Graham's Corvette Blog and Studebaker bits 'n' bobs

there is some dist. shaft wear at the bottom, but It should be fine for the few thousand miles I expect to put on the donor engine.

The upper shaft is just nice and shiny. There is next to no play with it in the housing.

I don’t have whatever it was that was stuffed in the openings that was used to lubricate the upper shaft. So I’m using some felt strips to fill the holes.

Once the felt strips were in place I soaked them with 10W30 oil and replaced the plastic oil cover – it is quite delicate and most of what I have read says they get destroyed on removal. I used a dental pick to pull it out and it remains OK for the most part.

There was a build up of corrosion where the steel vacuum advance unit fits on the aluminum dist. base. I used a bit of electrical DE-OX that electricians use on copper/aluminum connections to stop the galvanic corrosion between the differing metals.

A good coat of Silicone cooler paste to help the electronic module’s heat dissipate to the dist. housing.

I installed the dist. on the engine as it is a whole lot easier to position the unit properly with the engine out of the car. It was a bit fiddly getting the gears to mesh with the camshaft and with the oil pump at the same time and for the rotor to be pointing at #1 when it finally slipped into place.

Engine ready for the install (I’ll use the nice chrome valve covers that are now on the engine in the Chevy). I’ll need to do some prep work on the donor TH350 automatic before I can start the install.

Good bye to the ’83 Caprice. I got lots of good parts from the car and it’s not finished yet. Don, who has been kind enough to move it around for me, will take it home and remove the rear differential unit. He hopes to use it in his ’59 Studebaker Champ half ton.

Next: Prepping the TH350

Here I’m trying a small extension to an old TV cable mounting bracket to try and get the cable to work with the higher manifold.

In the end I happily found that the bracket was OK as is. The rod passing through the TV cable bracket has a clear path the the arm on the throttle linkage.

Another photo showing a rod resting on the carb throttle arm and passing through the TV cable bracket. the round thingy on attached to the TV cable bracket is the servo for the cruise control I’ll be adding to the car – many components come from the ’82 Caprice engine donor car. As it now sits it appears to be in a good position. The engine vacuum metered by the cruise transducer acts on the servo (the black part is a rubber diaphragm) which holds the throttle in position at the desired speed.

Got a couple of boxes of parts from Rock Auto. Included were these Walker Quiet Tone mufflers. The ones on the Chevy are not too bad, but they are generic mufflers that have been welded into place and don’t fit very well at all.

Now on to the “Dizzy” as the Australian’s call the distributor. I’m going to get the distributor in place properly before the engine goes in. A lot easier that way. Right now I’m going to take it apart, check it, lubricate and re-assemble.

This distributor was on the engine when I test started it awhile back. So it works. I’ll use all the components except for a new cap and rotor.

One problem with the ’83 engine is that it used a warning light for oil pressure and not a gauge. I ordered a new ’79 oil gauge, but it was too small for the block opening. Easy enough to get an adapter so it will now fit OK. It sticks out from the block some so I won’t install it until the engine is in place.

Next: Engine completion and good bye to the donor car.

Flywheel and ring gear need to be in place so I can rotate the engine with a pry bar. Bolts tightened to 60 ft lbs with blue Loctite.

Harmonic balancer bolt in place tightened to 60 ft lbs – i needed to use a pry bar to hold the crank in place so I could get the proper torque on the bolt.

I’ve marked the dampener at 90 deg. from the timing mark all around. I’ll use the marks to locate each piston at TDC to give the valves an initial setting.

Using the timing marks I adjusted each set of lifters following the firing order of 18436572. At TDC for #1 cylinder I tightened the lifters one complete turn from zero lash. I then rotated the engine 90 degrees and did #8 cylinder lifters, etc. Once the engine is running and hot I’ll redo then lifters with the engine running.

Some of the more boring work – cleaning threads and using a wire wheel to clean the 12 intake manifold bolts.

New gasket kit and an Edelbrock high rise for a Quadrajet.

The gasket set comes with a restrictor plate for the exhaust crossover that goes under the carb. I added a small piece of tin so that it virtually closes of the port on one side. The exhaust cross over helps to get the fuel vaporizing on cold temperature starts. That really isn’t going to happen with a collector car and the extra heat will only over-vaporize the newer fuels. Keeping the fuel a bit cooler I believe is best. I have done this on a Studebaker V8 and it seems OK.

For the opposite side I cut out a small filler plate out of thin tin that fitted nicely in the intake depression. There is a slight chance that it will cause air leaks in the intake runner on this side. Once the engine is running I’ll use a propane torch gas to check for leaks.

Recommended by the gasket manufacture that RTV sealant be used on the underside of the two end gaskets.

