Now the rebuild starts

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NAM VET
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Re: Engine in!

Post by NAM VET »

Thanks, my fingertips aren't brown now. Pure alcohol does indeed take it off.

My Facet failure was Operator Error. Called Pegasus racing first thing, he suggested I be sure I had 24 Volts to the pump. So used my home-made 24 V test system, (four 6 V batteries taped and wired in series to be 24 V for testing circuits) and sure enough the Facet worked. Next up is to check my switched circuit to get 24 V to the fuel pump.

Drove up to Charlotte for lunch, Becky ordered carry-out at the local PF Chang, when I picked it up, the chap there told me "here is Becky's usual order." I wonder how often she gets PF carryout? Put in a new closet lite, and drove home reading 103 on the dash. Hot.....

Then installed the "T" fitting on the oil pressure line, screwed in the OEM pressure sensor, then screwed in a temporary NPT/Nipple where I am hooking up my Autometer mechanical oil pressure gage, and using my hand fluid suction/push plunger device and some tubing, pushed in about a half quart, then found it would not take more. Maybe filled something up quicker than it could travel hither and yon somewhere in my motor. At least some 10-40 in the main gallery, maybe the transfer tube too.

Then removed that hose, and put my copper tubing thru a firewall grommet, with a short piece of hose over it where it passed alongside the steering column, then put more hose over the copper line in the engine compartment, not touching anything, and hooked it up to the side port on the "T." Gage looks cool on the steering column.

Time to put in the oil filter, so put in the Baldwin 53, filled the canister, and then realized I must have misplaced the top hold-down spring! I have been so careful to keep parts together, so was about to go out and find a spring, then noted the filter was "springy" so the spring must be down in the bottom, so slowly pulled out the filter, putting it in a basin, reached down and pulled the spring out with my oily hand. With great relief, then put the filter back in, gently, gently, slowly pushing the filter down, just a little more to go, and PLOP, it squished about a cup of oil out and down over the starter and side of the motor. Ah, just more to clean up..


All I have left to do is to get 24 volts to the Facet, and it is ready to crank. And with luck, start.

I am going to pull the plugs and crank it tomorrow, then hope to see it it runs this weekend.

NV
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Re: Engine in!

Post by just me »

Glad to see you are about ready to fire it up!
I am just about burned out on my project right now. All the little "setbacks" (remachining, finding good crank, cam issues, oil pan replacement, obtaining buildable carb, etc, etc.)have eaten too much time and the event I planned on taking the truck to is going to happen without me. I just will not be able to finish it in time. {Not unheard of even though I gave myself an 'extra' month to get it done.) The carb bodies have not come back from the plater for passivation and chromate treatment yet. The rear cluster bearing I got new from one of the major suppliers is an INA POS caged instead of full compliment bearing, so I am waiting on a full compliment Torrington to arrive. The last OEM NOS trans top obtainable was destroyed by the shipper. Which pushes the trans back until at least next weekend. You know exactly how this goes! Then I get to finish the conversion to 24V. (The hardest thing there will be finding a 24V power module for the green radios. They all have the 12V module in them now)

So, let us see your success! Need it here to keep soldering on in the wonderful 112F heat!
"It may be ugly, but at least it is slow!"
NAM VET
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Re: Engine in!

Post by NAM VET »

Hot morning, since I am on chemotherapy, I just don't do well with heat. When I spent 6 months in the Saudi Arabian desert 27 years ago, I became very tolerant of heat, as long as I drank plenty of water. Not any more. I had no idea anything on my truck wasn't 24 volts, even though the previous owner mentioned something about a 12 V circuit, which I never found. But found it yesterday. When the Pegasus tech told me to be sure my 24 V Facet had 24 volts, I went out and checked with my new Multimeter (couldn't find my old one, had to buy a new one yesterday) and sure enough it was wired somehow into 12 volts. Woke up this morning, as usual mulling over a solution to a problem, and realized (and I am no electrician) that there is likely a way to run either 24 or 12 volts from a two/12 Volt battery system. So, using my multimeter, found that some of the terminals are 12 Volt, and one was 24 volts, with nothing hooked up to it. I wonder how my supposedly 24 volt turn signal system is running on 12 volts. Leave that well enough alone.

