In the hotrod magazines on dyno test runs, they use a small belt just from the crank pulley to the water pump. I guess they roll them on, or leave the WP pulley loose and tighten bolts with belt wrapped around pulley?? Seems like that would be a easy way to go....

 

I always figured that belt had to go on at the same time as the pulleys, just like installing a timing chain and gears. If you watch Engine Masters, today they don't even use that one belt on the dyno, just an electric water pump.

 

My timing got put on hold. The outlet for my new aluminum radiator came out of the tank at 90 degrees. There was no way I could get a radiator hose on it because of the cross member that is just a couple of inches in front of it. I took it to a metal fabrication shop. They are going to modify the outlet to come out at an upward 45 degree angle. This should allow the hose to clear. The original Studebaker radiator has an upward angle on its outlet port. I love Engine Masters.
Charlie D.

 

Gentlemen,

I am getting close to the initial cam break-in run. I ordered up some tranny fluid and put a gallon in the tranny. I went to open up the antifreeze and when I got back to the engine there was a small lake forming on the floor. It was coming out of the rear seal. I do not have the driveshaft hooked up but I may need to. It looks like the flange on the driveshaft may be used to seal the back of the tranny? Right now the level in the transmission is way up on the dip stick but I figure within the first few seconds the transmission will try to fill the torque converter. The converter was about 1/3 full when things were put back together.

I have been doing quite a bit on the engine and the chassis. I think I have successfully adapted a rack and pinion for a 1984 Chevy Cavalier to the 1955 Studebaker frame. A lot of research and help from a good friend helped with that endeavor. I think I will lose a little of the turning radius but that is acceptable to me.

I will be doing another post shortly concerning an alternator question.





Charlie D.

 

Gentlemen,

I am trying to figure out if I want to run the alternator during the break-in run. The radiator has two electric puller fans. One is on a switch and the other is hooked up to a sending unit that is supposed to turn the fan on at 185 degrees and off at 165. I do not know if the battery will keep one of the fans running for the twenty minutes and possibly both if things get over 185. I have thought about hooking a charger up to the battery during the run to put some amps back in as the battery losses some amps running the fan(s).

On the back of the alternator there is a slot for the regulator which has a large red wire going to the alternator output lug and a small brown wire going back through the fire wall to the idiot light and other hookups according to the schematic in the shop manual. I do not know very much about the operation of the alternator. I am hoping that I do not need to run the brown wire anywhere for the alternator to supply a charge to the battery post of the starter solenoid. I am thinking I can plug the large red wire into the regulator on one end and the post on the back of the alternator with the other. Then hook that post up with a large red wire to the battery post and thus tying it into the heavy 1ought battery cable to charge the battery?

I was faked out a little with the ¾” water outlet from the water pump and the 5/8” water outlet at the right rear of the engine. I read up a little in the shop manual and it appears one size goes into the heater and another exits. I bought a brass barbed adaptor going from ¾ down to 5/8 and hooked the two outlets together. I do not know at this time if I am going to use the climatizer that Studebaker used in ’55 to heat the cabin or a combination A/C / Heater unit to heat it.

I have one more question for you guys concerning the HEI distributer. On the old points distributer I could take the cap off, rotate the distributor until it sparked at the points so I knew it was set correctly for the #1 firing. On this HEI distributor I am thinking the following will work? I have one of those cheap test units that hook up between the spark plug and the spark plug wire and will flash when the firing takes place. I think I can turn on the ignition and rotate the HEI distributor until the test unit indicates the firing and tighten the distributor down at that point. I can double-check that the timing is set for 10-12 degrees BTDC. Things should be pretty close to set up to turn the engine over and it firing up. I plan to use the battery drill to prime the oil pump and make sure oil is getting to all of the rocker arms. And lastly I read an article about first time cam break-in and the author said I could pour some gas down the vent tube to the float bowl so there would be some gas in the carburetor to help with a pretty quick start up.

