Leroy the EK Ute

Post photos of your pride and joy, or updates on your rebuild!

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thebrotherj
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Re: Leroy the EK Ute

Post by thebrotherj »

Craig Allardyce wrote:I do mine with an LPG torch when pulling and or refitting. I just make sure I don't heat the gear beyond 120 deg c using a infared temp gun. Pulling the gear you need to go hard and fast with the heat before it all transfers to the crank. If no luck wait till it all totally cools overnight and have a go again the next day.
Nice one, thanks Craig. I might even go one further and ice-pack the crank snout & main bearing journal before hitting the gear with heat and yes, work quickly. I’ll give it one last shot before my trip to the machine shop Image


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thebrotherj
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Re: Leroy the EK Ute

Post by thebrotherj »

Thanks Stephen, Mum’ll be happy to hear someone else is also hassling me about taking proper care of my hand! ;)

My crank-gear battles happened on the weekend as my surgery got triaged back a few days thanks to a spike in Emergency cases last week. School Holidays do that I’m told, haha... So my low-priority digit op only happened today after all that.

Cheers Joe


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thebrotherj
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Re: Leroy the EK Ute

Post by thebrotherj »

So I’ve been busy...

Surgery last week went well, finger’s healing very quickly, so I’m back into it. Picked up my block and head from KCs last Saturday: sleeve in No.3, decked and honed the block, retaining the .040” oversize. The job done on the sleeve is superb:

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The head was dismantled and skimmed flat, new stem seals fitted, nothing done to the valves themselves as they’re seating perfectly.

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Oh and I asked Jack to press off the old crank timing gear and the new JP billet one for me. Relieved to hear that he had quite a struggle with it too...

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So pleased with the work they did! And very reasonable. Highly recommended for anyone in Sydney.

While I was up in Castle Hill, I killed time with a slightly depressing drive down to see what’s left of the old Amaroo Park Raceway (pretty sure that’s the main straight & Bitupave Hill!) before visiting old timer John, who still builds gearboxes in his shed for very reasonable money. We came to the conclusion that he’s the same guy who revived an Opel four speed for the 186S HT Monaro I owned in the 90s. Terrible box that was... but man, he has a heap of great old stuff!

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I left two of the three crash boxes I have with him to check over and overhaul as needed for me - the gearsets are both good, but bearings & synchro unknown. He’ll do it better & cheaper than I ever could.
He also donated to me this NOS Grey motor water pump shaft & bearing - he said he has no use for it! If anyone wants this part, make me an offer, I’ve already got water pump sorted for my motor:

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With bore size confirmed, the last piece of the puzzle was ordered in: piston rings. I was going to get Mahle rings as I’ve used them on all but one motor I’ve built (ACL piston & ring kit in the 186S), but had no luck through my usual channels getting them in .040 Oversize. So I’m using Hastings for the first time. I’m momentarily worried that they are not tapered - they have no dot denoting “top” like the original rings do, so they go in either way up. But I’ve read good reviews so I’m rolling with it.

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Ring gaps are ok. Not amazing, but totally fine: workshop manual says .010 (+.006) which I assume is standard piston size.
Using the widely used calculation for ring gap by piston size, my 3.1” pistons should be around .015” gap.
I’ve found they’re all around .018-.019 and that’s just fine by me.

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I was perversely looking forward to rigging up my home spun ring gapping tool using a dremmel bit on a drill... but it looks like I won’t be touching them at all!

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Next task in my pre-assembly was to go for a drive up to Rob (ardiesse)’s place and not only purchase one of the modified-for-improved-cooling head gaskets from him, but also pick his brain for as much Grey-centric advice as I could, being as this is my first one. Bloody great help to have access to his wealth of knowledge. His FC is a real beauty too, not to mention the story behind his Humpy that has been to Ayers Rock and back!

So tonight I drilled out the coolant passages near number 6 cylinder in both head and block, as per the NASCO service bulletin instructions, and it was a breeze. The results are below.

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Crank and pistons will be next, and the dreaded rear main malarkey too... hopefully over the weekend.
Cheers, Joe.



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Errol62
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Re: Leroy the EK Ute

Post by Errol62 »

Not messing around J. I dare say Rob will have good information about a harmonic balancer to keep the vibrational stresses at bay. Your not cutting any corners on the mechanicals. Looks like your gearbox man knows his stuff.
Clay


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ardiesse
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Re: Leroy the EK Ute

Post by ardiesse »

Joe,

In the absence of other takers, I'll put my hand up for the water pump bearing. I'm in the process of making Tool 6A-whatever for water pump servicing.

Rob
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Harv
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Re: Leroy the EK Ute

Post by Harv »

ardiesse wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2018 3:03 pmI'm in the process of making Tool 6A-whatever for water pump servicing.
I've got the Austaloy 6A13-6, 6A13-5 and 6A13-7 part of water pump overhaul set for red motor if it helps. Missing 6A13-4 though. Have also got a full set of International Harvester IH125 water pump service tools... don't ask :roll: .

Cheers,
Harv
327 Chev EK wagon, original EK ute for Number 1 Daughter, an FB sedan meth monster project and a BB/MD grey motored FED.
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thebrotherj
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Re: Leroy the EK Ute

Post by thebrotherj »

Errol62 wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2018 8:38 am Not messing around J. I dare say Rob will have good information about a harmonic balancer to keep the vibrational stresses at bay. Your not cutting any corners on the mechanicals. Looks like your gearbox man knows his stuff.
Image Clay


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haha yeah I'm cutting corners in the paint and panel department only ;)

I'm hoping my existing (factory original) balancer goes back on without issue, this motor was a pretty darn smooth revver before the tear down. The rotating assembly (Piston/rods/crank) is untouched so fingers crossed it's all good.

cheers, Joe
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thebrotherj
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Re: Leroy the EK Ute

Post by thebrotherj »

ardiesse wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2018 3:03 pm Joe,

In the absence of other takers, I'll put my hand up for the water pump bearing. I'm in the process of making Tool 6A-whatever for water pump servicing.

