Rebeldryver's '70 Caprice Granny's Luxo-Muscle-Barge

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Rebeldryver's '70 Caprice project

Hey Scott nice project! You might want to look again at that crankshaft you already have. The parting line on the crank in the picture on the prior page is like at least a 1/2" wide like a forged-steel crank, as opposed to an 1/8" wide parting line on a cast- nodular iron crank that follows the same path all the way through a casting. Also doesn't look like there are any casting numbers in it. You might find a 4 digit identifier number stamped lightly in a counterweight toward the rear of the crank, but maybe not. All 1970 454-inchers came with forged-steel cranks. Those nicks can be cleaned up without the need to turn down the crank, but the grooving of the journal surface from wear may dictate the need to turn it down. Do the quick-n-dirty penny test on it; Drag a penny across the journal surface with moderate pressure and see if there is any trace of copper deposited, if there is, it should be turned due to the surface finish/grooving. As far a the nicks from the tear down, next time use rod bolt covers, or at least some pieces of hose... Dave

I thought it was the other way around. Thinner line on forged stuff, wide on cast.

We are going to see if the ridges on the bearing surfaces polish out, if not, I'm going to have turned. It's about $160 to turn it.

[Motorhead]

Re: Rebeldryver's '70 Caprice project

The wide line comes from the twisting process used to make the forged steel crank. The thin line is from the casting molds used to cast the iron crank. (this holds true for SBC craks too) If you end up needing to turn the crank and bore the block, you might as well get a "496" rotater kit from PAW or Summit for like $1,250 (these cheaper versions usually come with cast cranks and hyper u pistons, but 600+ Lbs TQ @ like 4K rpm is hard to argue with) But honestly, judging by the pictures alone, I doubt either are necessary. FYI, Big Block Chevy Legend has it that the "512" block casting you have has a higher nickle/tin content than any other BBC casting, so it's not unusual to see very minor bore wear in these blocks like yours. The "512" block used to be coveted by racers because of it... Also sought after by restorers of LS6 Chevelles and LS-5 Corvette guys, they used this same "512" casting, but with different suffix code stampings on the deck.

[Huskinhano]

Re: Rebeldryver's '70 Caprice project

Back in the 80's I read an article on unleaded gas. It was found in taxi fleets running unleaded gas, that their engines had substantially less cylinder wall wear then those running on leaded gas at the time. Plus you don't get all that gray sludge in the oil pan and less crud in the chambers. When I worked at the dealer back then, I couldn't believe how clean an engine could be after many, many miles of use.

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Rebeldryver's '70 Caprice project

Got some news today from Garrick. The heads are cleaned and magged, no cracks, but the exhaust valves need replacing. Yes, my crank is steel. It's cleaned, but not polished yet. I'll have to wait until Monday to pick up the heads for some home porting. Should be exciting.

[88 Dippy]

Re: Rebeldryver's '70 Caprice project

ooh sweet

[cantvalve16]

Re: Rebeldryver's '70 Caprice project

Got some news today from Garrick. The heads are cleaned and magged, no cracks, but the exhaust valves need replacing. Yes, my crank is steel. It's cleaned, but not polished yet. I'll have to wait until Monday to pick up the heads for some home porting. Should be exciting.

Ooh. Make sure to take pics. Like I need to tell you that. Haha.

[milner351]

Re: Rebeldryver's '70 Caprice project

Great news.

I swear for guys like us, waiting for news about our engine at the machine shop is nearly as nerve wracking as awaiting word on the health of a loved one at the hospital.

I can't wait to see the smile on your face when you take this thing for it's first cruise with it's rebuilt heart.

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Rebeldryver's '70 Caprice project

The snowball has officially started rolling. Yours truly is to blame for kicking it in motion. Pictures are coming.

[JOES66FURY]

Re: Rebeldryver's '70 Caprice project

The snowball has officially started rolling. Yours truly is to blame for kicking it in motion. Pictures are coming.

I love watching snowballs when it involves other peoples money....

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Rebeldryver's '70 Caprice project

Since I'm waiting on parts, I wanted to handle something that has been a problem since owning the car. Water gets into the interior from the cowl vent on the passenger side. Since the hood was already off the car, I decided to yank off the fender to get to the heater fan and the easiest access point to the cowl vent. I used a piece of flashing across the passenger side of the cowl vent as a stop gap fix.

Here's the beginning of the mess.


With the fender off, I can get to the heater fan. Who designed this? I'm sure the book says 12 hours labor to replace a $20 fan.


Behind the fan is the area where the cowl vent turns down towards kick panel. The vacuum diaphram thing in there closes when the AC is turned on high and pulls air from the interior to cool the car faster. At least, that's how it's supposed to work. There's a bunch of gunk in there and a ton of silicon goop from someone trying to fix this issue before I got the car. I cleaned out all the crap. I found the water doesn't have a drain hole at the bottom of the cowl. It just seeps out between the seams between the outer and inner panels.


Looking up from the kick panel. All that black drippy crap is silicone from a previous fix attempt. The carpet is rotted away on the passenger side.


There is some ugly sealant crap around the AC box. Could be another half assed attempt at fixing the issue.


This is the outside temp sensor in the cowl. Along with the inside temp sensor, the Comfortron AC system self adjusts the air blowing into the car. I hope it still works.


Here's the snowball about to start rolling. Behind the full length rocker trim was this mess on the front fender. It's literally paper thin. I really don't want to put it back on like this.


The rust is opposite of the fender brace.


Thoroughly depressed from the rust discovery, I just started painting the engine compartment. I got the passenger side and the firewall done.


Oh yeah, the trans is leaking from the front seal. I'm guessing the weight of the convertor is causing it. Can you just replace the seal, or is it pull the whole pump type of thing?

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Rebeldryver's '70 Caprice project

The snowball has officially started rolling. Yours truly is to blame for kicking it in motion. Pictures are coming.

I love watching snowballs when it involves other peoples money....

hahaha. Very funny. Go out and play in the sand.

[milner351]

Re: Rebeldryver's '70 Caprice project

Scott - I'm pretty sure you can just replace the front seal without pulling the pump out - but hopefully Jeff (Indy) or one of the other Trans guys will chime in.

[Motorhead]

Re: Rebeldryver's '70 Caprice project

Yes, you can just replace the seal, but often times the cause of the seal failure is the bushing in the pump that the converter hub rides on, is worn, so it's a good time to replace the bushing too. I've had transmissions in the past, that didn't leak, but the converter hub was wasted, so inspect the hub on the converter for wear. (I used it to justify a converter upgrade to higher stall) Often times pump bushings and seals get murdered when guys pull the engine with the converter still attached to the flexplate, (usually when the engine is locked up) and the angle of pull and edge of converter hub damages the bushing out the way out. It's not a big deal to pull the pump, split it, and drive a new bushing and seal in it's place, but can get out of hand quick if your not familiar with the internals of the trans. Yes, the snowball looks like it's getting into high gear.

[JOES66FURY]

Re: Rebeldryver's '70 Caprice project

If it is anything like the 4L80E you can replace the front seal..I deal with lip seals like that all the time and they fail a lot..

[Bamfster]

Re: Rebeldryver's '70 Caprice project

The trick when taking the old seal out (w/out pulling the pump) is to not damage the pump ... if you gouge it too bad it'll leak for sure.