The Stovebolt Site Forums Project Journals Archived Journals 1952 Chev 1300 1/2 Ton - "Ol Betsy's" Re-restoration

June 8, 2023. Well, I've posted a few things here in the Engine Shop and HiPo Shop, but things are accelerating now that I've set the money aside to finish, so time to start a Project Journal I figure.

I've had my '52 Canadian Half Ton since I asked my grandfather at 15 if we could pull it out from behind the chicken coop to restore, because I thought there was no other way I'd ever have my own vehicle at 16 when I got my license. To my grandfather, I think this meant getting it running and putting in a new seat. I had different ideas. Eventually I pulled the entire body apart and made a pretty solid attempt to do my own bodywork. This included driving all over the Saskatchewan country side looking for body parts that were in better shape than what I had. After all my grandparents used the truck for things like hauling rocks and encouraging the cows to come home by bumping into them, so some of the truck body was pretty beat up. Eventually I took it to a semi-retired body man in the area and he let me help on weekends as we finished it in time for me to win best truck at my high school car show back in 1991. I drove it sporadically after that during summers home from University, but the last time it was registered was in 1996. It sat on my parents driveway for 19 years and then in my garage for the last 9 years. I've picked up the tools a couple times in the last few years to get a start on it, but only got serious in the last year.

At one point about 7 or 8 years ago, I pulled the old 216 out to repaint it. A frost plug was leaking so I knocked it out. The jacket water cavity was filled with crud up to the bottom of the frost plug hole. So, that's why the thing never ran right and seemed to overheat before getting around the block. I stripped that engine down to the block to get it hot tanked, put it half back together and then life took over for a bit. During this hiatus, I found out my uncle was going to hire a scrap metal guy to come take all the scrap from my grandfather's old farm yard, including a 1952 1 1/2 ton grain truck that was used until the day my uncle quit farming and rented the land out. I did some checking and sure enough, the grain truck had a full pressure 235 in it. Was about 3 or 4 years ago that I drove home and pulled that engine to refurbish. It went to the machine shop two years ago, and I got it back about a year ago. Yesterday a visit from an auto body guy to have a look and get me a quote for a repaint and some bodywork fixes has put me on track to have the project done before August of 2024 in time for the car show in my home town.

The engine block was cast on December 28, 1955, so I'm pegging it as a 1955, 235. The plan is:

- bored out to .06 over
- shaved the block .05
- 848 head
- ported the head with a bench flow test (approximately 7% more air flow over stock at .3 valve lift, but about 12% more airflow if you compare .4 valve lift flow increase to the stock .3 lift flow)
- aluminum pistons
- mild cam over stock (.405 intake valve lift with only 3 degrees more duration over stock but opens 1 degree before TDC instead of 1 degree after and .428 exhaust valve lift with about 17 degrees more duration over stock)
- rotating assembly balanced

I'm currently taking measurements to see if I'm going to have an issue with valves contacting the piston (pics attached - notice the high tech jiffy marker push rod). I'm calculating .034 clearance between the valve and piston with a .06 thick gasket, so will look to fly cut the pistons for a bit more clearance and research compressed gasket thickness more. I measured the previously used gasket to get .06 thickness. The number one piston is actually above the deck by .011. Will mock up the others to see if they are the same.

I'm keeping the truck fairly stock with the following changes.

- front disc brakes
- power brake booster
- differential gear change to 3.73 ratio (still investigating what ratio I want)
- likely rear disc brakes (still deciding)
- remove two rear leaf springs (will never haul anything and hoping to smooth the ride out a bit)

I've attached pictures of the truck as it was yesterday when I pulled it out of the garage. Likely will change the color to a metallic forest green.

Will begin stripping for the body shop in the next few days. They will disassemble and store the cab for me so I can sandblast and coat the frame. Body work won't begin until the fall. Prior to that I'll be looking to get the engine back together and the brake and differential conversions done.

Excited to finally be looking at an end date and be able to drive a functional truck! Will try to post progress as I go.

