Greetings!
As regular readers know, I finally found an engine block for Gary's '51 Chevy Sport Coupe. It's been cleaned, bored & honed with new cam bearings and freeze plugs by K&U Machine Shop in Sunnyside Washington (509) 837-5168. Brian does great work and always has a full shop. After painting I installed the new rotating assembly and put the heads on. I used a set of new head bolts to avoid any failure due to using used, stretched bolts. It's a high stress job - holding those heads on. At the time of this picture the valves are already adjusted and ready for blast off.
When I painted the engine it was bolted together, but empty. Now it's fully assembled and as fresh as they come. It's a small bore but with the same crankshaft as the 350. I used flat top pistons instead of the dished pistons that came with the engine, hoping to get a better compression ratio for more power. In the photo it's complete with a new clutch set & flywheel with the 4-speed transmission bolted in place. I've got the linkage already poked through the floor of the car waiting to be hooked up.
I wired the starter solenoid in advance because I hate doing it on my back under the car. The tranny has a reverse switch near the linkage that I also pre-wired and pulled up to the distributor so it would be easy to reach during the wiring stage. The switch is normally closed, so that when it's in reverse the circuit opens. I thought this was broken but the new one I bought is the same way. I'll have to wire it up through a relay so that when the circuit opens it turns on the dang back-up lights.
A couple of shots here of the engine as I was assembling it. I took the time to tap all the bolt holes in the block after painting. I had them covered when I painted but I wanted to avoid having to tap a clogged one after I have the engine already in the chassis and the accessories bolted on. I made sure that the cam and crank were working in concert by aligning the marks on their respective sprockets. I recently took apart an engine in my collection that must have had many miles on it. It wasn't so messy inside the block, but the timing chain was unbelievably loose. I don't know how the thing stayed running that way. Maybe the ESC (Electronic Spark Control) was able to compensate for the poor cam/crank coordination.
I was alone last Friday night when it came time to put the engine & transmission in the chassis. I'd done it many times before when I was mocking up the linkage, motor mounts, etc. so I wasn't shy. This time, however, I had the firewall covered with a fresh coat of black paint and the last thing I wanted to do is nudge it or leave any mark at all on it.
I managed to avoid any scratches in the precious firewall and the engine is in the chassis for the final time. The red engine paint seems to jump out from the black setting, and the polished components really add some contrast & personality.
The accessories and pulleys are from White's Performance Machine in Kingsport TN. I spotted their setup on ebay and went to their website to check them out. You can do the same here: White Performance & Machine. The combo is a mix of chrome plating (alternator and power steering reservoir), polished aluminum and silver paint, that looks as much like aluminum as you can get with paint. The A/C brackets have this paint on them. I think they did a pretty good job with the setup, but I have a couple of issues with the system that I'm sure they'll help me solve.
Over the next few days I'll be working to get the engine started and perhaps even drive it to town to get the exhaust hooked up. Yes, I'll have to put the coil springs and shocks back in place. These sections of threaded rod in the shock mounts are just to allow me to work with the car at ride height. Check back soon and I'll update as it gets closer to making noise.
Doug
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