Bellhousing and engine install

I was able to get out into the garage a few times these last few weeks.  First thing I did was get the bell-housing and transmission installed onto the engine.  I then set it onto the frame.  I thought it was going to be the last time that I set it on the frame.  When I set the engine onto the mounts I noticed that the oil pan was JUST touching the engine cross-member.  I wasn't comfortable leaving it like that.  With all the engine movement that occurs, I figured it would develop a oil pan leak eventually from rubbing.  With some help and advice we came up with a plan to widen the engine frame mount bolt holes so the mounts were able to move the engine rearward about 1/2".  So out came the engine again to do the work.  The plan worked and the oil pan is not touching anymore, it moved the mounts back just enough for the pan to not rub.

Bell-housing and clutch fork installed shown below.

Throw-out bearing installed on the clutch fork

The Muncie was then carefully slid into the engine.

 

 

Using the engine lift again the engine was lowered onto the frame.

I'm really happy with how the colour scheme is turning out.

I didn't take a picture of the engine before the mount modifications unfortunately.   Below is after the mount modifications, I also put some rubber in between the pan and the cross-member to cushion some of the movement.

This month I also ordered my new exhaust headers.  After a lot of research I decided on a set of Hedman Elite Ceramic coated headers.  The headers fit, but just barely.   I am going to need to grind a small amount of material off the lower A-arm mount on the drivers side.  I also am going to need to relocate the brake line on the passenger side, and shorten one of the upper A-arm mounting studs.  Other then those modifications they fit great!  And look awesome  

Wiring Kit, 4 Speed and Clutch Install

We went on a family vacation to Florida recently for 8 days, so I used the higher customs allowances as an excuse to pick something up for the Chevelle.  I ordered the complete wiring for the car, and picked it up on the way home from the airport, and brought it back across to Canada with us duty/tax free!  Which is a good savings.  our taxes are 13% here in Ontario.

I ended up choosing the American Autowire Highway 22 kit.  I chose it because it seems very straight forward (I will review it after I install).  I also liked the Highway 22 kit because it is customizable to a lot of different applications and has spare circuits for adding other accessory's to the system.  I liked how the kit also has longer then normal wire lengths so the fuse panel can be mounted away from the factory location.  I think I am going to mount it on the kick panel inside the car so I can hide the wires and clean up the engine bay.

The kit seems very well laid out and separated into different areas.  The instructions also seem well written.

 

This past week I was able to get out into the garage while the girls were at daycare for the day.  I took this time to fire the 454 up one more time before I put it on the Chevelle frame.  I try and run it when the girls aren't home (they are 3 and 1 year old) because it's so loud it scares them haha.  I don't think the cheap mufflers I put on the run stand are doing much.  I gave it a good run for about 30-40 minutes.  I even pushed it a little harder revving it up to 5000 rpm and holding there.  It runs great! and no leaks either!

After the run I cooled it down and drained the coolant and started taking the stand and engine apart enough to move to the frame.  Once I had it off the stand, I installed the clutch and pressure plate.

The Clutch I got was from Ram Clutches, It was recommended to me by Summit Racing for its holding power and reasonable price. 

Below is how it came as a kit.  It comes with a plastic installation tool, and a new throw out bearing.  I also picked up some mounting bolts for the pressure plate and a new bronze pilot bearing.

Here is the new pilot bearing.  It goes in the end of the crankshaft for the nose of the transmission to ride on.

Installed in the crankshaft.

Here is the plastic installation tool.  It is a plastic replica of the input shaft of the Muncie transmission.  It is used to hold the clutch plate in place on center while the pressure plate can be bolted  down onto the flywheel.

Here is the pressure plate installed.

I decided that I wanted to paint the Muncie black instead of the aluminum colour I had painted it when I rebuilt it.  I had some "Rocker Guard" paint lying around the garage so I tried it out.  I think I like it, It looks tough.



Next thing on my list to do is mate the tranny, bellhousing and engine together and bolt them onto the frame.  That will be in the new year when I get some time out there after the holidays.





Frame - Brake and Fuel Lines, Steering

Now that I have the engine problems all straightened out, I have been focusing back on the Chevelle's frame.  The bodywork is suppose to start in January, so I need to get the frame ready.

