Holiday update time. Seems these last few weeks I've gone backwards a bit more than forward. Happens with every project I guess.
First Summit Racing stepped up and fixed the rusty bearing issue with my Wilwood kit no questions asked, even though the part was inside a kit and not something I had purchased separately. They even sent them next day so I could keep working.
With new bearings in hand, and a new bearing packing tool from under the tree, hubs, and the rest of the brake kit are installed.
I moved on to the engine next...
First off, my flywheel didn't fit. I had gotten an externally balanced unit for a 400 crank which was a match for my 383's specs. No go. The flywheel matched up with the dowel, and fit over the crank flange, but the bolts would not line up. I test fit the neutral balance flywheel that I got with the TKO 600 kit I got second hand and it bolted up no problem.
A quick measurement of the bolt pattern showed the new flywheel had a 3.55 to 3.56 pattern. The old one, flex plate and crank were all a consistent 3.58. So, back in the box and back to Summit. I don't know how you CNC a bolt pattern wrong, so I'm nervous the replacement is going to be wrong too.
So after the flywheel issue, I tried to install the engine and had one of the rubber mounts come apart before I even took the weight of the crane off. Another forced upgrade to urethane mounts.
With new mounts bolted on, time to mock up the drivetrain...
All in all not bad progress for a couple days.
Next I'll probably be removing the brakes and getting the truck on the ground with the wheels from the parts truck.
I'm almost ready to dive into rust repair, which is a little intimidating to me.