1921 Oldsmobile Model 46 - I ask myself, Why?

[ericmac]

On 12/24/2022 at 9:01 AM, edinmass said:

It’s interesting that the 1915 Cadillac V-8 is what took the company from a mid priced car into the “luxury high priced line”. Yet Oldsmobile goes the same way, but with a less expensive design. I’m guessing the displacement was also smaller for the Olds. What are you running for pistons and rings? It’s been thirty years since I had a early V-8 apart, and seem to remember some of them had the four ring set up with the oil control ring below the pin. Any photos of the rods?

 

 

Im half blind on the phone, just saw the Olds displacement.

I find it interesting also that Olds was not carried forward as the premier brand at GM instead of Cadillac, particularly when one looks at the Autocrat and Limited models of the brass era. Maybe that's just me.

[Stude Light]

23 hours ago, nickelroadster said:

I am sorry.  I thought you had a model 47 also.  I do have a 1916 model 44 that has pretty much the same engine that yours is also.

Your 1916 is the first year for this engine - yes, most everything is the same.

[BobinVirginia]

On 1/3/2023 at 7:45 PM, JV Puleo said:

Out of curiosity, how does Belzona compare to Devcon plastic steel?

That’s a product I’ve not had experience with. We regularly use Belzona within CAT industrial engines with great success. I’ve actually applied it to a sending unit on my 62 Impala and even the constant immersion in ethanol gas hasn’t phased it. Wish I had a comparison for you but I only have any experience with Belzona 

Edited January 8, 2023 by BobinVirginia (see edit history)

[Stude Light]

I started working on fitting the rods to the crankshaft. First, I think a good explanation of the fork and blade connecting rod will help. The fork rod has two bearing caps which firmly pins & clamps a split "insert" bearing in place. I say insert but it actually has a babbitted ID but a bronze OD. These photos may help. This is it disassembled.

And the two bearing shells

And what it looks like all assembled

Next is the blade rod. It looks like a conventional rod

The blade rod is clamped around the bearing that is pinned and clamped to the fork rod. The steel ID of the blade rod rides on the bronze OD of the bearing assembly

Think of the bearing assembly and the fork rod as one unit. There is no relative movement between the two. That bearing rides on the crank journal just like a conventional connecting rod/bearing, except it is quite wide. The blade rod oscillates back and forth on the bronze OD of the bearing. I started to draw up the design as I wanted to find the amount of rotation the blade rod makes with respect to the fork rod and, more importantly, the actual minimum and maximum angle between the two. After a little while and thinking about getting out some drawing tools and doing some geometry, I decided on another approach. I got a piece of cardboard, a builders square and a sharpie....

It turns out that the maximum angle is when the crank journal is at the top of rotation and the minimum angle is at the bottom of rotation. Anywhere else in the arc of rotation is between these two angles. Total angular sweep is around 38 degrees. So the blade rod just oscillates back and forth and doesn't actually go all the way around the journal/bearing like a typical rod does. This is how you can get away with steel on bronze....relatively little motion.

 

Hopefully, this helps to visualize the setup. BTW, the reason this is used is because the bores on each side of the V on this engine are directly across from each other and not offset. This helps keep the engine as short as possible, as does two main bearings and small bores 😉. 

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Stude Light (see edit history)

[Lahti35]

Very interesting!

[Stude Light]

As previously mentioned, when I took on this project I decided I was not doing a total restoration and I was going to try to keep the costs down while still having a viable driving car. I made the decision early on that the crank and rod bearings were in good enough shape to reuse without regrinding the crank journals and having new rod bearings made and babbitt poured. 

 

The next project was to accurately measure the crank and rods. This type of design does not lend itself to using plastigage very easily so using a micrometer and bore gauge is the best way. First step is to measure the crank journal. I typically measure in 4 spots - vertically at each end of the journal, then at 90 degrees to the first two measurements. This gives you an idea of maximum taper and out of roundness.

As you can see, the journals are in nice shape

The worst out of round on any journal is 0.0006" and the best is 0.0003". The maximum taper on any one journal is 0.0004". Not bad for a 102 year old engine. After determining the maximum OD of the journal I clamped the micrometer in my vice and started zeroing in the bore gauge. With any bore gauge, you have to determine what range of dimension you are measuring then pick the stationary pin set from the chart (that is the part to the right of the knurled nut in the phot below). After that you start wiggling that bore gauge between the flats of your micrometer and look for the dial to register the minimum dimension. It takes a bit of finesse. This is where you set the zero point.

After setting the proper zero point for the dimension you are measuring, you can measure the bore in question (Note: I switched dimensions I was measuring so you'll see the zero point is moved in the next picture). Next, ensure your rod bearing is properly clamp in the rod and the nuts are torqued to the specification ("tight" in this case). Then the bore gauge is inserted in the bearing and again moved around to get the smallest reading. In the bore it is fairly self centering. It has little roller bearings on the tips to prevent scratching the bearing surface but does leave a visible track.

