mcspool Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 (edited) 53 minutes ago, cordenj said: but as this was ex-British Army, and a British contract, it definitely needed to stay green. What is the reason you say that a British contract CMP was painted green? Do you have a contemporary reference? Just trying to learn as as far as I know in 1943 SCC2 was the dominant base colour. Great project, by the way! Edited February 19, 2022 by mcspool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cordenj Posted February 19, 2022 Author Share Posted February 19, 2022 11 minutes ago, mcspool said: What is the reason you say that a British contract CMP was painted green? Do you have a contemporary reference? Just trying to learn as as far as I know in 1943 SCC2 was the dominant base colour. Great project, by the way! 11 minutes ago, mcspool said: What is the reason you say that a British contract CMP was painted green? Do you have a contemporary reference? Just trying to learn as as far as I know in 1943 SCC2 was the dominant base colour. Great project, by the way! Thank-you. I defer to James Gosling on these matters, but we are aiming for a truck in 1944 NW Europe markings and I believe they'd be green in British Army. James or Hanno might be able to confirm with a period reference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcspool Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 2 hours ago, cordenj said: Thank-you. I defer to James Gosling on these matters, but we are aiming for a truck in 1944 NW Europe markings and I believe they'd be green in British Army. James or Hanno might be able to confirm with a period reference. 1944 NW Europe markings is a different subject from the base colour on a vehicle built in 1943. Refer to the research done by Mike Starmer: "1942-44: Vehicles continued to be delivered and used in plain S.C.C.2 following ACI 1160 which gave S.C.C.2 as “Basic Paint”. even after the introduction of S.C.C.15 Olive Drab in 1944, vehicles were not to be repainted in the new basic paint / base colour unless absolutely necessary, e.g. after a rebuild. Mind you, I think any owner can paint his/her vehicle in any colour they like. I'm just trying to get the facts right. Did you or James find any original paint layers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcspool Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 On 2/10/2022 at 5:57 PM, cordenj said: Thank-you that will be very useful. I've found a pencil drawing of the toolbox dimensions, but also understand there may be a CAD drawing somewhere on the site. See the tread Reference: CMP tool box and spare tire holder plans - these are useable drawings but not done in CAD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cordenj Posted February 20, 2022 Author Share Posted February 20, 2022 On 2/19/2022 at 1:18 PM, mcspool said: See the tread Reference: CMP tool box and spare tire holder plans - these are useable drawings but not done in CAD On 2/19/2022 at 1:18 PM, mcspool said: See the tread Reference: CMP tool box and spare tire holder plans - these are useable drawings but not done in CAD Thank-you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cordenj Posted February 23, 2022 Author Share Posted February 23, 2022 (edited) Now for the block and crankshaft: When we bought the truck we were told that the engine was ready to rebuild, having had the conrods re-whitemetalled, the crank ground and new main bearings had been bought. We took this on trust as all were crated/boxed up. So, I have been carefully cleaning the storage grease from the crank and found the new bearings. I'd already pressure washed and dried the block, a ready for a trial fit of the crank.As I believe this crank work was completed many years ago, the price of the bearing shells is noticeable at £182. These 216 cranks have to be shimmed on each main bearing and the "kit" of parts came with the old shims all together in an envelope. As I knew I'd probably need extra shims, I ordered a set from Summit Racing in USA. Cost of shims weren't too bad until add cost of shipped etc etc, but essential. I also bought a full Fel-Pro gasket set which worked out at more than £100 with duties etc. Set up each main bearing using Plasti-gauge. Pete Ashby has put up a good explanation of this technique on his Dodge thread, so I'll not repeat it. But remind anyone trying the process to make sure it is with dry bearings. I saw a You-tube clip elsewhere where they oiled the bearings first.....think this will affect the results. Needless to say, this is a time consuming process and each bearing needs gauging/reshimming several times with all that entails. Edited February 23, 2022 by cordenj 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cordenj Posted February 26, 2022 Author Share Posted February 26, 2022 Continuing with engine: Fitted crank. Inspected oil pump and cam, and all looked to be in good condition, so fitted them together with front mounting plate. Next are the Con Rods. I carefully cleaned the storerage