I am planning on using a in-tank fuel pump system.  These setups are high flow pumps that can be used for carburetor or EFI setups.  For this system I need to have a fuel line supply and return.  For the fuel supply I am running 3/8" stainless tubing and for the return I am using 1/2" stainless.

I had to drill and install threaded plugs along the frame rails.  I then used tube clamps to hold the lines in place.

Below I am running the 1/2" return line underneath the 3/8" supply line.

I still need to clean up the bends a bit with some tube benders.

For the Chevelle's brake lines I purchased a pre-bent 3/16" front and rear line kit.  And then I got my hands on some 1/4" stainless tubing for the line that runs from the front of the car to the back.

Below can see the brake lines.  The pre-bent kits were nice and didn't require any bending on my part.

Another job I tackled was the steering linkage.  I used Moog tie rods, Hotchkis tie rod links, and a drag link from CPP.  I found the Hotchkis rod links and the moog tie rods didn't mesh well, I'm not sure if they were different threads,  I got them together but they are a very tight fit.  I hope it doesn't cause any problems when it comes time to adjust alignment.

Below I have the old linkage above and the new linkage below for comparison

I am using the original steering box.  I will clean it up and put a fresh coat of paint.

Engine Build- UH OH!

After writing my last post I ran into a MAJOR problem, by major I mean one of the worst things that could of happen other than blowing the thing up, at least that's what I initially thought.  After the initial break in I ran it a couple more times and each time I kept noticing a small coolant drip on the floor.  I took a couple bolts off the block and sealed them thinking that this was the source but it never stopped.  Well after awhile I seen where the drip was coming from, BEHIND the engine block paint!  I grabbed a screwdriver and chipped away the paint and there it was a crack in the water jacket on the block.


Small crack can be seen after I chipped the paint away. 

After I was done swearing, and throwing things around the garage I calmed down and thought about my options.  Option 1, scrap the block and get a new one.  New was going to be around $2000, another used block was going to be around $1200 by the time I had it re-machined.  This option would require me to completely disassemble the engine and start from scratch.   Option 2,  I buy some of these "miracle" crack repairs that you put into the rad and circulate through the coolant.   Option 3, try and find a good enough welder to weld cast.  Option 4, a procedure called "cold metal stitching" where a series of threaded overlapping plugs are installed along the crack which fuses all new material where the crack was originally. 






luckily the machine shop that had done all my original machine work to the block said they could do the stitching for me.  I decided to go this route because I didn't want to start from scratch and I didn't want the "patch" job of using the rad/coolant fixes.    So I had to drain all the coolant and oil and take the carb off for them to do the work.  I then loaded it up and dropped it off at the shop.  After a couple weeks I picked it back up and it looked great.  The real test was going to be running it again.  They were confident.


This is the full crack that can be seen after magna-fluxing

It was a lot bigger than I expected it to be

Here is the finished job, if you look closely you can see the small plugs along the crack

I just need to repaint it now

Loaded up, on way home.

I took it home and hooked it all back up to my engine stand, and fired it up.  I put some Irontite All Weather Seal (shop recommended this as a insurance).  It is a sealant that is put in with the coolant that searches out and leaks any seals them up.  Well after running for a good 40 min or so of hard revving and idling,  I can report NO LEAKS.  Now I hope it holds up over time.




I learned one big lesson.  When using a used engine block for a build, have it checked for cracks.  I had painted the block before bringing it in to initially have it machined, I guess I shouldn't have done this because they can't magna-flux the block over the paint.  I didn't know this.  I also think that they should have suggested that I strip the paint off and have it done.  I think there were faults on both sides.  I know for next time now.  lesson learned.

Engine Build - Initial Break In Run

During these last few months I have been able to finish my first engine build, build a engine test run stand, and I fired up the engine for it's initial break in run.    I also made a time lapse video of the final assembly of the engine.   The time lapse can be seen in my previous post.  The video is a combination of over 12, 000 photos that I took during the assembly.  I had setup our camera on a tripod with a timer and had it take a picture every 3 seconds.  I then took all those photos and using a program they were put together to make a video.

When I finished the engine build I decided I wanted to build a engine run stand for two reasons.  First reason is I wanted to be able to break the motor in with easy access to the engine in case anything needed repair before putting into the Chevelle.  The second reason I wanted a stand was because I don't think this will be my last engine build, and it would be nice to have one if I ever decided to do another engine.