The control panel I fabricated has a tachometer and temperature gauge. It has an on/off for the left electric fan. It has a pair of locking pliers to hold the throttle cable at 1,500 rpm for the duration of the break-in with some fluctuation of the rpm. A pressure gauge is hooked at the front of the engine. I am pretty excited and at the same time have some anxiety about that all-important cam break-in run. I did it for the Studebaker 259V8 and things went pretty well except for some leaking oil. If I have dotted all my I’s and crossed all my T’s, things should go well.

Charlie D.

 

If your battery is fully charged, then you should have no issues getting through the 20 minutes without the alternator as you have no other load than the ignition after start. But I'd be hesitant to hook up a charger to it while it's getting a draw for the whole 20 minutes, myself. As you've done it before, you know it goes pretty quick if nothing is leaking, etc.

You could have purchased the proper rubber caps for the heater hose connections, but what you have should work too. Nice little control panel, though. You're a bit overboard from what I'd end up doing, but you're planning the work and working the plan, so that's good.

Just going down a mental list from what I see in your pics. If you've got a plan already for anything I mention, just skip it.

I'm assuming you're plugging off the tailshaft of the transmission. Maybe just install the driveshaft? Or is the converter unbolted and pushed back? While it may not gush out, you may lose some trans fluid out the tail shaft. And is the coolant system full and bled of air?

Ensure your firing order is 18436572 counter-clockwise around the cap. And for pre-oiling, make sure to use a reverse-rotation drill to spin the priming tool, or a 5/16" 6-point socket (that's taped to an extension so you don't potentially lose it) counter-clockwise on the oil pump shaft.

As far as the gas down the carb vent, don't go crazy with it. The Quadrajet's float bowl isn't huge. If you have fuel up to the fuel pump, you could put some in the carb vent via a plastic syringe or something, but again, be careful not to spill it all over. I'd probably do a couple ounces at most down the vent. If your tank is in, but the line not primed, the engine will die before that line primes itself.

If you're using regular rubber inlet line to the fuel pump, you can siphon it from the tank to fill the line pretty easily from the setup you have with the engine sitting in a pretty bare frame. Then use a hose clamp tool to pinch off the fuel line until you can hook it up to your fuel pump. If you're using a 5 gallon gas can as a temporary fuel tank or some other device for fuel source (taking all safety measures of course) you can do that too probably a lot easier.

I've always found TDC for firing on #1 cylinder first. Then on the distributor, I would follow the post down to the aluminum base and mark #1 cylinder wire with a magic marker dot on the aluminum base. Then ensured the rotor was positioned to point to that dot which represents #1 cylinder on the cap, then turned the distributor just slightly clockwise to add a couple degrees of advance with the vacuum line still hooked up and the hold down bolt just snug enough to allow you to move the distributor housing by hand but kinda stays where you leave it. I've personally never worried about setting the timing "perfect" during the break-in run, just by ear where the engine would run fairly smooth and consistant, then tighten the 9/16" hold down bolt when I got it where I was happy with it to finish the break-in. You can set the timing and fine tune it later after the break-in.

30 ways to skin this cat and probably better ones. Just some suggestions. You do what you feel safe doing. YMMV Good luck with it. Looking good so far.

 

Looking good. The brown wire for the alternator goes to the idiot light bulb in the dash to excite the circuit. I run a heavier gauge wire from the battery, usually a 4 gauge wire to the post on the alternator. Then a wire off the post to the other regulator terminal. How many amps do the fans draw? If they draw a large amount, a trickle charger won't keep up. Quick fire up is key and the low compression 307 with more cam will want more timing like 15 to 20+ degrees timing depending on what your rpm is in park with a hot idle. Are you using ported or manifold vacuum for the vacuum advance? The factory non CCC 307 timing varied a lot. It was factory anywhere from 13 to 22 degrees at 1100 rpm. That is going off the factory emissions label. The 13 degrees at 1100 definitely idled the roughest. Someone had just done the timing chain and it was a reserve car. My 81 was 16 degrees at 1100. I played around with the timing, 22 degrees lost mileage and didn't really help power. I liked 18 best in the end. Good luck on the fire up.

