'57 Ford Custom 300 Tudor Sedan

[swamp rat]

LOL! Blood shot eyes just like me in the morning, put a mug of coffie beside it and its perfict! Love it Vic!

[Vic1947]

Well, we fired the engine yesterday. Sort of a mixed bag. Lotsa problems with fuel, water, oil, starter and timing. We worked our way thru most of it, but there's a lot left to do. Started this morning after our company left and will let you all know how it turns out.

Before we even began the process of breaking in the engine, there was a problem. After pouring four gallons of coolant into the radiator/engine, there was a small drip coming out of the front seal of the water pump. It's an aluminum Weiand/Holley pump and they don't offer a rebuild kit for it. New ones cost over $200 and to make matters worse, I've machined several of the bosses down to accommodate my pulley setup. We decided to forge ahead and lay some towels over the fenders to catch any small amount of spray. Fortunately, after the seal got warm, it seems to have dried up and there was no water on the floor overnight. If it reoccurs, I'll drop in some stop leak pellets and hope that fixes it permanently. If not, I'll replace it.

The carb had sat so long the accelerator pump didn't work. Took the bowl off and it seemed okay there, so I removed the metering block and blew thru the passage and couldn't believe it when the air pressure dislodged a tiny little black house fly. Must have come in thru the vent tube and got trapped. The actual problem was with the check needle below the squirters, but we had a good laugh about the fly.

At that point we encountered a small problem with the starter. Every three or four tries, it free wheels, but on the very next try it engages perfectly. Not sure what is up with it, but if it continues, I have another brand new starter in the spare parts box. It doesn't have shims but bolts directly to the bellhousing.

The engine fired right up after a couple of timing adjustments, and we ran it for several minutes, but shut it off because the oil pressure was reading close to 100 psi. Removed the electronic sender and installed a mechanical gauge which read 80 psi at around 2500 rpm. At idle it reads 40 psi. My guess is that my ex-Pro Stock partner who built the engine originally, shimmed the relief spring in the pump. I don't really like that much pressure as it puts a load on the distributor gear. If it eventually sharpens up the gear, I'll have to pull the pan and fix the root cause. Lot of work due to having to pull the steering rack and tie rods.

When we started it back up, it was immediately obvious oil had leaked out from under the valve cover on the driver side. The valve cover has a machined edge that fits very tightly around the aluminum heads. It wasn't fully seated on that side and was leaking enough oil that by the time we shut it down, the shop was filled with smoke. Set up the fan to clear it out and tightened down the covers some more. They make some thicker gaskets that will seal without having to have the valve cover lip snap over the machined surface on the head. Added to the parts list already.

Continued breaking in the cam until the rear passenger side header tube started to glow red, so we once again shut it down and backed down the timing which helped a lot. The plugs on the passenger side looked a lot leaner than the driver side and it appears I may have been a little light on the valve adjustment on that side. The first few were at zero lash instead of zero plus a half turn.

The lower radiator hose I have on order has not yet arrived, so I spliced a molded hose together to make do. Didn't want to put too much pressure on it, so we kept the cap on loosely. Naturally, every time we shut the engine off, it puked coolant all over the floor. The good news was, the highest temperature we saw was 190 and the thermostat opens promptly at 180.

After running the engine enough to break in the cam, we topped off the ATF in the transmission and ran it thru the gears. That all seemed okay but I won't really know until the first test drive. The electronic speedo is working but no idea whether it is anywhere close. It came with chart for setting the dip switches, but to change them, I'd have to remove the instrument cluster from the dash. It may on the back burner for awhile as I can calculate my speed or perhaps use a GPS to find the actual speed then adjust accordingly.

I have a short, but not very interesting, video posted here for anyone that wants to listen to the engine run.

[sduckworth13]

The car looks awesome Vic. Congrats on getting it fired up.

[jlsanborn]

Sounds great Vic and congrats on the cam break in! Had the same dealio with the red passenger header on my big truck at first fire. WAY late on the timing, had to jump a tooth to get it in range. I'd imagine they used standard bearings and seals in that water pump? Any bearing houses local?

