October 5th 2013:
Today Chris and Paul came over and gave me a BIG hand going through the ’57. We pulled the headers, tested the 1.625″ Manley valve springs, pulled the valve train and torqued the heads to start things off.
The pressure on the #7 cylinder exhaust valve was down from the others around 30# (250 psi on our Buxton tester), so we pulled the spring and learned the outer was broken at the top which fell apart when we pulled the retainer (pictured below). We replaced that valve spring and sealed the motor for winter. Buzzing the motor to 8800 when I missed shifts always takes its toll.
Broken outer 1.625 Valve Spring
from our ’57 Chev
Chris pulled the old Doug-Nash 5-speed transmission and we tore it down and we’re glad to report there is just normal wear. We will be replacing our old Long shifter with a new style pistol-grip Long shifter from G-Force Transmissions over the winter, now confident that our shifting problems we had the last time out can be attributed to the shifter. One of the advantages of the new shifter is that it has heim joint ends and straight stainless steel rods. You should be able to get the adjustment on the new shifter, nuts on! (Yes, there have been improvements over the years!) While apart we will debur some of the shift rings but that is just normal maintenance with a pro-shifted transmission.
Also before Spring we will be replacing our Goodyear slicks with Hoosiers that have a stiffer sidewall. And the old buggy should be good to go for 2014!
I want to thank Chris & Paul for all their help today, and also Pam who took good care of us providing us coffee and sandwiches!
October 7th 2013:
I just pulled 1st gear and the 1-2 slider off the mainshaft and see no problems here. In fact I’m surprised how good the slider looks after a couple of missed shifts. Just dress the pro-rings on the gears and the transmission is ready to put back together.
This morning I ordered the new pistol-grip style Long shifter for the old transmission and should have that delivered within a week.
New Long shifter for Doug-Nash 5-speed
October 8th 2013:
Today I dressed all the points on the pro-shift rings & sliders and the transmission is ready to be fully assembled.
Chris came over this afternoon and we got the gearbox back together. When the new shifter arrives we will put it back in the car for 2014. – Roger
October 16th 2013:
Today our new Long shifter arrived and we got it installed on the transmission and bench adjusted. We are very pleased with how the shifter is working compared to our old shifter and there are marked improvements, such as the straight stainless steel shifting rods with heim joints, compared to the old bent shifter rods which were very difficult to adjust and would flex and crack.
The line-lock button is now located on the top of the shifter – Roger
New Long shifter installed on our transmission
October 26th 2013:
Today we got the transmission and new Long shifter installed in the car as a complete unit. This required enlarging the hole in the floorboard by Chris to make it happen, but makes it far easier to adjust the shifter and stops on the bench and raise the whole assembly into the car. My thanks to Chris and Paul for all their help today! – Roger
New Long shifter in our ’57
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