351 Engine rebuild - Thank you Gentlemen!

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Neek.
DIY enthusiast
Posts: 257
Joined: Thu 24 Nov 2011, 20:15
Location: Cape Town

351 Engine rebuild - Thank you Gentlemen!

Post by Neek. » Thu 08 Dec 2011, 22:36

For what it's worth :

It's not often that I'm impressed with people who work on my truck, but this week I've been blown away, and want to name, and thank, those who definitely have the passion and ability.

I dropped off my crank at C.J.'s on Tuesday for the journals to be ground. Ready yesterday ! But I only collected it this afternoon.
I dropped off my block at Derustit on Tuesday for a proper clean, and collected it today.

I dropped off the crank and all neccessary parts for balancing at Finlay Turbines this afternoon, and I can collect tomorrow afternoon.

I will be dropping the block and pistons etc off at C.J.'s on Monday morning and I know I will get all the machined parts back on Tuesday.

F$$k, one week only for the block to be 100% prepped.

Thank you also to Dragon Customs for helping me carry the heavy piece of metal everywhere, and technical advice.
Thank you to Stealth Engineering for helping me out with the rear main seal conversion, valve spring load testing and technical advice.
And thank you to Stateside for getting my shiny bits of metal quickly and lending me the engine stand.

I would thank my Mum too but it's not the grammys. :lol:

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
''Bullet the Blue Sky''

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paulusvrotius1
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Joined: Fri 22 Apr 2011, 15:40
Location: Southampton UK

Re: 351 Engine rebuild - Thank you Gentlemen!

Post by paulusvrotius1 » Fri 09 Dec 2011, 20:37

Hey Neek, nice to hear from you again, I thought you'd left the building or something. :lol:

Well done on your engine work so far. Sounds like a nice motor in the making. :twisted:

Cheers
Cheers

My AMC:
1971 Capri Perana Yellow/Blk.


Old Fords never die because some clotheads keep bodging them back together!!

Neek.
DIY enthusiast
Posts: 257
Joined: Thu 24 Nov 2011, 20:15
Location: Cape Town

Re: 351 Engine rebuild - Thank you Gentlemen!

Post by Neek. » Fri 09 Dec 2011, 23:21

Hiya Mr Vrotius. :D

As they say in Ireland, ''How the f$$k are you?''.

Yes to be honest I had left the building. I told you that the lack of simple courtesy was lacking in the majority of posts and I just thought f$$k it why bother.
E.G. Did you ever get an answer to the wiring question you and I spent quite some time on ? No ! :evil:

Batman posted pics of his restoration recently and I could see in the pic a few problems which compelled me to come back into the building. :lol: But, you'll see from the posts that some advice was given. No reply! :evil:

The good news is that I spent many hours learning about my gearbox, a Ford FMX, and did a 100% rebuild in October.
I bought a spare one to rebuild on the side.
Removing and refitting it was a bitch though coz it was just me, a trolley jack modified, coffees and marlboro.
The actual rebuild was piss easy. :)
If it weren't for the internet I couldn't have done it though. Tons of information, but most of it I only got by pure chance. :)
Five people had worked on my gearbox before this, and all 5 didn't get it 100%.
The last person charged me R11,000, got it working beautifully, but left it with oil leaks on it, even after I took it back twice, and I had to point out that the 2 bolts holding the box to the frame were not in place!!! WTF ?
The bell housing has place for 6 bolts but only 4 were in place when I did the rebuild.
Thanx Melvyn ! Their motto was 'no comebacks'. F$$kin' right, I haven't been back.

Anyway, with the great help from Interspares, I rebuilt the box for under R3,000, it changes gear as new, and there's no oil leaks.
It also has the correct oil in it, Ford Type F like the C4's take.

I've lost track of how many people, knowing my vehicle, told me to get a C4 or C6 gearbox.
Firstly, the FMX is stronger than a C4, secondly, a C6 is in excess of what I need and thirdly, there's absolutely nothing wrong with an FMX.

I'd just done the box, when I noticed that a welsh plug was leaking.
I fixed it, but noticed another one on its way out, right behind the engine mount. F$$k !! :lol:
Good excuse to take the engine out !! And boy have I learned a f$$k load since the end of October.

The idiot who rebuilt my engine 4 years ago used a rope seal to seal the rear crank. It leaked.
The engine wasn't cleaned as I'd requested.
Shortly after that, Melvyn et al cost me R5,000 to convert standard rockers to adjustable. A waste of money!
Another R2,000 to change the seal, but left me with an oil pan oil leak !!
I now find that Ralph had ordered me dish pistons, knowing my engine, along with the crap welsh plugs ! :evil:
Why sell me 4 barrel intake and carb etc and then supply bollox pistons ?
Good news is that's in the past, along with a huge list of crap ! :evil:

More good news is that the engine, which gave a compression ratio (CR) of 8.04 : 1.00 with those pistons etc, then gave me a CR of 9.34 : 1.00 with edelbrock closed chamber heads (May this year). I thought I had 10.50 : 1.00 at that time !! :lol: Talk about ignorance !