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by sduckworth13

The car looks awesome Vic. Congrats on getting it fired up.

Thanks, Scott, I appreciate your help pushing it around!

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

Sounds great Vic and congrats on the cam break in! Had the same dealio with the red passenger header on my big truck at first fire. WAY late on the timing, had to jump a tooth to get it in range. I'd imagine they used standard bearings and seals in that water pump? Any bearing houses local?

Timing on mine was way off too when I got around to checking it, John. No apparent harm. Not sure why the problem manifested itself on just the one side. All the valves were set at zero plus 1/4 turn. Reset them to zero plus a half per the minimum specification. Had two rocker arms just kissing the valve covers (one on each side) so I clearanced them.

The water pump leak is still not fully healed and I decided against trying stop leak, which isn't really meant for turning parts. No rebuilders in the area and the one up in Columbus, OH would take at least a week and a half to round trip. I caved in and ordered a new one from Summit today and should have it in and the engine running again by Wednesday of next week. Meanwhile I'll go thru the carb and see if there are any more bugs (literally) in it. Also need to pull the pressed in studs on the upper control arm on the passenger side and replace them with longer ones to get the camber set to zero. Plenty to do, but I feel pretty good about the progress so far.

[Xeen]

Congratulations on start up Vic, you must be stoked.

[swamp rat]

It sounds awesome Vic! We all know if anybody can get the bugs worked out you can, keep pressing forward!

EDIT: Have you given her a name yet?

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Xeen

Congratulations on start up Vic, you must be stoked.

Thanks, Brian. Pretty happy all in all.

Originally Posted by swamp rat

It sounds awesome Vic! We all know if anybody can get the bugs worked out you can, keep pressing forward!

EDIT: Have you given her a name yet?

Not sure what you'd call a money pit you've kept around for 25 years, Mike.


Good buddy Vern (Boppa of Old Yeller fame) stopped by this morning with an armful of moving blankets. Said he'd noticed I was using towels to protect the fenders and figured he'd loan me something much more substantial. They used them when they dropped the LS motor in Yeller and didn't get a scratch anywhere. WooHoo! However, true to the saying "No good deed goes unpunished" it rained on Yeller while he was here so he had to go home and do cleanup. I swear the rain cloud was the only one in the sky and it dumped right over our house. Sheesh!

The water pump is off and the new one will be here on Tuesday. I'm not sure if I can press it apart. I may send it off to the rebuilder and keep it on the shelf as a spare just in case. Of course, the new one would last at least until the seals in the rebuilt one dried out.

I think I found some control arm bolts on eBay. Just waiting to hear if they are the correct size. Removed the ones that are too short so it won't take but a few minutes to reassemble it.

Had a good laugh when I crawled under the car to wipe off some of the antifreeze residue. When I built the stainless headers, I opted to use mild steel for the collectors and painted them with the "1600 degree ceramic" engine paint out of a rattle can. Nearly all of it had peeled off the collectors and turned to ash. Used Scotch-Brite to clean the worst of it off and from here on out, they get to go nekkid.

[Xeen]

It's a good thing you have some time to spare before the power tour to work out the bugs, lets just hope there are no other problems so you have time to put some miles on her before it's go time.

[Low Elco]

Call Boppa- He or I may have that manifold paint that we used on yeller. Yours if you want it, works pretty good so far. Scotchbrite it and slap it on there, it may hold the rust back. Congrats on the fire up!

Yeller got wet, hee hee. Wash some of the giant Lab slobber off it!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Xeen

It's a good thing you have some time to spare before the power tour to work out the bugs, lets just hope there are no other problems so you have time to put some miles on her before it's go time.

I hope so too, Brian.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Call Boppa- He or I may have that manifold paint that we used on yeller. Yours if you want it, works pretty good so far. Scotchbrite it and slap it on there, it may hold the rust back. Congrats on the fire up!

Yeller got wet, hee hee. Wash some of the giant Lab slobber off it!

Thanks for the offer, Chip. Not sure if I'll have time for that or not. Punch list is still pretty long.

Update...

