ENGINE
When I drove the RV back from Pittsburgh I noticed there were a few things wrong. The major problem was all the oil leaked out through the valve covers. It also needs brakes, new suspension, a fuel gauge and some other minor things. As I started working on it I noticed some major problems due to rust and corrosion. Some of the anti-pollution equipment is damaged so that exhaust leaks into the cabin so all of that will have to be replaced.
I’ve decided to take the engine out and rebuild it. If I’m going to be living in the RV for a year then I should make sure that it is running it’s best before I go. Here are some photos from the original tear down but I will be removing the engine soon…
There are a ton of photos here. I decided to take out the motor and rebuild it. My neighbor Greg helped me remove it. I bought a hoist and engine stand from Harbor Freight on New Year’s eve. I hate that place but since the items I bought are basically only pieces of steel and bolts I thought it would be alright. The stand was on sale for $45 and the hoist was only $100 (it went back up to $200 the next day).
I needed something to support the transmission so I found a piece of steel that was 2x1” square tube with a 14 gauge wall. I drilled two holes in it and put bolts through the top of the trans and into the steel. It just sits across the floor pan and holds the trans perfectly.
I had to extend the hoist a little bit to get it all the way to the lift plate on the engine. I picked the lift plate up from Summit Racing since it is only about 30 minutes away from where I live. It took us about 3 hours to get the engine all the way out. This is because we had to keep removing more stuff like the starter, oil filter and flex plate to get it between the motor mounts.
After it was out of the van I took off the exhaust manifold, intake manifold, heat shields, temp sensor and some other small stuff.
Originally, I was going to take the engine completely assembled to a machine shop and have them rebuild it. I contacted “the best machinist” in the area and he told me it would be $5k and a 6 month lead time so I decided against that.
I bought a “how to” manual on rebuilding small block chevy engines. It also came with a DVD which was really helpful. I disassembled the engine myself and took the parts to Gable’s Machine shop in Akron, Ohio.
I broke off a bolt on the exhaust manifold and some of the bolts on the intake manifold weren’t even a hex shape any more because of all the rust and corrosion. I put nuts over the broken/corroded bolt stems and welded the nuts on. Then I was able to put a wrench on them and they came right out.
I labeled all the parts so they can go back in the same place when it is reassembled. One of the push rods was broken at the top. The intake manifold, exhaust manifold, cam, timing gears/chain and more will all be replaced.
Overall, the engine appears was in good shape so it didn’t need a lot of machining. I think the head gasket was leaking a little bit because of some stains on the head gasket and some rust on the crankshaft.
The engine shop cleaned everything, honed the cylinders, replaced cam bearings, cleaned the pistons, painted the block black, replaced the freeze plugs, polished the crank. They also found a crack in each head so the heads will have to be replaced.
They didn’t mask off the block when they painted it so there is overspray everywhere including inside the cylinders. They also put my pistons in the wrong spots in the rack I dropped them off in. It’s a good thing I stamped them individually. Other than that they did a great job and it only cost $300 and they only had it for about a month.
I bought new a new cam, timing gears, timing chain, timing cover, bearings, harmonic balancer, intake manifold, exhaust manifolds, carb and more for the motor. I sandblasted and painted the oil pan and main pulley.
When I went to put the 7th piston back in I noticed a crack in it. It needed to be replaced. That’s not as easy as it sounds because it needs to weigh the same as the one that was removed. I took it to an engine guy and he found one that was close in weight then he added weight inside the pin that holds the piston to the rod. If we couldn’t find a close one he said the crank shaft would need to be balanced which means I would have had to take it apart and pay him to balance it.
At first I was turning the crank by hand by pushing down on the counterweights with my palms. As I got more pistons on it got harder to do that and my hand slipped and I sliced about 3” of my palm. Then I bought that gold socket that fits onto the crank and makes turning it simple. Take my advice: BUY THE SOCKET!
I replaced the Motor Mounts but had to use the old “clam shells.” I sand blasted and painted them too.
The next step before putting the engine in was to put on new heads, intake manifold, exhaust manifolds, rockers, pushrods and lifters. Adjusting the lifters was probably the hardest part of the engine rebuild but I think I did it right. Steam holes had to be drilled in the heads before I put them on because it is a 400 instead of a 350. All of these parts are brand new.
After I got it assembled it dropped in much easier than when I took it out. When it came out it got caught on all the pollution stuff on the exhaust manifolds. It also got caught on the main pulley and the oil filter so I left that stuff off. You can see in the photos that the top of the engine hoist hits the top of the fire wall. This time I took the last chain link off the hoist so that the hook was the only thing holding the engine. This gave me an extra 1-2” of clearance and made everything easier.
