Wed, Apr 20

Tom made it over after he got out of work and finished the rear brake install for me.  Thanks, Tom!  Assembling the T5 is a slow process since I'd never seen one until this project.  Here's all the parts laid out on two benches and ready for assembly.

The pile of parts on the oil stained paper towel in the second pic is everything that came out that's being replaced.  Step one was comparing the old parts with the new to make sure all were accounted for and all were the same. 

Also put some silicone and undercoating spray on the bottom of the floor cover and put a coat of black semi gloss on the top side over the primer.  Only things left for the cover is adding a layer of duct insulation on top as a sound deadener and heat barrier and installing the Lokar Eliminator gas pedal and cable assembly.

A little history

Just though I'd share this bit of history on the car.  When I removed the radio a while back, I noticed a phone number written on the bottom.  No area code; just the number.  I recognized the prefix (669) as a Hudsonville exchange and wondered if that was a good number and if anyone there remembered the 41.  I did a reverse lookup on the internet and found someone listed for that phone number and decided to give them a call.  I called twice last week and got an answering machine both times.  I didn't leave a message either time but called a third time on Sunday and this time I did leave a meassage.  I left my name and inidicated I had found their phone number on a radio in a 41 Chevy and asked them to call if they knew anything about the car or the radio. Well, last night I got a phone call from the guy and it turns out he is a former owner of the car!  He's lived in Hudsonville for the past 33 years and bought the car from an antique car dealer that used to be in business in the downtown area of Hudsonville.  He's not sure of the dates but thinks he had the car in the late 80's or early 90's and only had it for about two years.  The receipts that came with the car indicate the owner that Dennis bought it from had it as early as 1993.  Scott, the guy from Hudsonville, said he got it already restored and it was his first "extra" car.  He sold the 41 and bought a 55 2 door.  Scott said he was never a mechanic and he either paid to have things fixed on the 41 or his dad worked on the car.  The new looking master cylinder for the brakes is something he had installed.  And he remembers having the vacuum system for the shift assist fixed at one time too.  He only lives a few miles from me and I invited him to stop by and check out the car.  He inidicated he would like to do that.  Should be fun to reminisce

Tues update

Napa had the brake line adapter for the rear brake hose so that problem is solved.  Also picked up a piece of vacuum line and a fitting to extend the wiper hose.  Gemmens Hardware had the longer SS screws for the gas pedal with the spacer and I picked up a longer SS bolt for the carb base on the corner where the Lokar bracket mounts.  Painted the trans cross member area that my brother reworked as well as the floor cover and the gas pedal spacer.  Tom from Maksim's called to schedule tomorrow evening as the time to finish the brakes.  Pulled the trans case back out of the car and cleaned all the trans parts.  Also matched all the old parts with the replacements to make sure I have everything needed to reassemble the T5.  Tomorrow should be the day for that.

Here's a pic of the engine area showing the radiator installed as well as the fuel lines.

  Still have to install the upper radiator hose but I may wait til the new cooling fan arrives.

Here's before and after pics of the trans crossmember. 

Monday update

Started assembling the rear brakes this afternoon and got thoroughly frustrated.  Too many parts issues to list.  I finally had enough and called Tom at Maksim's to see if he could stop over and bail me out.  I hate brakes!  Might have to wait until later in the week for Tom.  I did get a few things accomplished.  Made a 3/4" wooden spacer for under the gas pedal and test fit the pedal assembly on the floor cover.  Also installed the Lokar throttle cable to the carb and checked all the adjustments to make sure it will work.  Seems perfect.  Installed the linkage for the foot starter on the bell housing, primered the floor cover and wooden spacer, installed the radiator support, radiator and lower radiator hose.  Reconnected the fuel lines to and from the fuel pump and reinstalled the radiator support rods that attach thru the firewall.  The dash grill I bought on ebay arrived to day.  Looks like it will clean up nicely.  Had some greenish color to parts of it but when I rubbed that area with lacquer thinner on a rag, the green came right off!  Must be overspray.  Ordered a shifter boot and carb return springs from Jeg's tonight.  I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow.

Another weekend - another update!

Had limited time to spend on the car this weekend but what time I had was quite productive.  Picked up the transmission cover/floor pan from my brother, Chip, on Friday night.  He had the new insert tacked in place for a test fit.  He also had the mount on the crossmember relocated to the opposite side.  While I was at his garage, he made up the adapter plate to relocate the trans mount farther to the rear and align with the modified crossmember mount.  Gotta take some pics tomorrow to make this a bit more understandable.  The trans cover had a little interference with the passenger front area of the transmission.  I cut out the offending piece and Chip finished the trimming and welded in a small patch on Sunday.  Saturday afternoon, I sorted thru all the rear brake parts and got everything set up for the brake install.  The new wheel cylinders are on and the brake lines were a perfect fit across the rear end to the junction block.  The brake hose I bought has the wrong size line connection for connecting to the line on the car so I'm either going to have to get an adapter or buy a different hose.  Here's the finished trans cover.