Anyway, I have the right people doing jobs on the block, (as mentioned above), I have learned exactly what goes on in the block, and this time next week, I'll have blue printed my own engine, and built it 100% with a CR of 10.08 : 1.00.
Building the gearbox was more intricate than a block, so my confidence is right up there to do the rebuild. :)
I didn't plan for any CR change, but once I'd realised what sh$t I had in there, I bought flat top pistons, did the maths, and aimed for a CR of between 10.00 : 1.00 and 10.20 : 1.00.

I hadn't realised initially that my estimated CR of 11.20 : 1.00 would have given me problems with the current fuel available. That could have been interesting ! :cry:

I wasn't looking for more power, but it reminded me of all the times that when someone asks 'how do I get more power?', the standard answer is 'put a cam in'. :lol: :lol:

Now that I know how to build a V8 from scratch, whether for race or road application, I can start learning from Paul how to build the body around it from scratch !! :lol: :lol:

How's that bumble bee Capri of yours anyway ?

Sorry to waffle on.
I want to give out an ''Irish Six Pack'' when I think of all the past bullsh$t and writing it helps me calm down. :lol:

Bed time.

Catchyalater,
Nick
:)
''Bullet the Blue Sky''

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paulusvrotius1
Posts: 1423
Joined: Fri 22 Apr 2011, 15:40
Location: Southampton UK

Re: 351 Engine rebuild - Thank you Gentlemen!

Post by paulusvrotius1 » Sat 10 Dec 2011, 20:36

Yes buddy I know what you mean, a simple thanks goes a long way and it's nice to find out what the problem was.

There are some people on here who don't take the forum rules seriously but that's life, I like to help where I can and if I've made a mistake please do say so (in a civil manner) with the correct info. That is helpfull and constructive.

Anyway, I'm supprised your head hasn't popped with all the learning you have done recently. Gearboxes, engines, it's all a lot to digest in the short time it has taken you, hat's off, man.

When will you have the beastie back on the road? ;)

The reason I've stopped my resto thread is because I have a friends Capri in my garage at the moment that needs some work. It is taking quite a bit of my time to get it done as I've also been tied up at work a lot.
As soon as it's finished I can get back on my own car again which is stored in my friends garage due to lack of space, basicly we swapped cars around.

Catch ya later

Cheers


Cheers
Cheers

My AMC:
1971 Capri Perana Yellow/Blk.


Old Fords never die because some clotheads keep bodging them back together!!

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ZA Perana
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Joined: Sun 15 Jul 2007, 18:01
Location: Cape Town

Re: 351 Engine rebuild - Thank you Gentlemen!

Post by ZA Perana » Sat 10 Dec 2011, 21:05

Welcome back! I for one have always enjoyed reading your posts, always some interestig info to be found! Glad all is going well with the 351. The Ford guru who taught me, maintains that the FMX is one of the nicest of all Ford auto boxes. Spent some time in a Cobra with basically aFairmont GT transplant, real moster of a car.
Alfa GTV 3.0
Ford Capri Perana V8
Chevy Lumina Supercharged

Wait not for tomorrow to do what can be done today, live each day for one knows not what the next day may hold.

Neek.
DIY enthusiast
Posts: 257
Joined: Thu 24 Nov 2011, 20:15
Location: Cape Town

Re: 351 Engine rebuild - Thank you Gentlemen!

Post by Neek. » Sun 11 Dec 2011, 11:29

Good morning Paul and good morning ZA Perana,

I like the sound of a Cobra with a Fairmont GT transplant, but I don't want to mention Cobra's too often because I just read the Cobra post and got an electric shock from the 'enter' key on my keyboard due to the energy within that post ! :lol:

Paul, I think you're on drugs !
I couldn't possibly put my truck on hold to do a friend's car ! :lol:
The suspense would kill me.
Mind you, it's a nice gesture. High five to Paul. :)

You're right about my head popping with all the learning. :lol:

I picked up the gearbox last December, and placed it where I saw it everyday, and everyday I sh$t my pants at the idea of rebuilding it.

I bought a book, but the book looked too simple, and I didn't trust it !
As it turns out, the book did in fact ignore a lot of detail.

I kept searching the internet, and by chance in August, I found an 81 page factory manual for a cruise-o-matic.
That's more or less an FMX !!
I immediately downloaded it and printed it.

If you read a lot of the posts under technical, and listen to chats in general, one starts to get scared !
So, when I started to strip the box, I expected a nightmare.
No ! :)
The box is made up of 7 parts, and 7 of anything isn't much !

