rang-a-stang's summer project/build

[rang-a-stang]

No juicy pictures. Last night I finished painting my frame horns and installed my S-10 Steering gear. I also just ordered my cam kit.
Cam Kit at Summit Racing
I found this kit on Amazon for $369/free shipping and Summit matched the price. They are shipping from Nevada so it gets here in 1-3 days. Woo hoo!

My bottom end engine work is done at the shop but I am not sure when I will be able to pick it up. Maybe early next week?

Hopefully tonight I will bolt my front suspension and steering back on. That will allow me to set it back down on it's own weight and let me push it out of the garage so I can sweep and mop under it.

I mentioned earlier that I would be working on my power seat bottoms. Nope. Didn't happen.

[FleetFox]

I'm jealous man, you're moving at light speed. Only new shiny things I've been putting on are bearings and seals..and no one will ever even see them...

[rang-a-stang]

Haha! Keep in mind, my rig is a cruiser/driver so most of what I am doing is cleaning and rattle canning. It sounds like alot but it's not really. The pictures make it look better than it is. When I am done it will be reliable and clean. Not spotless, not restored.

[rang-a-stang]

OK, last week I was able to stay on schedule. Front suspension and steering in.


Got my cam kit, too. I've never ordered a nice cam like this so it was a total thrill opening it up. I felt like a little kid on Christmas!


Timing chain needs a little love. It has the excess oil holes that need to be brazed.

Hope to pick up my block this week. Next up is painting the firewall and cleaning/re-gasketing my trans. Good times!

[bkilby]

Why braze the holes up? Too much oil is a bad thing? You're moving right along on this project. Good job!

[rang-a-stang]

Why braze the holes up? Too much oil is a bad thing? You're moving right along on this project. Good job!

I have seen a few posts about it. Specifically this one:

http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?p=1678711#post1678711

THere are a few more on here that I have seen but, pretty much anything I see from SC/397 I take seriously.

[SOLSAKS]

dang, alotta GOOD work !

i bet you are excited for sure...

the chassis looks great

ole yeller is getting a new lease on life !

wish i had the know - how and skills you have.

keep us posted.

dave in NC

[rang-a-stang]

Oh my goodness! I am in love with my engine parts! Block is home, rotating assembly is home, heads are now at the machine shop. I started painting right away because the cast iron is super bare/raw and I don't want it to flash rust. I hope to assemble the bottom end this weekend. I painted the back because once it's on the stand it will be hard to get the bell housing area.


Check out these pistons and rods! My rods were cleaned and blueprinted, ARP hardware installed, then all balanced. I was shocked at how new they looked. I did not expect them to look this nice. The pistons are so nice I don't want to hide them in the block. The crank was cleaned, polished, and balanced, too but it was in a box and I didn't feel like getting it out to take a picture. It looks brand new. They cleaned up my damper before they balanced the rotating assembly so it looks fantastic as well; just needs a coat of semi gloss black.


As I was driving home from the shop yesterday, I realized I had ALOT of money worth of parts in my trunk. $1300 in machine work, a $380 cam kit, $400 in pistons and rings, close to $200 in bearings. Not to mention the intrinsic value of a 401 crank, block, and factory forged rods. As a wise man once said (Full Size Jeeper) "THESE THINGS ARE NOT CHEAP TO BUILD".

[babywag]

be sure to wd40 all that bare cast & keep/get everything bagged up.
rust is already there if bare you just can?t see it yet.
dunno about up there but down here the air is uber-dirty!!
remember dirt is your enemy.

looks purdy though!

[asphaltrockdweller]

NICE!

Gotta love freshly machined iron.

[rang-a-stang]

I don't have any good pictures to show but had a good weekend. I was able to clean my trans up pretty well and replaced all the gaskets and O-Rings except for the input shaft and the pump body. Those will come later (I have them just didn't put them on). Then I took my trans off the engine stand, put the engine block on and started loving on it. Painted it, freeze plugs in, crank in (end play was .005, middle of spec, woo hoo!). I got #1 and #2 in. Opening up the oil scraper rings took FOREVER. Cam is in.

I started installing my timing chain set and had to stop because I couldn't get the extra oil passages brazed. I'm sending it to SC/397 for some help. I also had to wait for my degree wheel to show up (it showed up today after church). So I covered my engine up with towels and a plastic sheet to keep it nice and dry and dust free. I have a pile of parts to bring to my sand blaster this week (timing cover, oil pan, valve covers, etc.) so I can keep some forward progress going while I wait.

[rang-a-stang]

These first few pics don't really show anything that great but they represent progress so I feel better about them. This weekend I re-installed my bumper, hitch, and spare tire. They were all off following the chassis swap. The 78 chassis has rivets in two of the bolt holes for the 79+ bumper brackets and it was a biatch getting them drilled out. The upper holes for the bumper bracket didn't line up either, so that took some finagling. This cleared out a huge floor area so my garage feels much less cluttered. I swapped on new Grade 8 U-bolts on my rear axle, too.


From the last week of work, here's my engine and trans. Trans is cleaned and almost ready to go in. I sooooo love AMC blue. Especially with the fresh brass freeze plugs



Also cleaned and prepped my timing cover. When I took it to the media blaster I found it was significantly corroded (not really surprising, just disappointing). Considering the condition of the water pump that was on my rig when I bought it, this could have been much worse.
Water Pump thread
I had to rebuild portions of the flanges with JB Weld. Normally I would buy a replacement cover but the machinist is consuming alllll my money these days. I am satisfied this will hold, though. It was just the flanges that were corroded and I was able to get them pretty solid.




I blasted/painted my valve covers and oil pan in semi-glass black. The picture make it look worse than it is.

[bwwhaler]

I have seen a few posts about it. Specifically this one:

http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?p=1678711#post1678711

THere are a few more on here that I have seen but, pretty much anything I see from SC/397 I take seriously.

X2...

[FleetFox]

looking real good!

[bluehwy]

FUN FUN! Thanks for sharing!