[Prowbar]

Well, I'm back from the States and Canada! Sorry Fetch, for never updating here.
I spent 3 months in Meeteetse, Wyoming. Then we went to Kyrgyzstan for 2 months. After coming back I drove around the States. Visited people in Montana and Utah. I then went to Alberta, Canada and stayed with friends at a farm. I was the farm mechanic there and helped to get a GMC Bluebird schoolbus ready for the new season.

Stopped by Matt's place (63gmc4x4). Didn't have a lot of time to visit, but we had a great time there. Drove in his '62 with the 351 V6 and T5 trans.
Was awesome to finally meet a fellow V6 enthusiast.
Thanks for the opportunity, Matt! It was awesome and I hope to meet you again someday.



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Back in the Netherlands, I wanted to freshen up the 478 again. I made some mistakes in the initial engine build that I wanted to set straight.
This week I took the engine and trans out.



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Still had that homemade heavy duty engine stand, it comes in handy now.



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Some of the issues I need to address:

Oil leaks - I used the junky FelPro rear main rope seal, in combination with a pitted sealing surface it leaked a lot of oil. I've learned a lot about sealing technology and the proper chemicals to use since then.
I bought a NOS rubber rear main lip seal. I need to fix the pitted area in the crankshaft.

Bearing clearances - I finally spent the money and bought NOS main and rod bearings. When I put the engine together, the rod bearing clearances were too large. I still need to try the NOS bearings but expect the same. I think I need to resize the connecting rods. I ran 20W-50 and SAE 50 oil because of the large clearances.

Filtration - it looked like a lot of debris got in the oil and scored up the bearings. The crank just needs a polish. Don't know how the debris got in the oil but I have some extensive cleaning to do and I need to check the oil filter bypass valve.



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I had my camshaft ground by Jones Cams in SC, along with reground lifters from Delta Camshaft in WA. I bought new cam bearings as well.

I'll repaint the engine and exhaust manifolds.

Gonna see if I can use a factory GM high torque starter in combination with the GMC V6 starter nose. Looks like I have some modifying to do but seems doable.

I scored a reinforced clutch that seems to fit without any trouble with the hub.

I scored a bunch of 2.5 inch stainless and figured I'd weld up a single exhaust similar to factory but made out of stainless.

I have the original SM420 that I freshened up with the 2nd gear synchro fix ready to put in when everything is said and done.

Then onto bodywork - right rocker, floor, A-pillar, kick panel, cab corner, right door, windshield, hood corner and around the hood hinge.

I guess it needs to be painted too, thinking about red again. Thinking about GM WA9260 (Victory Red). We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

I'll be posting my progress here.