# Rebuilding the 318
**URL:** https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830
**Category:** Rebuilds
**Created:** [October 8, 2016, 3:54pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830 "2016-10-08T15:54:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ron\_Keij](https://59plymouth.net/u/Ron_Keij)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2016, 3:54pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/1 "2016-10-08T15:54:39Z")
On a beautiful sunny day in June we were on our way to a car show when I heard a couple of really loud bangs under the hood ❓ I pulled over and so did Matthew who was following in the convertible and our friends with their 55 Oldsmobile. When we opened the hood we saw cooling fluid coming at the intake manifold. We called AAA and waited for a while and when he arrived he couldn’t really find anything wrong with the engine but it was running a little rough. He told us to drive it home and he would follow us for the first 20 miles. The car ran but not as strong as I was used to but we made it home. We already had plans for a rebuild this winter as it was smoking and using a lot of oil and we decided to move our plans forward a few months.
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### Author:  [@Ron\_Keij](https://59plymouth.net/u/Ron_Keij)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2016, 4:08pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/2 "2016-10-08T16:08:12Z")
Matthew started looking for the needed parts and in September he started taking a lot of parts of the engine.
_Then we decided to take of the bumper and front valance to make it easier to remove the engine. The front support had to go too as it was rusted through but luckily we had a spare one that we got from John Fowlie about 10 years ago. Never got to replacing it!_
_On September 27th we were ready to pull the engine._
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### Author:  [@Ron\_Keij](https://59plymouth.net/u/Ron_Keij)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/3 "2016-10-08T16:20:06Z")
We found a lot of dirt in the engine but otherwise it was OK. We found that the timing chain and pistons were still originals and not much has been done to the engine in the past 57 years! Two valves were not really OK and the number one piston was the reason for the oil usage. But everything came out well and the block is ready to go to the machine shop next week.
_Matthew works so fast that he is always a little blurry in pictures_
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### Author:  [@Ron\_Keij](https://59plymouth.net/u/Ron_Keij)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/4 "2016-10-08T16:41:36Z")
We had a lot of loose parts in the garage that needed a clean up and some fresh paint. A couple of months ago Matthew had a workshop for powder coating and told me that I should powder coat the parts. Yesterday we looked for all the “black” parts and this afternoon we went to a place were you can sand blast and powder coat yourself. Fun to do and in the end a lot cheaper than paint. We spend about 4 hours and $100 for sand blasting and powder coating all parts in the last picture.
_Blasted_
_Blow away the dirt_
_Put a coin in the machine_
_Spraying the primer powder_
After 20 minutes in the oven we had to let the parts cool for a while before we put on the black powder. We used matt black for the front support and gloss black for the other parts.
_Spraying the powder on_
_And in the oven it goes_
_Close the doors and another 20 minute wait_
_The final result!_
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### Author:  [@Faulkner](https://59plymouth.net/u/Faulkner)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2016, 4:59pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/5 "2016-10-08T16:59:31Z")
Amazing, Ron! I just now looked for DIY powder coating places in Philly, I haven’t found one. What a neat trick! It’s great that you have a shop like that near you.
Dan
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### Author:  [@Ron\_Keij](https://59plymouth.net/u/Ron_Keij)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/6 "2016-10-08T17:32:55Z")
> [@Faulkner](#):
>
> Amazing, Ron! I just now looked for DIY powder coating places in Philly, I haven’t found one. What a neat trick! It’s great that you have a shop like that near you.
>
> Dan
As far as I know it is the only place in The Netherlands with the DIY system, fortunately it is only about 5 miles away for us 🙂
Send over your parts and we can do it for you, it is fun to do it and it goes really fast!
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### Author:  [@Matthew\_Keij](https://59plymouth.net/u/Matthew_Keij)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/7 "2016-10-08T17:41:52Z")
Yup! Powder coating is fun and the results are fantastic!!!
I’ll be going back next week! Still have some parts that need to be coated in red and some in black
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### Author:  [@Faulkner](https://59plymouth.net/u/Faulkner)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/8 "2016-11-13T19:40:11Z")
Ron and I keep trying to catch up with each other via Skype, but six hours of time difference keeps getting in the way. Either I’m busy, or he is. Today was no exception - when I tried to reach him, he was out in the garage with Matthew, working on Chrissie. Not exactly sure what they are up to, but he messaged these pix and reports great progress.