June 10, 2023. Had some steel pieces I was going to use for trim in the kitchen in for powder coating. In chatting with the shop owner about whether he does ceramic coating he said he was just starting to experiment with it. I offered him my Fenton headers to 'play' with. Went to pick up the trim steel and he showed me the coated headers. One small run on them which he offered to fix. I told him I wasn't worried about it. When I went to pay he only charged me for my kitchen steel. I asked him what the headers cost and he said no charge because I let him 'play' with them. I had that work quoted at $250 about 7 or 8 years ago. Sweet deal!

July 3, 2023. Body Update Well, this started happening a couple weeks ago. Got my autobody quote and committed to the shop. He's agreed that the previous bodywork was good enough that not much has to be done in terms of repairs. There are cracks forming in the front fenders in the usual spots. My 14 year old son and I started ripping the body apart on a Thursday. He loved the process. All told, took us about 2 1/2 hours total, not including cab interior or stripping everything out of the doors. I did those less exciting bits myself.

Was kind of heart breaking to tear it apart, since I put it together 32 years ago, but I do know a lot more know than I did back then, so I'm confident I'll be happy with the finished product. I think my mother and aunt aren't completely happy with the color change since the original color was blue too before I had it painted the first time. My mother was definitely not happy with the 5 window cab conversion, but my dad gently reminded her that the only body parts that were from the original truck my grandfather gave to me were the cab and one of the rear fenders. Everything else my dad and I found by driving around rural Saskatchewan looking for parts trucks. My thinking is the truck is a process, and those days searching for body parts are days I'll never forget.

Also found a 5 window cab for $550. Going to have the corner windows cut out and install them on my cab. I'll look to sell the doors and hood which would make a great addition to a patina truck, but probably hard to match colors. Still have to go back to the body shop to strip the doors, but they are in good shape, so hope to recoup a few $$s.

Now going to start to strip the frame for sandblasting. Don't know if I'll powder coat yet or finish it myself. Still working out budgets, so the powder coat dream might get axed.

Body work won't start until after the summer when I can get a reasonable date on having the frame back together and the engine mounted, although he might do the corner window work soon.

Pictures attached of the body disassembly, frame, corner window cab and the paint color I've selected.

Just a reminder since parts trucks are becoming scarce there are kits out there to make them a 5 window. The one thing that I wish I had known about. Best of luck.

Ya, we did look at the kits. To bring a new one into Canada would be about $1,000 CDN, so $550, with the potential to sell some of the other parts is kinda a steal!

Aug 19, 2023 Disc Brake Conversion Update - So, like others, I bought a "Bolt In" front disc brake conversion kit and didn't read the fine print well enough. First couple pictures shows that the transmission mounting cross member is in the way. Never mind that the fine print says it won't work with a manual transmission linkage. However, I did read in the forums the idea of moving the location to behind the cross member and lengthen the arm. So, spent the time to figure out what I need today.

I took the booster off, and bolted it to the original bracket to see how the arm ran to the brake pedal (as seen in the first two pictures). The centerline of the arm to the edge of the frame is about 7 1/2" (picture #3) and the arm ran at an angle instead of straight on perpendicular to where it attached to the brake pedal, but seems to operate without any binding. I bolted in the old brake cylinder for comparison. The centerline of the original was approximately 6" from the edge of the frame (picture #4). I should mention the brake cylinder bracket angles into the frame rail such that the measurement of where the rod links to the brake pedal measures 5" from the centerline of the brake pedal to the edge of the frame. Between the original and new brake cylinders there seems to be some dimensional play in how perpendicular the arm is to the brake pedal.

Now, in consideration of moving the brake booster and cylinder assembly back, I have to account for the frame getting wider as it goes back. I measured the total frame width just in front of the brake pedal mount and got 31 1/2". Measuring at the rear of the transmission cross brace I got 34", so the frame widens by 2 1/2" from the brake pedal mount to the new brake booster/cylinder location which translates to 1 1/4" wider from the truck centerline. Pictures 5 and 6 show how much clearance I have from the cross brace with the old and new brake cylinder. The old is not looking good, but plenty of clearance with the new, but would still like to minimize the angle away from perpendicular of the arm to the brake pedal. The measurement of the outside of the new brake booster bracket to the centerline of the brake booster is about 2 3/4". So if I take the 6" centerline of the old brake cylinder (Picture #2) and add 1 1/4" for the new location and take away the 2 3/4" for the bracket I get 4 1/2". If I do the same math with the new booster I get 6". So, I figure if I get a piece of 6" HSS, I can make a new bracket to bolt to the frame from that.

