by Mike » 2013 Apr 08 Mon 8:38 am
Well...while doing some final work on the 54's engine (intake, carb. linkage, setting up a distributor, final attachment of the pan and front cover), I've decided to pull the heads off...!
When I originally removed the engine from my 60 wagon, I had no forseeable plans for it. It sat outside for sometime...sorta covered,..!
Well, looking down one intake port, I noticed one valve/port pretty cruddy from rust. It appears that valve was closed so hopefully the cylinder is ok.
While the drive from Prescot AZ. (where I picked it up) to SoCal was uneventfull, (no smoke, no real over heating, etc.), the valve stem seals ARE...at least...53+ years old...so, I think I'll pull the heads off, which I wasn't gonna do.. and give them some light port massaging, check the seats for how well they seal, clean the valves and ports well, and put it all back together with new seals. I started thinking...for a person that does Hi-Perf. Stude head work for people...to NOT have a set of at least touched-up heads on his own car...is pretty bad..!
Though I'll probably do a good set eventually, I at least wanted give these a quick going over while removing the probably hard stem seals and cleaning up one rusty valve..!
Oh yea, the distributor.. I didn't realize that there is a GM distributor that "looks" like the "other" distributor that no one wants. It's a GM but no window and the weights were "below" the point plate...! Anyway, this came out of the 232 in my 55 wagon. All this "distributor" is going to be is a "disrtibutor"....yea, sounds funny , but there are no advance weights, no springs, no movement in the advance mechanisim (will be weleded next weekend!), no points (or Crane or Pertronix units)...JUST a cap and rotor.
The firing sequence/timing will come from the trigger wheel mounted to the damper hub.
Not much, but all for now.
Mike