The water pump arrived late Tuesday and I spent all day yesterday working on it. The quality of these units has gone downhill since I bought the original that was on the car. Porous casting, sloppy machine work and a few holes that wouldn't line up with the timing cover without re-drilling them. Very frustrating. Then to top it all off, I discovered the height of the hub is 1/8" less than the original. So without a spacer, the pulleys won't line up. Buried in the box was a tiny little slip of paper warning not to try to alter the hub. Doing so would void the warranty and possibly lead to "catastrophic failure". They offered to sell you a spacer kit as a fix. Not sure who the bean counter and/or marketing genius is at Holley that decided it's a good idea to throw in a slip of paper instead of a $2 part and piss off a customer. Having a lathe and mill meant I was able to make the needed part, but it wasn't in my time budget.

After all the trials and tribulations, the engine is back together and upon startup... the new water pump leaked out the weep hole just like the other one did. However, after running it for about 10 minutes at operating temp, the leak disappeared - thankfully! The engine sounds better after tightening the valve lash by another quarter turn. Starts instantly and doesn't run on when you click it off. Timing was dead nuts where I set it the other day and the vacuum is a steady 10 in. at idle.

I discovered the passenger side tie rod was hitting one of the rack and pinion lines, so I remade the line and now I have a small leak. When I first installed the rack, I had to splice both hard lines with AN fittings so I was able to re-do just that section. I think the rack is off like an '87 Cavalier (and a whole host of other models / years) and the fittings in the housing are metric bubble flares which I can't reproduce. I can't source the lines anywhere and hate to buy a rebuilt rack just for that reason. Not to mention the PITA it is to work on it. Plus the lines probably wouldn't be new anyway. I'll jack it up tomorrow and hopefully get an eighth of a turn on it before the wrench rounds it off.

The punch list is now written on the bench. I'd planned to have the car at the shop today to have the a/c charged, front end aligned and the state safety inspection done. Did not work out... and it's supposed to be raining the next four days, so I set it up for next Tuesday. If it's dry at all tomorrow, I'm going to take if for a short test drive. Will let you know how it goes.

[jlsanborn]

Awesome update Vic!!! Hat's off man, your down to mouse nuts. Can't wait to see it outside. Next time Yeller is on your street, whap a photo for us will ya?

[flashed]

I have been with you all the way with this build and you are so close to perfect ,its one of my favorites here .

[Xeen]

I can just imagine the string of profanity that you were spewing when the new pump was leaking. I'm glad to hear it stopped leaking, lets hope it stays that way.
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?

[swamp rat]

Not sure what all is left but you have been kicking butt and taking no prisoners!

[Elliot949]

great work Vic... Glad to see it finally coming together after all these years... W@hen is the Power Tour?

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by flashed

I have been with you all the way with this build and you are so close to perfect, its one of my favorites here .

Thanks very much!

Originally Posted by Xeen

I can just imagine the string of profanity that you were spewing when the new pump was leaking. I'm glad to hear it stopped leaking, lets hope it stays that way.

It appears, Brian, that the leak is temperature related. It wants to leak a small amount out of the weep hole in the casting below the shaft when the engine is cold and first starts. Once it warms up, it doesn't seem to leak anymore until the next cold start. It's a very tiny amount, but sprays droplets on the underside of the engine until it quits. Profanity doesn't begin to describe it.

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

Awesome update Vic!!! Hat's off man, your down to mouse nuts. Can't wait to see it outside. Next time Yeller is on your street, whap a photo for us will ya?

Thanks, John. Had it out today but it was cloudy and took no pictures. I'll try to remember to shoot Old Yeller next time he's here. Below are a couple from the car show last Feb.

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Not sure what all is left but you have been kicking butt and taking no prisoners!

Thanks, Mike. Still have to get the offsite services done, then install the hood, grille and weatherstripping. The big thing is going back and retightening all the suspension and drivetrain components, brake and fuel fittings and in general anything that could vibrate loose. Don't want to be Found On Road Dead.

Originally Posted by Elliot949

great work Vic... Glad to see it finally coming together after all these years... W@hen is the Power Tour?

