Seeking advice on the assembly sequence of straight 8

[Dave Young]

I am about to begin assembling my 1929 Chandler engine.  I took it apart 3 years ago, had machine work done, had new Babbit poured, valve train, crank cut, etc.  Now I finally have everything on hand to get on with it.  I have done my fair share of engines, including Model T's, A's, Farmalls, Detroit Diesels, motorcycles, outboards, etc, but this one has a very distinct difference.

 

 Chandler did some funky things, which I discovered while dismantling this one.  The main issue is that the rod ends are larger than the bore.  So, in taking it apart, I set the block upside down and chainfalled the crank up and off of the rods and mains.   Next step was to pull the rods and Pistons out from inside.  I won't even get into the fact that the flywheel does not fit through the bell housing and so has to be lifted out with the crankshaft, though the bell.

 

So, my question to those with more experience than I is, how would you sequence the rebuild?

This is my current plan of attack:

 

 Lay the block on its side with the bell housing attached

Fit the pistons to the rods

Slip the Pistons through the bores from below

Put the rings on the protruding Pistons

Compress the rings and move the finished piston into the bores

Lay the block upside down

Lower the crank, with flywheel attached, into position while lining up each of the 8 rods

 

[hidden_hunter]

My Cadillac (it has fork and blade rods) had the same challenge, what I did was:

 

1. Measure end gap for the rings
2. Insert rods from the bottom of the engine (I suspect it was designed to be done this way as there is a taper on the bore to compress the rings)
3. Make sure the crank is clear and that you're not going to hit it when you reinsert the rod
4. Push piston through the top of the bore so it's resting on the top (you can leave the piston in the bore but it's more awkward to work)
5. Put rings on
6. Use a cylinder style ring compressor (e.g .the aluminum ones basically a hose clamp) and put it half way down the piston
7. Put piston back in bore
8. Gently push on the top of the piston to easy it down into the bore (careful not to cut the webbing on your hand doing this)
9. Once all the rings are in bore you should be able to pull it from underneath

That's what I did on my 22, and it was a slow process but worked well enough.

[Dave Young]

At what point did you install the crank?

[Dave Young]

Your mention of a taper on the bottom of the bore made me go take a look at my block.  Indeed, it also has the taper.  Do you suspect that the factory pushed the pistons in from the bottom with rings attached by using some sort of ring compressor that would come apart and clear the big end of the rod?

[hidden_hunter]

6 hours ago, wilbur said:

Your mention of a taper on the bottom of the bore made me go take a look at my block.  Indeed, it also has the taper.  Do you suspect that the factory pushed the pistons in from the bottom with rings attached by using some sort of ring compressor that would come apart and clear the big end of the rod?

 

I had the crank in at the start but there isn't stopping you putting it in later (but it may be more awkward to fit if you've got rods hanging down)

 

The taper on the Cadillac bore is enough to compress the rings itself with out using a compressor, however it's a pain and a lot slower to do (I did two pistons like that before I realised that the set of rings I'd bought were junk and had to be replaced). Using the method I described above you can probably have them all in a day (the cad also needs sooo many split pins...)  

[PFitz]

In 1929 ring compressors were not a common tool. The tapers on the ends of cylinder bores (sometimes lost due to over boring worn cylinders)was there for a reason. And like bread crumbs, it shows you the path they wanted you to follow.

 

Paul

Edited January 12, 2018 by PFitz (see edit history)

[hidden_hunter]

4 minutes ago, PFitz said:

In 1929 ring compressors were not a common tool. The tapers on the ends of cylinder bores (sometimes lost due to over boring worn cylinders)was there for a reason. And like bread crumbs, it shows you the path they wanted you to follow.

 

Paul

 

Thanks for confirming, was still much easier sticking them out the top and using a modern compressor but that might have been because I was doing it lying under the car 

[Dave Young]

The job is going along nicely by poking the piston out the top of the block and installing the rings, then pulling them back into the bore.  I tried making up a ring compressor to use inside of the block along with the bottom tapers, but it was just too cramped in there to be practical.  Now, I realize that I haven't got the rear main seal on hand.  Any tips on rope seals?  The ones I have tried to use on my Model T's have been rather annoying.

[playswithbrass]

What size is the seal.I used a 76ish 350 Olds rope seal in a 29  Studebaker ,that I had left over from when I worked at a Olds dealer.If using a rope seal like that the trick is to compress the block section of the seal with the crank installed by using a pin punch and driving the ends of the rope into the block section so you have about a 3/16 pocket,cut your main Bearing cap section of rope seal long so it will go into the pocket.This is what we did in the 70,s on cars that had leaking rear mains.Never had any comeback.