Project VAM car - Operation Charro - CODE: VRGT1

It's done.

No more fume/smoke leaks through the PCV and gas recirculation hollows.

There's a lot of things that have to be fixed on the car mechanically and electrically.

Unfortunately, lack of available funds forces me to have everything fixed in a single run if I want to keep costs to a minimum. With the new year come lots of fixed payments to take care of, including the ones of the car outside condition and driveability.

For this reason I have not been able to reinstall the ported and shaved engine head as well as the modified and restored valve cover.

Right now the car is suffering from:

1.- Faulty engine gaskets, mainly the oil pan, with leaks getting worse by the day.

I have to make a full repacking of the engine.

2.- Blown tachometer. The car has an electrical current cutting device to keep it from being stolen and I have pretty much confirmed it has messed up my tachometer. It has created a ground that kills the car completely unless you disconnect the tachometer cable from the distributor.

Fortunately, I just got a lead on a very reliable electric shop on my area that will help me get my tachometer back to life and solve any issue with the current cutting device.

3.- Carburetor choke not working.

Now that's cold weather, I have to keep pressing the gas to keep the engine from going off when you just start it.

4.- Apparent lubrication problems.

Whenever I do U turns or slightly hard turns my oil light turns on. Even if I have a low oil level and refilling it it would make no difference. Either some of my oil ducts in the engine block are probably blocked, my oil pump is beginning to fail or my oil sensor is starting to fail.

All this suggest oil pressure problems. I do have an oil pressure gauge as part of my Rallye Pack, the hand drops while idling and it goes up violently when I step on the gas, back to 60+ levels.

I hadn't started the car in around two weeks.

I fired it up after filling the carburtor bowl (bone dry it was) and the engine roared up nicely.

Unfortunately and unexpectedly, the gas pump started leaking gas big time covering the floor. I had to kill the engine immediately to avoid any fire hazard. This also meant I could not locate what part was the leak coming from, either the gasoline tube that connects the gas pump to the gas tank, the gas pump cover rubber gasket, it the union between the gas pump and the engine block.

One more thing to add to prior list.

After months of waiting and obtaining the tools we needed and people to join the project, it just seems that FINALLY the reproduction of the VAM 302 degree performance camshaft is about to become reality.

I have been waiting for this opportunity for the last 13 years and if everything goes as planned I will be having it in a month or probably less.

Once I have the cam with me I will finally be able to tear down the engine and replace all gaskets and put in the place the ported/shaved head and custom valve cover.

This will also require new stronger valve springs and for safety issues and relibabilty I will have all engine block round seals replaced, put in a new oil pump and oil sensor, check the engine block for any lubrication problems. Finally, a new timing chain will be put in place since I also sense that my current unit has started to loosen.

Once that is done, it will we shipped to my area and have it installed in my car ASAP.

This will require stronger valve springs. My oil pump and oil sensor are showing signs of starting to fail and will be replaced too. I will have all gaskets and retainers replaced since I do have an oil leak problem right now. Taking advantage of the opportunity, I will also have all engine block water seals replaced as well. Finally, the timing chain also has shown signs of loosening up and I will put in a new one in place.

Despite my car still needing a complete body job and new upholstery, the obtaining of the camshaft practically makes the ENTIRE EFFORT done until this point to have payed off completely. All the negative sides I've gone through and all the money invested has been worth the effort.

For the first time, my engine will be 100% complete and finished, in perfect working order and more powerful than ever since the engine will practically be above the original specs. Now it had highest compression ratio ever due to the shaven head and flat pistons, the second exhaust outlet, the full engine head porting, the more powerful AC Delco alternator, the modified AC Delco HEI distributor.

The intake manifold, camshaft, headers, carburetor, cooling system are all virtually stock units under factory specification.

I will have the crankshaft checked, since the engine has always had a problem with losing a lot of power after going 60 miles an hour. One mechanic described it as the second half of the accelerator range being useless.

If needed, I will rebalance the crankshaft for optimum performance at low RPMs and high RPMs.

As you might have seen on the General AMC Chat forum at the Sharing Happiness PART 2 topic, I finally have the high performance 302 degree camshaft with me, after over six months of pushing the effort of having it made.

I bought the full set of engines gaskets and retainers, a new set of 8mm spark plug cables, and the engine block water seals. 

After that, the car went to the repair shop.

That turned out to be troublesome. As I mentioned before, the gasoline pump got a massive leak, being the original KEM unit. I was able to obtain a repair kit for it, but in the end the repair kit turned out to be the correct one for an OLDER KEM gas pump model used in VAM cars, the VERY gasket that got damaged and caused the leak was larger in the kit than the one in the pump. So it could not be used.

There was no choice but getting another pump, and this time I got lucky, since I was able to get a brand new KEM gasoline pump, although it was a different model than the one in the car. The original had a built-in filter that is missing in the new one.

I will not throw away my original pump, I will try to obtain the correct repair kit for it with the correct gasket. I person I know has an older original KEM pump among his parts, the one with a built-in filter but unlike mine, it has a clear glass see-through container instead of the smaller metal one in mine. If my repair kit works for this one I will buy it from him and keep it as a spare.

Once the pump issue was solved, the car finally went to the repair shop.

The hood and radiator were removed.

The air cleaner, carburetor, intakes, valve cover and stock head were taken down.

The oil was drained and oil pan retired from place.

Gas pump, distributor, alternator, steering pump, fan were unscrewed and relocated aside in the engine compartment.

The engine finally was pulled out.

The results yielded several surprises.

What is THIS called in English?

It's called "Metal de Biela" in Spanish.

As far as I know, I'm not sure, it's called connecting rod bearing.

Is this correct?

As the picture shows, it's worn out bad, I will have to replace all of them.

Bottom of the engine with the intakes' side engine mount still in place.

Crankshaft and oil pump still in place, along with all seven main bearings.

The (stock 266º) camshaft is still there, visible in the background.

Close up of cylinders one and two, showing the cam, bearings and crank.

Closer view of cylinder one.

Oil Pump Filter and Duct, Flywheel and the flat Clutch Bell Cover.

The VERY DIRTY and messed up engine compartment now engine-free.

Cables, components and hoses just tossed around.

Clutch Z-bar section.

This is the WORST part of my car in terms of RUST.

Not even the battery section is a rusted out as this one.

I would like think this was due to brake fluid leaking, can't see how this rusted out the way it did.

Original booster and master cylinder.

It does show complete evidence of suffering from leaks.

I have not had any braking problems at any moment, only once that the car sat for a long time I had the master cylinder being near-empty.

Original Saginaw power steering unit, still working flawlessly.

Emissions control equipment, heavy duty cooling system and windshield cleaning equipment.

Dual oil sensor, one for the car's emergency warning lights and the other for the center console's Rallye pack oil pressure gauge.

Oil Pan showing the above-acceptable oil leaking problems.

Stock 1981 engine head.

This one will go and be kept as a spare.

The ported out and shaved 1984-1986 unit will take its place.

Chrysler 318 V8 flat pistons. After all these years I finally learn that they are in 0.030 spec. At least one piston had its rings busted. All of them will be replaced.