Mighty Mouse Engine Rebuild & Upgrades

[difrangia]

I believe that there are a number of universal and also specific purpose compressors for assembled units, but I figured that I could whip something up quicker and with less blood-pressure escalation than locating and buying/borrowing something & it worked like a champ. 

 

I can't remember, old age I guess, but I guess that I'd done something like change seals on an assembled engine in the distant past. Can't imagine otherwise why I'd have made up the sparkplug hole fitting which I've had for decades. My dad was a mechanic, upholster, bodyman most of his life, so we probably tackled some kind of disaster at one time.

 

Drove the 320 a bit yesterday with no sign of little smoke clouds in the rear view mirror like before. 

 

I got my two hoods out and looks like the Mouse will finally get a hood back on. Gonna strip the good hood and get the neighborhood bodyman to work it over and match it up close for now. Then it'll be on to something else on this project. Gonna start looking for a good H190 in 4:11 gearing so the Mouse can grow some legs a little longer.

 

Steve

[difrangia]

Steve,

When you have completed Mighty Mouse would you consider helping with the US aging infrastructure? I know your talents would ensure that the bridges are straight and the strong!

Keith

 

I'll consider most anything, Keith, but the Mouse will probably never be completed unless it's by the next guy. 'Miles to go before I sleep'

 

I've been trying to keep the thought of another project to slot behind the 320, keeping in mind that I have to deal with the little wifey. Says I have too many projects already and I need to loose a vehicle to add a new one. So many vehicles on my 'Bucket List'; U320, V320, early FIAT 126, Steyer-Puch Haflinger, jazzed-up Chevy Chevette, & the list goes on in addition to all the non-vehicle projects.

 

I'll probably not be driving more than ten more years. 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Cool upgrade. When I built my last BMC A series (1275 for my Sprite), I installed Nissan valves and modern stem seals to take it into the 21st century. It's fun applying modern tech to ancient engines.

[difrangia]

Mouse had to git up off his lazy H190 & do a bit of haulin today. Gardenin' season !!

 

[mklotz70]

Love the spring compression tool!!

[difrangia]

Love the spring compression tool!!

 

Might know that'd catch an ol' hand-cranker, programmer, button-pusher's eye.

 

Thanx, Mike.

[difrangia]

RE: PHOTOBUCKET DILEMMA

 

If anyone is reading through this thread and wants to see photos of a particular post, PM me and I'll sent them to you.

 

I may go back and hook in some of the photos throughout this thread and, then again, I may not. Depends on how much recliner time I see in the next little bit.

 

I realize that many folks have a sore butt over the recent actions of PB but it is just a matter of economics. 

 

You only get free milk for a time; then you gotta sneak under someone else's cow or buy a cow of your own.

 

Just the basic laws of nature. 

 

I kinda figured out back in the 70's (psychadellic) days, that there are something like a dozen laws of Nature that control everything in life.

 

You can bend the rules; you can't beat them indefinitely.

 

'The Laws of the Jungle'

 

'Keep On Truckin'

 

[Conner]

What are the other 11 Laws of Nature???!!!

[difrangia]

I've only figured out three more or so. 

 

But I'm only seventy years old, so I'm still figurin'.

 

I'll try to get those other three or so together & post 'em.

 

If I can remember what we were talking about tomorrow.

 

It's past bed-time for septagenarians. 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

I don't have a problem with what Photobucket did or even how they did it. It was always a known fact that eventually I would have to pay. I started paying and everything is fine. The main reason I don't like photobucket is because of how hard it is to use. It takes 8 clicks to get one image uploaded onto a forum. It's not flawless either. I often have to make adjustments and reload images.

 

That said, maybe I should start looking for another host that won't leave me stranded when my limit is reached.

 

I have printed to PDF whole threads before. Threads that if I lost, they would be very hard to recreate. It's a lot of work, but I have seen the writing on the wall and I won't get caught out...again.

[difrangia]

Got my butt in gear and decided to mix in a little improvement on Mighty Mouse with the other projects using up my time. It's been near a year since the last effort which was the coolant overflow system. Took the U-Channel rails off the top of the bed, the little trim pieces off the base of the cab B-Pillars, and the caps below the tail light units off. One of the bed rails had about a dozen holes drilled over the length and the rail off the top of the tailgate had two holes. Kinda looked like a previous owner had started to work up some sort of bed cove; maybe vinyl with snaps around the bed top and decided to not carry through with it. 

