After getting the car into the shop the first task was to pull the engine and strip it down so the block can be checked out. That all went relatively smoothly and the block is now in the back of my truck waiting to go to the automotive machine shop.
Some of the cylinder bores are fairly rusty so the shop will check it out to see how much needs to be bored out to clean it up (it is already .040” oversize) and they will also sonic check the block to make sure there is enough cylinder wall thickness to bore it out to whatever size is needed. I am also going to ask them to pressure test the cooling passages as in 2000 (last time the engine ran) it had some coolant in the oil, hopefully just from bad intake manifold gasket(s) but I want to be sure there are no hidden cracks before putting a bunch of money into this block. (maybe they will magnaflux it too, I’ll see what they recommend)
The history of this engine is I rebuilt it completely in 1983 (did the assembly in my mom’s basement). In 1995 I converted the fuel system to propane so at that time I paid a shop to pull the heads and install hardened exhaust valve seats and while they were at it I had them swap out the cam, which was racier than I really needed, to a slightly milder one. When I took it apart recently (well, I had pulled the heads in 2000 and left it sitting for 23 years) things mostly looked not too bad except that some of the lifers were worn away on the bottom and the cam lobes were, of course, worn too. (and of course the rust in the cylinder bores from sitting)
Hopefully the sonic test results will say I can go to .060” oversize with no problems as it appears pistons are readily available for that size (stock bore for a 390 is 4.050” so 60 over is 4.110.). I have read of a lot of people recently having issues with lifter wear (poor metal quality leading to abnormal lift and cam lobe wear) so I wonder about possibly going to roller lifters. I need to investigate that more. I am also hoping my old Hooker Headers will be sound enough to use again. I need to check them out more thoroughly and if they aren’t too rusted I’ll clean and paint them and re-use them.
Once the engine work is underway I plan to get started with the rest of the car: total brake system rebuild, pop the top off the top-loader transmission to make sure things look OK in there, and a general inspection/clean up of pretty much everything. In some ways I want to just focus on getting it running/drive-able but I know it is going to be difficult to ignore aesthetics too as some things are rusty and look bad even though they won’t impact functionality. It will be hard to just let those things alone for now but… I will try to prioritize things required to make the car move and stop under it’s own power.
I think I’ll start at the back of the car: pull the axles so I can clean and paint the backing plates and get the rear brakes all done and other close-by things clean and painted. I might even see if I can replace the rear leaf springs as the car looks a bit “sacked out” in the back. That’ll make it easier to clean and paint the differential housing… the question is where to draw the line between ‘need-to-do’ and ‘want-to-do’… (if budget wasn’t an issue I’d be considering things like aluminum heads and a stroker kit, like this Scat kit below)
Edbee's Syncro, Studebaker M16 & Mustang 