Rembrant's new non-Bullnose project

[Rembrant]

Hello Gents,

Few minor updates on the old '52 Merc...

I added a set of wheels and tires more to my liking. The Cragar smoothies and plain small tires were not really my thing. Some of my friends really liked them, but we're all different, and I much prefer the 80's vibe of chrome with 60 series raised white letters, as inappropriate as they might be to some.

ANYWAY....

This poor old truck had not been driven much in the past 15-20 years. Just an occasional Sunday drive, or a local car show or two per year, and it was barely driven at all the past couple years (due to Covid, etc).

I don't think it liked me driving it so much...I did put several hundred miles on it in barely more than a week, because now she's in the hospital. It was making a slight "ticking" sound when the clutch was pressed, and I assumed it was a bad throw-out bearing. Do you guys call them release bearings? Anyhow, it wasn't getting any worse, so I decided to just nurse it along until the end of the season, since I might be making some big driveline changes anyway.

Well that plan went south last Sunday when I was out for a drive. I stopped for a coffee, and when I started it back up, it started making a constant scraping noise....like metal on metal. I drove the old thing home, jacked it up and pulled the transmission. Turns out the ring gear was partially pulled off the flywheel, and it was therefore scraping on the starter shield.

I took the flywheel to the local engine shop to have it surfaced and to have the ring gear put back on, and they happened to notice that the ring gear was cracked. So I have a new ring gear on order, hopefully arriving mid this week.

There's also an issue with the pilot bushing. This truck has a Chevy S10 5spd in it...it's a BW T5 unit, but it was adapted to the old flathead with what looks like homemade parts. There are nice adapter kits available for the swap now, but I don't know if they were 20+ years ago when this swap was done.

I'm having a new bronze Oilite bushing made (the one that was in it was brass), and due to the improper match up of this transmission and engine, I can only make the bushing 0.400" thick (it should probably be more like '0.750" think). I don't know if this matters? There's no radial thrust on a pilot bushing is there? Isn't it just a guide for when the clutch is pressed while the engine is running? Once the clutch and pressure plate are fully engaged, I didn't think there was any force being applied to the pilot bushing?

ANYWAY #2....

I'm not 100% sure what direction I'm going with this thing yet. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to swap in a later model AOD transmission, and a later model 8.8 rear end. The flathead I'm not sure yet...it might get left alone for now, or it might get swapped out for a roller block 302. Still debating that.

So fingers crossed for the arrival of all my new parts this week. Swapping back down to a normal sized 10" clutch and pressure plate, new pilot bushing and throw-out bearing, and we'll see how seh works.

Stay tuned for more...I could be swapping more Bullnose parts into this truck before too long, so I'll still be somewhat relevant around here...ha!

Well, it took two weeks, and orders from multiple vendors from far away and just down the road, but I finally have all of the parts to get this thing back together (hopefully, at least...I could always find more trouble as I go as we all know...). I made three trips across the city yesterday to pick up items at the courier, and the post office, and then to drop off parts at the machine shop, and then pick up again, etc, etc.

Anyway, I have a new ring gear on the flywheel, and the 70 year old flywheel has been machined and is silky smooth again. I just installed a new Oilite bronze pilot bushing bushing this morning (It mounts in the flywheel, not the crank).

I'll be laying on the cold concrete all day today!

 

[nic55kel]

Well, it took two weeks, and orders from multiple vendors from far away and just down the road, but I finally have all of the parts to get this thing back together (hopefully, at least...I could always find more trouble as I go as we all know...). I made three trips across the city yesterday to pick up items at the courier, and the post office, and then to drop off parts at the machine shop, and then pick up again, etc, etc.

Anyway, I have a new ring gear on the flywheel, and the 70 year old flywheel has been machined and is silky smooth again. I just installed a new Oilite bronze pilot bushing bushing this morning (It mounts in the flywheel, not the crank).

I'll be laying on the cold concrete all day today!

I am sure it is right but the clutch disc does look small next to the big flywheel.

I always have big pieces of thick cardboard to put down when I work on the ground.

Have fun and you should have a really smooth working clutch when it is together.

I am sure you will love driving that great looking truck around.

[Rembrant]

I am sure it is right but the clutch disc does look small next to the big flywheel.

I always have big pieces of thick cardboard to put down when I work on the ground.

Have fun and you should have a really smooth working clutch when it is together.

