Did a compression test on my stroked Olds 215, not good. #4 cylinder at 50 lbs.

[Gswest236]

I'm wondering if I could fab up some type of shield with stainless mesh and avoid redoing all those  hard brake lines. I've bent brake lines before and it's not too difficult, but doing a shield seems less complicated. We're obviously not looking for originality but functionality. I'm curious where you guys have this junction in your rigs. Looking at this and a few other things on this car, I get the impression patience and motivation were waning at some point and things were thrown together to finish it up. It happens.

[mgb260]

Normally found right below the master on the fender. The one in the picture has a bolt where the switch goes. I use a T for the front brakes and a single line for the rear brakes.

[BlownMGB-V8]

It's only function is to light the dash indicator if the hydraulics fail on one side or the other, normally something you'd notice. Many have re-purposed that slot in the dashboard and eliminated the shuttle switch for cleaner brake plumbing. OTOH, others haven't minded replacing and centering the switch to make it functional and leak free again. Up to you how you deal with it, I long ago went to dual masters and a balance bar whilst many others have upgraded to brake boosters. Today there are electric brake pumps available and other options. I don't see that the old shuttle valve gives much of a benefit myself.

Jim

[Gswest236]

Electric power brakes would be nice. I put electric power steering on a Land Cruiser I owned; it was great! I'm getting down in the weeds at this point when I should be focused on getting the motor back in. The brake lines would all need to be redone to relocate the junction block (or whatever it's called). I'm leaning on making a shield to protect it, but after the motor is done.
Each step here is a first for me. I ordered some stuff from Edelbrock that helps hold the valley pan in place so the RTV doesn't get messed up when installing the intake. The valley pan was not preformed in the shape it needs to be. I know how important it is to not have vacuum leaks in this area and since I've never dealt with this type of intake (only intake I've removed/replaced was on a diesel toyota motor,2H w/turbo) so here's another thing I could easily screw up. I see online that the rubber gaskets for the front and back of the intake are not recommended to use. 1/4" of high temp RTV is what the pundits say is better. What is consensus here?

[mgb260]

Scott, I preform the valley pan the best you can and use Ultra gray around all ports both sides and let set an hour or so to cure a bit and set stratght down and not smear. That is one motor I use the rubber gasket with a small blob of uUtra black permatex at each corner.

[BlownMGB-V8]

Rover developed a valley gasket for the engine that is neoprene coated steel on both sides and that's the only one I would use. It does a great job of sealing. You still should use some sealant at the ends and corners just to be sure.

Jim

[mgb260]

That intake gasket would be better but I've heard you have to use the Buick end seals and clamps and may need a little trimming on front and back. The best would be to get some .040 thick gasket material and cut the port area off just below the flange and use them for templates to make conventional gaskets.

[Gswest236]

Are the  clamps you're mentioning one of these? Unfortunately I cant find the picture of this part coming off the motor, but it looks like this is where it lives. I have a call in to D+D who shows a Rover composite intake gasket on their website.

[mgb260]

That is it.

[Gswest236]

I'm going thru the wiring on the ignition box, finally got some wire in, (color coded). I put a shot of one of the connectors I removed and just now noticed the red and white wires are switched at the connector?? Why would this be?? Am I missing something here?

[mgb260]

I thought you were going to the new harness? The plug might go either way.

[Gswest236]

The plug can only plug this way. I'll assume this mismatched connector is all they had and just used it even though it's stupid. If you know that you reversed the colors and take it into account, it'll work. The next guy that works on it will be scratching his head. I'm not rewiring the whole car. Everything electrical worked fine before and I'm only redoing the stuff thats obviously wrong or I just don't like. Trying to keep it simple. The keyed 12v wire is just getting a connector, the main power wire to the battery is just getting a connector , the main ground is being replaced and going to the battery ground instead of whatever it was connected to in the cabin. The tach wire is fine and not changing. The wires will match the wiring diagram on the MSD box. I'm adding wire connectors so the box can be removed without cutting the wires. I'm going up a gauge on the wires going to the coil and distributor from 18AWG to 16AWG. The MSD connectors and wires are 18AWG so it's not changing resistance I don't think. I know nothing about this stuff; Thats why anybody reading this should chime in if I'm going down the wrong path. I appreciate it!

[mgb260]

Scott, I think the Ebay harness was identical except the violet and green distributor wires are separate on yours. Definitely wire the box as the schematic shows.