grease and found the white metal bearing to be new and unmarked. Again this concurs with what we were told when purchasing the truck. The MB_C2 manual details how to set up the shimmed Big End bearings. I followed this and double checked the 2 thou gap with Plastigauge. Final check was to individually fit conrods to crank, torque caps and check for movement by pushing the rod by hand (quote MB-C2: "when properly fitted, it should be possible to snap the rod back and forth on the crank pin"). I then fitted the pistons to the rods and refitted all in block.....with oil dippers pointing in the correct direction. All turned freely and next task is to check dippers and pan heights with Chev special tools 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cordenj Posted March 3, 2022 Author Share Posted March 3, 2022 One of the key aspects of a 216 Chev rebuild is setting the Oil Dippers and Oil troughs in the sump. There were a set of special tools to enable this. As previously mentioned I managed to find and buy one (J-969-2) in the USA. This checks dipper height and Oil Trough Depth. After much searching online I found a good photo of another one (J-969-3) used for checking the Oil Nozzle Height. From the photo, and knowing the sump width, I scaled an accurate drawing and made one out of sheet steel. The third special tool is J-969-1, a more complicated design to check oil jets. I've not tried to make one of these, but went through the process of connecting a garden hose into the oil feed and saw that all jets were clear and a consistent jet came from each nozzle. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cordenj Posted March 5, 2022 Author Share Posted March 5, 2022 Meanwhile progress in Kent with cab respray and fit. All went together very well, just requiring assistance of a ratchet strap to help persuade the front frame to meet the bolt holes in roof lip. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpsmit Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 looks great - I am stunned by the speed of this project! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rootes75 Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 Looking very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cordenj Posted March 6, 2022 Author Share Posted March 6, 2022 On 3/5/2022 at 2:22 PM, jpsmit said: looks great - I am stunned by the speed of this project! It helps that we have a two of us working on it in seperate locations! Finishing the engine and fitting it will be a milestone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cordenj Posted March 6, 2022 Author Share Posted March 6, 2022 20 hours ago, Rootes75 said: Looking very good. 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpsmit Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 47 minutes ago, cordenj said: It helps that we have a two of us working on it in seperate locations! Finishing the engine and fitting it will be a milestone. Indeed - and I was aware of that, but still, my garage is 10 feet away and I haven't touched the car since November. 🤪 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex van de Wetering Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 John, James, Excellent work and thanks for sharing all the pictures of the progress. Adjusting the main bearings with the shimms is also where I am at with my Chev engine. I actually installed one of those simple bicycle lifts in order to lift the crank out and in the block. At first I had to lift the 30kg thing and rotate 180 degrees to my workbench, which made me dizzy😆 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzH Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 Only came across this thread this morning... a good read and great work..! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cordenj Posted March 7, 2022 Author Share Posted March 7, 2022 10 hours ago, OzH said: Only came across this thread this morning... a good read and great work..! 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cordenj Posted March 7, 2022 Author Share Posted March 7, 2022 On 3/5/2022 at 8:26 PM, Rootes75 said: Looking very good. 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cordenj Posted March 7, 2022 Author Share Posted March 7, 2022 On 3/6/2022 at 6:54 PM, Alex van de Wetering said: John, James, Excellent work and thanks for sharing all the pictures of the progress. Adjusting the main bearings with the shimms is also where I am at with my Chev engine. I actually installed one of those simple bicycle lifts in order to lift the crank out and in the block. At first I had to lift the 30kg thing and rotate 180 degrees to my workbench, which made me dizzy😆 The crank is ok but find the block is a little heavy to lift Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cordenj Posted March 9, 2022 Author Share Posted March 9, 2022 Back on the engine: Head and Rockers on, Fuel Pump rebuilt with new kit, Oil filter bracket built and working on the the oil feed system of several pipes and numerous fittings. Came across