The square hole is where the shifter mounts to the transmission.  Here's an interior view with the cover in place but not bolted in.

The new Lokar gas pedal had to be raised up a bit because the lever that's under the floor was hitting the edge of the bell housing.  I tried a couple of different spacer thicknesses and finally determined that a 3/4" spacer under the pedal would allow full motion of the pedal and arm.  I think I'll make a spacer out of 3/4" plywood scrap I have on hand rather than spending another $30+ for a Lokar spacer.  I'm looking forward to the week ahead now that several obstacles have been eliminated. 

Making Progress

My son Mitch came over this afternoon and we pulled the engine back out and did the grinding on the front engine mount to lengthen the mounting holes.  Also replaced the lower engine mount bolts as the old, original bolts were badly corroded and rusted away.  The engine went back in without a hitch and everything now lines up perfectly!  Mitch also brought the aluminum slotted wheels back all polished and ready for tires.  His buddy Mike did an awesome job. 

Took the trans cover/floor panel and trans crossmember to brother Chip's house tonight along with a drawing of the dimensions with the transmission in the car.  He is going to rework the top cover to provide clearance for the trans as well as cut a square opening for the shifter mount.  He's also going to relocate the trans mount on the crossmember so the Muncie type trans mount will be able to bolt to the crossmember.  Once the cover is reworked to clear the transmission, we'll tackle the gas pedal mounting to provide clearance from the bell housing.  Looks like we're back on track. 

Solutions

The good news - I've figured out a way to not have to disassemble 2 engines and replace the front mount on the 235.  The bad news? - The 235 has to come out again!  Not really such a big deal since nothing has been added to the engine since we set it in the car.  The plan is to use a carbide grinding bit to lengthen the mounting holes on the 235 front mounting plate.  This should allow proper alignment of the bolts into the front motor mounts.  I installed the transmission and crossmember yesterday to check the fit and discovered the transmission extends too high through the floor to clear the cover.  Plus the mounting plate on the crossmember is too far forward for the T5 transmission mount.  Decided that was enought challenges for my brain to deciper so I walked away and came back this morning for another look. 

Came up with a plan for modifying the transmission cover/floor panel so I can still use that piece.  Talked to my brother, Chip, earlier today and he plans to stop over later today to look over the modification plan and see if my idea will work.  I'll also have him check out the transmission to crossmember mounting and see what we can come up with to provide a different mount there.  The only other item to be reworked will be the gas pedal.  The new Lokar pedal contacts the bell housing in it's current location.  May have to space it up a bit to provide clearance under the floor.  I ordered a driveshaft yoke for the T5 transmission today and now that I know how the transmission fits in the car, I can go ahead with assembly of the T5.  Also spoke with a couple of local, custom driveshaft makers this morning.   Once the trans yoke arrives, I'll be able to provide the necessary dimensions so the drive shaft can be made up.

Challenges, challenges!

Mitch stopped over after work last night and we dropped the 235 in the 41.  It really didn't "drop in" though.  First we had to remove the foot starter bracket from the bell housing since it wouldn't allow the engine to go far enough back in the chassis.  Then we found the rear engine mounts had been on backwards on the 216 and those had to be pulled.  Swapping the mounts from one side to the other got the rear alignment right.  Then the BIG challenge presented itself.  This 235 is out of a 1953 car and I reinstalled the 53 front engine mounting plate when I rebuilt it.  Turns out the hole spacing on the 53 is narrower than the 41 plate that is on the 216 engine.  NOT good!  We installed one front bolt in the driver's side motor mount and let the passenger side rest on that mount.  That was the end of work last night.  Time to put the thinking cap on and see if I can figure a way to make the current mount work.  Otherwise, the 235 will have to come out again and be partially disassembled.  The 216 will also need disassembly in order to remove the mounting plate.  Hopefully, it won't come to that.
   On a more positive note, I picked up a couple of 1/2 x 13 socket head bolts yesterday which will make fitting the transmission to the bell housing a bit easier.  Installed the new Lokar gas pedal on the transmission cover/floor panel.  Also finished drilling the 6 bolt wheel pattern in the chrome center caps for the slotted aluminum wheels.  Mitch took the wheels last night to get them polished.  The new ignition switch arrived yesterday but it was the wrong one.  The fella I had talked to at Chevs of the 40's apparently forgot a "D" suffix letter on the part number and that got me a switch for a later year car.  Got the return sorted out and ordered the correct switch.  The new Hurst shifter just arrived a few minutes ago.  Hopefully that won't present any new challenges.  Time for some lunch and an afternoon of head scratching to see if I can devise a way to NOT have to pull the enigine out again.

