Ring a Ding Ding

Got some tools, and a new set of .030"-over 289 rings

We come from the land of the ice and snow
 
Its been a while since we've updated, and not because I don't love you all, but rather because it turned out to be more or less the way January usually happens in Illinois, which for the uninitiated, is only suitable for dogsledding, cryo-experiments, keeping vodka at proper drinking temperature, and little else. Garage has no heat, so Xavier and I stayed toasty, inside, sipping hot chocolate. Thought I was on top of things, since I did find and buy a 90,000 BTU furnace for the garage, but quickly found that trying to find an HVAC person to do an install at non-emergency rates in January puts you on a wait list that ends in May or something. Oh well, if anyone wants to hook me up with a good quality HVAC installer, there's a Mustang ride in your future! 

Speed junkie, piston head. And on I go

Xavier cleaning a piston

We've been looking at the best way to go on the rebuild, and we decided that we should re-use the old pistons, but no matter what, new rings should be used. After we got them in, I took a look at the pistons and realized that I hadn't internalized how much carbon buildup we had on the pistons. Not sure how the valvetrain problems or carb problems contributed, but the immediate task at hand was clear: clean off those puppies so it all goes back together like new.

So dirty! Needs some scrubby dubby

To start, we were using mild solvents like WD40, toothbrushes, and plastic scrapers to power off the carbon. That was slow going however, so we looked for a way that allowed us to be lazier and play more Playstation gain some efficiency in our process.  We ended up filling a disposable aluminum pan with degreaser, placing the pistons in face-down and gave them some soak time to let the solvent work. We ended up getting comfortable with brass bristle brushes as well, which cleaned off the gunk pretty well. We made a discovery in the process:

Uh oh #1

Sweet little baby, I don't know where you've been
 

"Dad, why is the top of this piston stamped with '040'?"
Every bit of documentation I got on this car shows the engine, when rebuilt last, was bored .030" over. And I pretty much took this at face value. The Sealed Power ring kit I ordered was specified off that number. Why do the pistons say 040? Well, because the pistons are .040" oversize, not .030". Because, either the original understanding was wrong, or the engine was bored an extra 10 thousandths sometime after the rebuild documented in 1989. This is all very interesting Chuck, what does it mean? Means I bought the wrong rings, that's what. Not a huge deal, solved it with a credit card, but pushes back our progress another week while we wait for the new set. C'est la vie! At least we didn't install the wrong set and drop them in, so there's that. Next time, we mic the bore to be sure.

Uh oh #2

Body and soul, I'm a freak
 

Evaporate already!

Obviously it got a lot warmer this week, since you see me and the kid hitting it in the garage. In fact, it went from 15-20 degrees Farenheit to almost 60. I was working when I noted some condensation on the window when it occured to me to check the new block. If you didn't guess, the cold block was dripping with condensation. I freaked out a bit. I had oiled the cylinder walls and the deck, but there were bare metal parts which were exposed. Armed with shop towels, hair dryers, 10-30, and assembly lube, we carefully warmed everything and re-oiled everything. Really missing that furnace man. Wait? Chuck has a hair dryer? What for? Ha ha. Very funny. It's for my beard, of course.

More Pictures:

Douse em!

Scraping off the crap

 

His hands move fast!

Mugging for the camera!