My daily driver 67 Coronet wagon

[ckessel]

Yup, hydraulic roller from Howards. I kept going back and forth between HFT and HR. I ordered up a stick[ HFT] from them/Competition Products, in October and the guy said it would be awhile as they were busy. No biggie. Called to check status in January and was informed no can do because cast cores are n/a. Then I'm tossing around the issues of possible wipe out because of junk materials being used for the cam and lifters being supplied. So I can spend $500 or so twice, if I kill one, plus the possible knock on of debris in a fresh engine. Or bite the bullet, go roller plus the needed add ons and not stress. So, I went roller. Now I just need to keep earning scratch so I can get the rest of the items needed to put the engine together. One step closer now plus John hooked me up with some Isky iron rockers and new Mancini shafts. All is good in the hood!

 

[ckessel]

Now that I'm done with the 72 Challenger project, I started working on the wagon yesterday. Pulled the wheels/tires off, removed the brakes, pulled the axles out some and cracked the center section open so the oil could drain out. Today I pulled the unit out, set it on some of my wheel/tire stands so its at a good height and removed the carrier w/ring gear. I swapped out the Power Lok unit for the newer Eaton gear type. The PL would not shut up, so out it goes. Once I had that together, I removed the pinion gear. The pinion seal was leaking and since I didn't know if the PO used a crush sleeve or solid spacer when he put the unit together, I ordered a solid unit. Once the old seal was removed I found the reason it leaked. Someone put a big groove in the housing. Before I put the new seal in, I put a film of grey RTV on the seal plus the housing with a little extra on the groove. Hopefully that takes care of it. I measured the oal of the crush sleeve and compared that to the oal of the solid. By the math, there was a .030" difference so I put a pair of .015' shims together and installed the pinion. Torqued the nut up and checked my preload. It was 5"lbs. The FSM says go for 0-15"lbs with used bearings. I figure there is a little spring back on that spacer once the squeeze is off of it, so I tried .022" on the shims. It was over 30"lbs with those. Popped the gear back out and tried .027". Got 10"lbs. I stopped there. Tomorrow I'll log the new carrier in, new bearings too on it and get it set. Once done, clean the diff housing of old gasket/sealer, put a new gasket and sealer on, then load the center section back in, put the axles in, then get the brakes loaded up. I'll hold off on putting oil in till the day after the items are in so the sealer gets a chance to set before oil hits it.

 

[Kern Dog]

Now that I'm done with the 72 Challenger project.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I'll bet that S/G would be fine in most cars & certainly in a truck... Station Wagons & Vans act like an echo chamber... Any noise from the rear axle is amplified...

 

[ckessel]

The car always had some noise in the back end when I back into the garage. I kept thinking it was springs, something loose etc. Nope. When I put the Timkens on the axles, I had to change the cross shaft as the a/m unit can be had for tapered or green. Green one is not machined for the thrust button, so I bought the smallest pack of internals just so I could get the cross shaft. Took it apart enough to switch, back together, then drove it. Also I had put one bottle of modifier in. Now it's really chattering, popping etc when I back into the garage. Extremely loud even outside of the car. Stick it back in the air and drop another bottle of modifier in. Numerous 360's both directions, numerous sharp 90's both directions. No change. Thats why I got the new Eaton unit. Gear type.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Well, gonna need a report on how the Eaton unit works..

 

[ckessel]

BTW, I had originally planned on doing this work next week. But it needed to happen now as after next weekend, I will no longer have my dually. Taking it to Famosa, making the switch of ownership and getting a ride back with a friend.

 

[ckessel]

I got the center section squared away. Was able to get .006" on the back lash. I rotated the ring gear back and forth, thumped it sideways both directions with my dead blow hammer, then check the back lash in a few spots. Good to go there. Cleaned the housing gasket face off, put a new gasket on with some sealer, put the center section on my trans jack with a tie down strap behind the snubber to keep it from flipping off, put some sealer on the gasket face, ran it up with the jack and got it in place. Cinched the nuts down and done there. Got the axles loaded back in and sealed up too. Tomorrow I'll set the axle bearings and load the brakes on.

 

[ckessel]

No picture **** as it's just boring stuff. Got the axles adjusted up. Several rounds of tightening the adjuster and thumping both axles with my dead blow hammer and rotating the axles both directions. Got it at .008. It went a little more to .010 if I really pryed with a pry bar. Locked it down and got the brakes loaded in. I bought the wheel cylinders that E-Booger said to use, plus his 11" shoes, so I'll see how the brake bias is once I drive it. I was having issues with the self adjuster again on the rh side like before. It was bad enough that I just pulled both sides off last year when I did the axle bearings since the rh side kept biting in. I had an idea about seeing if I played all the pieces in wrong. Looked on the net and sure enough, yes. So, I'll remedy that tomorrow too. Need to bleed out the new cylinders, put oil in the diff, hook the drive shaft up, tires/wheels back on and re-inflate them. After that I'll drop the back end down and toss the front up to re-check fasteners from when I redid that end. Already checked the back stuff.