I made the stand out of wood because my carpentry skills are a lot better than my welding skills and I also had a lot of lumber lying around the garage.
 

I mounted the old rad that I had from the Chevelle.  This is when I ran into my first problem.  After I had everything hooked up and ready.  I started filling the rad with coolant.   The rad had been sitting out in my shed for a few years through some pretty nasty winters so it must have cracked the coil somewhere inside, because coolant started pouring out the bottom of the rad.  It was junk.  So I decided this was my opportunity to get the rad setup I will be using for the Chevelle and get a chance to test it out on the stand also. 

I ended up going with a Griffin aluminum rad with dual 12" Spal fans.  I went with this setup because of a few reasons.  They had great reviews, their customer service with me was excellent and the setup was significantly lower in cost compared to similar big name setups.

It was a big box, so I needed some moving help as can be seen below.

She also runs my quality control inspection department seen below inspecting the fins.

Dual Spal Fans, The setup came with all wiring and controls needed for easy install.

Installed on the run stand

Here are a couple pictures of the complete stand with the engine wired and ready to run.

Before I started the engine for the first time I made sure to set up the engine to fire as soon as I started cranking it over.  There were a few things I did to ensure this.  First I set the #1 cylinder at approx. 12 degrees before top dead centre on the compression stroke.  I had the spark plug removed from the #1 Cylinder.  I rotated the engine over and at the same time had a finger over the spark plug hole.  When the piston is on its way up on the compression stroke the compression can be felt on your finger, blowing air out the hole.  I then brought the crankshaft up to the 12 degree before top dead centre mark on the harmonic damper.

The next thing I did was setup the distributor so that it was as close to firing the #1 cylinder spark plug at the same moment.  To do this I wired the distributor cap up in the correct firing order (I triple checked that I had the wires routed correctly).  I then lifted the rotor cap off, and set the distributor body so that the rotor was lined up to where the #1 wire was on the cap.    By doing these first steps I was ensuring that the initial timing was close enough to get the engine running quickly.

One other thing I did was fill the carb up with fuel.  To do this for me was easy because I am using an electric fuel pump.  All I had to do was hook my fuel lines up,  turn power on to the pump and ran if for about 5-10 seconds.  What this did was fill the carb fuel bowls up with fresh fuel so that when the engine was turned over it got fuel going in right away. 

The last thing I did was pre-oil the engine.  I have a tool that is modeled after the bottom section of a distributor so you can hook it up to the oil pump drive in the block.  I slid it into the block onto the oil pump drive and then using my battery drill spun it for about 5 minutes making sure I was getting some pressure reading on the oil pressure gauge I had hooked up.

I was now ready to fire this engine up.  I must have set the engine up correctly because it fired right up.  I was actually surprised at how fast it did fire up, I was expecting a bit of cranking before it happened. 

The video below is the 1st start. 

Here is the 2nd attempt

 

The above videos you can see it is running pretty rough.  It wasn't firing on all cylinders and I traced it back to a bad battery.  I was able to get my hands on a battery booster and once it was hooked up to the battery the engine ran great and I was able to set the timing.  The video below is with the booster hooked up.  You can hear it running alot better.

After I had run the motor a couple times and gave it a good run in, I let the engine cool down and drained the oil and took the oil filter off.  This is done so I can look at the oil and make sure no metal was found in it.    I even used a strainer and filtered the oil and the only material I found in the oil was a little bit of fuzzy lint material, I think that this was probably a bit of lint from the shop towels I used during assembly.

At this time I also took the tappet covers off to inspect the valve train and re-tourque the head bolts.    When I had the tappet covers off, I found an issue.  I was looking at the rocker arms and I noticed that some of the roller tips weren't centered on the valve stems.  The rocker arm tips are supposed to be centered on the valve tips and this is accomplished with the push rod guide plates.  After some research I found that there have been some issues with the guide plates that come on the Edelbrock cylinder heads.

To fix this issue I ordered some Comp Cams guide plates and installed them.  This fixed the problem and the tips were centered properly in the valve stems.
  
Below is a picture of the new guide plates installed.

Below is a picture of the edelbrock guide plates

I am extremely happy with how everything turned out with my first engine build,  I've learned so much already about engine building and would like to do another engine (maybe after the Chevelle is done).  This has been my favorite part of my Chevelle build so far.