The plus distance from the zero point is the total clearance between the bore and journal which is 0.0022" in this case. I notice I got a shot of the miniature leg lamp in the background to help date the photo to sometime around the Christmas season 😀

 

The fork rod and bearing assembly is not really adjustable for bore and clearance but you can dial it in a bit smaller (<0.002") if you are careful. If you go too far there is no going back. I ended up shrinking a couple of bores by 0.0015 or less. I just used a flat surface and sandpaper and gently sanded the face of the two bearings and the rod caps.

Again, this is just a very small amount....you can see I just cleaned up the face of those bearing shells to get them shiny. Same with the rod caps.

Using this technique I was able to get the 4 fork rod bearing clearances between 0.0015 - 0.0023". The specification "new" is 0.001 - 0.002".

 

The blade rods have shims with a 0.002 - 0.003" clearance specification. I had to fiddle with the shims and cut out a few new ones to get the clearances right.

All the clearances are set so next I'll install pistons and rings, then fill the bores.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Stude Light (see edit history)

[Stude Light]

Recall how I wanted to know the geometry of the blade rode to the fork rod during operation? There was an important reason for that. One thing I didn't mention is that the bronze OD of the bearing and the steel ID of the blade rod are both slightly out of round. This would be a real problem if the blade rod had to go all the way around the bearing like the fork rod/bearing ID does with the crankshaft journal, but since it just oscillates, the problem is easily solved. So, the question is how much clearance is too much or too little?

 

Well, if the blade rod only moved a few degrees, the two could be 0.050" out of round and it wouldn't matter. In this case it's just a few thousandths so I shimmed the blade rods to get me to 0.0035" clearance at the center of the arc of operation (just over specification when new), but if you try to swing the rods well beyond the operational arc, they will go to zero clearance. Setting them up this way, I ensured adequate clearance in the total arc of operation without having excessive clearances in the middle. It took a bit of measuring and a few iterations of shims to get them each set up just right.

 

This is a pictorial representation of what I'm talking about - although greatly exaggerated.

There is virtually no sign of wear on the bronze nor the steel connecting rod ID and I really doubt they were machined this way so maybe a result of the two parts taking a bit of a set during operation? Not sure. Regardless, I'm happy with how they are set up.

Edited January 13, 2023 by Stude Light (see edit history)

[hidden_hunter]

On 1/13/2023 at 12:22 PM, Stude Light said:

There is virtually no sign of wear on the bronze nor the steel connecting rod ID and I really doubt they were machined this way so maybe a result of the two parts taking a bit of a set during operation? Not sure. Regardless, I'm happy with how they are set up.

Interesting that yours appear to show wear on the outer bronze, mine didn’t when I had it apart - don’t know if it’s down to different geometry 

[Stude Light]

Next step is rings. First measuring and setting end gaps. To measure the ring end gap, I placed a ring in the cylinder.

Then push it down in the cylinder with the piston to square it up

Then use a feeler gauge to measure the gap

With new bores you can set it anywhere in the travel of the bore since it should be the same diameter throughout. With used cylinders you must measure at the very bottom of piston ring travel where the wear will be the least. If you need to increase the gap, I've used a setup like this in the past...just squeeze the ring with your fingers and slide back and forth on the file.

Once all the gaps are set (for this engine they are 0.012 - 0.014") then it's time to put them on the pistons

You'll see that some have an orientation. This 2-7/8" bore is not very common and finding 0.020" over rings for the new bore size is not easy but as I mentioned earlier in the post, Dave Reed from Otto Gas Engine Works has a huge assortment of rings including a lot of vintage NOS rings. He had compression and scraper rings, but for the oil rings, he had 6 of one design and 2 of another (all cast iron). The 2 odd ball oil control rings are not quite as good of a design as the other 6 so they are installed on the two bores with the least amount of oil splash (5 and 8 - front and rear on left hand bank). I suggest spending the $7 for a pair of ring spreaders at your local auto parts store instead of trying to use your fingers - much better control and less likely to break a ring. Start with the lowest ring first - 3/16" oil control in this case

Then the oil scraper, then the compression ring. After they were all installed, I once again checked them for correct orientation.

Here is a comparison of the two different oil control rings. The one of the left is the more common and a slightly better design.

With all the rings installed, I disassembled the rod set ups and started installing the pistons on the rods.

I used assembly lube on the pins and installed the retaining rings to keep the pins in place. A note on retaining rings (aka snap rings). Take your time and inspect them twice. The below photo might look okay but the ring is not properly in place. The last things you want is to have a simple clip score up your cylinder wall.

The one below is properly in place

Next step is installation in the block.

 

 

Edited January 15, 2023 by Stude Light (see edit history)

[Stude Light]

Before putting the pistons in the their bores, I always clean the bores the best I can, even though they have been cleaned several times. My problem is that my hand doesn't fit down these tiny little bores. Usually, I can get my fingers half way down from the top and up from the bottom.

New solution...... I cut a circle from this dense foam packing material slightly larger than the bore and screwed it on a dowel.

I recently cut up a bunch of linens so, a little mineral spirits soaked cloth followed by a dry one and I got all the bores spotless.

