It has. At my age, I just have to take more precautions in the hot, humid, South Florida summers in a shop without A/C.

 

June 16th 2021Fellow HAMBer from Sweden, J.Hansen suggested using a file in lieu of the brass hammer to trim the masking tape. Tried it and had moderate success. It's a skill I have to hone some. Masked the rest of the crankcase and turned the block right side up.

Used the old throw away juice lifters to mask the lifter bores. That saved some time. The cam bearings, not so much. Fingers are too big to get the masking tape in the confined space. Had to retreat for some deep ponder mode thinking.

Brought a paper towel roll tube back to the shop with me from the office. It was a smidgen greater diameter than the cam bearings. I was able to slit it and cut it into rings that masked the cam bearings nicely.

Cleaned some creeping flash rust with wire cup in Dremel tool and blew off with electric leaf blower. Gave it a few cycles of PRE Paint Prep dosings followed by more leaf blower blow-offs.

Painted as much of the lifter valley with Glyptal red insulating enamel paint as I could reach by brush and finished up what I couldn't reach with spray-bomb. Background music was Dylan and the Dead.

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June 18th 2021 Flipped the nailhead block over tango uniform again and painted the cathedral nave crankcase with Glyptal after the PRE Paint Prep treatment and repairing some of the masking dislocated by the first flip.

Installed new freeze plugs with Permatex Form-A-Gasket #1. This operation is terra incognita to me and I buggered the first run at it as I'm apt to do. It was a do over but by the time I installed the fourth one, I was feeling semi-pro and a little cocky.

Ordered a pair of block drain petcocks. Started the second stage of masking for the nailhead green engine paint from Bill Hirsch. This involves sealing the block interior areas and trimming the masking tape using the gasket set as guide templates. Beer of the day was Bent River Brewing Company's Uncommon Stout Oatmeal Stout with Coffee.

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June 21st 2021 Got the bottom block masking in place and trimmed, then came across three assortments of paint masking hole plugs I picked up on an impulse buy in the last century. These plugs saved a lot of time masking the numerous holes on the sides and back of the nailhead block.

Gave the sides and back of the block the PRE Paint Prep treatment which led to a setback. The old Pontiac blue paint did not like the paint prep and started to flake off. I retired to the deep ponder mode chair. Father's Day background music was a Dean Martin mix CD my Mom made up in my Dad's memory. Slow Boat to China made me think of his time in the CBI during the war.

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June 23rd 2021 Went over the block with scotchbrite cookies in the air powered angle grinder to remove all the loose paint remnants, blew it off with the air hose, then applied the PRE Paint Prep again. This time, the surface remained stable and I followed up with two coats of the Bill Hirsch Engine Enamel spray bomb. The Buick nailhead green is an acquired taste. Some have nicknamed it puke green. They also put these engines in medium duty Chevy trucks from 1956 to 1959 when the Chevy 348 was introduced. I didn't research Chevy's color for the 322 because I like the green. Beer of the day was Free State Brewing Company's Oatmeal Stout.

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June 24th 2021 Flipped the block right side up again and finished trimming the masking tape around the head and valley cover gaskets by running a sharpie line around the gaskets and trimming just inside the line with X-Acto knife.

The paint is still tacky. The weather, here in South Florida, is muggy this week. After the top of the nailhead is painted and the masking comes off, touch ups can be made at any time by spraying a few blasts of paint in a cup and dabbing it on with a Q-Tip. Background music was the Rolling Stones It's only Rock and Roll.

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The Trans-Dapt HC-25 - 53 54 55 56 Nailhead Buick engine to Chevy transmission adapter I snagged for it years ago will fit the Borg-Warner T5 that was behind the Jimmy 302 engine this nailhead is replacing. The T5 is from a Camaro with a S10 tailshaft and it was rebuilt with world class parts. Also has the mechanical odometer cable connection.

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June 28th 2021 Plugged some more holes, PRE Paint Prepped and painted the upper nailhead block surfaces with two coats. Let the paint cure for a couple of days and mounted the block back on the engine stand. Removed the masking, cleaned the machined surfaces and wiped them with Marvel Mystery Oil.

Matt Martin, of Centerville Auto Repair, commented about the block drain petcocks and I decided to go with his practice of using plugs. The petcocks will go in the parts box for radiator spares. I got 1/4" NPT brass plugs for the nailhead and installed them with Threadlocker blue. Beer of the day is Hanger 24 Craft Brewing's Orange Wheat American Wheat Ale.

