Another 200ci Rebuild!

[kboldin]

We'll I've been asking a lot of questions lately and I'm sure I'll have a few more before it’s all over, that is if it’s ever over! I thought at least I would share my progress and experience for anybody interested and or the possibly that someday I could help someone else out. What I did right and more importantly what I did wrong (LOL).

It’s been a slow process, and like will continue to be slow but I’ll catch everybody up to where I’m at today.

Also, I’m not a professional. I’d say I’m a fair shade tree mechanic. I’ve been working on cars since I was 14 and bikes before that. I’m in my late 40’s and I have worked on all my personal cars, friends and family. I’ve built a couple engines, painted one car, painted a few panels, sewn a few interiors, door panels, seats, trim etc… All around I love the hobby and every discipline within it.

That said, again, I’m not a professional so I’m doing the best I can and enjoying every minute of it!

First off, a few details about the donor engine, it came from a 73 Bronco with 63k on the clock. I was told the afore mentioned was accurate and that it had never been rebuilt. Also, that it came from Colorado (I’m California) and that I am the third owner of the engine.

A few pictures:

before and after

Opening the water ports

Cleaning the freeze plug openings

Cleaning up the flashings

Cleaning up slag inside the case

Next up is chasing the threads (going to the store tomorrow) I have a tap and die set over at my Pops but that's not what I need. Dadgumit I have to buy another tool (LOL)! After that's done, maybe next week I'll get it to the machine shop for a dunk and get it resurfaced (nothing aggressive) just a tad off the top. While it's there I'll have the crank inspected and tuned up. Depending on how long they have it, I may go ahead and start on the head. It still have two broken bolts that need to be extracted. All other parts have been bagged and marked. I'll take pic's as I go and chronicle what I've done, we'll see how things go! By the way, it's an all skate, so everybody is welcome to comment and all opinions are welcome! Thanks!

 

[72maverick]

I'll follow your build on this forum as well

 

[Varilux]

Great stuff! My engine was just rebuilt, but I will be reading along with your progress and who knows- I might tackle this myself on a future project!

 

[kboldin]

Last night I got the rethreader (Craftsman). Handy little tool which I could have used about a billion times over the past 20 years. Not sure why I hadn’t bought one before, I ‘ve always used wd40 and a lose bolt or my little solvent tank to clean stuff up.

After last nights TV shows and putting everybody to bed, I snuck out to the garage at about 11pm to start on the block, I was able to finish up this morning before work. If I don’t have too many honey dues over the weekend I’ll post some pic’s.

Also, I went ahead and took care of the crank threads while I was at it. All went well, no problems whatsoever. By Sunday night I’ll have it off the engine stand and ready to go out the door!

 

[kboldin]

After six weeks at the machine shop it looks like I'll be getting the block back tomorrow! Quick check before I run off to the parts store. I was going to double check all my main and rod bearing clearances. I've read that the main bearings are suppose to be between .0005 and .0022 inches and between .0008 and .0024 inches for the rod bearings. That would be using the green plastigage (.001 - .003 in.)

 

[kboldin]

Finally!!! After six weeks at the machine shop I finally got my block back this morning. They magnafluxed it, bored it twenty thousands over, decked it ten thousands, hot tanked it and fixed a stripped water pump thread. While it was there I also had new pistons pressed onto the connecting rods. I ended up going with Sealed Power W489P flattops with moly rings.

Today’s Activities: I used a rust converter, scrubbed it, cleaned it thoroughly with hot soapy water, rinsed it, gave it a good blow dry, installed the rear galley plug, both rear freeze plugs, wiped it down with acetone, masked it off for paint and primered it with VHT Engine Enamel.
(whewww!)

Also, when I installed the freeze plugs I used a dab of JB Weld and thread sealer on the galley plug.

Took a bunch of picks along the way. Tomorrow I should be able to get it painted, at least that’s the plan!

The pictures are to cumbersome to resize so I’ve added a link to a slideshow with all the pictures in it. If you have any trouble with the link let me know. Thanks!

http://s325.photobucket.com/user/kboldi ... ild?sort=3

 

[kboldin]

This weekend I'll likely be installing the cam bearings and I'd like to get a little advice. I know each bearing has a correct position (there enumerated and orientation is fairly easy because of the double oiling port on the number four bearing).

Where I have a question is the number one bearing and direction of the oil valley (see pic), does the valley point toward the front or rear of the engine when installed?

 

[CNC-Dude]

It points toward the front, it sprays oil against the cam thrust plate to keep it oiled.

 

[kboldin]

It points toward the front, it sprays oil against the cam thrust plate to keep it oiled.

Thanks! Couldn't find it anywhere, I knew there had to be a logical reason why it was there.

 

[CNC-Dude]

Sure.

 

[kboldin]

Just a quick update, freeze plugs are in. I should have time Friday morning to install the cam bearings. That's the plan anyway.

 

[xrwagon]

love it, the colour and new freeze plugs look great

 

[Mr Comet]

Looks like UCLA Bruins color

 

[kboldin]

VHT Old Ford Blue, suppose to be correct for 1972. I painted a chip and held it against my air cleaner and it's close but not exact.
(If your doing concourse resto, this would not be the color to buy but if your just doing a normal rebuild then I think it works pretty well)

 

[falkon]

looks good like the color with the brass plugs

 

[kboldin]

Got a little further this weekend, cam bearings installed but had one slight hiccup. I had to pop out the 2 -1/16th freeze plug at the rear of the engine to get the number four cam bearing in. No biggy but I hate doing twice the work! For today’s update I included a short video of the bearing alignment after the install, since I bought an inspection camera a couple years ago I thought I might as well use it and verify the oiling ports.

http://youtu.be/jW9Yybk5ytE

 

[kboldin]

Weird… So I’m finally making some progress and noticed a slight oddity. The number three main cap appears to be mismarked? Looking at the arrows, they should all point forward, I noticed the number three arrow is pointing backward so I swapped it around so it would point forward. I went ahead and plastigage the bearings and got an odd clearance on that main cap (see results below).

Comparing a picture at the time of tear down, sure enough the number three main bearing is pointing backward with the digits lining up with all other main cap digits. I think this is likely the cause of the odd clearance measurement but I didn’t have time to verify it before I left for work. Regardless I think it should go back in exactly the way it came out but I will check the clearance again after it’s positioned the right way and see if I have a different reading.

If you have any insights I would appreciate them, I think it’s extremely odd that it’s stamped backward.

 

[drag-200stang]

I would put it in the way it came out with all the numbers on the same side. It looks to me like the casting sand moved a little bit to make the arrow look backwards. The direction of the 3 would be correct with the direction of the others. There is usually witness marks if you look very close at the mating surfaces. You can usually match them up if you're unsure how something goes. This is handy especially on rod caps that aren't marked very well.

 

[kboldin]

Yep, swapped it around and now have a solid 0.002 across the number three main. Still don't like the arrow facing the wrong direction but what are you going to do. I did check the original bearings and they were ford with a date stamp of 73. With any luck I'll have the final drop of the crank tomorrow.

 

[bubba22349]

As another check that the cap is on right look at the notch for the bearing tang, those should all be on the same side.