[Crumley]

If for some reason the 440 ends up not being useful, I also have a late 60's 383 engine and 727 transmission. This engine assembly does rotate. The 727 is original to the engine. I think it came out of a Jensen Healey? It has remote oil filter connections where the oil filter is supposed to screw in.

 

[malex]

Malex, thank you the support.
I am not an engine builder by any means, so some of this may be wishful thinking...lol. My current plan:
Build a street friendly engine that produces a lot of reliable torque and HP. That can run on pump gas. Sit and idle at multiple red lights without over heating...but when the gas pedal is pushed, it takes off like a bat out of hell. When you hop in it, it starts every time. The current plan is run a 4 speed transmission. For me a manual shifted car makes street driving much more fun. It will make an occasional pass down the 1/4 mile.
So,
1) See if the block is worth using.
2) A slight ridge can be felt at the top of the cylinders, I would assume that ridge is where the top of the piston stops before heading back down the cylinder? There is some pitting in some of the cylinders which will probably require boring?
3) It has a cast crank shaft, I am not a big fan of cast cranks...would like a forged crank. Is the forged crank worth the cost? Being that the primary use will be street driving.
4) If I end up buying a forged crank, I might as well get one that is stroked? Or should I find a forged steel stock 440 crank?
5) Would like some good breathing heads...is it worth the money to buy modern aluminum ones? Or have stock ones worked over by a machine shop?
6) A cam that has a good lope at idle but doesn't idle so rough that it has bad red light manners.
I am sure I am missing something but, all of this will need to happen on a poor pipefitters budget...

Crumley you know what you want so getting there won't be hard. The slight ridge you feel is where the top ring stops. The machine shop will tell you quickly if your block is good and no doubt it will be. I can tell you that you would be more than pleased with a simple combination of something like a 10 to 1 CR with a set of Edelbrock RPM heads, a dual plane intake and 750 edelbrock carb, and a hydraulic cam with somewhere around a 240 - 250 duration @ .050. This wouldn't break the bank and work well for what you described. Now there will be lots of opinions to come but this will get you started in the right direction.
Hope this helps. Oh and, TTI headers are worth the price.
Good luck!

And, just thinking a little more about it, if you go with aluminum heads you might even think about closer to 10.5 to 1, they soak up lots of heat. One other thing, there sure are a lot of nice converters out these days that with a good 727 and valve body would be loads of fun and faster. And you've got the option of push button or nice stick.

 

[Glenwood]

Hey Crumley, my old 413 I rebuilt was a bit rusty and pitted a little. The machine shop sonic checked it to look at the cylinder wall thickness in case the rust inside the block deteriorated the cylinder walls too thin. They were pretty thick so the block was further checked for core shift I think and cracks before decisions were made to go ahead. A good machine shop can help guide you before dumping money into it.

 

[miller]

Thanks for the photos, Crumley! All great advice from the guys.

Yup, considering, all the cylinders look in great shape. Can be dealt with, as long as no deep rust pits.
One thing I would worry about is the tappet bores. Maybe they will come out clean enough.

 

[Crumley]

Well gents I got to spend the whole day in the shop.....wahooooo. I got the doors installed. That wasn't a pleasant task doing it by yourself...I did have my wife out there helping me install the doors, but she kept banging the ratchet handle into a freshly painted door....needless to say, it was better for me to do this by myself. Now there is peace in the Crumley home...lol. While installing the doors there was only one little paint goof up. It is at the bottom of the lower left hand door and rocker panel. Pictures:

Instead of buying another engine stand, I had enough 1 5/8" strut laying around a long with some casters. So I fabricated a cart to hold the brand X engine. Pictures:

Now the engine stand is freed up, the 440 rotating assembly can be bolted up to continue the digging into its guts...lol.

Look, more water....if I guessed, there was 1- 2 gallons of water in the engines oil pan...not good.

When the oil pan was removed it was ugly. Any exposed cylinder below the piston skirt was a nice experiment in how much rust can accumulate in the exposed area....lol. I am laughing to keep from crying.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get a picture of the amount of rust accumulation on the cylinder walls, it is ugly for sure. All of the main cap bolts broke loose. Also the rod bolts that could be accessed were broken loose. I have gotten # 1 and 2 rods and pistons knocked out of the block.

That's about it for today. It time to sit down and enjoy an adult beverage while this is being posted.....

 

[malex]

Hey Crumley, I had to look twice, thought that was my engine dolly.

This is my spare engine on my stand, my 526, (got plan on the burner for it).
I love the colours of your car; wheel selection and stance will be important. Keep wacking those pistons out, from what I see, you have a good starting point.