Thread: Everybody that is currently building a car...

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Bobby I think you made a whole bunch of mice homeless!!! Bet they've been living the good life in that exhaust system!

Richard do mean the oil pump yes i did , then i turned it by hand to get rods wet with oil . After i ran it a few minutes I pulled off valve covers everything is nice and oily . I put a new oil pump in it .

New fuel pump too old pump was blowing fuel from the seems when it ran . All new fuel system and had tank boiled out . Must have dried out sitting all these years . Auto Zone was the only place around with the original style for $21 not to bad no leaks is all that matters .

Dave hope they smacked the wall hard when they shot out . Now i have to set traps to make sure none are in the garage . May have too moth ball it awhile too . We have electronics in house and they have worked may still be strong enough to run them out of garage .

Dave Severson,
What were you doing up at 4:31 AM; working on Therapy?
Oh ya I forgot a new baby in the house
Starting tomorrow I'm going resume working on the 27 Tudor and stay with it until I can drive it: lap the valves, put everything back on the Banger, pull the rear end and rebuild it.

Bobby, that’s what I meant priming the system by turning the distributor shaft to the oil pump. I was in pain and couldn’t sleep so I was checking out this site and come across your post of firing the engine. I’m afraid if I don’t do that I’ll waste a good engine. I’ve heard about people putting gas in the carb and the car starting right up but this engine has low miles on a rebuild. I would like too try to get the engine running before I pull it out of the truck, I can use a container and by pass the tank I’m sure mine is loaded with rust by now. Thanks.

Richard

Richard mine was new so i preprimed it if yours has been run i expect it would pump oil right up with no dry spell . I think you would only have to prime new not a established oil pump . I mean as long as pan had oil and it didnt drain pump out .


Been out fixed carb my bad i left out a gasket and it was leaking down in bowl hence all the smoke and smell yesterday . Raw fuel dumping in engine soon as i get a better idle im working on it there will be a vid up .

Bobby, if I could get by without pulling the distributor it would be nice not to have to go about the timing brining up to top dead center. I don't want to cause more problems then I already have. If it would be ok to shoot oil in the spark plugs holes and maybe pour some oil over the push rod assembly that would be better for me. I hate to trouble shoot as to whether I have the distributor off 180 or top dead center on the exhaust stroke. If other people have been success full at this I would try it. Thanks for your help.

Richard

Richard if you mark where distributer and rotor are at just replace them in same position , you don't have to rotate engine to run oil pump . As i said i think you will be allright and good idea pouring oil on top of rockers and things before trying to start . Get some instant lube up there on moving parts .

Bobby, thanks for clearing that up I guess I wasn't thinking about that, I thought if I moved the distributor It would not be right in the location. When I get it out but the slot can only go one way or the other right? Rethinking I was making things more complicated then is necessary. Anymore I think I have loss what confidence I had working on cars. I used to have to keep them running doing what ever but now I make it to complicated. Thanks for the reply that clears up as to making me confident about not screwing it up.

Richard

Richard, I'm with you. When I was younger I fixed and built everything myself, without worries! Now I overthink everything, worry too much, and spend more time thinking. Finaly, I take the plunge, and just do it as I should have in the first place!

Originally Posted by ford2custom

Bobby, thanks for clearing that up I guess I wasn't thinking about that, I thought if I moved the distributor It would not be right in the location. When I get it out but the slot can only go one way or the other right? Rethinking I was making things more complicated then is necessary. Anymore I think I have loss what confidence I had working on cars. I used to have to keep them running doing what ever but now I make it to complicated. Thanks for the reply that clears up as to making me confident about not screwing it up.

Richard

Richard,
I don't remember what your engine is - but it isn't quite THAT easy. When you pull the dist out the rotor will rotate some against the direction of engine rotation, probably about one cylinder's worth and you will have to put it back the same way. This will initially look like the rotor is a couple of gear teeth off. Also, when you pull the dist out, the last little bit will come out with a tug and a rush - and in effect you "lose" sight of where it goes back. Another thing that will happen is, with a Ford in particular, is that when you pull out the dist. the oil pump shaft will rotate about a half tooth's worth and not allow the dist to plunk back in without rotating the engine. Here again, not a big problem. Line up the rotor with your previously marked #1 cylinder on the dist housing (A Sharpie works well). If the mark and TDC on the crank pulley line up - ya got it made. If not, you're probably a tooth off. Line up the crank mark again - remember, 2 turns of the crank equals one of the camshaft, slowly pull the dist out (it's easy this time) and move (you can feel the gear teeth) one tooth. Line up the crank TDC mark and #1 on the housing. It might take 2 or more attempts - and I've seen pros scream while doing this - so go to it. If you go into panic mode, back off and think it through. If for some reason you "lose" TDC, it's either 'right' or 180* off

Richard use a paint pen or permenent marker mark the distributer to block then mark where the rotor is pointing and replace them in same position . You can put distributer back in a tooth off but if you mark them you will be fine its what i do , memory is only short term at times with me .

I have to say, I love Fords but hate the distributer setup with the oil shaft! I remember a few times, pulling the pan, because the shaft fell in, while I was adjusting the distributor!

Steve, you are absolutely correct when I was 20 years old I was sitting in a restaurant about midnight. I had a 60 Corvette with a 327 pretty much stock with a four speed, a guy came in the restaurant he had a 57 bel air red 2dr. ht. We got to talking and he asks what engine I had, and I told him. He said his was more of a high performance but would like to have a stock engine, (later I found out it had a sleeve in one of the cylinders). He asked if I would want to trade engines even up? I said yes when do you want to do it? He said how about right now so off we went working through the night out side with an a frame an hoist, we got his running with my engine but I had to get another bel housing the next day. How is that for a spur of the moment, now I want to have all of my ducks lined up before starting?

The engine is a 1976 Chevy 454. I had too replace a head on an 350 truck engine 6 or 7 years ago and did the whole thing turning the engine over by hand until #1 was top dead center, and adjusting each valve, to my surprise it fired right up. I just didn’t want to have to go through all of that if I didn’t have to, with a bad back it’s tough leaning over the engine. On the old truck I was sitting on the passenger side fender well and broke the heater tube so that ran into another job. I’m getting closer to giving up on the old cars?????????

1976 Chevy 454
IC2 I will reread this to make sure I have it in my memory bank, although it doesn’t hold too much.

Bobby, hopefully I will try that this week.

Thanks for your help as always.

Richard

Dave W. hit the mark on the oil drive it is a little quirk I just bump starter with a screw driver at solenoid just take a tap . Your welcome too but like said from all this site is dedicated to helping and i dont respond much , but this is fresh with me right now LOL.

Ok finally topped it off and got the valve covers done last thing i had to do . There drying up and will go back on tommorrow . Engine compartment is done .

Had to get the pickup out of the garage to paint some other parts, thought I'd take a couple pics of the progress... Still a lot of little stuff to install, but it's coming along nicely.