Aaron65

I drilled them out and pried out the remainder...You'll have to get new pipe plugs...most auto parts stores have them...

Not terribly tight...at the very least disassemble the shaft (remove the plugs on the ends too) and CLEAN it. I used a 12 gauge shotgun cleaning kit to do mine....my original was bad enough that I bought a used one from Wheatbelt Buick...it was only 45 dollars and rebuilt ones from Kanter are 450!!! I think CARS does them for 300 or so. Either way, the one I got from Wheatbelt was serviceable so i cleaned it up and put it on the car...Disassembling the entire shaft is a PAIN though. Be patient when removing the stands. Also, disassemble the rocker arms and thoroughly clean the oiling holes...the reason yours is worn is because the oiling holes have almost 60 years of sludge blocking them Good luck! Ask away if there are any questions you have!

These guys occasionally hang out at buicks.net on the bulletin board...Do a search and you'll find lots of speed nuts that can make these things run!

Please see "46 Roadmaster - best attach points when pulling engine?" post below...lots of opinions there...

It could be the front seal or the pump cover o-ring. To replace either, the trans or engine has to come out. You may want to remove the converter inspection plate and make sure the converter (pump) cover bolts are tightened to 25 lb./ft. of torque. If they are loose, the o-ring may leak. You must remember that by all accounts, almost every Dynaflow will leak a little.

Yep, machining is really the only thing to do...., as .0055" clearance is going to be too much.

You don't want any air getting in at the pump body though...there obviously needs to be a good seal there, but like you said earlier, it's a machined surface, so a gasket really isn't needed.

There is a gasket that comes in these rebuild kits, and the only place for it to fit is between the plate and the gears. It's very thin, but thick enough to make an oil pressure difference. Like Joel said, I might try the old cover with the new gears...definitely check the clearance between the gears and the pump body with a straightedge and a feeler gauge...we're talking thousandths of an inch here, so feeling movement in the shaft isn't accurate enough...even a loose pump will feel tight when checked in that manner...with that being said, the pump should still turn freely by hand when it's sitting in your hand.

Don't forget to coat your head bolts on the driver's side with some sealant, as the head bolts enter the water jacket on 248s...

I determined the gasket to be somewhere between .002 and .003 inches thick...I believe outside range of clearance is .004, so it doesn't take much to see how the gasket could pull the pump out of specs...I used a bit of loctite on the screws to hold the plate on and bolted the pump up...

By the way...ckeck the clearance between the pump housing and the gears with a straightedge and some feeler gauges to make sure the clearance is in spec. Maybe they include the gasket in case you need to machine the housing square...

It's for a cotter key to hold the pickup tube in there...don't forget to put one or your pickup will fall out!!!

NO NO NO! It will lower your oil pressure drastically! They didn't come with a gasket and the gasket will take it out of spec...You will be wondering why you are getting only 5-7psi hot idle if you put in the gasket. It took me a lot of thinking and work to figure out, so learn my lesson!!!! DO NOT USE A GASKET!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't ask, but it got new freeze plugs and a lot of cleaning time, so I assume they cleaned out the water jackets...I KNOW it overheated in the past, so the rings were probably caused by that (it had a plugged radiator when i got it). It runs pretty cool now, the only time it gets past normal is on a hot day idling for a long time after a long freeway drive...nowhere near overheating. Valvesprings were fine...

I pulled everything off and took it to my friendly local machinist to rebuild, as I am doing a lot of metalwork on my ongoing '65 Mustang project--my garage was and is no place to be rebuilding an engine. It got new Egge pistons (.030), the crank was turned under .010 on rods and mains...I cleaned up and reused a used rocker shaft from Wheatbelt Buick...it needed new valves but only one guide, and I had already replaced all the lifters so that was all good, but it did need new pushrods. The oil pump was fine, but it had 2 broken rings. Turns out a pushrod rocker end had broken enough to dance around, making a terrible hammering that didn't sound like a valve noise. So, with that and the blowby from the broken rings, it was time for a rebuild! I put 2000 miles on it this year and I don't think I checked the oil more than 5 times...new rings are great! I would have driven it even more, but I have 3 running old cars to split mileage among, and the '53 isn't the mileage champ. Next project--aside from the still apart Mustang, pulling the Corvair's heads and checking the valve guides...the vacuum readings don't look good. Thanks for the compliments!

Engine in car--in case anybody's interested

Engine coming out

By the way, this was a scary moment...that's a lot of engine quite a ways in the air!

Photobucket Here's a pic of the engine going back in...

I pulled the rocker shaft and used the shaft bolt holes...only 2 of them, didn't use a leveler...had no problems. I've seen others use one of the thermostat mounting holes and a rear exhaust manifold stud hole too. Use a decent sized chain and you should be OK...good bolts too...make sure they're fairly tight. Oh yeah, I held the hoist's hook in place using a bolt and nut in the two links on either side...I did have to orient the chain so the back of the engine would tilt down a bit...good luck!

Already done...sent in pics of my 2...

Are you sure AutoZone has the filter in stock? I always have to order it for mine (which should be the same as yours). Unfortunately, the only parts store brand that seems to fit it is the Fram C4P (I'm going from memory here)...lately I've just been ordering a few at a time from Bob's Automobilia...Needless to say, I've never found one in stock at a parts store...As far as oil is concerned, I assume you're talking about running detergent vs. non-detergent oil. If this is an unknown engine, I urge you to pull the side cover and oil pan and clean the sludge out, or at the very least, when you drain the oil, stick your finger into the drain hole and feel for sludge. If there's a lot (and there probably will be), it's a good idea to clean it out. As far as oil type is concerned, with a clean side cover and pan, I see no reason not to run detergent oil...I run diesel oil (Rotella or Tractor Supply brand) in all my cars. Even the new SM Rotella apparently has 1200 PPM of zinc, and I found 10W30 at my local Menard's. Good luck!

When I had my torque converter apart to replace the front pump seal there sure was a planetary gearset in there.

Mine hits reverse with a vengeance if the engine is still on fast idle. Luckily, my garage floor is slippery and the tires spin a bit. Normally, I just wait for it to step down a notch on the cam.

That's interesting...they look pretty different.