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Thanks Dell & Joeyearl. Sounds like a good way to remove the whole grill and bumpers in two or three sections. Wondering: do you know if it's possible to remove the grill center ox-yoke section along with just the first row of stainless trim beneath it (the row including the parking lights/signals) and leaving the lower bumper in place?

That piece is in such poor condition that I had planned to wait to remove that until I was going to have it chromed. But everything above the bumper could come out to get at minimum, a polish and buff to help the appearance, maybe take away some of the pitting that's starting.

Cheers

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@ Wes. Good suggestion. I'll go looking for one.

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Does your guess make you believe the engine had been rebuilt at some time? Would there be any other reason to surface the head? Or are you musing over the possibility that from the factory the head was surfaced too much leading to insufficient valve clearance?

Trying to follow your thought. I would practically swear on my life this 356 has never been rebuilt, judging from the engine bay and on light visual inspection of the crankcase. But I just rebuilt a Chrysler 170 cc. 'slant six' for my 60 Valiant suburban. I had convinced myself the engine had original mileage and had never been touched or rebuilt. A 30-year veteran machinist took one look at the stripped-down block I dumped in front of him and dropped the bomb "well this engine's been rebuilt."



Shows how much I know!

Yep, I can look up and see at least one tappet with the edge broken off.

I wish I had a long-handled dentist-type mirror. I think I've actually seen them at auto parts stores. Handy for this - may go get one to assess how many i'm looking at, but at the same time, now that I can see one is cracked, that still means I need to pull the cam, so just forging ahead.

Sweet. Thank you!

Is the front rubber engine mount in the yoke below the water pump on a 356 two pieces of rubber, or one? I haven't yet removed, but I wanted to order a replacement before I pull the mount. Just want to know that what I'm buying is correct. Thanks all.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm pBlasting away on the grill right now so I get get it off without any fasteners breaking off.

Did a clean-up of the oil pan this weekend, and well...the top 'compartments' of the pan were clean, but what I thought was the 'bottom' of the lower sump compartment was actually the top of 1/2" thick layer of black-on-top, graphite-grey underneath oil sludge.

Combed though the muck and located two more buried fragments of valve lifter body, as well as one half of a valve stem keeper. Clearly I have more work ahead of me.

Prior owner just informed me that back 11 years ago, they did take some good precautions to break in the engine before starting. This plus what I found this weekend makes me believe these internal injuries more likely happened in the distant past.

Fun times!

Has anyone here removed a 48 Custom 8 grill and front bumper? Jumping right in to removing mine, but today on close examination, realized I could use a little guidance as to whether the grill can be removed as a unit or in sections, or if you must start disassembling the entire grill piece by piece, either from the bottom up, or top down.

Thanks all

Wow, that's a relief, thanks for the quick responses! I wasn't ready to pull the engine. Sure I want it looking nice and new again, but that will come when I have less demands on my time from everything else going on in life.

Radiator is already out - check. The grill...HA. I have heard about the time required to take apart these monsters. Is there a way to remove it as one piece or is complete disassembly on the vehicle required?

I'll start P-Blasting all the fasteners. I guess it's somewhat good if a break-down is necessary. Really wanted to get it polished up as well as possible, but was finding it pretty hard to do while assembled. The egg-crate inserts (are they stainless? I can tell they're not aluminum and they don't seem to be chrome-plated) are challenging to polish completely in place.

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Good question - can't answer that without diving deeper into the engine. I don't know for how long this car sat in "storage" (AKA a barn), but it could be anywhere from 20-40 years, and who knows if it was ever started and run during this time?

Previous owner informed me that he got the engine running briefly in January '03 during a very cold spell in Toronto and that he was surprised it started. While he didn't elaborate on the steps he and his guys took to get the engine running (meaning, whether or not they took the usual precautions to wake a long-dormant engine, oiling the cylinders, rotating it slowly by hand, breaking it back in), I think it's possible this damage occurred then. That would explain why nothing else inside the crankcase looks damaged. Even the cam lobe in question (from where I can inspect it now), doesn't look scored or chewed, so maybe the engine only ran for a very short time with the tappet damaged. Maybe the cold temps contributed to the tappet being brittle and simply trying to start the engine without necessary break-in procedures was all it took? Who knows.

Can someone advise me what size socket I'm going to need to remove that bolt? It's ginormous!

Pulled the oil pan off the 48 356 last night finally with lots of advice from all (thanks again for that).

I'll first start by saying that I am quite pleased with the interior of the engine upon inspection. Looks to be remarkably clean and grunge/corrosion-free. Seems the 55K miles on the odometer might possibly be correct, based on the lack of sludge. Sure there's some oil, but it all looks pretty light honey-colored. A good sign I guess. Even the oil intake screen is not grungy at all. Haven't pulled any rod or main caps yet to check bearing condition: that's next.

BUT some extremely unwelcome news awaited me on the floor of an otherwise spic and span oil pan. Everyone remember Jeff's 48 Convertible Victoria post? See his pictures #28 and #30. I'm dealing with the same thing. Fractured/cracked hydraulic tappet lifter body. Can't tell if it's one body or or two.

Is there any way to change these out without pulling the engine and having to remove the damper and timing chain to pull the cam?

I have yet to try and start the engine, but based on seeing this, now I don't even want to try until I get this handled. Any advice on possible next steps would be welcome.

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