the first problem of a missing part in the rebuild: the 216 has a kidney shaped plate on the side of the block, behind which sits another plate with plunger and spring which is the oil pressure relief valve. Whole engine runs at low pressure but this is a key part and couldnt find it in the boxes. Very fortunately I found one on Ebay.com in USA, quite reasonable price until shipping and import duties push it up the nearly £50 but essential for the rebuild. Part arrived and its on with sorting out the oil pipes. The 216 has an odd oil feed to the rockers via a copper pipe that crosses diagonally up through the block's water jacket. It isn't a great design as the special fittings into the block can leak and the design means that it is difficult to remove the head without damaging the pipe. I didn't have the special block/pipe fitting in the boxes of parts that came with the truck, but by coincidence had bought a box of pipe fittings at Mike Ebling's dispersal sale, and as he had owned GM Otter and other CMPs, by luck a spare fitting was in the box. Good to think that parts Mike had saved live again in another CMP! When fitting the rocker feed pipe I made a modification by adding and joiner so that the head can be easily removed in the future without disturbing the feed pipe block connections. This fitting sits behind the tin side cover. Quite a tight fit but just works and is a mod carried out on these engines in the USA by the vintage truck guys. GM clearly identified the weakness of oil pipe damage and slightly changed the fitting design where the pipe connects into the rocker feed some time between WWII and 1950. They replaced the female fitting on the pipe to a male one so that it can be easily pulled back through the casting when removing the head. 1943 Oil pipe connection with "Female" fitting that requires pipe to be cut to remove head: A 1950 dated Chevy 216 with altered "male" fitting on top of oil feed pipe that can fit completely through casting: These oil feed pipes/fittings dont look like much progress but they look a couple of days to sort out. I made and short shaft to fit in electric drill so that I could test oil pipe was getting oil up to the rockers. All working well and every rocker weeping oil. This photo is a video (might add to MLU Forum thread). 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cordenj Posted March 14, 2022 Author Share Posted March 14, 2022 (edited) Rebuilt Distributor, and a spare I had. The truck came with an odd assortment of incorrect carburettors, but I found a Carter W1 Carburetor for sale in UK. Rebuild kits are hard to find here, so had one sent over from Mike Carburettors in USA. Recommended dealer: https://www.carburetor-parts.com/. Relatively simple to rebuild. First attempt at engine start soon, but first will built an engine test stand to plans on web from Phil Waterman: http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/Engine Test Stand.htm Edited March 14, 2022 by cordenj 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMP-Phil Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 Hi Enjoying your rebuild, well done and well documented. Now to a detail on the distributor, that you probably checked, the drive gear. Checking for any play, I've had the pin break, then turn a little loosing the timing, then spinning on the shaft. Fun driving down the road at 40 MPH in a C60S CMP and the pin let's go. Lots of poping and backfiring as you roll to the side of the road. Cheers Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cordenj Posted March 14, 2022 Author Share Posted March 14, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, CMP-Phil said: Hi Enjoying your rebuild, well done and well documented. Now to a detail on the distributor, that you probably checked, the drive gear. Checking for any play, I've had the pin break, then turn a little loosing the timing, then spinning on the shaft. Fun driving down the road at 40 MPH in a C60S CMP and the pin let's go. Lots of poping and backfiring as you roll to the side of the road. Cheers Phil Thanks Phil, Yes that would be fun at 40 mph! securing pin was good on this one and no play. Thanks for putting the Engine Stand plans up on your website some years ago.....another one now in production Edited March 14, 2022 by cordenj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cordenj Posted March 21, 2022 Author Share Posted March 21, 2022 (edited) Engine Stand built and getting ready for first run. Started first time, which was a pleasant surprise as everything has been taken to pieces and rebuilt. I've posted the engine running video on the MLU FB page: Edited March 21, 2022 by cordenj 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trooper 3/9 RAAC Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 Hi John & James, a great project moving along nicely. Loving the updates, keep ‘em coming. 😁 I’ll be keen to know what sealant you used on the sump gaskets assuming they are cork. cheers Pierre Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.