Engine mounted on test stand

I now have the engine mounted on the test stand that I built. I am still working on getting everything hooked up.

I have a 6 volt fuel pump set up drawing fuel from the small red can. I have an exhaust hooked up through a pipe and muffler I got from a wrecker. A 6 volt battery is mounted on the other side and connected to the ignition switch and works as it should.
Currently I have the generator in  pieces. I just purchased some new brushes from the US which I will put into the generator and then put back together and mount it.  It will probably take me a couple of months to set up the rest of the components as my wife is due to have a baby in one week.

Engine test stand

I decided I need an engine test stand to mount the Pontiac engine onto. To do this I needed to buy a welder. I chose a Lincoln MIG welder as shown in the next photo.
After procuring all the steel I needed from a local engineering firm it took me many hours of measuring, cutting, welding, grinding and painting to come up with the final product. However the experience was good and armed with new skills for the future. You need to be able to weld if involved in restoring cars.


The engine test stand under construction.

Although not entirely completed the finished stand is starting to look quite good.


I was originally going to set up the test stand and convert the electrics to 12 volts however I have backed off this idea because of cost. I would need to buy a new alternator, fuel pump, battery etc and after thinking about it would prefer to test the engine using all the components that will eventually go back into the car. That is the idea of having a test stand. I also purchased a modern radiator with electric fan however i think I will mount the original radiator (after repair) and belt driven fan.

So the next step is to mount the engine on the stand and then assemble all the components needed to get it going, including the coil and voltage regulator which I took off the vehicle as follows:

Removing the engine

Today I removed the engine from the Pontiac. 

I checked everything had been disconnected and then took out the two bolts holding the engine to the front engine mount.

I then put the engine crane into position and removed the broken head to reduce the overall weight and to enable a better connection of the engine crane chain to the block. Attached the chain on the diagonal. The weight of the engine so that the rear engine mount bulbs can be removed. Crawled under the car and removed the rear engine mount bolts.

It was then a matter of craning the engine up and it came away relatively easily however the exhaust pipe remained attached to the manifold. A few bangs with him are separated it again.

Listed the engine up and eased forward slightly. After coming forward I was able to worsted much higher and get the engine can answer and over the front engine mount and bring the whole thing forward. 

Once was completely free I loaded down onto a wheel Dolly while I unhooked the engine crane and swiveled it around to get a better angle.

I raised the engine again and then moved it around and loaded onto the frame I had made to hold the engine on top of a wheel Dolly.

A job well completed.

Engine removal tasks -unhooking everything

After a lengthy period of inactivity I have now got back into working on the Pontiac. The main objective at the moment is removing the engine and taking it to a machine shop to have work completed on it. I have contacted a machine shop in Rotorua and they advised that I should remove the engine and strip off the components and then take the engine to be assessed. The strip and assessment part of the job will cost $350. After that it is a matter of determining what parts are needed and what machine work is needed on the engine to make it good again.

I had previously taken off the dog box removed the radiator, removed the generator, and a few other bits and pieces. So over that last day or so I have now done the following.

The speedo cable has been disconnected. This is a simple matter of matter of unscrewing it from the gearbox housing as pictured.

Speedo cable disconnected

Disconnecting the gear selector is was the next task. First it was a matter of unscrewing the gear selector cable and removing the spring and club that hold it in place.

Gear selection cable after disconnection

The gear selector lever also needs to be disconnected by removing the split pin and pulling the lever out of the connection.

 




Next is the clutch connection to the clutch throw out fork. This is very simple to remove by removing the split pin and pulling it away from the assembly. The adjuster arm simply pulls away from the clutch throw out fork. It took the opportunity of cleaning this up and giving it a quick lack of red paint.

Clutch push lever and spring sprorting some new paint

There is another part to the clutch assembly that needs to be disconnected as shown

I then removed the oil line that is connected to the side of the engine near the fuel pump. On my car this line is now redundant because the top of it has been salted over and it has been tied Orff against the intake manifold. I will will research what this line was originally used for. I may make a pace shorter connection to plug this whole after the engine has been repaired.

There is a second oil line connecting to the engine block at the rear. This one hits straight up all of the Cal bulkhead and presumably as the oil return part of the oil filter reticulation system. Disconnected this and labelled it.

 


I then removed the propeller shaft by disconnecting the four bolts at the rear of the shaft. It was quite difficult to get under the car and reach them however did so at a stretch. After the bolts were completely removed the shaft did not drop down as expected so I needed to give it a few light taps with a hammer for it to fall away. Once it falls away you can then slide backwards and it drops out of the rear of the gearbox assembly. Because of its duty in rusty condition have been said about two clean it up and will painted before reassembly.

Propeller shaft

 The starter motor is disconnected. To make this easy I have painted some of the connections read so I know which side they go on at time of reassembly.

Disconnected the throttle linkage

I then disconnected the oil breather pipe that comes out of the side of the engine block. I'm not sure what the purpose of this is however when the engine is running seems to throw out a bit of steam and hot oil.