Rob
Sounds like a worthy cause - it's all yours. I would've mentioned to you the other night was I not so preoccupied with more pressing matters. I might be taking the HK for a run up your way on Sunday, if you're around? I can drop in.
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thebrotherj
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Re: Leroy the EK Ute

Post by thebrotherj »

Harv wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2018 3:51 pm
ardiesse wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2018 3:03 pmI'm in the process of making Tool 6A-whatever for water pump servicing.
I've got the Austaloy 6A13-6, 6A13-5 and 6A13-7 part of water pump overhaul set for red motor if it helps. Missing 6A13-4 though. Have also got a full set of International Harvester IH125 water pump service tools... don't ask :roll: .

Cheers,
Harv
Something to do with having a very large backyard?? Rub it in mate :lol:
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Errol62
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Re: Leroy the EK Ute

Post by Errol62 »

can’t beat oem


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In the Shed
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Re: Leroy the EK Ute

Post by In the Shed »

Onya Joe,

Good progress there. Gee no shortage of recond gearboxes ready to roll out. :thumbsup:

Regards
Stephen
A day in the shed beats a day at work!
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thebrotherj
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Re: Leroy the EK Ute

Post by thebrotherj »

In the Shed wrote:Onya Joe,

Good progress there. Gee no shortage of recond gearboxes ready to roll out. :thumbsup:

Regards
Stephen
Yeah! Leroy’s box, a spare one that came with it in the tray and the one I had left over from my old Sedan under the bench. All this kit lying around is the reason why I’ve decided to run this car in standard spec :)

Cheers, J


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thebrotherj
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Re: Leroy the EK Ute

Post by thebrotherj »

Updates :: Motor is going together at last. The rear main is in after an evening of careful cutting and checking and trimming and re-checking... and I think it’s about a good as it can be. I also think the NOS rope is a lot easier to cut than the modern ones, this wasn’t fun but it wasn’t awful either.


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These photos were about half way through the process. With crank in and on final torque down, it was pretty darn tight to turn but has freed up to a more reasonable resistance, but still nice and firm. Visually the seal is even and leaving a good imprint so I’m feeling vaguely hopeful...

I was very grateful for the reminder to check rear main cap clamping with alfoil before, during and after installation of bearing shells and seal. This proved invaluable when trimming the final bits of rope out of the seal as I thought is was all ok... until I tensioned it down and had no clamping on one side. Some more trimming later and it came good.

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Pistons are going back in after a good clean, a new set of big end bearings, thorough scraping of the ring landings and a final check of all ring gaps in both bores and on pistons. 3 down tonight but it’s a little late so the rest tomorrow...

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Looking down at no. 1 I’m momentarily worried as it appears a little off Centre in the bore:

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Might pop it back out tomorrow and double triple check everything before proceeding...




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ardiesse
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Re: Leroy the EK Ute

Post by ardiesse »

Joe,

Don't worry too much about number 1 piston appearing to be off-centre in the bore. Grab the big-end and see whether you can move it axially on the crankpin. There should be a few thou. end float. If you can't move the con-rod axially, then the piston is slightly cocked in the bore. To cure this, take the big-end cap off, and push the piston up in the bore until the big-end clears the crankpin (about 1/2"). Then bring the piston and conrod down again until the bearing sits on the crank. Check that you have some end-float, then put the cap on, tighten the nuts, and check for end-float again.

Or, if number 1 big-end has no end-float, turn the crank over a few revs by hand, and things should settle into place.

Rob
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thebrotherj
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Re: Leroy the EK Ute

Post by thebrotherj »

ardiesse wrote:Joe,

Don't worry too much about number 1 piston appearing to be off-centre in the bore. Grab the big-end and see whether you can move it axially on the crankpin. There should be a few thou. end float. If you can't move the con-rod axially, then the piston is slightly cocked in the bore. To cure this, take the big-end cap off, and push the piston up in the bore until the big-end clears the crankpin (about 1/2"). Then bring the piston and conrod down again until the bearing sits on the crank. Check that you have some end-float, then put the cap on, tighten the nuts, and check for end-float again.

Or, if number 1 big-end has no end-float, turn the crank over a few revs by hand, and things should settle into place.

Rob
Well, I did end up taking no.1 out and yeah, the rod dangled off centre to the journal. I decided to press on and encountered the same thing with no.5 as well. With all the piston in and bi ends done up, the motor was so tight I couldn’t turn it, but after a heap of checking and levering and rechecking, I decided to leave all the big end caps loose and wait to see if a few rotations helped it out.

It wasn’t until I had fitted the front plate, installed the cam, loosely sat the timing cover on and then started hammering on the harmonic balancer that I got what I was hoping for: the crank is now spinning freely! I guess it needed a good hit to sit it home against the thrust side of the 2nd main cap. What a relief.

Some pics from tonight:

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No real dramas going together. Oil pump lash and end float is fine, Head went on nicely (sprayed Hylomar on both sides of the gasket first) then lifters and rocker gear all in and adjusted up restart for start up. Image



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