1946 convertible project underway

[Daniel Szydel]

I bought this car almost a year ago and I'm very excited to begin restoring it.  My goal is to do as much of the work myself - partly because I don't have an endless supply of money but mostly because I like the satisfaction of doing it myself.  One of my friends told me "nobody cares more about your s#*t than you do" and this definitely rings true with me.  Now, I'm being realistic with myself and when I began this project.  This is not going to be a nut and bolt concourse restoration but it will be a very nice driver.  I hope! 

I'll back up a little bit and give some history on this car.  The person I bought the car from has owned it since the mid 70's and stopped driving it in the mid 80's.  There are window stickers from Pennsylvania and Kentucky putting it there in the 60's and 70's.  The car has been re-sprayed in blue lacquer (originally maroon) and the interior was recovered in light blue vinyl.
The body, floors and frame are very solid and all the hard to find parts appear to be there.  Obviously it needs paint, interior, chrome, drive-train... you get the picture. 

I decided to start with the engine and transmission.  Way back in 2004 I took an Automotive Engine Servicing class at a local technical college.  My friends dad taught the class and I was building a model A ford with a 1955 Cadillac engine.  It was a really fun class and I learned quite a bit so I decided to take it again and rebuild the 46 engine.  There's a different instructor now and some new machines but pretty much the same class. 

I'll stop here and post some pictures of the 46 and the engine I built for my model A. 
Dan

[Bill Ingler #7799]

Hi Daniel:   Car looks very solid and you will a great driver when you finish. On your chrome plating I have a word of caution. The vent window frames have a tendency to warp if the chrome shop does not does keep the frames in a secure position during the stripping and plating. My first chrome shop ruined a set and I was lucky to find another set. So make sure the chrome shop knows the process to keep your frames from warping. Even what I thought was a great chrome shop, they still managed to slightly warp my left vent frame.   Bill   

[Daniel Szydel]

I'm sure most people on this forum can pick up the signs that someone (or something) has been in here before.  My first hint was when I pulled the engine and trans and I saw 2 bolts missing from the bell housing.  My second clue was when I pulled the oil pan and saw the giant mouse nest!  Oh yeah, and the sheet metal oil pan baffle was also missing.  Now I started wondering why. 

After disassembly and a whole lot of cleaning, I discovered that the center main bearing cap was installed the wrong way.  There was a fair amount of wear on the bearing surface but the thrust surface was quite worn.  If fact the crank grinder said it needed to be welded.  This still didn't directly point to why parts were missing and what was repaired.  Perhaps it was just a bad main bearing and the cap was put on wrong causing more damage.

Either way,  I had found another 346 engine and trans on CL and ended up using the crank and oil pan baffle from it. 

Another interesting thing I discovered on the bottom end was the connecting rod bolts.  At some point I mixed up the bolts because hey, they are just bolts!  When I was assembling them to resize the big end, I noticed a couple of bolts were going in very tight.  I stopped and moved on to the next rod thinking I'll just chase the thread and be fine.  When I got to the last few rods I learned that the threads are not a standard size.  I also learned that there were several bolts with F C on the head.  The thread diameter on these measured undersized from the non marked ones.  Did the factory hand fit bolts to the rods?  After playing around for a while I decided to use the rods from the spare engine I bought.  These all had the same looking bolt heads and now I kept the bolts with the rods! 

Sorry to keep this so long winded, but if anyone has questions I'll be happy to answer them.

Dan

[Daniel Szydel]

Hi Daniel:   Car looks very solid and you will a great driver when you finish. On your chrome plating I have a word of caution. The vent window frames have a tendency to warp if the chrome shop does not does keep the frames in a secure position during the stripping and plating. My first chrome shop ruined a set and I was lucky to find another set. So make sure the chrome shop knows the process to keep your frames from warping. Even what I thought was a great chrome shop, they still managed to slightly warp my left vent frame.   Bill   

Thanks Bill,  I will keep this is mind when I start getting pieces chromed.  I found a shop near me that specializes in pot metal plating and talked to the owner.  He seems to be pretty knowledgeable but Ill definitely ask him what we can do to prevent this from happening.   

Dan

[MaR]

What color are you going to go with in the end?

[Daniel Szydel]

What color are you going to go with in the end?

Im going to keep it the stock maroon color. 

Dan

[MaR]

Im going to keep it the stock maroon color. 

Dan

Nice! Are you going to paint it yourself?

[Daniel Szydel]

Nice! Are you going to paint it yourself?

My idea right now is to do all the body work, fit the sheet metal and block it.  I have a friend that a really good painter so I may see if he can help me do the final blocking and spray the final color.  I started picking dents and aligning the front clip before I stopped to rebuild the engine.  I'm certainly getting better as I go!

Dan

[Bob Schuman]

Daniel,
A few engine details you need to be aware of:
The two connecting rod bolts for each rod are different lengths, I'm sure you know. In addition, on 1942-48 engines the longer bolt is 15/32-24", which is 1/16" larger than the short 7/16"-24 bolt. On 37-41 engines, both have the same 7/16" thread size. The lockwashers are special, also.
Be sure to clean out the very small tubing inside the valley that feed oil to the lifter blocks. They like to collect sludge.
The two bushings inside the tower shaft that drives the distributor and oil pump sometimes wear badly, again possibly caused by sludge in the internal oil passage. You have to remove the gear and the shaft to be able to check and clean the oil passage, and to install new bronze bushings if needed. This is one of several possible causes of the infamous failures of the bronze idler gear that is between the camshaft gear and the tower shaft gear.
Check carefully for cracks in the block, especially between the valve seats and the cylinder walls. These engines seem prone to cracking if ever overheated.