Last consideration is to angle the bracket back to the brake arm like the original, or at least angle it to run parallel to the frame. I plan to cut a wedge out of the HSS and bend the open space closed and get it welded up. The wide end of the wedge will be a 1/2" and I'll cut it approximately 4" long on a 5" length of angle iron. If I make it perpendicular to the frame, the rod should end up at less of an angle than the new booster installed on the original mounting bracket. Also giving consideration that the original rod mounted with a y connection on the center of the brake pedal, whereas the new rod mounts on the side of the brake pedal (towards the centerline of the truck) so that gives an extra 1/2" to 3/4" to the 5" the brake pedal measures from the edge of the frame.

Will be looking to do this work this week, so will post how it turns out.

I’ll be following your build as I have the same kit and plan to do the same install in a few weeks. You have the luxury of having your cab off (mine is still on) which complicates the install for me, so your install will help immensely.

Hey Phil,

Since your cab is still on the frame, I could actually use some help. Are you able to get under and tell me the clearance between the cab floor and the top of the frame? I roughly measured how high the booster was above the frame while it was bolted to the original bracket, but would feel more comfortable if I had the top of frame to bottom of cab floor measurement.

Thanks,

Mark

No problem, I measure later today.

I tried without success to give you photos of these measurements. I couldn’t hold the ruler, light and navigate the phone at the same time, but I did get the measurements.

At the back of the old master cylinder it’s 1-3/4”, top of frame to floor.

At the back of the crossmember it’s 1-5/8”, top of frame to floor

Moving back to the deep part of the depression under the seat about 8” behind the crossmember is 1”, top of frame to floor.

Thanks Phil,

That helps. I wasn't going to go more than a 1/2" over the top of frame with the top of the booster, so it looks like I'll have plenty of clearance.

Thanks,

Mark

Aug 20, 2023. Chasse Update - Well, I'm behind where I wanted to be in getting the frame sandblasted. Made some progress today. Got the rear axel removed and mostly disassembled except for the axles, differential gears and driveshaft. The rear leaf spring shackles and both leaf spring front bolts were absolutely trashed. I figured they'd need replacement, but now it's confirmed. Plan to remove a couple leafs for a smoother ride and will not re-use the overload springs. The only thing this truck will haul is me and my wife.

Still have to get the front axle off and disassembled before sandblasting along with the steering column and a bunch of miscellaneous parts. Was planning on powder coating the frame and axles, but recent budget developments may not allow for it. Maybe an epoxy coating I can apply after sandblasting? Also kind of concerned about how to repair powder coating if it chips. Still researching.

Will be figuring out the new master cylinder bracket before I take the rest apart. Want to get all holes drilled before sandblasting and coating.

Pictures attached.

Aug 21, 2023. Brake Booster/Master Cylinder Bracket Update - Well bought a piece of 6-in HSS to begin fabbing the bracket for the booster and master cylinder that came with my front disc brake replacement kit. The big error in my plan was that I didn't measure how tall the frame member was. It turns out the the inside dimension of the frame behind the transmission crossmember is less than the outside dimensions of a 6x6x3/8 piece of HSS. However, a couple more measurements showed that from the underside of the top horizontal section to the outside of the bottom horizontal section is only 1/16 of an inch more then the outside of the HSS to the inside across from it. So no problem. I figure. I'll just cut out a slot from the HSS so that the bottom of the HSS will will slide to the outside of the frame on the bottom and 1/16th of an inch shouldn't be an issue to snug up with a couple of bolts.

So I pick a top side and cut wedges out on both sides bordering what I picked as the top. I bought a 6" length of the HSS and marked out 5 in long wedges that were three quarter inches at the widest. The actual cut ended up being four and a half inches long. Mostly a struggle with the thickness of the HSS. I then put it on my anvil and hammered down the top piece so it's angled as intended. This is intended to be the side the booster bolts to.

Then I mark up where I need to cut the slot out so bottom of the HSS can slide below the frame. As I make the first cut and get to the end and finally cut through the last bit, the internal stress of bending the top piece down cause the HSS to spring out of shape. Well [censored].