 

We had a rain storm come through and lowered the temperature to the mid 70s. I decided to try to do the cam break-in so got everything ready to go. I used 69HO43's response as a check off list. Thank you! I had installed the drive shaft so for safety purposes I jacked the rear wheels off the ground and put jack stands under rear axle. It turns out this saved me a catastrophic event. I turned the engine over and it started immediately but I also immediately noticed gas spraying from the inlet to the carburetor so I has to shut it down within a few seconds. I tightened the fitting and stated it again. The gas was still squirting out of the fitting but I let it run for a few seconds to quickly set the distributor. I advanced it a little and the engine was sounding sweet. Evidently the torque converter got filled enough to start turning the rear tires and they were turning fast. I have no brakes so if they had been on the ground I may have put a new entrance into the side of the garage. I had not put the transmission back into park and it was in a forward gear.

Although I failed to get the 20 minute run in I am verry happy with how the engine ran and sounded. I have included a picture of the inlet fitting and flange on the 3/8 cunifer line. I used a double flare and mayby I should have used a single flare? It took quite a bit of time to turn, twist and bend the fuel line into shape but having a pattern now should speed up the second attempt. I am very excited and I'll get it fired up again ASAP. Thank you guys for all your help. I am also pretty excited about adapting a 1984 Chevy Cavalier rack & pinnion to the '55 Studebaker chassis but I am sure there is another forum catagory to address that issue.

Charlie D.

 

Glad it worked out for you. The factory fuel line was double-flared as an FYI. GM part number 22506485 for all 84-90 307 applications according to parts information. Before that, it was a bend your own with fittings. If you can find one. They apparently didn't stock pre-bent ones until the mid-80s. They've been discontinued for 10 years now.

If you're still having issues with yours, this reproduction pump to carb line below MIGHT save you some headaches. I generally don't advise getting parts from Gbodyparts.com because like some others, they seem to think they're in business so you can do them a favor, but it seems he's the only one that has "classic tube's" version which I've heard better things about than the Inline Tube version. Inline tube sucks donkey *****. If they never went back and fixed theirs, the bends on the original Inline junk were all out of whack.

307 4 Barrel Hurst Olds 442 Cutlass carburetor feed line, GBodyParts.com

If you want to chance Inline Tube, here's their junk. Like I said, not sure if they ever went back and fixed their jigs to correct their incorrect bends, but initially, people weren't too happy with them. This is how goofy they are. They show 2 different part numbers for what GM only used ONE for.

Products – Inline Tube

I'm not an alarmist, but trying to run the engine with a fuel leak isn't the greatest thing to do, IMO. Get that line fixed.

For real stubborn fittings, maybe you can use a flare copper "gasket". Parker Hannifin 2-GF-6 is the 3/8" size that fits your quadrajet lines. There are other brands, but anything made in China might be a different size than listed, so be careful of that if you go that route. These are generally used in A/C work, but will work for fuel fittings if need be.

Here's a link, but you may be able to find them locally at Grainger if you have one nearby, or drop by an HVAC service shop. I'll bet they'd have them.

Parker Hannifin 3/8" Tube OD 45° Copper Flared Tube Gasket Flare Ends 2GF-6 - 62249511 - Penn Tool Co., Inc

EDIT: Oh, crap, just realized because of your A/C compressor setup you had to do a custom bent line, so forget what I said about getting a prebent fuel line. But I'll leave the info there in case anyone else could use the information.

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have even used those gaskets before but forgot all about them. I did an online search and our local Grainger store has them in stock. I am on my way to pick some up. If these will seal things up for me it will save a bunch of work.
Charlie D.

 

Let it be known that on this thirty first day of August in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty two Charles D. Musgrove (Charlie D.) finally was able to successfully do the twenty minute cam break-in run on his 307 Oldsmobile engine. It was with the help of the good Lord and Team Classic Oldsmobile Forum that made it possible. I am a happy camper.