I have read also that it is a good idea to use some RTV sealant around the water passages. Sounds like a good idea so I put some on the block and on the upside of the gaskets.

All bolts torqued down to 10 ft lbs. I’ll do a final torque the next day to the full 25 ft. lbs.

Next: Fitting the TV cable and cruise components.

I added enough oil to the engine to cover the oil pump intake – up to a bit over the add mark. Once again I used my drill to prime the filter and pump and get oil up to the rockers.

Oil came out of a number of the push rods and down onto the rocker arms.

Some of the rockers remained dry even though I could see oil coming out of the lifters.

I pulled a lifter from one of the dry rockers and found that the plunger inside the lifter was frozen in place.

I immersed the lifter in reducer to see if I could loosen the buildup of varnish. No real luck there. So I heated the lifter with a heat gun and used a large bolt extractor to twist and wiggle the inner plunger free. I then put all the parts in parts solvent and blew them dry. Reassembly with a little oil worked fine

This particular lifter wasn’t pretty. Deep pits and worn concave. The lifter edge is riding on the cam. It should have enough miles left to serve my purpose. I coated the lifter face with STP which should stick and give lubrication until the engine gets oil pressure.

I decided to do all the lifters. Turns out they were all stuck to some degree. Some separate with just the tapered bolt and vice grips – I ground off the bolt a bit so it fits inside the inner plunger and pull it out on an angle. Most come out this way and some need to be heated to get them out. On reassembly I sand the inner plunger to remove the varnish and then a bit on the inside of the lifter to be sure they are moving freely. A cleaning, re-assembly, and a good dab of STP on the lifter face and they’re ready to go back in the engine.

I’m wondering now if the miss in the Chevy is simply a badly stuck lifter. A 3/4 turn on a stuck lifter would likely cause the valve to stay open a bit even when closed. I will be interesting to see if that is the issue.

Next: Putting on a new intake, carb and linkage

Doing the final torque after the red sealant has had a time to firm up.

Got a response from Fel-Pro on why the gaskets weren’t fitting. Turns out these gaskets fit a ’79 350 (OS5197 C-5), but not an ’83 305 (OS30410-C). The blocks were changed a bit it seems. I had bought the gasket set to rebuild the original ’79 350 in the Chevy and that is why they don’t fit. I just assumed… Still hopefully it will seal OK for the short time I’ll need it.

All painted up with Tremclad metal rust satin black rust paint. It worked well on the motor in the Studebaker so hopefully it will here. Not sure if it will stand up around the exhaust ports, but we’ll see.

Time to fit the harmonic balancer back on. I’ve given the inside of the mounting surface a coat of oil and the outside where the seal will fit too. Also a bit on the lip of the seal in the cover to help the balancer slide past.

No need for spacers just the thrust bearing and washer that comes with the kit. Slipped in nice and smooth.

I painted the timing mark with silver paint to make it easier to see when setting the timing. I also outlined the timing tab on the timing cover.

I decided to pour some oil into the pan and spin the oil pump to be sure everything is getting oiled properly.

Next: the real reason why the rockers aren’t getting enough oil!

New high volume Melling oil pump with a new pump shaft (metal collar) in place.

Problems in La-la land. The FelPro pan gasket kit isn’t fitting properly. The other gaskets in the kit fit OK, but these don’t. They’re not Chinese, they were made in Portugal. Both gaskets have the same problem at the rear of the block.

According to the label this is the correct set for a GM 305 (5.0L)

I’ve sent a ‘problem form’ to FelPro. I don’t want to take a chance ordering another kit and I don’t want to wait around for it to arrive. So I’ve cut away as needed and I’ll add a bead of red gasket maker to make up for the lost gasket. Shouldn’t be a problem as some folks just use red sealant alone and don’t bother with gaskets.

Sealant on both sides of the gasket and extra at the back to make up for the missing gasket coverage.

Pan in place. I have snugged down the pan bolts just enough to put a bit of a squeeze on the gaskets and gasket sealant. I’ll let it set overnight and then give the bolts a final torque. It calls for about 8-10 ft. lbs. which is a fair twist using one hand and a short wrench or 1/4″ drive.

Out of curiosity I opened up the old oil pump. there was significant wear on the cover as well as on the walls. So the engine wasn’t getting its proper pressure or volume which might explain why the rockers on one side and the timing gears seemed to be lacking proper lubrication.

Next up is block painting and then on to the top end.

Parts in – tool to put the harmonic balancer and lower timing gear in place, new oil pump shaft with a metal collar, a fail-safe 195 deg. thermostat, a set of plugs and a quadrajet base gasket.