I still wanted to see how it would fit up so I made the second cut and clamped it to the frame. Got it all clamped up and actually it's not bad when I stood back to think about it. The angle I created by cutting out the wedges was darn near perfect to get the rod almost straight to the brake pedal. I can set the height so that the booster is only a half inch above the level of the frame.

One issue is that I only got four and a half inches out of my 5-in wedge. That's causing the booster to sit away from the angle bit I created. But I can cut the total length down to fix that. I'm going to take the bracket to my body guy tomorrow to weld up where I cut the wedges. He should be able to pull most of the dimensions back where they should be.

The sprung dimension I'm going to struggle with the most is the bottom piece that's going to be below the frame. But I'm pretty confident I can pull it into where it needs to be.

I thought long and hard about how a 5x5 piece of HSS would work, but I think the angle I created with the 6-in makes the arm line up almost perfect with the brake pedal. I think creating the same angle with a 5X5 would create interference problems with the arm and the transmission cross member. And if I didn't create the angle, I'm pretty sure the arm would have to angle to get to the brake pedal. The current setup I created today is pretty close to straight on.

Description of the pictures are as follows. Picture 1 is the mock up of the bracket with the booster clamped on. Picture 2 shows how high booster is above frame height. The wood is about 3/8 of an inch thick. In pictures three and four, I've done my best to place a stick from about the center of the booster to the lowest point of the brake pedal connection trying to see what the clearance is from the transmission cross number. Not sure it's clear in the pictures but there's plenty. Pictures five six and seven show the original HSS across dimension and a couple of the biggest sprung dimensions. Picture 8 shows how far below the frame the HSS comes after it sprung when it was supposed to be 1/16th of an inch.

Looking forward to getting the welding done and see how the shape turns out.

Thanks,

Mark

Mark,

Besides all the great details (both writing and with the images), I find the way you start each post, with basically a date and "subject" for the post, really helps a lot when searching your Journal entries. Having that part bolded is what first brought it to my attention. In cell phone view, that bold really shows up. Keep it up.

Ol Betsy is looking good.

Thanks for all of it!

Thanks for the feedback Peggy! Glad to hear you're enjoying the journal!

Aug 23, 2023. Brake Booster/Master Cylinder Bracket Update - Well, as suspected, we were able to pull the bracket back near the original shape intended after it sprung cutting it while welding the gap left by cutting the wedge out. Also trimmed an inch off the back end. I mocked it up again tonight to see how it fit. Picture 1 shows from above. I rigged up a piece of wire between the rod and brake pedal to get a more confident feeling of the clearance. Picture 2 shows the clearance which measures about a 1/4". Picture 3 is from the passengers side and picture 4 shows how the bracket now fits to the bottom of the frame. Will have to grind off the overlap. Picture 5 shows how high the booster is above the top of the frame. Measures at 5/8".

All in all, I'm calling this proof of concept! Was hoping for a bit more than a 1/4" clearance, but I can either put washers as spacers to move the bracket out, or angle the bracket slightly so the front end is a bit higher. Both methods take the rod away from straight, so I think I'll angle the bracket, but will put the master cylinder on first to see how it's affected. I can also get another 1/8" to 3/16" clearance by extending the rod by using a coupling on the threaded piece attached to the booster and running ready rod over the transmission bracket.

I'll drill the holes in the bracket and mock it up to the frame again to mark hole centers on the frame, and then drill the frame. I'll also mark the booster bracket holes for drilling on the next mock up. Will post final pics when I'm done, but probably won't be for a week or so.

If anyone sees an issue with the plan, please comment. Like a 1/4" clearance not being enough, issues with the master cylinder potentially being slightly out of level, etc.

Aug 30, 2023. Chasse Update Attacked the front axle with my son tonight. It's almost all apart now and about to turn that big corner from taking apart to putting back together. Just have to drill for the booster/master cylinder bracket and the last small pieces will come off. Since the truck was already restored once, there's not too many surprises on it, but the surprises I have found have been in taking the chasse apart, which was never done before (at least all of it), so makes sense.

