I have finally gotten back to work on my truck.
The engine that has been sitting in inventory was stripped and delivered to a machine shop to be massaged and returned, which is where I am now. Because this is a budget restoration, I have gone the direction of getting the block done and once that is back together I’ll do the head. In hindsight, I’m glad I went this route.
After a few phone calls to the machine shop, which was an hour away, Nate listed all the parts I was going to bring with the engine block. “Are you sure that’s all I need to bring?” He assured me that was everything. So I loaded everything in the truck and headed north. As I was unloading, Nate asked where the pistons were? 😳 I have zero experience with machine shops and engines, but I stayed calm and told him they were in my shop because he hadn’t said to bring them even after I had repeated what he asked for and asked again if that was everything. So, back I drove to get more parts, but not before asking again if that was all they needed.
Two hours later, I was back and this time Nate asked where the main caps were, which is when I guess I went full Yosemite Sam on him. Luckily the owner overheard my unhappiness and came around the corner to see what was going on. He drove down to my shop later that night to pick up the rest of the parts that Nate had neglected to inform me, were necessary for them to do their job.
Nate should have a check-list of all the parts that are needed for an engine job, no matter how small or large the job is.
I got the block masked and shot with primer, then shot 3 coats of color on it and the oil pan. I went with stock Forester Green because I want to retain the original color somewhere. When I repaint the eventual reassembled sheet metal, I’m going with a much lighter green.
I am working on getting my crank bolted in place, and am having clearance issues between the crank journals and the main caps. I have the caps numbered so they are going back the same way each time, but a couple of them are too tight, a couple are too loose, and some are just right. (Like the three bears) I’ll rearrange the placement of the caps and the plasigage material to hopefully arrive at a regulation 0.002 clearance under my caps. If not I guess I have another phone call with Nate.
