How To Repair Cooling Tank 66 Thunderbird

Toward the end of 2022 in that location were engine issues, and so it was hoisted out, partially rebuilt (including a new hydraulic roller camshaft), and reinstalled. Recently it was successfully restarted.

The dog was and then happy he was jumping for joy!

The new camshaft bundle has the advantages of modern engineering redesign and is optimized to provide more low-end power to my stock Ford 390 engine. The new camshaft package came from Competition Cams™ and includes hydraulic roller lifters. Stock hydraulic lifters contact the cam with a flat bottom surface, whereas the roller lifters contact the cam with a pocket-size rotating roller resulting in a smoother, less fricative lift.

Installing the new cam and lifters requires a detailed serial of test measurements, referred to as "degreeing the cam." Performing the tests ensures that the new cam fits properly and will operate without damage to the engine. This took a few weeks for me to consummate because I didn't fully comprehend the reasoning behind each measurement. My research was supported by the advice of, and challenges set by, my automotive mentors.

This is the club in which the measurements should be washed.
1. Check the "run-out" of the installed camshaft
2. Align the crankshaft sprocket, camshaft sprocket, and timing chain for Top Expressionless Center (TDC).
3. Using the degree wheel, find the true TDC of the crankshaft.
four. Find the highest bespeak (center) of the camshaft lifter lobe.
5. Establish where the cam lobe eye occurs relative to TDC. Check that indicate confronting the specifications provided by the cam manufacturer.
6. Using an adjustable pushrod, measure the required pushrod length.
7. Measure to ensure sufficient clearance betwixt the valves and pistons.
8. Purchase a ready of pushrods of the measured length and install.

Later on reassembling the engine, it started and ran OK. Merely just just OK considering, despite smooth idle and acceleration, there's a borer noise emanating from the valve covers, which is louder on the right side. I removed the valve covers to locate the source of the tapping. The oiling was good, no aptitude pushrods, and no valve lash. What else could information technology be?

Bend in Splash Pan to Foreclose Lifter Bar Tapping (click to enlarge)

I suspect the dissonance to be one of the roller lifter retaining confined borer confronting the sheet metal splash pan that's under the intake manifold. (I noticed that that could happen when I was degreeing the cam. Was mindful of that when I reassembled the top end, but perchance not careful plenty.) My theory is supported past a mentor at Squarebirds.com, who also had this problem. Here'south a photo of his 390 showing how to curve upwards the splash pan and so that information technology clears the lifter hardware.

So one time over again (I've lost count how many times!), the intake manifold had to be removed, repairs fabricated, engine reassembled and restarted.

Bending the baffle in the indicated spot did articulate the #i lifter bar, but then I had clearance bug at the #8 position. Truth is, the whole baffle is warped and defies attempts to bend it dorsum to its original shape.

To ensure clearances I installed stand-offs.The stand-offs are 2″ alpine. Each stand up-off is secured with a lock washer, opposing basics, and sealer. The stand up-offs are positioned to contact the "V" in the valley backside/betwixt the lifter sets, so that the stand-offs stay put.

Click the photos to enlarge.

Thank you,

Here are the pics of my friend's 1957 T-bird. Purchased in 1958, he'southward the second owner. The last time it was running was when his kids drove it every bit their high school machine. It's been stored in his old gin manufactory (now an antique shop) for the final 25 years. The engine is a 292. The original paint was a coral cerise, not the current green.

He wants to get it running again. The starter turns the engine smoothly, no problem in that location. Frozen carb accelerator pump (I'thou currently rebuilding the carb). Rusted fuel line to the carb (replaced). He's removing the fuel tank (seems to be rust-free) to drain, clean, seal. Some rusty ignition wiring.

Hairline crack (right) and partial repair (left) (click to enlarge)

Hairline crack (right) and partial repair (left)
(click to enlarge)

The brass coolant reservoir tank sprang a leak along its border seal. Y'all tin see the hairline crevice in the accompanying photograph. Since a new unit costs $200+tax+shipping, it was worth trying to repair information technology. Here's how it was done.

Brass Strip

• Cut a piece of brass shaped to wrap the edges of the tank. The serrations are cut so that the strip tin bend smoothly around the tank'south curved corner.

