It’s not necessary, it’s usually because I pull the rod out of the heater and fumble with it and the pin to push it in, it seems like I always have to do it once.
Back in the day we used to press piston pins using two deep sockets. On the larger one that was used to support the piston, we ground the socket away to fit the pin boss on the piston. They are still rattling around in the top of my tool box.
Cool thread. I honestly know next to nothing about the BBC, I've never really considered it to be a nostalgic engine and more like a muscle car engine. Not that there is anything wrong with that, especially for a custom that is going to leave the hood down. I had a 454 in a OT 95 Chevy K2500 I had with a plow on it, and it was a strong engine. I'm sure that big torque would be equally welcome in a big sled to pull all that weight around.
A friend and car builder who ran sprint cars for over 30 years, always ran a reverse rotation cam. It did away with chain stretch and the gears lasted a long time. I ran a Pete Jackson setup with floating idler gears (not reverse rotation). After running in various engines for 10 years, they still looked like new.
Well, that worked pretty slick. I put a line of the temp crayon on the small end of the rod, and heated with the propane torch. I think it took about a minute to get the end of the line to go away. I heated a little longer, it just started to turn straw color, then I held the rod in place, and pushed in the pin, and then added a few drops of oil. Feels good, and the pin is centered. Only seven more to go. And I got the number stamp on the rod lined up with the outboard side of the piston, also.
Yup, it slides right in if you do it right. Just have to be quick and deliberate about it. There's no need to freeze the pins...I could heat the rod just a bit more, if I needed more clearance to get the pin in, but I don't. And I like to keep things simple.
Glad you didn't get a hang up w/ a torch. Some cats set up their jig next to the beer box in the shop..... Joe
My first BB was a 65 396 too. It came out of a scrap pile. It had a dent in the deck from something dropping on it. By the time I got done decking the block the piston all stuck .008 out of the hole! I ran it with tock felpro gaskets and never had trouble. With the closed chamber heads it was very responsive!!
I change rod and main bearings every two seasons depending on how much track time and miles are put on. I have never had a bearing problem to date.
I remember a story going around that L88 used the gear drive But I was only around one a 1967 Corvette. It had a chain a very stout stocker I saw it run a 12.7 on Firestone wide ovals
Very interesting picture of the two pistons and rods side to side. Kind of a Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde kind of thing.
Some of the marine engines were reverse rotation for counter-rotating props in dual engine set-ups to even out the torque. Here is the only BBC I owned. .030 over 12-1 427. (Back in the 260 Sunoco days) Always wanted to see what it'd do in a car
I had a '50 MGTD with a flathead 60 when I got drafted in '71. Don't know if it would be considered OT or not. Still a fun car but the 60 didn't cut it performance wise. It got replaced with MGA running gear.
@squirrel I've been watching the MG progress on Instagram, looks like a fun little car. And to keep it on the thread topic, here's a close up of the BBC & MG rods posted by squirrel earlier in this thread. Do any of you worry about small nicks in connecting rods being the genesis of a stress fracture and eventual rod failure? I always smooth them out if I can without removing too much material.
Thanks, Jim, for a cool story. I've got a 396 in an OT Chevelle that will be going to my son soon. It's sat for a long time so a lot of work need to be done.
The Jalopy Journal
