Technical What are you working on?

I pulled the speedometer out of Old Blue this afternoon for access to the other gauge assembly, and we had the speedometer rebuilt in 1989 and apparently 15 year old Andy thought only 2 out of 4 nuts were enough to hold it in. Gee, I can’t wait to see what else I did!!

 

Lol…19 year old Jeff didn’t own a welder so used bondo to fix rust. So, 52 year old Jeff gets to fix that right later with less time and energy.

 

Andy, fwiw let me tell you a quick story:

A few years ago I decided that the 283 in Clarence was so tired it needed to be replaced. I went to my friend, a lifelong machinist and parts house owner, to ask what it would cost to bring him the bare block, him to bore it and supply/install pistons & rings. He told me he would NOT tell me since I could go to Summit or Jegs and order up a new crate 350 for less than what he would charge me. That's why Clarence got a crate 350 from Summit the next week.

The 283 had sentimental value to me and still resides under a bench in my shop. The engine was in a 1966 Impala that my grandmother bought in the fall of 1965 and has never been out of my family.

 

I don’t blame you one bit. I would keep that 283 forever. That is such wonderful story, I get super sentimental about things like that.

 

My BIL finally returned my wheel cribs so I’ve spent the last couple evenings changing oil, looking things over, checking for loose hardware, etc… While it’s convenient I’ll do a little undercarriage cleanup and the truck will be ready for the road. We’ve had some nice rain this week so the road salts should be washed away, time to throw in some fresh fuel and go cruising…

 

I had a therapy session today !

 

After discovering I had a bad starter and not a failed battery I got her to start. Alarmed by the amount of moisture coming out of the tailpipes I checked the plugs. Water/coolant came pouring out of #5 spark plug hole. Going to do a deep dive tomorrow, a little down about the situation but it's just a mechanical thing that needs to be found out. Hoping for the easier cracked head than block.

 

More pics please! Looks amazing.

 

Thanks, there’s a link for my build thread in my signature…

 

Had a little free time yesterday, so since my '39 is still waiting for spring to arrive I did a small change to my steering column. It's been a little too high ever since I finished the car a couple years ago, so I tackled the job of lowering it.
Did a little work to open up the penetration at the floor about 1/2", which is still covered by the rubber seal once I lower the column mount at the dash. Built some 1.25" spacers to let the column drop about 2" at the wheel. After bolting in the spacers I made a new cover to go between the column and the dash to cover up the taller mounting hardware. Only took a couple hours, but now my tilt column is in the middle of it's range and not at the lowest point all the time.

 

Trying my Neway valve seat cutter on a cut down Crosley block, seems to do ok but I have issue seeing with My Head and the Bridgeport Head trying to occupy the same territory. Magic marked valve at seat area and couldn't get a readable seat contact pattern like they do on Utube. Maybe using wrong marker?

 

Just ate a big lunch, answer is:..........Stay'n awake.

 

Logistics of getting the two vehicles I bought this week home, both are 3 hours away in different directions….

 

Or get a tether for your glasses!

 

I've only rebuilt one automatic in my life, but I needed therapy AFTER it was back in and running! Never again.... Too much voodoo involved for me!

 

I would most likely trip over the tether. Wife suggested some type of beeper finder thingy.

 

On March 9th I posted the engine was back in our roadster for Bonneville 2024 and the puzzle on where everything goes was to go would begin. 1 month was all it took, it only needs coolant, fuel and it will be for ready testing.
The exhaust system received an inner and outer coating for this year which should bring the under hood temperature down.

 

Are these two cars HAMB-friendly so we can talk about them here? If you already said what they were somewhere, I must have missed it. I’m just curious as the hunt and kill are some of the funnest parts of this hobby to me. The actual work part after that isn’t as exciting.

 

Quick question for you JD. How did you modify the intake to fit on the Jimmy, weld in aluminum or use epoxy to fix port mismatch? Roadster is looking good, you going to be at the May meet to give your grandson some seat time?

 

Yes they are both Hamb friendly, super excited about one of them! All will be revealed when the time is right!

I don’t want to say anything until they are on the trailer!

 

He’s not a club member and probably never will be. He doesn’t live in California. The intake is mine to know. It was a great idea 25 years ago and better ideas are out there today but at 80 I’m about thru with innovations. Thanks. My son and I might run November.

 

On the 41 I decided to try the ol forearm burner again, I used it once on the Henry J with mixed results, finished with the old standby 2 person pump n hold.
I figured if anything it could suck most of the air out of the system, instead it sucked the life out of my grip. Lol



Instead of bothering anyone I did the single bottle crack the bleeder and pump method to finish it up. I couldn't find my old bottle so I made a new one, took one of the security cameras and put it next to the bottle so I could monitor it on my phone while pumping the pedal.



When I removed it the damn thing was pressurized and it shot brake fluid back out of the hose and all over the painted backing plate and back of the tire !
Now that the bottle was covered in brake fluid I didn't want to take it apart and drill a vent, I mean I can easily tilt the bottle till the hose is out of the fluid so when I pull the hose it'll just drain down into the bottle. NOPE, bastard sprayed all over everything on that side, so I spent a few minutes spraying everything down with the handy windex.
Now I'm the kind of guy that thinks these things become a challenge to my manhood or some shit, I'll show it I can out smart it ! I figure I can pinch the rubber hose to stop the flow when I pull it off the passenger front, NOPE it starts spraying anyway so I put my thumb over the end, really sprayed when switching positions.
I mean when it's spraying it's really shooting a stream like you were squeezing the mustard bottle when it all of a sudden becomes unclogged, Benny Hill could've used this as a skit. LOL
So here I am with with my thumb capping the explosive line and thinking I only have one left, surely I can get it on the last bleeder since my hand is already soaked, what sense does it make to release it outside. I get to the driver side and quickly realize I'm holding the line in my left hand, but it needs to be in my right, what the hell let's go for it.
You guessed it, shit everywhere, but I got it done, unscrewed the cap to release the pressure when removing it for the last time . I spent a fair amount of time spraying everything down with windex and cleaning all of the painted parts and covering the floor with kitty litter.
Today I cleaned up all the kitty litter and went back to sanding the valve cover with 320, ready to start wet sanding with 400 now, screw those brakes lol

 

Working on wife's nova again. Shifter and steering column.

 

Got a pair of skirts for the Desoto.....

 

Crew chief for this car today.

 

That's Bbbbad..!!!

 

Will we see the Nova at cruises this year?

Way cool; what engine does this have?

 

Today…working on taxes since I hate doing them and always wait until the last minute. But, hoping I can head down to Texas tomorrow to pick up the set of 15x8 slot mags that I have been looking for to match the 15x4’s. Looking forward to an older look on my slightly OT car. I already bought the wheels, just need to get them picked up and then dismount the ugly tires, polish them, and mount my slicks.

 

@atch hopefully yes. I only live a block away . It runs just need to put it together.
I had it uptown last weekend. Driving while sitting on a milk crate.

 

Can't go wrong with slots, older photo but I think I've got 22 currently lol
15x14's, 11's, 10's, 4.5's, 4's and 3.5's