It did not go as smooth as I was hoping for. The flare gaskets took care of the gas leak at the carburetor. I was five minutes into the run and things were going well. The tachometer and temperature gages were working. The initial oil pressure was good. The water temperature controlled puller fan came on at 185 degrees. The voltage at the battery was 14.5. Some of the new paint was being burned off as well as some oil that was leaking from the left valve cover.

That’s when I saw gas spraying and shut it down. I had not been careful enough when I ran the clear plastic tubing from the gas can to the fuel pump and did not notice it was lying on the AC belt. It took that five minutes for the belt to saw a hole into the tubing and gas was escaping. I redid the tubing and made sure it was not touching the belt, tightened the valve cover bolts and re-fired the engine.

There was still some leaking of oil from the left valve cover which produced plenty of smoking. I was concerned when the water temperature reached 210 and flipped the switch to turn on the other puller fan on. It dropped back to 205 or so and stayed there. The ambient temperature was about 90 degrees.

After letting the engine cool down a little I tried to get it to idle but it would not. I then noticed a vacuum port on the intake manifold itself that I had forgotten to plug. I got it to idle at 600rpm but it was not a smooth one. I advanced the distributor a little bit and it liked that. I ran out of room to advance it anymore because the vacuum advance was hitting a water outlet on the back of the engine. I will re-stab the distributor to see if I can gain more advance. The oil pressure at 600rpm was about 30psi.

With the initial run under my belt I will install the gas tank and lines. I think I will go ahead and install a line going back to the tank from the fuel pump. I have a question about the tranny but will post it on a new thread in that section of the forum. I want to thank you guys again for answering my questions and giving me some very good advice during the past few months.

Charlie D.

 

Good job!! Things never go smooth. When they do, you have to watch over your shoulder because it seems like it's always something.

A word to the wise on the valve cover leak. If you have the proper torque on the valve covers bolts, don't just grink them down further. Find out why they're leaking and fix that. It could just be a slipped gasket. Just crunching them down more will only leave you with bent valve cover flanges which likely will never seal right. Anyone's who's ever obtained a used engine project from many a shade-tree mechanic has spent a lot of time straightening out the valve cover flanges on an Olds V8.

 

Congratulations Charlie! Always a good feeling when you hear that fresh motor purr; or roar!

 

My last post was October 31 when the break-in run was completed. Some trials and errors have taken place since then. The fuel tank was cleaned and coated with Red Kote and the outlet and inlet lines hooked up. The engine was restarted and it ran pretty nicely but did not want to idle very well. The spark plugs were removed and the compression tested: 1=130, 3=135, 5=130, 7=135, 2=140, 4=140, 6=140, & 8=135. As most of you thought the compression ratio is probably pretty low.

The last couple or three weeks I have really been battling the engine. It did not want to run at all. It would backfire through the carburetor which scarred me. When a couple of times there would be a flame in the carburetor that was blown out I was really concerned. Back to setting the timing the best I knew how and still did not want to run. I got it started and it ran at 1200 rpm for a minute or so then slowly died I thought it must be a fuel issue. Sure enough when the fuel line was removed from the carburetor the internal filter was filthy.

I was afraid that the remanufactured carburetor could be clogged up so I disassembled it and cleaned all the passages with carb cleaner and compressed air. I installed an in-line clear filter in the fuel line back toward the tank and a new inlet filter. It fired right off!! It will idle nicely at 800 rpm. The vacuum is a little low at 16. The oil pressure is at 70 at idle. I do not know if the step up to the RV cam has something to do with the vacuum or not.

The Thermac system was not working so I ordered a new Thermac motor on line and now it is working correctly. I am satisfied enough with how it runs now to pull off the chassis work and concentrate on the shell which needs quite a bit of work. Once again I appreciate you guys’ help working on my first Oldsmobile engine.

Charlie D.

 

Nice work Charlie, congrats!

 

Yeah, the cam will drop vacuum a bit, especially in a 307. I assume you adjusted the mixture screws to highest, rpm and vacuum? What are you running for base, total timing and vacuum advance?

 

Great job, Charlie! I'm sure that is a great feeling!

 

Additionally, you have 70 psi oil pressure at idle?