Ran over to a nearby parts place, picking up a Bojangles sausage biscuit on the way (wife not home yet to know about it), bought a set of larger ring terminals, and decided to re-do some of the prior wiring running off the new found 24 Volt terminal, done by a previous owner, with too many splices in a short run. Snipped that out, soldered on the larger ring terminal to some of my military wire, and found that being rubber covered and not plastic, it is hard to trim off a quarter inch of insulation. Even the tiniest thread of covering just won't tear off. Used a scalpel down alongside a battery to get the insulation off, then butt-crimped a shrink-fit connector (a tight fit), had to clip off several of the military strands to get it in the connector, then slid several layers more heat shrink, and put my heat gun on that. Then back to the Facet, my bed is off, so easy to get to the pump. Why manufacturers don't add a few more inches of connector wire is infuriating. Why put only three inches of wire when most of it is going to buried behind the pump anyway??

It is a trick to hold two wire ends together, hold the soldering gun in a third hand, and with your fourth hand hold the solder wire precisely to feed it into the heat, and when you use your lips to straighten out the curved solder, it leaves a nice burn on your lip. Best to wait a moment for the solder wire to cool before putting it on your lips.

But finally soldered the lead to the Facet wire, then more heat shrink, then two layers of polyethylene loom, and with a few wire ties to keep it all up out of harm's way, it was done. And now I have 24 volts to the Facet.

So if you need a source of 12 volts from the dual battery system, it is easy to just run your connection from one that gives 12 volts, no need for any converter.

Now, after a cooling down and a little rest, only have to fine tune the hand throttle position, and the choke, and I should be done. I don't have the courage to crank or try to start it yet.

NV
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Re: Engine in!

Post by NAM VET »

A little reassurance Just Me. Many of us have different timetables to get our trucks repaired or restored; mine, wondering how soon my remission will fail. I envy those who have "all the time in the world", because I don't. I just really, really want to drive my truck.

Autoweek Magazine a few months ago devoted the issue to incompleted auto projects, and suggestions to get an owner back on track, and not just shove the project aside, to list for sale somewhere.

There are all sorts of circumstances, I was lucky, that other than an engine needing some TLC the truck otherwise is in remarkable shape. There is no way could tackle a major ground up restoration. Besides, I have to do it in the driveway, fortunately our "winter" here in Upstate SC is mild enough I can be in my garage or outside just about every day. Summer heat, that is a different matter.

What I remember most about the Autoweek article is the suggestion to not become overwhelmed contemplating major projects, and just do small, inconsequential tasks to stay engaged. Tighten a few nuts, put in a cotter pin, install a new gasket under the radiator fill cap, wipe down the gage faces, sort out some tools, just things that are easy, quick, and don't require any thought. If at some distant time you will need this or that small part, look it up and make the call. Always good to have UPS stop in front of your home. If it is just too hot to do anything, watch a few Utube video's of M 37's doing this or that. The big projects will figure themselves out in due time. When my engine was taking what seemed like forever at the machine shop, i went ahead and cut and painted my rear wood, and read thousands of posts about this or that, and surely learned a lot, mostly what not to do.

Walk out to your truck and wipe off a spot of grease or oil, make that your project for the day.

NV
NAM VET
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It runs!!!

Post by NAM VET »

It runs great! Chris came up from Columbia, we hooked up the downpipe, pulled the plugs and Chris pushed the starter pedal and...

Nothing. Not a hint of rotation. So checked the wiring diagram and my pictures, and decided that even though I have kept a battery maintainer on it for the past 7 months, maybe i had some juice, but not enough to crank the motor. One battery terminal had some powdery residue, so removed that clamp, and noted that when I moved my Facet line to get 24 V I did not put the battery cable back on! So, hooked that up, and...

We had cranking! Then put a few drops of gas into each cylinder, and re-installed the plugs, and it turned over with a banging from the winch PTO shaft wacking the flywheel pan. No oil pressure on either gage with now about five seconds of dry cranking.

