Gramma's Car: the new project! - Page 6

**firstgenaddict** · #51 05-05-2011, 02:57 AM

The ring alignment... lol
My father-in-law took it upon himself to rebuild the engine in his 1905 Cadillac.
He honed the cylinder, had new rings made and assembled the engine.
Fired it up and it ran but had no power, the car wouldn't pull itself up a 5% grade out of the garage.
He pulls it all back down and checks everything, laps and hones the valves etc.
He asks if I will come over and help him assemble the engine... we are putting the jug over the piston and he has the ring gaps in a direct line...
I said hey you forgot to stagger the rings...
It doesn't matter he replies they will all settle with the gaps to the TOP (Horizontal 1 cylinder)... his reasoning was the heavy side would work it's way down.
I said did you assemble the engine like that last time?
YES!!!!
He has no problems running 25-30mph now...

**njsteve** · #52 05-05-2011, 05:01 AM

So it runs better after you staggered the rings?

**firstgenaddict** · #53 05-05-2011, 01:33 PM

touche' my good friend, I should have seen it coming considering the stable you have been fortunate enough to look after over the years.

**njsteve** · #54 05-05-2011, 09:21 PM

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: firstgenaddict</div><div class="ubbcode-body">touche' my good friend, I should have seen it coming considering the stable you have been fortunate enough to look after over the years. </div></div>

No, I was serious - did your father in law stagger the ring gaps when he put it back together the second time, or reassemble it with them all in a line? I am rather curious whether it really does matter since they do rotate around as the engine runs. I imagine a horizontal or boxer style engine would be a bit different than the conventional vertical moving pistons in a V8.

**firstgenaddict** · #55 05-05-2011, 10:17 PM

LOL... 25 or 30 in one of our cars and we would be looking for the E-brake down or sounding like a Hit-n-Miss...

Yes we staggered the rings, I have worked in machine shops and we did boxer engines, they were all staggered...during our assembly and were staggered upon disassembly, they still rotate around the piston.

**njsteve** · #56 05-10-2011, 02:27 AM

Got the new pistons from Summit on Friday...a sealed box with the label "matched weight set." They are at the machine shop now. When I dropped them off, the block was finished but I was in the wife's car and she doesn't take too kindly to transporting engine blocks in her trunk.

Over the weekend I spent some time painting the frame, cleaning all the brake and fuel lines and then reinstalling the lines, brackets, wiper motor, steering box, intermediate column, new motor mounts, etc. I also cleaned and rewrapped the wiring harnesses, too. (And yes, the factory did use bright white, corrugated plastic tubing to contain the firewall engine harness on the 75 Firebirds - not too esthetically pleasing, I'd say, but it is original!)

Waiting for a couple new brake hoses to arrive tomorrow. I had to replace the calipers after snapping the bleeder off one in an attempt to get it ready for bleeding the brakes. Figured I should replace the hoses as well, just to be safe.

Here's the engine compartment at the moment:

Plowman · #57 05-11-2011, 04:42 AM

Note;Leave the little rubber cap or hat on the bleeder and it will be good for ever. Paul

**njsteve** · #58 05-12-2011, 11:34 PM

Absolutely right on that rubber cap advice.

Installed the new calipers and hoses yesterday. Had quite a time getting the hoses to not leak at the calipers after bleeding the brakes. Every time I'd tighten down the banjo fittings with the supplied "allegedly" copper, crush washers, the damn things would seep brake fluid. I removed them and they had no crush marks like the originals, even though I was using a 1/2 drive ratchet to tighten the fittings to a "Jersey strength" rating. I finally reinstalled old crush washers and no leaks occurred.

This lead me to the obvious conclusion that the new copper crush washers that are manufactured today (no doubt, in China) are not the same as the originals. I have a funny feeling that they are either copper-plated steel or some type of alloy that is not crushable. A buddy of mine had the exact same problem trying to get a turbocharger coolant line to not leak...he solved it by reusing the old washers, also.

Does anybody have a way to test my theory? Don't they have some type of metal hardness test?

**mockingbird812** · #59 05-13-2011, 12:49 AM

a magnet would be attracted to the supposed copper-plated (steel) washer.

Plowman · #60 05-13-2011, 03:32 PM

G.M. still has the copper brake line washers,if you wan't new ones. Paul

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