Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Private_collector

Decision between solid and adjustable lifters was made for me, because the cam I am using has been ground for.......'street' use. Adjusting the Johnson lifters is a PIG of a job. I am minus several portions of skin as a testament to that fact.

Tony, do you have specs on the street grind? I'm interested to see what they're using these days. It's a good idea IMO, the stock cam is way too conservative.

I've noticed all the flathead gurus mention difficulties adjusting lifters, mainly to do with the gadgets that stop the lifter turning. They recommend drilling a 3/16" hole into the bore and using a pin punch instead.

Nice job on the bores BTW, and very interesting to see. That's the other advantage of rebuilding the motor yourself - we all get to see!

[Private_collector]

Originally Posted by Tony Wheeler

Tony, do you have specs on the street grind? I'm interested to see what they're using these days. It's a good idea IMO, the stock cam is way too conservative.

I've noticed all the flathead gurus mention difficulties adjusting lifters, mainly to do with the gadgets that stop the lifter turning. They recommend drilling a 3/16" hole into the bore and using a pin punch instead.

Hi Tony,

Don't have the specs anymore. It was listed with the cam when for sale on ebay, but I didn't bother to write them down after I compared that with some data on an American hot rod website. May have been Vanpelt or something similar. I do remember thinking it was still fairly mild. It not so, I wouldn't have dared to fit it. All the extra horsepower would have scared me.

Those lifter adjusting tools are not what I would have designed, thats for sure. Was thinking of something similar to the variably adjustable tool for locking discs onto an angle grinder....only smaller. There MUST be something better on the market, but I have not yet seen it. Possibly it will appear once I have finished all the adjustment. Quite often the way, you know!

[Private_collector]

Finished adjusting the remaining valve lifters this morning. One valve guide was so tight in the block that forcing it back up after lifter adjustment actually took some of the bounce out of the valve spring. By pure good fortune, I had a second set of springs handy so I swapped it over and threw the damaged one into the scrap pile.
Crank Test Fit.jpg Crank Test Fit 2.jpg
With that pain in the neck out of the way, finally, I flipped the engine over and did a test fit of the crankshaft. This was the first time I have taken the three main bearing caps off, and I found that each had a quantity of crusty cosmolene under them and around the cap studs. Everything went together well, and crankshaft spun freely after 40 foot pounds of torque on each nut. From memory, I got more than 2 rotations of the crank, when it was spun by hand. That assembly lube is good stuff!!
Front Crank Bearing Thrust 00015.jpg
Following a written procedure to test crank fore/aft movement (? referred to as 'thrust'), I found clearance against rear bearing was very pleasing. I couldn't pass a .0015 thou feeler gauge between them. That is very encouraging. I have now been able to confirm functionality of valvetrain, cam, and crankshaft.
Engine Water Jacket Contamination.jpg Engine Water Passage.jpg
What wasn't so encouraging, was the debris that fell out of the R) side water jacket, when the engine was turned upside down. Look closely at the muck and you can see portions of a deceased cockroach, and the once expelled contents of it's digestive tract (cockroach shit!). This development caused a lengthy delay in progress while I fired up the compressor and blew everything clean again. How do I know that it's clean? I looked around inside, using a borescope with a little angled mirror on the end. A verh useful tool, but some of that functionality was lost, thanks to my slight tremor when trying to hold the scope steady. There was a 'throw away' statement in my Flathead rebuilding book which recommends that the engine be wrapped entirely in a plastic garbage bag while it is still a work in progress? Guess what is around my engine.......now, anyway?

Next Sunday, the plan is to thoroughly clean ALL the engine again, apply fresh coat of light oil to bores etc, permanently install the valvetrain and cam (other way round would be best), and possibly install the crank again. I have a lot of re-reading to do before the weekend, so I can be sure I have not forgotten anything important with the above jobs. Heaps more reading will have to occur before I am comfortable with progressing to pistons, rings, and rods.

[Private_collector]

Valves in place 1.jpg Valves in place 2.jpg
Installed one bank of valves this afternoon. You will remember I had inadvertantly damaged one of the valve springs last weekend, so I made the decision to replace them all. Didn't want to risk overlooking one which was not quite so obviously compromised. Fortunately I had a spare set of springs.
Crank in place.jpg
Crankshaft was installed after cam, but before the valves. It was significantly more difficult to spin, after the rear oil seal (the white rope type) was put in. It turned very easily prior, so it must be the wretched seal which is the culprit. I did try another type, which came with my gasket set, but it was FAR WORSE! That one was a dark grey, woven type.
Oil venting hole.jpg
I had been dreading doing this mod. You can see I have made a passage way for oil to return to sump from valve chamber. This modification has been documented on a number of well known internet forums and resources for French Flatheads. I now need to weld up the corresponding holes in the oil pan. If a baffle tube had been available, this alteration would not have been required. The Ford oil vent tube is nowhere near the right size, and despite numerous seraches, I have not found any French ones.
Distributor in place.jpg
Distributor and backing plate were installed, just to stop the cam from walking when I turned (with some force) the crank. I used a modern single piece front crank seal. Wish there was something similar possible for the rear. That rope seal is just primitive!

[Private_collector]

I had bought a set of rubber seals for the valve guides, from Macs. They were not the correct type for my guides, and couldn't be used. That didn't really concern me, because a number of sources have virtually deemed them 'prefered, but optional'.
Valve seals, I hope!.jpg
I was pleasently surprised to find a bag of 16 o-ring type seals in my gasket set. I am making the assumption that these actually ARE for use on the guides !?!?. Can't think what else they could possibly be. Anyhow, the fit the guides, so that's where they have been put.

[Private_collector]

Anyone have any first hand knowledge of how much additional resistance is felt on crankshaft of Flathead V8 once the rear rope seal is installed? Crank is harder to rotate now, but once moving it continues to move easier than the initial first 'start'.

Thanks,

[cliff]

Tony judging by the photos the motor looks great. Congratulations!

Now when are we putting her in my wheelchair and 'firing' her up?

I know, I know