-
Hey all, long time no update. The truck has been running and driving well and is a hit everywhere she goes. A big milestone happened yesterday. I officially started the engine rebuild process for the new V10! It needs a thorough cleaning, a new cam, and It has a broken intake manifold bolt and engine mount bolt. Both bolts have some sticking out from the engine so I should be able to weld a nut to them and extract them. The hardest thing so far is finding the stupid cam. I've ben looking all over and no one seems to carry an OE camshaft. I can find a couple of performance cams but then I need to change the ECU, rockers, etc and I don't want to deal with that if I don't have to. Maybe that's why I was practically given the engine. Hopefully I'll have the engine all put together and repainted soon enough and I can test fire it.
http://i.imgur.com/EbhID2g.jpg
Prepping the engine for cleaning
http://i.imgur.com/0IAtBWq.jpg
All ready for a solid degreasing. The front main seal apparently leaked a lot because it is nasty
http://i.imgur.com/QzCYPG8.jpg
-
So today the engine kicked my butt. I learned how frustrating it can be to remove a harmonic balancer from a crank. At the end of today, the engine was given a good scrub, dried out, removed the heads, removed the oil pan, inspected the lifters, etc. The cam has some pitting on it. Everything I'm reading says to replace it but I can't find a replacement. I might just throw it back in. The engine worked fine when it was pulled and it had ~110,000 miles on it. I dunno. I need to get seals and everything anyways so I've got some time.
Aside from the broken intake studs, exhaust studs, and cam it's really not bad.
http://i.imgur.com/2RHSJi7.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/YFU3CsU.jpg
-
Love it. It's going to be quite a beast.
-
I got my heads back from the shop today and they're looking good! I cleaned the surface of the block as well. I'm not sure what I need to do to prep it to receive the newly machined heads. Also, does anybody know of head gaskets blocking water jackets?
https://i.imgur.com/QkvZn2r.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/yvRVXbv.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/T6ucm2u.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/zchBqY7.jpg
-
So I'm making slow and steady progress on the engine. At this point, it's reassembled and I'm prepping it for paint. The only hangup at the moment is one of the engine mount bolts broke off in the block and I'm having trouble getting it out. I had a friend try to weld a nut onto the stud and... he made it worse. haha. I'm going to try to drill it out next. Anyways, I think I'm going to paint the block "early Chrysler blue" and keep the valve covers and pulleys black. I also did some measurements comparing the length of the engine to the length of the engine bay. It's going to be tight. But if people can fit a 6bt, I can find a way to make this thing work.
https://i.imgur.com/FYHZF5A.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/8itZnPN.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/IMPyBiM.jpg
-
The thing about 6BTs is that our firewall has a relief in the middle that inline engines can take advantage of, while V-engines are too wide to fit.
But I'm sure you can make it fit :)
Love the build.
-
Thanks for the vote of confidence Mikel! I had forgotten about the relief. I think it will still fit. I'll just have to get creative. haha.
A little update:
So the T98 in the kaiser has developed an issue. I believe it's the input shaft bearing. I can hear whirring in neutral with the clutch pedal out but not when depressed. Also, it likes to randomly not let me go into gear between shifts. So that was fun on public roads. In any case, that officially puts the 715 out of commission until the V10 is in because I am not dealing with the T98. On the V10 side, I got it painted and I think it looks pretty awesome! I need to paint the valve covers, oil pan, and pulleys still but its close! After than, I'll finish reassembly and start trying to test fire the thing on a stand. I'll have to figure out something for a fuel system and what the computer needs to see but 'm so close! (kind of, not really haha)
I had a broken engine mount bolt that was almost flush with the block. I was able to remove it with the welder. I hadn't tried that trick before and boy was it a relief when it finally came out!
https://i.imgur.com/wNHgE8W.jpg
Primed
https://i.imgur.com/pO314En.jpg
All painted! I chose an early Chrysler blue color.
https://i.imgur.com/rXsz8nW.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5a8Yfm0.jpg
-
My T98 makes bearing noise when warm in neutral; a local trans guru said not to worry about it. It is also occasionally a PITA to get into third & fourth due he said to play in the shifter mechanism.
-
Really? It seems weird to me since it only started recently and if you miss the gear, it locks you out of all of them until you come to a stop.
On a different note, I got a small shelter for the truck for the winter! I just need to get some mothballs etc to keep bugs and rodents out of it. I also made some progress on the V10. I finally found some freeze plugs and I installed those, repainted and reinstalled the oil pan, repainted the front pulleys, reinstalled the flywheel, and a couple other odds and ends. It's getting closer!
https://i.imgur.com/kSpPx7g.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/pAimsNX.jpg
-
another quick update. I have the engine mostly together and I got the valve covers painted. She looks good but man it's a big engine. Unfortunately, not much is going to happen for a while now. I'm trying to buy a house so I don't want the truck in a million pieces and try to move it.
https://i.imgur.com/F8jHuev.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/uST3XTX.jpg