[Gswest236]

I've got the ignition box rewired and bolted back in. Waiting on the Rover Valley pan/intake gasket to arrive. At that point I guess new oil goes in the valley and the intake goes on. I've got a carb rebuild kit for the Edelbrock carb. I've rebuilt SU carbs but never one of these. Another first and another wave of apprehension. 

[BlownMGB-V8]

Realistically, I would lean more towards just buying a new carb if they haven't gotten too expensive. Most of those seem to just work right out of the box.

A new development that I think holds a lot of promise adds what is essentially an IAC to the conventional carb. What this does is manage and regulate the mixture at idle and part throttle by using the O2 sensor to optimize the fuel mixture dynamically to within very close tolerances by incrementally opening a passage to allow more air into the mixture under electronic control. I believe this is available as an add-on to a standard carb and I think it holds a lot of promise for fuel economy. A carb is pretty good at fuel atomization and evaporation on the way to the cylinders. Better than fuel injection in several ways, although you do have to deal with fuel drop out and float angles, etc. But it's another step bringing carbs and EFI closer together.

Jim

[mgb260]

Carb Cheater.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNLud6_x3UM

Remember to use Dino oil for break in. I use Valvoline VR1 10-30 for break in and after with the flat tappet cam.

[Gswest236]

I've been using that oil from day one, previous owner did as well. A new Edelbrock 500 cfm carb is around $600 or so delivered. My ultimate goal would be a Holley Sniper setup, but thats a down the road plan since it's probably triple the cost. I'll study up the rebuild process for the carb, since I have the rebuild kit already. If it's too far over my head, I'll go to a plan B (new carb) or maybe the carb cheater. EFI is on the wish list though.
Thanks guys

[Gswest236]

The Rover pan is in and now I realize that's what was installed before. No question it's a better piece than the other one I bought. I'm seeing a lot of people say not to use the rubber end gaskets but rather use high quality RTV. I think Jim N. mentioned it wasn't necessary on these motors. So, I'm supposed to use the RTV around the water jackets, but nowhere else on these gaskets? I know to use it in the 4 corners where the rubber seals meet the heads.

[mgb260]

Yep, did the new clamps  and rubber end gaskets work or did you use your old ones?

[Gswest236]

Yes, I used the new rubber gaskets and the end clamps. I managed to not strip any bolts which is nice. The end clamps I didn't try to torque further than 10 lbs, too scary! Now I'm trying to figure out what size bolt goes in the timing marker. Looks like fine threads, but nothing I have works. One coarse threaded bolt I have starts to go but it's obviously the wrong TPI.

[mgb260]

That bolt is probably Metric because the cover was for a V6 originally.

[Gswest236]

I thought metric too. I'm taking the one I have that almost goes in and getting one with fine threads and a  metric one in the size range. I called Silver Seal; they don't provide the bolt and don't know the size.

[Gswest236]

I got 2 different bolts from Lowes that I thought might work. 1/4" 28, negative. I got a M6-1.00 16, nope! I went through all my misc bolts and nothing is that size and thread pitch. I have a tap and dye set, so I guess I I could tap it to a normal size?? TA sells the covers that were more expensive than Silver seal's and they sell the timing markers. No Idea if their bolts sizes are the same as mine though.
AI says various sizes depending on year, 1/4"-2.0 M6 x1.25 but also mentions 5/16 and M8 which are too big.

[Gswest236]

I got a 1/4"-20 bolt and just in case I got a 5/16"-18 bolt. The 1/4" bolt wouldn't go and at that point I was going to tap and dye to the 5/16-18 size. Before I did that I thought to run a 1/4"-20 tap through the hole hoping the threads maybe were messed up. Apparently they were, because the 1/4" bolt went in with no issue after running the tap thru. So, I cleaned up the harmonic balancer and gave it a fresh coat of paint. I think I'm close to being ready to set initial timing. And yes I preserved the white mark for timing on the balancer which also has a grooved mark elsewhere on the outer surface. Is that because the balancer works on multiple motors?

[mgb260]

It should be a 300 balancer for your crank. I wonder if that other mark was added for total advance? Is it to the left or right of your white mark? Looking at your timing indicator you may be able to tell. I think after the cam is broken in I would set total advance at 34 degrees at 3500 RPM. If it kicks back cranking set at 32. Before you do timing prime your oil pump.