First off, in picture 1, the passengers side outer bearing ball cage was cracked. The inner bearing didn't look straight either by any means. I'm putting front disc brakes on with roller bearings anyway, so not an issue. On the driver's side, the half of the race that fits on the spindle was difficult to take off due to some small grooving on the spindle. It wasn't deep and should clean up OK.

Picture 2 shows the driver's side leaf spring pin. Three out of 4 were like this, so will be getting new pins and bushings. The pin in the picture turned out when I tried to take the grease fitting off, so I went with it. All the shackle assemblies were bent. Already bought new ones though. Seems the suspension wasn't being held together by much anymore.

Curiously, I thought the driver's side leaf spring was bent, but after taking it off, I realized I have two different leaf springs. Pictures 3 and 4 show the drivers side and passenger's side leaf spring respectively (leaf spring pin side). Looks like the passenger's side was repaired at one time. Nothing looks cracked or broken, but the second leaf on the passenger's side was cut short to fit, so thinking they came from somewhere else as a farmer fix.

All in all, leaf spring shackles and pins aren't the end of the world. Will have to think on what to do with the front leaf springs. Maybe look for a used matching pair.

There is some play in the king pins. Was really hoping not to have to replace them. The don't look easy to get out. Will investigate how much play is OK, but gut feel is there is too much play in mine.

Pictures 5 and 6 are of my 14 year old son helping out tonight, and 7 and 8 are the after pics of tonight's work.

Sept 3, 2023 - Chasse Update - King Pin Battle - Got home after a day out canoeing, visiting Heritage Park in Calgary and out for supper with the wife and wasn't going to do any work on the truck tonight, however, have been stressing about getting my king pins out. There's a bunch of play in them so decided to replace them. Had posted in the driveline forum and read a few other topics along with the tech tips. The point of confusion I had was one of the tech tips mentioned a c-clip holding the dust cap in, but couldn't see a c-ring on mine. I ended up establishing that the dust cap was a malleable cap that was concave and hammered into place so it spread out over a larger area and held under the lip where the king pin slides into on the spindle assembly. So no c-clip as I had observed.

Well, couldn't sit on the couch knowing all I had to do was pull a drill out and drill into the dust cap to get it pried off. Drilled a small hole (first photo), but don't have a punch set so tried my countersink tool for countersinking baseboard nails. Broke that straight away. As an aside, that was kind of sad because for some reason, of all the tools my dad had, that was my favourite when I was very young. Was just fascinated by it for some reason. I think it was the knurling on it. Although the one I broke was not his, so buying a new one is no biggie.

After searching the garage for something else, I figured I would just drill consecutively bigger holes until I could try pry the dust cap off with a screwdriver (pictures 2, 3 and 4). Worked like a charm. The dust cap, being ductile, is easy to drill though and it's pretty obvious when the bit gets all the way through.

So, I was left with the dust caps off, but still no punch set to try drive the king pin out. And if you read the forums, there are some horror stories about getting them out, including 40 tons of pressure on a 50 ton press. At this point I remembered I had bought a 9/16" socket that I could wreck pulling my front Jeep Wrangler axles when I had to replace the front differential seals. So, I walk over to my truck front axle with a pair of vice grips holding a 9/16" socket, a three pound hammer and the thought of the 50 ton press running through my mind thinking I was way out matched.

Lined it up and gave it a test whack. Nothing. A couple more and still nothing, or did it move a bit? Gave it another whack and the socket went flying. Retrieved the socket and got up off my rollie stool to line up a substantially harder whack than I had yet tried. And . . .

It moved! About a quarter inch. A few more swings and I was at the depth the socket would go (Picture 5). So I'll head to bed without getting it fully out, but will sleep soundly knowing I solved the problem. Not even going to start thinking about getting the bushings out tonight, or at least try not to.

September 4, 2023 - Engine Update - This update is long overdue.

After I got the engine back from the machine shop I mocked up the first cylinder piston because I had the machine shop zero deck the block and I wanted to take measurements to get an idea of what I had for valve clearance. I got a degree wheel and rigged up a pointer. Installed the camshaft and a lifter. I used a sharpie marker as a pushrod to measure the lift of the camshaft and bought a dial gauge bridge to measure the drop of the piston (Picture #1 minus the dial gauge bridge). I played around measuring a bit until I was comfortable with what I was doing and then took measurements every 3 degrees out to 18 degrees. I also took measurements going back from 18 degrees to TDC to make sure the measurements were repeatable. They all were to within .001.

