Inliners International Forums General Discussion Builds Return of the 153 build

I?ve been out of the forum and off my feet for the last couple of years, so I figured I?d catch up and report in too!

I had collected most of what I needed to build a spicy little four cylinder with some more modern hardware and a considerable boost in performance. My 153 block has been bored 0.030? and the deck trued, all of it cleaned and magnafluxed, new expansion plugs, cam bearings, and oil galley plugs installed.

The head has been similarly cleaned and checked with ported and polished intake and exhaust runners, fresh valve job with all new valves, larger intakes, three angle valve seats, perfect circle seals, new valves springs with enlarged spring pockets, hardened shims to set the correct spring height, 7/16? rocker arm studs, port lumps, and guide plates installed.

After an extensive search, I recently found a used roller camshaft that needed some repair. I sent it to Oregon Cam Grinder and they repaired a damaged lobe, checked it for straightness, and reground it to a hot, streetable, hydraulic profile. With it back in hand, I picked up a Cloyes straight cut timing gear set, a set of Comp Cams Ultra Pro Magnum roller rockers, and a stud girdle and poly locks all for support of the new cam grind.

NOW! Just in the last month, I have recovered from an extended series of surgeries to repair a badly damaged left foot along with a big fight with infection that sidelined me, allowing me to finally get back into the shop. With help from my son, I?m working on mocking everything up and doing final assemblies of the various subassemblies.

The reciprocating assembly has been static and dynamic balanced using an offset ground 181 crank, new ?H-beam? 6? rods, forged Racetech pistons, and Total Seal rings.

Over the weekend, I got the camshaft, lifters, and assembled head mocked up to determine the pushrod length and check the rocker geometry. Wonder of wonders, the pushrod length is standard, so I ordered new chrome moly pushrods and since I?ve gone this far, I ordered a new set of ARP head studs.

I have all of the gaskets, bearings, pumps, seals, and sealers to begin assembly and as soon as the pushrods and head studs arrive, I will be doing the final cleaning, finish cylinder honing, ring filing and fitting, and final assembly.

I?m reasonably certain that there will be questions that will come up and I?d appreciate any suggestions or advice as I go along. Those final pieces are scheduled to arrive next Monday and I?ll get started then.

Y?ALL STAY TUNED!!

I am surprised that the pushrod length will be standard.
Glad to hear you are back doing what you want to do.
What distributor do you plan to use?

I promise you, you?re no more surprised than I am!! I figured that the required length would be shorter, given that I?m using the roller lifters I got from you. I suspect that the base circle on the camshaft is smaller than stock, although I don?t have a stock one to compare it with.

I?m using a fully preped single point distributor. I had a local machinist friend set it up for me. He has one of the SUN distributor machines and does many of the distributors for the local racers. We put new bushings in it and redid the weights, springs, and vacuum advance. You sent me a new gear for it when I bought the lifters.

It?s been a tough stretch with the health issues. This is good therapy! I spent a lot of time sitting around, searching for all the little things that you end up scrambling around for at the last minute to get a build like this completed. I?d bet a whole betcha? that there?s STILL something that I?ll not have when the time comes for it!!

Any more progress? Pictures?

Got the lifter galley squared away early last week, but I came down with a nasty cold the middle of the week and I haven?t done much since. I DID track down the last piece I needed for the valve train and the pushrods and head studs came in. All I need to get now are a few random fasteners!

I have appointments with doctors three days this week, so I?m only going to be able to do some prep work ?til Friday!

I ran into something new to me today while assembling my new rod and piston combination. I?m using RaceTech forged pistons with floating pins. I have used spirolock pin retainers and Tru arc retainers, but I had never encountered the spring wire clips that RaceTech supplied and recommended.

It took a bit of a learning curve to get them assembled and the limited dexterity in my neuropathic hands didn?t help, but by the time I got to the third piston, I had it figured out.

That?s one more subassembly preped and ready. Progress!!!

Teaching old hands new tricks can be tough. I'm re-teaching mine to play the guitar again. Better than a couple of years ago when I couldn't do it at all.

Keep at it! That 4 will be fun.

One of the problems with installing a high performance valve train in the 153 head is clearance for roller rockers and stud girdles. Even the Mercruiser aluminum rocker cover doesn?t offer enough room!

I?m using Comp Cams 175:1 roller rocker arms and a small block Chevy stud girdle. An aluminum small block valve cover will accommodate the extra width and length of the rockers and the girdle, but it?s not tall enough.

My solution was to take a second Mercruiser cover that had been damaged on the top and an inexpensive cast aluminum small block Chevy
valve cover and cut the gasket rails off of them. I grafted the two rail sections together with the aid of a TiG welder and a guy who really knows how to use it. I took the two pieces and set them up on my head with the rockers and girdle installed and made sure that there was clearance and proper alignment and marked the positions and stuck them together with Gorilla Tape. Then I placed the other small block cover on the upturned rail of mocked up assembly and checked everything again! It can all be removed or installed without any other parts requiring movement.

I can access the girdle and rockers for adjustment as well as the pushrods and valve springs by simply removing the small block cover. It?s clean and neat and looks great!

If I can figure out how to post photos, I?ll try to put up a few shots of the process.