db's 66 Belvedere ***FOR SALE***

db · Post by db » Tue Sep 27, 16 11:55 am

Right after I get my dress and high heels

db · Post by db » Sat Oct 01, 16 9:50 pm

I got me glovebox lamp working, fancy eh! That'll get the ladies queing round the block.

I moved the 3 gauges higher up the dash so I can actually see 'em!

New tach scored off ebay for Â£19. It's bit smaller and it's a bit more suited to the car than the old one.

Seats are all back in, interior is finished with, for now...

The dinks in the damaged wheel are welded, Wozzy's picking up both rears Sunday to smooth out the weldsand polish 'em up.

Mossy68 · Post by **Mossy68** » Sat Oct 01, 16 11:30 pm

Love that car

Good work as always mate

db · Post by db » Sun Nov 06, 16 9:04 pm

So it's in bits again...

Pulling out of the drive it let out a horrific screeching noise. It turned out just to be the clutch release bearing seized.
On further investigation the cause seems to be that the clutch arm was over-reaching past the pads on the bearing housing and hooking over it. Eventually this has broken one of the retaining springs, leaving the bearing to spin with the motor, quickly killing it.

I've re-drilled the bellhousing to move the pivot, correcting the arm position and replaced the bearing. I have new springs on the way from Brewers.

Meanwhile I dropped the sump to cure a long-standing leak. After Blue's advice I've got hold of a Milodon one-piece gasket. (They don't make one for the early smallblocks, this one is for the later 360). Today I spent a few hours carefully flattening the flanges, and on Andy R's advice thoroughly Scotchbriting and de-greasing the surfaces!
The gasket was a bit of a fiddle to get it to sit right but it seems a pretty good fit. I dry-fitted it first, then re-fitted it with a bit of gasket-goo just in the corners.

db · Post by db » Mon Mar 06, 17 4:18 pm

Well it's taken a while but I'm happy to report that the one -piece sump gasket works a treat. Loads easier to install and it DOESN'T LEAK!
I've rebuilt the gearbox and it all seems good, not tried it in anger yet due to wet roads!

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Mon Mar 06, 17 7:18 pm

Great progress!

ScottyDave · Post by **ScottyDave** » Mon Mar 06, 17 8:57 pm

mr m · Post by **mr m** » Mon Mar 06, 17 9:44 pm

things moving on mate just a thought with all the stuff going on the primaries on the headers on the motor look a tad small are you changing them?

db · Post by db » Fri Aug 25, 17 9:30 pm

Well in the spirit of the 'Dying forum' thread, I thought I'd do a long overdue Belve update.

Some of you may have seen it appear at the Nats, roll off the trailer, then sit there all weekend till I reloaded it and took it home again having never turned a wheel in anger...

Due to the pressure of getting Dusty the bus ready, the Belve never got it's usual fuss before the Nats. I ALWAYS check the valve clearances before racing, this year it was done on Saturday morning!
Most were within a few thou of .018" except one.
That was around 3/8"

Justin was about and a huge help. We stripped the top end and found a pushrod had punched through the top of a lifter. Oops!
This is the same position as the pushrod I broke 2 years ago. This must have weakened the lifter, which I didn't check, and it's taken this long to break through.

With no spares available at the Pod, it was game over. Luckily no further damage was done- proving the value of my little checks!

It's taken a while to get around to fixing the issue but I've bought a replacement lifter (there's no reason to suspect the others will fail). I couldn't identify the make but Crane looked identical so I got one of theirs. It's turned out to be slightly different (.027 shorter and the pushrod socket is a slightly broader radius.) Luckily some of the old pushrods I have match up- being a fraction longer and with a wider radius. The pushrod height looks correct (about 1.5 threads visible below the rocker).

One thing I'd not noticed before is the lifter overhang on the cam lobes... I think this needs further investigation

Mick70RR · Post by **Mick70RR** » Fri Aug 25, 17 10:39 pm

if you're talking about the lifters not being in the centre of the lobes that's how it should be. The lifters need to spin so they are offset from the cam lobes and ground with a taper.

db · Post by db » Fri Aug 25, 17 11:22 pm

Thanks Mick, I can see on the lobes where the lifters have been running and that makes sense.
I've had a close look now whilst turning the motor by hand...
Some of my lifters are fouling the adjacent lobes and bearing circles.

If you look at the areas I've marked on these two lifters, the cam has actually ground a rough area on the lower part of the lifters! The left hand one on a bearing circle, and the right one on an adjacent cam lobe.

This can't be good?
Maybe it won't do any more harm than scuffing the lifters, or could it be the cause of the broken pushrod 2 years ago and the broken lifter last month?

Dave999 · Post by **Dave999** » Tue Aug 29, 17 4:49 pm

if you have normal sized lifters in bores that are in the normal place

then everyone's mopar v8 must be like that.

paint the lobe that is being over hung with permanent marker pen

take its lifter out

turn of the engine and see if the overhanging lifter leaves any marks

i'd guess the relationship lobe to lobe guards against the issue you see each inlet and exhaust will be timed so its not a problem

is it a re ground cam?

I know on my own engine a regrind can result in a cam where the back of the lobe is nigh on the same diameter as the gaps between, and a bit of clearancing is necessary, but I have half a mile between lobes on a six

but that situation only existed when you couldn't get cam blanks to make new cams and all kinds of "solutions" to that problem were found, some were just not that sensible.

the standard cam was too fat for the kinda grinds people wanted so it needed to be made thinner.
but that just made them bendy.

Dave

Dave999 · Post by **Dave999** » Tue Aug 29, 17 4:59 pm

Ah

do you have a cam button?

do you have a double row chain
is the sprocket bolted down

i.e does you cam actually sit in the right place fore/aft.

I had to dial mine in with a bit of nylon stuffed up its front end
it needed a few thou back and forth clearance but no more
with the back of the Torrington bearing on the sprocket dictating how far back it could go.

lifter action against lobe is supposed push cam forward due to slope on lifter and lobe
reaction against oil and dizzy drive is supposed to counter that.

doesn't work very well on after market cams and lifters and Hi capacity oil pumps and motors with no dizzy

hence Torrington bearing cam sprocket and cam button often used.

is yours 1/8 of an inch out?

have you got standard old original sprockets to try?

Dave

db · Post by db » Wed Sep 27, 17 9:59 am

I've been ignoring this for a while. Time to give it some attention now I think. Thanks for your thoughts Dave...

do you have a cam button? don't know
do you have a double row chain don't know
is the sprocket bolted down don't know
i.e does your cam actually sit in the right place fore/aft. don't know

I've never taken the timing cover off so I've no idea what's been done. The cam is an Ultradyne special grind.
If I gently lever the cam there's no fore/aft movement.

I'd say mine's maybe 1/64" too far forward. What would be involved if I wanted to correct it?

Blue · Post by **Blue** » Wed Sep 27, 17 10:40 am

The timing chain will want to run straight and that will determine the fore/ aft positioning of the cam I reckon. You will have a double roller chain in there possibly with a tensioner and unlikely to have a cam button as you normally only use those with roller cams.

Mopar Muscle Association UK

db's 66 Belvedere FOR SALE

Re: db's 66 Belvedere

Re: db's 66 Belvedere