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### Author:  [@Matthew\_Keij](https://59plymouth.net/u/Matthew_Keij)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2016, 3:06pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/9 "2016-11-17T15:06:34Z")
Inner fenders are rusted so we are using the ones from the old Fury.
I removed the front fender and inner fender on the passenger side, we cleaned up the frame and painted it black. That’s what happened 
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### Author:  [@big\_m](https://59plymouth.net/u/big_m)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/10 "2016-11-17T17:16:21Z")
Did you ever find what caused the loud bangs in the engine?
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### Author:  [@Ron\_Keij](https://59plymouth.net/u/Ron_Keij)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2016, 8:55am UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/11 "2016-12-31T08:55:54Z")
We can only guess what caused the loud bangs as we did not find something really wrong with the engine. It is Obvious that it needed the rebuild as a lot of parts were in there since new. My best guess is that it happened because the original timing chain slipped but I was cruising with a steady speed and normally the would happen when accelerating. But the engine came home from the machine shop this week and now we can start rebuilding it.
In November we went to Florida to escape the cold weather here. Dick Koch has been receiving some 😆 packages for us that we had to take home with us. Had a great day with Dick and Yvonne and came back to our Florida villa with a lot of boxes 😲
Got all the new parts in the garage now except for the cam shaft. The NOS one is in on it’s way to the Netherlands!
Today I will start to get the old paint off the block 🙂
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### Author:  [@Faulkner](https://59plymouth.net/u/Faulkner)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/12 "2016-12-31T21:53:33Z")
Great pix and flix, Ron! I love the scenes of boring and honing.
I notice that you powder coated your valve covers red, just like the air cleaner. Is that because you like the look, or is silver on Faulkner’s covers wrong? 😲😮
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### Author:  [@Dick\_Koch](https://59plymouth.net/u/Dick_Koch)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 2:15pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/13 "2017-01-01T14:15:54Z")
So much for being factory or politically correct. I think I’m going to turn my swivel seat levers in the other direction.
Dick.
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### Author:  [@Matthew\_Keij](https://59plymouth.net/u/Matthew_Keij)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 4:27pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/14 "2017-01-01T16:27:29Z")
The original brochure shows red valve covers.
I have received pics from Raymond with his all original 59 Sport Fury and it has red valve covers. I think it all depends on where the car was build.
So far what I have seen on survivors the block was silver, valve covers silver or red and the air cleaner red.
I like the look of the red valve covers more as the engine has more color
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### Author:  [@Faulkner](https://59plymouth.net/u/Faulkner)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/15 "2017-01-01T16:45:12Z")
I’m gonna paint my red!
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### Author:  [@Matthew\_Keij](https://59plymouth.net/u/Matthew_Keij)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2017, 7:42pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/16 "2017-01-01T19:42:13Z")
I like the red better. Makes it stand out a bit and doesn’t look too boring.
Made some progress today! Also ordered a few more things. Waiting for the pics 
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### Author:  [@Matthew\_Keij](https://59plymouth.net/u/Matthew_Keij)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/17 "2017-01-02T20:22:54Z")
Some new pics!
One of the pistons rings broke while assembling the pistons so we have a new set coming! 7 pistons in the 318 so far
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### Author:  [@bustionironi](https://59plymouth.net/u/bustionironi)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2017, 12:45am UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/18 "2017-01-07T00:45:35Z")
Any suggestions of how to remove the rocker arm shaft dowel pin?
Ted
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### Author:  [@Matthew\_Keij](https://59plymouth.net/u/Matthew_Keij)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2017, 5:06pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/19 "2017-01-08T17:06:35Z")
The shop removed it for us.
I think you can remove it with a pair of pliers. Should be ok if there is a little bit of movement in it.
I assembled the heads yesterday and they are ready to go back on the block. Waiting for some cam lube so we can put the NOS cam back in!
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### Author:  [@Ron\_Keij](https://59plymouth.net/u/Ron_Keij)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://59plymouth.net/t/rebuilding-the-318/2830/20 "2017-01-15T16:36:12Z")
The cam lube arrived and we made some progress again. The NOS cam shaft is in (thank you Forwardlook Frank!) and we put the heads back on. After a little break we went on with the timing chain, the NOS lifters (thank you Forwardlook Frank!) and the pushrods. More to come next week!
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