Thanks, Dan. We leave for Power Tour on June 5th. Shakedown run to Sedalia (100 miles each way) on May 30th.

Meanwhile, we made the first highway test today. Kathy followed in the mighty Volt and I made a lap that included about a mile at highway speed. The brakes could stand to be bedded in some more, but they were working fairly well by the time we got home. Kathy was clocking me on the highway and the speedo looks like it's right on. It ran smooth as silk and handled great. Not sure if the alignment can make it much better. I did bottom out on the bump stops at one spot in the road, but not bad. Felt very good all in all.

The aforementioned water leak is still an issue, but a minor one. The fitting leak on the rack and pinion is more troubling. I think I found a source today for the hydraulic transfer lines. Ordered a pair, but they won't be here until later next week. Meanwhile, I popped for a bottle of Lucas PS stop leak and put it in. It's really meant to stop worn seals from leaking which isn't my problem but it was worth a try. Stuff looks like red STP. Said it may take a couple of days for the leaks to quit, but I'm not holding my breath. If the lines are anywhere close to being the correct ones, they'll take care if the problem. I have a friend who lives a few blocks from me that has a four post lift at his house. When the parts arrive, I plan to go over there and hoist it up in the air where I have room to work on it. Laying under it on the floor is a PITA for an old man like me.

[swamp rat]

Down to the wire!!!!

[Xeen]

Vic have you considered calling the manufacturer and telling them what's going on with the pump, this is the second pump in a row with similar failure.
I know you are frustrated and you have every right to be, is there another brand of pump you can try?

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Xeen

Vic have you considered calling the manufacturer and telling them what's going on with the pump, this is the second pump in a row with similar failure.
I know you are frustrated and you have every right to be, is there another brand of pump you can try?

I think when you call customer service these days, there's typically an overworked, underpaid employee on the other end of the phone who's forced to listen to nothing but complaints and problems all day. I doubt very many customer reported issues bubble up to engineering and/or manufacturing. Add in the China factor and you have a supply chain very resistant to change. Edelbrock makes an aluminum pump that looks very nice but is even more expensive than the Holley. Of course, if the cheap one fails and you can't return it due to the modifications, you've wasted your money. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that the leak goes away after enough heat/cool cycles. It's not something I have to address immediately. Later this summer if the problem persists, I'll look into the Edelbrock or send the original to the rebuilder I found in Ohio.

[jlsanborn]

So awesome you've got it together and are shaking it out Vic. Looking forward to a photo shoot of this thing. Thanks for the Yeller fix too They sure did a fantastic job on the LS swap.

[Xeen]

It's interesting that you thought of Edelbrock that's the first place I looked for the part when I saw that the second pump was leaking.
Lets hope that the Holley pump seals but if not Edelbrock is made in the USA and they stand behind their product, as irritating as it is the third time is a charm right?
An interesting quote I saw here on the board "you can save yourself right into the poor house" seems fitting in this case.

[Vic1947]

Weather permitting, the '57 will be out for some service work tomorrow. It gets the a/c charged up, front end aligned and a safety inspection so I can license it. There's a fairly low chance of rain tomorrow, so we'll be on the way as soon as the roads are dry.

I wasn't happy with the way the shifter was working, so I pulled the top off the console and oiled the mechanism and then crawled under the car and readjusted the linkage. Seems better now. I also fabricated the filler panels for the fenders and installed them temporarily. They will get paint to match the inner fenders. My #1 helper, Kathy, helped me roll an offset bead into the panels to give them some character. Also tabbed up the radiator for the cover but I need to go pick up some .080" material tomorrow before I can finish it.

If you look closely, you can see one of the side mirrors I installed. They're for a mid 60's Mustang and required some modifications to the pads to work, but they turned out great. I agonized for a long time over whether to mount them on the doors or fenders. OEM was on the fender, but you see about an even split between them looking at owner photos. In the end, they functioned best on the fenders and the appearance is satisfactory.

[sduckworth13]

That filler plate looks cool, you never cease to amaze me. Nice work Vic.

[jlsanborn]

No joke! "Kathy and I just whipped up some filler panels." Outstanding Vic! Have you bought us that GoPro yet?