Yet another setback

Behold the mighty Galaxie 390 in all her glory. Are you impressed? I do hope so because a lot of sweat went into this and let me tell you some tears as well, here's how it went down.

But first another picture,

Sweet isn't it? Oh what the hell, one more

So she is all set to go back in and for reasons that at the time did not make sense Marco decided to fill it with oil before we put it in. The car is lined up and the engine is on the lift and we are set to go. Suddenly the FE390 starts to perform a re-enactment of the Exxon Valdez incident and oil gushes everywhere.
Back on the ground we diagnose a leaking sump pan gasket so we drain the oil and remove the pan only to find nothing really wrong. So the gasket is put back on, this time with a touch of silicon sealant and we start again. Once more we get to the position above and oil starts to pour out. After much scratching of gonads (our own ones, natch) we diagnose a warped oil pan. Good old Red Weaver (the guy in the foreground) told me that he had a 65 parts car with the same pan which was mine for the taking. 90 minutes later we are back at the ranch and an hour later I have the pan scrubbed clean of 40 years of sludge, sandblaster and painted, this time in chrome. So we replace the pan, fill her up with oil and start again. Can you guess what happened next? So it isn't the pan. Therefore it must be the block or more likely the rear crankshaft cap which of course was messed with to replace the seal. Marco decides to work on it while it is swinging on the hoist. Normally I would have recommended that we block it first but I was way beyond caring at this stage and as far as I was concerned OSHA could shove their rules where the sun doesn't shine.

Then we find that the cap is not central on the bearing because someone who shall be named (Marco) put the seal in backwards.

So all in all it was a complete waste of a day although had he not oiled it up I would have not discovered the reversed seal until I fired the beast up and then the engine would be coming out again. Now it is back to AutoZone to buy the third oil seal. This is getting old.

More frustrations

I didn't blog last Saturday because the day went pear shaped right at the start. The plan was to replace the rear crankshaft oil seal then the oil pump, replace the sump pan and then fit the new timing gear. Of course the new oil seal was the wrong one and everything just stalled. Why there can possibly be two versions of the same part for the same engine is beyond me but Autozone are obviously in love with me and relish my many repeat visits.
To make life more untenable, the good ol' boys promised that NAPA would have the part and so commenced an exodus across southern Virginia which of course resulted in absolutely nothing apart from me adding to my carbon footprint and burning half a tank of gas. I did almost get lucky in sourcing core plugs but they only had five. Later I returned to the original Autozone to exchange the crankshaft seal and get the final core plug. Interestingly their computer showed 5 plugs in stock, I suspect they order in 5's regardless of the fact that you need 6 per engine.
Anyhoo I think that I have all the parts so this Saturday should see some sterling progress. I am aiming to get the engine and transmission back together so that it can go back the following week. Then it is back to block sanding, deep joy.

More Woes

Well after months of other projects and procrastination on the Galaxie last weekend I made some huge leaps forward. Of course I forgot the camera so no pics (sorry yawl) but I will take some this Saturday.

So following the debacle over the size of the clutch I finally got the right one as well as a rear crankshaft oil seal. I don't actually need the clutch yet as the engine is still in the cradle but very soon I shall be putting things back together as opposed to tearing down. The block has been cleaned and let me tell you what a piece of useless crap a pressure washer is when it comes to cleaning engines. (Actually it is a piece of crap when it comes to anything). So after mucho hours with a scraper and oven cleaner and solvents I got the block painted and let me tell you it looks sharp. The oil pan (or sump to my English readers) is off and horror of horrors I found chunks of metal. Fortunately a closer inspection of the timing chain showed some missing pieces and I already have a new one ready to go. Tonight I shall clean the pan off and spray it fluorescent yellow (because I can). Then on Saturday I will install the new oil pump, rear crank seal, timing set and start putting the covers on.

I was going to change the core plugs as it is a real easy job with the engine out and an horrendous job with the engine in. Naturally when I ordered them I needed to know what size they were. Look people it is a 1963 Galaxie 500 FE390 4 barrel. How can the plugs be different sizes? This insanity has to stop, bring on the metric system.