The New Project: Part Deux!

[njsteve]

I ordered some TRW/Speed Pro/Federal Mogul L2359 forged flat top pistons and some 4340 forged steel H-beam rods. They should be here by next week, along with the bearing sets. The block is already at the machine shop getting tanked, honed and new cam bearings. The bores measured out at exactly .030 over so I am staying at that size. The Heads are getting disassembled, cleaned, and a nice valve job (if needed) by the same shop. The crank will get polished and then everything balanced together, along with the harmonic balancer and flywheel/clutch plate. I already have the new Melling 068 cam and oil pump.

Once everything is back I will let my 12 year old put it all together, just like he did last year with the 350 Pontiac from Gramma's Firebird. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbt...ect#Post449019

So, who needs some low mileage, domed pistons and cast rods? Or that Crane camshaft? They only have around 5000 miles on them.

[njsteve]

Got the engine block back today! It only took two days for the hot tank, hone and cam bearings! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

Rod and main bearings arrived today. Pistons should be here tomorrow and rods on Monday. Heads should be done tuesday, then the reciprocating assembly can be balanced which should take around a week....

[njsteve]

The forged pistons and rings arrived today!

[njsteve]

The forged H-heam rods arrived today! Everything gets dropped off tomorrow for balancing.

[njsteve]

Picked up the 7F6 cylinder heads today. Nice and shiny on the bottoms. I had them measure the chamber volume and it turns out it is 107cc versus the original 111 cc advertised volume. So it looks like it was resurfaced/milled at the last rebuild 20 years ago. Hopefully this gives me a bit more than the 8.4 to 1 that the original style flat tops give. Maybe 9 to 1?



I also dropped off all the rotating parts and they should be balanced by next week sometime. Then comes the fun part: assembly.

[njsteve]

This evening at the local votech school where I spend my Tuesday nights in the &quot;Intro to Body Work&quot; class, I welded up a bracket to retain the oil pump pickup from falling out of the oil pump. It was easier to do this than brazing the steel pickup to the cast iron body.

Here's what it looked like after I unwrapped it from its protective plastic and masking tape wrapping. (To keep the welding debris out of the screen).

[KevinW]

Looking good Steve! As to the heads, are you going to use a thicker composite gasket or factory steel shim? The composite should give you close to the factory cc volume, while the shim would give you the smaller amount. I have a bad experience with shaved heads and intake fitment, so I am not a fan, but good luck!

[njsteve]

I'm using the Felpro blue head gaskets. The intake fit fine with no vacuum leaks so it was probably shaved at the same time back then.

[njsteve]

Spent some time glass glass beading the exhaust manifolds. I sprayed them with some high temp, cast iron grey, header paint. It won't last too long after the engine runs, but that paint at least leaves a residue that doesn't rust.

[njsteve]

I also glass beaded the intake. Even though it will be painted the correct 1972 Pontiac egg-shell blue, I still had to get the old clear coat residue off.

I also washed out out the oil pan. It was remarkably non-dented on the bottom. (Running out of things to clean...)