I'll use the same setup to oil up the bores when I put the pistons in.  Now it was time to install a piston. These are installed from the bottom up toward the cylinder head as the rod end is too big for the bore. With the crankshaft in the way, it gets a bit challenging. I was going to use my ring compressor but then figured out that it wouldn't work because once the piston is installed in the bore it would look like this and you can't pull it over the rod end.

So, I cut up a piece of 0.012" shim stock I had, got rid of all the sharp edges, bent a couple of flanges and used a nylon tie to hold it together. The little dimples on the one side are used to support it off the block so it doesn't try to go in the cylinder. There is a slight chamfer on the cylinders at the base of the block but not enough to make me feel comfortable.

Once the piston is in the bore, I just slipped off the nylon tie and pulled the metal wrap out of the way. Now that the piston is in, it is time to put the bearing shell on the crank journal and try to get things aligned (working on fork rod first). It is a bit tricky.

 

Maybe this will help tell the story. The bearing shell is held to the fork rod with two pins to prevent rotation.

If you install half of the bearing shell and align them to the pins, the gap is too narrow to fit over the 2-1/8" crank journal (yes, even it you remove the rod bolts which are a bit of a press).

So, you have to put both halves of the bearing shell over the crank journal and try to line things up. It sounds easy but you can't see and the rod-to-bearing shell is a line to line or slight press fit between the forks. It needs to come straight on like this and you need to hit the pins precisely.

It is a bit of a pain. After you get the fork rod in, you install the two caps in the correct spots and leave the nuts a bit loose, then install the blade rod, trying not to lose or incorrectly install those little shims. Once everything is together you tighten the 2 blade rod nuts, then the 4 fork rod nuts. This helps to center the bearing shell properly between the two rods. Two pistons in.....that was enough for today.

 

[hidden_hunter]

On 1/15/2023 at 2:47 PM, Stude Light said:

 

So, I cut up a piece of 0.012" shim stock I had, got rid of all the sharp edges, bent a couple of flanges and used a nylon tie to hold it together. The little dimples on the one side are used to support it off the block so it doesn't try to go in the cylinder. There is a slight chamfer on the cylinders at the base of the block but not enough to make me feel comfortable.

I stuffed around for ages trying to get them in with a compression tools, and in the end the easiest thing was to use my fingers to compress them and push them up - I found tools just got in the way and didn't clear things etc  

[nickelroadster]

I do believe that you and J.V. Puleo are having all the fun here!  I am impressed with the both of you guys.

[Stude Light]

On 1/19/2023 at 9:14 PM, nickelroadster said:

I do believe that you and J.V. Puleo are having all the fun here!  I am impressed with the both of you guys.

Joe is truly a skilled machinist and took on a huge project while I'm just doing some simple stuff but glad you like the post.

[Stude Light]

Got the rest of the pistons installed. This is the ring compressor in action. You have to rotate the crankshaft as you slip the piston in place then install the piston and the ring compressor comes apart.

Got all the pistons and rods installed.

Next I put in the adjustable oil pressure relief. The pressure adjustment screw is on the right side of the picture and changes the pressure of a spring on a ball bearing. I forgot to get a photo of the parts but this is what it looks like along with a cross-section.

Next was installing the oil line and fittings that feed the main bearings. It is interesting that the one fitting has the ID drilled out and the other has a copper sleeve to restrict flow. I guess they were trying to balance the flow but what I find odd is, unlike the diagram below, the rear bearing is plumbed from the pump first. It would make more sense if the front bearing and timing gear oiler pipe were fed first.

There is a brass tube that connects the rear main bearing to the front bearing. I also installed all 24 cotter pins. I had to custom cut each cotter pin - this was done on the bench and away from the engine to avoid getting little pieces of steel inside the engine.

And the oil flow diagram

 

[Stude Light]

To put on the camshaft timing gear, you have to install the timing gear cover backing plate first. First, I removed all the oil off the block in this area.

I used a very thin layer of The Right Stuff on both sides of the gasket - just enough to cover it.

This gasket is sandwiched between the cover back plate and the block but is clamped in place with the timing gear cover, which isn't going on for a while, so I added the plated fasteners temporarily to provide the clamp load while the sealant cures.

Next is the cam gear. There are two alignment dots on the gears to get the crank gear tooth into the correct mesh of the cam gear teeth. To install this, I rotated the crank to get the crank gear alignment dot straight up. Then marked the valley between the two teeth on the cam gear that has the dot (in red) with the dot on the crank gear tooth. With such a wide helical gear you have to look down the tooth profile for that alignment (sorry, rather blurry). I rotated the camshaft until the keyway was precisely aligned to the slot in the hole of the gear.

When you look at this straight on, the alignment marks look way off until you get the gear pulled into place on the camshaft and the helix of the gear rotates the cam and the dots will align.

The gear is a rather tight press on the camshaft. I used a bolt to gradually pull the gear on as I tightened it, then added washers as the gear was pressed on to the camshaft to keep the bolt from bottoming out. 