Cranked it with it all hooked up, and did not have any ignition. I had put in new points and tidied up my distributor, but then who knows what wire I may have crimped. Then, checked for spark and had nada, no spark at a plug wire. Decided to put on an old distributor wire, not the newer one that came on the truck, just found in a big box of take-off parts and wires. It looked ok. Then checked for spark, and voila, we had spark.

Then told Chris to pull out a little choke and a little on the fast idle toggle, and it instantly fired up and I hollered to shut it down! The PTO had spun and wacked a small tear in the flywheel cover, enough to touch the flywheel, so removed the cover (will take to a local shop to have them bang it out and weld up the small tear.) Pulled off the PTO short shaft.

A fan blade was clicking the shroud, so bent a blade forward just a tad. Then Chris hit the starter and it instantly fired up and immediately had 50 PSI on both gages, and ran smoothly, nary a knock or hesitation, revved easily and smoothly, then he eased in the partial choke, and we kept the idle at a fast RPM to keep oil on the cam. Noted a small water leak at the short coolant hose to the pump, so tightened that, and a small gas leak at one of my line connections, so tightened that up. We stopped and started it a number of times, it fires up before a full crank rotation, charges fine, water temps at 180 (it is about 100 out now), and hot 10-40 oil pressure (Competition Cams break in oil) at a steady 50 PSI, and goes up to almost 60 PSI with any increase in RPM. I think that is the bypass PSI. It runs so smoothly, (it is fully balanced), revs quickly, and no leaks we could find anywhere. The Facet 24 V pump runs 3+ psi at my dampened pressure gage on the regulator.

As I have mentioned in my other posts, I had a lot of anxiety that something would go bang, or leaks from deep inside the engine, and I just couldn't bear to have to pull the motor again. No clicks or taps from the valves, (I had used Charles T's cold settings on the tappets). We replaced the single driver's seat belt with an aircraft style web belt, will put in two more later.

Having watched over and over so many Utube start up Video's I put my GoPro on a tripod and will put that up as soon as I have time.

I was so relieved I hugged my son and my wife, who made up her special BLT sandwiches just for the occasion. Now I will mount the fenders and lights and floor panels, then brush and paint the rear frame, then remount the bed, and this fall, when it is cooler, paint it.

It seems to run so smoothly, I just hope it does that for a long time.

All the best guys,

NAM VET
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Re: It runs!!!

Post by ashyers »

:D
Congratulations!
j mccormick
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Re: It runs!!!

Post by j mccormick »

NamVet,

It's always an anxious moment starting a newly rebuilt engine, but so rewarding when they run like they're new again. It never gets old.

Joe
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Re: It runs!!!

Post by just me »

Yee Ha!
"It may be ugly, but at least it is slow!"
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Re: It runs!!!

Post by Elwood »

8)
“When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, IT IS THEIR RIGHT, IT IS THEIR DUTY, TO THROW OFF SUCH GOVERNMENT...” -Declaration of Independence, 1776
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Re: It runs!!!

Post by rickf »

Congrats, now you can start breathing again. I have built probably over a hundred motors and each one is an anxious moment. The worst are the ones with new cams that need to run at 2,000 RPM right off the bat and stay that way for 20 minutes. No room for error on them. Those were the days of flat tappet cams, nowadays with roller cams they do not have to do that anymore.
Last edited by rickf on Mon Jul 17, 2017 6:22 am, edited 2 times in total.
1953 M37
1964 M151A1
1967 M416
1984 M1008
4/1952 M100
12/1952 M100 gone
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Re: It runs!!!

Post by k8icu »

Congrats. Now figure out why the PTO is waking the flywheel cover and you'll be ready to take that first drive.
M37s are HMMWV in my world!
NAM VET
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Re: It runs!!!

Post by NAM VET »

well, it wacked the lower flywheel cover because I have not yet put the long winch shaft in, and the six inch PTO shaft was still attached to the PTO itself, letting it flop around once motor had some RPM. We then loosened the locking bolt and wire, and pulled it off the PTO's output drive shaft. No harm done, just a few seconds of clatter, will have the small gash pounded out and then welded shut. Just one of those things we did not notice when we were topside of the engine. Live and learn. Just accomplished final tightening to 28 pounds on the spark plugs, one was barely finger tight. Now putting the front fender welt on, will have a friend help me time it one day this week after it starts to get dark. I checked my number one piston for TDC with a dial indicator, TDC on my motor is two degrees off on the zero mark on my pulley. I remarked the actual TDC with a dab of white paint.

