Chevelle Restoration - Part 2
I've decided I like the SBC V8. Well, actually I know very little about internal combustion engines but after watching enough YouTube videos about them and enough time wrestling them out of engine bays I guess I've developed a fondness. A standard engine block platform with a single cam and 8 great big holes that are drilled out at different diameters to give different displacement and different engines altogether.
Speaking of the SBC, the 307 is coming along nicely, specifically the paint!
That's right, I am now part of the side of the internet that believes that SBC V8s should all be orange unlike the filthy peasants of the SBC world who choose to paint them red.
While not the screamiest of V8 engines, I feel quite happy with a modest and dignified 5.0L engine for this build, after all it's the original engine for this car when it hit the road in 1969. Which leads us to this week's festivities of extracting the 350 V8 which currently resides in the engine bay, the big boi:
Pretty simple process to extract the engine, I'm sure. Hoist it out with the block and tackle:
A slight wrinkle emerged when trying to push the car under the block and tack in that the rear wheels seem to be completely seized. We're still not sure why, but no amount of prising, banging, levering, shouting nor hammering could get the rear wheels to rotate.
Interestingly, the entire rear axle seems to have no rotation whatsoever, so better check the diff:
After dumping large amounts of gear oil on my arms, and somehow in my hair, the diff looks good. Apparently. You can tell because of the way it is.
The next idea is to try pumping up the tires and fitting the wheels back on and rocking the car back and forth to try to break free whatever malevolent force is binding the wheels. Of course, being in an unique workshop environment, the only means we have to pump up these tires is through a sophisticated 12V solar setup driven primarily by the old car battery from my old Mercedes Benz C350, and a tiny but perky Chinese pump that was probably designed to pump up tires on sub 1.0L cars and 9V EVs exclusively:
After much time had passed, all four tires were pumped up to as high a pressure the tiny pump could muster, which the dial insisted was still zero. All four tires are on and ready to apply three whole humanpower to rocking the car back and forth.
It's interesting having a plan of action, and then a backup and even a secondary backup plan of action that all lead to the same conclusion. These wheels are completely stuck. We had to resort to pulling the entire car forward on the block and tackle by the sway bar while the stubborn rear wheels were dragged along without rotating.
No movement here...
It seems invariably brute force is the answer, which begs the question why we bother trying to do things nicely in the first place.
Now with the car in place under the block and tackle, we can begin to remove the 350 V8.
I know by appearances it only looks like we spent most part of my Saturday moving a car a meter or so, and if that's what you've gathered from this post so far, I must commend you on your ability to pay attention.
Nonetheless, with the car in place and my expert skills in rope work, this is where the fun finally begins.
Easy does it...
Aww, it's a boy!
I felt it was a success, but now I have no excuse to get cracking on the 307, and when I mean get cracking I mean start parting with large sums of money for new SBC V8 parts. I've decided to go the new part route after a few misadventures in shopping for used parts on Facebook Marketplace and the bizarre situations I find myself in with one bra from Durban consistently harassing me to buy miscellaneous parts from a Camaro that he has/found/stole/borrowed.
Nonetheless, the 350 is out and that big bay is ready for the 307 once we get the heads and valve gear rebuilt. Stay tuned!