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  #81  
Old 04-09-2018, 08:42 AM
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SSLance SSLance is offline
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Ugh... I hate that feeling when the bolt head starts to give way before the stud starts to come loose. Felt it way too many times myself...

I'll see if I can find the oil pump part number my engine builder uses. He does a ton of 602 and 604 crate engines for the roundy round guys so he knows these short blocks inside and out. I think it was one step up from the stock oil pump that came in them, but not the "high volume" pump so many people put in just because...

What heads are on your engine? Should be an engraving on the front surface of them to identify, or just a part number.

Also, look up my crankcase ventilation thread here and get yourself a MightyMouse catch can kit for when you put it back together. This alone may stop your oil loosing issues.
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  #82  
Old 04-11-2018, 09:24 PM
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Thanks for the tips Lance. I'll definitely look up your thread. I think my heads are older AFR ones, but I haven't run the numbers yet. There is not "AFR" stamped into the head, but the pushrod guideplates do say "Air Flow Research" so I'm optimistic that's what they are.
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  #83  
Old 04-12-2018, 01:50 PM
ScotI ScotI is offline
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Originally Posted by garage_engineer View Post
Thanks for the tips Lance. I'll definitely look up your thread. I think my heads are older AFR ones, but I haven't run the numbers yet. There is not "AFR" stamped into the head, but the pushrod guideplates do say "Air Flow Research" so I'm optimistic that's what they are.
The older AFR's were not machined @ the ends. I have some SBC 190's & they only have the Air Flow Research stamped on the guide-plates.
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  #84  
Old 04-15-2018, 09:40 PM
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The older AFR's were not machined @ the ends. I have some SBC 190's & they only have the Air Flow Research stamped on the guide-plates.
Good to know! I'll post up some pics of the casting numbers when I get a chance to see if anyone can help me decipher them.
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  #85  
Old 04-16-2018, 08:05 PM
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Nothing too crazy for an update today, just moving forward slowly with whatever time I can find... an hour here and an hour there will add up in the end (I hope!)

I finished up the repairs on my AC box and got a coat of paint on it. I taped off all of the factory labels to keep a close-to-stock look. The original box had a bit of a gray tint to it, but I think it's going to look sharp with the satin black.




My oil pump and oil pan also came in. As I talked about in my last post, I decided to go with a standard volume pump and an upgraded oil pan with a crank scraper, windage tray and 2 qts of additional volume. I got both the pump and the pan from Summit and so far they look like nice pieces... can't wait to get them installed! I'm just a little concerned with exhaust clearance as my Y-pipe crosses underneath the pan, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

My current pan on the left and Summit road racing pan on the right:






In case this might help someone, I have been using a few older books to do most of my research on which parts to buy and use on my engine. There is a TON of info out there to go with a TON of different options for things like oil pumps and harmonic dampeners. These books have helped me to realize that the stock systems on these motors are actually quite stout, which means I can save some money and not have to upgrade absolutely everything. All are good reads!


Lastly, I've started cleaning up my intake and getting it ready for paint. Nothing too exciting here, just scraping old RTV off of all the sealing surfaces:


My goal for the week is to get the engine buttoned up and ready for paint.. just need to install the new pump, pan an timing chain. I also want to check my cam specs (as best as I can) and then give it a good cleaning. Little by little I'm getting there!

PS - I'm looking to get a rendering of my car done... if anyone has any recommendations that would be greatly appreciated!

Last edited by garage_engineer; 04-16-2018 at 08:08 PM.
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  #86  
Old 04-18-2018, 04:25 PM
Yukon Cornelius Yukon Cornelius is offline
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Looking great. Can't wait to get to my t/a when my back heals.
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  #87  
Old 04-19-2018, 02:02 PM
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Following for the excellent progress. This car is going to great when you are finished!
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  #88  
Old 04-22-2018, 06:19 PM
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Looking great. Can't wait to get to my t/a when my back heals.
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Following for the excellent progress. This car is going to great when you are finished!
Thanks for following along guys!
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  #89  
Old 04-22-2018, 07:33 PM
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I was able to put in a few hours this weekend to make some progress. I feel like I'm not making must progress as all of this cleaning, prepping and stripping takes a long time with not much to show for it at the end of the day but it should be worth it when it's all said and done.

First task was getting my new oil pump installed. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am switching out the current high volume pump for a standard volume one. The one I got is from Summit and came in the kit with my new oil pan. Seems like nice piece (new one on the left):



First I worked on getting the pickup tube installed... what a battle that was! My first method was using a wrench around the neck of the pickup and hammering on the wrench (with the top half of pump braced against a piece of wood). That got it about halfway in, but I couldn't go any further. I was destroying the flange on the tube as well. I finally brought it to a local shop and they were nice enough to help get setup in press to finish the job.


