Things at work have finally settled down from the past few months. We
have gotten a second weekend off in a row, and I was able to get the
mechanic from the truck shop to come over to my house this a.m. at 8:30.
Some of you know, the 68 Sprite locked itself into first gear a while
ago. It also had the original engine it rolled out of the factory with
still in it, all smoking and original. If I am to repair the tranny, I
will replace the engine, if only temporarily, to fix the original one.
Several years ago, I had gotten what was to have been a warmly rebuilt
1275 that came with my 60 Bugeye that I got from Al Adams. I had, after
long deliberation, placed this engine in the blue 65 Sprite that I had
for my daughter. Shortly after installation, I found it increasingly
difficult to get the rear carb to draw any measurable amount of airflow.
I suffered with it, and the last straw was a short 15 mile jaunt for
beer that left me with an overheated car, and a lack of oil pressure
(and no beer). Once I got the car home, and delved into it, I found that
the #4 exhaust valve would not open. I removed this engine with a tag on
it labeling it as a bad cam and installed another engine.
Move to today, I had a decent cam scavenged out of another engine, (with
4 1275's and parts from even more, I have loads of scavenged parts) and
had the intent of taking the bad cam engine apart, blast wash it, and
rebuilt it, with the new, better condition cam. As Randall (the
mechanic) looks at the block after we get it on the bench, he remarks at
how the bores still have the crosshatch marks from being machine worked.
We remove the damper, the flywheel, the front and rear plates, and the
oil pan. The bearings are in great shape on the rods, and the pistons
are new. We remove the pissed-ons, and tackle the crank. The bearings on
it are not as nice, but decent nonetheless. The crank must have been a
new crank, as it is a standard grind, and positively pristine. We go to
pull the cam, it give a bit of difficulty coming out, but we persevere.
Upon removal of the cam, I look the lobes over and see no issues with
the lobes at all. It is then that Randall points out that the cam came
out, with the bearings galled to it. It seems that the builder, who used
good parts, must have marred the bearing surface badly on installation.
Badly enough that it caused the bearings to turn in the block, rather
than allow the cam to turn in the bearing. I had another block, stripped
and on the bench, so we finished stripping down the first block to use
all those parts on the second block.
We get to the second block, and begin polishing off the pistons and
making sure all the rings are loose and clean. As I buff out the top of
the pistons, I notice a small group of numbers on top of the piston,
21251-.020. Shit, these are 20 over, and the block I have now is a
standard bore. I am trashing the 20 over block, as the cam bearing hole
is shot. Can this be fixed for a reasonable amount of cash. I know
anything can be done, provided you throw enough money at it, but as this
story will prove, "we tight". Anyway, without pistons, I go digging in
the parts. Andrew Weeks, are you still here?? Those pistons you sent me
are now in a block!!! I found some standard bore pistons, damn, the dish
is much deeper than the one on the 20 overs. We used the best bearings
from the two blocks to get the crank in. Again, the bearings were in
very decent shape. I was able to find a new set of rod bearings that I
had gotten with one of my parts cars about 6 years ago. I had put them
back and was able to find them pretty quickly. My wife had gone to get
the gaskets, and rings, and came back only with the gaskets, and not
even all of them. I was able to dig up some rings, and we have the crank
and pistons installed. I wanted to put the oil pan on tonight, but I am
out of permatex #2 so I will have to install it in the morning. The pan
gasket set came with the two long flat side gaskets, 2 long square
rubber gaskets, 2 long square cork gaskets, and one long more
rectangular cork gasket. I am assuming that the long square ones are for
the pan front and rear, but the single thinner cork gasket puzzles me.
Which should I use for the front and rear, the cork or rubber? I will
try and keep the list posted as to the progress of this "we tight"
engine assembly. Thanks in advance for the replies on the cork vs rubber
issue.
Brad
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