Travels with Hawk and other Automotive Adventures: First Cranking of Salty

I have not been slacking… only working, dealing with life and raising a child. In between found time to tinker with Salty. Here is the next chapter of the story…..

Since the weather finally improved in Oregon (relatively) and I was able to finish up the Land Rover gearbox install. It was time to find a nice tow truck driver that was daring enough to move Salty from the storage place into the garage with a very short and very steep driveway. Here is what the poor kid had to go through. He got it in with nothing broken or damaged.

My biggest fear was that water jacket would be all plugged up since I could see crystals and crunchy hoses.

Luckily this was only limited to the aluminum thermostat housing.

Removed the plugs and gave it a good Marvel Mystery Oil (MMO) treatment over a period of a month. Few squirts of MMO in each of the cyl’s every Saturday morning.

Then I moved to taking apart the whole cooling system and the parts ordering started. First sign of victory was when I had green liquid all over the garage floor. I was so sure that it would be all gummed up inside the block that I did not even prepare a catch bucket. Never have been happier in my life to mop up a mess!

Removed the side drain and noticed a solid jam. Bummer, I thought I was done for at this time and the victory was short lived. Started picking at it and it was like a flood gate had been opened, suddenly the dam broke and I was drenched again in coolant. Another happy moment. This 40 has been taken care of where it mattered. The crusty part was only at the outlet, once cleaned it was free flowing.

Was able to find this awesome contraption on Amazon (made by Mityvac), hook it up to city water and compressor and you can control both the water and air. Dropped off the radiator for a recore at a local shop (Mac’s). Bypassed all the heaters, removed the thermostat. Set up an engine block flush line using bits and pieces of hoses and PVC and cycled enough water/air through the block to get clear water flowing out of the block drain.

I have never rebuilt a Holley (carb it came with) so it was a 1^st for me. Plenty of experience with Strombergs, Zenith’s and SU’s. Bought a parts kit off eBAY, cleaned up everything and put it back together reusing jets with new gaskets. No extra parts left (always a good thing). Good enough to get to a first start. Did put in a new acc’ pump old one was crusty enough to crack in my hands.

Put back the Radiator with new hoses, filled with the correct mix of coolant.

Replaced oil filter and oil 20W50 (since it had plenty of MMO mixed in by now). Saved a quart of oil that I poured over the valve train to pre-lube.

Filed/cleaned the old points (they will have to do for now) with a dab of silicon grease under the rubbing block.

Cleaned and gapped the old plugs (they should be good enough for now).

Made sure all the HT cables were clean and snug at the coil and disti cap.

Cleaned the battery/ground terminals.

New battery from COSTCO.

Checked static timing (it is close enough).

Hooked up a temporary gas tank connected to a new fuel pump (did not want to take a chance with a leaking pump that would contaminate the oil). Can rebuild the old one, if I can find a kit for it for a spare.

Dropped in about a teaspoon of 20W50 oil in each of the cyl’s.

Made sure transmission was in neutral and so was the transfer case. Just for security chocked the wheels too.

Removed the HT cable from coil and it was time to crank it. I had rotated the engine many times over the last month or so using a crank handle that fit perfectly (it was from the Land Rover). Unfortunately, you can only do it when the radiator was out.

The day had come for it to get fuel and electricity flowing through it again.

Here is the real owner of Salty cranking it for the first time since 2006.