Thanks Rob ..So rather than drill a hole in the rod half big end bearing , you drilled a hole ( slight countersink ) in top of small end to gather oil mist to lubricate the pin , do the pin bushes have internal oil ways ? Were you advised not to drill the bearing shell because of the risk of the bearing material erosion ? I assume one oil control ring land is below the piston pin ? I am interested in these kind of procedures when working on engines ..THX Vern ..

Hi Rob .. did you ream the piston pin bushes or have them done at machine shop , what piston rings did you use ?

Jolls ..My floor jack is a APAC 240 ..Ive had it for 50 years , put seals in 3 times ..use it all the time .It was orange in colour originally when new..Vern ..

Hi to anyone reading this ..I also have a set of FC sedan rear springs , re-set 2 inches ...not required ...north west Sydney ..free ..0405 703 413 ..

Craig ..Yes pricing today is crazy ...and your right a lot of it doesn't make sense...and car parts is one of the most baffling unfathoumamble ( you like that word )
I see sets of piston and rings in Standard sizes are considerably less expensive than oversize ..If your " L " engine if standard or first or second oversize and needs a bore , why not 3.1/16 "STD ..more choise out there ..there is a guy on this forum who is a private reconditioner down south coast I believe , he probably has those in stock and just needs a customer like you ..at least you will know exactly what your getting ..some one will know him and post his details hopefully ..Vern

Craig ..Mixing of main bearing caps in theory means line boring ..in all engines the caps are mated to that engine ..main bearing cap failure in standard or mildly worked engines is rare ..Rob is correct , pistons are oval , at least below the piston pin ..you can expand the skirt of a piston to reduce " slap " in the bore ..some shops have them . funny little dished cradle with a long arm acts like a hammer ,you roll the skirt backwards and forwards gently , too much and it wont go down the bore ..I dont believe pistons have to go back in the same pot .I put the one that feels right and just seems to be correct in that bore , con rods ? keep them where they came from unless you suspect something .By the way , weigh all your components and make them the same weight , I have been amazed at the difference between assembled conrods...when I worked in engine reconditioning pistons came in a box of six with rings and pins fitted ,each piston had a coloured paint spot on top , that was your final bore honeing clearance  ...you might be doing say 4 engines in a run ,blocks were all cleaned and tested and passed ok to go into the system and be machined ..say all were going to clean up with .040 thou oversize pistons so 4 boxes of pistons drawn from the store clearly marked .040 thou oversize ...open the box some had blue dot , some had red dot etc ..you would look for 4 sets all with same paint colour , saved resetting the wet hone , or even worst not remembering to ..I am talking the 1970's where machines were nothing like today ..so in a way engines are individual from the out set ..We restored a McCormick Deering W4 tractor a couple of years ago , we ordered a set of dry liners from USA , actually made in Mexico ..on arrival the pistons and rings are assembled in the liner ready for drop in ..called an " overnight Kit "we took them apart ,one piston was way heavier than the other 3 ..maybe in low rev tractor not a big deal , we machined it , all even is better than one odd one ..

Mal ..You are a master craftsman , no doubt ..like Errol said , I also wish I had that skill for body work , ...Vern ...

Craig ..I'll chime in here ,,if you are basically happy with the engine and say to yourself i'll do this one ..What i would do ..take it to engine machine shop and put it in the pickle bath .. a few bucks , but cheap insurance premium ...then check it all over , crack test , then let the micrometer do the story telling ...and correct use of micrometer , by that I mean , example , when measuring the big end crank journals ,measure each journal in several places along and around it , looking for taper and ovality ,back in the day some engines had one journal only ground undersize .there is lots of things to cover when preparing an engine build..best get the machine shop to measure everything for you ..Vern ..

Rob ..those strip it discs are brilliant , I buy them 10 at time on net from a mob in WA ..use on just about anything , I have used them on rust scale like your car project , old bog and paint removal , wood , fibre glass , aluminum ...old solder ..preperation to solder,, heads off old rivets ..moss on fence rails ..sharp weld sputter .. cattle hoof trimming ,bit by bit ...not so brilliant on stainless ,.. got to be carefull depends what your faced with ..stainless always seems to end up best result when fabric is used , I dont like flap discs , clog up too quickly ....keep well Vern ..

