Starting to understand why building engines may be best left to the professional

[My427stang]

Any updates?

[Yellow Truck]

Not much of one. Got the balancer back off yesterday but had guests and today had to take my 98 year old mother to Costco. Will get on it now.

[Yellow Truck]

Not going to plan. I have the outer spring compressed, the inner spring is still on the seat, and with the cylinder pressurized I can't budge the spring at all. If I release the air pressure I can press the inner spring down, but it takes the valve down.

I think the retainers are jammed in there and I have no idea what to do.

Update - took off the tool and put a socket over the retainer and with the cylinder pressurized I whacked the socket a few times and it loosened the retainer enough that the spring would slide down the valve and I got it off. Now about to measure the valve movement as directed.

IMG_3420 by Fred Snoyd, on Flickr

[machoneman]

Easy! Take a plastic dead blow hammer, a leather hammer (yes, it's got a rolled up end) or even anything you can whack the retainer with to loosen them. Try and only hit the edge of the retainer and not the locks or valve tip as that won't do a thing. That or a deep well socket over the entire retainer and whack it. Sometimes though the compressor forks don't allow enough room.

Yes they often get stuck to the retainer or valve grooves. Do so with the spring compressed though. Heck, in a pinch I've used a narrow 6" long block of wood and a regular hammer to bang the retainer edge too.

[Yellow Truck]

Thanks Bob - I did get it off. Here is what I understand - I measure the valve height seated, then measure the hight at which it hits the piston at 15, 10, and 5 BTDC, then TDC, and 5 and 10 ATDC. I used an electronic vernier calliper for that. I subtracted each value from the seated height and that gave me the distance the valve could move before it contacted the piston.

I also measured the lift at the same crank positions with my dial indicator, and multiplied that by the rocker ration of 1.76 to get the distance the valve would move because of the cam.

I subtracted the two and got the following for piston to valve clearance:
15 BTDC  .466
10 BTDC  .389
5 BTDC   .324
TDC       .287
5 ATDC  .271
10 ATDC .281

From what I've been told here that is plenty of clearance. The vernier calliper is not a precise tool when measuring 1,000s, but the variations in measurement were in the order of .01, so I'm not concerned.

For what it is worth, I'm seeing the same opening and closing events as I did before. I will check the exhaust events because I have it apart and I did buy all these cool tools!

[Drew Pojedinec]

New title.....


"Starting to understand why building engines may eventually make you a professional"



Doing great Fred hehehe

[KMcCullah]

You're doing great, Paul! This thing is gonna run so good. You'll be building a new 3rd member before you know it. Hah!

[Yellow Truck]

I checked the exhaust opening and closing, and they are 4 degrees advanced according to the cam card, and the max lift came in at .338 as per the cam card, and since it was a completely different set up to take the measurement, I'm pretty sure my numbers are correct.

Having said that, I did mess up the first thread on the crank when I was pulling the balancer off, so unless you fine folks have a better suggestion, tomorrow I need to go find a tap that size and fix the thread.

Doing it yourself, with your hands on the tools is the difference between knowing how it is done, and knowing how to do it. The price is paid in the mistakes you make.

Having a ball, thanks for all the support and ideas.

[My427stang]

Nice work...plenty of room, button her up, fire it up, set the timing, carb is next!

[Drew Pojedinec]

Having said that, I did mess up the first thread on the crank when I was pulling the balancer off, so unless you fine folks have a better suggestion, tomorrow I need to go find a tap that size and fix the thread.

I have a nice thick washer that I use on the crank snout so the balancer remover doesn't mess up the threads. 

[Yellow Truck]

Drew - I had a bolt I had used a few times - the head was big enough -  but I must have picked up the wrong one as this one slipped into the hole and nicked the first thread at the corners of the bolt head. I might try a small grinder to erase the nicks. This comes under the heading of "the price is paid in the mistakes you make".

[KMcCullah]

Having said that, I did mess up the first thread on the crank when I was pulling the balancer off, so unless you fine folks have a better suggestion, tomorrow I need to go find a tap that size and fix the thread.

That tap should be a 5/8-18. Make sure it's a tapered tap. Plug and bottoming taps are a bitch to get started straight when the first thread is boogered.

[Yellow Truck]

5/8 18 tapered tap is $14 at my local industrial supply place. Off to pick one up.

[Yellow Truck]

Kevin - thanks for the thread size, ran the tap in about an inch and a half and she threaded fine. Torqued the nut to 120 ft-lbs and got the pulleys and water pump on. That is it for today. Tomorrow I'll put the rad in and put the brackets back and install the fan and belts. May have enough time to re-do the rockers and pre-load.

Putting the rad in was a bugger the last time because I went with the posh stainless hoses. Means more time on the ground which my bad hip really doesn't like.

[Yellow Truck]

Had a bit more daylight so dropped in the rad and re-did some of the brackets. I also ran a new ground wire through the wire loom over to the battery - MSD were whining that my ignition ground went to the intake, so while I was in there might as well.

I was getting the hoses ready and found out why I couldn't get rid of a small leak - I may have over tightened this one.
Lower Rad Hose by Fred Snoyd, on Flickr