 

Called my chrome guy to see what he wanted in the way of plugging up the holes and he told me to just dimple them down a little and fill em up with brass. Did that and blasted the backs of all the parts. Also decided to do the trim for the front edge of the hood. Took them to the chrome shop today and it's gonna run me about $300. Seems like a pretty good price for the quality of work that he does. Supposed to get them back in about a month. Hood trim is not in the pic.

 

[wayno]

I did that on my 320, I think they should have sent them out from the factory like that.

I have not done the box trim or cab corners, I likely never will now.

[difrangia]

Right, Wayno, but they built so few N, U, or V's that I bet they lost a ton of money on every one that they built.

 

Just wrote it off to the price of getting into the world market.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Steve. I found this toy on the shelf in my office and I thought of you. I completely forgot that I had it.

 

 

[difrangia]

Yeah, if mine wasn't a unibody, I do a tube-frame & OD canvas camper with roll-up sides. I remember my dad building one up for his early 50's GMC in the mid 50's. We moved to California and back in the GMC. Had a six-cylinder Model-T engine & trany and all our household stuff crammed in that camper. Mama bear, papa bear, and two little cubs in the cab. Three cubs in the cab on the way back. The GMC got an Olds 'Rocket' V8 transplanted in when we moved back to Oklahoma. Pops was a Chevy dealer mechanic from about 1952 to 1962. He was there on the front line when the Vette, the small-block and the 348, and the Rochester fuel injection were introduced. My first car was a 55 four-door 210 sedan with a Duntoved out 283 with a 58 Vette Rochester FI unit on it. A real sleeper except it hissed like a snake. Made it hard to sneak up on anybody. Wish like hell I had that engine now.

 

If you're using Google Chrome and you've downloaded the fix, you can see the pics.

 

 

Polaroid of the engine in the 55. Second photo is the wifey sitting on the air plenum at a family lake outing when she was 15 years old.

 

Crazy kids !!

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Wait, you moved from OK in a jalopy with all your possessions and family? Can you say Grapes of Wrath?

 

It took me a long time to come around to the small block Chevy, but once I understood the significance and history, I was sold. I have 3 or 4 kicking around the shop right now along with 3 of my own Chevy truck projects (don't tell anyone).

[difrangia]

Yeah !! 'Grapes of Wrath' or 'Beverly Hillbillies'.

 

Old black GMC with a canvas camper. Probably a canvas waterbag on the front bumper if I remember correctly. 

 

Headed to Hayward CA sixty-odd years ago.

 

Just call me Tom Joad ('Grapes of Wrath'). 

 

Damn Okies.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

I'm guessing your granny did not die while coming across the desert from AZ.

 

Did you see that car sell at auction a few years ago. It was completely different from when it was in the movie though.

[difrangia]

Paid the chrome guy in Tulsa a visit a couple days ago and picked up a bundle of trim parts for the back half of the NL. Oh yeah, came home $380 lighter, but the chrome is magnifico !!

 

 

Bed top rails (4 pieces), lower caps for the tail lights, bottom trims for the cab B-Pillars, and hood front trim above the grille. Knock0ut beautiful quality. 

 

 

As usual, I coated the back side of all the chromed parts with zinc spray. I left the tag light housing at the plater to get chromed. Seems like I'd read that the tag light housing was stainless so I was gonna do a little straightening and polishing it myself, while the other parts were at the platers, I took the light housing off and stripped the paint off and it was ferrous steel, so I dropped it off to pick up later. Damn they do good work !! Pics will be posted when I get the goodies back on. I've got to round up some stainless screws, polish the heads, and replace about a dozen of the floating nut-plates on the body that the bed trims secure to.

[zed1]

Magnificent!

[difrangia]

Day or two of inclement weather afforded me a few hours to get some of the re-plated items back on the pickup, so I'm posting a couple of pics. 

 

 

 

The cab lower B-Pillar trims, bed rails, tail light lower caps, and tag light housing set me back about $430. The rear bumper was about $130 about four years ago, as I remember. Good chrome costs, but that is very reasonable as they had to fix a few dents in a couple of the pieces. Bed rails are just sitting on for these pics, as I have to drill out a dozen or so broken screws and tap everything to screw them back together.

 

Is this too much Bling on such a tiny pickup ??

 

I searched around on the big internet shopping center and snagged all stainless hardware to put the re-chromed stuff back on. Also found some rubber edge trims that seem to work OK. These guys have a pretty good selection of various small rubber edge trims and grommets, and rubber bumpers. Check them out:

 

http://www.rubberedgetrims.org/rubber-edge-trim-catalog

 

I used their 69P trim on the NL tail light housing and the 71P on the tail light housings. Looks real good.

