What does it cost to have a crank turned?

 

I'm guessing $100--$150, but then you have to have it balanced and polished too, ca-ching.
Today I stripped the paint from the t.cover and oil pan, and sprayed them with gloss clear to keep the pan from rusting. Not sure if I like it. With the black block and chrome side cover, polished Clifford v.cover, there's going to be a lot of shine on that side!


I got the bottom end assembled and then my paranoia about this engine got me. Through the crank case I could see the casting lines at the main oil galley. They casting lines were bad and looked as though I could stick a fingernail in one or two. I had to stop myself. If the engine fails again, then I toss this block and shift to the other one.

 

Temperature plays a role when measuring bearing clearances. I have measured the same journal, once on a nippy morning, and once in the afternoon of a low-seventy degree day. On the nice day reading I got .0007". On the cold morning I got .0015!

 

Nice job on remeasuring and finding the discrepancy! Those are the little (but important) things that a lot of people don't think about.
I'm curious if the manual that you got the clearances out of stated what temperature that was expected at. Metal expansion / contraction is a huge part of engineering, especially with an engine that gets up to several hundred degrees, so I would think that'd be important info.

Looking good!

If it DOES come to it though (needing the crank turned), one thing I kept telling myself when I was rebuilding my engine. "Do it once. Do it right."
My days of skipping steps, or figuring things will be okay are behind me. They never worked out.

 

It is starting to come together. I'm pulling parts from boxes that have sat on the shelf for years! Some I forgot I had! I used gorilla snot, aka canary bird crap, aka weather strip adhesive, to stick the gasket to the pan, and then clamped until dry. If there are any Trekies out there, you'll understand when I say that the engine is looking a bit Borg-ish.


I removed the paint from the t.cover too and sprayed it with clear. I never intended to spray the block black. But costs were mounting and I had a can of high-temp bar-b-que paint, and the rest is history.



I was cleaning my thermostat housing and noticed that my thermostat is rusted shut. Time to switch bands. That cheapo only lasted ten years, ha ha.

 

I've had cheapo T-stats that were bad right out of the box! Not quite the same quality now as they were even 10 years ago. Now I usually check them before I install them.

 

I'm going with Stant this time.

Well, when I realized that I could not risk putting together the block that failed, I put it on a dolly and wheeled it out for the junk man to take. There went $400 worth of machine shop work.
Oh, btw, my impressive idea about using weather strip adhesive on the pan gasket and clamping it to dry? When I took off the clamps and turned the pan over, the gasket dropped off!! It stuck to the pan that I cleaned with denatured alcohol, but I should have wiped the gasket too. Dang it.

 

I'll be running Harland Sharp roller rockers. Can someone please tell me the procedure to adjust the valves? I know the procedure to position the piston of the cylinder/valve that wish to adjust, but do I need to adjust before start-up AND once the engine is warm? Do I need to get a special lifter since there will be no oil in lifter when adjusted prior?

 

Adjust the valves before start-up.
Doesn't matter if the lifter has oil or not.

When the lifter is all the way down you can turn the pushrod with your finger tips as you tighten the rocker down till you feel the lash disappear and the pushrod barely pushes on the lifter plunger and gives you a little turning resistance.
If the side cover is off you can visually see when the lifter plunger begins to go down.
After that point turn the rocker adjuster nut another 3/4 turn and lock it down.

The following procedure gets each lifter to its adjustment position:

Take each cylinder one at a time starting with #1
Turn the crank clockwise until the EXHAUST valve just begins to open and stop. Then adjust the INTAKE valve as described above with 3/4 turn past zero lash.

Now turn the crank clockwise again till the INTAKE valve opens and begins to close. Just as the intake valve closes stop and adjust the EXHAUST valve.

Continue the process on remaining cylinders 2,3,4,5 and 6.

 

I was looking at the photo I posted of my timing cover and noticed there were a couple of cracks in it. It was stamped D2, 1972, so I decided to buy a new one via ebay. I'm sure it's made in the evil empire, but it looks nice. There are a few differences. On the oem cover there is a lip that forces you to install the seal from the inside. With the new cover there is no such lip. I'm going to spray it with clear and install as is. I was going to spray brush a mural scene of a trout stream with mountains on the cover, but I like the smooth alumimun look.



Now I'm working on the new Canned Ham Saginaw pump with dual returns for the Hydroboost. This pump came oe on a 1976 ltd with a 460 and hydro. I took the bracket off a Econoline with a 300. I was surprised to spend about $400 for fittings and braided line, and standard line for the dual returns.





The old bracket I had was much larger and stuck out like a wing hanging off the engine.It's below.



I messed up one of the cam bearings when I was installing the new cam, so I decided to replace them and that meant having to buy a cam bearing install tool. I found one on Summit for a good price, so the engine project is again moving forward toward completion, and should be installed in a day or two.



Now I'm wrapping these Clifford shorty headers with a ceramic heat wrap to keep the heat down in the engine compartment.




I have a pair of Hedman long tube headers, if anyone like Abandoned Bronco wants them. I also have an Isky 256 Supercam, that comes with timing gears, cam plate and retaining ring, and Isky lifters that were put in numbered bags when removed so they can match back up to the lobes of the cam they each were mated to.

 

Now I really want to see that! You should do it. The brushed aluminum look is so last year.

I want your shorty headers.

 

I'm rethinking the pan. With just metal and clear on the pan, the engine is looking like a ghetto hooker. I can't image what it'll look like with the polished Clifford v. cover on there. It looks pretty low-rider bling, 'way.'



So, the rubber bolt hole seals for the rocker cover, does the washer side sit outside the rocker cover? I can't remember.

I have the Fel-Pro 1024 head gasket and ARP studs. What is the best way to install the gasket? Gasket compound? Dry? Which side up? Thanks.

I ended up advancing the cam 2* for more bottom end pep. It was my thinking that Crower ground in 4* advance to compensate for the 4* retard that Ford grinds in their cams. So, I had a 'straight up' cam, before I advanced it.



I found that only the front and the rear cam journals have two oil holes. The other two journals have one oil hole. I'm glad I changed the cam bearings. They were pretty bad.

 

Did you check the cam timing with a degree wheel and dial indicator?
What did you use to advance the cam 2 degrees?

I don't see the timing tab for the harmonic balancer. The one on the timing cover is usually not the correct one.
Bring cylinder #1 up to TDC and see where the timing slot on the balancer is.

 

With the head gasket: I think it can only go on one way. If it's blocking holes, it's on wrong.
On mine, I put it on dry. Doesn't mean there's not better ways to seal it, but it's been working just fine.

For the lifter cover grommets, the side with the washer goes away from the cover. There should be a little "cone" on the rubber side that goes into the hole on the cover.

 

Thanks, AB! Good helpful info. How did you prime the oil system/pump?

Pmuller9: I used a dial indicator and the timing looked good, so I did not use a timing wheel.




I used the Cloyes adjustable set, and advanced the crank gear as the directions instructed. In the photo it does not appear to be 2*, but rather just advanced past tdc.I aligned the gears just like the image below.

Attachment 284048

Just as the t. cover moves around to allow you to center the seal for the h.balancer, that timing indicator in the photo moves about on the bolts too. So I can see how it is 2* advanced. But... what do you think?