Tues, Apr 5th

Picked up a few more parts today.  Found a hole plug that worked to fill the large hole in the firewall where I removed the key-to-coil armored cable grommet.  Also picked up a right angle fitting to complete the parts needed for the addition of a pcv system.  The old "road tube" crankcase ventilation system was kinda ugly and I've read of guys creating their own pcv systems so I decided to do the same.  The Holley carb has a 3/8" vacuum line at the rear providing a perfect place to connect a pcv line. Here's pictures of the system installed.  The open end of the T connector will be used to connect the windshield wipers.

I used a 1 1/4" soft plug to fill the road tube hole and drilled a 3/4" hole in the plug prior to installation.  A rubber grommet then goes in the hole and a Ford 90 degree pcv valve pushes tightly in the grommet.  I had an aluminum clip/hanger in my parts bin that I used to support the 3/8" line at the rear of the side cover.  A right angle connector directs the hose across the back of the cylinder head and an adjustable T fitting allows the 3/8 tube to connect to the back of the carb and a 5/16 connector will connect to the wipers.

Also replaced a couple of Welch plugs in the front and rear of the motor today and touched up all the scratches in the paint.  Moved the engine off the engine stand and set it in the cradle to allow installation of the bell housing and clutch assembly.  Everything lined up perfectly.

I test fitted the transmission to the bell housing and checked the clearance of the throw out bearing.  Only issue I see is the bolt heads on the transmission bolts interfere a bit with the transmission case.  May have to switch from hex head bolts to socket head to solve this problem.  At this point, the plan is for Mitch to stop tomorrow, Wednesday, after work and help install the engine in the car. 

April 4

Today was a parts day to buy the items needed once the engine is in the car.  Bought new hoses, belt, heater hoses and fittings, vacuum hose and T fitting and parts to add a pcv system.  Removed the oil pan again and double checked the rear main seal.  I'm still concerned that it leaked the last time we ran the engine on the dyno.  Hopefully it's fixed. 

April begins

Great weather on Friday made it possible to borrow Dick's pickup and bring the 235 home.  I had previously replaced the hydraulic cylinder on the engine hoist borrowed from a friend of Mitch and it worked like a champ.  I was able to unload the engine from the back of the truck with no problem.  Parked it on the engine stand and, once I returned the pickup, spent the afternoon clearing all the parts out of the garage that were not going back on the 41.

 My wife and daughter went to a wedding in Chicago on Saturday so I had the entire day to myself.  A quick trip to Home Depot provided the wood necessary to build another engine cradle.  Figured that would be easier than trying to swap the 216 and 235 to use the engine cradle as a fixture when I need to install the clutch and bell housing. Plus, the second cradle will provide a fixture to support the 54 engine when I bring it home.  Installed the necessary oil, water, and fuel fittings to adapt the 235 to the 41.  Installed the generator to align the brackets and check the belt alignment.  Made a list of additional parts needed and spent the rest of the day trying to make the stock gas pedal and rod assembly work with the Holley 4bbl carb.  Finally decided it was easier to purchase a new Lokar gas pedal than attempting to overcome all the obstacles of using the stock pedal.  First off, the 216 bell crank pivot location is 3.5" farther forward than the location on the 235.  This would necessitate making a new rod.  Second, the stock rod is unsupported as it comes thru the floor panel and uses a stop which rests against part of the stock column sifter.  Since the shifter has been removed, that stop has nothing to contact any more.  Third, the Mr. Gasket bellcrank kit I purchased comes in contact with one of the remote oil filter lines where it comes out of the block.  It will be tough enough to install dual exhaust pipes and the remote filter lines on the driver's side of the engine without adding the bellcrank, rod and throttle cable assembly to the mix.  Hopefully, the 24" cable kit I bought will be long enough to reach the floor mounted gas pedal and won't have interference with the bell housing or starter equipment.  If it's too short, I'll have to pop for the 36" kit and cut the cable to fit.  One good thing is how the gas pedal will mount in the car.  The stock pedal is mounted on the removable transmission/bell housing cover.  The new pedal should install in the same location and this will prevent having to cut any holes in the stock floor.  So far, I've been able to hold to my plan to not cut or remove anything from the car that can't be reinstalled to put it back to its original condition.  Here's a couple pictures of the engine on the stand with some accessories added.  Notice the carb is mounted backwards in an attempt to configure the throttle cable.

Here's the tight quarters in the bellcrank area.