 

[ckessel]

No pics again. I got the brakes figured out. Went pretty fast. Bled the cylinders out, put oil into the diff[ Amsoil severe duty], driveshaft on, rear wheels/tires on, reinflated tires, dropped it back down to the ramps. Once the rolling jack was free, ran it up front so I could check fasteners I worked with when I did the suspension work. Tossed the front up, checked fasteners, swapped tires/wheels side to side[ did the backs too]. Got it back down on the ramps, torqued up all of the wheel nuts, put center caps back on. Took it for a drive and it was a success. Brakes feel way better than before and no complaints from the diff, especially when backing into the garage. Very happy with that Eaton unit I got from Dr Diff.

 

[ckessel]

Today I received the last of the parts/supplies/tools needed to assemble the short block. Now that my solvent tank is operational, I'll start washing parts this weekend.

 

[ckessel]

Started washing parts for the short block today. More tomorrow. The solvent is filtered and I have fresh, new in a pump up can for final rinse. Lifter are in clean solvent soaking until tomorrow. Took the oil pump apart, washed, then blew air through it. Put it together with Amsoil assembly lube. Took the adjusters out of the Isky rockers, thanks to John Stetler for those and the new Mancini shafts, removed the adjusters. Washed and scrubbed the rocker pieces down with an extra toothbrush. Blew them out, then put adjusters back in.

 

[ckessel]

Washed up some more pieces today. Got the usual grit out of the crank journal holes but I was amazed at what came out of the timing chain. I put it in a container with some fresh, clean solvent and let it soak in that for a couple of hours. BTW, the lifters had similar amounts of junk that came out while sitting in the solvent. Next weekend I'll wash the block down.

 

[Kern Dog]

Keep in mind that the expense of switching to a roller cam can be minimized when you avoid the mistakes that others have made.

 

[ckessel]

Such as?

 

[ckessel]

Today it's nice and warm here, high 70's/low 80's, so it was a great time to wash the block with soap and water. Nice and clean now! Blew it dry with air plus made sure the threaded holes and galley's got some love. I'd already tapped all of the holes last year after I got it back from the machine shop. Wiped some Kroil onto the main bore, cylinders, lifter bores and the decks. From there I went ahead and started assembling. Got the main seal in the block first. Laid the bearing shells into the block, put some Amsoil assembly lube on them, then placed the crank in. Put shells into the caps, lubed them, lubed the seal surface of the crank, installed the caps, put the Mancini seal retainer on. Went to put the nuts on for the studs and saw I couldn't because the seal retainer was on. Ok, off with that. Cinched the nuts down some and set the thrust main by whomping the crank end to end with my dead blow. Backed the nuts off a touch, then back down some and thumped again. From there torqued the nuts up in three sets per ARP's instructions. Set the seal retainer back down and it kicked out some. Seems with the nuts on #5, the retainer hit the nuts. Marked the retainer with a sharpie, pulled it back off and hit those areas with a carbide cutter. Clears now. Tightened the retainer up to Mancini's spec. I checked my crank end play before stopping for the day. I've got .003".

 

[Kern Dog]

Keep in mind that the expense of switching to a roller cam can be minimized when you avoid the mistakes that others have made.

Such as?

I have not started the car yet but it seems like I have it all together right.
Mistakes: Be prepared, get all the parts that you think you'll need before diving in. Ask around about reliability of the parts that you're considering.
My biggest blunder was the rocker arm setup. I had it in my head that I needed to upgrade and the stuff I bought was fraught with troubles.

 

[ckessel]

I'm sucking up as much info as possible concerning this. Some of it is SOSDD[ same old **** different day] but some of it is new. Part of what I'm doing I've done before, but the last time I did an engine[ 360 for my Challenger] was the late 80's so its like riding a bike but having to get my balance figured out again so I don't fall off. Lucky for me I already have a grip of engine specific tools including some I made. Adjustable ball/cup push rod[ from the W2 stroker I did for my Duster around 86], deck height tool so my dial indicator can get more use, a KD ring compressor set, crank socket, degree wheel, balancer remover/installer, plus some others. For sure the roller is a big difference. If I went roller rocker, they would be from RAU. However, they only have 1.6's. Those would put my cam from .540 to .580 or so plus the timing changes. Don't want to affect the stick I already have.