Fino's 58 Wagon

Making a bit of progress...the unexpected cj repairs used up a lot of my garage time over the last 1-2 months. Got the engine block and heads back from the machine shop a couple weeks ago. The block was original 4.00" bore size, so now its .030 over. The shop installed the various plugs and cam bearings and wrist pins, but the rest of the bottom end will be up to me.


I decided to stay with a sort of late 60's/early 70s style 4x4 build. Will try to run the non-egr 1969 cast iron intake with q-jet that I already have (with the small crack mentioned in previous post). Stayed with 70s style cast iron heads, but switched from the late 70's 882 casting that I came with the engine, to an early 70s 993 casting which should be a small upgrade in durability as its a 'heavier casting' and maybe just a bit of low end performance....both are large (75cc) open 'smog' style chambers, so basically they are the same in terms of performance. OEM versions of these heads would have been matched to the early 70s non-EGR intake I am running, but these heads are aftermarket GM crate engine with the desired 'hecho in Mexico' stamp.



This head swap was an engine shop focus - I don't think there was anything wrong with the 882 heads for my purpose, but the shop was excited to use these. I am not to concerned one way or another - its not a performance build. The heads and valve seats were completely redone, new rocker studs, valves etc, but no porting or grinding in the valve area. CR will stay essentially the same, the cam is flat tappet style stock replacement as well. Its going to have plenty of power in that form, and probably enough to risk the 70 year old axles if I get a bit too rowdy as is. I just want it to be a good runner....If at some point I want some improvement, aftermarket aluminum heads, intake and or TBI are all options for improvement, and possibly a new cam....but that would be a long ways off....As you all know, these old willys originally came 110hp (gross) or less...this sbc350 will probably be around 190-200hp net...hopefully it blows up u-joint/driveshaft before the axles....

Finished painting the block today - will start the assembly of the bottom end soon.



The transmission (sm465) and transfer case (D18) are also pretty much ready to go...a lot of time sealing gaskets etc (the sm465 has 6 total gaskets: 2 PTO covers, FBR, front lower counter shaft bearing, rear output and top cover)...still need a big summit order for flywheel and clutch and a few other pieces so it will all go together. And I am still fighting the steering linkage - more to come on that...

 

Checking bearing clearance with plastigage....so far everything is looking good

 

Crank and mains are in....


Pistons and connecting rods tomorrow...maybe cam etc...wife has me on evening social event in a bit, so have to wrap it up for the night.

 

I don't know whether to laugh or cry...but, I am planning on running the stock axles for now.

 

today's progress...pistons, rings, connecting rods all good to go...most of you have probably seen or done this stuff before, but since its my first engine build, I took a few extra photos of simple stuff, but didn't get the photo with blood dripping down the cylinder wall...blood is a good lubricant right? Took me a bit this morning to figure out a good system or process, but after the first two, it went smoothly - I think my next engine is going to be a 4cyl.
start with getting the rings on the piston:


Then a ring compressor sleeve:


Before inserting the piston into the block, I did put the upper half of the bearing shell on the c-rod, lube etc...but then its time to slide the assembly into the cylinder and easy tap the piston into the block:


the bottom end all done and torqued:


from the top:

 

yea - just one set....I know no-one wants to hear it, but the engine shop basically said we'd never discourage you from checking all clearances, but reality is, you could build 1000 of these completely stock 350 truck builds with the off the shelf parts, and never find one that had an issue. Its really only an issue when you start mixing and matching and building non-standard stuff. Mine is bored .030 over with the crank journals undersized by 0.010 - about as standard as it gets. So I am checking stuff to confirm and learn, but I am not stressing too much about it, and in some cases, I am making do with non-ideal measurement tools (like I didn't spend the money for a good bore diameter tool). There is probably more error in my measurements than there is in the machine and production work. But so far, I have not found anything that is concerning anyway...crank main #1 was on the tight side (using plastigage), otherwise everything else seems pretty good Also checked the rod journal width/side play in the rods, piston to deck clearance, etc, and a bunch of cam degree checks today as well. Its a stock cam - total valve is lift is only like .390/.410 using 1.5 rockers, so its not even close to causing any issue with the valve train.

