Fixing the rear main seal leak

Did some research over the last week or so and found some pics on the web of a new solution for the leaking rear main seal on my 235.  Seems my 1953 and 54 engines are not machined in the seal groove to properly accept the neoprene seal I currently have installed.  That explains the leakage I'm experiencing.  Normally, that means a "rope" seal is the only alternative.  However, I found these pics on the H.A.M.B. forums and I like this idea a lot.

Rather than pull the current engine out of the 41 to make this modification, I've decided to build up the 54 short block and have it ready for installation this fall or winter.  I went to More Power yesterday and showed Dick the pics and he agrees that this looks like a great fix and is easily doable. We may have to farm out the machine work as his mill may not accept the heigth of the block.  I completely disassembled the 54 engine yesterday so the crankshaft could be sent out for grinding.  The mains are currently .010" under and the rods are .020" under.  So, step 1 is determining if we have a good crank. 
     The 54 engine was originally a solid lifter motor whle the 53 was a hydraulic.  I recently saw this quote on Patrick's Antique Car site:

"(**special note: there are, currently, no satisfactory aftermarket hydraulic lifters available. So, we suggest you install a solid-lifter cam/lifter combo,)"

Tom Langdon's site offers a solution for noisy hydraulic lifters that involves grinding a flat on the side of the lifter to allow air to escape.  Not sure I want to go thru all that hassle just so I can run a hydraulic cam in the 54 engine.  The solid lifter engines use a shorter pushrod and I'd like to reuse as many of the original parts as possible.  The 53 engine has a bit of lifter noise now on startup after the car has been sitting for a while.  I'm guessing the oil is being pushed out of the lifters by the valve spring pressure.  If so, that would validate the statement from Patrick's.  So, for those reasons, I'm going to use a solid lifter camshaft in the 54 motor.  Plus, the solid lifters are much cheaper than hydraulics!

     Talked to a sign painter this morning about touching up some of the trim paint on the car.  The Chevy emblem on the grill has no paint but the bow tie and the radio speaker grill I installed on the dash has little to no paint on the Chevrolet script across the top.  He suggested stopping by with the car so he can take a look.  Should have some time to do the job next week.
     The alignment pivot should be here today from Chevsofthe40s for the front end.  I'll make an appointment with Maksim's to get that part installed and get the front end properly aligned.  Might try installing the front springs I got and see how low the front end is with them and if I have steering clearance for the front tires.
     Received my parade credentials yesterday for the Grandville 4th of July parade.  Weather forecast is calling for a good day so that should be fun. 

A successful day!

Perfect weather on Saturday for a car show.  The Real Oldies Classic Car Show at 5th/3rd ballpark was held this afternoon and several cars from the Road Rodz were in attendance.  Several of the guys had made the Dutton show earlier in the day.  My brother joined up with us with his '50 Anglia.  Wife and I first attended a graduation party for a nephew out in Cutlerville.  We then drove the 41 from the Cutlerville location all the way across town to the car show.  After the show we drove further north to Rockford and spent some time at Dan & Rose's house.  We drove a total of about 70 miles according to my odometer but I think it was actually a few more miles since the speedo is low by 5-7 mph.  We didn't come home until after dark and all the lights worked perfectly!  Plus, the overdrive in the trans performed flawlessly too.  Here's the club cars at the show:

Dan and Steve are standing in front of Dan's brandywine 57 Chevy.  Steve owns the red 34 Ford.  Dan won first place at the show.  Congrats Dan!  Here's a few of the other cars at the show.

Updates

June 9 was the Hot Rod Power Tour in Muskegon, Mi.  This was day 6 of the Hot Rod Magazine sponsored event.  Wife and I joined up with 4 members of the Road Rodz car club and made the run to Muskegon.  Had a great time and somehow the car ended up on a local tv station. The owner of a bucket T sitting next to the 41 was interviewed and all of the club cars were pictured.  On the way back from Muskegon, 5th gear/OD quit working again!  Drove home in 4th with no trouble but I was NOT looking forward to pulling the transmission again. 