When I used the compressor to blow out 3 parts of the valve body, 4 parts came out in total. F$$k !
I rebuilt the valve body, part for part, and was left with one valve.
My book didn't show it. :(
My 91 page download didn't show it. :(
A picture I'd downloaded months prior, which I'd forgotten about, did show it.
Five hours later, problem of surplus part sorted. :)

Actually, my imported book showed a picture of a Cruise-o-matic valve body and not an FMX. Wankerz !! :evil:

The book also mentioned a spring setup that I didn't see in my valve body.
So, I took the existing box out of the truck (was going to come out anyway when I was ready), stripped the valve body, and found that the two boxes must be two different models.

A couple of weeks after driving with my newly rebuilt box, I finally clarified the benefit of a shift kit, and looked up the TransGo website. Lo and behold, there's detailed pictures of the different models.
LOL, I could have saved my self hours of headaches if I'd had these pictures initially.

Very, very, very satisfying job. :)

No oil leaks or sweating for the first time in the 8 years I've had the truck. Finally !!

Just when I thought my work was finished, I got a nasty 'tappet knocking' sound just 5 kms from home. :cry:

I found that there was 2mm's worn off a tappet (hydraulic lifter) and 2mm's worn off the corresponding cam lobe. :cry:

Initially I was totally gutted, but then I thought f$$k it, let me rebuild and once and for all get rid of oil sweats, crap paint job on block, sh$tty welsh plugs etc.

I'd never heard of a cam bearing up to this point, let alone piston volume clearance, decking and blue printing.

I almost went for a 393 stroker kit, but decided I like the idea better of staying 'stock'.

The funny thing is that I'd done 40'000kms trouble free with the engine until I changed heads etc.

After I'd fitted the heads and done about 200kms, a rocker lock nut cracked and came off, and I had to drive 70kms home with one rocker and push rod removed.
This may or may not have caused tappet ''lofting''.
Some say yeas and some say no.!?
When I replaced all 16 lock nuts, 5 of the 1st set had cracks in them ! :(

I did 5,000 kms after that trouble free, but the cause of the lifter problem is either I tightened the rocker lock nuts ''too tight'' or the batch of lock nuts was suspect.

Good news is that I had to learn how to strip and rebuild a V8, and f$$k does it feel good. :)

I'll build the block back up next Friday and Saturday.

Then I'm in Jhb for a few days.

Then I'll strip the heads as I want to double check the valve spring pressures as they might be too strong for my new cam.
I also want to check that no debris is lurking in there waiting to bitch slap me.

I've just ordered valve stem seals which will take 2 weeks to get here, so basically I won't be driving anywhere until they arrive.

I'm hoping that the engine fires up first time and I don't f$$k up the run-in procedure.

I'll load 2 pics shortly, and of the front 'knackered' cam bearing, and one of the block with the 1st coat of paint on it.
The block is being rebored tomorrow so I'll put the second and final coat on it on Wednesday or Thursday.

That's enough of my waffle.

Catchyalater,
Nick
:)
''Bullet the Blue Sky''

Neek.
DIY enthusiast
Posts: 257
Joined: Thu 24 Nov 2011, 20:15
Location: Cape Town

Re: 351 Engine rebuild - Thank you Gentlemen!

Post by Neek. » Sun 11 Dec 2011, 11:32

Cam bearing
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''Bullet the Blue Sky''

Neek.
DIY enthusiast
Posts: 257
Joined: Thu 24 Nov 2011, 20:15
Location: Cape Town

Re: 351 Engine rebuild - Thank you Gentlemen!

Post by Neek. » Sun 11 Dec 2011, 11:33

No more nasty brown sh$t in the cooling passages. :)
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ZA Perana
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Re: 351 Engine rebuild - Thank you Gentlemen!

Post by ZA Perana » Sun 11 Dec 2011, 18:19

Going to sound great when you are finished! Lot of inspiration to be found in that post, I am not mechanically minded at all but one can learn! Hoping to get started next year on some odd jobs that need doing on the Capri, perhaps the key is to do what you have done and do the research and educate oneself before attempting anything too ambitious.

That cobra with the fairmont gt combo is one of the nicest I have driven in, also went in one with a Ford 460 and C6 box....monster!
Alfa GTV 3.0
Ford Capri Perana V8
Chevy Lumina Supercharged

Wait not for tomorrow to do what can be done today, live each day for one knows not what the next day may hold.

Neek.
DIY enthusiast
Posts: 257
Joined: Thu 24 Nov 2011, 20:15
Location: Cape Town

Re: 351 Engine rebuild - Thank you Gentlemen!

Post by Neek. » Sun 11 Dec 2011, 18:50

LOL, I only got mechanically minded and educated myself because I was sick and tired of the shoddy workmanship which I had to finish off even though I'd paid for the jobs to be done right.

I had no idea that the whole thing would become soooooooo addictive, but I'm glad it did. :)

I'm rather partial to the Capri. :)

All I can say is, if you do the work yourself, the only thing that beats the satisfaction you'll feel is sex with a good lookin' woman ! :lol:

Laterz,
Nick
:)
''Bullet the Blue Sky''

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