Luv2Wrench

I was able to put in a lot of hours this weekend but progress was still kinda slow. It seemed every component I went to put on the engine had some problem. First I tried to put the water pump pulley on. When I tightened the nut the water pump wouldn't turn. After a lot of figuring I realized that as I tightened the nut, it pulled the shaft (and pump vane) toward the front where it then locked up against the pump casting. I looked around for a missing washer or spacer but realized the spacing was the problem, I needed less spacing. I then remembered that the water pump did have a little wobble when I took it apart. I had assumed that was the bearings but I had taken it apart and they were not a problem. I measured the length of the shaft and then the depth of the pulley and realized to tighten the nut all the way down it was pulling the shaft forward. I put the pulley in the lathe and turned down about 50 thousandths and all was fine. Nice smooth rotation and no wobble. The next big issue was the thermostat. Way back when the car was built with a different style thermostat that, as it opened, would shut off the bypass opening in the thermostat opening. There are some reproduction thermostats made today but they are really pricey. There are replacement housings sold but those are very pricey. The common solution seems to be machining out the top of the housing so that it will accept a modern thermostat. Then it need to be affixed in some manner and the bypass needs to be restricted. Without a 4-jaw chuck I couldn't grab the housing so I bought a pipe nipple and flange. I put that in the lathe and trued it up. Then I drilled some holes in it so that I could attach the housing. Once that was chucked in the lathe I was able to widen the opening and make room for a modern thermostat. To keep it in place I chose to cut off a slice of a 2" pipe, cut a slot in that and then squeeze it down over the thermostat and into the housing. I used a little JB weld between the sleeve and the housing to make sure it stayed in place but the force from the fit should be enough. If I need to replace the thermostat I should be able to heat it up a bit and pull out the sleeve. I also rebuilt the distributor, finished rebuilding the oil filter and got the front engine mount bracket installed. Yesterday afternoon I spent over 3 hours hunting for the small elbow that attaches to the side of the thermostat housing for the bypass. It was something that I remembered seeing the very first time I went through all the parts after bringing the car home. I remember looking at it and thinking it was important and that I should put it somewhere important. Unfortunately it appears I thought the box with the dash gauges was just the place for it. After 6 months that seemed like the last place I would have put it... and it was indeed the last place I looked. At least I found it.

Looking good! I agree with your plan, you could do everything perfect in your paint job but if you've got a bunch of dust floating around it would be a pain.

They do ship worldwide and they probably have a distributor in the UK. I guess you should buy everything you need before England breaks off from the entire known world and floats out into the depths of the North Sea. https://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/export-info

A local section was having a car show at our athletic club today and I stopped by for a quick look. Saw two nice 300s, one a coupe and the other a cabriolet. The coupe was very well restored while the cabriolet was a survivor. It was in fairly good condition but looks a lot better in these pictures.

I responded in your other thread. I agree with David, get down to bare wood and treat with West System two-part epoxy. I would also follow with the SPI Epoxy Primer though you might call SPI and ask about applying over West System and/or bare wood. I imagine either (or both) will work but the only recent experience I have is with SPI Epoxy Primer. Way back when we would apply a wood sealer, two coats of polyurethane, rough with 220 and then paint as normal. I find the SPI primer easier to use and apply it after a typical wood sealer.

For painting over wood, I've used an epoxy primer from a company here in the states. https://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/products You'll find that on page 2, "Epoxy Primer". The trick to this guy is that, as a polyurethane, it is a little bit flexible. It will withstand some of the wood movement while also reducing the movement by reducing the moister exchange. I don't know if they ship across the pond, but the owner there is a great guy and I'm sure he will find a way. Amazing work you're doing with the tree!! My new goal in life is to be able to use my chainsaw to acquire some lumber from a tree 26 years from now when I'm 78. A more realistic goal is to still be able to start my chainsaw in 26 years.

Might get some numbers from him. How much is he going to charge you for not being able to get the rear bearing out? Does he have an estimate for the parts cost?

I'll place my money on "Hood Latch".

Cool car, cool project, looking forward to watching your progress.

Got the carbs and exhaust manifold on as well as the generator, timing cover and a bunch of oil galley plugs and such. As usual I'm missing a couple of pieces and some nuts and bolts so I'm stalled again for a bit.

Nice pics, thanks for sharing! Those MGAs are calling my name. Looks like someone stole the engine out of that station wagon while the owner wasn't around

Would never has thought it would be such a dramatic difference and certainly never noticed anything at all wrong with the first one. With the two posts close together, however, the difference is clear. The really great craftsman and artists are the ones that can see their work through other eyes and take something that is already great and make it even better. More fantastic work Roger!

Carbs look really good, you did a great job on them. I'm going to be dragging the Clogmaster out pretty soon to do the firewall and other pieces. I'm already dreading it but maybe it will surprise me and act civil.

Thanks for your thoughts, very sound advice. I am still under the assumption (delusion) that I will have the car completed this year. The body doesn't need much work so my plan is to go ahead and fit it to the frame, assemble the complete car sans some interior pieces and drive it. Get the kinks outs, make sure everything is working properly and then take the body panels back off and get them painted. It probably won't go that way and I'll probably wish I followed your advice but that's the plan for now.

