Returning 1961 Vignale spyder 1341 to the road

The cylinder head is back from the shop. All the combustion chambers were measured and two found to be a bit smaller than the reset. They are now all approximately 93cc each. Valve clearances were are adjusted.
Before I can reinstall the head it needed to be painted with wrinkle finish. I've found the paint MIE sells to be excellent. I've tried the paint that comes in rattle cans and have never found one that would give a nice uniform look.
Two heavy coats were applied using a paint gun with a 2.0 tip. The first coat was allowed to flash for about 15 minutes before applying the second coat.. It took several hours at room temperature for the wrinkle to develop. Today is a nice sunny day with temperatures expected top go up in the mid 70's. I will roll the head outside to a sunny spot to help with the curing process.

First photo is the paint just after being applied. The second photo was taken the next morning (today). It will take at least a week before the paint dries up enough for the cam cover lettering to be sanded down.

Ivan

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While the head was being worked on the suspension got some attention. Rear brakes were done. Differential oil changed, differential pinion seal replaced, rear sway bar bushing replaced and much cleaning and detailing.

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I should be done with the front suspension in the next couple of days. Cleaning, detailing and zinc plating small parts take a long time.

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I just finished installing some new front end components and now the car sits very high and the steering is extremely hard. I did not remove the springs, shocks nor replaced the upper and lower bushings as those were found to be in good condition. I did replace the upper ball joints, tie rod ends and the steering rod links using parts from MIE. The lower ball joints were cleaned and re-greased but did not need replacement. I noticed during the installation that the joints on the new components were very difficult to move, more difficult than what I would have thought normal. Have anyone experience a similar problem after working on the front suspension?

Ivan

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The car barely lowers when you push down. I noticed after reinstalling the upper and lower balls joints that it was very difficult to manually spin the axle assembly side to side. This would point to the upper ball joint as being the cause since the lower is still the original. The upper ball joint would also affect the up down moving as this joint has to move as the front end bounces up and down. Perhaps the new joints will loosen up after a couple of drives, although I doubt it. I have the old upper ball joint and its very loose compared to the new one. I may put a new rubber boot and reuse it.

For now I am leaving things as is and work on re-installing the head and getting the engine running again. I need to get the car to the point it can move by its own power so that it can be loaded on a trailer and taken to the painter. That also means that the brakes need to be operational.

Ivan

 

Geometrically it looked identical, just extremely tight.

Ivan

 

Ran into an issue when installing the two external oil lines to the head. The two two bolts are different and according to the parts manual they should be the same. One bolt has large holes and the other has small holes. Which one is correct?
Ivan

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The plot thickens. The upper and lower oil bolts have the same part number but a different description in the parts manual. If you look at items #21 and #36 you will see what I mean. On my car three of the bolts have the large holes and only one has the small hole. I am inclined to drill out the one with the small homes to match the other three. Still, the parts manual makes things more confusing since now I do not know if they misprinted the description or the part number.

Ivan
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That is exactly what Gene O'Gorman was kind enough to do and it turns out both hoses have the bolts with the small holes on the top and the big hole bolts on the bottom. Therefore one of my bolts is incorrect. I need to get a hold of one bolt with the small holes. Anyone?

Ivan

 

True, not something you want to discover when working on an engine. I am actually surprised to have noticed the different size of the holes.

The good news is that the cams and cam bearings all looked good. I found a replacement banjo bolt that should arrive in a couple of days.

Ivan

 

Engine is now back together. Gas tank was paint and installed. I am about ready to fire this thing up and hopefully all will be ok. Fingers crossed.
Ivan

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The engine is alive!

Having learned from a prior experience, I placed a large wet towel on the front fender in front of the carb trumpets in case flames came out. Years ago I almost burned another Vignale spyder. To make matters worst, the garage was in the basement, under my bedroom. Luckily the firetruck came quickly and the fire did not spread but the Webers suffered damage and the right front fender paint burned. I recall my wife was out of town. "Honey I burned the house" would have not been a pleasant conversation.

Sure enough, until I was able to get the engine in tune the flames coming out of the carbs of this engine were scary. The wet towel did its job and all is good. Engine is now purring as it should.



Ivan