The biggest obstacle of getting it back in was connecting it to the transmission. The top bolts went in easily but for some reason the bottom bolts were too far away. Eventually I figured out that the torque converter was sticking out too far from the transmission. I had to disconnect the trans mount and move it back so that I could spin the torque converter and push it back into the transmission. As soon as that popped back in the bolts and everything went in perfectly.
I got all new accessories for the engine including a Powercraft Chrome Alternator, Edelbrock High Flow Water pump, Aluminum Water pump pulley, Aluminum Crankshaft Pulley, Edelbrock Fuel Pump, MSD Distributor and a new Starter. I also got Transdapt chrome valve covers and some other chrome fittings and plugs. It has a Edelbrock 1906 AVS Carborator and Edelbrock Air Cleaner and Breather.
I used the oil primer tool from Summit Racing to pre-oil the engine. It attaches to a regular drill and drops down the distributor hole. It took like ten minutes to pre-oil. I didn’t have the oil pressure switch in so oil shot out of the back of the engine like a volcano at first. I replaced the oil pressure switch with a new one.
I decided to get a new crank pulley to match the water pump and the chrome alternator. I hooked up the ground straps and fuel system. I used an Edelbrock fuel line kit that goes from the fuel pump to the carburetor. I made my own braided fuel line that went from the pump back to the metal line that runs to the fuel tank. I used a kit from Summit Racing to make the correct size length. When I attached the fuel pump to the engine it was facing the van frame so there was no room to attach the fittings. I had to take the pump apart and rotate the bottom so the inlet and outlet faced forward so I could hook them up.
The starter went in pretty easy. It was just hard to tighten the connections. My friend John helped me with replacing some wiring and connectors. There is still one harness that is a mystery, I’m not sure what it was for.
The power steering pump has been a huge headache. I wanted to replace it but I haven’t been able to find anyone with the exact replacement in stock. I sandblasted and painted the mounting brackets but there was one on the front that didn’t look right. It’s the flat bracket with the 90 degree bend that goes over the pulley. When I installed a belt from the crank to the water pump to the power steering pump it hit the bracket. I couldn’t understand why at first so some people recommended I remove it or cut off the bend. In my opinion it was there to put a pry bar on so you could tighten the belt.
I ended up taking off the bracket, cutting off the bend, drilling and tapping a hole, screwing in a 3/8” bolt, cutting off the back of the bolt, welding it and putting it back on. That way I could still stick a 9/16” wrench on the bolt and tighten the belt with little effort.
So after I did all that I knew the bracket wouldn’t hit the belt so I put it back on. Now that it wasn’t touching the bracket I could see that it didn’t even line up with the water pump pulley! The original belt routing must have been from the first groove on the crank straight to the power steering pump. This would cause the belt to be horizontal and it would ride UNDER that bracket so it wouldn’t have touched it. The center groove on the crank pulley might not have been used and the front groove went from the crank to the water pump to the alternator.
I wanted to run 2 belts to the water pump. That way if the alternator belt broke on the freeway somewhere I would still have a water pump so I could drive off to a parking lot somewhere. The same if the power steering pump belt broke I would still have a water pump so I could still drive. I’ll draw a diagram and post it on here at some point.
In order to accomplish this I would need a 2-groove pulley for the power steering pump. I bought one from Summit and it was damaged so I exchanged it for another one and that one also had a terrible powder coat job done. The power coat was down the center hole so it had to be machined out. I gave it to a machinist friend to put it on the lathe to get it closer and haven’t gotten it back as of this moment.
After the power steering pump there were just a few more things to install. I put in a brand new aluminum radiator made by Liland Global. There are tons of universal options out there but this one fit the mounts perfect. It is part number 165AA3R which has 3 rows and a core width of 28.25” and core height of 17” and thickness of 2.17” which are all important numbers to know since these are relatively universal.
I got new top and bottom hoses and made a new reservoir from a universal one from Summit. I used the old mounting holes from the previous reservoir but had to make a bracket to drop it lower so the hood won’t hit it. I also ran new transmission cooler lines. The all black grill is just a cheap replacement from Rock Auto.
Since I put in a new radiator I decided to change the heater core too. If the heater core is gunked up then all that gunk will flow into the new radiator. Changing the heater core is like the worst job on this thing. You have to take the dash apart and prop it up. Since I had it apart I removed all the A/C guts since it doesn’t have A/C in the cab anymore.
Here are some photos of the complete engine. The first start was a success and I’ll try to get that video posted eventually. I just need to finish some very minor engine details before it’s officially road ready!
The engine has a new “y-pipe” coming down from the exhaust manifolds. At the end of the y-pipe I attached the muffler. It is supposed to be the stock replacement for a SBC 400 but it has a 2.5” inlet and only a 2” outlet. Instead of paying someone to bend a long tube over the rear axle I just decided to make a 45 out of the side for now. I’ll probably re-adjust it when I get the flatbed built.
