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Vic Piano · 02-09-2013, 08:03 PM

Too many Cooks...

I'm sure you've all been subjected to that scenario, you know, when you’ve got a bunch of guys over helping you work on a Flathead…

There are usually three or four conversations going on and more then one or two guys working on the same thing at once…

Everyone is having fun and (you hope) paying attention and finishing up their job in relation to everyone else’s.

Well, apparently that distraction is what caused the problem with the ’51 F-1. Allow me to digress… You may remember all the transmission related problems I was having with the F-1 and the fact that Mike and I rebuilt it twice. After the second rebuild, we installed it (with a bunch of other guys helping). No sooner did we get everything buttoned up and take the truck for a ride, when all kind of strange noises started emanating from under the truck and the transmission would not shift as it should.

That’s when I decided that we’d install the ’49 Merc O/D transmission in the F-1. Fast forward to last week, John and I pulled the transmission out of the F-1.

Today a bunch of guys came over and we decided to fire up the Flathead with the transmission removed so we could see if the transmission was the problem. As soon as we fired up the Flathead a scraping noise started…

We decided to remove the bell housing, pressure plate and clutch… Once the aforementioned parts were removed, I noticed that not one but two of the four flywheel bolts had partially backed out…

This goes back to the “too many cooks” situation. Obviously, whoever it was that installed the bolts, did not finish the job, most likely due to distractions caused by everyone else…

The good news; the Flathead is fine, as is the transmission (we hope) however, the flywheel, clutch and pressure plate will need some attention. I’ll order new flywheel bolts, chase the threads to clean them up, etc. and hopefully, in a week or two, have everything back together and working properly.

After messin' with the '51, we tightened up the front motor mounts on Steve's '46 and ran a makeshift wiring harness from the stop light switch to the brake light harness on the '39 LZ, so that the Zephyr could once again have brake lights...

I should also mention that Steve brought donuts for everyone so, we never did get over to the Deli to have PIZZA...

Thanks again to all the guys that come over to play,

we have a good time even though we might make a mistake once in a while... I'm looking forward to the next time we can get together.

02-09-2013, 08:03 PM	#742
Vic Piano Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Odessa, FL Posts: 7,611	Re: What I Did on My Lunch Hour *Too many Cooks...* I'm sure you've all been subjected to that scenario, you know, when you’ve got a bunch of guys over helping you work on a Flathead… There are usually three or four conversations going on and more then one or two guys working on the same thing at once… Everyone is having fun and (you hope) paying attention and finishing up their job in relation to everyone else’s. Well, apparently that distraction is what caused the problem with the ’51 F-1. Allow me to digress… You may remember all the transmission related problems I was having with the F-1 and the fact that Mike and I rebuilt it twice. After the second rebuild, we installed it (with a bunch of other guys helping). No sooner did we get everything buttoned up and take the truck for a ride, when all kind of strange noises started emanating from under the truck and the transmission would not shift as it should. That’s when I decided that we’d install the ’49 Merc O/D transmission in the F-1. Fast forward to last week, John and I pulled the transmission out of the F-1. Today a bunch of guys came over and we decided to fire up the Flathead with the transmission removed so we could see if the transmission was the problem. As soon as we fired up the Flathead a scraping noise started… We decided to remove the bell housing, pressure plate and clutch… Once the aforementioned parts were removed, I noticed that not one but two of the four flywheel bolts had partially backed out… This goes back to the “too many cooks” situation. Obviously, whoever it was that installed the bolts, did not finish the job, most likely due to distractions caused by everyone else… The good news; the Flathead is fine, as is the transmission (we hope) however, the flywheel, clutch and pressure plate will need some attention. I’ll order new flywheel bolts, chase the threads to clean them up, etc. and hopefully, in a week or two, have everything back together and working properly. After messin' with the '51, we tightened up the front motor mounts on Steve's '46 and ran a makeshift wiring harness from the stop light switch to the brake light harness on the '39 LZ, so that the Zephyr could once again have brake lights... I should also mention that Steve brought donuts for everyone so, we never did get over to the Deli to have PIZZA... Thanks again to all the guys that come over to play, we have a good time even though we might make a mistake once in a while... I'm looking forward to the next time we can get together. __________________ Imagination is more important than knowledge.