 

Steve

[zed1]

Wow, sure looks shiny.

[difrangia]

It’s been a while since last posting. Just been driving, enjoying and working on other stuff. I’ve had a recurring problem with having to change out the fuel filter every six months to a year from picking up rust/crud from the tank. Also the fuel gage is a hit and miss affair. When I acquired the pickup in 2013, the box of spares included a new fuel sender which I installed soon after I got him home. Worked pretty good for a while but after a year or so went to crap.

 

A month or so ago I decided to bite-the-bullet and drop the tank for a refurbishing. After I got the tank out and cleaned up it didn’t look so bad on outside.

 

 

Removed the sender and opened it up and found that the rheostat coil had come unwound. That’s why the fuel gage was acting up. Took a look inside and it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Flushed the tank out and put ten pounds of #4 steel shotgun shot and a quart of mineral spirits in and sealed up all the openings.

 

 

 Set up a nylon sling loop from a ceiling beam in the outbuilding and suspended the tank about waist high around the center of the length and over the next couple days gave it a hell of a good shaking  for five or ten minutes at a time or whatever I could stand, rotating every once in a while during the shake to scrub all inside surfaces.  After probably an hour total shaking I dumped the shot and crud out into a screenwire basket to be washed, oiled, and put in storage for next time I have to do a tank. This is the third tank that I’ve used the shot in past fifteen years or so. I’ve seen posted on various vehicle forums that some people use gravel or chains to rattle-clean tank insides. I’d be wary of using a chain on a tank with baffles. I can just see a chain getting jammed up between a baffle and tank wall and being in there forever.  Flushed the tank out with solvent then HOT soapy water several times then put it out in the sun for a couple days to dry real good. Wire brushed, sanded, & scuffed up the outside of tank, did a little masking and a quick gloss black job on it.

 

 

This pic shows a lot of stuff related to this fuel system update. There are a couple of the original senders laying on the tank. The replacement fuel filler neck hose replacement (Gates #23968  which will do 2 or 3 pickups @ about $22USD) and a new sender that I located to replace the original sender. Here's a pic of the CI sender:

 

 

This is a real good update for the 320. The fuel gage system on the 320 is a 0 ohm at empty / 90 ohm at full system. This is the same system value that GM used from mid 60’s – mid 90’s. The sender that I came up with was made for fuel cells and is a direct bolt in for the 320. Manufacturer is Classic Instruments and sender number is SN38T6. These are made in lengths from 6” to about 20” for different tank depths. Also made in different ohm ranges. The beauty of this sender is that that the float is inside the aluminum tube so is not adversely affected by fuel slosh in the tank. The mounting pattern is a fuel sender SAE standard pattern and bolts right in. The sender comes with a nice thick Buna-N gasket and five mounting screws which are the wrong thread (10-32 UNC) for the 320 so you’ll have to come up with five 8-32 UNC screws for mounting.

 

For a crash course in fuel gage/sender workings, check this out:

 

http://www.tanksinc.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=results/category_id=159/mode=cat/cat159.htm

 

I flushed out the fuel line from the fender mounted filter back to the tank and reinstalled the tank assembly. In the course of re-doing the tank I decided to rebuild the fuel pump. Mighty Mouse still has the small five-screw fuel pump with the priming loop. I acquired a small number of NOS diaphragm assemblies a while back and dove into designing and building punches and dies to make all the gaskets and the filter/gasket assembly for the top of the pump as I knew I’d want to rebuild the pump sooner or later. Felt like this was as good a time as any. I made up a small number of diaphragm/gasket sets and will possibly be offering them in the classifieds to other 320/410 owners when I’ve run my pump long enough to be satisfied with the rebuild set. At that time I’ll add a good post with photos on the pump rebuild here on the Mighty Mouse thread. Also have done a bit of groundwork on rebuilding the original fuel senders and might mess with that in the future.

 

Here’s a teaser; Stay tuned.

 

[zed1]

Always fastenating to watch your progress. I’m hoping that the 520 pump will accept your crafted parts.

Keith

[difrangia]

2 minutes ago, zed1 said:

Always fastenating to watch your progress. I’m hoping that the 520 pump will accept your crafted parts.

Keith

 

The deciding factor, Keith is the fuel pump model that is on the E1 & J13 engine. I put this stuff together for the earlier small pump with the five screws holding the two pump body castings together.The only items that will work on the larger six-screw pump will probably be the valve gaskets, the gaskets that go on either side of the plastic insulator between the pump and the crankcase, and the little gasket for the top cover bolt. You have a really early 520. It may have the five-screw pump ??