Hot outside.

NV
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Re: It runs!!!

Post by NAM VET »

Lets's see if this short video of the first start works:

NV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ct-rdu ... e=youtu.be
NAM VET
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Re: It runs!!!

Post by NAM VET »

Thought I would post about my sealing of the transmission "hump" floor to the cab's floor. Of course it was out for my engine removal, and while out, I cleaned and sprayed it with my Gillespie paint. The stock seal or cushion between the transmission cover to the cab's bed was some sort of felt, which caused some rust on the cab's floor where it mates with the cover. So on the suggestion of Charles T, about using HDPM rubber (I think that is what is called) instead, I ordered two 36 inch strips 2 inches wide, and they cut easily with a box cutter into one inch strips.

I clamped them to the trans cover, and marked where the bolt holes are, then used my newly purchased 3/4 inch hole punch to punch the holes after putting the tape on some wood. It has a taped adhesive back. So stuck it on the panel, and when I lined it up with floor bolt holes, I had to use several pins and drifts to get the holes to line up to bolt it in using new bolts but with a little effort, got them all in.

But the upper removable panel now won't line up with its bolt holes, as the transmission pushes it up a half inch or so. I did not put the HDPM tape on the smaller panel, just very thin "plumber's" tape.

So I took the smaller panel over to a shop, and he is cutting a 1/4 inch off the bottom of the upper panel, so it should fit fine then. So what I am suggesting to others using HDPM rubber tape is to be sure to order a very thin tape. Mine is perhaps one eighth inch thick, I should have found even thinner HDPM tape. But I'll get it on fine today.

Put the passenger side fender and splash panel and side panel on yesterday, a bit of an effort to line up about 25 bolt holes. Starting to look like like a truck again.

NV
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Re: It runs!!!

Post by NAM VET »

well, I have felt lucky in the past month or so, as I began to put it all back together, that there have been few instances where I had to remove some tenacious part to put on something that should have gone on before, sort of an "install part A then over that install part B" failure. Just an occasional bolt or nut. But for some reason I thought the upper floor transmission panel would fit over the big transmission panel. Makes sense to me, that way you can quickly remove the smaller panel to address whatever part of the throttle linkage or rear of the cylinder head needs attention. And not have to first remove 19 bolts and the gear shift handle, to then get the top plate off.

So it was with some difficulty last PM to wrestle my big cover on, and then use drifts and pins and some pry bars to get the bolt holes to line up, made more difficult because of my slightly thicker rubber HDPM gasket. Then found my upper plate just wouldn't fit down over the front top of the bottom cover, and line up with the bolt holes. So, as I mentioned, took it over to a local shop and they trimmed about 3/8 of an inch off, and I went back to get it today, and is a close fit, but then noted that if I was able to put it Over the bottom cover, it would not fit snuggly against the firewall. Looked at a picture and description of these two parts in the engine removal section, and sure enough, the Army puts the top plate Under the lower, big cover.

Had to unscrew all 19 lower panel bolts, wrestle it up enough to slip the top plate under it, then once again had to work hard to get all the bolts back in. Why didn't the army make all the plate bolt holes just a mm or so larger, would have made my effort a lot easier. But both plates are bolted in. I did have to pull my copper oil pressure line totally off, and just finished that reinstallation to the gage on the steering column. It did give me the opportunity to rummage around in my old Cobra parts drawer, and I found a nifty red silicone small diameter hose, just perfect for covering the entire oil line from firewall to gage. It isn't going to rub and wear against anything.

Met my wife at a nearby berger emporium, so with the mid-day heat, taking a break. Charles T gave me suggestions to hook my 12 V timing light up to a 12 volt source, so when it cools off later, i will time my motor. A dial indicator during the engine build showed my marks to be two degrees off from actual TDC.

all the best...

NV
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