January 1954 oval engine resurrection

[Chrisisw]

Today we continued with the engine rebuild. We started with the generator pulley. Last time could not figure out how to connect the pulley to the generator. Thanks to TheSamba and input from Mika Virtanen we were able to figure things out. In my pile of parts I found some old generator nuts and shims. So last week I spent an evening using elbow grease and cleaned up all the shims.

So after we fitted the pulley, it was finally time to reunite the engine with the oval 

Once we got the engine back in place, we started installing the remaining parts.

The distributor

Unfortunately, when we tried to get the exhaust in place, it would not fit. We figured out that the heater pipe tubes were a bit corroded and therefore the exhaust would not slip over them. We cleaned up the tubes by grinding off some of the corrosion and sure enough the exhaust slipped right on.

So here it is the result of the day: the engine back in the oval and almost completely assembled.

Next time we will change the oil, tune the engine and then start it for the first time. But before we can do so we still need to connect the regulator to the generator. We are a bit doubtful on how to connect the two wires that come out of the generator. They seem to touch each other where they come from the generator. Can anyone help and shed some light on how to connect them? Also are they both + or both -? I have added some pictures on how we think they need to be connected, but before we start the car we would like some input on how to connect them correctly. Thanks in advance for the help.

[Chrisisw]

At the Aircooled winterfest show today, I scored both a distributor with the correct vacuum canister and a condensator dated feb 1954 (2K) as well as an additional TE6A3 coil.

So this evening I spent the night watching Netflix and cleaning up my new scores.

The coil will be spray painted tomorrow, so I have a spare

We also found out how to connect the generator and regulator correctly so hopefully later this week We can get everything connected and give the engine it’s first test run

[Chrisisw]

Tonight we fitted the correct vacuum canister and the February 1954 condensator which I found last weekend and which I cleaned in the meantime to the distributor.

The condensator looks better in real life than the pictures show.

We also connected the generator and regulator. As a lot of the items are powder coated, the generator had no ground connection meaning the generator light in the speedometer would not light up. We finally figured it out and removed some powder coating from the inside of the generator strap. Light on, problem solved.

We also tested the coil and the distributor, which also worked.

So we poured some fuel in the tank and tried to get some fuel in the carburetor. Unfortunately the battery was too flat. The battery is charging and hopefully next Week we’ll get her to fire up for the first time.

[jays58s]

That engine came out beautiful! I can't wait to redo the 36hp in my '55, especially after watching this thread. Hopefully I get lucky and find the coil I need for my car! lol

[Chrisisw]

[jays58s]

[Chrisisw]

[Chrisisw]

Yesterday we continued where we had left last week. It looked even better than I remembered.

We gave it a quick look over and started it. She kept us in suspense for a little, but then fired up and roared into action for the first time since we had started on the engine. It sounded great.


Link


We continued with some additional tasks such as fitting the single strap air filter, fitting the engine lid, replacing the heater cables, greasing the front beam, putting all the tires back on, checking the brakes. It took us some time to figure out how the strap worked, but fortunately there are some very clear pictures available on TheSamba that helped us get this sorted.

And here she is, ready for the first test drive next week after which we will fine-tune the engine and replace the oil.

As soon as all is done, I'll paint the pulley nut black as the finishing touch.

During the evening, we ran into the following questions. Hope that you can help us with the answers:

• The decklid seems to be fitted a little out of sync. The seam on the left upper corner of the lid seems a lot smaller/thinner than the seam on the top of the right upper lid. We tried to adjust this with screws with with the declid is attached but we cannot figure it out. Does anyone have some instructions available on how to adjust a rear deck lid correctly?

• We tried to check the oil level in the gear box, but whatever we tried, we could not remove the nut. Does anyone have a tip on how we can remove this nut?

[EverettB]

[Chrisisw]

Thanks Everett. It definitely looks weird. Probably worth replacing if/once we get it out.