Once the measurements were taken, I graphed piston drop vs valve lift (pushrod lift times 1.5) so I could see what was going on. Graph is shown in Picture #2. So obviously, at the start the valve is opening faster than the piston is dropping. By three degrees it has opened about .01 more than the piston has dropped. By 6 degrees, it's catch up rate is slowing and it's opened about .014 more than the piston has dropped. This number stays the same to 9 degrees and by just after 12 degrees the piston has dropped as much as the valve has opened. After 12 degrees the piston drop rate just keeps climbing over the valve open rate. I included a line in the graph for a linear valve open rate just for comparison and the valve is opening pretty close to linear through 18 degrees. The camshaft spec has the lift starting at 1 degree before TDC, but I did not notice any measurement change between 1 degree before TDC and TDC.

So, now I know that out of whatever clearance I end up with, .014 is how much the valve is catching up to the piston in the first few degrees. After research on the forums, I would still need clearance for thermal growth and movement of the crankshaft. (Interestingly enough, I work with natural gas compressors. The big Ariel frames (7800 HP) allow up to a 10 rpm variance in their torsional analysis calculations, which means that the compressor frame crankshaft can twist enough to differ by 10 rpm from the driven end to the free end.)

In taking all these measurements, I had found out that the first cylinder piston was above the deck by .012. So I mocked up the remaining pistons, and sure enough, all pistons were above the deck at TDC and the first cylinder piston was the least above the deck. So I went and measured six ways from Sunday on all cylinders to see how bad the problem was, including measuring actual stroke lengths on all cylinders and how far each valve was recessed into the head. All measurements are in Picture #3 for interests sake.

So, in the end, I have the pistons back at the machine shop to get them shaved back down to zero deck. Machinist isn't sure what happened, but is doing the work for free. Think he had outsourced it. I'll re-mock up the engine and measure everything again. I think I'll end up with a total clearance of approximately .065 at TDC for the smallest valve recess value, which will translate to approximately .05 of clearance at the point the valve is closest to the piston. This is .01 less than the minimum recommended by those smarter than me in the forums, so I'll consider fly cutting the last .01 into the piston.

I've found this bit working with the engine very insightful and satisfying learning. Having a ton of fun with it!

Oct 7, 2023 Disc Brake Conversion Update - Well, I have been picking away at the truck, but haven't had much time to update lately. The other day I did a final fit up of the brake booster/master cylinder mounting bracket to drill holes in the frame and in the bracket.

In picture 1, the bracket is already drilled and bolted to the frame. Two attachment points on the vertical and two on the bottom horizontal of the c-channel frame by 3/8" bolts. In the picture I'm orientating the booster/master cylinder to mark where to drill those holes. The picture also somewhat shows the clearance of the rod to the transmission cross member. Picture 2 shows where I've taken some ready rod and threaded it into the long coupling that came with the kit to make sure I'm hitting the brake pedal correctly. Picture 3 shows that everything is lined up pretty darn close to center. It is a bit off from left to right, but not much. Finally picture 4 shows the height above the top of frame the booster sits. I'm between 1/2" and 5/8". From the measurements Phil (Phak1) gave me with the cab on his truck, I have between 1 3/4" and 1 5/8" space, so should be good.

Update will come in another post, but the frame is sandblasted along with the bracket. Once I get everything coated, I'll make one more post regarding the mounting of the disc brake conversion booster/master cylinder with all the dimensions of the bracket in case anyone finds it useful.

Oct 8, 2023, Kingpin Update - King pins definitely need replacing. Hopefully the one second video I uploaded shows how loose they were, however, the wear seems to have been mostly in the bushings. Once I removed and cleaned up the king pin I pushed them back into the axle. They fit snug with no movement at all so I know I don't need oversize king pins. Have them on order and will start putting back together once the coating the chasse is done.

Looks like you have to download the video to see. There was a ton of play.