You have to be careful to get everything square and aligned (gear teeth and keyway) before cranking on the bolt and pulling the gear onto the camshaft. During this entire process, I constantly checked for a little lash between the gears to ensure nothing was binding and causing damage to the teeth. It turns out that the press was too tight which forced me to pull the gear off part way into the process and take a little sand paper to the ID of the gear hole. I used a little drum sander on the end of my drill that was almost the size of the hole and just worked it around and back and forth to polish that ID up which gave just a little less press. Of course, all the grit was washed off before assembling. With the gear pressed on all the way, the marks are aligned

It is more apparent at a slight angle since the cam gear is wider than the crank gear.

Recall that the cam gear looks like this

[Stude Light]

Oh, I forgot about the distributor drive system. I added this just before I installed the cam gears. This is the layout when fully assembled. The distributor mounts to the back of the generator and an external driveshaft comes out of the engine.

These are the components

The camshaft has a drive gear on the forward end

Which can be seen down this hole

As previously posted, Rusty Berg made me a new driveshaft. The other issue I had was the driven gear shaft was loose in the support housing due to wear. I decided to turn down the gear shaft to make it round and make a new support housing with a slightly undersize hole. I was going to do this on my vintage Dalton lathe but another fellow Oldsmobile (Cutlass) owner, Mike VanCamp, had just finished rebuilding a 1974 South Bend 14 lathe, including re-scraping the ways, and he he was looking for a project and offered to do this work. Not being one to turn down help, I gave him the old parts. Mike did a beautiful job on the lathe and started by turning the gear shaft down just enough to eliminate the wear areas. Next he started on the support housing, which is when I got the phone call..."You realize that the hole in the part is not only oblong but it is also not centered?"

 

So he made a new part with the hole off center which I figured out was to provide a means of adjusting the depth of the mesh engagement of the distributor driven gear with the cam drive gear, just by rotating the housing. I assume this was to allow for build tolerances. You can see the slight gap difference between the gear and housing as it is rotated from one end to the other (margin between gear and edge of housing).

After pouring plenty of assembly lube on the gear mesh, I installed the gear and housing support and rotated the housing to give a slight amount of backlash, then bolted it in place.

While the gear mesh gets oil splash from below, the shaft and housing has an external system of oiling which was originally set up with an oil cup.

Since I plan on driving a bit and this was a wear point from before, I was thinking of changing to an oiler instead. I'm thinking a few extra drops during a drive isn't going to hurt anything.

 

Edited January 21, 2023 by Stude Light (see edit history)

[hidden_hunter]

Does the olds have the tensioners on the side of the motor as well?

[ericmac]

This is some really impressive work Scott. Not feeling bored in retirement I see!

[Stude Light]

10 hours ago, hidden_hunter said:

Does the olds have the tensioners on the side of the motor as well?

Tensioners? Like for a timing chain? Since it has timing gears, then no. Unless you are referring to something else, let me know.

[Stude Light]

4 hours ago, ericmac said:

This is some really impressive work Scott. Not feeling bored in retirement I see!

Thanks.  I needed a winter project and, luckily for me, Hart's Machine came through on their timing promise. Besides finishing this car, I have some work to do on the LaSalle before spring.

 

[Stude Light]

And now......lifters and valves.

 

Like modern race engines, this high-powered race engine of 58hp has roller lifters. The lifters are contained in a single support housing that bolts into the block. After being placed in the bore, they are held in place by the adjusting bolt and washer on the top side. If you look closely, you can see some numbered stenciling on the housing. I marked each lifter assembly to ensure the same bore and orientation was used upon reassembly.

I dropped each lifter roller into assembly lube and used a toothbrush to ensure the lifter bodies and support housing bores were fully lubricated prior to installation.

Then installed all the lifters.

BTW - besides using new valves, I had the top of the adjusting bolts all resurfaced to ensure flatness and uniformity.

To install the assembled unit in the block, the valve springs needed to be put in place first before you can bolt the assembly in, otherwise you cannot install the springs afterwards (they don't compress enough).

IMPORTANT - notice the side view if the casting flange below. You do not want to use the bolts to draw down the lifter housing assembly over the locating pins. If things aren't perfectly lined up you run the risk of braking the mounting flanges. It is better to take a Dead Blow hammer and get the casting seated over the pins, then tighten the bolts up. This technique should be applied to other castings that use locator pins to avoid those "Oh Crap" moments in life - especially on thinner castings like this one.

With the lifter support housing bolted in place, it is time to install the valve spring retainers. I had to use two different spring compressors on this engine. To get the retainers in place I used the "finger" version (something you might use for a Briggs and Stratton engine).

After all the retainers were installed I lubricated the valve guides and stems and dropped in all the valves. Recall that I marked all these when I lapped them? It's now time to put them in their correct locations.

Next, I used a large "C" style valve spring compressor and installed the "C-clip" keepers. You may want to keep your telescoping magnetic tool handy as the keepers love to fall off at the most inopportune moments. This is also why you don't want to install your oil pan until you are done up top.

It took a couple of hours, but finally got all the lifters, valves, springs, retainers and keepers in place.

I do need to set the valve lash on all 16 of these. It is pretty simple..... place the proper feeler gauge between the top of the adjusting bolt and adjust until contact is made, then tighten locknut. It usually takes a few tries to get it right until you figure out how much extra lash to put in before pulling up the locknut which takes the lash out of the threads and decreases the valve lash you are trying to set correctly.

