Gramma's Car: the new project!

[njsteve]

Take a look at the piston and tell me what is wrong with this picture....



Yeah, nice factory alignment of the ring gaps. All eight pistons had the gaps on every compression ring and every oil ring lined up with each other. It defies logic. Every kid learns in high school shop class that you have to stagger the ring gaps in different locations to avoid loss of compression and high oil consumption.

All I can think is this was some type of job action or purposeful sabotage by the guy at the engine assembly plant back in 1975. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/no.gif[/img]

No wonder the car never had any ooomph when you hit the gas.

(Original machine marks on the piston skirts look nice, though) [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]

We removed the compression rings and checked the ring gaps:

Cyl 1: .032, .030
Cyl 2: .032, .032
Cyl 3: .030, .032
Cyl 4: .032, .035
Cyl 5: .035, .032
Cyl 6: .030. .035
Cyl 7: .028, .028
Cyl 8: .025, .030


I believe the spec is supposed to be .019 plus/minus .010.

[x Baldwin Motion]

Steve is that a Formula, or was there a hood swap?

[njsteve]

It was an Esprit and I added the ram air hood and the correct ram air air cleaner back when I painted it in 1994.

Hopefully we'll have the engine back in in the next month or so. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img] (Haven't heard that one before, now have we?)

I'm dropping the heavy parts off at the machinist on Friday.

[njsteve]

Main bearings/journals looked beautiful:



The rod bearings/journals looked just as nice. Oil clearance was still within spec. And yes, I stamped each rod with the numbers. They were all unnumbered when we popped the pan off.



It still had the original asbestos rear main seal which was leaking badly along with the timing cover seal, oil pan gasket, torque converter seal, tailshaft seal, rear pinion seal.....

[njsteve]

Here's the empty block awaiting a trip to the shop:



and all the parts:




And of course the typical monkey wrench in the ointment...cracked exhaust manifold.





If I can't find a replacement I might upgrade to the repro ram air manifolds.

[GTO_DON]

Thats a cool car...I have a metal dealer emblem from Ruckles in yonkers...I didnt know they were a Pontiac dealer

[njsteve]

I have all the original paperwork on the car, even the broadcast sheet that was under the rear seat. It was a leftover sitting on the lot at the end of the model year, when they bought it. Ruckles also had a leftover Trans Am but Gramma Rose didn't like the &quot;bump in the hood.&quot; (She was kind of short and it blocked her view of the road). [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

[John]

You want to check with these people.... they seem to have the exhaust manifold you need... [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]


http://home.earthlink.net/~jnjvette/Non-Vette.htm

email is ....

[email protected]

.......................................


FL1-02914
Exhaust Manifold
Date Code, L165 1 G 4996240 $75.00 Contact Us

[WILMASBOYL78]

Steve...this is a cool thread...love engine rebuild stories...they take me back to my younger days [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Keep us posted with info and more photos...good luck!!

wilma

[njsteve]

It gives the boy something to do that doesn't involve a video game. He was rather amazed at how the internal parts all connected with each other. Hopefully that will grow into something. The daughter wants to be an engineer, so maybe her third grade engine building experience, years ago, helped spur the interest.