That is one clean looking motor and painting the air cleaner is a great idea.

 

It has been six months since I last posted. I was having problems with the 307. I have been working on the Studebaker body which is on a rotisserie. I took the chassis and engine up to a mechanic to see if he could get it to idle. He found a small vacuum leak, set the timing to factory specs and has it idling pretty nicely. It is a rougher idle than I am used to but the RV cam (204 & 214) may be attributing to that. The vacuum is also a little disappointing. It runs 14-15 at 700 rpm. Bumps up a little at 800 rpm. I may have to run an electric vacuum pump to operate the power brake booster. When I turn the mixture screws in and out there is little change to the rpm until I get them within one turn of being screwed all the way in and then the engine starts to try to die. I backed them out a total of two turns and that seems to be about the best I can get them. The other thing it is doing is every 7-8 seconds it will surge about 100rpm then back off to the 700 again. I am comfortable enough with it that I will be setting the body down on the chassis in the next few weeks. Thank you for your help.
Charlie D.

 

I wonder if there is another small vacuum leak? Surging idle is many times caused from that. Thanks for the update, was wondering how it was going.

 

I just couldn't stand the way the engine was running. I watched a few u-tube videos about setting the idle mixture screws. One was talking about if the transfer slots were over-exposed it would be hard to influence the idle with the mixture screws. I removed the carburetor from the engine. When I had drained the gas I turned it upside down and the entire transfer slots were exposed. I tinkered with it for awhile and found out the fast idle screw was what was holding the throttle plates open. Back to more u-tube videos. A couple of them discussed the transfer from the fast idle circuit to the primary idle circuit. My carburetor would not do that. There was a tang or whatever it is called that was not letting the fast idle release. I looked at my old carburetor and that tang was in a different position. I took the choke off and readjusted it and it swung freely.

When I pulled back on the rod hooked to the vacuum motor myself everything worked correctly. When I put some vacuum hose on the vacuum motor and sucked it shut the release did not happen. It was about 3/16" from pulling it back all the way. I bent the rod to make it shorter so that it was pulled all the way back when the motor was sucked shut. The fast idle properly let go and the primary idle screw should now work better at a lower rpm. I anticipate being able to effect the idle richness with the idle screws now.

Tomorrow I am also going to tinker with the timing. I apologize for being evasive when I was asked any timing questions. I did not own a timing light so I could not tell someone what the timing was. I borrowed a six volt timing light to set the timing on the Studebaker. I read up on the subject and it sounds as if the 1984 307 is supposed to be set at 20 degrees BTDC at 1,100rpm. It is my understanding that it should be around 35 degrees at 3,000rpm. My daughter's boyfriend drag raced when he was younger, worked in a auto machine shop for a few years and owns his own machine shop know. He is coming over tomorrow and we are going to set the timing. I bought a Harbor Freight timing light with the advance function.

When I pulled the carburetor I checked the filter and it was clean. I checked the in line filter back toward the gas tank and it was clean also. I wanted to eliminate crap in the gas as a potential problem. I am pretty excited about finding the carburetor issues and setting the timing. I rebuilt the ECM controlled carburetor that came with the car and I don't think I screwed it up like the tang being trapped in the wrong position. I hope I will have a happy result to report to the forum after tomorrow. I hope I do not still have a vacuum leak but if so I will search even more diligently for it.

Charlie D.

 

That lockout on the secondaries is now fugged up bending that pin like you did. There's a reason that lockout is there. That lockout is there to prevent the secondaries from opening while the choke is applied. Keeps you on the front two barrels until warmed up. When the choke releases and you're on the low step of the fast idle choke, the secondary lockout should come off and be free to flop around. It's counter-weighted to move away from the pin, allowing the secondaries to open.

 

Yes sir; that's the way the top picture works on my old carburetor. The bottom picture is the way it came to me. No flop nor any movement at all as it was jammed above the pin. After I re positioned the tang to flop around I had to bend the pin on the left up so that the tang could catch it to keep the secondaries from opening as you pointed out.
Charlie D.