[Verdoro 68]

Why only rotate clockwise? It wasn’t about saving time, it just didn’t occur to me to go all the way around.

[Formulajones]

It's most accurate that way, as the engine rotates or runs. Moving it back and forth sometimes will throw a smidge amount of play in it that will throw off the readings. Even if it's just a thou, you're trying to be as accurate as possible.

Try it and see if you get a different result. If not, then it sounds like you're good to go.

[Verdoro 68]

Ok, so it's not about breaking or damaging anything, it's about avoiding any slack in the assembly. Sounds like my general measurement procedure is ok though? Will do it clockwise and see how it comes out.

I almost forgot about the crank scraper. I used grey Permatex to adhere it to the block. Well over .080 clearance from the crank across the board so no need to trim it.

Next on my list is the oil pump. It's a 60psi Butler pump. Should I run the shim they provided for a little more pressure?

[Skip Fix]

I would weld some straps on the section where the dipstick is. Many have cracks and break off! Here is a thread where Old Man Taylor had pictures of his. All of mine have them now.
http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...t=Windage+tray

[scott70]

you going to drill a few more,larger holes in that windage tray for quicker oil return to the pan?

[Verdoro 68]

Originally Posted by Skip Fix

I would weld some straps on the section where the dipstick is. Many have cracks and break off! Here is a thread where Old Man Taylor had pictures of his. All of mine have them now.
http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...t=Windage+tray

Good call. This pan is in solid shape, but I know it's not uncommon for them to crack.

Originally Posted by scott70

you going to drill a few more,larger holes in that windage tray for quicker oil return to the pan?

I hadn't planned on it. What's the best practice here?

[25stevem]

Please do drill more drain holes in that, and I know that you have that scraper glued down, but that .080” is not going to do a whole lot!
I when I use these I slot the bolt holes and trim what’s needed to get that clearance to be half of that ,080”.

[Verdoro 68]

Originally Posted by 25stevem

Please do drill more drain holes in that, and I know that you have that scraper glued down, but that .080” is not going to do a whole lot!
I when I use these I slot the bolt holes and trim what’s needed to get that clearance to be half of that ,080”.

The .080 clearance was a typo. I did .060 as the Butler instructions suggested. Still too far to do any good?

What size, how many holes and where do you place them in the windage tray? Assuming I could follow what the Tomahawk tray does.

[Skip Fix]

I added a few more holes in mine and had them teflon coated.

[scott70]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

The .080 clearance was a typo. I did .060 as the Butler instructions suggested. Still too far to do any good?

What size, how many holes and where do you place them in the windage tray? Assuming I could follow what the Tomahawk tray does.

That pic looks about right. I always have drilled my windage trays. Maybe like a 5/16 drill bit.

[Skip Fix]

If you look at a used tray even in a motor that has had decent oil changes the old oil and debris sitting there and not draining build up crap.

[Verdoro 68]

You all convinced me. I pulled the tray, drilled and deburred it using the Tomahawk pic as a guide. A stepped bit made quick work of the project. I did this outside about 20 feet from my short block and scrubbed it down really, really good with soap and water afterwards. I could see how the additional holes help a lot when cleaning it.

After I got that cleaned up, I degreed the cam again only going clockwise and came up with the same values , so I'm going to call the cam and timing set good to go. I put the fuel pump eccentric on and measured cam endplay, which is a little on the tight side of the spec at .003. The rotating assembly turns over with about 23 ft/lbs on the torque wrench give or take.

Next I completely disassembled and cleaned the Butler oil pump. Glad I did because there was some debris in there. The pressure relief spring was also painted and the paint was starting to flake off. I probably should have picked up the 80lb pump, but I ordered the 60lb way back when. Reading other threads, it seems like it will be just fine, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to add the provided the shim to up the pressure a little bit more. It's a tiny washer, I'm not sure exactly how much more PSI it provides.

Fitting the pickup depth to the new stock replacement Milodon pan is next on my list, then I'll move to fitting the pan, front cover and checking the balancer for TDC accuracy.

[grandam1979]

So I have been watching the debates on the trays I’m surprised no one has talked about the difference in trays. I had one come apart a few years back and under inspection found the tray had only had 3 ribs down the non dip stick side. Started looking at some of the others I had and found they made them with 6 ribs down the side that improves strength a lot anyone who has ever bead rolled aluminum with tell you that. As for the full length tray I personally don’t think there’s any advantage of it in the front of engine. I have noticed all the broken tray pictures posted have been 3 bead trays. I went out to take a picture of the difference but I have sold all the 3 bead trays already but here’s the 6 bead picture. I don’t have one to check but if I remember right the 6 bead trays are a little thicker.

[Holeshot71]

Originally Posted by grandam1979

So I have been watching the debates on the trays I’m surprised no one has talked about the difference in trays. I had one come apart a few years back and under inspection found the tray had only had 3 ribs down the non dip stick side. Started looking at some of the others I had and found they made them with 6 ribs down the side that improves strength a lot anyone who has ever bead rolled aluminum with tell you that. As for the full length tray I personally don’t think there’s any advantage of it in the front of engine. I have noticed all the broken tray pictures posted have been 3 bead trays. I went out to take a picture of the difference but I have sold all the 3 bead trays already but here’s the 6 bead picture. I don’t have one to check but if I remember right the 6 bead trays are a little thicker.

