Ford 300 Inline Six

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The water pump pulley was turned and trial assembled on the engine to verify its alignment with the crankshaft pulley. A 1/10" thick o-ring will eventually be used for the belt, but the fit was checked with an on-hand -038 o-ring. The pulley will be painted later along with the fan and spacer block after they're fabricated.

Coolant will eventually flow from the engine to the radiator's upper tank through a thermostat housing attached to the front of the block. Although there's really no thermostat, the housing was a significant machining project. I was able to come up with a bulbous design reminiscent of the full-size casting that I was machinable through only two workpiece faces. It was completed in three setups similar to those used for the water pump.

Construction began by squaring up a small block of aluminum. A single corner was used as the machining reference for all three setups in order to minimize registration errors. The bottom face of the housing was machined first and included a groove for an o-ring seal to the block. Holes for the housing's mounting screws were drilled and temporarily tapped for use later with a fixture plate. All of the housing's features that were accessible through the bottom face of the workpiece were then machined.

The workpiece was then flipped over and attached to a fixture plate where the rest of the machining was completed through the top face of the workpiece. The nozzle was drilled through and reamed in the third setup. Before painting the housing, a steel ferrule that added a hose sealing barb was turned and pressed into the end of the nozzle. A similar ferrule was added to the water pump's inlet nozzle.

The water pump and thermostat housing were bead blasted and air-brushed with blue Gun Kote to match the block. I'm finally getting the hang of air brushing. The trick to painting these small model parts seems to be to keep a high air-to-paint flow to minimize the paint particle size. Spraying many barely perceptible light coats on a glass-beaded metal surface allows the sheen to be fine tuned between satin and gloss. This technique seems to work well with Gun Kote which remains tacky until its heat cure. I'm not sure however it would work with more conventional solvent-based paints. - Terry

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The water pump and thermostat housing were bead blasted and air-brushed with blue Gun Kote to match the block. I'm finally getting the hang of air brushing. The trick to painting these small model parts seems to be to keep a high air-to-paint flow to minimize the paint particle size. Spraying many barely perceptible light coats on a glass-beaded metal surface allows the sheen to be fine tuned between satin and gloss. This technique seems to work well with Gun Kote which remains tacky until its heat cure. I'm not sure however it would work with more conventional solvent-based paints. - Terry

Hmmmmm - - - - this 'Gun Kote' - - - - what type of paint is it?
(2 part epoxy or ????)

You're not using any type of primer for a base coat - - - yes?

Finishing - - - - something that I have done very very little and likely know even less about!
 
Hmmmmm - - - - this 'Gun Kote' - - - - what type of paint is it?
(2 part epoxy or ????)

You're not using any type of primer for a base coat - - - yes?

Finishing - - - - something that I have done very very little and likely know even less about!
Google 'Gun Kote' and you'll get more information than you'll need. No primer - relatively impervious 300F baked-on finish. - Terry
 
The Ford 300's utilitarian fan was another of the engine's distinguishing features. Although anemic by today's standards, it pulled enough 100F Texas summer air through my truck's radiator to prevent over-heating in our congested traffic. George's design absolutely nailed its look, and his method for making it closely paralleled Ford's.

Construction began with the shearing of a stack of 1"x3" blade blanks from .030" soft aluminum. I needed only two, but I was prepared for a learning curve, and it was just as easy to make a dozen. The blanks were stacked and simultaneously drilled through for hub mounting hardware. After attaching it to a sacrificial plate, the entire stack was milled with the blade's periphery. The stack's screw-down end tabs were sanded away later.

The blades on the full-size fan had beaded stiffeners, and so a pair of aluminum press dies were machined to duplicate them. This was when I discovered that I should have rotated the mounting screw hole pattern 45 degrees so the beads wouldn't pass through the screws. However, rotating the pattern would have moved the beads into the fan's rivets, and so the beads were shortened to keep them out of the hub area.

After pressing in the beads, the blades were pitched by gripping them between a pair of wood blocks and slightly twisting. A machined mandrel was used to set the four aluminum rivets that permanently joined them together.