Ed continued today with replacing the oil


Link


Checking the distributor timing

Link


And checking the generator charging

Link


Next week we will continue with the gear box but and cleaning of the starter engine connectors, as it had an still has a hard time starting.

[56samba]

That engine turned our really nice!
On my BR3 dizzy, I have the same date stamp (2K) as on yours, but my dizzy is April 54.

PS: Chris, I still have this early Jan. 54 case

[Chrisisw]

[EverettB]

Another used transmission.

I found an ad on this site for one - I sent you a link via email
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[Chrisisw]

[Chrisisw]

Ed managed to remove the filler nut with some elbow grease so we filled the gearbox with transmission oil, using some flexible hose and a funnel.

He also had a spare nut from an old gearbox.

While we were at it, we also cleaned the ground connector on the gearbox and all the connectors on the starter engine.

Finally we refreshed the oil in the engine and took it out for a small spin. 

During the ride we unfortunately identified three issues:

1. There was some back fire from the engine
2. The right rear brake cylinder has seized
3. While the voltage meter indicated that the battery was charging, the generator light in the speedometer was flashing during the drive, instead of not lighting up.

So we will take a look at the carb and distributor to try to solve the back firing.

I also got a new wheel brake cylinder, which we will be replacing next week.

Does anyone have a clue what could be going on with the generator light? The bulb itself sits tightly in the bulb holder and with the contact one (engine off) it lights up firmly as expected, so I do not think it’s the bulb. I think we need to polarize the generator just to be sure and I’ll try another voltage regulator, maybe the VR currently fitted is not working correctly.

Anyone have any tips, tests or suggestions I can try to see if we can solve the regulator light issue?

[Chrisisw]

Last Tuesday we ran into three issues, so this weekend we decided to spend a few hours to correct things.

Ed had found out that the mis-firing of the engine was caused by a failing acceleration pump. Here you can see the new refurbished carb and the old carb that came of the engine.

Link

We found that the acceleration channels of the refurbished carb were still clogged with old fuel gunk. So we dismantled part of the carb, took out an old paperclip and some compressed air and removed the gunk until the compressed air flowed freely. We then reassembled the carburettor and the issue was solved.

We also replaced the voltage regulator with a spare one I had. This seems to solve the light in the dash issue but the proof of the pudding will be a test drive.

Finally we also reassembled the rear brake with the new wheel brake cylinder and put the wheel back together and then bled all the brakes.

This should take care of all the issues we encountered.

Tonight we will take the car out for a second test drive and hopefully all will be well and the oval can move back home.

[Chrisisw]

The final test drive went perfect, so all issues are ressolved, except for the distributor timing that I need to adjust slightly.

But for now the Oval has moved back home and now lives in my garage again.

[Chrisisw]

While driving the oval after it's retur, the generator light in the speedo suddeliy lit up.

So after I got home I tested the generator by starting the car and disconnecting the battery. The car kept running so the generator seemed fine. While measuring the charge, it gave a nice 7.4V charing reading, so the generator was ruled out.

I swapped out several voltage regulators, but they all had the same result. Of course they could all be broken, that that seemed unlikely.

Next thing I did was to clean up all the wiretips and connectors with brake cleaner, reapplying some solder to the wire-ends, finishng it off with some contact spray. The result? The generator light lit up a bit more.

I was getting a little annoyed and thought about dissassembling the engine again and remove the generator, eventhough that worked.

I went over everything once more and then rememberered that sometime last year, I replaced all the speedo light bulbs with bright LED lights. I swapped the generator LED back to a normal light and the generator light stayed off

So as the engine is restored and all the wiring cleaned up, apparantly the 'leakage current' that comes from the voltage regulator is strong enough to light up the generator light. I guess the resistance of the LED lights is not high enough.

Currently I have changed back all the LED's to non LED light and hope that I can now really enjoy the oval as it should be.

Hopefully this helps others too, who have generator lights go on without any visible cause.

[wolf&viking541]

Beautiful job, Chrisisw, thank you for the inspiration.