I’m out of engine assembly lube so I gave the chain and sprockets a good coat of chain lube. It’s sticky and will provide lubrication when the engine is first started.

The sprockets and chain all need to go on at the same time. I needed a spacer on the installation tool reach over the crank snout so the lower sprocket can be pushed on. I previously set the crank so the lower sprocket timing mark was at the top.

All in place with the timing marks lined up. There is very little slack in the chain now.

I’m using a light coat of red gasket maker on the inside of the cover gasket – the smear of sealer is more even than appears in the photo.

The gasket fits over two lower pins and I have added two more at the upper end to keep it in place while I get the cover ready.

Another coat of sealant on the pan. I installed a new crank seal earlier that came with the timing cover gasket kit.

All ready except for the harmonic balancer. I’ll install that after the new oil pump and pan are in place.

Next: Closing up the bottom end.

Old oil pump. The plastic collar was split as was expected. I’ll order a new shaft with a metal collar.

Boring job of sanding the oil pan and timing cover. I don’t want to bead blast the pan as I’ll never get all the grit out from under the baffle. I sand by hand so I don’t make too much dust in the shop – it’s bad enough as it is trying to keep the dust off the cars! I think I’ll bead blast the timing cover as no grit can hide on the inside.

Just waiting for a warm day to get these parts painted. I have received the new timing chain and gears.

The old chain was definitely stretched. It would have caused the timing to be jumpy.

1/32″ (.030) hole drilled in the top oil gallery end plug. That should spray lots of oil onto the upper timing gear and keep the chain and lower gear well oiled.

Primed and two coats of satin black and the engine is gonna look real nice:-)

While I’m waiting for parts to put the donor engine together I decided to attack the steering wheel. It is one notch too far to the right. I need to take it off and set it one notch to the left which is off the factory setting. Seems that when it was aligned the steering wheel was not in the proper location. Not sure if this will move the steering box to its centre position or take is off slightly. Hopefully this won’t have a negative effect on the steering.

Replacing the horn contact parts can be a pain. This time I put in a couple of studs to line everything up. It made the install a whole lot easier:-)

Next: Putting things together

Intake off and looking at a lot of carbon in the gallery. The carbon is coming from the heat riser outlets. Over the years they have heated the oil on the underside of the outlets to the point of forming carbon bits. Must have done damage to the old oil pump I’m thinking.

Handy little tool I picked up years ago from Princess Auto. It’s a series of tubes that attach to the shop vac. The tubes can be added or removed so you can get the right size to get in tight spots. This is working great to remove the carbon from the lifter valley and also in the heads.

Scraping away bits of the old intake gasket from the heads using a razor blade paint scraper tool. Very little engine sludge in the heads or valley surprisingly.

Timing cover off and the timing gear also looks a bit oil starved.

From what I read a .030 hole drilled in the oil gallery plug at the top (above the two lower plugs) provides extra oil to the timing gear. I’ll do that. The high volume oil pump should handle that OK. I’ve used a high volume pump on a high mileage Chryco 360 and it increased oil pressure overall over 5 lbs.

I’ve scraped away all the old gasket and then sanded the timing cover seal surface and water pump mounts with 150 grit to remove any leftover gasket material or corrosion. The pan is still in place

Pan off and the internals look nice with high mileage wear showing. Not a problem as long as it will start well, run smooth and not smoke!

Ditto cleaning the old gasket from the block. The rear seal surface was a bit of problem, but dental scrapers helped get all the old rubber out.

Not too much crud in the pan, but there was some of that carbon in the bottom that was washed down from the lifter gallery.

A paint remover wheel is doing a fine job clearing out all the old gasket material from the pan and the timing cover.

Next: Getting ready for paint.

On to the boring job of scraping and washing away the accumulated crud from the block. I can’t get the block outside to use a pressure washer and I’m not sure that some of the water wouldn’t make it’s way into the engine.

I used an old paring knife and a razor scraper to get the main part of the grunge off and then using a toothbrush, parts solvent and rags, it cleaned up not too bad. I’m planning on painting the block, but before that I’ll have to go over it again with a small wire bush and parts solvent and then finally with paint thinner.

Ditto the opposite side. I’ll remove the ring gear and then do the back and then the front of the engine as well.

Valve covers off and a peek at the rockers. Fairly clean and oily on the right side.

Left side not so oily or clean. Lots of carbon. I’m thinking that after 100K+ miles the wear on the engine components is lowering the pressure and not enough oil is getting to the top of the engine.

I didn’t want to take the pan off, but best laid plans… I have a new high volume Melling oil pump that I bought for another engine. I’ll get that in and it should get more oil up to the rockers.

Next: More disassembly