My Budget 250 build

I tried to compare it with other photos on the internet, and I must agree that something is a bit off. :unsure::
 
That's because it's a spacer for a mid to later 1970's engines that are setup to use an EGR valve. :nod:
 
If anyone is wondering what is going on I am still building my wiring harness from scratch, just trying to be careful how I run my wires and attach the ends, but I am in no hurry.

See Ya,
Mike
 
I never found my carb spacer/adapter but found one used on eBay so I ordered it today.

If anyone reading this thread is also following the car build thread, you know I finished up the engine run harness today, once I get the spacer and the valve springs changed out (plus a few little things like fuel lines) I will be ready to fire this thing up and get the cam broke in.

See Ya,
Mike
 
pmuller9":a52iwm2e said:
The ID of the Crane spring is 1.035" versus .989" for the present spring.
The retainer is not a snug fit in the valve spring with .045" clearance.
That's generally not a problem and a lot of valve spring to retainers are run that way.
If you are OCD like me and you want a snug fit the retainer would have to be changed.

The valve stem diameter should be .310"?

Just in case I get to feeling OCD as well does anyone know the correct retainer for these springs? there are choices and not sure what I am looking at.

Vintage inlines has the single with dampers. Also Crane sells these Summit Crane Valve Retainers I think I can buy them as a set of 16 but are cheaper as just 6 pairs I believe.

See Ya,
Mike
 
The Crane 99969 has too large of an ID (1.060")

The Crane 99950 has the 1.030" ID to fit your spring which have a 1.037" ID? please verify this ID spring dimension.

The Comp 768 retainer also has a 1.030" ID.
 
This is the measure on the Crane valve springs.

7fc266e7339baafc3d13b63460aadb0c.jpg


Not sure the measurements are exact but should be close.

Looks like the Crane 99950 should work.

See Ya,
Mike
 
The carb spacer got here, it fits the intake but is not quite right for the carb, the throat on the new carb is correct for the spacer but the stud spacing to bolt it down is a little too wide, I made it work with a little grinding with a rotary rasp just removing a little material on the inside of each hole.

I will take a picture soon and maybe someone here can tell me what ports I can cap off on this carb, I think it is truck carb for the BB6s but everything appears to be in the correct orientation. It is mocked up on the intake now I need to dig around and see if I can locate the stock accelerator cable bracket\, it seems like I have spent a lot of time over the last week searching for things :roll:

I ordered the correct valve spring retainers so I am waiting on those to arrive plus a handful of other little things like the fuel filler neck hose. Not sure what is going to jump up and bite me right now but as far as my memory serves everything else is hooked up and ready to rock.

Right now the major things are getting the valve springs changed over and reassembling the rocker arm shaft, bolting the head down, doing the pre-lube (with break-in oil), putting the header back on and hooking it up to exhaust system with some temporary pieces of flex pipe.

I think I mentioned that I had all my gauges (oil and water temp are mechanical) and tach hooked up, the ignition system has power to it but not sure how to test to see if it is working properly, I could always stand in a water puddle and hold the coil wire in my hand as I cranked the motor over :shock: I will probably go over all the system multiple times before I try to start it for the first time.

See Ya,
Mike
 
No Mike, you sure don't want to do that! Get a spark tester see below links for a couple examples, I have an AC Delco one that looks like the first one in the video that have I used for many years, it shows the second one below too as well as an adjustable one I have one like that too. Second one would also work well most auto parts stores should have several types of them or other versions. (y) :nod:

Clip On Spark Tester, Inline and Adjustable Testers
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zzO69vRyl4A

Inline Spark Tester
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HU2L1NU?ta ... th=1&psc=1
 
bubba22349":38kf114e said:
No Mike, you sure don't want to do that!

Well I really didn't intend too :LOL: :LOL:

This may be of interest to someone here if they are doing the 250 swap, I guess I am kinda picky sometimes and I wanted to use a factory appearing molded lower radiator hose but none exist I can find with my combination (250, BB radiator, and engine sitting low as possible)

To make my hose I started with the stock 250 lower hose, I cut it off a little past halfway down, then I took a Dayco 71070 (Summit is the only place I found selling this hose) which is a 1.75" on one end and 1.5" on the other (shows it fits a Mercedes form the 80's), I also got an aluminum 1.5" barbed hose connector (ITC Billet AN627-24A) and a heat shrink hose clamp for 1.75"-2" OD pipe (All-Star Performance ALL30257), trimmed the lower hose to fit and joined the two together putting the barb splice between them and heat shrinking the clamp after aligning everything.

48ed2959ad6f6bd685608b910a5b1122.jpg


Not too bad and most would probably miss that it is two hoses spliced together.

Just a little tip for anyone trimming radiator hose down and you want a clean straight cut, clamp a hose clamp down on it and trim along the edge of the clamp with a box cutter, no more jagged looking cuts 8)

See Ya,
Mike
 
Thanks for the insights you are sharing with the pics' , it's the DETAILS that make the difference completing simple elements of a build typically needing the fabricators versatility to make something work without off the shelf or expensive solutions.

> another method I use to increase internal diameter of radiator hose is to use an exhaust pipe expander . A little stretching works as long as reenforcement strands arent broken..

