'55 R-122 rehab

I just came back from the machine shop. While it isn't finished, they are in the assembly stage now. The cam and crank are in. The machine work is all done. They sleeved one bore, skimmed the head/block/ and manifolds. They've been waiting for a cam retainer. Turns out they had two in the cardboard box that I dropped off a few months back... I could be picking the engine up at the end of the week. I'm heading out to the garage now to clean/prep/paint the bellhousing and the front motor mount. I really hope I'm able to mount the engine in the frame this weekend. That'd be huge!

Todays progress:

I cleaned/painted the bellhousing and throw out bearing hardware.

Not shown, but I also painted the front motor mount bridge the same color.

I removed the badge from the distributor and shot it with the cast iron engine paint as well. I also drove home the new shaft bushing. An adjustable reamer will arrive tomorrow so I can size the bushing and finish assembling the distributor.



This evening I got busy making chips on the lathe. The pivot tube for the pedals has been sized and I recreated the bushing in the end of the clutch pedal. Tomorrow I'll weld the tube to the bracket and mount the works back on the frame.




Even with the bushings dry the pedal movement is less than 3/16" at the pdeal. I'm looking forward to testing them out once the truck is back together.

EXTREMELY random question but: what did you tell Uhaul in order to get that trailer? Last time I tried to get one for my truck they wouldn't rent me one...I'll be moving soon and will definitely need it.

Great project by the way!

I think I told them I was going to haul my '99 Jetta. LOL I didn't want them to scratch their collective heads when I told them I was going to pick up a '55 IH R-122.

when i bought a 1960 falcon a few years ago uhaul told me it would not fit on thier trailer. i told them that was rediculous, that when i placed my on line order it went through so it must be okay. they didn't back down. so i said oops my mistake, its a 61 falcon. they then said okay, that works and gave me the trailer.

you are makin great progress. looks great.

Just keep in mind, when you do rent a trailer from Uhaul and if you state the type of vehicle, they may not cover any other thing you haul on that trailer. That is why I never tell them exactly what I am going to haul. I look on line to see what type of vehicles their trailers "will" officially haul and I tell them it MAY be some of those types of vehicles. Not telling you to do anything against the "rules" Just telling you what I did. Again, if you have a lot to haul, perhaps look at buying a trailer to haul your stuff and then sell it when you are done.

The machine shop called yesterday morning. Within 15min. of the call I was picking up the reworked HT141 (SD240 with some minor variations).

I mounted the freshly cut flywheel and the bellhousing. I installed the front motor mount and mounted the engine in the chassis with new rear mount isolators. The parts manual calls for 4 rear isolators for the SD240 and 6 for the SD220. I can only assume that the engineers were trying to keep "better control" of the higher output engine. I need to get shorter rear mount bolts as I've opted to follow the same path the factory went.

The engine was a bit of a pain to get lined up on the bellhousing crossmember. I got it done, but it took some lifting, tugging, prying to get everything to line up.




I cleaned the front axle and gave it a coat of paint yesterday.


Now I just need to disassemble/clean/paint the front springs (hopefully tomorrow) and then I'll hang the axle back under the truck. I dropped the pitman arm and the left steering arm off at the machine shop on Wed. When I get back in 2 wks I should have a complete steering system.

There is still a llllloooonnnggg way to go before I drive this beast but I feel a huge milestone has been reached this week. I hope to get a few more small things done tomorrow.

I didn't get anything else done on the truck that Sunday, but I have been busy ordering parts over the last week. I now have the correct Carter 736S carb and I beleive I have the correct vibration damper/pulley for the crankshaft (NOS even). I've also aquired a fresh water pump and hoses. I'll be pickup up plugs/wires/cap/rotor/t-stat and a few other odds/ends after I get back to next week.

Here's what happened to the HT141 engine (SD240) while it was at the machine shop. The block was sleeved in the #6 hole (cracked to the left rear cooling jacket area). The bores were opened .030" - NOS pistons were installed. The crank was undercut .020"/.020". The rods were rebushed. The head and block were both decked to true them up. The cam was polished and re-installed with new bearings. The guides were knurled (not really thrilled about that or the fact that the seats were just recut, but it'll work for now. All of the exhaust valves were replaced. The intake valves were just cleaned and reground. I had the intake/exhaust mating surfaces planed on the manifolds and the head- they were erroding away. There were some other small things done, but nothing really worth noting.

I can't wait to hear it fire for the first time. I won't rush it, but I think by next Thurs./Fri. I should have a video of it running. I'm thinking of dusting off the camcorder and trying to make a time lapse video of the final assembly/firing.

Well a wrench got chucked into the works on Tuesday. So I get to the machine shop to pick up the 2nd oil filter housing to find that it too is rotted clean through...

Filter housing 1:

Filter housing 2:

Porosity in the walls of both housings. Looks more like pumice than steel.

I had to cut up a 1" socket to get the center tubes out of the filter housings. The old tube from clutch/brake pedal pivot turned out to be the perfect length for extending the socket.

I'm currently pondering a remote spin on oil filter or possibly just machining the remaining surface and inverting a spin on filter. Dunno, I'll get it sorted soon enough.

Perhaps it'll run next time home. Here's where I'm at right now.

The rad is finally painted.


The fuel pump is rebuilt and on the engine. I found an NOS front pulley/balancer. I installed a fresh waterpump/freshly painted pulley and fan. The lower breather tube is installed now. The manifolds are cleaned/painted/installed. The thermostat housing is ready to go. The distributor is rebuilt and ready to go. The vacuum advance feature is going to take some work still. The advance module has a bad diaphram and I don't fully understand how the mechanism pieces will work after it's all together. I think something may still be missing.



I'm rebuilding the starter motor right now. I should have that back together soon. I'll be making a new phenolic spacer for the carb shortly since I cracked the original one taking the carb off.

So essentially a month has transpired since you've started and you're close to getting the engine in and started? That's good time for a non-restoration!
I'd say you're a miracle worker.
I like that you just plow through and make your own tools and parts.
Great work, Don

Interesting to see that this SD240 has the three bolt outlet on the exhaust manifold. My BD 240 had a three bolt outlet. I have two BD 264s and one had the three bolt outlet, the other had two bolt.

So essentially a month has transpired since you've started and you're close to getting the engine in and started? That's good time for a non-restoration!
I'd say you're a miracle worker.
I like that you just plow through and make your own tools and parts.
Great work, Don

Thanks for the encouragement. It was actually early January when I bought and started the rehabilitaion of this truck. It's still not bad, but I had hoped to be driving it by this time.
I had admired my Dad and his lathe when he was alive and now that his tools are mine I am enjoying learning how to use them and restoring this truck at the same time. Just last night I turned down and reamed out a section of the old distributor shaft bushing I replaced a bit ago to make a new nose cone bushing for the 1107140 Delco starter. I'll probably do the same for the brush holder housing bushing. I chucked the armature up in the lathe to clean up the commutator as well. It's great fun and rewarding as well.