Now Complete Restoration / Pulling my 1969 'Bee down for strip and paint

[birdsandbees]

Made it back to the shop for a few hours. Was poking around the internet while taking a rest and noticed the rear wheel cylinders are supposed to have a gasket to the backing plate.. so I made a pattern with paper and tape and transferred to some HD foam.

New distributor, complete with rotor and cap, that I picked up for 37 bucks!    Mine has needed a rebuild since 1979 with a slight miss from a flat point lobe... can run this one to get me going and then worry about rebuilding the OEM unit later.

Got my harmonic balanced bolted into place, belt pulley on, engine mounts on and of course the distributor indexed back in place before I did the balancer in case I turned the crank. Tomorrow I hope to RPM my new dipstick tube, install same, install the oil pressure sensor, water pump, fuel pump, etc... but we'll see how that goes pending arm ache when I wake up.

Was looking for something to put my axle housing on to roll around... and low and behold the set of leg exercise boards I'd made for my daughter to build muscle in her unattached leg where in the corner. Work perfect.. .Velcro already there to lash it down and just the right length for the backing plates to bolt on and clear. Just need a "sling" to hold the pumpkin up when I install the sure grip unit.

[birdsandbees]

As they say, the Turtle wins the race. Sure hope this arm comes on line soon. Had the wife hold the water pump housing in place while I turned the bolts. 

4.5" grinder wrench works perfect for putting in heater hose nipples!

Had to set the exhaust manifold in place for the "look". Proper '69 dipstick tube in place after coating in RPM.

[green69rt]

I don't know if your car uses a fuel vapor separator, but if it does does it mount on one of the fuel pump bolts?

[birdsandbees]

Nope... 383 magnum, 5/16 single fuel feed line. 

[green69rt]

Nope... 383 magnum, 5/16 single fuel feed line. 

Brain fart, forgot they only were used on 440's and Hemi's.

[birdsandbees]

Yep... I have one here to install on my 'Bird when ever I get this car done. Was removed by the previous owner in the '80's and they squashed the return line end and removed the canister.

[Dino]

I don't know if your car uses a fuel vapor separator, but if it does does it mount on one of the fuel pump bolts?

Yes it does, to the most forward bolt.

[birdsandbees]

I don't know if your car uses a fuel vapor separator, but if it does does it mount on one of the fuel pump bolts?

Yes it does, to the most forward bolt.

Correct, but not on this one. My Bird yes, with the 440.

[Dino]

I don't know if your car uses a fuel vapor separator, but if it does does it mount on one of the fuel pump bolts?

Yes it does, to the most forward bolt.

Correct, but not on this one. My Bird yes, with the 440.

Right, I was just making sure he knew the separator would go on that bolt...when your car has the separator. 

[birdsandbees]

Right, I was just making sure he knew the separator would go on that bolt...when your car has the separator. 

[green69rt]

I just had to count, 6 reply's on one small item.  It shows how many details are involved.  Keep on!!

[birdsandbees]

The details become nuts... I had my thermostat housing sealed and bolted down, came in the house and the wife said "didn't you buy a full set of spark plug wire brackets that bolt on there somewhere? "... and I ran back to the shop, found the box they were in.... painted the thermo bracket and carefully put it in place and re-torqued the housing before the sealer dried!  

Yah, I know... you all wish you had one like her!! 

[Dino]

I have one like her.   

I was just going over this thread again, you've done some outstanding work there my friend!   

I wish I had known about this RPM stuff before I painted all my parts. I probably should have boughta 69 dipstick for mine. I have a '71 engine and kept the original dipstick. Oh well, not much original left in my engine bay anyway.

Pardon me if I missed it, but what's the plan for the valve covers?

[birdsandbees]

Timely question... just can't decide if I want to go this route again with my Blue DC covers. They're still in pretty nice shape and if I return to OEM I'll have to give Dixie some money and get a pair of OEM (repro) '69 covers and then take them over to the resto shop for orange paint.

