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

[Scott Liggett]

You had a murphy day instead of a Memorial day. Bummer.

I fixed the rear main, reassembled the motor, and got.back in the car in 24 hrs. It wasnt a total disaster.

[TheSilverBuick]

And lived to tell about it Yeah but that sure sounded like a couple crappy speed bumps.

[mrocketscience]

Not too bad, took me about 2 full days to R n R the oil pan in mine.

[langleylad]

It's a fact of life that nothing ever really goes as planned or as smoothly as we would like . I guess it's all part of our hobby/life .

[Scott Liggett]

It's a fact of life that nothing ever really goes as planned or as smoothly as we would like . I guess it's all part of our hobby/life .

What's so frustrating is I have friends that never have issues. They drop distributors in spot on the first time every time. I want to hit them with a big wrench.

[Scott Liggett]

This is the rear main cap. The bearing looks new still. Still has the tiny scratch I put in it. Crank looks good too. Dumbass put the rear main seal in backwards. That line on the seal surface is just a line. It's not a groove. It lines up with the seal in backwards.




I paid $25 for a Viton rear main seal. Hopefully it will do a better job than the Felpro one. I offset it about 1/4 inch which is hard to see in this pic.


The other main bearings still look new. Good news.


Here's the freebie windage tray with $100 in ARP studs nuts and washers. That's gearhead math right there. Test fitting here.


Here's the pan on the engine with the windage tray and studs. Doesn't fit.


Here's the reason why it didn't fit. The pan already has a windage tray in it. Dumbass!!! So, off came the studs and windage tray and back on went the factory main cap bolts.


The mains back together.


An old can of WD40 and a rag I dropped in the antifreeze by accident did a nice job of getting the grease and dirt off the engine without taking the paint off. Even cleaned the intake manifold.



Here's how I quit last night. Engine is sitting on the mounts and two bolts in the bell housing.

[TheSilverBuick]

D'oh! Reversed seal will do it every time.

[langleylad]

Scott , you forgot to call yourself a " Dumbass " for dropping the rag into the anti-freeze . Thanks for taking us along on this ride .

[milner351]

Great work as always Scott.

[Huskinhano]

Scott, you desrve a round of appluse!

[Scott Liggett]

Scott, you desrve a round of appluse!

What for? I'm just fixing my car.

[Beagle]

I always clap when the dumbass who worked on my car last put something in backwards...
(I'm the only guy working on them)

probably for stopping and taking pictures and admitting something didn't go right in the write up.

[TheSilverBuick]

I got that nifty picture I took of the throwout bearing installed backwards right before I installed the transmission. That sucked. Figure out what the problem with the clutch was, then to realize I was even smrt enough to take a picture of the problem right before assembly. Round of applause for everyone!

[Scott Liggett]

You guys want to applaud for admitting I screwed up working on a car? Do most gearheads hide this stuff? Every top mechanic I have met has made mistakes. Anyone who says they havent is a damned liar.

[Scott Liggett]

I went outside and stared at the car for 15 minutes. No exhaust manifolds. Engine barely attached to the trans. I started thinking about headers. Then I started thinking about that spare 4 speed I have sitting on the shelf and clutch pedal setup in the storage closet.

Go back inside, eat lunch, watch a bit of Nascar, come to my senses.