A Day to Myself

I got a lot done in the garage today, because I gave myself the gift of a day without obligations, except to work on the hot rod. Before I rattle off the day's progress, I have to share these pics from this week's military vehicles show. This is apparently the big deal version of the one I attended last September. For just $70(!) you could buzz unsuspecting fishermen in the Delta in this Huey helicopter (model unknown); I suppose you probably could've added the "Ride of the Valkyries" for additional cost, judging by crowd at the show. While it would've been a memorable experience, $70 was a little dear.



Let's see, starting at about 9am and ending about 10pm (with my feet kicked up, as seen above), I got the following done today:

1. Installed the flywheel, clutch disc and pressure plate.


It's a 9-1/2" clutch, from '49-'53 Mercury (maybe Ford, too; not sure). This was easy, and I got to use my torque wrench for maybe the first time (yeah, really; I guess I haven't had to assemble anything to spec so far). Also got to use my safety wire and pliers to wire up the flywheel bolts. I used this tech post at the Jalopy Journal to help me do it right. Compare the before photo with my work. I feel pretty good about mine.



2. Based upon two friends' recommendations, I pried out the (apparently) steel "freeze plugs" or "expansion plugs" (take your pick) from the oil pan rail, and started to drive pennies (pre-'83 only, though, because they're still 95% copper, 5% zinc. After that, they're mostly copper clad zinc.) into the openings, but they were filled with a hard, clay gunky stuff. You can imagine my disappointment when my friend confirmed that, yes, I should remove that junk - it's 68 years' worth of sediment clogging up the bottom of the water jacket, and would likely cause a hot spot if not removed.

So, with picks, and awls, and reamers, I went at the four openings, tipping the motor this way and that, to get probably two cups' worth of crap out of that motor. The weird thing was that, since the flathead has two separate water jackets, one side was dusty, powdery dry rust, and other side was silty, moist mush-like mud. Ugh. To add to my troubles, there was still water in one side of the motor, which poured out when I tipped it forward.



The good news is I can feel guilt free about Permatexing up the pennies and driving them home once I could no longer get stuff out of the water jackets by tool or air pressure (which got a bunch out, too).


3. To round out the day, I finally brazed up the oil pan, and it was easier than I'd been fearing. In fact, it was almost as easy as falling off a log. I just cleaned up the hole (getting that nice flammable oil away), set the torch, and heated and melted in the brass. Alas, safety first, so I didn't try to take any "action" shots with the torch, but you can see the results. Then, for good measure, I got to exercise another tool for the first time: my DA (no, not the haircut, the tool) dual-action or orbital sander, with 80 grit (wasn't sure what to use, but that worked fine for grinding down my (admittedly) lumpy brass and shaping it to the pan. Then I leak-tested it with some solvent and, satisfied that it didn't leak, cleaned up the spot and set the pan aside until I'm ready to install it.



After all that work, I decided it was time to have some pizza and beer, to put my feet up, and read a little bit out in the garage in the very pleasant evening weather we had today.

-30-