new owner '74 TCS misc ?

[jbcollier]

If the seal rings haven’t seated on the o-ring, it will leak.

[Lumbes]

Thanks everyone for posting replies.  Every little bit helps and it just hit me that I need to slow down and take a break.  Been going at it since last Wednesday...started as soon as I returned with the gearbox.  Today I threw every available hour I could towards it and walked away with little progress.  Much cursing tonight and rage after a complete failure to perform a simple step.  Attach the clutch cable bracket to the block with a ground.  Yesterday, I hung the bracket loosely and thought how I could add a ground there so I removed the bracket and proceeded with adding a ground.  Started with the ground on the rear most hole when behind the car and was able to start that bolt.  Could not for the life of me start the other bolt.  Tried over and over u with no success. Thought I'd try something different so I removed the bolt I that went in and tried going for the more difficult one first this time.  The more difficult one became the impossible one and something that would seem so simple ate up hours and hours.  With much reluctance I have to call it a night and admit defeat hanging that bracket with a ground.  Thought I'd do an easy step while I take my time understanding how the output shafts are sealed properly.  My ego is definitely taking a hit so yeah going to try to slow down, recover some zen and read up on how those finned nuts are installed.  I have the tool on hand from RD, just haven't personally used it yet.   

[Dilkris]

Be sure to lube your cable with some gear oil with maybe a bit of light grease before you install it.

I am a long way from installed it - I need a completed body first. 

[Lumbes]

Both output shafts have a leak and they appear to mirror each other, and I have a small leak from the oil pan.  I checked the torque values on the oil pan and they were all a bit low so I brought them up to 5 ft pounds / 60 inch pounds.  The book says 6-8 lbs for the oil pan.  Kind of assuming the oil pan gaskets on these engines are a one way street meaning once you compress them so much they will not decompress so I want to ask before bringing it up to 6lbs what torque spec on the oil pan do twin cam owners find best results at?  So far the oil pan leak is minimal and very livable so I should just leave it alone unless someone on here is urging me to bring it up to 6lbs. 
The output shafts are leaking a bit more than I can live with so that is something I don't think I can leave alone.  Very afraid of making it worse as I have no experience in removing the differential nut and seals etc so I will have to really make sure I am following the steps exactly.  Going to order new o-rings and seals tomorrow morning both both sides and go from there.   

[Dilkris]

There is not a member of this forum reading your journey that does not feel your pain - believe me, I, we. them, they, have all been there.
Taking a break is a good move - spend some time reading up on the drive shaft oil seal challenge - it is very well documented on previous threads and it is not overly complicated -  the fact that you have already invested in the correct tool for adjusting the seal carriers is a big bonus but please note that those seal carriers also control the pinion/crown wheel backlash along with the preload on the main diff bearings and to set those correctly, (ASSUMING THEY ARE NOT ALREADY CORRECTLY SET), will involve removal of the gearbox and bellhousing. In other words, before you do anything with the seal carriers, please mark exactly where they are now.
You will also be entering the equally well discussed and documented subject of drive shaft shims and roll pins -
Have fun.           

[BDA]

Regarding the torque of oil pan bolts, 6 ft-lbs is plenty. The thin cork gasket is easily distorted. There is a newer version of the pan gasket that is thicker and much more substantial. I recently installed a set and for the first time ever, I torqued the pan bolts and 6 ft-lbs was plenty.

A common place that leaking occurs is around the main bearing caps. There are two different types of gaskets for them: a rubber gasket and a thick cork gasket. When my motor was assembled, they used the rubber version and it was not properly set and it caused a leak (stuff happens and anyone can make a mistake). I replaced it with the cork version which I prefer. You must make sure that you get gasket goo on the ends of that gasket as well as completely around the bearing cap, but the corners where the gaskets over the main caps meet the gaskets on the “rails” is important.

[Lumbes]

I've made some progress but am hung up on two areas that I need to ask for advice on.
How are the roll pins installed in the rear of the transmission where it connects to the shift tube linkage?  Is it okay to hammer those in or should I be pressing the roll pins in by some manner?
The thermostat housing where the heater control valve and the water temp sensor thread in have plugs in them.  I've gone up to 50 ft lbs on my torque wrench trying to release them and they won't budge.  Quicksilver plugged them and they have pipe thread sealant on them.  Should I try applying heat or just pull on the wrench harder?  Most of those torque figures in the book are rather low so just not feeling comfortable going further without reaching out.
'

[BDA]

Those roll pins don't require anything special to install. Once you get them started, you should be able to tap them in with a hammer or mallet. Now "tap" means different things to different people so let's just say use no more force than necessary. Start soft and get harder till it starts moving.

If you wrenched on those plugs up to 50 ft-lbs, they are truly stuck. I'd try some heat on them. I'm surprised that Quicksilver put them in except to keep dirt out since (I assume) they thought they were building a street motor!

[Kendo]

For that shift shaft roll pin, it is easy to tap in. But I always back it up with some sort of hammer, to absorb any impact movement. Maybe that's overkill. But I'd hate to crack the transmission case.

[TurboFource]

Don’t use your torque wrench as a breaker bar…..as suggested try heat , if they were loctited in the heat will take care of it

[Lumbes]

Thanks everyone, when I first went to remove the plugs and they did not release I switched to a torque wrench so I could see how much force I was using without accidentally getting carried away.  In cases like this I try to ballpark what I think it should take to release and set the wrench.  If I go beyond the limit of what I think makes sense then I stop what I'm doing and try other approaches such as heat or a pb blaster equivalent etc.  I don't use torque wrenches as breaker bars as I have breaker bars for that job.  Even still, thank you for looking out for me Turbo, I still make plenty of mistakes and need to be checked by people that actually know what they are doing.  The plugs are out and the valve and temp sensor are in. 

[BDA]

I'm glad there is a happy ending to this thankfully short story! 

... I still make plenty of mistakes and need to be checked by people that actually know what they are doing.

That statement is occasionally true even of the "people that actually know what they are doing" who check your work. 

[Lumbes]

Started the engine and had it running at idle.  Sounds wonderful but still need to spend some time bleeding the brakes and making sure everything is right and tight before a short road test.  Still have to check if the rad fan kicks on when it should.  Accelerator and choke cables need adjusted, ignition wires still need shortened to length.  They are longer than they need to be but other than that it is mostly buttoned up.  All the electrics are in working order so I will be scheduling an appointment to have it inspected within the month of August and hope to enjoy some fall driving this year.  I will upload some pictures of how it looks now at some point in the near future. 

[BDA]

Don’t forget to burp the cooling system. You can do it when you check your radiator fan.

[Lumbes]

Moved the car out of the garage under its own power and went to the gas station to fill up the tanks yesterday.  High 80's, sunny, dry, it was a bit toasty but not bad once I was moving.  Round trip of 5 miles and nothing exploded so I am overjoyed.  The engine starts easily, idles without issue and is incredibly eager to chase the redline.  I didn't give it the full test as I drove it mostly in a docile manner but I gave it some gas twice and it just started to take off so I can tell it is going to be a lot of fun.  Still need to hone in a few areas of the car and the next big step would be resealing the windshield and rear window.  Not really something I want to attempt myself so going to have to find an auto glass company that won't butcher the job/ break very expensive glass.  Took a couple pictures of the car finally seeing some sunlight.  It's raining today so just going to go over the car and make sure all is well and safe with it.