I spent a lovely Saturday afternoon working on the 235 that Dave
Riffle (of this list) had brought down to me a couple of months ago. The
weather was perfect, about 75 degrees F with a sea breeze, and as I had no
other activities scheduled, I was able to work as I pleased.
The first item of business was to repaint the valve cover. As it
came, it was a pinky sandstone in color with a semi crinkle tone finish.
Yuck, that's just not the finish I had in mind! Removeing that cover proved
easier said than done. The cover had been glued in place with a rubbery
reddish material that had oozed out everywhere. The bond had to be broken
with a pocket knife and I was very glad to have the motor up on the stand
where I could easily get to it.
Once the cover was off I made an inspection to see what the valve
chamber looked like. All looked in order until I got down to the pushrod that
operated right next to where the ignition coil had been bolted to the outside
of the cylinder head. "The Bodger" (some previous owner) had replaced one of
the coil mounting bolts with a longer bolt and it went in far enough to foul
the pushrod. The pushrod looked bent as it came very close to the cast hole
in the cylinder head, but as I backed the screw out, the pushrod recentered
under pressure from the spring on the rocker shaft and so maybe everything
will be OK. I'll have to get a flashlight and twirl it to make sure it isn't
bent.
When I see something like this I just have to wonder if "The Bodger"
that did it didn't "feel" the problem through his wrench. Surely it must have
tightened up well before it bottomed the head of the bolt on the casting?
What about the mechanical noise? It must have made SOME sort of unusual noise
to have a pushrod abrading away a bolt. That bolt incidentally, had been worn
where the pushrod had rubbed on it.
Once the cover was off and scraped, I treated it with paint stripper
and followed with a wire wheel job. A quick degrease with lacquer thinner and
it was ready for paint. I like the cheap hardware store brand spray bomb
paint and when baked in the oven the finish is pretty nice. I choose Hunter
Green to match the existing color on the block and the results look pretty
nice. Now I gotta see if the valve cover will fit in the oven for it's
baking. I will have to choose an evening when SWMBO is going to be away for
the evening for this last operation!
Paul O'Neil,
1951 Chevrolet 3600 Pickup Project, See it at:
The Poor Man's Advanced Design Tech Tips Page
http://home.earthlink.net/~conntest47/
Fullerton, California USA
Hudson29@aol.com
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