Things learned from my latest engine swap

[travis]

1. 1+ year old pump gas, whether ran through an engine or spilled on the ground, has a stench that gets into EVERYTHING and will not go away for days. You’ll even smell it when you’re nowhere close to where it was burned or spilled.

2. Storing open unprotected mufflers in the barn is a bad idea. Dirt daubers (wasps that build mud nests in any and every nook and cranny for those that don’t know) can completely clog a straight through muffler in a matter of days. Turbo or chambered mufflers are great for other bugs or critters to set up residency. For the record, a 3 chambered muffler can hold an amazing amount of pecan shells and shredded plastic bag pieces.

3. While not great for making power, stock parts do have some redeeming qualities...like actually fitting together without modifications.

4. Dual Walker 22635 mufflers with dumps are very tolerable in a truck with a near stock 351w and shorty headers even dumping just short of the back of the cab. And, they sound tough at idle with no drone or resonance at any speed. I can’t say this about any of the myriad of other mufflers I’ve tried this setup with.

5. You know your junk is getting old when no local parts stores carry basic maintenance items like radiator hoses, shocks, etc.

[6.50camaro]

I learned to drop in the dist. while still on the engine stand . SBC full solid roller set up so i decided to use the aluminium top end oil restrictors . Not all blocks and holes are tapped the same . This block was tapped deep the restrictor bottomed out right up to the hex head. After getting the motor in and all set to prime with my dummy dist . It would not drop into place. The restrictor was just barely sticking into the dist hole just enough so it would not allow the dist to drop in . At that point it was easier to pull the tranny to get to the rear of the block to pull and modify the restrictor . Dan

[PackardV8]

Everything ultimately affects everything else. I mentioned on another thread the precision machining of the block deck, heads, intake and exhaust manifolds removed enough material to narrow the assembled long block sufficiently so the stainless steel exhaust Y-pipe no longer fit.

jack vines

[travis]

Everything ultimately affects everything else. I mentioned on another thread the precision machining of the block deck, heads, intake and exhaust manifolds removed enough material to narrow the assembled long block sufficiently so the stainless steel exhaust Y-pipe no longer fit.

jack vines

I tried this exhaust setup as a temporary solution, but ended up liking it way better than I thought I would. I normally hate dumps under a pickup bed because the reverb is usually really bad. Bassani makes a really nice stainless Y-pipe setup for these Ford trucks (mandrel bent 2 1/4” down pipes into 3”) that I want to try at some point. The single 3” exhaust packages better with the dual fuel tanks, and the sound of a performance single exhaust system has really grown on me.

[ClassAct]

1. 1+ year old pump gas, whether ran through an engine or spilled on the ground, has a stench that gets into EVERYTHING and will not go away for days. You’ll even smell it when you’re nowhere close to where it was burned or spilled.

2. Storing open unprotected mufflers in the barn is a bad idea. Dirt daubers (wasps that build mud nests in any and every nook and cranny for those that don’t know) can completely clog a straight through muffler in a matter of days. Turbo or chambered mufflers are great for other bugs or critters to set up residency. For the record, a 3 chambered muffler can hold an amazing amount of pecan shells and shredded plastic bag pieces.

3. While not great for making power, stock parts do have some redeeming qualities...like actually fitting together without modifications.

4. Dual Walker 22635 mufflers with dumps are very tolerable in a truck with a near stock 351w and shorty headers even dumping just short of the back of the cab. And, they sound tough at idle with no drone or resonance at any speed. I can’t say this about any of the myriad of other mufflers I’ve tried this setup with.

5. You know your junk is getting old when no local parts stores carry basic maintenance items like radiator hoses, shocks, etc.

LOL. I bought a Yamaha Street bike back on 2005 that had been sitting in a nice, dry shop, covered. I think it was a 1979 or something. Anyway, it needed the usual stuff like a battery, points, a tuneup, tires etc. It had a nice Kirker exhaust too.

When I finally cracked it off it sounded funny for a fraction of a second, and then blew out enough hair, nut shells and general animal foknoid that I was staggered.

[Kenova]

.......................... then blew out enough hair, nut shells and general animal foknoid that I was staggered.

Ken

[PackardV8]

When dealing with old, used parts and cars, always know from your own experience what you're buying. It's not always that the seller is a lying crook knowingly misrepresenting the parts; often simple stupidity is the more likely explanation.

We're building a Packard V8 for a customer's street rod and offered him one of our core engines at the usual price. He proudly declined, saying he'd found a NOS block and was shipping it to us. When it arrived, it was a cleaned but surface rusty .030" block which will now require boring to .060". He's into it more than our core charge and will still have to buy all the internals from us.

When he went back to the seller, "Well, it was sold to me as NOS and you looked it over before you bought it. Sorry; no refunds.

[Kevin Johnson]

.......................... then blew out enough hair, nut shells and general animal foknoid that I was staggered.

Ken

Snakes (often multiple snakes of varying lethality) and poisonous spiders (that like to hide in places you cannot see but can reach your hand into). Happened both in California and in Florida.

[cardo0]

Yea I second the pump gas goes bad to fast. More than 6 mos old get rid of it. And don't mix fuel stabilizers - I no longer trust them. But if you don't have O2 sensors on your "old car" then add some 100 low lead aviation fuel to the tank.