> to decrease Internal diameter, I've simply cut off hose end for short sleeve that fits over rad' port and then slip the actual hose over both.


> your mileage may vary ...
-


test stand uses a spare radiator from my '50 Stovebolt Six' adapted to current occupant'







Have fun
 
The new valve springs are installed, the new retainers I waited a week for, Not, the hole in the center is too large, I put the first one on and the spring was way higher than all the rest, I thought this isn't right, then noticed the spring was way out from the end of the valve :roll:

2a973318c5110a980632dcca5813731a.jpg


New retainer on the left old on the right, I just went ahead and installed the old ones back on there, hopefully I can return the new ones for at least a partial refund :(

Head is now installed and torqued down, the picture below is the head gasket in place, then the head and rockers bolted in place and finally the valve cover and carb bolted down.
725d3cdc2c1b82a374d3dee773713b66.jpg


Next, I will get the header bolted on and the temporary connector pipes to the exhaust pipes.

I need to look for the accelerator cable bracket and hook up the fuel line.

Getting close now!

See Ya,
Mike
 
bubba22349":38va5np0 said:
great its almost time to make some Music!

Hoping so!

Any advice on setting up the initial start? Going to do the pre-lube today, I hope, may add gas to the tank and prime up to the regulator, if I can find a short piece of heater hose I will make a loop over between the in and out ports and I should be able to put water in.

Barring any of that leaking, I should be able to install the fuel line once I getting the fitting for the carb.

What does everyone recommend setting my initial timing to?

Should I plug all the vacuum lines? I think 2500 RPM is what the break-in requires.

Should I just leave the PCV valve disconnected for now?

I don't know any other things I should be checking and doing for this first start and cam break-in.

See Ya,
Mike
 
Good plan. I would probally set base timing to 12 or 14 degrees BTDC for the cam break in tuning. Yes most all of vacuum lines could be capped off for the break in running if you wanted, might be good though if you hooked up the line to the vacuum advance of the distributor. The PCV and other vacuum lines will need to be hooked before you can do your final carb tuning though, I will usually hook up all the vacuum lines before a new engine start up, but this is only because most of the time these cars or trucks I did ended up going right back into use. Yes 2500 RPM's is good for the cam oiling during its break in. If it's not been done yet set the carb mixture screw to 1 1/2 turns out or to the basic carb rebuild setting. Best of luck Mike! (y) :nod:
 
Thanks for the advice Bubba.

Got some more done today, I filled the engine with oil, it held 8 quarts and the dipstick is showing just in the safe zone, I have 2 more quarts of break-in oil but think I will wait to add it after the initial run and check the level then. I did spin the oil pump with the drill and found out if you go too fast oil spews out the distributor hole :roll: (I wanted to see if the oil gauge works :p )

The header is installed, just needs the temporary pipes hooked up.

Found the original 200 cable bracket, it doesn't quite fit the 250 properly, one hole in the block just wouldn't reach so I left it out and the cable is at a little bit of an odd angle and I am not sure the accelerator will fully return to idle when the pedal is released, neither should affect me for what I am using it for.

Cooling system is complete just needs water (my pickup was parked on the garden hose and I didn't want to go get the key :p )

757b5ec5166fc5032d5dd451baf52cac.jpg


Still need to get the fitting for the fuel line into the carb and a piece of fuel line.

Not sure what the ports on the Carter YF are yet, there are only 3 places to connect lines a big one next to the fuel inlet, and a small one near the top and a small one near the bottom that has a rubber cap over it.

See Ya,
Mike
 
The big tube hook up at the top of carb goes to a fuel vapor canister used on the mid 1970's and up into 1980's car and truck part of their emissions control system, you probally aren't going to use that so you can cap it off. The small top tube is for a carb vent line that gets hooked up to the bottom of the later model type Air Cleaner's again mid 1970's to 1980's so depending on which AIr Cleaner your going to use you might or might not use it. The smaller tube at the bottom if it's 5/16 could be the vacuum line going to distribtor I would need to see the bottom of the carb passages to confrim that. There should also be a 3/8 inch tube or a NIP threaded hole to screw in a line fitting at the base of the carb for vacuum source to the PCV line. Good luck Mike, (y) :nod:
 
I got the radiator filled today, so far no leaks.

Gas is in the tank and I ran the pump and filled the system, hooked up the carb and now I get a squirt of gas when I pump the pedal.

526addb8cc67a3e0b889d5773a1532c1.jpg


My distributor line is a bit short but it what I had laying around, same with the PCV line it is just some clear tubing I had.

This is what I did with the carb, I plugged the two top lines and ran the advance out of the bottom one, on the distributor I will plug the rear port (it has tape on it now to keep out wasps that like to build in every open hole they can find)

b4641be741006227827cedf09765b692.jpg


Still need to advance the timing a little and get the exhaust hooked up, my temporary piping will leak pretty bad but it might keep some of the exhaust off the starter, going to take it and have the exhaust finished up later I still need to run the pipes over the rear axle and out the back at that time as well.

Going to clean all my mess off the car before I try to start it, folks are asking for a video of either my victory or failure :roll: so the car needs to look a little presentable :p

See Ya,
Mike
 
Nice progress and good luck.

It will be interesting to see how the header spacer works out (and I am hoping it works flawlessly).
 
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