 

The manual recommends 0.004" valve lash but doesn't specify hot or cold and provides the same for both intake and exhaust. 0.004" seems a bit tight cold, especially for the length of these valves so I am planning to set them to 0.007" for the exhaust and 0.005" for the intake. This is for a cold engine. Intake valves run much cooler than exhaust so do not "grow" in length as much, hence the cold lash is usually set less. I would rather have some lifter noise than a burned valve.

 

 

[hidden_hunter]

1 hour ago, Stude Light said:

Tensioners? Like for a timing chain? Since it has timing gears, then no. Unless you are referring to something else, let me know.

The scan I have of the book isn’t very clear but on the cad (I’ll grab a better photo later this week), there are two shafts that have worm gears on them which you can adjust. The test for if it needs to be done is if the fan moves by more than 1” without slipping the clutch

23 minutes ago, Stude Light said:

The manual recommends 0.004" valve lash but doesn't specify hot or cold and provides the same for both intake and exhaust. 0.004" seems a bit tight cold, especially for the length of these valves so I am planning to set them to 0.007" for the exhaust and 0.005" for the intake

Cadillac had them at 0.002 and 0.003 in 1922 and 0.004 and 0.006 in 1923 so I wonder if they worked out that they didn’t need to be that tight - or that nobody got them particularly accurate when adjusting them when everything is on the car despite the “easy” access

 

The keepers are a pain to install, I tried a modern compressor and had no luck whatsoever so bought a vintage screw type and it was much easier

 

olds looks like they had a better design for the lifters, on the cad they hang down and a stuck valve breaks the casting and showers metal down through the motor…

[Stude Light]

With most all the internals installed, I was thinking about the oil pan but I have a few issues to resolve. 

Issue #1: Oil lines. This is my setup:

At some point the oil line between the pan and pump got replaced (listed above as "new"). Originally, it had 7/16" OD soft copper tubing with flare nuts on each end (just like the oil pump output line). 3/8" has a smaller cross section which means more restrictive, plus it's kinked a bit so it has to go.

 

So........7/16" OD copper, huh? What the Ford - Really??!! Assuming I could find some 7/16 OD pipe, my flaring tool doesn't have that option, so I will upgrade to 1/2". This means a couple of fitting changes - no big deal.

But, that brings me to the pickup tube. It looks like this from below.

Installed in the pan, it looks like this (hole/slot faces down).

Originally, there was a fine mesh brass/copper screen soldered in the oil pan covering this pickup. The problem with that design is there was no way to clean to carbon gunk out from below the screen so I had to unsolder it out. I can't see putting a new one in for the same reason - can't clean it out.

I hate to just leave an open tube in case of a small piece of gasket or something. It also has this tray which also has a fine screen but an overflow v-notch too. The little trough is to clear the oil line that goes between the front/rear mains.

I'm thinking of a brass window screen sized mesh and just cutting the end of the tube off and soldering the screen into a round tube that can be removed and cleaned without pulling the pan. Granted, it is a bit of a courser screen to avoid plugging and could possibly let something unwanted in but my other vintage cars use the same screen size. I'll just plan on keeping stuff out of my engine. Let me know if you see an issue with this design or have a better idea.

Edited January 23, 2023 by Stude Light (see edit history)

[Stude Light]

And  Issue #2: Oil level

 

This engine only takes 4 quarts. There is a gauge indicating oil level instead of a dipstick. On the end of this gauge, which I'll need to make a new indicator face for, there is a float in the oil.

I believe it was originally cork. Do I use cork again or some modern replacement that can survive 250 degree oil? I was also thinking maybe a brass tubular float but I would want the wire to run right through it and then solder the ends back shut. The diameter of the hole it needs to pass through is 0.92" so maybe some 3/4" brass tube and two ends? Any feedback from past experience?

 

It also has this petcock which is similar to checking a Model T but a gauge would be nice. 4 quarts isn't much so I'll be checking it a lot.

Edited January 23, 2023 by Stude Light (see edit history)

[Lahti35]

Coming along nicely!

[EmTee]

Rather than simply attaching a 'sock' to the open-ended tube, it might be better to close the end of the tube, but lengthen it to run across the width of the pan.  Then, open the bottom of the tube, essentially like the original pickup, but longer.  I would center the opening at the middle of the pan, and make it somewhat longer than original, but stop short of opening it the entire length.  Then solder the screen over the tube.  The pickup will only work effectively as long as oil covers the opening.  A slot on the bottom of the tube will keep the opening as low as possible and minimize the chance for the opening to be exposed and the pump ingesting air during turns or hard braking.  Granted, the oil level in the pan would have to be very low for this to occur, but things happen and a leak or other component failure while underway could create such a situation.  Look at the pickups used on virtually all such engines; they are open on the bottom, typically surrounded by a shielded volume.  I like the idea of being able to withdraw the pickup without dropping the pan, so that means the pickup has to remain cylindrical.  Making it as long as possible will provide some internal volume to help ensure the pump doesn't suck any air.

