Beck TD, Part 47: Back on the Road!

Great news! After nearly four months of serious effort for a total engine replacement, Beck TD is back on the road. The easy way to do that process is to buy a known-good engine, hose off the worst of the dirt, and stick it in. That takes about a weekend. I did it the hard, satisfying way: clean and paint all parts, repair and upgrade the parts that make sense, and put it back together with a lot of care. Check out the before picture (taken with the engine in the back of Joe Lazenby's pickup) with the after - quite a difference!

Allow me a brief recap for those who found this post via a random search. It all started with an extensive rebuild of the twin SU carburetors in February, 2019, as detailed in Part 38. That work was being done under the guidance of carburetor expert Tom Bryant, and we were both surprised when the engine wouldn't stop backfiring on the rebuild carbs. After MUCH testing and email discussion, Tom said, "There is something seriously wrong with your engine." Sure enough, removing the head showed severe cylinder wall damage. Time to replace.

I bought a good used engine from Joe Lazenby, and started the process of getting ready. There was a lot to accomplish! These blog posts detail the progress, and the year and month in the link address gives an approximate timeline:

Part 39: Engineer a new, better throttle linkage.
http://emz3cp.blogspot.com/2019/03/beck-td-part-39-full-throttle.html

Part 40: Engineer a way to omit the heater plumbing.
http://emz3cp.blogspot.com/2019/03/beck-td-part-40-blocking-heater.html

Part 41: Replace the trans pilot bearing, and repair the "prior meathead's" mistake.
http://emz3cp.blogspot.com/2019/04/beck-td-part-41-bearing-woes.html

Part 42: Have the flywheel surfaced at a "vintage" machine shop.
http://emz3cp.blogspot.com/2019/04/beck-td-part-42-flat-flywheel.html

Part 43: Make and use a custom tool to align the rear main seal.
http://emz3cp.blogspot.com/2019/05/beck-td-part-43-joes-amazing-tool.html

Part 44: Modify the "Ram's Horn" crankcase vent for fitment.
http://emz3cp.blogspot.com/2019/05/beck-td-part-44-trimming-rams-horns.html

Part 45: Convert charging system from generator to alternator.
http://emz3cp.blogspot.com/2019/05/beck-td-part-45-alternator-conversions.html

Part 46: Completely rewire the car, and design a new dash.
http://emz3cp.blogspot.com/2019/05/beck-td-part-46-grand-re-wiring.html

While a lot of the early work was going on, the engine work was progressing at the same time. Troy Nace's help was invaluable. While I was messing with machine work or wiring, he patiently disassembled and cleaned parts. He spent 3-4 hours cleaning the engine and stripping old paint with a wire brush:

I had elected to use POR-15 engine paint in Ford Red, and we did the two-step POR-15 clean and prep sequence of chemicals before applying three coats of the paint. I'm hoping this will be a very permanent paint job!

For the older PV544 valve cover with its central filler cap, I used a wheel paint in Argent Silver from the Eastwood company. I was very impressed how well this "rattle can" paint flowed.

That paint is a two-part "base and clear" paint. The photo above is just the base, and I considered just using that, because I liked the semi-gloss finish. However, even after a couple of weeks of drying, I found the paint would rub off with alcohol, so I added the clear. You can see that in the engine photo at the end.

I didn't make a separate photo of the exhaust manifold and down pipe outside the car, but that was painted with an Eastwood product also, a grey exhaust paint. That exhaust manifold caused a lot of grief, because the studs to attach the down pipe were in bad shape, and it took both MIG welding big nuts to turn, and heavy heat from an acetylene torch to finally get them to come out!

While was I working on wiring, Troy also cleaned and painted the replacement transmission I bought. Looks great, but it really isn't any better than the worn trans it replaced. It's in for now, but will come out after summer is done for rebuilding. There was a very long afternoon and evening when that trans came back out for checking, and then was reinstalled.

One more repainting task: the inside of the hood panels were not painted green when the rest of the car was painted years ago. They remained the yellow color that I believe was the factory color. However, there were also traces of red, blue and black there. Beck has apparently worn several colors over the years! Troy scuffed the paint, and I repainted the panels with paint that I had previously purchased, custom color-matched to the front splash pan. I was quite pleased with the match. That was "rattle can" paint also.

There were lots of other small tasks along the way, such as replacing the rubber transmission mount for the rear of the trans. That causes some grief too, until Joe L. told me the trick of using the steel outer shell of the new bearing to push out the old one in a 20-ton press:

Finally it was time put everything back together, and give it a try. It runs great! And I'm very happy to say, it is running on the carbs that were rebuilt in Part 38. That proves that the backfiring really was caused by the condition of my old engine, and not by something ham-fisted that I did! Here's a video of the engine starting and running. Email subscribers, use this link: https://youtu.be/99VocPkrc78

Today was proof of the pudding. Phil Oles and I had a two-car convoy to Manheim for the LCBC car show. LCBC is a huge church with an enormous parking lot, and there were around 1500 cars in the show! Phil is standing behind Beck TD, and his 1966 VW Beetle is behind him. Phil has put 600 miles on that Beetle in the past two months, after its recent refurbishment by a shop in Maryland.

The "new" engine looked great in the morning sun!

The drive was around 15 miles each way, and Beck performed flawlessly. Driving on country roads in the cool morning air, the water temperature was around 170 degrees F. Even on the much warmer return trip on a divided highway at 60 MPH, it never exceeded 190. Oil pressure at speed was 60+ psi, with idle pressure around 25 psi. Contrast that with the old engine's oil pressure, which was around 25 at speed, and at idle... zero. That engine was really done. Beck is ready for summer fun!

Continue on to Part 48...