My wife and I took the week off and the weather has absolutely sucked so I spent a few days in the garage and finally got my cruiser all put back together and running. For those who missed out on rounds 1 and 2 I assembled my motor and missed the 4 freeze plugs in the side of the block in behind the pushrod cover. So when I went to add coolant I filled the crankcase with water. I unfortunately didn't realize anything was wrong until I thought 8 gallons of coolant was a bit much, and pulled the dipstick. So I pulled the head and oil pan, re-lubed all the bearings, cleaned it all out best I could, and put it all back together. It ran for about 4 minutes and locked up solid. I had thought it was due to debris in the engine from the machining process. I thought the machinist cleaned the internals, and he assumed I would do the final cleaning. The last machine shop I had used did the final clean and I picked everything up ready for assembly. The machinist is a really great guy, and after my previous misfortune (he usually installs freeze plugs before giving blocks back, but was out of the sizes I needed) I walked into his shop with a bag full of destroyed main bearings he offered to polish the crank for me. So I took him up on it, and ordered another set of bearings, then ordered an OE head gasket, timing plate gasket and oil filter housing gasket from the dealer. The problem was not debris, it was the filter housing to block gasket from the fel pro gasket set I had bought. You can kind of see it in this photo. The hole is the wrong place in the upper portion of the gasket. So I was showing good oil pressure because oil was getting into the housing, but it wasn't going anywhere else.
So on Wednesday afternoon I assembled the bottom end, and yesterday I got up at 5:30 and assembled the rest of the motor before my wife and daughter got out of bed. When my daughter went down for her nap at 1 I went back to work on it, and at about 4 I was installing the drivetrain.
My brother in law got to the house at about 6 and helped me put all the sheetmetal back on the front quickly (still need to adjust it a bit, but it's on) and after a quick snack around 8 I was ready to fire it up. It didn't fire right up, and sure enough I had the distributor 180 out. It's a Mallory cent advance dizzy so I just pulled the cap and wires off, find TDC and spun it around, then re-installed the cap, re-routed a few wires, and turned the key. It was now after 10, and I still had to finish breaking in the cam. So I drove it out of the garage and idled it up to 2 grand for 20 minutes or so. Then I set the timing, backed it back into the garage, and whipped all the plugs out, took the valve cover off, and adjusted all the valves. I spent another hour or so hooking up some wiring, and drove it straight to the shop up the road for state inspection, which was 2 months overdue. It passed of course, and now I need to take it for another drive.
I've only put about 10 miles on it. But I will say that I am really glad I had it balanced. It's SO SMOOTH it's hard to believe it's a 2F. The idle is a little lumpy with the 262 duration cam and I really haven't gotten into it yet to report on any power gains from the cam and shaved head. I ran it up to 4000 once and it really seemed fine with it, it will probably go to 5000 without any complaints. This is basically like the big gay 2F except with a Weber instead of TBI. Cam, balanced, head shaved .030 and bored .040. It runs really good so far, and I will report back when I drive it some more.
So on Wednesday afternoon I assembled the bottom end, and yesterday I got up at 5:30 and assembled the rest of the motor before my wife and daughter got out of bed. When my daughter went down for her nap at 1 I went back to work on it, and at about 4 I was installing the drivetrain.
My brother in law got to the house at about 6 and helped me put all the sheetmetal back on the front quickly (still need to adjust it a bit, but it's on) and after a quick snack around 8 I was ready to fire it up. It didn't fire right up, and sure enough I had the distributor 180 out. It's a Mallory cent advance dizzy so I just pulled the cap and wires off, find TDC and spun it around, then re-installed the cap, re-routed a few wires, and turned the key. It was now after 10, and I still had to finish breaking in the cam. So I drove it out of the garage and idled it up to 2 grand for 20 minutes or so. Then I set the timing, backed it back into the garage, and whipped all the plugs out, took the valve cover off, and adjusted all the valves. I spent another hour or so hooking up some wiring, and drove it straight to the shop up the road for state inspection, which was 2 months overdue. It passed of course, and now I need to take it for another drive.
I've only put about 10 miles on it. But I will say that I am really glad I had it balanced. It's SO SMOOTH it's hard to believe it's a 2F. The idle is a little lumpy with the 262 duration cam and I really haven't gotten into it yet to report on any power gains from the cam and shaved head. I ran it up to 4000 once and it really seemed fine with it, it will probably go to 5000 without any complaints. This is basically like the big gay 2F except with a Weber instead of TBI. Cam, balanced, head shaved .030 and bored .040. It runs really good so far, and I will report back when I drive it some more.
