Restarting My '70 Nova Project

[BravoXray]

In the late 80’s I restored a 70 Challenger. It took me about three years to get it done. I finally had it all put together and looking good and thought I’d enjoy driving it a while then the transmission went out. I pulled the transmission and rebuilt it myself but that took me over a month.

Automatic transmissions are pretty intimidating to those who don't know much about them. I had a similar thing with an '81 Lincoln Town Car many years ago. One day it refused to go forward, would go in reverse, but not forward. After a lot of research and thinking that if those monkeys in a trans shop can fix one, I certainly can. Pulled it out, tore it apart, and finally found a bad sun shell. Got the replacement parts from a local trans shop, put it all back together and it worked fine for a few years when I sold it. Had less than $200 in parts to fix what a couple of trans shops wanted $1500-$2500 to fix, and each one said it was something different wrong with it. None were correct though.

 

[BravoXray]

Like this guy did...

I thought it was kind of scary how he used only one bolt at the front and rear of the intake to attach the chain, especially with no flat washers to keep the bolts from pulling through the links. That just set off my OCD. I have a plate that I use most of the time that uses the four carb bolts to lift with. Even that makes me cringe, even though I know those bolts will easily support over 10 times what the engine and trans weigh. I also have a lifting beam that has a hand crank to move the lift point fore and aft, that attaches with four chains and tabs for lifting with intake bolts or other bolts you need to use.

 

[MossRoad]

The stock sleeper look was kind of what I was going for, and I think I have pretty well accomplished that. As for the frame connectors, I actually have a set, but was torn on whether to install them or not. While it's up in the air, I might get them down and take a look to see how they might fit. I'll let you know.



I'm thinking about doing it that way, as I did set them in the subframe in one piece when I first installed them. As I get it torn down I'll make a decision on how to remove them.
On a lot of the YT videos they almost always install them together, but it's really a two person job to do so, and I'm mostly working alone.
If it had the Muncie trans in it, I could easily remove and install that by myself, but the Tremec trans is a lot heavier, well over 100lbs, too much for me to handle, so I'm going to need a trans jack if I pull it separately.

I'll see what I decide to do.

Yeah, I was wondering about your transmission. And yes, it's very helpful to have a couple/three people to do that.

You have to understand, my Nova's were rust buckets and I was not concerned with scratches and dents. Just yanked that thing out of there!

 

[MossRoad]

Heck, I struggled a bit with my 25HP Kohler on the hoist!

 

[NoTrespassing]

Well, so much for the no leak report from Friday. Sunday morning I took the car into town for breakfast, runs great, sounds good, and has plenty of power. (Sorry, no smokey burnout videos!)
Came back and parked it in the shop and did a few other things for an hour or so. When I glanced under the car, there was a 4" puddle under the rear of the engine, and some drips under the trans and diff.
Crawled under it and sure enugh, the oil is coming from the rear of the engine, dripping off the bellhousing. That kind of ruined my day.
Was busy yesterday, but today, I went down, moved it to the back of the shop and jacked up the front and put it on jack stands. Once under it, the oil is obviously coming out around the crank seal area, but when I pulled the bellhousing cover, the crank flange and front face of the flywheel are dry. I checked the bolts on the oil pan, and all are tight.
So, I did some searching on the problem, and I think I have it figured out. When I assembled the engine, and installed the rear main cap, I failed to apply sealant to the area at the rear of the cap. I did apply a small dab of sealant to the ends of the crank seal, but failed to apply any to the area between the seal and the outer edges of the cap. On Chevy small blocks, the oil from the pump is routed into the rear main cap and then up into main oil galley of the block. There is no seal between the cap and the block, other than the metal to metal surface between the two. The chance of that surface providing a perfect seal for the oil, is literally zero.
So now I am looking at pulling the engine to fix my screwup. Tomorrow I'm going to examine the area closely to see if there is any way to possibly clean the area with brake or carb cleaner, and somehow apply a coat of sealant to the parting surface to stop the leak, but I'm not hopefiul of that. If not, I'll get started pulling the engine and transmission.
I think I still have the box the gasket set came in when I assembled the engine, and I'm going to look in it to see if there are any instructions on applying sealant to that area when installing the rear main seal.
In my defense, it had been quite a few years since I had rebuilt a small block, so it was just a small, but important detail I missed.