June 12:  The Road Rodz gathered to make a food donation to the WZZM tv food drive and I was invited so I could meet the majority of the club members and be formally accepted in the club.  No special ceremony, just handshakes all around and I was welcomed.  Here's a pic of the club cars at WZZM.

June 13:  Called Bob Hanlon at Hanlon motorsports and discussed the continuing problems with the T5 transmission.  I suspected a part or two was missing from the rebuild manuals I had been using and sure enough, the S10 unit needed a spacer and snap ring installed in front of the 5th gear driving gear that mounts on the cluster.  I ordered the needed parts and waited until later in the week to begin pulling the trans.  Two car shows were scheduled for the coming weekend and I wanted to make sure the parts arrived before I disabled the car.

June 16:  Thursday the parts arrived and I pulled the trans and disassembled it.  To my horror and surprise, the drive gear was still in place with the improvised snap ring I had previously installed.  However, the driven gear that mounts on the main shaft had forced its snap ring out of the retaining groove allowing the gear to move back on the main shaft and disengage from the 5th drive gear. I also found that one of the syncho springs was missing.  It must have fallen out during the last time I had the trans apart and I missed it.  The snap ring wasn't tight enough any longer to be reused so on Friday I did some mad dashing and found the needed parts.  Luckily, a generous salvage yard gave them to me for free.  Thank you Weller Auto Parts.  Friday night I finished up the reinstall and fired up the car for a test drive.  It was getting dark so I pulled on the light switch and ACK! - no lights!  Pulled back in the garage and got out the service manual with the wiring diagram.  I noticed a fuse shown on the light switch so I checked and found it fatigued and blown.  I dug out another fuse from my parts cabinet and all was well.  Off I went for the test drive and everything seemed to be working just fine.

June 18:  Saturday was a beautiful day and I met up with 3 other guys from the Road Rodz to attend a small show in Lamont called Bumpers on the Boulevard.  Had a great time talking to other car nuts, riding on the Grand Lady stern wheeler on the Grand River, eating a decent chicken dinner and looking at the fine iron on display.  None of the club cars won any trophies but it was a good day.  The speedometer wasn't working on the way to Lamont so I checked under the car and redid the cable connections when I got home.  I also checked some looseness in the front end and found the driver's front wheel bearing was too loose.  Tightened that up to factory settings and the front end feels much better.

June 19:  Sunday was Father's Day and the traditional car show at Charlton Park near Hastings, Mi.  This is a huge show with over 900 cars from all over the Great Lakes area.  I had been looking forward to this one ever since I got the 41.  We planned to meet the club guys in Middleville at 5:30 in the morning (that's before the birds are up!) and got up at 3:45 to make ready.  Wife and I loaded the car and headed out about 4:45.  We drove about 2 1/2 miles to the expressway entrance and had just reached the top of the entrance ramp when all the lights shut down!  The turn signals were on a different circuit so I turned them on so other drivers could see us.  We got off at the next exit, picked up some fuses at a gas station and attempted to fix the lights.  Didn't work as the replacement fuse blew as soon as I put it in.  I then knew there was a short or ground somewhere in the lighting system.  Thoroughly disappointed, we headed back home in the dark with the turn signal flashing and called the club guys to let them know we weren't going to make the show. 

June 21:  Decided to tackle the light issue today.  Pulled the light switch out of the dash and disconnected all of the wires.  Tagged all of them and checked each with a jumper wire to see what lights each one controlled.  Found the shorted circuit in the brake lights and quickly realized the problem had to be in the wire running from the switch to the brake switch mounted on the master cylinder.  I checked under the car and discovered the speedometer cable was running between the floor and the switch wires and was putting downward pressure right on the connection going into the brake switch.  I had pushed the cable back to run along the frame and added a short extension when I first installed the transmission.  This was because the speedo cable was a bit short.  Once the speedo cable was routed under the wiring to releave the pressure, I rechecked the circuits and all was well.  A new light switch for the dash was in the box of spare parts that came with the car so I figured now was a good time to install it.  Finished that install tonight and now even the dash lights are working.  They weren't working with the old switch.  Got another show coming up this Sat so I hope I have all the bugs out this time!  Time will tell.