 

Today was more of the little tedious stuff....some clearances checked, crank keys and timing sprocket went on, oil pump fitted and the pick-up screed depth was set, cam installed and degreed, and I confirmed a proper TDC pointer for the new harmonic balancer. I also meant to get the dowel pins installed in the deck for the heads, but forgot - got distracted playing around with the cam and taking measurements (and also went down a couple of rabbit holes reading all about cams).

Here is the new oil pump, and I added a new pick-up as well as one of the few 'upgrades' from stock I am doing, which is the metal collar/sleeve on the pump driveshaft instead of the plastic one.


Getting the new pick-up 'pressed' into the pump is a PITA - no really good way to 'drive' or press it in until I saw a pic in the Atherton book where it looked like an open end wrench could possibly be used to slip over the tube and then you can hammer on the wrench handle right near the open end. It took some rapping, but it worked:



For as hard as it is to drive the pick-up tube in, it still can rotate somewhat easily, and I guess they have a tendency to move out of position at some later point. I set the depth according to spec, and then put a little tack weld on it (wondering if a modern solution would have just been to use some oil resistant JB weld around the edge).


Then it was time to move to the cam and timing...I was able to use the dampener that has 90 degrees of markings on it, to make a full 360 tape and used that in place of the traditional degree wheel. Its not accurate to the half degree, but probably to 1-2 degrees, and allowed me to confirm well enough what I needed. Here, getting TDC set, and getting my pointer set:



And finally, my set-up for measuring the cam lobes using the lifters...cam is OEM replacement, so its minimal lift and relatively short duration (something like 185/195 duration at .050 with lift of .390/.410 - one thing that threw me off, I wasn't expecting a dual profile with the slight differences in the intake and exhaust....). All this work to verify the cam grind and see if the centerline timing was off wouldn't really matter much anyway, as the timing gear and sprocket set I used is fixed, non-adjustable (guess you could use some sort of 'offset bushing') OEM style...so it was more about Cam 101 class today.


Maybe tomorrow I can kind of make it at least start to look complete...finalize the timing stuff and get the heads on, and then I have to go review how to set valve lash and finish the valve train....Who knows, maybe I can even work on finalizing the intake, oil pan, front cover, water pump etc, and kind of get it all together.

 

that is how I got the crank sprocket over the crank keys - I cooked it in the oven for a bit and then it was much easier to press on...I guess i could have put the pump cover in the oven - not sure why I didn't.

 

A little progress each day....Here is the old dampener:

I decided to replace it as the sandwiched rubber was cracked and some of the edges seemed to have been torn out - especially in the 10-11 oclock range in the photo.

Before I could put the heads on, new dowel pins go in the block:


Then finalized the timing chain/gears, front cover, dampener and pulleys etc, and then put the heads on, torqued in sequence to proper spec:


Finally, the rest of the valve train - lifters, pushrods, rockers, and valve lash adjusted:


Feels like its getting close...

 

Question for the masses....I am getting the oil pan and intake etc on, and then its going to sit for a few weeks before hopefully its fully installed and ready to start and break-in. When the time comes, it'll get standard break-in procedure with oil pump priming beforehand, but wondering if I should add fluid (oil and break-in additive etc) now and prime the pump before it sits for weeks? On previous rebuilt engine (225 v6 done by local shop), I added oil and primed the pump and engine the day I did start-up and break-in. I never thought about it before, but the ready to go engine sat for a few weeks in the garage assembled with lube, but no oil or priming. Basically, I don't think it really matters to just let it sit with assembly lube, but just wondering if it might be better to spin the pump and cycle oil through before it sits for a bit. FWIW, the assembly lube is oil soluble.