• Clamping it to the summit edge on one side, solder it in identify, and then curve the strip around the corner and solder it to the pinnacle edge on the other side.
• Flow solder along the entire elevation edge, making certain the joint is completely covered.
• Borer with a pocket-size brad hammer, gently curve the brass strip around the tank's edge. Utilise pliers to finish bending the strip so that information technology makes a tight fit against the edge's underside.
• Menstruation solder along the bottom seam between the strip and tank edge, ensuring complete coverage.

The beginning photograph shows the tank partially repaired on the left side.

I found that using a 40 watt soldering atomic number 26 doesn't provide sufficient heat. A propane plumbing torch provides too much heat, causing solder to slide off the connections. What worked all-time for me was a butane mini soldering torch (e.thou., Bernzomatic #ST250, available at Lowes for $20).

Coolant tank repaired, painted, installed . (click to enlarge)

Coolant tank repaired, painted, installed .
(click to enlarge)

Here'southward a shot of the successfully repaired tank.

Thank you,

Last wintertime was eternal, making it difficult to work on the car. This blog cruel by the wayside. A benevolent spring brought opportunity to become back on track. There is much to think.

To brainstorm, the engine, which had been running nicely, developed a serious problem. Back when I installed the new fuel tank, I had drained the old tank of the sludge and some onetime leaded gas. I filtered the gas, virtually ii gallons, and stored it. Existence the responsible sort, I didn't want to pour the gas out onto the ground and, thinking information technology could practise no harm, mixed information technology 50/l with the unleaded gas the engine was running on.

Shortly thereafter the engine began to run badly, cough and sputtering. Spark plugs became fouled. Fifty-fifty after cleaning the plugs the engine wouldn't run on all cylinders.

Removing the valve covers revealed several bent pushrods. Removing the heads revealed blackened pistons. Valve stems were coated with a varnish-similar gummy rest.

Aptitude Pushrods
(click to enlarge

Blackened Pistons
(click to enlarge)

Fouled Valve
(click to enlarge)

All the valves had to exist disassembled from the head and cleaned. Indeed, some of the valves were frozen in their guides by the "varnish." Those had to be soaked overnight in lacquer thinner and tapped free with a rubber hammer.

I also partially disassembled the carburetor, carefully cleaning out all passages with denatured alcohol and compressed air.

Luckily, the ane silvery lining is that the engine was existence fueled via a gas can fastened to the fuel pump – my new gas tank was uncontaminated.

The remaining task was to supercede the bent pushrods. Old Ford engines don't have a screw on the rocker arm to conform valve lash to the pushrod length. With a Ford engine the pushrods must exist of predetermined lengths, measured and selected such that there is no valve lash. Having to practise that and not confident about the land of the old lifters, I decided to upgrade to a new hydraulic roller lifter and camshaft system.

Installation of the new cam arrangement required a series of authentic measurements (with the engine removed from the auto), to exist discussed in an upcoming weblog post.

In view of my wife's stance* (outrageous!) that I'yard accident prone (what about mitigating circumstances?), I endeavor to take a most overcautious opinion regarding work safety. And then, to this point the engine has been running with fuel supplied from a gas can connected to the fuel pump hose. At that place's no gas in the gas tank still. That's because I'm completing trunk repairs in the rear of the car. Welding and grinding creates estrus and sparks — very dangerous near gas fumes.

Most of the trunk of the '66 Thunderbird is double-walled, with exterior and interior walls welded together at the edges, forming a strong structure resistant to bending and vibration. The downside is that (1) it makes the car very heavy and (ii) h2o and moist dirt have a tendency to become trapped in betwixt the walls at the lesser joints causing rusting from the within to the exterior surfaces of both walls.

The accompanying diagram shows the left bicycle well expanse.

bodywork

Rust Repair Procedure

In this case the rust had eaten through both walls and too weakened the structural integrity of the wheel well curvature. It'southward best to brand repairs to an acceptable standard of manufacture do. In cases where rust has completely eaten abroad the metal, I start by cutting away the rusted areas leaving solid metallic, so welding in new sheet metal using a MIG welder.

In this particular area, cutting away the rust left nothing to weld new metal to. Besides needed was a solid restoration of the wheel well curvature. For that I used a length of ¼" square rod, bent to the bicycle well curvature and welded to where the existing metal was nevertheless solid.

