This month starts with the second assembly of the engine after having taken it apart to find the bulge on the bearing that was causing too much friction.

Assembling the engine with parts that are already double checked is a lot easier, although I found that the oil sling on the front of the crankshaft rubbed on the bell housing seal.  This sling was later discontinued by GM, so I decided to leave it out.

With all the parts laid out and my new package of rings, I began assembling, this time it only took 15 ft. lbs. of torque to turn over the engine before putting on the heads

This video shows a fool-proof method of finding the compression stoke to find TDC to adjust the valves and install the distributor.   When the wet napkin is shot across the room, you car coming up on TDC.  Then a screwdriver on the top of the piston puts it dead on.  I decided to prefill the lifters and adjust the valves cold.

So here are several pictures of the valve train, top of engine, assembly of shrouds and muffler bracket, fnd the final assembled engine and transmission.

Also shown is my grandson Nathan who insists on helping.

Here is the comparison of the original installation with the new.

The chrome emblem from the front of the car was tarnished and had a lot of surface corrosion.  The blue Chevrolet part was clear and the red was mostly missing.  Here is a shot after polishing half of the chrome and then the finished emblem.

I found that I needed to change polishing wheels and switch to a softer/finer (dark red) polishing stick so as not to scratch the chrome.  The white one for stainless was too rough.

The car came with only one door handle and one window handle, so I got some donor handles and polished them to be ready for the car when the doors are upholstered.

The details take a lot of time.  Here I’m sanding and painting the steering column and replacing the bearings that were completely missing (only the raceways were left).  I’ve also replaced all the turn signal parts with those cleaned up from a donor car in the US.

The only brake lines sold here are with metric threads, so I had to cut off the ends and flare them with the original threaded nipples.

There was a lot of play in the throttle linkage so the two carburetors could not work together.  I made bushings out of teflon and here I’m fastening them to the levers with small screws.

Here you can see the wire between two terminals in the fuse block. Most wires were melted from a fire.  I’ve stripped the car of all wiring and after the body shop I’ll take it to an electricion to rewire and add the circuits I want for my headlight relays, gps, electrical heater and seat pad, etc.

To make the accelerator work I had to make a few teflon bushings, bend the pivot and bar.  Finally made a new gas line and finished the instalation under the car.

Finished with the mechanical for now.  Here we loaded the car on another trailer, washed out the cowls and rocker panels and are taking it to the body shop for their magic.  When they finish it will go to the electricion for complete wiring.

At this point I am ordering a few clips and other small parts (note the wires holding the linkage on the carburetors) that my wife will bring back from the US next month with the alternator and front engine seal hardware that is waiting for pick up.

When the electrician finishes I’ll put all the necesary gromets and boots in place.