"1958 Rambler Super" mission fix it and drive it.

Engine builder update: the last part has arrived.... THE CAM SHAFT! 

Some parts I have made....I was having a little trouble finding a replacement rubber boot for the clutch fork opening in the bellhousing, so I researched different types of materials to use, heat resistant flexible materials, heat resistant rubber types of materials ect. I looked at some different types of things I came across in the home Depot, rubber that turned out to be not a good choice as it would melt in the heat, the other thing was a fabric type of padding that you would put behind your pipes you were soldering so it wouldn't burn the wall, that wasn't a good thing to use either, and then at canadian tire, a heat resistant rubber silicone pad that was used for hair styling irons, so the iron could rest on it and not burn the counter, research on the internet for temperatures common in engine compartments was around 200 degrees, and I checked the rubber silicone pad I was buying and it was heat resistant over 200 degrees. The pad had a ripple texture on it that I carefully sliced off with a razor knife so the fastening frame that holds it onto the bellhouse could have a flat surface to make a decent seal, I tested it out, I put the frame on with the small bolts, put the new release bearing on the input shaft, then put the fork in the grooves of the bearing sleeve/collar so all those parts were assembled to see how the fork passing through the new boot I made would work, the boot flexes and it's not completely sealed when the clutch pedal is pressed all the way down, the boot flexes and opens about 1/8 inch or so, it's kinda a hard thing to measure when everything's in the car, but tomj had some pics of his transmission job he did, I looked at his boot he made and it looked like it was a pourus type stuff, almost like foam, and I thought no way, it can't be foam, but when I asked him he happily said it was foam, but special aero space foam that was heat resistant, the stuff they use on airplanes and maybe helicopters, he said his boot wasn't air tight either so I geuss it's something I can be ok with. After all, those factory made rubber boots crack and disintegrate over time anyhow and end up not being air tight too. The other thing I made was the "felt gasket 1.058" and the "felt 1.058" that is seen in the parts catalog pages Steve from blaser auto emailed me when he tried to give me some clues as to how the transmission bolts to the engine and if both engine mount bolts are used to fasten down the timing cover ect but I'm not sure if the parts catalog is specific to my rambler engine bay... I saw in the tsm I own, specific to my rambler apparently, and both engine mount bolts will pass through the spaces in the timing cover, but when I went out to the rambler and tried to "mock fit it", it wouldn't fit onto both bolts, so I'm stumped, and/or ignorant. Anyways, I searched through maybe four stores, and none had felt that was as thick as I needed, the remains of the "felt 1.058" piece that is the shape of a half circle that was stapled to the side of the flywheel cover that fits against the engine, presumably tucked under the flange of the crank shaft(?) Was eventually found at canadian tire of all places, it was a 6x4 inch felt pad that was 1/4 thick with a sticky backing you peel off and stick it to stuff, I doubled it up since the remains looked like it was 1/2 thick, I traced out a probable shape and cut it to form with the razor knife, then bot some tiny carpenters nails and put them through the opposite side first, slightly poking them through the flywheel cover and felt with gentle taps with a ballpiene hammer, making a tiny dot with a felt pen to mark where they pass through, then took them out and put them in the way there supposed to fasten the felt, I used a punch to increase the distance the carpenters nails went through the felt so I had more length of the nail to bend over to hold the felt on the other side of the flywheel cover, so they were bent over just like the original staples were bent over. Then I filed down the nails alittle bit just to decrease the presence of the nails inside the cover......and here is a pic showing the old seat covers, probably original from the age you can see on the seats.

Yep! It was a good idea at the time, but when I went there I found out that they did have 1/4 thick felt, but it was only in strips,and not larger pieces to be as wide as some parts of that flywheel cover.

I finished degreasing the engine and have that part of prepping the engine for painting done, but I am battling rust that is spreading on the engine fast, I don't have a garage, and have no way of storing the 195.6 Inside some place, so it's just sitting on a engine stand in front of the rambler outside, wrapped in two blankets, then big plastic garbage bags and a water proof tarp incase it rains but also to protect the engine from direct sunlight, so condensation doesn't occur Inside the plastic bags.

Maybe I'm not taking this as seriously as I should be because I don't know what I'm doing, but maybe leaving the engine out like this with no choice because of no garage is very very bad and I don't know how bad it is for the engine in it's unbroken in state.... I just talked to someone here on the amc forum and they said you have the engine holes taped up, that's good, but the rest of the engine is going to rust, it's not painted and clean iron rusts instantly, the inside will also rust since there's not a coating of oil in there the engines outside and can't be put inside, and it's not sealed, those two things aren't compatible for a engine that's vulnerable.... He didn t say all that but it's close to the idea of what he was saying.

Edited by 1958 rambler super - May/24/2021 at 11:34am