[Stude Light]

In case you are wondering how I recall how this engine all goes back together after taking it apart over a year ago.....I took a lot of pictures, took a lot of notes and marked the important parts so they get installed the same was they came apart. There is no maintenance manual or assembly document for these. 

Yes, engineers can be a bit retentive about documentation 😉. Even something like the oil pump all goes back together like it came apart. I marked the gears so the teeth mesh the same way that they wore together and same with the cover. 

So, rather than rush taking stuff apart, it makes good sense to document as you disassemble.

 

 

[Andy J]

Documentation is a very hard lesson I learned at 69 years old.The old "I'll remember how it goes back together" method I used for so many years fades away for me in about two months.I don't care how simple it seems to be,document EVERYTHING! You will sleep easier and have fewer headaches,guaranteed.

[hidden_hunter]

9 hours ago, Andy J said:

Documentation is a very hard lesson I learned at 69 years old.The old "I'll remember how it goes back together" method I used for so many years fades away for me in about two months.I don't care how simple it seems to be,document EVERYTHING! You will sleep easier and have fewer headaches,guaranteed.

With phones these days, I take heaps of pictures before and as I take things apart… sometimes not as useful as you think when the last spanner that was in there put it together wrong 

[Stude Light]

I worked out solutions for the oil pickup, oil level and supply tube.

First, the pickup tube. I averaged my original plan with EmTee's suggestion and came up with a slotted tube that extends to about the center of the pan with an open end. I am trying to balance uncovering the pickup with having enough screen. After drawing a couple of scenarios on paper, it is really doubtful the pickup will ever get uncovered. Also, with a 58 hp engine, it doesn't accelerate fast. With 2 wheel brakes it doesn't decelerate fast. And with 100+ year old wooden spoked wheels it's not going to be cornering very fast. There is a baffle for front/rear slosh which is the most important for braking. From the bottom side:

From the top side:

Soldering that seam was a bit of a pain. Next was coming up with some design for the oil level indicator. Not knowing what was originally there, I ended up soldering a brass indicator end to what looked like a cut of piece of wire inside. I then made a little face plate with a slot and included a tab so it can't rotate. The brass end sticks out just far enough to stay inside the slot and not hit the glass.

Next was the float. I decided on cork, like was originally there. I read up on cork a bit and it is a pretty cool wood that has some great properties. Looking at the size cork I need, I went to my wine bottle rack where there are usually a few used ones laying around but not all wine corks are the real thing. Wouldn't you know?....There is a website that tracks which wines have real vs not real corks and it turns out that 14 Hands Vineyard uses the real thing.

After cutting it to fit and a few coats of shellac it was ready for service. My next task was to calibrate the gauge and determine the proper oil level for this car. The Owner's Manual says 4 quarts of oil in one area and 5 quarts in another. I levelled the oil pan on the bench and used water. I started with one quart which covers the pickup tube pretty well as the pan is sloped from the sides to the bottom.

The second quart covers to the top of the baffle and just starts the indicator to move so I added a red dot to that point.

3 quarts

I missed the photo for 4 quarts which is where I put the second red dot. Here is 5 quarts which is where the oil should just start spilling out the oil pan level check valve, which is mentioned no where in the manual.

I then installed the "windage tray" to see where we are at.

I decided to add a bit more until the oil just starts getting over the screen. That turns out to be 5.5 quarts which is where I'll be running this car. That is where the green dot goes on the indicator.

With these two issues resolved, I cleaned everything up and decided to install the oil pan. The pan consists of an aluminum pan extension which requires gaskets on each side.

I ended up using a thin layer of "Permatex The Right Stuff" on the gasket between the block and pan extension as I want that to stay in place if I drop the pan. For the pan to spacer gasket I used Hylomar.

Hylomar is some great stuff but is hard to find. It is only cut by acetone but allows you to reuse gaskets so works well for oil pans and valve covers (things that get opened up occasionally) .

Next was the Timing Gear Cover, then the oil pump (both gaskets got a thin layer of The Right Stuff - I hate leaks). For the oil pump gear cover I didn't want to add any additional thickness due to sealants so I used a light spray of High Tack. I used plenty of assembly lube on the timing gears and oil pump drive gears before putting on the cover. I got it all assembled then added a new 1/2" copper oil inlet line.

I did set all the valve lash. This is down at TDC for each cylinder and, as mentioned, was set at 0.005" cold for intake and 0.007" cold for the exhaust. It's getting close now. Need to work on the water pump and then the heads.

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by Stude Light (see edit history)

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

What are you going to use to cover the oil level indicator?mike

[Stude Light]

5 hours ago, Mike &quot;Hubbie&quot; Stearns said:

What are you going to use to cover the oil level indicator?mike

Hi Mike,

Since the faceplate is not as thick as what was originally there, I added an o-ring to make up the gap in the recessed area of the opening which keeps the faceplate in place. If you look closely you can see the o-ring in the water level test photos. Next, I added a rubber impregnated cork gasket I made. On top of that is a round piece of glass, then another standard gasket to protect the glass from the threaded metal cap. I used the cork/rubber gasket as it is rather thick and keeps the glass high enough over the indicator.

