Restoration of a Chevrolet WA

[Tony Smith]

That's it. You don't need to remove the crank, but you need to be able to rotate the Flywheel to 6 positions (or even 3 positions, and do 2 bolts at a time) to remove the bolts holding the Pressure Plate to the Flywheel.

You DO need the gearbox off and the lower cover off the bellhousing. To re-install the clutch, you will need a spare/old gearbox input shaft or a centering tool (that often comes with the clutch kit these days).

However, if you're going to pull the motor out to eventually rebuild it, I wouldn't worry too much now about removing the clutch while it's in the truck. Get working on seeing if you free up the engine to decide if it's worthwhile rebuilding it, and IF you do pull the engine out, then take off the bellhousing and remove the clutch on your workbench or even on the ground.

[gjamo]

You can not remove the bellhousing with the flywheel in place.

[Lynn Eades]

As Gjamo says, you cannot remove the bell housing until you have removed the flywheel. This goes right across the GM products, including GM U.K. (Bedford) as well as my 1942 Dodge. (Chrysler) It is a pretty common construction method.

[Ganmain Tony]

Just quickly - gave the Kero thing a go with an old Flatty I have sitting on the engine stand.
Worked a treat - no violent fires, just a good slow, albeit smoky burn which put badly needed heat into the block and piston.
Still had to give the rods some hits with a copper hammer. But they are all out and I reckon 7 are reuseable. The 8th has too much corrosion damage from exposure to water and air.

What kind of Chop takes the plugs out of a working motor he knows is going to sit around for a long time in a paddock?

[Paul Singleton]

I purchased an old pickup for parts years ago and it was also missing the spark plugs. I asked the seller about it and he said he needed spark plugs for his tractor and the truck wasn’t going to be used again. I guess priorities at the time were more important than someone buying the truck years later.

[Ganmain Tony]

Originally Posted by Paul Singleton

I purchased an old pickup for parts years ago and it was also missing the spark plugs. I asked the seller about it and he said he needed spark plugs for his tractor and the truck wasn’t going to be used again. I guess priorities at the time were more important than someone buying the truck years later.

I'm not one to Judge Paul. I just think they should die of a painful STD and rot in hell..

[Philippe Jeanneau]

Hello Lynn,

After waiting and waiting for about 3 months (soaking the engine with penetrating oil) but mainly mystery oil; then after about 4 hrs of work, moving the flywheel tooth by tooth in both directions with a flat bar against the housing, I managed to get the engine freed up!!

Then I remember the diesel, but decided to use it as a cleaner... I proceeded to fill the cylinders with diesel fuel with a hand sprayer (works great) and went on to spin and spin the motor for quite a while and getting all the crud and rust from the cylinders...

Once the pan was off, I was able to see that #3 and #5 were the problem cylinders with some rust on the bottom... I do not see any scoring on the cylinders other than rust, so I hope to be able to put it together and fire it up... It has been about 35 years since this thing has come to life... In the meantime, I put a couple of ounces of mystery oil in each cylinder to avoid any issues while it seats for a while longer...

As for the oil pan gasket, it looks as it could be tricky to get back on and avoid problems/leaks...

Am I better off trimming the end cap pieces a little short and use RTV sealant to make the difference, or should they be trimmed exactly to fit the end caps on the block?

The set U purchased from Felpro (0S 5000 C) also gives you 4 end pieces when you only need 2...

After searching online for information but not finding anything concrete, are you expected to have less problems by:

A) Setting the long and end cap pieces pieces on the block with RTV sealant..

B) Setting the end cap pieces on the block and the long pieces on the pan with RTV sealant...

Some old timers recommend setting the gasket on the pan with RTV and letting it dry completely, then before installing the pan use either a light coat of grease on the surface of the cork or a thin coat of Permatex #3 aviation sealant... That way you can still remove the pan if you have to without destroying the gasket...

Your advice appreciated here, since I do not want to do the job twice, but once once and right!

[Dave Newcomb]

Those old fire trucks are excellent material- I have parted out 3 of them for other uses, all under 5,000 total miles each! The last one is becoming a Military G8T Ford. and as for the long WB; the Ford frame was drilled for both WB's! The correct rivet holes were there for the short WB spring hangers! Looks great. I donated the Fire apparatus to a local Fireman's Museum. Newc

[Bob Carriere]

I have had luck with glueing the gasket to the pan........ NOT ON the block

Using Permartex in a very thin coat on the pan sides, corners and over the bearing cap......... I usually take fine sewing thread and lace the side gasket using the bolt holes.....find the finest thread your wife has in her sewing basket....... it will hold the gasket in place while drying....... I glue the bearing cap gasket on to the cap........ trimming the end of the gasket is done during a dry run before the Permatex is applied and that I fill the corner with a good an mount of Permatex before dropping the pan back on....... it is wowth waiting overnight to let everything set properly....except for the Permatex aded to the four corners. I do not bother to remove the thread as bolting will shear off any excess. I use old HD axle grease that has almost hardened to putty to give the cork a verylight smear of grease. I like to hand tighten snug and a few hours later give it the last final 1/4 turn with a screw driver nut driver.

Easy to to when the engine is up side down on the engine stand..... BUT the real fun is when you have to remove the pan two years later from underneath and everything comes out in one piece and can be reseud again.

Same applies to the top valve cover and the side valve covers.....even if if the Permatex is not fully set, the fine thread will keep things from sliding.

How many think of modifying the two bottom screws of the timing chain cover by drilling/tapping the bearing cap for bolts..... so that the timing cover can be removed at a later date WITHOUT having to drop the oil pan.....

Cheers

[Philippe Jeanneau]

After some prep work with the starter and carburetor, plus fixing the battery tray and making a new fuel line, I was able to finally crank this thing over until I almost got it to run, almost!... BUT after a while, I was almost done with the battery and also knew from the sound of the engine cranking over that I had bigger problems...

Today I got a hold of a compression tester and confirmed my worse fears... After running the test a couple of times I got the following...

#1 60 lbs
#2 00 lbs
#3 20 lbs
#4 90 lbs
#5 15 lbs
#6 90 lbs

So, despite the mystery oil treatment and diesel fuel, I have 3 cylinders with a great problem... I have decided to remove the cylinder head, oil pan and pull the pistons out... I am sure that the rings on #2 #3 and #5 must be still stuck to the pistons, some partially, some fully or perhaps even broken...

With any luck I hope to remove the stuck rings and replace them with a new set of STD rings after cleaning the cylinders with a hone... Then I will re-assemble everything and hope to get it running this way. It may not be ideal, but the whole machine shop/professional rebuild is not an option at the moment...

A real shame that the damage to this engine seems to come from just being left to the elements for 35 years... I was sure I could get it to run after freeing it up, but that would have been too easy! I will tackle it Monday and see what other surprises we have... Still, I am determined to get this thing running before going for plan B.

[Philippe Jeanneau]

New (used) replacement engine installed and running. Additionally, the missing torque tube is also finally in place...