1967 International COE, Small Adventure

In reply to 759NRNG :

I did 35W up and 35E back. I'm not sure either one is better. Stupid Dallas. Dr. Lemke is my dad. Or my Mom.

In reply to RossD : 

Wisconsin eh? It is on the way to Michigan from here depending on how one defines "on the way". Hmmmmmm..........

In reply to Dave :

I'm not sure how I'm going to make Alberta on the way, but I want to visit anyway. Maybe once Ferdinand is running I'll drive him up? 

mcbacon said:

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

That's a beaut.  I'm super glad you had a good trip up and back!  How do you plan on getting that beast moved around?

When they guys loaded the transmission/transfer case they said "I hope you have friends". Who needs friends when you a have hydraulics? I started by hooking up the conjoined pair and lifting them out. This is going to be cake. 

Then the engine. It's heavy. Scary heavy. I didn't take pictures because I was focused on not crushing myself to death. It sounds more dramatic than it was. I had to get it out so I could get the back of the truck open to go get the big engine stand from HF. With the heads and intake this is at least 150lbs heavier than the 304 was when I put it on the little stand, and that was scary. On a side note, the big stand is the most assembled HF tool I've ever bought. 

And here it is on the stand. Feels solid. Looks good. Probably won't kill me. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

Dallas traffic ain't fun, nor is it predictable.  It may have actually been faster to take a more circuitous route around the city.  When I lived in Mesquite, it was faster for me to get to work in Plano by taking the long way around.  About 30 minutes instead of 45+ going the shorter route.

That engine is a beast.  I can't wait to hear it roar!

What we have is a basic 345 International from some year Scout. Early 70's? I forgot to ask. Doesn't really matter, they're pretty much the same. This one looks like it has a PCV valve on a valve cover, so that should give some clue. I pulled the wires and plugs, squirted a squirt of oil in each cylinder, and spun it around. Maybe a bit stiff, but I swear it feels as good as the R63 did. 

And speaking of valve covers, let's pop them off. It's. So. Clean. 

Drained the oil. There's gas in it. I would say at least a quart. Going to have to think about that. And then off with the oil pan. Can't really take a good picture without flipping the motor over, but perfectly clean. No shiny bits. The little bit of sludge in the bottom is non magnetic. 

What I find particularly interesting is that Everything has been resealed. Everything. This is the timing cover and oil filter neck. Someone took the engine completely apart and at the very least resealed it. Even the oil pump has new RTV on it. 

I'm thinking the carb gives a clue. 

If I had to guess, I'd guess that someone pulled the motor apart and resealed it and went over it sometime in 2013. If I trust the shop, and they did indeed drive it around, my guess is that the owner got the motor back together, maybe a float stuck (gas in the oil) and he got fed up with the old mechanicals and spent a small fortune on the restoration/LS swap. Mabye I just got supremely lucky? I'm very tempted to close it back up and roll with it. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

With that much gas in the oil at least pull a few caps to inspect the bearings, particularly now that the pan is off. 

I also like to cut open the oil filter and unfurl the pleats on a new to me engine. They can sometimes tell a story otherwise unseen.

Good luck! Great build! 

Open the carb and check to see if the float sunk.

This was well worth the I35W nonsense......and thou your parents are medical professionals....you are the current resident in the HOUSE....Dr.MazD.....well done on the donor heart transplant

I remember reading a how to book when I rebuilt the 440 in my Dodge that had a warning message something to the effect of: This engine weighs over 800# and a drop from a couple of inches onto your finger will impact harder than a hammer strike, and from a couple of feet will crush your toes like grapes.

I'm so excited for you; it feels like now that you have a good motor, in addition to the brake work you have done, you are actually closer to driving it than we thought you were when we unloaded it.

I can attest to the weight of the trans and transfer case.  Did the transmission on my 77 Scout, on my back, with a too low floor jack.   Had to bench press it.  Ahh to be young again.   Me thinks you are closer than you think to getting it running.   I'm happy for you.

In reply to oldopelguy :

I'm excited. I'm almost sad I tore the frame apart as I'd love to drop it and and see if it will fire. 

Purely hypothetically, since the starter is attached to the engine on this motor, what are the chances that I'd severely hurt myself by wiring it up and seeing if the whole thing will turn over by itself on the stand? And if I did that, what if I actually hooked the ignition system up? And put the carb on? I mean, starter needs power, coil needs power, and....... a switch to turn it all off again? 

Hm.  I'm not sure if it's a good idea to run an engine without a flywheel/transmission on the back.  ISTR that some American V8s require balancing with the flywheel?  I'd also hesitate to do it without some kind of support in the center of the engine.

If you only give a teeny bit of fuel (starting fluid?) you don't need a switch to turn it off.

Also, don't forget hearing protection. :)

Hypothetically of course, some outriggers to the motor mounts.....

