Tinkering, Part 3

It was not a good week last week for working on cars. Bad weather combined with busy schedules and a knee injury to keep me out of the garage until Saturday night. Finally, though, progress started again on the Vair.

Saturday night Jeff went to visit his daughter, so I was working on my own. I cleared the parts off the top of the motor that stood in the way of replacing the top cover; carbs, fuel lines, balance tube, plug wires and distributor cap, alternator, back shroud, top shroud. I went from here

to here:

The last order of business was to install a on-board trickle charger in the car. I bought four of these and installed them in the Vair, my '63 Olds and '68 Cutlass Saturday. These are great for preserving batteries if, like me, you store your cars over the winter. They cost around $30.00, which is a lot cheaper than buying a new battery. Be sure to buy one that has the automatic shut-off or you will end up baking your battery.

We started Sunday afternoon with a brief ceremony to install the GROUP Red commemorative plaque Keith Hammett had sent me commemorating my Vair's return to earth. Here is a close up of the plaque:

As preparation for our ceremony, we prepped the intended area for the plaque with Kleen-EZ and warmed it with a heat gun.

Our ceremony began with a reading from the Shop Manual. We chose a verse from the chapter of Engine Mechanical regarding the cold adjustment of lifters.

After the liturgy, we proceeded with the installation:

The plaque promptly fell to the floor. Evidently the adhesive was not thick enough for the contour of the panel where I intended to affix it. Also, I suspect that there was bad ju-ju resulting from trying to affix a plaque commemorating the return of the vehicle to operable status while the car is still on jackstands with the powertrain removed. Another attempt with double sided 3M automotive trim tape will ensue after the car is again operable.

Hijinks completed, Jeff and I went to work and made good progress. We started with replacing the top cover and blower bearing assembly.

I removed the cover and while Jeff cleaned off the old gasket material from the block and the metal baffle that separates the cover from the crankcase, I went to work putting the cover and gaskets together.

I put a thin coat of the Permatex aviation sealer on the cover, and a thin coat on the first gasket. The holes in the gasket are "keyed" so that you can't put the baffle in wrong, and of course the holes in the gasket are also keyed, so you have to do the right side.

I let them stand a few minutes, and then put them together. I repeated this process with the back side of the gasket and the top side of the baffle, then the back side of the baffle and the second gasket, then the back of the second gasket and top of the block.

Here's the block after gooping it up:

Next, we took the whole assembly and put it on the block. We put the bolts in and for fun Jeff torqued the bolts on one side while I did the other, passing the torque wrench back and forth as we did so.

Once all of this was done, we installed the new oil cooler endplates I got from Clarks. When I took the oil cooler off, we lost quite a bit of oil, but we got the mess cleaned up pretty well. Still, I hate getting oil on my nice, clean engine. At any rate, here is proof that the end covers are now in place:

That done, we reinstalled all the components I had removed the previous evening. While we were at it we cleaned up the threads on the carburetor nuts and the tall studs. For some reason, I have had trouble with these threads in the past. It is odd that I continue to have trouble with them, since all the studs and bolts are new. We took the studs out to run a die over them so that we would not accidentally end up with any metal filings in the intake.

We also synchronized the carbs per the shop manual.

Finished at the top of the motor, we turned our attention to the front. We took the pressure plate off and removed the clutch so that we would have better access to the pilot bushing. Here is picture of the pilot bushing still in place. You'll notice that the camera did an excellent job of focusing on the sawhorses in the background:

This next picture shows the pilot bushing after removal. We used the pilot bushing puller I bought the week before last. You can see how the puller is inserted into the bushing, and spread by turning the shaft. Once in place, the slide weight on the handle easily pulls the bushing out.

It took all of about two minutes to remove the bushing, far less time than I spent discussing the issue on VV. On the other hand, I could have spent hours with it, had I not talked to the list about it first.

The new pilot bushing had been soaking in oil for the last week and a half. Jeff squished oil through it with his index finger and thumb to make sure it was really permeated, and we installed it, driving it in place with the input shaft. We put a block of wood over the end of the shaft to protect it from damage and drove firmly, but not brutally, with a hammer to seat the bushing.

This done, we used the input shaft to line up the clutch and reinstalled the pressure plate.

We used the same puller to remove the input shaft seal. It came out without great difficulty after about eight tonks on the puller. We coated the new seal in oil and seated it with a 3/4 in. socket and a hammer. We installed the new throw-out bearing, and then it was time to reunite the transaxle and the engine, which we did.

All that is left now is to reinstall the starter, put the powertrain back in the car, and change out the leaking back-up light switch.