Freightrain

More progress this afternoon: Heads torqued, valve train sitting on there waiting to be torqued. I loosened all the adjusters about a turn just so nothing would happen to touch when I start to roll it around. It shouldn't be too far out but remember : Safety THIRD! 😂 Exhaust manifold snugged on Tomorrow will be torquing things and adjusting valves. I found some HPC reinforced silicone plugs for the two water fittings. Same basic stuff I am using for other couplings. I tried to get dual filter housing off 237. The intake is in the freaking way! I need to fabri-cobble a socket/wrench to get the center bolt out so I don't have to remove manifold. Even 1/4" drive is too tall. Box wrench won't fit in the recess. F-me. In all, glad to see this coming together this far. I can see in another week, I could fire it up. I have my old extra radiator like I used when I ran it last summer in the driveway for about 45 minutes. Since it is on metal legs I feel a bit more secure then when it was just sitting on wood blocks wobbling around.

SUCCESS! 3/4" hole drill, turned 1/4 turn at a time by hand with vise grips got them to pop loose. No damage to head as it didn't have to cut through. You could feel it POP loose and spin with no resistance after awhile. Now onto putting heads on. I washed up the intercooler housing this morning at the shop so it is ready to put in once I torque the heads. Then exhaust manifold once I get studs reinstalled into heads.

Ok, found the water diagram. Geoff you are right, I had it backwards. Picked up my injectors. They slip right into the sleeves so no other work needs done there. I dug out my fresh jug of Tin Man in a can 😆. As soon as I get those two last copper gasket out I can continue with install. I also looked through my pictures from getting engine home and realize those two big fittings aren't used. I think maybe at one time it was set up for water cooled intercooler. The pictures show those were capped off when I brought the engine home. The upper water pump and the other large one in the oil cooler. The elbow: So, no worries there. Just need to make caps for them. I also see the heater core had been bypassed in the pictures when it was in the truck but I know where they go. All is well.

237 was from late 60s firetruck supposedly. It had shutoff. This 300 came from late 70s R model and has shutoff. Factory? Or something someone put on? The water pump housing on 237 came from my 673. The housing on this motor was the original and has stand pipe instead of nipple down by the oil cooler. I actually installed a shut off valve from a 70s Ford truck and have a choke cable running up to dash so I can adjust heat while driving.

But, thinking more about it, the suction side is at about 9 o'clock(draws from front of block). The fitting is at 12, so it that still suction? As the output is at about 4 o'clock as it goes into the oil cooler and then out to lower radiator hose.

That is kinda why I am puzzled. Both my 237 and this 300 have a shut off valve in the rear water manifold where a hose connects. But both have different fittings at the pump end. I was looking at engine and trying to determine water flow directions. Water should come from bottom of block and up per say and out at thermostat at front of engine. So the water at rear manifold is "hot" and returning to radiator. Thus it is going TO the heater core. Then the line at the pump is the heater "return" and needs to be on the suction side of pump.

I'll run the new nipple. I hate rubber plugs, that is failure waiting to happen. I will remove the lower nipple and put the plug back in. Simple.

Progress.... I put the "newer" valve spring on #5 intake, set head on and just snugged the bolts. Will torque after front head is installed. I received my reman 673 water pump and got it bolted on, along with torquing the oil filter housing once everything was lined up. I got the fan hub slipped on and nut tightened down. You can tell this is "new" as the bearings and seal make it snug to turn. Unlike my original one from who knows when?? My injectors are ready to pick up. They had to dig into their cores for a few parts to get them up to spec. I get them Thursday night. About $650 total. I still am working on getting copper seals out of front head. My round file isn't large enough to grab the copper. Will continue to tinker with that situation. I do need to come up with a plug for the puff limiter in the front of the pump. Limiter was broken off when I got motor. A question I will ask at pump shop. I did start to get the gold paint put on. Just quick coating over most of bottom end. Will need a couple more cans to actually finish it but first coat will be set. I need to determine what that hose is sticking out of top of water pump housing. My 673 didn't have that. Not sure if that heater connection? Mine has nipple that I put into new pump down by oil cooler neck. I can always swap it back for the plug that was in that hole. I think that pipe just had a cut off black hose and assume it might be heater. I know this 300 motor had water shut off on rear water manifold just like my 673/237. The 300 pump didn't have a hole down there by oil cooler like 673 pump. I did order new lock tabs for exhaust bolts. No sense in using old rusty ones. Speedi sleeve should be here Thursday for crank hub.

I may look at work and see if there is something useable.

I used a stiff oil galley brush to clean up the bores. Not perfect but pretty clean. I will test fit injectors when I get them back.

Heads still on floor. Almost bolted it on until I realized two seals still in the head. Tried screwdriver, the through hole is same as cup so no shoulder to catch on. I tried different size drills to see if I could use one to push up.

Ok, next question for the day. How do you get injector seal washers out. I have 4 out(fell out). Two are stubborn. Used a wide screwdriver and tried to tap into copper and twist(read that somewhere) but nothing. Thoughs?

I have a piece of 3" exhaust tubing to get the sleeve on deep enough. Been there, done that. If needed, you then tear off the shoulder of the sleeve. The black magic marker is where the seal rides. I used calipers to confirm exactly. Look at the 673 next to it, the shiny spot is where it rode.

Progress today .. Heads assembled, almost. I tried checking spring pressure but the outers are too tall for buddies checker without screwing with it and making him reset it for his daily work. I checked free height and they all were right about the same besides being a bit short of "spec". The inner spring I could check pressure and even being about .07 short it was within pressure. So I checked all heights and all but one outer was within same height. I left it apart and will being getting some spares from Mack buddy. I machined the crank hub. All is well. Only issue is one small spot where it is marked. A few pit marks and I am going to get a speedi sleeve for it. The rest is perfect condition so there is no need to leave a chance for seal to tear on those marks. I checked and marked my balancer for correct TDC. I'm using my old 673 and it has no factory marks. It has a timing mark on flywheel. I did TDC and up to 30* plus 120* each way. Taped it and used yellow highlighter. I will paint around them and then clear over timing marks. Far from perfect but will be nice when needed. The long stripe is TDC, the shorts are 5* increments. The keen eyes will see GOLD paint behind the balancer. I stopped and found another shade of gold and it looks good! So I will be getting more. Rust-Oleum metallic champagne gold.

I cleaned up the water pump housing and got it bolted on. The lower water hole was previously rusted out and a helicoil was installed. It seems ok and torqued down to 55ft/lb ok. I was concerned about my water pump and wanted to look at putting bearings in it. It didn't leak but when spun it had a looseness to it and you could hear a faint rumble from old bearings. The Mack manual shows how to rebuild it but takes a special puller to get vanes off the shaft. I played around but figured it would be better just to replace it. I googled and found a 673 version. The 300 is about 1/2" shorter shaft and no keyway for pulley. I am going to call on the reman version and have a known good pump. I'm taking crank hub to shop Sat to press it apart and machine it. Assemble the heads and get them home so I can get them set on. I made a list of silicone hoses to replace all the old lines that hook stuff together. Water manifold, intake, oil cooler, turbo. $100 at Summit racing. I did the same for the 237. Things should really come together this coming week.