Pulled off front end of motor, revealed aged water pump, corroded timing cover, poor timing cover seal, but new timing gear set during the rebuild of engine:

My son does most of the wrenching tonight





Nice tight chain.


After months of peeling back the onion, Im finally at a good section of the onion! Almost done peeling the onion, and now can start making a salad

It will be nice to start building something again vs tearing down the rotten layers.

 

Wiper motor rebuild:

 

Wiper motor rebuild:

Motor can painted, Metal base polished...New rubber mounts, bolts and firewall seal.




Finished dummy pump...working wipers\wiper motor, dummy non working washer pump (doubt I'll ever drive this in the rain):
Before\After:

 

Power Steering Pump restoration

Before, everything paint gun black:



Mid point - Mostly de-blacked




Gear Box is now out of the car. She's on the shelf. Been picking at her here and there. Got to decide whether to paint it or leave it cast...rust issues and all. I love the cast looked when its slightly polished. I use a drill with wire wheel, just like I did the pumpkin on the rear end.

Any ideas out there? I want to leave her natural cast, but the rust issue.
Low gloss clear coat?

 

Power Steering Pump restoration 2

 

Steering Column -

Lots of caked on grime and fresh paint, various colors layers deep




This pic shows the prior condition of the gear box. Ive since stripped it to the metal




All these parts have been long stripped of the gobs of black mixed with gook and grease.
Ive pretty much got all the black off entire frame, steering linkage, lines, all the odds and ends now,
followed by degreasing. She's officially DE-blacked!

Now to go over all the parts and decide what pieces get what color...after proper prep of course this time.

 

Steering column:

Rag joint is so so. 40 year old tire rubber. a bit dry rotted, and overall nasty.



Firewall Seal is dry rotted, and cracked...steering column end nasty.


Steering column flange - yuck

 

Steering column:

Prepped and Primed:

 

Steering column:

After a light decrusting the rust, then Metal Prepped it couple times, primed the Column flanges.


Sanded and primed couple times, then couple top coats:






Finished product:

 

Before:



After:



Before\After:

 

Oil Pan Gasket:

Due to leaks, replaced Oil Pan Gasket with Diesal 350 Tuff Cork Pan.

Bottom line is to replace Oil Pan gasket in 71' -72' 455 while engine is in car is a major PITA. Luckily as Im redoing so much in this car, most things you would have to remove were already removed (Drive shaft, headers, etc). But it still was nasty hard.

Never again, motor will at least be partially lifted out next time. Just no room, and you have to be a contortionist to get gasket right, working around motor mounts...terrible!

Here is the pan before cleaning the gasket areas.




I eventually cleaned up all the old blue sealant down to bare metal before installing pan.


After cleaning, nice and shiny.




Finish product: (pics to come)


I couldnt take pics of putting it on as it was just too messy a process. Silicone all over the place, wrestling with oil pan and gaskets while upside down on the ground, gasket flopping all over. Next time USE HIGH TACK!! And tack gasket up to oil pan, and then fill with silicone at the corners, and put sealant on the pan side. That way the Gasket will stay in place. I tried a reccommendation from a seasoned vet on this site, but didnt workout too well ( more my fault). Also Trying to seal up that rear rubber seal with engine in the car was just stupid ridiculous tough to do. Your own your own there!

In the end its done, but Ive never cursed so hard in my life!

 

Link to New Timing Cover, Harmonic Balancer, Water Pump project-
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums/big-blocks/52122-replacing-455-water-pump-step-step.html

Intake Manifold - Performer 2151

Before -

 

Prep -





Test fit of Valley Pan

 

Installing Intake

 

Lokar Throttle Cable, just mocking it all up first.

 

2,3,4,5...thanks for sharing numbers with us

 

x2:d

 

Yeah, Just trying to preserve consecutive space for future updates!

Got the timing cover, Oil pan, New harmonic balancer, new Performer Intake, and new carb installed, and much more. Just cant keep up on the updates, Im WAY behind now. Will do some this w\e though, since its a long w\e.

 

That's my incentive also ( The long weekend ) . I've been on the same area for a while now , but since I have a third car now , I can leave the fender off without being rushed

 

Lots of Updates above...check em out.

I tried a new teqnique to upload lots of pics in one Post...it looks like it failed. It worked all day, photos were there all day, and suddenly now half the pics are gone.
Just dont get it.

