60s Refugee
Well-known member
There are always more details than concepts. Building an engine is no exception. The morning began, not with the head, but with the new engine mounts. I had used the old ones over during the restoration but figured that now with the new power and the old mounts pretty hard and cracked, I should replace the engine and tranny mounts. It's pretty easy to do when everything is apart. After getting them in I put on the starter and fuel pump. Next I turned to the head and ran in the set of studs for the header. These came from C.I. I also put studs in for the valve covers. I installed a new sender for the Temp gauge, a fitting for the tranny modulator, cleaned up the various lines and hoses, and checked the block for any remaining gasket material and debris in the cylinders.
I was really tempted to use the old lifters over. They came out still looking like mirrors with no visible wear marks of any kind (full synthetic oil works!). A friend and shop groupie had intended to rebuild his 200 but put in a V8 instead. He still had a full set of brand new FOMOCO hydraulic lifters. He gave them to me for free, just to get rid of them. COOL! New lifters after all! I soaked them in a coffee can full of engine oil for about a week. Remembering to coat the bases with Lubraplate I used the magnet wand to insert them into the holes.
The old head bolts looked great, but a 50/50 mix of older bolts and the newer style with the slimmer diameter. I guess these aided oiling of the rocker arms in later engines. I ran a die over the threads and checked the bolt holes in the block for debris. I put the new style bolts on the holes in the left and the old style on the right side along the log. I used those "Mr Gasket" brand head bolt washers to compensate for the milled head thickness and to better achieve the proper torque. I was now going to use my brand new 'clicker' torque wrench.
I used the 55/65/75 torque method. Boy! Does that new wrench work great! I wished it was a V8 so I could have done more bolts! If you do this, remember to use the proper torque sequence! I slipped in the pushrods, set the rocker assembly in place, and tightened the bolts. I poured some engine oil over the assembly. These had been in the old engine and were still oily, but I didn't want to take any chances of them being dry on start up!
Now for the header. I bought a Jet Hot ceramic coated dual outlet long tube header from C.I. Silver colored. Man, does it look sharp. As I tried to position it I discovered that the starter gets in the way of being able to get it over the studs. I removed the starter. Next problem, the holes in the header flange were so full of ceramic that the studs wouldn't line up! So, I chased each hole with a drill to get the ceramic out of the holes. After that the header slid right on! QUESTION...why no lock washers with the stud/nut/washer set? Do these nuts stay tight all by themselves?
: Hope so cuz I tightened 'em up just using the supplied flat washer. Getting an 11mm socket on the nuts was impossible in some spots so I had to use a box end wrench on those. I replaced the starter.
Now for the carbs, lines and linkage. Next problem...the gas pedal rod hits the header! CRAP! How am I gonna bend this and get it right? I heated the rod at the 90* bend and bent the rod up slightly then brought it closer to the head. Next I heated two spots and put two slight downward bends so that the rod would wind up in the void between #4 and #5 header tube. This seems to line up just right. I connected a Car Quest brand throttle return spring to the bolt that used to hold the exhaust pipe bracket and connected it to the hole in the rod. Perfect! I now have full pedal travel. After that the carbs went on easily as did the fuel line.
Now for the new valve cover. I bought one of those alumininumum (oops!) covers from C.I. I had already painted it "Ford Engine Red" and had cleaned off the polished fins. Looks great! I had "JB Welded" a baffel plate below the PCV hole. I sat the cover in place and started to run on the lock washers and stainless self locking nuts only to discover that many of them came so close to the cover that I couldn't get a wrench or a socket on them! CRAP! I ran over to Auto Zone and got a set of those wing nut jobs. They fit, and look cool, but I'm gonna find another way. Those wing nut things won't stay tight. I used a rubber Fel-Pro gasket.
WOW! What a morning! Here's two picks of how it looked at the end of the day!
Tomorrow the DSII ignition install!
Harry
I was really tempted to use the old lifters over. They came out still looking like mirrors with no visible wear marks of any kind (full synthetic oil works!). A friend and shop groupie had intended to rebuild his 200 but put in a V8 instead. He still had a full set of brand new FOMOCO hydraulic lifters. He gave them to me for free, just to get rid of them. COOL! New lifters after all! I soaked them in a coffee can full of engine oil for about a week. Remembering to coat the bases with Lubraplate I used the magnet wand to insert them into the holes.
The old head bolts looked great, but a 50/50 mix of older bolts and the newer style with the slimmer diameter. I guess these aided oiling of the rocker arms in later engines. I ran a die over the threads and checked the bolt holes in the block for debris. I put the new style bolts on the holes in the left and the old style on the right side along the log. I used those "Mr Gasket" brand head bolt washers to compensate for the milled head thickness and to better achieve the proper torque. I was now going to use my brand new 'clicker' torque wrench.
I used the 55/65/75 torque method. Boy! Does that new wrench work great! I wished it was a V8 so I could have done more bolts! If you do this, remember to use the proper torque sequence! I slipped in the pushrods, set the rocker assembly in place, and tightened the bolts. I poured some engine oil over the assembly. These had been in the old engine and were still oily, but I didn't want to take any chances of them being dry on start up!
Now for the header. I bought a Jet Hot ceramic coated dual outlet long tube header from C.I. Silver colored. Man, does it look sharp. As I tried to position it I discovered that the starter gets in the way of being able to get it over the studs. I removed the starter. Next problem, the holes in the header flange were so full of ceramic that the studs wouldn't line up! So, I chased each hole with a drill to get the ceramic out of the holes. After that the header slid right on! QUESTION...why no lock washers with the stud/nut/washer set? Do these nuts stay tight all by themselves?
: Hope so cuz I tightened 'em up just using the supplied flat washer. Getting an 11mm socket on the nuts was impossible in some spots so I had to use a box end wrench on those. I replaced the starter.Now for the carbs, lines and linkage. Next problem...the gas pedal rod hits the header!
CRAP! How am I gonna bend this and get it right? I heated the rod at the 90* bend and bent the rod up slightly then brought it closer to the head. Next I heated two spots and put two slight downward bends so that the rod would wind up in the void between #4 and #5 header tube. This seems to line up just right. I connected a Car Quest brand throttle return spring to the bolt that used to hold the exhaust pipe bracket and connected it to the hole in the rod. Perfect! I now have full pedal travel. After that the carbs went on easily as did the fuel line.Now for the new valve cover. I bought one of those alumininumum (oops!) covers from C.I. I had already painted it "Ford Engine Red" and had cleaned off the polished fins. Looks great! I had "JB Welded" a baffel plate below the PCV hole. I sat the cover in place and started to run on the lock washers and stainless self locking nuts only to discover that many of them came so close to the cover that I couldn't get a wrench or a socket on them! CRAP! I ran over to Auto Zone and got a set of those wing nut jobs. They fit, and look cool, but I'm gonna find another way. Those wing nut things won't stay tight. I used a rubber Fel-Pro gasket.
WOW! What a morning! Here's two picks of how it looked at the end of the day!
Tomorrow the DSII ignition install!
Harry