Craig ..Check with the supplier if the hose has a mesh fabric inner , moulded hose with mesh inner is superior to extruded rubber NO mesh , original had anti suction spring , dont know if that applies or even available any more ..Vern

Craig ,,I meant to say also ..AS it seems the thing that concerns you is the compression and fuming of oil and etc ..and whats going on in the engine that you cant see..
 MY thinking is ,back in the day if the old heavy sludgie oils can get to where it did , where will modern day oils get ,so getting information and talking to JP pistons in SA..
the choise of rings became very important , that led to control of oil being as important as even compression..Vern ..

back in the day the oils then did get fumy , I can recall many a car with a stream of smoke coming out of the road draught tube ,we always blamed pre detergent oils, the oil filer cap is a breather in its self , the road draught tube ,cut at an angle as it is was designed to draw fumes away, then they had to clean up their act and came up with PCV valves ..oil will get past the rings in some engines into the combustion chamber , compression can get past and pressureise the sump ...burning oil is evident in exhaust gas and spark plugs ..blow by is evident as described earlier ..having said all that , modern day oils of course resist all that which makes identifing what is what....In the case of the engine in my FC ..a " L" engine number .bench tested running , very fumy....when I pulled it down , it mic 'd up ok ..little wear in bore , piston rings coked up in ring lands , have to dig them out, solid Perfect Circle oil rings ..NOT GOOD ..so honed bore ,slightly oversize compression rings , and four piece oil control rings , spreader, segmented keeper,and two rails per piston , easy to fit on piston , but bugger to be sure not overlapping on installation ..I actually test fitted a couple of pistons a few times to be sure what looked right actually was ..by the way , somewhere in its life the engine had been bored 3"1/16" plus .030" ...and I fitted Harvs head gasket ..round two ..engine runs quite well , 120psi each pot , head shaved , was the practice in the day ..Vern .
cse in the day ...

Craig ..A even increase in compression is a good sign ...after you have done your tweeks and had it running for a good time and at temperature no doubt you will check compression again , for piece of mind you can , when she is hot and running , put a piece of cloth in road draft tube and block it off and remove the oil filler cap , and prevent wind from fan ,if there is excessive " blow by " it will pump fumes out the oil filler cap opening ..have a peek in and check oil on rocker shaft ..Vern ..

not hard now to make a plate for rear of block and a post and swivel to mount the block on to rebuild an engine ..

Those old screw jacks if damaged , ie vehicle fell off jack , say a FE ute loaded with cases of beer and buckets of ice and buckets of prawns ..or used on a Kenworth ..just try before you buy ..now serious ..if the internal casting for the thread has been bent out of alignment , you cant get at it , and on full extesion looks to be leaning , not square to body ..when you go to use with a load as you wind up , cause things dont fall over when not extended , you will hit a tight spot and have to turn into Superman to wind the bugger ..if at all ..guess what taught me to swear ? ..Vern ..

Jolls ..different types here , you can just see it on the Ebay one ,the original had the fitting right under the screw on the base line so you can put the square head of the handle in there to position the jack under the car and then pull it out when finished  .if you go for one like the orange one from WA should come with pair of knee pads ..

Jolls ..The guys at All Metal Bumpers at Ingleburn declined to re chrome my FC rh front blinker/ park light body ...It appeared to have some sort of old repair , chrome would fail at that repair ,  they are one of the more difficult components and costly items to do , would be wouldn't it ???They asked me if I have another , I didn't, started a hunt , but they got me one through their contacts..maybe an avenue to consider ..Vern ..

Terry ..We are forced to make do ..? I hate it , and how standards change and not enforced or checked ..Now I believe we are one of the worlds producers of iron ore , are we not ?? And also believe our iron ore is high grade ..Correct ? Well , go down to Bunnings and find the section where you can buy lengths of pre threaded  gal pipe in BSP thread ..My mate who used own Pipe Products in Hornsby tells me that pipe comes from either Taiwan or South Africa ..can you believe that ....The wall thickness is at absolute minimum , especially at the lead in thread ( start of the taper ) go compare to a piece of Aussie say AIS ( Australian Iron and Steel ) pipe ...we are paying our hard earned dollars for sub standard rubbish ..Thats enough from me ...keep well Vern ..

Hi Jolls ..There might be some fabric impregnated resin sheet in the museum workshop where I volunteer , they use it in magneto's , not sure of the thickness ..i'll have a look next week ...I know there is fair amount of shim brass sheet ..Vern ..

Hi Jolls ...I can understand companies not wanting to keep slow moving stock , or charging large sums for the privilage to have it for you ..Im pretty sure all BSP male threads are tapered and female parallel ...any BSP parallel male thread would need a sealing face , I dont think that is made as all tapered fittings rely on thread bind to seal along with tape or loctite ..back in the day it would be hemp ...I hear you , esp with your sons , ..the old addage " measure twice , cut once "...Vern ..