It was all so innocent – now a 180 Rebuild

[keitho64]

What stamping does your '66 140 crankcase have? I haven't given up finding an RZ crankcase. Thanks for checking! Scott

I put the 140 on a shelf for storage, it will be a while before I can get to it and check for any markings. It appears to be an original 140 short block. This is the thread I posted where I found the motors. I believe he may still have two 140's left. viewtopic.php?p=145947#p145947

[keitho64]

At first glance it appears that Rod Number Three has a Rod Cap marked Number Five.
When looking closer, it appears that they might both be marked the same with the number Three but magnified part of the rod cap number is more obscured rather than clear.....

The out of sequence rod cap number is probably due to a repair. Some who like to "balance" the rod weights will "cherry pick" from a pile of rods to get rods that are similiar in weight and ignore the cap numbers. Yes you can grind the rods to balance weight, but the amount of weight you can remove is limited before you weaken the rod.

Once a rod is made or rebuilt you MUST keep the cap with the same rod. Hence the numbers for assembly after a repair.

I checked multiple times, all the rod caps are correctly numbered and not mismatched. The stamping for the 3 is just off the mark and looks a bit odd, but it is correct.

[Wagon Master]

The 140 short block Keith purchased has an RN stamping.

[keitho64]

What stamping does your '66 140 crankcase have? I haven't given up finding an RZ crankcase. Thanks for checking! Scott

I was thinking a picture of the crank, this is the crankcase number. T0223RN.

[keitho64]

I managed to spend a little time over the holidays working on the motor. I was able to get the valves out of the head and they all look to be in decent shape given the age of the motor. The guides are not worn, no bad seats, just lots of carbon deposits.

Now the clean up begins so I can inspect them better. I started off simple by cleaning the valve covers, oil pad and rear cover. I wanted a win before digging into the really dirty stuff. Next Ill do the top cover and bell housing. The block as heads will be a bit later as they will require more work.

[jimbrandberg]

You say the valves feel good in the guides so you might get by for a reasonable amount of money.

I don't know if I'd put a lot of money into open chamber turbo heads myself but I suppose the jury is still out on them. Some folks say without the squish deck they are more prone to ping but I've read at least one opinion that they fill better with the positive turbo pressure. I'm inclined toward the former but would enjoy reading more opinions on the latter.

With the open chamber turbo heads I might be inclined to use them if I can get by with a valve job and maybe some guide liners. Anything more like deep seats I might be inclined to work up an oil return in the valve cover and use 95 HP heads or something. That's just me and again I'd like to read more opinions.

Have you figured out what camshaft you have? If considering using a cam again I often start by just measuring the lobes with a caliper to see if all the lifts are still there. Of course bad looking lobes or peculiar lifter faces may preclude that.

How about the crankshaft? I don't remember if you found the & sort of mark on the flywheel end that denotes Nitrited.

[keitho64]

I cannot find an & on the crank. Here are all the numbers I found:

8409
GMT
14A

Here are some pictures of the markings.

I also started cleaning the heads. So far the combustion chambers are clean. The valve pockets have quite a bit of build up.

[Dennis66]

Definitely don't see the mark on the end of the crank. Most of the other marks are just casting numbers with 8409 indicating the longer stroke 164CID crank. Have you mic'd it or checked the outside of any bearing shells to see if it's standard or undersized? If it's been turned the coating would be gone anyway.

[Wagon Master]

I had 2 cranks go his way. First was the 65 180 he's disassembling. Second was a 66 140 PG short block. Both should be marked & cranks. The PG crank has the hammered PG mark on half of the &. The second had no visible marks. Both had splashes of a blue green paint. Journals on the unmarked crank had the "hue" (dull gray) appearance of nitriding.

[martyscarr]

You can test a crank to see if it's nitrided with a file: Run a file across one of the non-machined parts of the crank, and if it bites into the steel, it's not hardened. If it slides off like it's glass, it's nitrided.

I have seen a few cranks that were nitrided but had no ampersand stamp.

HTH
Marty Scarr

[jimbrandberg]

I'm not sure anyone's come out and said that it doesn't matter if the rods have the correct numbers or if the numbers are up or down.
The offset is in the piston and I believe all manufacturers want the mark towards the front of the car which for us is the flywheel which seems counter-intuitive if you've assembled other engines.

[vairchet]

I'm not sure anyone's come out and said that it doesn't matter if the rods have the correct numbers or if the numbers are up or down.
The offset is in the piston and I believe all manufacturers want the mark towards the front of the car which for us is the flywheel which seems counter-intuitive if you've assembled other engines.

I too, have the same thoughts: What does it matter if stamped numbers on connecting rods are facing the opposite direction or out of sequence? As long as the caps are installed correctly and on proper rods. The only person that would ever know is YOU.