Behind the oil breather pipe is a line running alongside the engine presumably the oil pressure gauge. Disconnected this at the front of the engine as well as the retainer bolt at the rear of the engine.

 

I then drained the oil out of the engine.

This is a rather cool frame I made to sit the engine on which luckily fits perfectly onto one of the wheel dollies I have. This will make it easier to transport the engine to the machine shop and to wheel it around in the garage and to remove all the peripheral parts. This picture shows the frame with a spear engine sitting on it.

Tomorrows job is the disconnection of the front engine mount bolts.This can be done before attaching the engine hoist to the engine. After that i will undo the rear engine mount bolts and lift the engine. 

Engine Crane

The engine crane has been a asembled and is all ready to go. So the next step will be to disconnect all the connections to the engine and attach the engine crane and undo the engine mounts. I'm not sure when I will do this. That will depend on discussions I have with the engine re-builder and to a lesser extent finances. I still haven't figured out how much maneuvering will be required once the engine is freed and lifted out but I imagine I'll be able to swing it around and load it straight onto the back of the ute. I was thinking of perhaps creating a wooden crate for the engine to make it easier to transport. I first need to establish whether I need to remove all the bits and pieces from the engine, for example the exhaust, the water pump, the clutch and get box starter motor generator and other peripherals. I am guessing I will need to strip it right back.

Yesterday i managed to disconnect some of the brake line which i will bring to Rotorua and polish and paint and then bring back and reconnect. I will then disconnect a little more of the brake linings once the engine has been removed and it is easier to get it.

You can see where i have started cleaning the running gear a little. This is just after a few minutes of work so given few days most of the front part of the running gear should be able to be cleaned up and made ready for painting. 

Distractions -now back into it

It's been a little while since I've done any work on the Pontiac. We have been busy doing renovations and moving furniture getting ready to rent out our beach house.

The next big job on the Pontiac is to remove the engine and take it in to get it bored and and whatever other work is required to the engine. The measurements I took on the bore indicates there is tapering and uneven bore size which probably accounts for excessive smoke and oil usage. The engine needs sorting.

Soon i will take on the task of removing the engine when all the other stuff is moved out of the shed and I have some more room.

  I have purchased an engine crane which is still in the box . This was quite good value at 250 dollars from super cheap autos.

The other thing I'm thinking of doing is taking my spare engine apart a little to discover what usable parts can be found inside the engine. Already this spare engine has come to my rescue by providing a replacement cylinder head for the one I cracked up when I was trying to remove it. I'm really keen to get the engine nicely renovated so that the car runs as it should.

In the meantime I will do some work on the brakes. My plan is to remove all the brake lines, blow them out with high pressure air, paint them and then re-install. I will do a little at a time so as not to completely dismantle the car . If i do it in small manageable sections then at the end of the exercise the brake lines will be completely renovated and ready to go. I will then move into the brake cylinders for each wheel and sort them out.

 With the brakes overhauled and the engine overhaul the car should be fit on the road and that should inspire me to sort out the multitude of other issues and get the car roadworthy and regular use.











I tried cleaning a little of the front suspension this morning using a electric drill and wire brush and found that it was not too difficult to clean it up and get it ready for painting. So this little experiment proves that it's not necessary to get the whole car torn down and sandblasted. Given the standard of renovation I'm under taking a good clean up with wire brush and sandpaper will be enough to get the running gear clean enough for new paint work. So after I have removed the engine I will have better access to the front section of the chassis and running gear and while the engine is out I will wire brush it and paint it so that the front section looks nice. While the engine is out i will also have a go at painting the bulkhead

How to remove the engine

I now need to get my head around the complexities of removing the engine and taking it somewhere for a possible re-bore, new pistons, rings and valves. Having now removed the dog box I will need to remove the engine, not a trivial task. I have researched the steps to remove the engine which are as follows:

Steps to remove the engine

1. Remove the floor center plate.

2. Disconnect and remove the selector control cable from the transmission.

3.  Disconnect the outer lever from the transmission shift shaft.

4. Disconnect the gasoline line at the fuel pump.

5. Disconnect the oil pressure gauge line.

6. Disconnect the throttle control rods.

7. Disconnect the wiring at the generator.

8. Disconnect the wiring at the starter etc.

9. Disconnect the windshield wiper tube at the manifolds.

10. Disconnect the heat indicator at the head.

11. Disconnect the engine ground strap.

12. Disconnect the clutch control bracket at the flywheel housing.

13. Disconnect the clutch throw-out fork.

14.  Disconnect the speedometer cable from the transmission 

15. Disconnect the front end support (2 bolts).

16. Disconnect the exhaust pipe at the manifold.

17. Disconnect the rear universal joint and propeller shaft.

18. Attach a chain hoist to the engine and remove the bolts from the rear engine mountings.

19. Lift the engine free of the rear engine support cross member.

20. Remove the engine from the frame pulling forward.

Reverse the above operations when re-installing the engine. Pay special attention to:

·         Clutch pedal lash

·         Safety shift adjustments

·         Install two new exhaust pipe gaskets

·         Adjustment of throttle range