Sorry to see that. Hope you get it back up soon!

 

Been shopping around the last few days and have almost everything checked off of my parts list. I found a 20/20 crank already ground, two OBA rods, a set of NOS bearings, and a new set of .083 Pistons from Egge. I bought a NOS pressure plate a while back for the build. I found out that the adjustment bolts were welded and could not be adjusted. Since everything was balanced, and will need to be redone I located another Borg-Warner "NOS" rebuilt plate to be able to adjust it down the road if needed. Going back with best gaskets w/graphite head gaskets to maintain my desired head to piston clearance.

No changes to the engine specs, but I do get to fix a couple of irritating oil leaks I had. I did not notice that the oil dip stick tube flange had a bad gasket. Darn thing was riveted on so I removed it and welded nuts in the pan.

 

Glad to see you're forging ahead.

 

I can't imagine why you'd ever adjust the PP finger bolts. I'd keep the B-W PP for spare and use the one that's already balanced.

 

The first B-W was not adjusted properly which I did not think to check assuming it was rebuilt. It has a significant discrepancy between the three arm heights. The end result was pressure plate chatter. It looked like an old "new rebuild" but obviously not. With a replacement crank everything needs to be balanced.
The defective one is salvageable but we don't have a shop near by.....I took the path of least resistance (and cost!).

 

I was readying the parts to take to the machine shop tomorrow to balance & I couldn't believe my eyes. As you can see in the picture the NOS pressure plate has been dropped some time in the past and the impact bent one corner so that the bolt hole was off. It appeared as though I could have enlarged the hole but there was a little distortion along the mating surface of the flange.
My old Borg-Warner style plate had defective arms but the metal cover was OK. sooooo.

I took both apart and married up the good cover with the NOS B-W pressure plate assm. After assembly I checked the arm adjustment and all is within spec.
I made an earlier comment about adjusting the fingers. It is impossible since the arms are crimped onto the bolts that contact the throwout bearing.

The NOS part came from an Early Ford restorer who has had it for a number of years & thought this was a good part. I have seen this type of damage 2x. It pays to ask, and I did not!

The .083 EGGE Pistons arrived Friday. They have been debured and weight ballanced. They will get a good cleaning this week and await getting the two rods refurbished.
I found a set of Johnson Rod and Ohio main bearings. Both are old stock USA made bearings.

 

Way off topic, but talking about finding domestically made products as NOS, it just breaks my heart that we have sent so much manufacturing equipment, capacity and technology offshore. Combine that with more robotics and at some point you have to think that at some point there might not be enough jobs to employ our own citizens, let alone have the manufacturing capacity and know-how to recover from some sort of emergency or, God forbid, some sort of national defense need.

 

Unbelievable!
I advertised for a set on NOS bearings. I went with one responder, a restorer and long time EFV8 guy. A lesson learned to ALWAYS ask for pictures or verification. I expected shelve wear and not items that were beat up. The transaction was resolved and my point to share is that the a acronym NOS "new old stock" parts may not translate the same by everyone. I have another set of NOS Ford bearings coming.....from a different person, sure don't want to get hit by lightening twice

 

It has taken awhile to round up the parts. The bearings and rods were needed before the crank can be balanced. I located 8 NOS rods and bearings at Southside Obsolete in MN. I also ordered another distributor. It is a centrifical and vacuum advance which should improve on economy. I have preped all of the parts and look forward to assembling the engine after the crank is balanced.
Interesting side note, the NOS rods were only $5 more than the import reproductions, it pays to shop around.

 

Congrats! Great find. I'm looking forward to seeing the engine go back together.

 

Charlie NY over on the Ford Barn rebuilds carbs and converts Delco distributors for our flatheads. This one is curved for 20 degrees at 2k and brings in a few more degrees with manifold vacuum to help with economy. Way more tunable than the Mallory was.

 

The rotating assembly has been at the shop to be balanced. I could not weight balance the rods properly so I gave him the set of 8 NOS rods to match. The balance process with crank and flywheel went well but when he put the Rebuilt BorgWarner pressure plate on it was way off. He wasn't comfortable adding a lot of weight so I ordered a new PP from Dennis Carpenter. Not a bad deal, their flat rate shipping was only $9.99, 4 days coast to coast. Will get the PP to him and he will set the crank back up to finish the job. All replacement parts are in the shop now. I hope to have it back home by next week to began re assembly of the engine.

I'm looking for a 9" F-100 rearend to began rebuilding. The Dana 41 with 3:78 gears would be nice with an overdrive but that's not in the cards for now. I'm more interested in drivability than sport, with the 9" I can tailor the ratio to a comfortable cruise RPM.

 

The shop has had my rotating assm for over a month to balance. I picked up the parts this week. The first clutch plate I gave him was way out of whack and would have required a lot of additional weight. The new PP from Carpenter was only a couple of grams off. Since I replaced the Pistons the heads to piston clearance needed to be checked. The EGGE pistons are a bit taller, so I went through the process of measuring and sanding the combustion chambers again. It's good to see it go back together.

While waiting I found a set of steel bed strips at a swapmeet for $25 bucks. I found a place in Texas selling stainless 1/4-20 carriage bolts. 50 bolts & nuts shipped for $20 bucks. I completed fitting the old bed wood. The wood donor was an original AA truck bed. I fitted a piece of angle iron as the end cap. It is bolted to the bed with flush head bolts and welded to the rear bed sheet metal.

Also located a rear axle out of a 1963 F-100. I was searching for a later 9" but am happy with this unit, it has a factory fill plug in the housing. Will be collecting parts to rebuild it after the engine is completed. I think a 3.50 ratio will work well with my 225 75r15 tires.

 

Bed floor is looking nice!

 

That's too bad about your bearing. I liked how the engine looked in there