Photos - pulling the pan

Nifty thermostat from inside the hose coming off the top of the rad.

Some stress on one of the bolts from a connecting rod cap that wasn't tight enough.

Connecting rod cap

Lookup up the crank case

Pretty robust timing chain

Undercarriage looking from front to back

Valve cover off

Valve cover off. Anybody know what this head is supposed to be torqued to?

Number stamped in head

Well over an inch of gritty goo in the bottom of the pan.

Stutzdate 2011-11-23

Brad came over and showed me how to polish the journals on the crankshaft. He taught me that it's important to know which side of the emory cloth is which. I started cleaning the rail in preparation for re-mounting the oil pan. Brad and George checked the torque on the head bolts. We found the bolts to be just a very little bit loose, but certainly not loose enough to make us think somebody's had it off after it last ran.

Stutzdate 2011-11-20

Brad continues to confound me with technical mechanic's terms like 'pistons'. Today we saw some!
After the car club meeting Brad came over and put the front end on jack stands. Today had two goals: 1) work on the spark plug wires, 2) pull off the oil pan and make sure there's nothing scary in there.
Bolts on oil pan not very tight. Came off easy. Gasket stayed intact, but we're not going to re-use it. It looks like it's been re-used a few times already.
Doesn't look terrible in there, but not wonderful either. Certainly there's been a fair amount of work done in there in the past. Connecting rod bolts are held in place with cotter pins, but one of the bolts must have broken because it was too short so no cotter pin. Bolts on at least two connecting rod caps were loose - one set very loose. Could be wiggled by finger. Brad and I took off that one cap. Brad saw signs of wear in the bolts, and the shims are pretty beat up too. The bearing is a little rough but not terrible.
Called George to come over.
Brad removed the plate which covers much of the bottom of the oil pan. Found about two inches of very thick, gritty sludge. Worked on spark plug wires.
George and Brad continued looking at connecting rod bolts and bearings. Sounds like George wants to take the caps off all the connecting rods and we'll touch up the bearings with emery. Some of the bolts need a bit of work. Not sure what we'll do about the short one. Looks like some of the caps are not on their original rods.

Stutzdate 2011-11-17

Brief evening with Dad, George, Brad, and Bill. Dad and I took the hood off, and the valve cover off. Amused to find the hood loosely held on by three bolts, the valve cover held on by two wing nuts. (Ironically, the valve cover was also removed by two wing nuts.) Valve cover gasket looks like home made from cork, but is in great shape. Came out clean. Everything under the valve cover very clean.
Took the spark plugs out. They were in just a bit more than finger tight, didn't take any effort with wrench. Oddly, finding that damn near everything on the car has been loosened off.
Found that we could see small seed husks in one cylinder on top of the piston (!!). Brad recommended rigging a small hose onto the vacuum cleaner. Worked good. Cleaned out what we could. Spark plugs must have been out for a while. Makes me wonder if Dad is right and we should pull the engine apart, but Brad and George don't like that idea. Concerned about head gasket etc I think.
Brad sprayed and checked the valves. One was stuck. Got it unstuck with George's help. Took some effort (ie bigger hammer).
Got things soaking in ATF.
Put the crank in the front, Bill jumped on it and got engine to turn a bit. Hooray! ATF should loosen things up further.
Judy did pizza from Costco for the 4 kids and 6 adults. Brad and Bill sampled my hot sauces, which I think they regret.
Dug through boxes and found missing timing linkage. Brad and Bill hooked that up.
Cleaned up the fuel sediment bowl. Glass didn't come real clean, but came clean enough.
Brad and Bill moved fan into place to tighten fan belt. I found it interesting how much the fan moves - there must be quite a range of fan belts that would fit.
Checked gas tank - wow. Bone dry and very clean. This is a great surprise too. Had to fish a rag out of there, which was funny but we won't complain.
Bill tightened up the rod holding the radiator in place.
Inspected where battery fits in. Lots of room for big battery, 12" by 8.5".
George is planning to pick up some replacement wires for plugs, and a battery (6V). Brad tells George that I said to spare no expense, which I find odd because I don't recall saying any such thing.

November 11, 2011

We picked up the car on November 11, 2011. It rained off and on, and even hailed at one point, but we had lots of fun.
Vintage Car Club of Canada photos
Slide show from the fine folks who sold us the car
The Vancouver Sun had a great article, but the four big photos that were in the print edition are not available in the online edition.