[62 tempest nashville]

Ok, I'm back at it.
I went to Sears today and got one of those bolt removers. Was able to get 2 more bolts out of the exhaust manifold, before the tool broke, So I had 2 more left. I hammered a long handled 6 point snap on, box wrench on one. I then slid a small pipe over the wrench and was able to work one more loose. So, I have the one left,,,, What do you think happened ?????? The head broke off...... Ok, it's just one, and it's the last one. No big deal, I didn't want to cut it any way. I just wiggled the manifold and banged it off with the hammer.


Ok, Now it Starts to Suck.... I got one big long stud sticking out of the head all by itself, No big deal, I'm thinking again.... I grab it real tight with my new sharp vise grips and started trying to get it to rock back and forth. well, it was just flexing. So I get a real good bite up against the head, for no flex. Well it snapped clean at the head......... Dam, now I have that to deal with,, I know I can get it out.
I even was able to get out two of the broken water pump studs that broke on me earlier when I first pulled the pump.

So the head is off now. I pulled the main pulley, balancer, and the timing chain cover. So, I'm down to the chain on the front and then I can flip it to pull the oil pan...
Hell it's getting late and cold out here in the garage, I need to get in. They say we are going to see a little snow tonight for the first time.

[62 tempest nashville]

How do you like this way of locking the crank...... About 3 1/2 feet in the cylinder before the compression stroke, on the cylinder your doing. I turn it up on that stroke and I change valve stem seals on the car, all the time like this. Never drop a valve like this,,,, never trust the air fitting and air, unless you want to pull a head from dropping a valve. Must turn backwards for crank bolt.

[62 tempest nashville]

Lets see what's in here.

[62 tempest nashville]

Do I even want this head ????

[mechanickeith]

Great pictures guy!! Question, Is this going to be a driver or weekend car show vehicle?? If a driver, having compression at 10,25 will be hard to tune & run on todays junk gas. May have to get a different head or dish pistons to lower compression. If the timing cover is not all corroded up & can be reused, you will want to get it machined to put a 64 & up rubber lip style seal in the cover. The factory cork ring rubbing on the inside of the cover will allways leak. Timing tensioner parts all look ok. When you get it all the way apart & specs taken, then you can decide what all to do.

[John in Minnesota]

These are great pictures. Any good machine shop can make it all new. Keith is that a 389 rubber lip seal? Mine leaks first start of the day till she warms a bit. Can it be done with the motor in the car? You can PM me. John

[Bill Hanlon]

Originally Posted by mechanickeith

If the timing cover is not all corroded up & can be reused, you will want to get it machined to put a 64 & up rubber lip style seal in the cover. The factory cork ring rubbing on the inside of the cover will allways leak.

I upgraded my '57 V8 to the 64+ seal with great results. If you want to do yours you can borrow my "alignment tool" (currently on loan to the west coast doing this mod to another old Pontiac). Check here
http://www.pontiacsafari.com/L1Garag...ealUpgrade.pdf
for details.

[mechanickeith]

John, The motor can stay in the chassis. Timing cover will have to come off for machining. Yes, standard late 63 & up 389 lip style seal.

Keith

[62 tempest nashville]

That's what I'm talking about !!! The inside scoop. Love the upgrade idea about the oil seal, Keith. That is what I need more of,,, Stuff you did, or what you should have done...
The car will be Show and Weekend driver only. When I heard about the 10:25 to 1 compression I was already thinking about the gas.
The timing cover is in excellent shape. I will get one of these seals your talking about and compare, then look for someone who can do it.
I want to hear more about a header, do I want a 3 tube or a 4 tube header with this head ??? Who makes them ?? Can I get just the one I need ?? Is there a listing for the 4 cylinder or do I need to get for another application ?? I need to start looking for one.
Keep the ideas coming, I'm trying to line up everything I will need.
I'm leaving the cold weather today, to go down to the awful sun of Ft. Lauderdale. Will be back in a week, I will try to check in along the way. See ya. Jerry

[mechanickeith]

Let me see a pic of your water pump impeller from the front & side. There is issues with water pumps on the 4 cyl. If the engine needs bored out, go .060 over & get a set of 4 cast, standard bore, 400 pistons & rings. 1/2 the price of a set of .030 389 pistons & the 400 pistons will have dual valve reliefs so you can run a later model head if you want to. Check the thread I posted re: exhaust headers, you can also go with a D port cast ram air manifold. Anything other than stock, you will need to eliminate the exhaust heat riser crossover pipe & block off the port on the bottom of the intake. Just changing the exhaust is a big improvement over stock. I run a 2.5" system all the way out the back. For more performance you can upgrade to a 4 bbl carb & manifold. I run the 1 bbl for the fuel economy as it is a daily driver. The 62 I am currently putting together has a 4 bbl. I am still running points on my 61 but have a Pertronix in the 62.