I’ve been following this thread and really like this build and the detailed work.
Never noticed that with the trays. I have a couple and will have to check them out.

V68, I noticed in the 2nd to last pic, the three holes at the bottom. Is that the counter weight on the left hole? It might just be the angle of the pic but something looks really close?

[Verdoro 68]

Maybe I’m naive, but this windage tray seems pretty solid. No indication of stress cracks anywhere and lower dipstick tube fits perfect. On the flip side, it is original to the car and is 54 years old. What causes them to crack? Is the safe bet just to bite the bullet and get a Tomahawk tray?

Originally Posted by Holeshot71

I’ve been following this thread and really like this build and the detailed work.
Never noticed that with the trays. I have a couple and will have to check them out.

V68, I noticed in the 2nd to last pic, the three holes at the bottom. Is that the counter weight on the left hole? It might just be the angle of the pic but something looks really close?

I looked closely at the clearance when I installed the tray and didn’t see anything that caused concern. FWIW, I’m running the spacers Butler sells. I spun the crank around to see what’s showing up in the pic and I think the light just happened to catch a rod in a funky way. Thanks for noticing. I love the eagle eyes around here.

[johnta1]

6 ribs down the side that improves strength a lot

Your pic looks like a full length tray. After some year (1970 maybe?) they went to a 3/4 length tray. (front 2 rod journals are not covered)

I think vibration is the culprit for the tray cracking.

[Verdoro 68]

Spent a few hours working on getting the bottom end tightened up. Since I'm using a factory-type oil pan, the notch in the oil pump provided about 3/8" distance from the bottom of the pan to the filter. Tacked the pickup into place, put the driveshaft into place, torqued it down to 40 ft/lbs with blue loctite and the copper gasket Butler provided. I think I'm good to go.

I started fitting up the pan while I was working on the pump. The BOP one piece gasket is a nice piece, but you need to pay attention to the details when installing one. The rear part of the seal had to be persuaded to seat into the in the valley in the main cap. I used a little screwdriver to pop it into place. Next, the 12 ft/lbs of torque in the instructions are critical to it to lay down properly.

I used a little assembly grease to test how the seal was mating on the rear main. I ended up having to massage the pan a little bit to get the seal to even out. I probably spent 2 or 3 hours messing with the pan, had it on and off probably 10 times and I still don't feel like I'm done, but it's close. I'll be really irritated if this thing leaks like it did before when it's all together.



Next, I fit up the front cover and balancer so I could validate TDC. Determining TDC by a dial indicator on the #1 piston, it looks like TDC is about 2 degrees off. I put the original cover back on to see if it was an anomaly with the reproduction, but got the same results. Curious how common this is. Everything else has been spot on so far.



Perhaps I sign that I was overdue for a better front cover, I never realized the coolant fittings were drop in. They were so corroded in place on my original I thought they were press in! I also installed the alignment collars which I don't think my engine has ever had as far as I can remember. BTW, this is a '69 front cover. For whatever reason, my car had one when I bought it '91 so I decided to keep it that way. Everything else was original so my hunch is it may have had to do with the timing chain replacement.

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[Verdoro 68]

The two degrees was bugging me. I think the balancer I had is a stock replacement Pioneer I got for the build in 2010. Thinking that it might be wrong, I ordered a Powerbond 1056SS. This one is a little more accurate, maybe a degree off, plus it's SFI rated. I think I can live with it.

I need to go poke the machine shop on my heads since I'm about ready for them. Based on advice here, I do have a set of Harland Sharp diamond roller rockers on the way to replace the PRWs. They're backordered until the end of the month. The Crowers were backordered until December, maybe longer.

[Verdoro 68]

I broke down an ordered the Tomahawk windage tray after reading it's made of thicker metal. I needed a new oil filter adapter from Butler anyway. Still waiting on the heads. He promised me he'd start at the end of the week, but he's been saying that for about 3 months now.

In the mean time, I've been trying my hand at gasket matching and modifying the repro RAIV intake. Been using a cordless multispeed Dewalt grinder I picked up for this job some aluminum grinding bits and a kit of sandpaper rolls from Amazon. I've been running the grinder at the lowest speed (10k), seems to do ok. Right now I have the ports rough finished with the 80 grit rolls. I've heard you want to leave some texture on them, not sure how much is ok.

In addition to matching the ports, I opened up the carb plenum. I used pics of modified intakes I found in the forum as a guide. I didn't do the notch between the secondaries. Seems the benefit is debatable?

At this point, I think I'm only limited by my knowledge and skills Hopefully I'm not doing more harm than good.

[Formulajones]

You don't have to permanently modify the intake with the notch between the secondaries. You could make a short 1/2" spacer from phenolic or wood to match the intake, and then put the notch in that spacer, just to see if it's something that helps the car or not.

Usually what I do before I do something hard to reverse on the intake itself. Usually a spacer is helpful anyway, increasing plenum volume.

Just tossing it out there.