Also tackled the broken off bolt that's been there since 1979. Ground an AN bolt to a point and TIG'd it to the broken piece without f'g up the engine casting. Amazed that it easily turned right out, considering it had been drilled and snapped off an EZout previously.

[moparnation74]

I like the DC covers.....

You can always paint them to match the engine.........

Great job on the bolt removal

[birdsandbees]

Thanks!

My arm is starting to come back on line. Plan today was to pull the rocker shafts and change all the valve seals, but then I got to thinking it would be a good idea to check all the lifters for spalling and leak down. Probably the only tool I don't own is a lifter puller, so I compromised and with the wire and a magnet I managed to pull all 16 out and put them back in.

This engine was rebuilt in 1979... obviously by someone that knew what they were doing. I stored this car in my Mother's garage (beside the furnace) from 1982 until 1987. It was then under a drive shed roof at my F-in-laws for 2 years before running again. Then stored the past 12+ years in a marine container. 15 lifters immediately pumped back to solid, I disassembled one and cleaned it, blew through the check valve, reassembled and it then pumped solid immediately.

Zero pitting, spalling, etc on cam lobes or lifter bodies!

What a GREAT way to start a New Year !  

Need to lower the stereo volume in the shop.. wife snuck in and caught me in action today!  

[birdsandbees]

 

[Dino]

Excellent!

Any news on the paint job?   

[birdsandbees]

With my arm messed up I've left the paint shop alone. It was supposed to get final primer before Christmas shut down so the primer could set nice and then commence painting this week. I doubt it happened, but hopefully it starts soon. Based on the '68 Cuda before mine, it will be a full month process for paint and getting my glass back in.

[Dino]

Well, at least they're doing the job right. Glad to hear you're getting the strength in your arm back.   

[birdsandbees]

Thanks Dirk... still pretty useless, but I can hold it up and even open a door with it. Tendon definitely pulled off my elbow as I'm missing about 2" of bicep there if I flex lightly compared to my right arm. At least it's starting to work again.. something I highly feared. Now not to over do it ! ! 

[Dino]

It's going to take a while unfortunately, but at this rate you'll be able to do what you need to do soon enough. You may not be entering any power-lifting competitions for a while though.   

[birdsandbees]

Made a bit of progress today. Got all 16 valve stem seals replaced, with the new style P4120492 seal kit. Captive on intake, umbrella on exhaust. Was doing them because I noticed one of my exhaust valve heads was wet with oil when I pulled the manifolds last year. Good call, 2 were cracked right in half, the other 14 were hard. Motor has never smoked and found ZERO valve stem / guide slop while removing all springs and putting them back using the good old rope trick!  

Cleaned up the rocker assemblies and inspected for wear or galling. All looks good and used a TIG filler wire to hold the push rods in place on reassembly. All torqued down, lubed and engine rotated a couple times to see everything move properly. No "soft" rockers / lifters.

Got the engine off the stand, back on the crane and my Lakewood block protection plate in place and the flywheel bolted and torqued ready for the clutch assembly, scatter shield and transmission.

Been feeding the wife regularily so she can lift that A833 up in to place for me!!   .. and then I can get everything in place on the K frame for reinsertion into the car.  

Also.. I posted a picture of the transmission input shaft bearing for the crank flange, if any of you have an undrilled crank. Or are in the situation that I am where back in 1978 I cut off 3/4" of the #'s match input shaft so I could put the 4 speed in our '69 Fury II behind a 440 with an undrilled crank. Now I need the bearing in my #'s match engine to reunite it with it's #'s match trans.. as the input shaft is too short for proper engagement on the bronze bushing.

[birdsandbees]

 

[birdsandbees]

Didn't have a dummy shaft, so 3/4" pipe, some tape and me will have to do. Better than I ever had as a teenager!

Installed the new Hays street / strip disc and the McLeod pressure plate today. Was a proven set up for me in the late 70's early 80's and NEVER slipped like the factory clutch so I'm sticking with it and was able to get a new disc off Ebay for a song. Guy thought the 11" disc was for a truck.