[62 tempest nashville]

Ok, Back from Floida,,
well a month ago. I came back draggin a HEMI, but thats another story.
I tore the rest of the engine apart last night. All I had left was to pull the crank and pistons. The cylinders had a lot of ware but the crank was beutiful, so i will go the .060 and use the 400 pistons,, Keith..Thanks for the info, it is just what I needed and it was going to be my next question... So i guess i will ask,, will it be the exact same compression ? I have 10:25 now. I know it will be more volume but what is the exact Pistons I want ? Is it the same in all aspects, just bigger around ???
I will look at the water pump and get a picture for you, and the you can tell me what you know about them....
I have a brand new 1bbl carb I got off Ebay, so I will be running that myself. I guess I will go with the same head and just cut the valves and seats. What is the better valve seal to use ? I can always change the top end, I want to get the bottom right, first.
Tell me, What else do I want to do while I have this thing apart ????
How about the oil ports ? Block, Crank.. Is there an upgrade for the lifters ?? I have the oil pump and timing seal fiqued out.
I still need to get a header, but we can talk about that again, later.

What about balancing the crank and parts,,, I'm sure it will make the old sewing machine sing a little louder... Will it help with known shake that these 4's have ? Will it be that much off that it will matter ??

Keep them ideas coming..........

[mechanickeith]

Jerry, The compression will be close to what it is now. With the .060 over bore, that will raise compression. But the duall valve relief pistons will lower compression. Only way to tell for sure is to have the piston reliefs & combustion chamber CC'd & do the math. With todays junk gas I would not run higher than 9.0 to 1 compression. You may have to change heads to lower the compression. The 61-62's used dished pistons to lower compression. In 63 they used a different head to lower compression. There was a discussion here a while back about this. The 63 low compression head may be the way to go to get the compression down where you need it. Need to have the crank checked, it may need to be reground. have the rods checked, may need to resize. New larger bore pistons, will need to have the rotating assembly balanced. Before balancing, have all the rods & pistons checked for weight. Ensure they are the same. Call around to all the local machine shops & find one that KNOWS Pontiac's!!! Then go there & check it out & talk to the machinist in person & check out the shop for cleanliness, etc, etc. If it does'nt look or feel right, go elsewhere. Just remember, this is just half of the 389!! Nothing fancy but does need to be done right, if it is to last. like I said, I use the standard oil pump from NAPA. I pull it apart to clean & inspect before installing. Melling # 54 pump, I belive. Nothing fancy about the block, a good vat cleaning should be fine. Make sure ALL the oil plugs are out before the vat. To include the oil gallery plug in the back of the block behind the distributor & the plug next to the dist. I have a wire brush I crimped onto a steel rod. I chuck it up in my drill & use it to clean all the oil gallerys. Get the gasket kit from www.bestgasket.com , this kit will have EVERYTHING needed for overhaul including the new graphite style rear main seal & the rubber lip seal for the front cover.

Man!!! Fingers getting tired!!! If I missed anything, let me know!!

Keith

[62 tempest nashville]

Happy Easter Everyone.....

[mechanickeith]

Looks pretty clean!!! How does the cam & lifters look?? You can get the cam reground at www.egge.com if it needs it. Last one I had done cost about $75.00. As you tear it apart, mark all the rods to keep them in order. Note the rod orientation on the pistons. Tab on the rod bearing goes to the cam side of the engine. There is a modification that needs to be done to the new rod bearings before assembly. If the rod & crank bearings look good, you will probably be able to get away with just a vat & polish on the crank. I have had several cranks that had 75-100K on them that checked out at std-std, just needed a polish.

Keith

[62 tempest nashville]

All marked up and ready to pull...

Look at this cylinder wear, i was suprised at how much.

[62 tempest nashville]

I had 3 piston with broken compression rings.

Not only was #4 one of the ones with a broken ring, it also had a broken skirt on the piston. I worder how long it's been like that... and yes, the piece was in the oil pan.

[62 tempest nashville]

Here is more of that, crazy crank.. More of the flywheel flange.

This sucker is heavy !!! Feels like an 8 cyl.

[62 tempest nashville]

Next

[62 tempest nashville]

It's at the machine shop now, but I'm trying to keep up with pictures....

Will be back next week..... Hot tanked, freeze plugs, cam bearings, crank pilished, 400 pistons and all balanced. More to come...

[mechanickeith]

Crank bearings look great for the amount of ridge in the cylinders. Any bad score's in the cylinders from the broken rings? How did the rod bearings look? Hope you keep the lifters in order if you plan on reusing them. If the cam is going to be reground, then new lifters are a given. Yes!!! The 4 cyl crank is heavy!! With all the bob weights needed to smooth out the big 4 cyls, the crank is about as much as a V8. Last rotating assy I had balanced, the shop was pi$$ing & moaning about all the drill bits they wore out trying to get the weight off the crank!! They said it was the hardest cast crank they had ever seen!! I used Ross .060 400 pistons with GRP Alum rods!!! Half the weight of the stock sluggs & cast rods!!! Yes!!! last build was bored .120 over!! I had it sonic checked & all cyl's were in the .280 .300 range!

Like I said, check the rod orientation on the old pistons & make sure the new ones are put on correctly!!! Make sure the rod bearing tab is towards the cam!! There is a slight modification that needs to be done to the rod bearings before balance. As this engine uses V8 parts, the stock V8 rod bearing has a bevel on one side to match with the rod journal radius on the crank. The 4 cyl crank has the radius on BOTH sides. You need to use a very fine half moon file & put a bevel on the other side of the rod bearing. Don't ask what happens if you dont do this!! I found out fast!!

Keith

BTW!!! Great pics!!!