ckhorne's 1967 project

[RiverPatrol]

Great progress. You'll have that Patrol running soon enough. Then you can take the whole family for a ride in it.

[ckhorne]

Wow- two months have passed since my last update. It seems life keeps getting in the way. Anyway - some good progress.

I took the time to use a heavy duty wire brush on my angle grinder and worked at cleaning the transfer case. Miserable, but got it cleaned up and ready for painting. On the very, very last bit to be cleaned, the grinder slipped and ran up my other hand and arm. Luckily, I was wearing gloves. Unluckily, they stopped at my wrist...

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I got a nice coat of POR-15 on and then painted it the same engine blue. It's amazing how much easier it is to work with parts that feel "new":

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[ckhorne]

I was able to track down some wire for the throwout bearing retainer clip at a local hobby store. .078 Music Wire (2mm) fit absolutely perfectly, and the tension also felt perfect. (I used K&S Metals / Stock #505)

Next up came mounting the transmission. With the help of a friend, I tried lifting it in place while he helped guide it in from the cabin. That lasted about 15 minutes before we both realized it was a futile effort.

I went down to Harbor Freight and bought their 450lb transmission jack. Worth. Every. Penny. At least for this project. I was able to get the transmission mounted in just 20 minutes by myself.

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The transmission went so well that I was expecting something to go wrong with the transfer case. I cut out a new gasket to go between it and the transmission and mounted the xfer case to the transmission jack - that part took a little patience, since nothing is flat on that thing.

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This one took a little longer - maybe 30-45 minutes of sliding back and forth, but still went on with relative ease. Finally use that 1 3/4" socket that I tracked down for the rear drive train nut... and voila :

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This method went incredibly easy. In fact, I don't think I'd do it any other way. Engine + clutch/bell housing via hoist first, and then tranny and transfer case via transmission jack second.

[ckhorne]

I found a shop that could weld cast iron and I dropped off my exhaust manifold. They called back a day or two and said they couldn't do it. I ended up with this:

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I didn't have the patience to see if the engine would start while I was hunting down a replacement exhaust header, so I finally hooked everything up and gave it a try. And here's a video of the first go:

http://youtu.be/6dlgdsIRzds

You can hear the loud popping since the exhaust manifold has a big fat hole in it, but at least it runs. I'll have to admit that this was music to my ears, having never completely rebuilt an engine before!

At this point, I re-installed the fan, fan belt, alternator, and radiator hoses. I finalize the wiring to the alternator, temp sensor, and oil pressure sensor.

My machinist came over to help me do some basic tuning, set the timing, and properly adjust the valves. He also strongly advised against running the engine any longer than necessary until I had an exhaust manifold in place, due to lack of back pressure. We did have trouble keeping it running, but until I was able to track down a replacement, I was stuck.

[ckhorne]

Flaggoni came through for me and was able to set me up with a new (well, uncracked) manifold.

So I spent last night reassembling intake / exhaust / carb. And today, for the first time since June, I drove around the block. There seems to be a little tuning to do still, since the engine bogs down at times, but everything seems to work as it should, including clutch and shifting.

I found a couple small things that needed attention: My fan belt keeps slipping... it looks pretty worn, so probably best to just replace it. I had a couple leaks around my radiator hoses- easily fixed by just tightening the hose clamps. Gas is seeping out from the carb.... I had planned on rebuilding the carb anyway.

I still need to clean and paint the air filter and fan shroud.

And now, some gratuitous newly-rebuilt engine porn:

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Note the drips near the front of the valve cover. I'm really frustrated that the engine paint is seemingly so susceptible to other fluids. In this case, it appears that the coolant leaks from the radiator hose clamps sprayed on there...

[moore_rb]

Looks great!

[ckhorne]

My current problem is now a radiator leak. I can see it pooling up a little on the front:

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And then more on the back:

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I have absolutely zero experience with fixing radiators. Is this something I should be taking to a radiator shop, or is there an easier solution?

[moore_rb]

It depends on where the leak is -- if it is along a seem (like the front leak seems to be), then soldering it up is just like sweating a copper water pipe fitting.

If one of the core passages is leaking, then that gets a little more tricky, because the whole tank might have to come off to re-seal it...

[Esteban]

Sorry to see byproduct of the wire cleaning in your arm.

Your tips about mounting the transmission are great, specially when working alone. The finished work looks great.

[RiverPatrol]

Congratulations! That was pretty painless (except for the wire wheel mishap) especially considering it was your first engine rebuild. It all went pretty smoothly. It's got to make you feel proud.

I would recommend sending the radiator to a radiator shop. If you have a couple leaks that you can see already there will be more to follow once you seal those up. Plus it would be a good idea to have it rodded out while it's there. Your newly rebuilt engine will thank you for it.

[ckhorne]

After a cold winter, I finally pulled my Patrol back into the garage.

The radiator couldn't be cleaned/rodded out; the radiator shop told me it was beyond repair. I had the option of having a new core made ($500) or buying a new one, so I went with a new one. I did a mini-writeup of that in another thread.

I had my carb rebuilt by Carb Junky's; they happened to be local to me, but I'd still recommend them. All gaskets and bushings replaced and came back looking like new.

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While I had the carb out for rebuild and front bib off, I decided to fix my engine's paint job. Even though I had painted everything when the engine was still out, I had only covered it with the engine paint in a spray can, thinking that'd be enough. But the coolant that sprayed on the nice blue engine left streaks everywhere. Even if it was just cosmetic, I wanted to fix it; I had put a lot of time into, so it was important enough for me to do so.

I tracked down a 2-part epoxy clear coat that I could still do without a paint booth. It took one full can to re-paint the engine, with about 3 coats. I'm hoping this will hold up to coolant and other fluids that otherwise make the standard paint run, but we'll see.

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[ckhorne]

I finally got around to cleaning up the air filter assembly.

Interestingly, I found what was possibly the only guaranteed original paint on the Patrol - in the bottom of the air filter, which has been sitting covered in oil for the past 48 years. I almost saved it out of posterity, but decided it'd be more work than it's worth, so the whole assembly got a black repaint.

I didn't want to mess with the oil bath filter, even though it looks in decent shape. Again, I found a great tidbit by Esteban on using standard lawnmower air filters.

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I found that a 3" (Kohler 33-155) and a 2.5" (Kohler 33-153) stacked together was perfect, as someone mentioned in a related thread. It's hard to take a picture of the fit, but you can somewhat see from this picture that it's a snug fit, without glue or any extra parts:

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I wasn't able to find a prefilter that would fit over the whole assembly...

[ckhorne]

I wasn't sure where else to post this - possibly it can go in the compatible parts list:

The Doorman 675-004 studs is nearly a drop-in replacement for the studs that mount the intake/exhaust headers to the engine block.

[RMP&O]

Bummer on the manifold, great another member took care of you though. I have found it is rather common for the manifolds to crack. Hairline cracks can be found on the backside of the manifold and if it is very clean they are easier to see. One I have has been tig welded and seems good to go. Couple different methods for welding cast iron but generally using a nickle rod and keeping heat under control works. That and letting it cool very slowly, ie pack it in sand and let it cool that way after welding. The way they burned through your old manifold looks like the went at it with an arc welder and put way to much heat at it. Arc welding works on cast but you need to use a nickle rod and keep heat way down.

Your Patrol is coming along nicely, looks great!

Cheers

[Flaggoni]

I've had good success on cast iron repairs using oxy/acetylene torch and brazing (brass) filler-rod.
A slightly oversize tip and a soft flame provides a uniform preheat, which minimizes cracking tendencies.
And, as mentioned above, cool slowly.