It was difficult to get an acceptable Gun Kote surface finish on the completed fan assembly. The thinly stretched metal tended to move around during the 300F heat cure, and the paint wrinkled. Top-coating the Gun Kote with an automotive engine paint greatly improved the finish.

Finally, the fan was attached to the water pump through a machined stainless steel spacer. - Terry

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Outstanding work as usual Terry! Looking at the paint on your engine makes me want to tear mine apart and add some color!
gbritnell
 
Inspiring result Terry. You certainly do have the painting down pat ... on top of all your other capabilities!
Charlie
 
Gun Kote doesn't appear to be readily available in the UK , it is out of stock at Amazon and no one else seems to supply it !
 
As your build moves along, my nostalgia increases. The more work you do, the more I miss my 1981 F-150, it’s reliable 300, and the many fishing trips and drives it took me on.

Exquisite work Terry, thanks for sharing!

John W
 
Love this build ! few tears ago my bro and I fitted this engine into his 2 door mk3 Cortina. Had to cut a bit off the sump to get it to fit nicely.
The result was hair raising ...............void bushes lasted a day lol.
Unfortunately Gun Kote doesn't appear to be readily available in the UK , I have been searching for a hard wearing black finish for my loco wheels without any success.
The rims are steel and the main casting is brass which is bead blasted and etch primed before finish coat .
Can anyone recommend a hard wearing finish like a gun coating that is available here in the UK ?
Dan.

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Have you considered powder coating?
Kvom,
I think powder coat would be too thick and tenacious for an application like this where tiny machined parts need to be precision fitted. Gun Kote can be laid down in a very thin layer and bead blasted away if the need arises. - Terry
 
Thanks for the link but like I said "currently unavailable".
Powder coating on a scale model would obliterate fine detail unfortunately , I guess I will have to stick with 2 pack acrylic !
Dan.
 
Thanks for the link but like I said "currently unavailable".
Powder coating on a scale model would obliterate fine detail unfortunately , I guess I will have to stick with 2 pack acrylic !
Dan.

Interesting - to me that link says five in stock and delivery next Friday, the 26th. Or I can get it this Friday, the 19th, if I want to pay more for shipping.

Brownells has a bottle twice the size for $30 instead of $20. Twice the quantity for 1-1/2 the price is good if you're going to use it. The flat black isn't showing being on back order or out of stock, either.

https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...-dark-earth-8oz-sku083166005-41610-44023.aspx
But Terry, that beautiful blue doesn't show up on Brownells as Gun Kote. Where is that from?
 
I am another long time fan of Gun Kote 2400 baked on finish and have used it on all my engines. Great procduct especially for close fitting parts. Adhesion to aluminum and brass is excellent. I have always ordered the 8 oz size cans directly from KG Industries. Fast service. I believe they have a Gun Kote source located in Germany. I suggest contacting KG Coatings for information.
Jeff
https://shop.kgcoatings.com/kg/customer-support/
 
Interesting - to me that link says five in stock and delivery next Friday, the 26th. Or I can get it this Friday, the 19th, if I want to pay more for shipping.

Brownells has a bottle twice the size for $30 instead of $20. Twice the quantity for 1-1/2 the price is good if you're going to use it. The flat black isn't showing being on back order or out of stock, either.

https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...-dark-earth-8oz-sku083166005-41610-44023.aspx
But Terry, that beautiful blue doesn't show up on Brownells as Gun Kote. Where is that from?
Brownells carries only a few colors. Search for 'Gun Kote 2400' on Amazon. - Terry
 
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"Gun Kote" always shows as 'currently unavailable' in the UK.
Our over-strict gun laws make it difficult for us to buy any firearm related materials. They probably think that someone buying "Gun **** " is about to go on a terrorist shooting/ killing spree. If they renamed it "Metal Kote" or something similar, importing to the stuff, into the UK, would be so much easier.
 
Thanks Doug,
The 'Cerakote' name must be politically correct, as opposed to 'Gun**** ' and is readily available in the UK from their distribute, Cerakote UK Ltd.
They offer small 118 ml (4 oz ) tester size jars.
Mike
 

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