[Daniel Szydel]

Daniel,
A few engine details you need to be aware of:
The two connecting rod bolts for each rod are different lengths, I'm sure you know. In addition, on 1942-48 engines the longer bolt is 15/32-24", which is 1/16" larger than the short 7/16"-24 bolt. On 37-41 engines, both have the same 7/16" thread size. The lockwashers are special, also.
Be sure to clean out the very small tubing inside the valley that feed oil to the lifter blocks. They like to collect sludge.
The two bushings inside the tower shaft that drives the distributor and oil pump sometimes wear badly, again possibly caused by sludge in the internal oil passage. You have to remove the gear and the shaft to be able to check and clean the oil passage, and to install new bronze bushings if needed. This is one of several possible causes of the infamous failures of the bronze idler gear that is between the camshaft gear and the tower shaft gear.
Check carefully for cracks in the block, especially between the valve seats and the cylinder walls. These engines seem prone to cracking if ever overheated.

Thanks Bob, I really appreciate all the suggestions. Now it makes sense with the longer rod bolts that were slightly smaller in diameter. 
I plan on using ARP hardened flat washers in place of the lock washers.  Someone from this forum suggested that.  Does that seem like a sound idea? 

I was very anxious to magnaflux the block after I hot tanked and shot peened it.  Fortunately there were no cracks.  The spare block I bought had several from the valve seat to the cylinder. 

I have been reading about the bronze gear and tower bushings and even though the engine was pretty full of sludge the gear looked ok.  However, I do plan on putting new bushings in the tower.  Are these a common size or do I need to make them? 

Dan


 

[Bob Schuman]

Daniel,
I have not heard of anyone using hardened flatwashers instead of lockwashers on the con rod cap bolts, so my advice on that may not be worth much, but I don't see any flatwashers providing any of the locking help that lockwashers provide. Anyone with other advice here (Loctite, maybe?) please respond.

The tower shaft bushings are not an "off the shelf" item to my knowledge, they require machinist skills and equipment to make and install. After reassembling the tower shaft, with the oil pump installed on the engine, be sure the tower shaft will align with and easily turn the oil pump. I have seen where new bushings caused a slight misalignment preventing the tower shaft from engaging the oil pump.

[Daniel Szydel]

I began some of the machine work to the block this week. The machine I’m using references off the back of the block and the crankshaft.  The back of the block cleaned up at about .002”. I checked deck height from side to side and they were off about .005” from each other before any machine work. That’s the crankshaft centerline to the top surface of the block.
Basically you clean up one surface, record the measurement, flip the block to the next bank and make it the same dimension. The left bank had a bit of warping going on so it took about .008” to clean up.

Unfortunately the boring bar the school has is about an inch too short so I have to take it to a machine shop in town to bore it.

After that its into the honing machine and then I start valve seats.

Dan

[Daniel Szydel]

Well, its been a while since I updated everyone on my progress but I have been busy!
I finished the engine and transmission.  I haven't fired it up yet but I'm pretty close. 
I wanted to put it in the frame and break it in before there was any sheet metal on the car - just in case I had to pull it out!
This meant I should probably paint the frame and firewall which then led to rebuilding the front end, brakes, and new gas tank.

I have started some of the bodywork and I'll post some pictures when Im a bit farther along.  There's a picture of a junk yard in the area that I was able to get a rear leaf spring and windshield washer jar. 

[James Landi]

Daniel,  Yes, we've waited for a full year, but seems as if you've made a great deal of progress.  Keep the narrative and the pictures coming... very enthusiastic about your saving this beautiful machine.   Not many like it in the world today.   Gratefully, James

[harry s]

Daniel, Looking good. We'll be just as anxious as you awaiting the start up.     Harry

[6262]

Daniel, may I ask where this junkyard is?

[Daniel Szydel]

Daniel, may I ask where this junkyard is?

Sure, it Jacks Auto Ranch in Watertown WI.  They have a decent amount of Cadillacs and the guy answering the phone knows them pretty well.  I was surprised to find a 47 with an intact windshield washer jar while walking around a few weeks ago.   

[6262]

Thank you.

[toybox]

 Hi Daniel,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
      I'm very envious, I've been looking for that same washer jar for three years.  I have a 46  61 coup I'm putting on the road this spring. If they don't close the roads that is.                                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                     Keep up the great work, Tim

[Daniel Szydel]

Still making progress. I fired up the engine and broke it in. Everything went pretty well with no major noises or leaks - oh except for the freeze plug that blew out!  I guess I had the wrong size plugs so I changed all of them.

I have the entire car stripped to bare metal have been doing metal work. I gapped the doors and trunk lid. The doors weren’t too bad with the driver side a little too tight but the trunk lid didn’t fit well. The lower edge was a little bent from someone trying to pry the trunk open and all the gaps were just way too wide or extremely tight. Two days later I think I have it looking good.

Most of the pictures I’ve been taking of the car are close up details to help me when I reassemble so I don’t have a ton of pictures to share.

The next step is to start putting the car back together so I can fit the fenders and hood.