 

Old HEI Dist. You cant rebuild these basic HEIs for the cost of a new one





New HEI Dist







Still on tap for Engine:
--Hook up carb, run wires for Dist
--New Harness to install front to back(Not messing around, had some demons in electrical system, go back to page 1 or 2, found lots of bad stuff in wiring...got a great deal on a set)
--Transmission lines - Going Braided SS here. Have
--Headers, havent got yet
--Cooling system, install all new hoses, Rad, Water Pump, etc. Already have everything except for water pump

I just hope the Zombie Apocalypse doesnt hit Dec 21 with all this to do, I wont be ready!

 

Wow that's incredible ! I would be in way over my head with what your doing . Great detail on how to deal with these jobs/repairs .... as far as cool heads go ? I can get pissed real easy

 

Jim, I'm not seeing any of the pics on your last post. Great job BTW on the oil pan gasket and intake install! I think you gave me the incentive NOT to do it that way!!

 

Hey Guys, thx for the props!

Allan, if you look above a little, I posted that I tried a new way to upload multiple pics, and it worked initially. I kept checking all day and they were there. I Thought I was a genuis. Many hours later half of them dissapeared. I think the 20 pic limit is for pics posted on some other site like Photobucket, etc. Anyways I went back and had to re edit everything I did. This site acts quite strange at times. Quirky. I got to learn the quirks. How the pics can be there all day, and then disappear later really bites. I think it should fail right away so you know not to spend all day doing it and it working, only for it to get all screwed up 12 hours later. (I can expand on what I did to circumvent the 5 pic limit, yet not using another site to post your pics first).

And yes, Ive never cursed and threw things so bad in my life! Part of the frustrations was the damn sealer gettin all over me, no matter how careful I was. It just complicated a very difficult process to begin with. But to take the engine out just to
change oil pan gasket is just ridiculous. But it is what it is.

btw Al, I took off AC evap box as you suggested. Due to the mounting cost of this project, I got to have a Part 1 and Part 2 to this AC portion. Part one is to get heater and blower going without hooking AC back up as Im missing too many parts (Heater and blower work fine). Part 2 will be to do the AC later down the line. So Im thinking of taking cheap way out, buy an AC delete panel for now, rehab the Evap box over time or go another AC route all togeter like that doesnt even use (remember Im doing a restomod here). This is a cheap possibility (versus probably near $1k to do it all now)- http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330405974792

Is there a AC aftermarket system that doesnt use the stock Evap box? I'll probably post this question in the appropriate area. Here are pics of the box:

 

So in the middle of all this, I originally had a leaking oil sending unit when engine was running. Brass fitting looked a mess, and I had replacement for it. So I just thought to replace the crappy leaking one with new one. As I tried carefully to remove it using 6 sided socket, things just got bad, stripped out as corners were already somewhat rounded by PO. Eventually it just stripped entirely. Used everything they sell to remove it. No go. He used pipe fitting tape on it. It swelled and cemented in. I eventually had to drill it out. TIP: Dont use titanium bits, you MUST use Cobalt drill bits on something like this. The others will just break off. Its another suck **** headache, PITA.

This was my last ditch effort after all other traditional attempts failed-



Started out pretty good, getting good bite, but then-
DISASTER!




EPIC Fail, thats the EZ out bit broke off in sending unit. Needless to say after hours of messing with this, at this point I was ready to light the car on fire.

Cooler heads prevailed, and I drilled it out. Of course this scared me poopless about debris in oil chambers. But I read up on it and found some good advice --https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums/small-blocks/3163-help-oil-pressure-sending-unit-hole.html

I drilled it out, took my time, broke a bunch of bits, got it to a point I could start chipping it out in pieces, used an extended pen style magnet to get most of the debris\powder out, used shop vac to suck up rest, then flush it with motor oil. There wasnt anything really left to flush, but I did it anyway. I then slowly rethreaded port with right size bolt, and all is good again. I'll use some light Permatex water sealant here when its time.

 

PS...I fixed the missing pics

 

I ended up getting the Milodon Hi volume pump. Not totally happy with any of the current water pumps out there. (read the water pump thread for descrip why https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums/big-blocks/52122-replacing-455-water-pump-step-step.html ). I will be installing it and the rest of front end over next week.

I also took the entire radiator support apart, and going to get it media blasted. Not happy with PO restore of it. Half fast...again.
Will also start the wiring this weekend. My goal is to get this engine fired back up next couple weeks!...Even though there isnt a suspension on the car. All I need now is good set of headers - Hooker comp or SC's perhaps. Then I will be done with engine, and get back to the suspension.