Oct 14, 2023 Engine Update - Did the clearances for the main bearings today. Bit of a learning curve with using the plastigauge, but was going smoothly by the end. I had initially measured clearances with the original shims, which were all between .003" and .004". Decided that I would need to reduce the shim thickness to .0015" as I was going for the lower end of the .0005" to .003" range for my 1955 235. Initially was getting clearances averaging around .002 except for the interior rear bearing (thrust bearing), but more on that in a bit. The crank was spinning pretty easily with these clearances, so decided to try no shims. Pictures 1, 2 and 3 show the rear, inner front and front bearing in that order with no shims. Pretty much where I want them.

While I was working through the process, I noticed that when I torqued down the inner rear (thrust) bearing it locked the crank solid. Could not turn it by hand at all with the .0015" shim I had in there. So continued to try different shim combinations until I was at .002" on ether side. At this point I could turn the crank, but it was comfortably snug. I went back and measured clearances with the plastigauge again, first with out shims and then with the .002" shims on either side. Picture 4 is no shims and showing a .002" clearance and picture 5 is with one .002" shim on each side and showing a .003" clearance. I would have assumed that adding .002" shims to both sides would have increased my clearance more than it did. Would also assume that the .003" bearing clearance would see the crank turn easier than it did. However, I iteratively increased shim thickesses, sometimes by as little as .0005" with only that bearing torqued down, and I can't argue with the crank being locked, and then not locked. The side clearance of the thrust bearing is about .011", which is slightly high (I think, I only have the manual for a 1952 216), but shows that it wasn't binding.

Will be going to the engine forum on this one for thoughts.

Sir, PM sent. Thanks Mark. V/r, Nick

November 11, 2023 - Chasse Update - I have been making progress lately, but haven't posted about it and suffered a bit of a setback. Weather here is starting to turn, so I've had to take advantage of what warmer weekends we have to get the frame coated. I got the frame, axles and torque tube back from sand blasting on Oct 7th and proceeded to coat them that weekend with DOM-16. I'm of the understanding that it is the Canadian version of POR-15 in the US. Pictures attached of the sand blasted parts and after they were coated. It was all looking pretty sharp, and after an exhausting weekend, I was happy with the progress.

Then it rained a couple days later. But whatever, I was glad I finished the coating in the good weather window, until I walked by the frame after work one day and discovered small rust specs, seemingly on the coating (sixth picture). Well crap.

Near as I can figure, I used a foam roller for all the flat bits. My thought is the foam roller left air bubbles that became pinholes and then rusted after the rain. After consulting with my body shop guy, I am in the process of sanding the frame down, using a phosphoric acid rust converter on it and recoating it. Should be done tomorrow. What I did do with a brush seems fine. This time I'm brushing the whole thing. Everything I did last weekend survived a rain/snow event without rust appearing, so I'm confident I'm good now.

Lesson learned for next time . . .

The second coating did end up with some blistering in a select few areas. Mostly crevasses where the coating went on too thick like the inside corners of the engine cross brace. Re-sanded and re-coated those today.

While waiting the 3 to 4 hours between coats, I managed to get my leaf spring stack pulled apart and the spare springs I sourced. Looks like the leaf springs were 'repaired' at one point and the second leaf on one side did not have the 'hook' on the one end so sourced another set to replace that leaf. Pictures of the disassembled stack also attached.

I did play with cleaning the leafs up with a flap wheel and rust converter, but it's going to be too much labour that I can't afford the time for. I'll take them to get sand blasted this upcoming week along with the running board brackets.

November 11, 2023, Engine Update - So after struggling with the shims on my main bearing caps, I pulled the bearing cap off that was causing the crank to lock up. The bearing seemed slightly damaged, so I pulled it out of the bearing cap to have a closer look. It was then that I realized I had kept the old bearings in while I was measuring piston to valve clearances so as not to damage the new bearings. The new bearings were still sitting in the box the came in (picture 1)!

Turns out my engine is a '56 which I understand is the year they did away with main bearing cap shims, although the casting date is Dec 27, 1955. Thankful for all the advice direction I received in the forums to help me with this.

After replacing the original bearings with the new main bearings, all clearances as measured with plasti-gauge were between .002 and 0.0015 with the crank turning freely (pictures 2 through 5). Lot of wasted work, but made for a good chuckle.

I then followed up thoroughly cleaning the block with a wire wheel and painting it (pictures 6 through 9).

The engine is ready to start going back together now.