New '60 Square Bird Owner

[46bird]

Hi forum members. I have liked the '58-60 Tbirds for many decades, and stumbled onto one at a garage sale. The price was right, so it now resides in my barn.

It will take a lot of work, time and questions to get it into shape, but it is an exciting project. It is a hardtop with 352, AC, and Cruiso. A guess would be that it last ran in the 90's. So I'm working on getting it running now. Carb is newly refurbished. It appears that no coolant has been in combustion chambers or oil pan, and it manually turns over easily.

I've been reading on here and the information and experience of members will be invaluable.

Bye for now:

Mike, Williams, OR

[jopizz]

I highly recommend investing in a new fuel tank. They are relatively inexpensive especially from www.RockAuto.com with the discount that's usually available. You don't want to have your newly rebuilt carb loaded up with rust and scale. Don't hesitate to ask as many questions as you like.

John

[46bird]

John, it is good to know of Rock Auto as a source for the tank. That will be a ways off though. I'm doing some initial checks before bolting up the carb. The starter turns over the engine, but it looks like an intake valve is letting air blowback through the manifold.

Took off the left rocker cover and found all the rockers and springs moving. Will check the right side tomorrow and then do a compression check. When it comes time to fire it, the float bowls will be manually filled. If it starts, I will immediately shut it down, then will add coolant, hook the carb to an electric pump with hose stuck into gas can.

The rocker chamber is a mess. It doesnt look like the engine has ever seen a good oil, so it may have been a very long time since it last ran.

Mike

[Tbird1044]

Mike:
Welcome to our world. This site has been an incredible source of information and help. Your challenges are just beginning.
Nyles

[simplyconnected]

Mike, it takes no money to maintain your rocker shafts. Here is how I did mine... CLICK HERE. - Dave

[46bird]

Gunge

Thanks for the pictorial. It is good reference. One of the discount stores has cans of oven cleaner for a preliminary degreasing of the rockers and covers at only $1/can. Too bad the heads arent as easy. But the engine will probably end up needing a tear down.

[Tbird1044]

Dave:
Great post on the rocker shaft assemblies. Now you have me asking myself if I properly oriented the notches in the shafts. When I pull the valve covers, to repaint them, guess I now have more things to check.
Nyles

[simplyconnected]

I know there are great Chevy mechanics out there, but most are not FE mechanics. It's like Cruise-O-Matic guys, the ones with experience are retired or gone.

These mechanical components aren't hard to learn but unless you have experience, it's simply too easy to miss important clues.

I don't know what to say about oven cleaners used inside my engine. The harshest chemical I would use is kerosene, along with a good scrubbing. If your heads are really dirty, stuff the return holes with rags and don't let the junk get down your engine.

Notice, I took a picture of the inside of these rocker shafts? If any bits of rag (or whatever) was still in there they would show up. Wash, wash, wash... When it's clean you will know.

BTW, if your rocker arm(s) have galled the shaft, if it isn't severe you can save them by stoning or sanding the shaft. It is VERY hard steel.

If it's too far gone, buy new shaft(s) and new rocker arms. They are for sale individually at Rockauto.com. Shafts are $28/each and rocker arms are $9/ea. They even sell the little end plug for 27¢/ea., but I'm too cheap to buy any. - Dave

[46bird]

I have used oven cleaner on real dirty components often. It also works well for pre-cleaning a carburetor before Chem Dip. Washes off well with water, doesnt change the surface color, and there always are many more cleaning steps to follow.