Before welding in new metal, the existing metallic is thoroughly cleaned of rust and treated with Eastwood™ Rust Converter to ensure that the expanse won't oxidize further. (Note that the Rust Converter is cracking stuff merely, at about $32/quart + shipping, is expensive.) Once the new metal is welded in place the weld spots are smoothed with a grinder. Next, Bondo is practical and sanded smooth (repeating until the surface conforms perfectly to torso contours). Rubberized undercoat is applied to the interior joints and wall surfaces to seal them from moisture so that they never rust again. The undercoat likewise serves to repose the car. And so the exterior surfaces are primed and painted.

Door prior to disassembly.	Door Disassembled	The motorcar doors had been removed in social club to have admission to the car's interior and to make it easier to restore operation of the windows and locks. The rust on the doors was not as severe equally the rear quarter panel discussed above.
In this example the rust had created pivot-holes in the metallic merely didn't eat away enough of the metal to require new metal inserts. To repair pivot-holes, both sides of the console are sanded so treated with Rust Converter. A fiberglass patch is applied to the interior of the panel, followed past a thin coat of Bondo on the exterior. The interior is undercoated.	Door interior bottom showing dirt and trash that crusade rust	Interior of door, cleaned, treated and sealed.

If you're doing this for your own car at that place are ii products I recommend that will save money. To seal joints, employ with a castor Henry™ Plastic Roof Cement (available from Domicile Depot for about $9/gallon). The other product is the Rubberized Undercoating bachelor from Harbor Freight, less than $5 for a large spray can.

Thanks!

PS…

*Do notation that I adore my wife. Although I portray her in the She-Who-Must-Exist-Obeyed stereotype, that is merely a literary device. She is without doubt the all-time that'southward ever happened to me. For too many years I avoided getting married, living a life of international travel and the freedom to adventure every bit I pleased. That's a smashing life for a young human, but along the way I met men similar me who had grown old, bitter, and alone because they never married. The woman who is now my wife rescued me from that fate.

Success!

Equally you can come across from the video, the engine starts and runs fairly smooth. It took a long fourth dimension to go far. In addition to a few mechanical problems, there were family unit exigencies to attend to during the summer.

Actually the engine kickoff started in late July, but noticing that there was no oil circulating through the rocker arms I immediately shut information technology off. I now know that it's important to prime number the oil system prior to initial start. To practice that with the engine not running, one removes the distributor and operates the oil pump with a priming tool, which is just an extension of the pump shaft fastened to an electrical drill.

Information technology still needs to be tuned up and to do that the automobile needs to be drivable. That requires further reassembly of the car. Much of that reassembly had been put off until I was confident the engine would non have to be removed to correct an as all the same unforeseen problem.

So, moving forward the side by side nigh-term milestones will be:

• Complete painting of auto interior
• Stop restoration of dashboard
• Install dashboard, instrumentation,
• Reassemble steering cavalcade and install
• Install commuter's seat
• Connect shift linkage
• Remove remaining surface rust from underbody, seal and undercoat.
• Re-plumb brake system, install and exam brakes
• Mount tires and test drive train
• Fine melody engine

The wiper motor is run off the ability steering system. The '66 factory manual doesn't show how the wiper motor hoses are connected. Then here's a diagram showing those connections.

Windshield Wiper Motor Connections

(click to overstate)

Cheers!

It's been about a year now and, judging past the pictures beneath, you might recall that there hasn't been much progress. Information technology'south just that there is then much prep work that goes into the foundational elements. As a typical case, yous can't run the car without gas, but the trunk had to exist repaired before the gas tank could be installed. And every chore seems to take twice as long every bit predicted.

Simply now we're finally at the point where the focus is starting the engine! So all the hoses, wiring, and linkages are being reinstalled. The starter has been installed and tested — it turns the engine freely and there are no oil leaks. Hopefully, my adjacent post will exist a short video of a running Ford 390. Stay tuned. Thanks!

(Note that clicking on any flick will enlarge it to full size.)

