The Black Panther Maintenance And Mod Thread

GeoffreyL came by and in a few hrs we had ripped the guts out.
AMC in their infinite wisdom have 2 generations of 360's, the main difference being the rear of the crank. I couldn't discern with the transmission attached but this squirrel got lucky and has the right (earlier) one. The flex plate and th400 will bolt right up.
Ordering new gaskets, it will get a new timing chain, matched distributor and cam gear, hei distributor and gm TBI.

 

Where are you sourcing your timing set from?
The majority of aftermarket timing gears have the oiling slot on the cam gear in the wrong location.

 

Hmm thanks I'll check. It's a Cloyes double roller

 

You will want to compare the location of the oil groove to your stock unit. Many have simply brazed up the wrong notch and filed their own notch in the correct location.

 

3 beer progress today. All the water pump and front cover bolts came out without breaking ( 2 that pass through into the block needed some heat and time to think about it) I ordered an ARP kit, not wasting time.
The timing chain is not terrible but with the replacement it's a non issue in my lifetime ( previously when I had the light on it I noticed it wandered a little, it might be the distributor, I have a DUI hei replacement)
The damper rubber has seen better days will source a replacement likely via DamperDudes.
Overall it's clean inside so far, would rather not see the rtv on the rockers...PO records show regular changes with Mobil1.
Tomorrow's goals are clean up, timing chain / gear replacement, spin it over and pull the pan. Gaskets should be here tomorrow.
With any luck by the end of the weekend it'll be coupled to the TH400 and ready to go back in ( butchering all day Sat with the girlfriend)

 

Damper Dudes is right down the road from me. I actually used to build and sell custom sized pallets to them.
The founder, now passed away, was an expert engine builder. His son ended up going to North Carolina and is an engine builder for a very well known Chevrolet Nascar team.

 

Welp, I went back to double check I hadn't screwed up but supposedly this was correct. Not! Back to Summit you go... Fyi Cloyes C-3028x is not correct for a 79 AMC 360...

I spent several hours today with the Scotch Brite pad and acetone on clean up.

 

A few wraps of duct tape will tighten that right up!

It's so frustrating trying to find the right parts sometimes.

 

Cloyes is not the place to look for AMC parts. You want to be looking at Rollmaster-Romac....

 

Also.... You have gone this far, pull the pan and clean the sludge out. Weld a nub on the bottom of the oil pickup so the pickup cannot suck to the bottom of the pan.
reinstall oil pan with a Fel-pro blue gasket.

 

New rear main installed, everything cleaned up ready to go back. From what I can see everything looks good in the bottom. Almost no sludge in the pan. Cam lobes ( what I can see ) look good. Correct timing chain just showed up. Too many beers in now for reassembly.
Tomorrow's gonna be a good day...

 

All buttoned up. New oil pan gasket, new rear main, new front seal. New water pump. Oil pump cleaned and reassembled ( filter housing cleaned up on flat surface with 800gr wet dry) New harmonic balancer.
Passenger side exhaust flange bolts snapped off. Multiple attempts at welding nuts on no dice. Drilled out.
Pressure washed the engine bay ( 60 here today) will get some wire wheel, shake n shoot 60ish next couple days.
Expecting to have the tranny bolted up and slinging it in this weekend ( have to step on it, gf and I committed to starting pickleball next week and are going dry for March. Except the stout and oyster fest Saturday ..)

 

Looking good Rich!
Sooooo dry for March?…not getting any JEEP work done…

 

Came home and jumped in the frame rails with the grinder and cup brush.
Welp...
I may start making some decisions about this thing ..

 

Drill the ends of the cracks, grind them out, weld them and plate them. Should be good until you decide if you want to dive down that rabbit hole of replacing the frame. At least you can enjoy it without being torn down all summer.

 

Drill em, grind em, weld em. Move on to the rest of the frame looking for cracks.
Your looking at $6K for an aftermarket frame by the time you get it to your door and painted.
Any stock replacement frame is just going to crack in the same locations.

 

Those welds do not have good penetration.

 

Agreed the attempted repairs are crap. I'll grind the cold globs off and cut them out, weld and plate.
When you just didn't need one more thing. Sigh more hassle than anything else .
Quitchebitchin and get on with it...

 

Yep I already scoped out TDK with all the options I want. .030 is cheap...