1979 Olive: Making a Dependable Driver (1 Viewer)

[NCFarmboy]

Wow; you work fast… impressive.

 

[Skreddy]

It isn’t getting any better. Machinist cleaned and checked the head to reveal a cracked exhaust valve seat on that burnt valve. Further inspection revealed a crack in the head itself in the combustion chamber. Taking him a spare head I have tomorrow to check out, but on the lookout for a good head if anyone is tired of tripping over one….
The noise we initially heard that prompted a deeper look is making more sense now. Sounded almost like a rod knock at first but with the frequency of valvetrain events. Listening more to pinpoint, it really sounded like an exhaust leak happening inside the engine or exhaust manifold. I’m thinking now we were hearing the sound of combustion making its way past that bad valve. Very odd that we didn’t hear it before teardown but not too worried. It’s only money (my wife won’t get mad because it’s not mine!) and it’ll be right and dependable in the end. Bummed for Tom because we were right there. Tough to buy something and have to wait to enjoy because you immediately start tearing it down. But we will get there.

 

[Skreddy]

After having a few heads I had checked out, we finally got one from Mark’s Offroad. Wednesday I was able to get it all back together and fired up. Started right up and idled great, no smoke. Took it for a short drive as I was short on time and it ran well but it has a little off idle stumble and can hear the pedal rod side of the booster hissing. Need to investigate but thinking we’ve got a vacuum leak causing the stumble from a stop. Runs great through all the gears and stops fantastic. Hopefully soon, Tom can work this into his driving rotation.
We ditched the air pump and air rail while changing the head but left the remainder of emissions stuff in place.

 

[Skreddy]

My copilot and I spent a couple hours and 50 or so hot miles running some errands today in Tom’s cruiser. Small tweaks and tuning and I’m really pleased with how it’s running. I need to adjust the clutch pushrod a little and back off the rear brakes a tad because they will lock quick in a fast stop but otherwise I’m really enjoying how it runs and drives.

 

[Skreddy]

Poser shot at the neighborhood boat launch. Was going to put it in the garage and both kids needed a quick ride. Good excuse to check a warm start, shut down, hot start scenario.

 

[Skreddy]

But of an update. Cruiser ran great but had a knock from idle until around 1200-1500 rpm. Tried new rod bearings as well as other investigation but in the end, we found a fresh rebuilt engine locally so going to put that in and have this engine sorted for future use.

Old knocky coming out.

 

[Skreddy]

New engine home. Doesn’t look any different… hopefully find time to hook everything up in the next day or to.

 

[mattressking]

Nice work! Nothing better than the short trips to sort out the little issues.

Curious about the knock until around 1500rpm, never went away when hot or cold? Were you able to isolate it to a cylinder by unplugging each plug wire one at a time?

 

[Skreddy]

Nice work! Nothing better than the short trips to sort out the little issues.

Curious about the knock until around 1500rpm, never went away when hot or cold? Were you able to isolate it to a cylinder by unplugging each plug wire one at a time?

Nope, tried all kinds of stuff and could never isolate it. Engine temp made no difference, oil pressure was always great, pulling plug wires didn’t stop it, even tried pulling 2 wires at a time. Rod bearings were replaced and all. I’ll check it out when we tear it down. It was odd because it was at the same speed as valve timing which was leading me to think it was knocking on ignition maybe? So possible wrist pin (as mentioned) or ???.
And it’s possible the knock was still there above 1500, but as rpm’s increased it got quieter. Maybe just couldn’t hear it above 1500 because of engine noise but definitely fainter as revs went up.

 

[Skreddy]

It’s alive again! Little oil dribble off the oil cooler mount but I think new copper washers will stop that. It runs smooth and quiet and no knock! Got a quick 6 miles on it, more miles in the plans tomorrow.

 

[Skreddy]

About 40 miles on the new engine and it’s running fantastic! New copper washers seems to have stopped the oil drip. Super smooth and lots of power. Need to adjust the rear brakes and the clutch a little, then finish up a couple minor things over the weekend and Tom can start putting some miles on.

 

[Skreddy]

Little arts and crafts time. Sorry for the poor, blurry pics. Working nights so couldn’t have a beer…

Knobs are up next.

 

[Skreddy]

One more coat and a little clean up and they’ll be done. I’ll get the rest of them done on the rig tomorrow.

 

[RodrigzCrzr]

One more coat and a little clean up and they’ll be done. I’ll get the rest of them done on the rig tomorrow.
View attachment 3104805

Nice!
What’s your process ?

 

[Skreddy]

Nice!
What’s your process ?

Clean them with simple green on a rag, use a toothpick to pick out loose/flaky paint, then a white or red paint pen. After half hour or so I’ll go back over the face with the simple green rag to remove any paint that’s on the knob face. This usually takes out a little in the letters so I’ll paint again and wipe again after an hour and that usually does it. I use these fine tipped paint pens I got at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby.

 

[RodrigzCrzr]

Clean them with simple green on a rag, use a toothpick to pick out loose/flaky paint, then a white or red paint pen. After half hour or so I’ll go back over the face with the simple green rag to remove any paint that’s on the knob face. This usually takes out a little in the letters so I’ll paint again and wipe again after an hour and that usually does it. I use these fine tipped paint pens I got at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby.View attachment 3104823

Thank you

 

[White Stripe]

Dang too bad on that cowl rust. Seems like later models really like to rust in that area. Where did the engine knock come from? Looks like your getting it fixed up.

 

[Skreddy]

Finished up the knobs and the “Pocket” pull. Just realized this pic was before I cleaned up the choke knob paint.

Also had time to finish up the Retro radio install and new lower dash pads; the old ones were cut to fit a radio at some point but the dash wasn’t cut. Had to make brackets to mount the radio so that took a little time but fairly easy overall. Wouldn’t have put a radio in but the doors were already cut for speakers.

 

[Skreddy]

Also adjusted the rear brakes and rebled the fronts as the rears were locking up, then adjusted and rebled clutch pedal so it’s not all the way to the floor. After that, put some miles on it during a short errand run and it’s even better.

 

[OPMACHINE]

Beautiful work!