It has been nearly a week since I got much work done on the car. It has been back to school time and my son has had a couple of golf trips so we've been pretty busy. I've also made a couple of tools runs, the latest of which was very successful. I managed to score a late 1890s or early 1900s Hendey shaper (15"). I haven't gotten it back to the shop yet so no pictures. I picked up some other items and met some really nice people. I did manage to get into the shop this afternoon and evening and was able to get a little work done. I had painted the exhaust manifold with a high temp paint and it needed to be cured. The directions called for heating at 250 degrees F for 30 minutes, cool for 30 minutes, heat at 400 for 30 minutes, cool for 30 minutes and finally heat at 600 for 30 minutes and cool. I also needed to replace the ring gear so I thought it would be efficient to combine the tasks. While going through the initial heating cycles I removed the old ring gear and prepared the flywheel. On the last cycle at 600F, I added the new ring gear and let everything heat for 30 minutes. The new ring gear easily slid onto the flywheel and then shrunk down nicely. I prepared some other parts that I will paint tomorrow and then I will be focused on final assembly of the engine (flywheel, clutch, pressure plate, distributor, oil pump, etc, etc) and getting it in the car. I doubt I'll make enough progress to be able to start it but I should get a lot closer.

That pipe clearly says "For drain waste and vent only". Is this another exception when working on a Crosley FOR?

I'm puzzled by that as well and yes, they are keyed so they only fit one way. I looked back at some video I shot before taking them apart and that's the way they were when I got them. The damper pistons are different as well, one is brass and the other is aluminum with a steel weight (to make it weight the same as the brass one). These dampers don't have the spring like the later models do. I think I have another brass damper and I might switch them out. The screw does have locktite blue on it so I'm not worried about it coming out. Throughout the car I've kept the use of spring washers (lock washers), castle nuts, cotter pins, etc but I've also used modern thread locking sealants both to keep things together and to keep things from seizing should I need to take them apart.

Took the choke linkages off to switch them and while doing so noticed there was a lot of slop in the whole system. First part of the problem was I didn't get the needle/jet sealer nut tight enough. Once I got that tighter it would pivot correct but, of course, that meant the jets were not centered anymore. Had to take the dashpots back off and go through the centering process again. I found a fairly simple way of doing so. While Moss sells a tool I forgot to buy it, instead I got some shim stock and formed a metal straw of sorts. I stuck that between the jet and the main body which, in effect, holds it centered (as these are concentric circles all I'm doing here is filling in the gap so the inner 'circle' can't move). After getting that together there was still more slop than I wanted. I noticed that the previous owner had replaced one of the pins in the linkage with a bolt. I replace the bolt with the proper pin but what I didn't notice was the PO had enlarged the hole to get the bolt in. I turned a new pin, drilled a hole for the cotter pin and that cleared up the problem. So now I'm done with the carbs, again. I need to bake the exhaust manifold and then get that on. After that I need to swap the ring gear, install the flywheel, starter, pressure plate, clutch, bell housing and gearbox. There are a few odds and ends up front that need to be finished and then I'll be able to put it in the car. That will certainly be a milestone moment! Bush Mechanic: yeah, brass damper lids would look great!

Fantastic job, it looks fabulous sitting there on its own wheels!

Thanks Joe. I could still use the other valve cover, I didn't think about it. When I saw it was different I just assumed that it was because the parts car was a year older. I'll check into that... it is a good idea.

I thought it was illegal to use angle iron to bend sheet metal, I thought you were required to buy a fancy brake. Nice job!!

Done!!! or so I thought. Mounted these guys on the engine to see how they looked and noticed that I have the linkages backwards.. I'll pull it apart tomorrow and swap them, will need to go get 5000 small stainless cotter pins. Those things are miserable to work with.

Roger, I was showing this thread to a friend yesterday and I really wish you could have witnessed the amazement they expressed. We're used to your incredible work as you keep just doing one jaw dropping task after another for 8 years! To see someone who isn't used to that try and take in the near finished product all at once was a real treat. After their initial shock wore off I explained that you started the project by *making* the tires and then took them back to page 1. It was really fun to watch them try and wrap their brain around the fact that each part was hand made. Wish you could have been here to see it!!!

Pretty close to being finished. I needed to plate a couple of linkage pieces so I'll add those tomorrow. I have no idea if I did it right or if they will work, but I was able to follow all the steps (sucarbs.co.uk is a great source along with Joe's site) and was fairly confident that I was doing what the directions said to do. I'm cautiously optimistic that'll they'll work with a little tuning.

Got a little time in today and managed to get the carb parts cleaned up. Unfortunately when I took the carbs apart I didn't take a lot of pictures. I figured I'd be swapping in the new parts and putting them back together almost immediately. Life interrupted and now I'm looking at a puzzle. I've got a reasonable exploded parts diagram and a few pictures so I should be able to manage. Is is typical that the *one* time I didn't take a lot of pictures would be the time that this happened.