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June 29th 2021 Put tools away from the nailhead block painting and cleared the deck for the next operation - pistons and crankshaft. Disassembled piston assembly one and spent some deep ponder mode thinking on how to go about cleaning the various components.

I am at sea since I haven't done this before and was concerned about removing the wrist pin retainers because I couldn't see them. Turns out I couldn't see them because there aren't any. The wrist pin is held against movement by the connecting rod pinch clamp.

Examining the piston showed a chunk missing behind the oil ring. I could see the oil ring from inside the piston. That can't be good. I went back into ponder mode again as Cream's Disraeli Gears played in the background.

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My 235 Chevy stovebolt inline six uses the same system. Currently the plan is to keep the present pistons and rods. The nailhead rods were changed to a press in pin in the middle of 1955. I started to order a set of refurbished '56 rods from the nailhead gurus, Russ and Matt Martin at Centerville Auto Repair, but Matt backed me away from that, at the cost of a sale, with a cost/benefit discussion. His life is rebuilding these engines, day in, day out and yes, the later rods are considered stronger but, he has never heard of a pinch-clamp rod breaking.

 

June 30th 2021 Hunted up my dial bore gauge. micrometers and dial caliper and commenced to measuring the nailhead cylinders so I can order rings and maybe new pistons.

Fumbled around for awhile as I'm new to this and my OEM eyes don't help much, but I eventfully came up with a WAG of forty thousandths oversize pistons and bore. I'm going to keep at it until I'm more comfortable with my findings and I'm going to see if my machinist friend, John, will swing by after Sunday coffee to check my measurements.

I would like to find '56 heads, pistons and rods for this build but, I've been unsuccessful in that search and I may have to live with what I have. The only certain thing is that more research is in order. Beer of the day was Free State Brewing Company's Ad Astra Amber Ale.

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July 7th 2021 At four inches, my biggest mic is too small for this job, so I ordered a five inch mic, one day delivery. Cleaned the number one rod, cap, wrist pin and bolts in an overnite Evapo-Rust submersion and fiddled with the piston some. The rings are flush and corroded. I couldn't budge any of them.

I took the piston to the Sunday coffee cruise-in. John didn't make it but Dave Sexton told me the marks on the thrust sides of the piston were from knurling and they were still pretty fresh. I took a look at all the pistons when I got back to the BillyBob Shop and they all have the knurling.

Continued to measure the pistons with micrometer and cylinder bores with dial bore gauge and telescoping bore gauge until I had confidence in my measurements. Have decided to stay with the pistons I have.

Got the corroded, stuck rings out of piston one with MAP torch, Kroil penetrating oil, small pick and needlenose pliers hand-to-hand combat technique. Background music was Jimmy Buffet's Banana Wind.

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I bought the engine from a guy who was using it for parts for his restoration. Most of the accessories were gone. The main caps were stamped. They don't do that at the factory. There was no ridge at the tops of the cylinders. Indications are that the car was scrapped shortly after the engine was rebuilt. Who knows why.

 

July 8th 2021 Cleaning no. one piston assembly. Figuring out what works, what works better and in what order. When I establish a procedure, the other seven will go quicker. That's the theory anyway.

Dragged out my Dad's ancient piston ring groove cleaner and tried to intuit how to use it. This arrived on my doorstep a few years ago, addressed to "Mr Nimrod". My brother's short note that accompanied it, said it should come in handy in three or four years when I got around to BillyBob's stovebolt engine, the last engine Dad used it on in the eighties when my brother owned the truck.

Did some initial cleaning of the piston with Scotchbrite buffs in the Dremel motor tool after knocking the worst carbon off the top with Scotchbrite cookies in an air angle grinder. The piston was marked with 040 on the top. The beer of the day was Hanger 24 Craft Brewing's Betty West Coast IPA.

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July 12th 2021 Developed a procedure for the nailhead piston assembly cleanup: 1) Remove the rings; 2) Clean ring grooves; 3) Submerge assembly in Oileater parts washer for an hour; 4) Disassemble piston assembly; 5) Submerge piston in Chem-Dip; 6); Go over all parts that need it with the Scotchbrite buffs in the Dremel tool; 7) Submerge all parts in an ultrasonic cleaner session; 8) Submerge rod, cap, wrist pin and bolts in Evapo-Rust; Give all parts a light coating of Marvel Mystery Oil and reassemble loosely. This procedure may need fine tuning. We'll see how it goes for now. Background music was Pink Floyd's Meddle.

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