I am sure you will love driving that great looking truck around.

I'm baaaack...

As of late last night, I finally have the old '52 back in business, but it looks like I may have traded one problem for another. Transmission is back in with new 10" clutch and pressure plate, new ARP bolts, new throw-out bearing, new bronze pilot bushing, and new ring gear on the original flywheel (which I had re-surfaced at a local engine shop). It is now nice and quiet...ring gear is not hitting the starter shield, obviously...but now I have a bad shudder when pulling away from a stop in forward or reverse. Once the truck is moving, all other shifts are smooth, and driving down the road it's as smooth as it was before. The only issue is pulling away from a complete stop. If I'm already rolling, even just a little bit, it is fine.

I am usually really fussy about re-assembly...but I have to admit that I did forget to clean the surface of the pressure plate. It did have the preservative residue on there as I remember seeing it, but anyway...in my haste I forget to clean it off.

I did some Google searches, and it appears that some people claim that a shudder will go away as a clutch gets "broken in", but just as many people claim that the shudder never went away without replacing something.

I don't believe it is anything external as the issue was not present prior to me swapping out all of these parts, and the shudder starts before the truck even moves, so I can't blame bad u-joints and leaf spring bushings (I've read that some people found these to be an issue).

Any thoughts good or bad from the experts and the 'been-there, done-that" crowd?

[Gary Lewis]

I'm baaaack...

As of late last night, I finally have the old '52 back in business, but it looks like I may have traded one problem for another. Transmission is back in with new 10" clutch and pressure plate, new ARP bolts, new throw-out bearing, new bronze pilot bushing, and new ring gear on the original flywheel (which I had re-surfaced at a local engine shop). It is now nice and quiet...ring gear is not hitting the starter shield, obviously...but now I have a bad shudder when pulling away from a stop in forward or reverse. Once the truck is moving, all other shifts are smooth, and driving down the road it's as smooth as it was before. The only issue is pulling away from a complete stop. If I'm already rolling, even just a little bit, it is fine.

I am usually really fussy about re-assembly...but I have to admit that I did forget to clean the surface of the pressure plate. It did have the preservative residue on there as I remember seeing it, but anyway...in my haste I forget to clean it off.

I did some Google searches, and it appears that some people claim that a shudder will go away as a clutch gets "broken in", but just as many people claim that the shudder never went away without replacing something.

I don't believe it is anything external as the issue was not present prior to me swapping out all of these parts, and the shudder starts before the truck even moves, so I can't blame bad u-joints and leaf spring bushings (I've read that some people found these to be an issue).

Any thoughts good or bad from the experts and the 'been-there, done-that" crowd?

I’m in the “it’ll go away” camp. The clutch plate will wear into the clutch disk/pressure plate and the flywheel as you drive it.

But you can hasten it by slipping the clutch a bit. Not a lot or you can burn it. But a bit.

[Rembrant]

I’m in the “it’ll go away” camp. The clutch plate will wear into the clutch disk/pressure plate and the flywheel as you drive it.

But you can hasten it by slipping the clutch a bit. Not a lot or you can burn it. But a bit.

Gary,

You just made my day, even if it ends up not going away...lol. At least I can have some hope. I've read reports of where it went away after 300-1000 miles.

[Gary Lewis]

I’m in the “it’ll go away” camp. The clutch plate will wear into the clutch disk/pressure plate and the flywheel as you drive it.

But you can hasten it by slipping the clutch a bit. Not a lot or you can burn it. But a bit.

Gary,

You just made my day, even if it ends up not going away...lol. At least I can have some hope. I've read reports of where it went away after 300-1000 miles.

Happy to help!

Big Blue’s clutch is/was grabby. I’m guessing that I have 4000 miles on it, and for the first 2000 it didn’t change much. But on the ~2000 mile trip to Ouray it got better. Maybe it was due to all of the action it saw, and it saw a LOT.

Anyway, drive it and slip it a bit as you do. I think it’ll wear in. (Or “ride up with wear” as they always say on Are You Being Served?)

[Rembrant]

Gorgeous looking truck.

I like the way you originally said no major plans for mods and already that appears to be changing.

I can really relate to that.

I have some updates on the '52 Mercury project truck...feel free to make fun of me for deciding to make some major changes/mods when the original plan was to NOT do so...lol. I might be a bit of an addict...but the winters are long, and I like to tinker.

