Well, after 19 months of hard driving, my 544's engine is dying. There's so much blow-by out of the crankcase tube that ends underneath the engine that I last week added a hose through the oil filler cap for additional release. Still, it's like a steam locomotive.
In addition, after it's warmed up the engine's oil loss through the rear main seal got excessive as well.

No biggie, as I got lucky about a year ago in buying a B18 engine (long block minus intake and exhaust) out of a 1967 wagon for only $350 which, according to the seller, has only 86K miles on it. It's been sitting in the seller's garage for many years, but I actually believe him as I got the rear end from the same car and it looked new inside. Now . . . before I pull my engine and put the "new" one in, I want to do everything that makes sense. Here are my thoughts, and please correct me if I miss something.

1)Fill engine with Marvel's Mystery Oil. Let sit for a few days while turning engine by hand, little by little, to distribute oil. Drain oil.

2)Remove oil pan, visually inspect crank, bearings, and inside of oil pan (shavings, or lack thereof) as an indicator of engine's condition.

3)Install new front crankshaft seal, new rear main seal, new water pump, and new clutch kit.

Is there anything I overlooked, forgot, should be doing?

Thanks!

My PV544's story, now on 5 pages:
--
www.californiaclassix.com/Bernard/PV544-1.html

New fuel filter? Make sure that the hoses and belt are in good shape as well, obviously. You'll only get, uh, another half a million miles out of your beloved PV before it needs another engine, with any luck! I'd probably change the oil out after 500 miles and put in new oil and another filter, just for good measure.

In addition to others...

Pull the valve cover when you change the oil and check valve clearances;

Additionally, while you have the valve cover off, pour some of that new oil down along the pushrods - hopefully it will run down them and spill over the top of the lifters giving them a bit of extra lubrication before starting. That may be overkill, but it won't hurt anything;

I'd be sure to prime the oil pump before starting too.

Sounds like my PV's original B18 motor. It got gradually more and more tired. When I pulled it it had several cracked and many stuck rings.
--
'63 PV544 rat rod, '93 Classic #1141 245 (now w/16V turbo)

I would also pull the spark plugs (and leave them out) and spray a sufficient amount of WD-40 in each cylinder to work on the top end as well when you are turning the engine full of Mystery Oil.

Second, when you have the pan off and the crank exposed, try and find out if the cam is still tight in it's bearings. This would also be an optimum time to put in steel/alloy cam timing gears. The fiber gear is ALWAYS suspect, no matter how old. You can also clean the screen of the Oil pump at this time and inspect the bottom end of it.

You did not mention the Carbs. Pull the floats and flush them out and then check the condition of the throttle shafts, needles, jets, gaskets, fuel lines and air filters.

Then, if you are not completely broke by this time, put on a set of new spark plug/coil wires and freshen up whats under the distributor cap, and maybe put a new one of those on as well.

Water pumps are also relatively cheap as are thermostats. Preventative maintenance all at once and much easier done with the engine out of the car.

You should be able to do this all before lunch.

Phil Turner
'65 PV544