Cool pics!

I mentioned previously of finding what looked like an ideal spot to take pictures of the '41.  A local furniture store, Talsma's, in Hudsonville has a rear parking lot that borders a neighbor's tall, white, privacy fence.  Since they're closed on weekends, I chose Sun afternoon to stop by and get some great shots in the sun and in the shade.  I cropped several to cut out the clutter and highlight the car.  Here's the full shots:

And the cropped versions:

Got the car back from Maksim's today after Tom installed the new kingpins.  Front end is much tighter.  However, a couple of parts that are supposed to be movable to provide adjustment for aligning the front end are frozen quite tight.  I'm going to order new pieces and install them at a later date.  The brakes checked out good so it looks like the pulling to the left issue is the misalignment of the front end.  Also had a chance to get under the car on while it was on a lift and looked at the fuel pump as a possible leak site.  I'm pretty sure that's where a lot of oil is coming from and being blown back along the passenger side of the car.  I like the look of the original glass bowl type fuel pump but I may have to go to the new style that was on the 216 engine in order to stop the oil bath!  Thurs is the big event in Muskegon with the Hot Rod Power Tour folks rolling into town in the afternoon.  My wife and I will be joining up with some friends from the Road Rodz Car Club and cruising to Muskegon together.  Here's a little more info on the Road Rodz:

http://www.roadrodz.blogspot.com/

I followed my wife's car on Sunday afternoon to check the speedometer.  As I guessed, I'm off by about 5-7 mph.  Easy enough to compensate for that and maybe later I can find the correct speedo gear for the transmission.  Also fixed my rear vision issue with the side mirrors.  The car came with some short "peek" type mirrors that were impossible to adjust well enough to see behind you.  So, I bought the ones you see in the pics.  The passenger side is still non-functional as far as rear vision but I added a 3 3/4" convex mirror over the top of the drivers side and now I can see all down the side of the car and the full lane beside the car.  Nice!

OD works!

Love it when a plan comes together!  Got the interior all put back in along with the shifter and throttle cable this afternoon.  Took a quick ride around the neighborhood and shifted into 5th gear at about 45 mph just as smooth as silk.  Drove the 10 miles to downtown Grand Rapids on the city streets to avoid the expressway but I came home on the x-way just to try 5th again.  I don't have a tach in the car but I would estimate the rpm's at about 2000 while the speedo said 65mph.  I think the speedo is off about 5 mph; still have to check it against the wife's car to be sure.  Anyway, the '41 was just purring along in 5th gear.  Gonna be a fun ride!  I have an appointment at Maksim's on Monday to get the king pins replaced, brakes adjusted and checked, and front end aligned.  Hopefully they can find what is causing the hard pull to the left when the brakes are applied.  Thursday, June 9 the Hot Rod Power Tour is coming to Muskegon, Mi for the day before all the cars make the final run to Detroit to mark the end of the cruise.  I'm joining some friends from the Road Rodz car club to cruise over to Mkg and spend the day.  Pics to follow.

Parade pic & trans repair

Pulled the transmission out yesterday to troubleshoot the lack of 5th gear.  I had suspected that I missed a roll pin during assembly but that assumption was wrong.  The pin was in place.  However, the 5th gear driving gear that mounts on the end of the cluster gear had too much movement.  It had been hitting on the inner race of the rear case bearing causing the noise I had heard when trying to shift into 5th/OD.  I found differing info on a couple of manuals for the T5.  One showed a snap ring in front of the 5th driving gear and the other did not.  Mine has a grove for a snap ring that seemed to properly position the gear so I found one that would fit and added it.  Dry shifting the trans on the bench seems to work so I put it all back together and got it reinstalled in the 41.  Started getting late last nite so I'll finish the interior reassembly today.  Wife and I have an outing planned tonight with the 41 and I want to test drive it before then.

Here's a picture of the 41 in the Jenison Memorial Day Parade.  I had registered early hoping the car would be ready.  I still have things to do but she was parade worthy!