[BillC]

Had sporadic chances to work on the engine over the last few days. In that time, I painted the timing marks on the fan (and the fins near the marks), cleaned & inspected the throttle body & intake manifold, reset the distributor drive to the correct angle (12 degrees), helicoiled the CHT hole and installed the CHT, and reinstalled the cooling shrouds.






It turns out that a long, slender pair of c-clip pliers work great for pulling the distributor drive. Also, I rotated the engine on the stand so the distributor drive was exactly vertical, so the thrust washer under the drive wouldn't move around and fall into the case.

Also, I just installed an old 012 CHT. I'm still trying to find a good, used 017 CHT at a reasonable price, and the car came with a generic 012, so I'll try this for now.

I also discovered there's an oil leak somewhere on the front of the engine, so I'll be pulling the front shroud pieces back off and probably the engine mount bar too. At this point, it looks like the leak might be from the bolts that hold the mount brackets to the engine case.

[BillC]

While the engine was just sitting on the stand, waiting for more parts to arrive, it dripped a few drops of oil into the pan underneath. This seemed a bit odd, since I had already drained all the oil out of it. To try to find the source, and make sure it wasn't one of my new additions, I grabbed a pointer and hung it from various points under the engine to track the drip back up to the source. The drip turned out to be coming off the left engine mount bracket, which continued the seeming oddity, since the bracket bolt holes are not through holes.

So, I removed the engine mount brackets and found the source of my leak:

That is a straight-thread steel plug in an aluminum hole. From what I've been told, that's a factory part (smh). Anyway, the plug was a little loose, with only the factory stake holding it in -- it turned right out with almost no effort. FYI, the plug is 22mm with 1.5mm thread, straight thread (no taper), and is about 9mm thick.

I asked for advice on 914World, since I was sure this couldn't be a new problem, and the general consensus was that a straight-threaded steel plug was not really the right part for the application. But, no one makes a direct-replacement aluminum plug. The options came down to either a brass plug or make my own.

@bkrantz linked to his thread where he faced the same issue. He ended up going with a brass plug, but @Shivers had added a link to a place selling aluminum flange plugs with the right thread. That seemed like a promising path, so I ordered a few (one to use and spares, just in case).

Here's what arrived, next to the original plug:


I cut the head off and the finished result is the same thickness as the original:


I wasn't sure what sealant to use, but someone had suggested Loctite 574, so I ordered a tube. Of course, I only found it in 50ml tubes and larger, so I now have plenty of extra....

I also ordered a cheap tap, which I cut down to clean the old sealant out of the threads the hole.

I tried a few different solvents and cleaners, but the tap was the only thing that worked to actually clean the threads. Yes, I know I could have removed the fan and ductwork off the front of the engine, but I was trying to minimize the amount of stuff to be removed and reinstalled later.

And, just to help my odds of sealing, I put the new plug in the refrigerator and put a heater on the engine.

Note that the engine is tilted over. I also put a 2x6 under the front of the engine stand. This positioning helped keep that last little bit of remaining oil that never completely stops dripping from running forward into the threads.

After about 1/2 hour of heating/cooling, I used a q-tip to apply sealant to the hole threads and also applied some to the threads of the plug. I then screwed the plug in as tight as a I could without risking the remaining hex in the plug, so maybe 10-15 ft-lbs or so -- this is tighter than the original plug was, and the sealant should keep it stuck. But, just in case, I also staked the plug, like factory.


Hopefully, that's the end of that leak.

[BillC]

And I'm just slowly chugging away on the engine. Still waiting for a few more parts to be delivered before I can wrap it all up.

Since the last update, I have:

• Changed oil filter
• Fixed another stripped hole
• Installed 123Ignition distributor and rough-timed it
• Installed coil and ignition wires
• Started installing vacuum hose kit from AA
• Tested and installed working AAR valve
• Tested and installed working Decel valve, making sure hoses are connected correctly.
• Installed intake runners and intake manifold, with new connecting hoses (and yes, I did remember to remove the paper towel plugs first).

Here's what the engine currently looks like:


Out of curiosity, and because I wanted to try out this oil filter cutter I bought from @edevinney, I cut open the old filter.


I was pleased to find no large chunks or shiny bits inside the filter. However, I did find plenty of black sludge at the bottom of the filter canister. I'm hoping it's just assembly lube and the previous owner simply didn't change the oil soon enough.


Once I (finally) get the car back on the road, I will change the oil early, just to help clear any remaining gunk out of the engine. The oil did look okay when I drained the engine three years ago.

[edevinney]

Good progress!


If you really want to do some divination on the filter you can cut out and unroll the media.

[cmartin]

x2 thanks for sharing the details, cool project

[BillC]

Was able to get a little more work done on the engine this weekend. Here's what I did:

• Installed fuel rails and new fuel injectors & hoses.
• Installed remaining wiring harnesses from @JeffBowlsby
• Added fuel pressure gauge.
• Installed thermostat pulley.

One hose from the AA vacuum hose kit was too short, but fortunately I had extra hose from a previous project.

Still waiting on thermostat and oil pressure relief valve, but they should arrive any moment. Once those are installed, then I need to get the engine compartment ready and I should be able to reinstall the engine.

[racer]

Did you, or will you, be replacing fuel lines from the tank and down the tunnel? i know the SS ones are always talked about. Something about 50 year old plastic being suspect under 35ish psi of fuel pressure. Keeping the Fuel pump in the factory local or moving it up front?

nice to see all the work and details coming along. Keep up the good work!

[BillC]

Originally Posted by racer

Did you, or will you, be replacing fuel lines from the tank and down the tunnel? i know the SS ones are always talked about. Something about 50 year old plastic being suspect under 35ish psi of fuel pressure. Keeping the Fuel pump in the factory local or moving it up front?

nice to see all the work and details coming along. Keep up the good work!

I'm heartbroken that you obviously haven't memorized this whole thread in microscopic detail....

So, I did actually mention in post #33 that I installed the Tangerine Racing stainless steel fuel lines. However, I suppose you can be forgiven for missing that announcement, since it was one line of text buried near the bottom of a whole mess of sheet metal repair pictures. I probably should have included a picture or two, but the process of shoving two long metal tubes down a slightly-bigger metal tube wasn't very exciting, except for maybe the choice language(s) involved....

There are two more pieces of stainless tubing to install in the engine compartment, and I'll make sure to include a pic or two when I do those.

[racer]

Originally Posted by BillC

I'm heartbroken that you obviously haven't memorized this whole thread in microscopic detail....

So, I did actually mention in post #33 that I installed the Tangerine Racing stainless steel fuel lines. However, I suppose you can be forgiven for missing that announcement, since it was one line of text buried near the bottom of a whole mess of sheet metal repair pictures.

mmm Post #33.. July 2020.. I went back and reread it like it was yesterday!

[BillC]

The last of the engine parts came in -- thermostat & related parts from Awesome Powdercoat, and the oil pressure relief valve from Tangerine Racing. Here's a pic of the thermostat installed:

The thermostat itself from Awesome Powdercoat is a very nice piece. Unfortunately, his bracket needed quite a bit of finessing for everything to fit & line up correctly. And the pulley he sells is a storm door roller that seems to be a little smaller than the original -- I had to file the cable hole in the sheet metal aft about 3/16" to keep the cable from dragging.

Fortunately, the oil pressure relief valve went right in place with no issue, once I found the tool I made years ago for unscrewing the retaining bolt. No pics of that though, since there isn't anything to see once it's all in.