'55 R-122 rehab


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Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 741

Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2013 12:58 am

Location: Central IL

Post Sat Feb 03, 2018 7:41 pm

Re: '55 R-122 rehab

Cam break-in happened today. That was a bit stressful. I had a brand new engine that was at 23*f this morning and I wanted to start it and almost immediately go to about 2k rpms for 20 min. I pointed my 185k btu direct fire heater at the front of the truck while I reinstalled the cab floor/trans tunnel and checked out some other stuff. I felt a lot better when upon connecting the laptop to the truck I saw a coolant temp of almost 62*. Turning the key was still a little nerve wracking, but I felt much better at that temp than at 23*. Tomorrow I hope to bleed the brakes, adjust the valves, double verify the timing and idle speed. Provided those things go well I intend to at least take the truck for a drive around the neighborhood. I'm really hoping that I use the truck this coming week. I've been putting off quite a few jobs for the lack of a truck.
'55 IH R-122- BG265 w/TBI fuel injection
'64 Porsche 356 C
'68 and '73 BMW 2002s
‘14 VW Passat SE TSI
3 Vintage Sears garden tractors ('66-'74)
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Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 741

Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2013 12:58 am

Location: Central IL

Post Wed Feb 07, 2018 7:17 am

Re: '55 R-122 rehab

Weather has been garbage lately (sub-zero temps, high winds, and snow). Working on the truck outside with the wind blowing through my crack is kinda miserable. I’m fighting a weeping head gasket right now. Discussing the failure with the machine shop it seems likely that RA finish of the block is too rough for the modern gasket. Heat cycling, retorques, and an additional 10ft/lbs only slowed the “fizzing”. I have two options: 1) Hylomar- machine shop swears by it. 2) Pull the engine, strip it down, and haul the head and block castings in for skimming. Given my current situation I am opting to the former than the latter. If it works Horray! if not then it’s only half a day’s labor lost.
'55 IH R-122- BG265 w/TBI fuel injection
'64 Porsche 356 C
'68 and '73 BMW 2002s
‘14 VW Passat SE TSI
3 Vintage Sears garden tractors ('66-'74)
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Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 741

Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2013 12:58 am

Location: Central IL

Post Sun Feb 11, 2018 6:19 am

Re: '55 R-122 rehab

I pulled the head on friday. What a mess. 1,2,5,and 6 were all showing evidence of burning coolant. Oil puddles in 1,2,and 5. After cleaning everything up I got out my Starrett straight edge and feeler gauges. On the head I found .0015" gap around of #1 and #6. On the block there were sections mostly on the manifold side of the block where I could pass .002-.003 feeler gauges. None of the gaps were in the same places between the head and block so I took a few passes with some 220 and piece of glass to knock things down a bit. It cleaned up well. 2 coats of Hylomar on both sides of the gasket and torqued to 90 ft lbs. I've run it a few times in the garage since then- adjusting valves, messing with the fuel pressure regulator, etc. There are no leaks that I can see from the outside. I didn't find any coolant in the bores after sitting overnight. I am cautiously optimistic.

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'55 IH R-122- BG265 w/TBI fuel injection
'64 Porsche 356 C
'68 and '73 BMW 2002s
‘14 VW Passat SE TSI
3 Vintage Sears garden tractors ('66-'74)

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 1437

Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 6:32 am

Location: Minnesota

Post Sun Feb 11, 2018 9:52 am

Re: '55 R-122 rehab

Jake, It seems this post is a bit late, but I have a 264/ 265 head gasket with steel on both sides, "hard to find", that's what the tractor pullers use, I got it for a 264 I was going to buy. The guy sold the motor before I got there. By chance if you need it in the future, send me a PM or email.
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Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 741

Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2013 12:58 am

Location: Central IL

Post Sun Feb 11, 2018 11:55 am

Re: '55 R-122 rehab

I will Kevin. If this doesn’t stay sealed I’m gonna pull the whole thing and have all milled to today’s standards.
'55 IH R-122- BG265 w/TBI fuel injection
'64 Porsche 356 C
'68 and '73 BMW 2002s
‘14 VW Passat SE TSI
3 Vintage Sears garden tractors ('66-'74)
User avatar

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 741

Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2013 12:58 am

Location: Central IL

Post Mon Feb 12, 2018 8:38 pm

Re: '55 R-122 rehab

I managed to drive the truck around the neighborhood tonight. It's not great, but we're moving in the right direction. The fuel system was designed to run at about 12-13psi. I had to crank the pressure up to 18psi to get the 45lb/hr injectors to flow enough fuel to get the truck to idle at between 14 and 14.8ish AFR with current programming. I'm not surprised that I needed to do this with the new engine as it's almost half a liter larger and it has a different head configuration. It looks like I could slap a pair of 305 (5L) 55lb/hr injectors in this TB and get roughly the same flow rates at factory pressure levels.

Interesting observation (IMO): the old engine exhibited some of the same idle/off idle characteristics as this engine did before I cranked up the fuel... Not saying it was programmed lean but it acted just like this one did before the pressure increase.

Looking forward to finishing up the adapter for the new-to-me 2bbl intake so I can finally get a proper tune. I know it's starving for fuel between idle and WOT as the gauge hangs mostly in the 16s for AFRs until I hit WOT then they drop to the 13s and sometimes the 12s. While I could possibly get away with some minor fuel map adjustments with current early 1bbl setup I'm almost positive that the new manifold will need large increases. Possibly starting with larger injectors.
'55 IH R-122- BG265 w/TBI fuel injection
'64 Porsche 356 C
'68 and '73 BMW 2002s
‘14 VW Passat SE TSI
3 Vintage Sears garden tractors ('66-'74)

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 8936

Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:45 pm

Location: Canada's left Coast

Post Mon Feb 12, 2018 9:45 pm

Re: '55 R-122 rehab

You are the man. Your build deserves tons of respect.
I would rather have tools I do not need than to need tools I do not have
Thinking risks being controversial and possibly being offensive
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Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 741

Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2013 12:58 am

Location: Central IL

Post Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:26 am

Re: '55 R-122 rehab

Thank you Sir. I'm having trouble seeing the good in it when I can't use it as it was intended... Right now it's only good at taking up space and creating stress. I have too many projects (paying and personal) that are languishing because what was intended to be a weekend swap and a few weeks of tuning has turned into a multi month test of fortitude and patience. Oh well... some day I suppose.

I could always take the easy way out and slap a Weber 32/36 on it and buy some jets. Having an AFR gauge should make tuning a carb practically a walk in the park.
'55 IH R-122- BG265 w/TBI fuel injection
'64 Porsche 356 C
'68 and '73 BMW 2002s
‘14 VW Passat SE TSI
3 Vintage Sears garden tractors ('66-'74)
User avatar

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 741

Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2013 12:58 am

Location: Central IL

Post Mon Feb 19, 2018 8:45 pm

Re: '55 R-122 rehab

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Completed TBI to 2bbl intake adapter. 3/4" aluminum plate and some 8.8 M8 allen head screws/lock washers. I'll be taking the assembly to the machine shop tomorrow to have the head to manifold surfaces trued up.
'55 IH R-122- BG265 w/TBI fuel injection
'64 Porsche 356 C
'68 and '73 BMW 2002s
‘14 VW Passat SE TSI
3 Vintage Sears garden tractors ('66-'74)

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 524

Joined: Mon Dec 17, 2012 10:50 am

Location: Fletcher, OK

Post Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:26 am

Re: '55 R-122 rehab

That looks great.
46 K3
52 L110
68 Cadillac Coupe DeVille
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