[Stude Light]

Been rather busy today. I started with the water pump. It is a simple design inside but was the cause of all the issues of water getting in the engine. At the beginning of this thread I mentioned that the pump packing was leaking and the weep hole was plugged so the water flowed into the engine. I previously made a new water pump driveshaft and installed new packing and made a tool to tighten the brass packing nut.

The water pump is driven by the camshaft gear nut which has a boss on it with a slot.

The water pump is driven through a similar slot.

When I removed the pump what I found was a rectangular piece of steel was used as the drive key. I inserted a piece of cardboard to help visualize what I'm talking about. The issue is that the key was scraping along the sidewalls of the housing to keep the key centered. This is an unlubricated area.....not a good idea.

I found a piece of thin wall tubing and cut a drive key to fit in the center and had my friend Aaron use his TIG and silicon bronze rod to weld it in. This design keeps the key centered without scraping the housing ID.

I used a thin film of The Right Stuff sealant on the large diameter between housings and used Hylomar of the flange gasket where it mounts to the timing gear cover. I know I'll be pulling the pump at some point to tighten the packing hence the Hylomar. You may ask "Why not use Hylomar on everything?" It is a bit expensive but it doesn't have the gap fill capability to ensure leak free joints the The Right Stuff does and on these old castings with pits, that is helpful.

 

Next I decided to put the cherry picker together and lift the engine off the stand.

Then I put it in the car. I did this with the heads off so covered everything up to avoid getting anything in the cylinders. The reason I left the heads off is that I didn't want to torque the heads down then pull bolts to put on the lifting chain. I would rather just torque everything down and leave it alone.

To my surprise, it went in easily and the mounting bolts all lined up perfectly to my new frame mounts. I drilled those holes with very little tolerance to the bolts so I was a little worried.

With everything bolted down, I wanted to get the heads on. The head gaskets from Olson's are NOS Victor gaskets that are copper faced with an asbestos core. After 100 years sitting on the shelf, the copper oxidizes so I wanted to clean them up with Scotch-Brite.

You can see in the photo that the bolt holes and edges have exposed asbestos.

 

A side note on asbestos......the stuff is everywhere but in very low quantities. In farm country it is kicked up while working the fields due to million of years of rock erosion. It's in urban areas due to previous construction and demolition, although NY City was covered in it after 911. The important thing is to try and limit your exposure. Repeated exposure (inhaling or eating) levels higher than ambient is what's bad. The precautions I took was to wear gloves and a capable respirator but, most importantly, I wet the gaskets down and cleaned them up wet. When I was done I used wet towels to wipe everything down and bagged everything up wet and triple bagged it including the nitrile gloves, then thoroughly washed my hands. I'm sure it was overkill but that is how asbestos is dealt with. It is soaked down to prevent airborne fibers, cleaned up and double bagged (6 mil bags if I recall) then goes to the regular ole solid waste landfill. 

 

First, I wiped everything down with a clean lint free rag using Brakleen to ensure all oil and dirt was removed. I used two coats of Permatex Copper Spray on each side of the gaskets. The copper spray is primarily to help with heat transfer - not sure how much it helps with sealing. One trick I learned from rebuilding my flathead Cadillac/LaSalle engine was to install a couple of removable studs to hold the gaskets in places and align the head.

Most of the head bolts go into blind holes but a couple go into exhaust ports. I used a small amount of aluminum based anti-sieze on the bolts and the ones that terminate in the exhaust port I used hi-temp nickel based anti-sieze.

With all the bolts installed, I created a torque sequence based on the Cadillac flathead - basically torque from center out. These are 7/16"-14 bolts and, assuming about Grade 5, should be torqued to 37 ft lbs. (FYI - The 7/16"-14 bolts on my LaSalle go to 70 ft lbs). I started by lightly snugging all the bolts, then torqued to 20 ft lbs and repeated 20 ft lbs, then went to 30 ft lbs and repeated 30 ft lbs, then went to 37 ft lbs and repeated 37 ft lbs. It gets tedious but is important to keep things flat and well sealed. After I thermal cycle the engine, I'll retorque again (cold) and will repeat that a couple of times.

It's starting to look like something!

Edited January 28, 2023 by Stude Light (see edit history)

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

Why did you use the aluminum on some and head bolts? I understand using the hi temp where you did. Mike

[Stude Light]

2 hours ago, Mike "Hubbie" Stearns said:

Why did you use the aluminum on some and head bolts? I understand using the hi temp where you did. Mike

To allow for easier removal in the future if needed. A couple of bolts broke off during disassembly due to corrosion and I wanted to avoid that in the future. In a perfect world the head gasket will never weep coolant but, unfortunately, I don’t live there based on past experience . This should protect the blind holes from locking in a bolt.

