69gaugeman

That looks fine in there. No shavings means there is no rubbing of steel on the bearings. You will be fine.

69gaugeman

Yes it is normal. If you get it wrong then when you just turn on the car the oil pressure gauge will peg at max iirc. You would then need to swap the wires. This is because one post is the variable sending contact for the gauge and the other one is a low oil pressure switch for the idiot light.

BRB-83-911SC

Yes, made that mistake when I put my engine back in - had the wires reversed - OP gauge pegged, and low OP warning light lit up. Simon, chances are the broken wire was for the low OP warning light.

Simon928

That explains things. Thanks guys! It looks to me like some of the threads broke off of each of the connectors, so reconnecting the nuts might end up being a little difficult. I'll give it a try over the next few days and find out for sure though.

Simon928

I've been able to make a little more progress over the last few days. The cam tower gaskets have been removed, the oil pan gasket has been replaced and a bunch more stuff has been cleaned and scraped. It feels like I'm spending 80% of my time cleaning, and I'm not even doing a full OCD-level cleaning job (aside from the heads and other gasket-mating surfaces of course). I'm trying to take consolation in the fact that if I have to do this again for whatever reason, it should go a lot more quickly the next time.

I also was able to check the straightness of my heads last night. We used a flat edge and a 0.003" feeler gauge, and there was no place where I could fit the gauge under the straight edge. I went straight, sideways, diagonally, and everywhere in between along the surface of the heads, and it all seems to be flat. The heads surprisingly have no pitting or corrosion either, so that's another thing going in my favor.

I should be getting my shipment of parts today, so I think the next thing for me to tackle will be removing the valve springs and changing the valve seals. Are there any tricks to this process that I should be aware of before I jump in? I just got a valve spring compressor (link here), but I'm not sure how to get the springs off with it. I know how to compress the spring with the tool, but I think I'm supposed to take something off to allow the removal of the spring.

As always, any guidance is appreciated.

dr bob

Small "keepers" wedge in the spring retainer, and engage grooves in the valve stems. A good magnet is your friend.


General guidance:
The seals are too often damaged when they are pushed over those same sharp-edged grooves on installation.

Keep the cam followers/lifters in the sameplace they came from on reassembly.

Simon928

Thanks! What you are describing sounds similar to what is shown in this video, but if I'm understanding you correctly there are "keepers" on both the top and bottom of the spring, correct?

69gaugeman

No keepers are just on the top of the valve. They have a taper that locks in the spring retainer. Compress the spring and you will see a tapered section at the top of the valve. These are the keepers. A magnet will suck them off the shaft. Then you can release the compressor and the spring will come off the valve.

Getting the valve seals off can be a bitch.

69gaugeman

I have a spare sending unit I will sell cheap if you need to do that. PM me.

Simon928

I am on my third valve spring compressor tool and I finally found one that works on these heads. But hot damn, you were right about the valve seals. How the heck do I get these off without scratching everything around it? And from what I've gathered, I need some valve condoms to reinstall the new seals? I don't think I have those. This is the first thing I'm doing where I'm really nervous about screwing something up catastrophically. I'm sure I will have this feeling more often as the weeks progress though.

69gaugeman

Sent you a PM, but this is one of those things that everyone struggles with the first time they do it.

I built a tool to remove it, but I think there are commercially available ones too. I can stop by on Sunday and give you a hand and bring my home made tools with me if you like.

Let me know

Simon928

Another progress update on my engine teardown...I was able to find a technique that worked pretty well in getting all of my valve seals off, and it was by using channel lock pliers. Only a couple of seals gave me a bit of trouble, but the worst of them took only 3 or 4 minutes to remove. I lapped the valves as well and the heads are all cleaned, reassembled and ready for re-installation, which is the next big step I have to take.

So regarding the installation of the heads, the rough checklist that I have is as following:

Does that sound right? Anything else that I should be aware of before I embark?

Simon928

I finally feel like I'm making some progress! I got the heads and cam towers on, so the parts of this job that were giving me the most anxiety are behind me (aside from holding my breath when I finally start the car up when this is all done, of course). Now I can build up the top of the engine and hopefully at least have the engine back in the car over the next few days. This has been my goal--get the car off the driveway and in my garage with the engine sitting in it before the kid comes. Even if I don't get everything hooked up before then, at least everything will be contained in one spot and I will be able to do a few minutes of work on it here and there as time permits.

Thanks for all of your help everyone...I'm slowly getting there.

Fogey1

Great video. It's easy to forget what can be found on YouTube.

There's another way to keep the valves closed for the job without relying on compressed air and hose clamps.

Rotate the piston down in the cylinder and feed in some soft rope through the spark plug hole (Paracord works, so does old clothesline), leaving a "tail" hanging from the hole. Then rotate the piston back up until it jams the pile of rope on the piston against the face of the valves. When you're done with the springs and stem seals pull the rope out again and move on to the next hole.

Simon928

It's been awhile since I've updated this thread, but that's because I've actually been getting things done! I was able to get everything taken apart and cleaned, changed all of the gaskets and seals, replaced the motor mounts, and I even got the engine back in the car. Getting the engine in before my kid was born was what I was gunning for, and I just made that deadline.

I am a few hours away from being able to start up the car to see if it runs, and it was my plan to maybe even get everything done and buttoned up this weekend, but my kid had other plans. My wife gave birth to our first child (a boy) yesterday afternoon, so it looks like working on the car will take a back seat for awhile. Looking forward to instilling an appreciation of this great car in my little guy as he grows up!