Just as a note: we stopped where we did (not all the way seated) because it was just such a tight fit. I also decided it did not need to be welded because the fit was so tight and because the pickup tube is also bolted to the pump.

Before I took my old pump off, I verified clearance to the bottom of the pan as about 0.376". (Spec is 0.375 - 0.500"):


My new one came in with quite a bit larger gap... 0.650". This is on the high end, which I was a bit surprised with since the pickup was supplied with the pan. I'm going to call Summit this week to verify I got the right piece as there is no way to bend it to adjust the clearance.


I also checked the crank scraper clearance just to make sure there was no interference. It was tough to get a good measurement, but with some creative Play-doh placement I'm pretty confident the clearance is around 0.375". It could be tighter, but again there is no real easy adjustment to make here. Having the scraper will be better than nothing and I am happy there was no interference.


Next I pressed a new seal in my front cover and that installed it with a new gasket. My previous bolts had a ton of RTV in the threads so I chased those with a tap to clean them up a bit. I don't see why RTV in the threads would be necessary since these are blind holes, so I installed mine dry. If someone has done differently though please let me know.

Old seal coming out:


Chasing the threads to get rid of the old RTV:


Can't put old nasty bolts back on!


Finally, I worked on some more paint prep. My goal was to keep my AL heads bare and unpainted, but I was worried I wouldn't be able to get them looking presentable. The previous owner has painted the block black and there was quite a bit of overspray:



I tried a bunch of different degreasers I had lying around, along with AL wheel cleaner and mineral spirits. The combo of the degreaser and a red scuff pad worked pretty well with some elbow grease. It left a "brushed AL" surface which I think is going to look pretty good.



Getting the block clean enough to have the tape stick and then masking everything off took forever! Very tedious work, but again, should be worth it. Almost ready to throw some primer on it. I know it's not the prettiest looking thing, but the plastic bags should get the job done!


Lastly, I also get the intake pieces cleaned up and almost ready for paint as well.


It seems like spring is finally here in New England (60 degrees today) so I'm hoping to sling some paint this week!

Thanks for following.
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  #90  
Old 04-30-2018, 09:27 PM
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I dug a little bit deeper into why my oil pump pickup had such a large gap to the bottom of my oil pan (I measured it at 0.650") when I ordered everything as a kit. I knew my engine would run fine with that clearance, but it was bugging me that it wasn't quite right and I wanted to do the job right since I had the engine out. I don't want to be worrying about my oil pump pickup when taking a sustained high-g corner, I have enough to worry about when out on the track!

I first double checked that all the parts I received were correct and confirmed that indeed they were. I then went about checking the measurements and here is where I ran into some issues.

The pan is listed as having an 8in deep sump and the pickup in the kit is correct for a pan of that depth. However, the pan is actually 8.25in deep:




When I spoke to someone from the Summit tech line, they said that these pans are hand welded which leads to some variances in pan depths sometimes. I understand that, but I can't see a pan depth tolerance of +/-0.25" being acceptable, especially since it's a critical part of getting the oiling system dialed in.

Fortunately though, I was able to speak with someone in customer service and have them send me a pickup designed for an 8.25" deep pan (part number MOR-24170) and a new oil pump free of charge.

So, it sucks I've lost some time on my project figuring this out, but a big thanks to Summit Racing for making it right. Maybe they can update their kits in the future so someone else doesn't experience the same problem.

Now, on to some actual progress... which unfortunately there is not much to report this week.

My biggest accomplishment was finally getting my engine painted. I used the Eastwood high-temp ceramic system for laying down the color. The kit was pricey (~$20/can) and seemed to leave a really nice durable finish.



The primer laid down nicely initially, but I found some small spots flaking and discolored in some areas. I tried to clean the block as best as I could before priming but I'm guessing this is due to some contamination:




There were no instructions on the can in terms of dry time so I called Eastwood for some instructions. Here is what they suggested in case someone else wanted to use the same system:
Primer Coat
Wait 10mins
Second Primer Coat
Wait 60mins
First Color Coat
Wait 10mins
Second Color Coat

All was going well into I got to my first color coat and something went wrong with the valve on the can... it started spraying all over the place and just dumping paint on the engine. Now, I'm not an expert painter, but I do know that thin coats are the way to go as opposed to big thick ones. However, I had no choice here as I had to go over to engine a bunch of times to cover everything with the irregular spray pattern. I was a little disappointed considering I paid $20/can. It seemed to dry OK though, I just hope it doesn't start chipping off when it gets hot.

My exploding red paint can:


Finished product:


That's all for tonight. My new oil pump and pickup should be here tomorrow so I button up the bottom end and move on to the top side.
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