On the bright side, I haven't seen any other leaks anywhere on the engine.

Pictures will document my task of shame.

I don't know if you swear or not, but I would have come up with quite a string when I figured out what I had done.

I can't even imagine what you felt after all that hard work and so close to the finish. You're much more patient that I am! Love the car, hang in there.

 

[dodge man]

When I redid that Challenger in the late 80’s I replaced just about every gasket and seal in it, transmission, engine, rear end. It still leaked, not badly but enough to make a drip.

 

[BravoXray]

When I redid that Challenger in the late 80’s I replaced just about every gasket and seal in it, transmission, engine, rear end. It still leaked, not badly but enough to make a drip.

Yep, nothing like putting in all that time, money and labor into a project and still having leaks. Gives you a lot f confidence in your mechanical abilities.
Reminds me of an old aircraft mechanic talking about radial engines that leaked oil, he said "if a radial engine stops leaking, it's out of oil."

 

[BravoXray]

I don't know if you swear or not, but I would have come up with quite a string when I figured out what I had done.

I can't even imagine what you felt after all that hard work and so close to the finish. You're much more patient that I am! Love the car, hang in there.

I have Clara the goat for stress relief when things go bad.

https://imgur.com/a/F6Rz0aM

 

[BravoXray]

Made progress today, worked for about three hours getting the engine and trans ready to come out. When I installed them, the fenders and inner fenders weren't on and I had much better access to things. Some cable clamps and brackets for the ignition and other wiring were bolted to the rear of the engine, and were a real challenge to get out. I may have to rethink how to make them easier to access for installation and removal. Other than spilling a half gallon of coolant everything else was just unbolting things. I have a new 3/8" battery powered ratchet that I used for the first time, and it works really well. I was able to use it on most of the header bolts and a few others that were unhandy to get to with a regular ratchet.
Brian stopped by and gave me a hand taking the hood off, and said he'd help pulling the engine and trans if I need help. I may take him up on that.
I still have the left header to remove, and I think I'm going to have to remove the steering box to get it out. Then the clutch linkage and a few wires should be about all that's left to take apart. I did pull the stick off the trans, and I think the shift tower will clear the hole in the floor when I let the rear of the trans down after removing the crossmember, it's going to be close!
All the wiring on the trans connects to the car with one 12 position Deutsch connector, so that makes it pretty easy to unhook that wiring once the header is out of the way.
What gets me the most, is that once I have the engine out and on the stand, it's only about a 15 minute job to remove the oil pan and rear main cap and apply the sealant.

Oh well, such is life.

 

[NoTrespassing]

Made progress today, worked for about three hours getting the engine and trans ready to come out. When I installed them, the fenders and inner fenders weren't on and I had much better access to things. Some cable clamps and brackets for the ignition and other wiring were bolted to the rear of the engine, and were a real challenge to get out. I may have to rethink how to make them easier to access for installation and removal. Other than spilling a half gallon of coolant everything else was just unbolting things. I have a new 3/8" battery powered ratchet that I used for the first time, and it works really well. I was able to use it on most of the header bolts and a few others that were unhandy to get to with a regular ratchet.
Brian stopped by and gave me a hand taking the hood off, and said he'd help pulling the engine and trans if I need help. I may take him up on that.
I still have the left header to remove, and I think I'm going to have to remove the steering box to get it out. Then the clutch linkage and a few wires should be about all that's left to take apart. I did pull the stick off the trans, and I think the shift tower will clear the hole in the floor when I let the rear of the trans down after removing the crossmember, it's going to be close!
All the wiring on the trans connects to the car with one 12 position Deutsch connector, so that makes it pretty easy to unhook that wiring once the header is out of the way.
What gets me the most, is that once I have the engine out and on the stand, it's only about a 15 minute job to remove the oil pan and rear main cap and apply the sealant.

Oh well, such is life.

View attachment 884353View attachment 884354

I had a 91 Ford Ranger that leaked oil from the pan gasket, about a quart every 2k miles. I drove it that way for years, probably 130 k miles. That's how much I hate wrenching! Much respect for your patience and abilities!