The old Flathead engine is really cool, and I honestly like it...it runs like a top, has a cult like following, and everybody that sees it says how cool the truck is to still have the original engine in it. BUT...modifying that engine, or adding things too it (like power steering, later model transmissions, etc) is expensive. At the end of the day, the truck needs to be nice to drive, and that is what is driving me to make some serious changes.

I bought a nice little 302/5.0 V8 for it. The engine was removed from a 1996 F150. I was seeking not only a factory roller block 302, but specifically a 1994-1996 5.0 from an F or E series vehicle. In case anybody doesn't know, the last few years of the 302/5.0 had the F4TE cam (H.O. firing order...or basically the 351 roller cam). So, outside of the very late 5.0's used in the 1997-1998 Explorers, the 1994-1996 F150 5.0 was probably the best of the later SBF engines.

Going to start pulling the EFI and everything off of it today...

I listed the Flathead and trans for sale and sold them both within 12 hrs locally. Funny story, but the whole transaction was filmed and will be on a TV show soon...more about that later lol. Local custom car builder shop bought it. They did have a running TV show on Discovery, but I believe they're just doing Youtube and Facebook these days.

I also bought a AODE-W transmission...or 4R70W, which was also removed from a 1996 F150, but not the same 1996 F150 that my 5.0 was removed from (that one had an E4OD).

The rear diff is going to be a 3.55 geared 8.8 from a 2001 Ford Explorer. I guess I'm going to learn how to remove existing leaf spring perches and weld new ones on in a different location. Stay tuned for more.

Anyway, that's all the local news here...

TGIF Bullnosers.

 

[Gary Lewis]

Gorgeous looking truck.

I like the way you originally said no major plans for mods and already that appears to be changing.

I can really relate to that.

I have some updates on the '52 Mercury project truck...feel free to make fun of me for deciding to make some major changes/mods when the original plan was to NOT do so...lol. I might be a bit of an addict...but the winters are long, and I like to tinker.

The old Flathead engine is really cool, and I honestly like it...it runs like a top, has a cult like following, and everybody that sees it says how cool the truck is to still have the original engine in it. BUT...modifying that engine, or adding things too it (like power steering, later model transmissions, etc) is expensive. At the end of the day, the truck needs to be nice to drive, and that is what is driving me to make some serious changes.

I bought a nice little 302/5.0 V8 for it. The engine was removed from a 1996 F150. I was seeking not only a factory roller block 302, but specifically a 1994-1996 5.0 from an F or E series vehicle. In case anybody doesn't know, the last few years of the 302/5.0 had the F4TE cam (H.O. firing order...or basically the 351 roller cam). So, outside of the very late 5.0's used in the 1997-1998 Explorers, the 1994-1996 F150 5.0 was probably the best of the later SBF engines.

Going to start pulling the EFI and everything off of it today...

I listed the Flathead and trans for sale and sold them both within 12 hrs locally. Funny story, but the whole transaction was filmed and will be on a TV show soon...more about that later lol. Local custom car builder shop bought it. They did have a running TV show on Discovery, but I believe they're just doing Youtube and Facebook these days.

I also bought a AODE-W transmission...or 4R70W, which was also removed from a 1996 F150, but not the same 1996 F150 that my 5.0 was removed from (that one had an E4OD).

The rear diff is going to be a 3.55 geared 8.8 from a 2001 Ford Explorer. I guess I'm going to learn how to remove existing leaf spring perches and weld new ones on in a different location. Stay tuned for more.

Anyway, that's all the local news here...

TGIF Bullnosers.

I like the plan. As you know, I don't leave anything stock, and especially wouldn't when stock was from the early 50's. So going with a 5.0L and a modern auto tranny seems like a good plan.

And what is the plan for the fuel system since you are pulling the EFI off?

[Rembrant]

And what is the plan for the fuel system since you are pulling the EFI off?

Gary,

I will be getting an Edelbrock aluminum intake, and a Summit 500CFM 4bbl carb. Basic and simple. EFI swap later, maybe...but nothing in the near future.

 

[Gary Lewis]

And what is the plan for the fuel system since you are pulling the EFI off?

Gary,

I will be getting an Edelbrock aluminum intake, and a Summit 500CFM 4bbl carb. Basic and simple. EFI swap later, maybe...but nothing in the near future.

That's a pretty simple solution and should work very well.