I wouldn't run it on a stand like that. Too much chance of it wanting to tip.

I have run engines while strapped to a pallet at a junkyard without incident though.

On the floor, I'd fire it.  On the stand?  NFW.  I think perhaps a free body diagram is in order.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

I almost wrote up a how-to for firing it up in that last post, then decided that the better answer is to just drop it in the truck.

But since you have a starter on the block:

You will want to swap to the manual transmission flywheel because the automatic one isn't really heavy enough or may not be completely balanced without the torque converter bolted to it.

If you aren't going to build a starting stand, which would be more work than dropping it into the truck anyway, at least set it on the floor or a pallet with enough of something under the pan to keep the flywheel off the pallet and free to spin. A pair of jack stands will hold the front up to make it levelish, and I would straps or chain it to the pallet just in case. Also, take the belts off so the water pump doesn't spin dry and the fan doesn't sever any limbs.

You need a hot wire to the coil (+) terminal and the (-) terminal needs to go through the distributor to ground and from there back to your battery (-) terminal. There may be some electronic ignition parts or a ballast resistor in that circuit as well depending on which coil or distributor you use, and if you have points just buy a new condenser now because trouble shooting the old one being bad is vexing.

Bolt a carb on and plug any vacuum leaks, then for this experiment I would just fill the fuel bowl through the vent tube and not hook up the fuel pump. Pump the throttle until you get a spray from the accelerator pump and the choke sets, and hit the starter.

It should be terrifying and thrilling and dangerous and loud and not last long enough, just like a lot of life's firsts.

Also, sidebar about your lift:

A couple of "A" frames, one on each side with legs that sat on the pads and long enough that they met above the top of the unit, plus a brace to lock the lift arms into their parked positions, plus an "I" beam going across between the As and you would have a hydraulic gantry.

I have never thought of such a thing before, nor ever seen one, but you would have been able to unload that engine by lifting the lift and driving the truck out from under it. It would also be interesting for pulling engines out the top.

I should have been sleeping at midnight last night. Instead my brain was trying to figure out what I needed to do to start the motor. I need fuel and spark. Carb should be straight forward, and let's be honest, a shot of ether would get me where I need to be as far as confirming things work, so spark is my main concern. Something was bothering me and I couldn't figure out what it was so I got out of bed and went outside to look at the distributor. What I saw was this, two cut wires. My old points distributor has one wire. Time for some late night research. 

Pop off the cap and it looks about the same. 

Pop off the dust shield and it's totally different. Modern almost. 

Long story short, it appears to be a Holley gold box distributor without all that pesky gold box stuff actually being pressent. This leaves me with options. The easiest (though costing about $130) is to get a Pertronix kit and coil. That would leave me with two wires from the distributor to the coil, and then one live wire to the coil, and that's it. Ignition done. There are other ways to convert the distributor that are cheaper and use more off the shelf components, or I could just get a gold box and wire it up, they only have four wires. What I found next gives me a bit of time to think.
This morning I pulled the rest of the distributor apart to clean in and make sure the advance weights and vacuum can worked. They do, but there was a bit of sand blasting sand in the bottom of the distributor. Hard to see. 

But it was there. The shop sandblasted a LOT. There were dunes of sand outside the door perilously close to where they were powerwashing the engine. Mabye "bagged and stored inside since it was pulled" was a little optimistic? 

With my spidey senses tingling I reassembled everything. 

Maybe, just maybe, pulling the intake to have a look see was the right course of action. So that's what I did. Guess what I found? 

Off with her heads! 

Why do I keep ending up like this? On a positive note, I picked up the motor on Tuesday and pulled the heads today, Thursday. I'm getting much faster at moving forward with this.
There was a bit of sand in two cylinders. I know the answer is to pull the pistons and clean everything and put it back together. Additionally I should pop the heads apart, wash them all out, and replace the valve seals before I put them back on. I have the seals and I have a super amazing valve spring tool (that I haven't shown you guys yet but I'm excited about) so it's only time. I think now it a good time to get a parts washer.  

Any other advice? The bores look good. I'm not unhappy, just a little annoyed. 

Buy a gallon or two of wd40. As soon as you start cleaning, things will begin to rust. Douse liberally with the wd40 to keep it mint.

When it's all said and done this is the right course of action......on the stand .....in the Grosh.....be patient, this too shall pass.....grasshopper

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

At least, on a positive note, it doesn't appear that they tried to run the engine with all the abrasive sand in place, so it may be just a simple matter of cleaning and reassembling if everything else looks good.

Why do the bores appear to be oval?

In reply to codrus :

Head gasket shape due to wonky ass head designs.  Seen it on a few different brands over the years. 

RockAuto sells electronic ignition upgraded via a non-pertronix brand name (Airwell, perhape?) And when I opened the box everything was labeled Pertronix Ignitor. For a better price too.