The [mostly] reassembled engine, ready for installation (click to enlarge)

The [mostly] reassembled engine, ready for installation
(click to overstate)

Contempo progress was marked yesterday when my brother Erik and I moved the engine from the sunporch in my house to the work expanse next to the car. Moving the stripped engine block to the sunporch had been a relatively like shooting fish in a barrel one-human being chore. But after installing crankshaft, pistons, heads, intake manifold, et al, the combined assembly weighed considerably more. Strapped to a paw truck, it required the employ of a floor jack just to tip it dorsum so it could be rolled outside. And so we used the flooring jack to tip information technology back upright.

Other progress has been fabricated prepping the auto for the engine installation.

The interior of the machine has been scraped, sanded, primed and sealed. Special attending is being paid to upgrading the soundproofing using modern materials.

We removed the doors to make access in and around the machine easier. It's also easier to piece of work the doors on a bench surface rather than on the car, and makes it easier to prime and paint the door jambs and fenders.

The old heating unit of measurement has been removed and the combined air conditioning/heating unit procured and awaiting installation.

The gas tank was removed for cleaning and sealing. The tank tuckered a few gallons of decades old, rusty gasoline sludge. The sending unit was rusted out and will be replaced with a new one. I'yard cleaning the within of the tank by inserting a heavy chain and sloshing it around in muriatic acid. When the rinse comes out clean, the tank volition be dried and sealed with a product called Cerise Kote.

Removal of the fuel tank allows access to the car underside and so that rusty surfaces can be treated and sealed.

Cylinder Head Cross Section (click to enlarge)

Cylinder Caput Cross Section (click to overstate)

Cylinder heads are the gateways to and from the combustion chambers formed past the pistons in the cylinders. As the crankshaft turns, cycling the pistons upward and down in the cylinders, it besides rotates the camshaft, which in turn synchronizes the opening and closing of the valves, 2 valves per combustion chamber. One valve opens the passage for fuel to enter the combustion chamber. The second valve opens to allow waste gasses (exhaust) to get out the chamber. The valve seats (shown red in the diagram) are the areas where the valves contact the head to shut the passage.

The valves cycle open-and-shut in a "4-stroke" combustion sequence, equally shown in this animation. 4StrokeEngine_Ortho_3D_Small

The first valve opens to allow the fuel aerosol coming from the carburetor into the combustion chamber. Then information technology closes.
The piston comes up, compressing the fuel droplets.
The spark plug ignites the fuel causing it to explode, forcing the piston back downward.
At present the second valve opens up a path to the exhaust pipe. Every bit the piston comes back upwardly, it pushes the exhaust gases out. The second valve closes.

The wheel keeps repeating (until you turn off the engine).

The stock 1966 cylinder heads for the T-bird are fabricated of iron. The valves are made of steel. One of the reasons that tetraethyl lead was added to gasoline dorsum and so was that it lubricated the valve seats to continue them from wearing out as well quickly.

Since leaded gas is no longer available, running the engine with the former heads would require that a lead-like additive exist mixed with the unleaded gas at each fill-up. (EPA probably doesn't fifty-fifty let that anymore.) And then, in gild to run on unleaded gas the old heads must exist retrofitted with valves made of stainless steel and the valve seats coated in a modern alloy such as stellite. But since that's expensive, for just a few dollars more (and less logistics) an even better solution is to just replace the heads with modern aluminum heads, which are designed to run on unleaded. And there are other advantages to aluminum heads.

Aluminum heads weigh significantly less than iron heads. Less weight means better gas mileage.

Aluminum conducts more than heat than fe – four times more than. Temperature control is the function of the cooling organization, which uses a thermostat to regulate coolant to menses through the engine, keeping it at a virtually-constant temperature. For iron cylinder heads the thermostat is set up to operate at near 180°F. Above 180°F, the thermostat allows coolant to flow through the engine, cooling it downward; below 180°F the thermostat closes, keeping the engine from becoming too absurd.

Aluminum heads assist in conducting excess rut away from the engine cake, preventing runaway temperature increases beyond the capacity of the cooling system to handle, making it feasible to run the engine at a higher temperature. Therefore, a thermostat set to operate at 195°F can be used. The improved conductive efficiency of the aluminum heads transports heat abroad from the cake allowing for the engine to be run at the higher temperature. The higher engine temperature increases the fuel aerosol pressure in the combustion chamber. The increased chamber force per unit area results in a more than consummate fuel fire. This, in turn, creates: