OK update time. Life update. Got both our vehicles replaced. Wife got a loaded Pacifica van and I got a Jeep. Got our roof and gutters replaced, still waiting on the fence. Then we packed up and went to Iowa for almost a month which was a mix of working remote and vacation. Back home now. Car update. So before our Iowa trip I picked up the block from the machine shop so I could de-rust the cheap way at my house rather than shot blasting the block and then needing a bunch of extra machine work to fix what the shot did. A while back I mentioned the machine shop told me my heads would be crazy expensive on their own to rebuild ($1200+ for him to do it which honestly sounded like an "I just don't want to do them" number) so I went to a y block page on FB to find better heads and was contacted by a guy in KS who said he could probably do the heads for half that. So we hauled them up on our way to IA and picked them back up on our way home completely rebuilt. Next up is taking the block back to the shop to get machined and then order all my new parts. Then start the assembly. As I've been driving the car lately. I have started hearing what sounds like a slight rod knock noise so I'm thinking the 223 may be getting pretty tired and ready for a new heart. So i think getting the 292 moving along is going to be just what the Dr ordered. Hope Hope to have more updates soon.
So...... Haven't done anything really yet. Spent some time painting the heads, intake, front cover, and oil pan so they're ready to go. Modified for full oiling and assembled the rocker shafts. And then just stopped and kept driving the car whenever I could. I have been noticing some, we'll call them not superb noises from the 223. Sounds like the beginnings of some rod knock under certain conditions. Thinking it's probably about that time. Just waiting for the 223 to exit stage left on one of my 40 minute drives to the burger box cruise in. You know the type, late day rush hour in a forever under construction zone with nozwhere to pull off. Current plan. - Get the block back to the machine shop to finish that work. - Order rebuild parts. - pull the 223 - replace the rusted front crossmember - probably rewire (I waited until last to do wiring on my last car and the condition of that harness made me rethink that move forever) - rebuild my trans (oh yeah I decided to use a c4 I've had for years behind the 292. Just need a flat o matic adapter and a converter) - put everything back together with no leftover bolts. - Bob's your uncle Easy peasy right. Oh and speaking of the burger box squeamish so reading here. Last week me and my 3 daughters went to the cruise in. And 3 minutes in the 4 yr old decided to open the door all the way open... right into a65 impala next to us. ***facepalm***. Apologize profusely, exchange phone numbers with the guy. Luckily it was just far enough away that the only damage was a little spot of paint transfer onto his door. No scratches, no dents. The type a cleaner could take off in 2 swipes. Still though told the dude to have his paint guy look at it and I'd take care of it obviously. So we finish eating, finish attempting to smooth things over to avoid getting punched in the face, and on the way home those "not superb" noises seem louder and more frequent hence the plan above. Not going to lie I'm kinda missing my '47.
Bummer dude. I've been meaning to come out to the Burger Box. But Tuesday nights are difficult. Hope to see you there soon, but probably not this week.
I should probably lay low for a little bit longer to let the heat die down haha. It will probably still be a couple weeks before I really tear into anything. Work is nuts right now and now slowing down any time soon. So basically unless it actually does blow up on me I'll probably just keep driving it lol. Still have a few items to acquire for it anyway.
Take the block to the shop and by the time their done you won’t, well, actually you’ll still be busy but you’ll have a block ready to go and that’s nice.
OK so a lot has happened since Oct. In February I decided to go ahead and pull the 223 and get that out of the way. As I mentioned before the rod knock was getting worse and more regular so it was time to come out and start working on getting the Y together among other things. Last year I had my brother bring a C4 transmission down to TX for me that I left back in IA waiting for a long stalled mustang project. Now that I had the 6cly put I got a Bellhousing kit from Flat-O to put the C4 behind the Y Block. When it arrived I put the bare Block and trans together and test fit. And was pleasantly surprised that I only had to drill 1 hole in the trans mount to fit it. And that was only because the stock trans mount bolts are offset from each other while the C4 mount bolts are straight. And of course I had to play a little dress up in the engine bay. Next I pulled the stock manual trans steering column and box. Because I found a complete wheel to box column out of a '56 automatic. It was low miles but leaking so I opted to clean and rebuild with new seals before putting it back together using parts from both columns due to differences between the 55 & 56 dashes. Lucked out and the 56 box was the better 3 tooth sector so got a little upgrade while I was at it. Next I pulled the front end sheet metal apart so I could replace the rotten front cross Member that these cars are notorious for. I messed up though and the bolt hole tubes for the A arms bolts I welded in were too small. 100% my mistake but a fairly easy fix just need to do it before everything can go back together.
Then once I had the crossmember welded back in. I dug into the transmission. This trans has been sitting on the shelf waiting for another stalled project for over 10 years and while I trusted that it was actually a fairly fresh rebuild as advertised when I bought it, anything that sits for that long needs to be gone through regardless. Inside was as expected pretty new and looking good. With no major wear or anything like that. However it did look like it had made a pass or 2 at the dragstrip between rebuild and me purchasing it as there was some clutch material inside that I was happy to find because it justified me getting inside. I'd never done a C4 before but back in trade school right out of HS we has to rebuild a couple different transmissions for a class. (TH350, and a FWD trans that nobody cares about lol) so it wasn't my first time doing an automatic. Next up the engine was eating at my brain knowing I had all the parts just sitting there ready to be put together I chose to do that rather than fix the crossmember I mentioned in the last post. Last weekend I got the crank, cam, and lifters in. This yesterday I got the rest of the rotating assembly put together. Before I realized I couldn't find the cylinder head dowels so couldn't put those on yet. This morning I found a parts house in town that had the dowels so I picked those up. But instead getting back to work I decided to give y'all an update instead of getting messy. My wife's birthday was this past week on a dance night so we're going to dinner tonight instead and I didn't think she'd be too thrilled if I went and got all covered in oil and lube again.... well that kind at least lolol. So there you have it haha. Lots of garage time lately. Added to work being insane. We've done the same number of store remodels as of this week as we did in all of 2021 My boss quit so I've taken on more responsibility and am slated to move up the ladder some with the company... It's been a crazy year/year and a half since moving to TX to say the least. Oh if any of you seeing this are Nascar fans our company sponsored Kurt Busch's car so there will be Allsup's Logos on his car at the race this evening.
Pluging away. Painted. Sealed. Oil Primed (x2 cause I had a leak at the oil filter adapter the first time around so I had to pull that back apart to reseal) Getting pretty close to the first fire and break in. Had to modify the valley pan where the t-stat hkusing hit the fins. And the outer most fins would touch the heads when the gasket was installed. Not super thrilled with my work but it's not too noticeable unless your looking for it and it's far from a ridler car. It'll be fine.
Looking great! And, good to know on that valley pan. I have one like that hanging in the wall I am planning to use in my car when I swap engines.
Use a mill if you have one or have access to one. I tried a pencil grip die grinder which left a surface that wasn't flat for the center fins. Then tried bending the side fins in to fit but they immediately just cracked off obviously since it's cast. Eventually went with a drill mounted flapper drum I had which gave a better looking finish but still not very flat. Use a mill if you can lol
Also there is no way to attach the oil fill tube. So I'll need to fill the slow way by removing a valve cover and pouring slowly into the head itself. Something to think about.
I'd fire the engine on the stand before you install it. Be sure to blow the fuel line out (even though you were already driving it) and put a good easy to change fuel filter in place. No telling what is inside the gas tank (rust/rubber residue/ lizard residue) but you don't want something getting to your new carb. Doing a nice job............
Lol I actually rolled it down to the street to get to get it off the stand and onto the dolly on a flat surface that wasn't crammed in the garage lol. #smallgarageproblems lol Planning to start it on the dolly. Waiting on my radiator and a couple other things because I want to do the full break in at the same time. And I still have a few things to do before I can finish putting the front suspension back together. Good call on the filter and line flush though. I'll definitely be doing that. Funny you mentioned lizard residue because I actually did find a couple dead lizards between the exhaust manifolds and the cylinder head lol.
What solution were you soaking that engine block in, in that big plastic tub? Curious to know what you're using and how well it worked. Engine looks real good, car seems like a worthy canvas for a mild custom.
Dig it, these are great cars, here’s my heap. Love the Yblock idea. I’ve got a 272 in her. Runs and runs great
She runs. Going to go back to the factory vally pan as this one has no place to fill oil and I'm also adding a pvc in where the factory road draft tube goes. I did paint it with some "chrome" spray paint it looks OK for now but not made for engin3s so we'll see how long it lasts. Also fixed my screw up with lower control arom bolts through the front crossmember I replaced. I made them too small the when I built the crossmember. So I drolled them out. Actually drilled them big enough to fit a 1 1/4" OD 7/8" ID tube I got from McMaster car. Once that was done I put the front end back together. I'm planning to pull it out or partially out of the garage to power wash the firewall, front suspension, and front end of the frame before dropping the engine back in.
Great plan on going it back to the stock valley cover and installing a PCV valve with a grommet for the valve. Remember to put a machine screw in the center hold down hole or the valve will suck oil into the system. The stock cover has a great oil deflector. I have a suggestion that you may want to do. Many of us in hotter areas of the country suffer from over heating. ( I blame the fuel since they never overheated when new) The stock waterpump pulley does not pump water at idle thru radiator. The proven fix is to install a 1968 Mustang 302 waterpump pulley which is smaller and DOES pump at idle. I use a shroud and 6 blade fan but neither fixed the problem like the pulley. I bought the pulley from Summit along with a spacer kit for mounting to align the belt. I have AC too. Keep up the great work.
When you remove the rear road draft tube, it’s held in with a 3” screw thu the top of the tube 90* into the valley cover. The grommet for the pvc valve goes where the draft tube was. A threaded nut is welded to the oil splash deflector shroud under the valley cover. You need to put something in that threaded hole. A short screw or bolt. The pcv valve bottom is close to that shroud defector and it’s right over that hole. The suction of the valve WILL suck thru that threaded hole and cause smoking. This has been discussed at length on the yblocksforever page. I used a 1964 truck top on my valley cover and threaded V100 PCV valve into the manifold with 3/8” hose between.
Yesterday I finished putting the front suspensions back on.... which was literally just putting the wheel back on and new sway bar links lol. Why the hell did I stop the other day when I was working on it and that close haha. Anyway then I took it off the jacket ands so I could roll it into the driveway to power wash the nasty off the frame and firewall. Hard pass on doing that inside the garage obviously. Tonight I did all that and then finally got to test out my Jerry rig anchor system I pun in the floor. Basically 2 d rings bolted to the floor with a recovery strap between them. That allowed me to string a big Rachel strap from the car to the anchor and then back to my truck. All so I can easily pull the engineless car back up my steep driveway into the garage. Worked well but I think I'll probably get an actual wince and snatch block at some point because looping a strap through a clevis with no pully was a little interesting. But hey it ain't stupid if it works right? Neighbor wanted to help power wash but then conveniently left before the fun of hoisting it back up the drive.
I love the Customlines and Mainlines, just good clean lines and no extra clutter to distract the eye.
Nice idea on the winch system to pull it in the garage. That looks easier than how I pulled a dead car in my shop the other day tying a come along to my lift to pull it in.
The Jalopy Journal
