Thread: My Rat Build

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Tore into the head yesterday and started cleaning her up some. Not as bad as first thought. Valves look good and the sets were'nt in too bad of shape so thinking lapping them back in and putting her back together.

Larry

New goodies for my toy.

Got new valve spring, cam and lifter kit, rings and bearings along with new mains also. New timing gear.

Got the valves lapped in and they turned out great. Brought a ridge reamer and cut the ridge out of the block and honed the cylinders today. Will try to get to the crank tomorrow and polish it a little.

Moving right alone now.

A friend who goes to our local tech college talked to his teacher and he agreed to install the new cam bearings free of charge........ gotta love those freebies

Thats where I am as of today.

Larry

PS: get a move on it Perley. Stop hunging the stove and get outside and get something done even if its wrong......

Got the block back from the shop so now the fun can begin.

Larry,
Everything is looking good! Your kids will like it when they get old enough

Pat

Originally Posted by HemiTCoupe

Larry,
Everything is looking good! Your kids will like it when they get old enough

Pat

Thanks Pat.

This kid is going to like it before they do.......... The oldest wont be 16 for 6 more years...

Going to be nice!

Thanks guys. I was thinking today while putting the bottom end together, it's been almost 20 years since I put a motor together. Ah it brings back good memorys.

Thanks again folks.

I've always enjoyed engine assembly. To me it's relaxing and fun. I can get obsessed thou once I start I don't want to quit until it's finished!

So have fun Larry!

Yeah I know what you mean there, it was 9 pm last night when I called it quiets and didnt even realize it.

Its all together except for the water pump which I have to return to the store today, wrong one.

Having a little trouble getting the valves adjusted. Not sure about my skills on this. Makes me a little nervous.

Larry

awesome build! can't wait to see this thing finished

Thanks cmcdanl,

I got the engine back together and ready to go back in the frame this weekend. Hopefully it will stay together when it cranks

Still got a long ways to go on the build yet, brakes lines to run, wiring, dash, windshield, all the finish welding still to do, sand blasting the frame for primer and paint,....etc.

Seems the closer I get to test driving it the more I find that needs doing first.

Oh well,, its been fun. Rome wasnt built in a day either!!!!

Larry

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!! The bottom end sounds really good. No noise at all. Really smooth.

Going to tear the top end down and send the head out for new valves and seats. I should've have known better than trying to cut corners on a motor this old...........but noooooooo i had to learn the hard way. I only lapped the valves.

As discussed with a friend and we both agree, I dont think the exhaust valves are seating properly causing a pop in the pipes.

Oh well, live and learn.

Other than the popping it runs pretty good.

Larry

Ran into a problem this afternoon while running the engine. Brought it up to normal temps, 195, and the thermostat seemed to open by the gauge, temps then dropped to around 100 degrees which I thought to be a little strange. It was pushing water from the overflow tube and than from under the cap, then all of a sudden the bottom hose blew off the waterpump shooting the inter spring across the drive way. These are all new hoses and thermostat. I pulled the thermostat just to make sure I didnt have it in up side down, all ok there.

It ran fine the when I first cranked it after the rebuild, all but a slight popping in the pipes from what I believe to be a bad exhaust valve seat. Other than that it ran good then but today I had the cap tight on the radiator is the only difference. I checked the oil, no water in it and I also checked the water in the radiator or what was left of it and no oil in it.

I'm at a lost as to what could have cause this? Any ideas? What am I missing here.

Larry

Often when the cooling system build that much pressure it's a compression leak from one of the cylinders into the cooling system...maybe bad gasket, cracked head, something like that... Best way to check is with a cooling system pressure tester. If you don't have one of them, maybe pull on spark plug and connect compressed air into the cylinder then check if you can hear air flowing in the radiator... could be something as simple as a defective thermostat, can check it with a can of water and a meat thermometer.

Originally Posted by Louey

If you didn't see any steam, prior to that, sounds like you didn't have enough water in the block, and probably got a good air lock, I call it.

You called it exactly right.

After removing the thermostat today I found the block had very little water in it even though I had tried to fill it during the first running of this engine after rebuild. My guess it pushed out more water than I realized on the first attempt and the second time I ran it I had the cap on tight being the radiator took very little water and it trapped air inside the block causing the pressure to build till something had to give in which it was the hose.

I filled the block before reinstalling the thermostat today (2 gallons) and filled the radiator and cranked the engine. I ran it for a good 30 minutes or so at 190 degrees and it ran perfectly with no over heating problems.

Thanks to those who replied to my post and for the help I recieved.

Larry