Gramma's Car: the new project!

[PeteLeathersac]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: njsteve</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
The partial VIN looks like 221302638
</div></div>

Wouldn't that be a '72 Vin...and an Oshawa car?
[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/hmmm.gif[/img]
~ Pete

[njsteve]

The seller also had some other parts that were from that car. A E211 dated (May 21st) 1971 intake and 7041262 dated 68th day of 1971 455 carb.



The intake is weird because it is a 1971 481733 casting number but has the unique rectangular 1972 choke pull that runs parallel to the carb and not perpendicular.

[njsteve]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: PeteLeathersac</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: njsteve</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
The partial VIN looks like 221302638
</div></div>

Wouldn't that be a '72 Vin...and an Oshawa car?
[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/hmmm.gif[/img]
~ Pete

</div></div>

Here's a better shot of the vin:

[njsteve]

I found a standard dimension, original 455 crankshaft 25 miles from my house! I posted a wanted listing on the Performance Years site and someone just over the border in PA answered. It is a 1970 nodular iron casting and was just as rusty as the block I found last week. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]




So I bought four gallons of Evapo-Rust from advanceautoparts (using their $25 off $70 purchase coupon) and made a makeshift bathtub from a crankshaft box and heavy duty layers of plastic sheeting. If you're wondering, I also put a few beer bottles in to raise the liquid level up to completely cover the crank.



The stuff works amazingly well in the hot sun. Within seconds the rust disappeared. I let it soak for about an hour, turning it and wiping the journals every 10 minutes or so, to get the residue off so the liquid could work faster.



Here's the final result after drying it off and spraying it with oil.

[njsteve]

OK, not really beer. It was Mike's Hard Lemonade. The wife drinks the stuff.

(and yes, I washed the bottles off before I put them back in the fridge)

[markinnaples]

Wow, an amazing transformation. Nice work [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

[cook_dw]

Nice.. I love watching engine builds.. Will be watching this one.. Love the 75 too btw.. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

[njsteve]

Thanks for the moral support! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

[njsteve]

I decided to &quot;blueprint&quot; the oil pump today. Not much to it other than verifying that there is no crap inside the casting.

I'm glad I took a look. This is a brand-new Melling M54DS oil pump. Inside, all of the machined surfaces were incredibly sharp and I found tiny metal burrs and little shards that were just sitting there, waiting to get pumped in to engine. NEVER trust a new pump without looking inside it first.

Here is the housing once I pulled the gears out. See how sharp the edges are?



Now take a closer look and you can see a metal splinter leftover from the machining process that was under the gear, as well as burrs on the edges of the machined passages.




I spent a while with a Dremel tool and some fine sandpaper smoothing all the internal edges. I also used a 1/2&quot; drill bit to open up the feed hole that mounts to the block to it's correct 1/2&quot; size. It was rough cast from two halves and they were not matched up correctly. I then washed and scrubbed and brushed the housing out in hot water and soap.

Here is the housing after the edges were smoothed and before washing:




And the final pump reassembled. I packed it with grease so it will prime instantly when the times comes.

[njsteve]

Update from the machinist: He examined the crank and said I could run the crank &quot;as is&quot; but if it was his engine he'd cut it .010/.010 just to make it perfect. So that's what we're gonna do. We should know about the block dimensions tomorrow.