I also been holding off on POR15 frame paint due to high humidity down here in deep south. I got a hydrometer, and want to get it below 50% per POR15 instructions. Im opening house door to garage and letting AC do its thing, and it really gets humidity down averaging about 45-55% right now doing this, what to keep it about 40%. Im hoping next few weeks, fall will slowly start kicking in. This next month allot will get done, fingers crossed, Lord willing.

Also, Im at the point to decide whether to do body bushings or skip em. Ive done everything else on this car, seems kind of dumb to go this far and not go the distance. But I know the possible headaches if nuts spin, having to open up the floorboards. Should I go for it?!!

 

Also, Im at the point to decide whether to do body bushings or skip em. Ive done everything else on this car, seems kind of dumb to go this far and not go the distance. But I know the possible headaches if nuts spin, having to open up the floorboards. Should I go for it?!![/QUOTE]

That is one question you should never ask on this site. You will get plenty of MAW answers from the usual suspects, haha.
Nice job by the way
Gary

 

I hear ya! Believe me, that was the exact thought I had while typing!

But serious, its not an easy task, even if you get all the bolts off succesfully. So this is one im not jumping head first into at all.

 

Update:
Done some more plumbing, tightening up the engine. Also installed water pump. Painted allot of parts - Timing marker, transmission shift linkage, Trans kickdown module, Starter, touched up engine with POR15 engine enamel (Engine was already painted when it was rebuilt by P.O. just needed some touch up)...I also tapped out on the head exhaust manifold bolt threads, as the threads were coated with grime, hardened oil, por15 by PO, etc. The header bolts would not go all the way in, and when I got the car, one side was missing a bolt all together, and 2 others were only partially bolted in as the resistance got to tight to turn. I just used allot of solvent, blew it out, more solvent, torque it down. This took almost 2 hours alone to do as they were that bad. But now all 10 are clean, and light coat of oil to keep them fresh.





Water pump installed - Aluminum GMB.

 

nice so thats what my timing tab used to look like !!!!

 

More:

Half of the bolts would not go down more than this. No wonder the bolts for the headers were only half way in in some
spots.




I got the New Engine Harness and Front Lighting harness. I got an amazing deal on both. THANKS ANTHONY!!



New one on Right, junk on the Left. Old one has been hacked up and lots of dry and brittle, cracked wires. Just too much to repair there to use.


I compared both, new and old, harnesses and they are pretty much identical although new ones are 1970 harnesses.
The only difference I see is the 70 engine harness uses a pink wire for the starter, while the 71 uses a maroon wire.
And the front lighting harness has a ground coming of the side markers too which is a slight difference.

But for the price I got these for, I'll deal with that! ($70 bucks total for both new harnesses + free new TH400 kickdown harness)

 

Doing a great job, looks great...

 

THX guys. Im also going to use something to highlight the timing lines.

Here is a closeup of the 70 harness, vs the 71 harnes for those that care.
Im also later on going to label all the end points\connectors in case that helps anyone in the future-





Wiper motor leads



Starter wires (yellow and pink) and ...?? I didnt have these other wires on mine, they were cut off. OEM Oil or water sending wires?

 

Started the frame...Por15 Satin black. What fun:

Prep-

 

more:

 

More:






Had to give it 3 coats for proper coverage. The trick with POR15 is to apply in low humidity, and several thin coats vs couple thicker coats. I also eventually experimented with thinning it by 20% or so. Not a paint guru by any stretch, so it took time to get used to this stuff. And yes, it is very messy, and like tar to get off you.

 

I also have gone for it, took all body mounts and bolts off. Bolts came it very nice, not stripping cage nuts. Im glad I did it as these mounts were very bad. Here is how I did it, one side at a time...




The trick is to find right fulcrum point as the body will try and lean to trunk side if you dont get the right point to jack up. I left a couple bolts on opposite side just to keep it aligned right. I also unloaded everything out of car rear seat area and trunk, which I was using for storage. Came up easy, shot mounts came out easy.

 

I can get to rest of frame easier to paint...dont have to skip any of the frame the now.

 

Ive been prepping the frame for months on and off. Now I can get to the spots that were tougher to reach, though I did do pretty well at hitting most of it. After allot more final prepping, I hit the frame rails -