Edited January 28, 2023 by Stude Light (see edit history)

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

The only reason I asked is I’ve only used Nickel based antiseeze. Aluminum and steel just don’t get along, as aluminum will corrode to a steel bolt. Mike

[Stude Light]

4 hours ago, Mike &quot;Hubbie&quot; Stearns said:

The only reason I asked is I’ve only used Nickel based antiseeze. Aluminum and steel just don’t get along, as aluminum will corrode to a steel bolt. Mike

Dissimilar metals will definitely corrode, especially in the presence of water, due to galvanic action. Anti-seize is actually a mixture of aluminum, copper, and graphite lubricants which convert themselves into oxides to protect the fasteners from seizing. It is not the same as having pure metals in contact.

 

[Stude Light]

Today, I made a few spanner tools to allow me to assemble the clutch in the coming days.

I did get the flywheel installed and it ended up barely contacting the cross frame support so I added a washer under each rear mount. I got the castellated nuts aligned and cotter pinned.

There is very little clearance to the frame and to the steering box

I started soaking the cone clutch leather in neatsfoot oil. It sucked it right up and took several coats over a couple of days to get it fully impregnated.

Another bit of trivia....neatsfoot oil is rightly named as "neat" in Old English means cattle. And that is exactly what it is. Neatsfoot oil comes from the shin bones and feet of cattle. Apparently the skinny legs of cattle are adapted to tolerate and maintain lower temperatures than that of their bodies and the fat oils in their legs and feet (not hooves) is different than the rest of their body fat which would coagulate at lower temperatures. So the leg/foot oil stays liquid and easily soaks into leather. So, the next time you use it to soften up your leather products you'll know it's from cattle leg squeezing's 🤮.

[Stude Light]

I figured I would start in on the clutch today. It seems simple enough, but so far, this has been the most difficult part. This is the end of the crankshaft inside the flywheel. The hole you see oils the pilot bushing and clutch retaining plate bearing and is supplied from the rear crank journal through a felt packing to keep it from pouring out. I packed that felt in pretty tight so not sure how long it will take before oil will be flowing out.

Another felt ring goes around the hole and snugs up next to the roller thrust bearing

The clutch retaining plate goes on next and has a roller thrust bearing. The bearing and nut have a tapered fit so the more you tighten it up the more the nut grabs the threads as the nut is slotted.

It looks like this installed (dry). I ended up using wheel bearing grease and packed the bearing not knowing how long it will take the engine oil to make it through all the felt to lubricate it. I did saturate all the felt before assembly.

The four pins you see protruding are what the springs react on to pull the clutch into the cone. They pass through the cone clutch housing and use a spring assembly very similar to the valve springs and retainers. You can also see the throwout bearing, which is pulled on to release the clutch. This bearing is held on by a thin tapered nut (with the 4 slots). The throwout bearing is lubricated by the transmission oi which also goes through a felt packing but I'll be using a pretty heavy gear lube in the trans so I'm not sure how long that oil will take to get to the throwout bearing so that one also got packed with wheel bearing grease. Wheel bearing grease stays put pretty well, even at higher temps.

The question was how to compress the springs and get the retainers on.

 

First Idea: I thought maybe I could assemble the clutch and support plate together, then reach through the hub with my homemade spanner tool and get the nut spun on the crankshaft. With the cone clutch pounded into the flywheel with a dead blow hammer, there still wasn't enough reach to start the nut and there was no way to compress the four springs enough to get it started.

 

Next Idea: Assemble the support plate on the crankshaft, then install the clutch and clutch springs. With the new leather, the cone clutch does not fit as deeply into the flywheel as one that is "worn in" so there is no way I could compress the springs enough to get the keeper on the pins (pins don't stick up enough).

 

Final Idea: Loosen up the support plate bearing nut to gain enough length on the pins to allow me to get the springs on, then pull up the nut which will further compress the springs. That worked. I used the finger valve spring compressor I used when doing the valves but couldn't take a picture as I was laying under the car while leaning on a pry bar to compress the opposite spring and using the spring compressor in one hand and trying to pull up the pin with needle nose pliers and install the keeper with the other hand. It took a while but I got all four installed - what a pain. You will also notice the four cotter pins holding the throwout bearing nut.

Next, I installed the bell housing and the brake and clutch pedal arms.

After getting it all installed and adjusted to allow the clutch to be released, I checked clearance. It was only 0.020" between the release arm (thick flat plate held on with the single bolt) and the spring retainers which is a bit close for me so I beveled the edge to increase the clearances to 0.090". 

Apparently that bull the hide came from had some thick skin. I'm sure after a few clutch applies, I'll knock down all the high spots and it'll nest in a lot better.

 

The last thing to do was to adjust the spring plungers. Today's flat plate clutches use a wide flat wave spring between the two friction surfaces. This is called a cushion spring and allows you to modulate the clutch. These little plunger springs are used for the same purpose. (Don't confuse the coil springs in the hub on modern clutches with cushion springs....those are tuned to reduce gear rattle, along with a damping element). With the cone clutch engaged, I added a little less than 1/16" of clearance under the nut, so that is how much they will pop out when the clutch is released. This starts the clutch engaging for smoother starts.

Edited January 31, 2023 by Stude Light (see edit history)

[TexRiv_63]

This is one of the best play-by-play restoration threads here, keep up the good work!