'55 R-122 rehab

Progress update:

PaulH stopped by yesterday and brought a nice little piece for the engine. Looking forward to making a new adapter for the TBI unit.


Got some things done yesterday afternoon. Checked toque values on cap bolts, swapped sump pick-up, and cleaned/installed the oil pan from my 240. I cleaned/installed the cam followers/cover. I removed/cleaned the valves and installed new stem seals. I set the head and installed the pushrods and rocker assemblies. That's where I ran out of steam for the day.




The center rocker tower is located to the block with a "sleeve". The location of the tower has offset the rockers on either side of it causing them to be off center on the valve stems. I haven't gotten into it yet, but in my mind there are a few different solutions
1)try to press the rocker sleeves to one side in the rocker body to shift the rocker over as needed to align with the valves.
2)grind the rocker sleeve as needed to shift the one rocker and add shims between the tower and the other rocker to re-align the assembly.
3)Remove the alignment sleeve and shift the tower as needed to align the rockers.

Woke up at 2:30a yesterday and headed to the garage. I managed to get a few things done.

I aligned the bell housing to the engine. Got it within .002” in all directions. I’m happy with that- general consensus is that .005” is good for stock stuff. I was toying with the idea of getting it within a .0005” it then I remembered that I don’t have unlimited time to be messing around and I need my truck back.

I degreed the freshly skimmed flywheel. Good thing I did ‘cause the timing mark on the flywheel that I used (came with the BG241) was set at 7* BTDC. I marked from 0-20 in 1* increments and 20-40 in 5*s. I know that I should never have to look at the last 15* or so but I was already there and it only took another few moments.

The head was bolted down and torquedin 3 stages to 95 ft lbs. Pushrods and rockers were installed and adjusted for center over valve stems and initial lash set to .028”. I cleaned up the valve cover, picked some dents out of it (storage damage- best I can figure) and mounted it to the head.

I chased the oil filter housing bosses on the block and cleaned the filter housing in the parts washer. Some research revealed this engine was sold as a “stripped” engine meaning- an assembled long block with spark plugs, valve cover, front pulley, water pump, and distributor only. It is lacking manifolds and oil filter housing. I pulled the filter housing from the BG241 for this one. Imagine my surprise when I found out the Fram CH333PL filter that I had purchased doesn’t fit in this housing. The bowl is too short (by about a 1/2” ) to seal against the base with the filter installed. The filter I removed from the housing was a Napa 1252. Time to do some research.

I’ve got to run to the machine shop today. I got the 2bbl manifold paired up with good 3 bolt exhaust manifold only to realize that the flanges are somewhere between 1/16” and 1/8” away from each other. I’m hoping they can square it away today for me. Looking to place the drivetrain in the truck tomorrow.

Check the NAPA 1252, Wix 51252 filter. That's the one for the shorter full-flow canister. Sounds like good progress.

Ya beat me to it Paul.

I did some digging this am in the MT-118 parts manual.

Here's what I found:

2 different full-flow assemblies

236647R91 -Short body assembly 5"x5"
uses filter 236649R91/1252/51252

223960R92- Long body assembly 5"x6-1/4"
uses filter 214731R91/CH333PL/P203

I have the "short" assembly. Buuuuuuuutttt....



Turns out I also have the "body" for a long assembly as well. Provided there are no clearance issues I will look for another long body and run this one for now. Napa is pretty proud of the 1252. They want about $22/pc for them.

Good progress today. Installed the clutch, trans, and some misc items. Placed the engine/trans in the truck. The mounts are tight and the driveshaft is reconnected. I went to install the old SD manifolds and found the register rings for the intake manifold are of a different size. The old SD manifolds are temporary until the BG manis can be trued up at the machine shop. With the downward facing oil filter housing I've run into a minor interference with a front brake hard line. I'll try adjusting the line, but if it doesn't look good I'll just make a new one. Perhaps it will run before next weekend.

"Houston, We have oil pressure. I repeat, We have oil pressure. Over."




Running an SD 1bbl intake for the moment. I'm going to take the 2bbl set back to the machine shop in the next few days for milling. Button up and fill cooling system and install the exhaust are about all that is left before I put the ECU and fuel pump fuses back in. Fire up and Cam break-in should happen in the next few days.

Sweet!

Nice reporting and photos.

Good to see your progress

Be safe

Tell us how you got the oil pressure.

Gladly Paul,
I’ve been covering any and everything in the engine with engine oil as I took it apart for inspection and cleaning. Knowing the engine hadn’t been run since the ‘70s when it was built I decided to build a pre-luber from a pancake air compressor tank. I just cobbled this thing together out of fittings and stuff laying around. I figured I’d better run some oil through it to “test” it and “flush” it since I put my bore scope through one of the fittings on the tank and saw some “stuff” on the bottom of the tank. It was’t rust, it looked more like welding slag to be honest. I ran about a quart of atf through it in 3 separate tests and detritus kept coming out. I wasn’t about to take a chance and pump the garbage into my new engine so i set that aside a set up a gravity drain IV plumbed into the oil gallery from the front of the engine. I kept topping it off as I worked on other items and would rotate the engine by hand every so often as well. With my desires to keep working cooling off just as fast as the air was I pulled the spark plugs, removed my IV bag and hooked the battery up. It took a bit of cranking but eventually I got pressure register on my mech gauge. I was getting nervous after the first 10-15 sec of cranking. Worried that the oil pump might not be priming I pulled the dipstick and found the oil level dropping. I cranked it for another 10-15 sec and pulled the valve cover. She’s getting wet upstairs. It probably took another 5-10 sec of cranking for pressure to begin to register on the gauge. Good to go.

I’m home with my 18 mo old son for the next 3 days so work time can only happen when he naps but I think I’ll hear it run in the next day or two.

Back to the pre-luber. I gave up on it not wanting to waste the precious little time that I had cleaning it. Ponderings have lead me to the idea of adding a spin-on oil filter to the rig. If I get bored some day I’ll add a 1” bung/plug to the tank for faster filling and pick up a basic filter head/filter combo. I doubt it’s something I will have much use for, but as Nikki says “I would rather have tools I do not need than to need tools I do not have”