Projects 54 Chevy 210 custom

After looking at the engine and thinking I decided I'm not going to paint the intake. Originally I was going to paint it with the engine like I did on my 53 but realized that might be a bit much of the blue considering the reproduction cad/olds air filter assembly will also be painted to match the car. Also the intake should clean up nice. Did price a flywheel for it tonight. Was surprised to see I could get a brand new one for under $100 AND is in stock at the part store

 

Awesome

 

Tried to turn the 350 over today and it would not budge past tdc. Peeked with a bore scope and found that while seven cylinders looked great number five had a good rust ring. Imagine condensation from sitting so long before I bought it. Lil brake fluid and pb blast and gently turning crank back and forth and the rust is gone and engine turns smoothly. I honestly kinda expected it from how long it'd sat. Does seem to have good compression

 

And not much progress overall but progress nonetheless. Fixed the rust ring, installed the pilot bushing, swapped the breather cap for a pcv valve disguised as a breather cap (will be doing full pcv on this one), installed a new grommet for the passenger valve cover to air filter tube, got the three groove crank pulley off, and swapped the heater core fitting for a pipe plug as I won't be running a heater on this car anytime soon, and swapped the thermostat housing for a straight ahead chrome one

 

So is this a caddie motor? Looks like a winner

 

Vortec 350 Chevy. But it's getting a car/olds air cleaner. One day I'll get to run an early olds in something

 

Anyway I saw that my old boss five hours away was parting out a dodge with a pretty new Edelbrock carb. Got a price off him I was happy with and messaged my sister that lives 15 minutes from him. She said she'd pick it up and I could pay her back later. She's always gotten a kick out of my old car stuff but now both of my oldest nephews (her boys) really love them. So she's happy to be of help lol

 

And fully sanded. Didn't come with the turn signal housing but I happened to have one so I got that sanded too. Figured easiest way to paint both was to clamp it on about an inch above where it seats so that when it's dry the resulting paint line is covered. Also have a front armrest prepped for paint in case I again mix too much paint lol

 

And column and passenger front armrest painted. At this rate I'll have half the car painted by the time it arrives lol

 

And another tiny victory. An a rare example of Google being accurate lol. Steering column and box was in great shape but didn't include the bell for the factory turn signal or the steering wheel retaining nut. Happened to have the bell in my stash. But after all the GM cars I've done over the years I've never bothered to learn the thread size and count for the steering wheel nut...... usually just robbed a nut off a junk car that fit lol. Wasn't an option in this case. Googled the size and bought a locknut to see if it'd fit and bam lol. I'll throw a washer under it

 

And another piece sorted for the pcv. I'll put an elbow on this and run a tube to the bottom of the air filter

 

And lower alternator bracket test fit. I knew I had one of these I just had to find it.

 

Found an unexpected perk when starting to clean the block and heads for paint. Apparently whoever painted it used regular spray paint. Almost as soon as the carb cleaner hit it it started crinkling up. And whole sections blew up with an air gun. Reason this is a perk is I'll be painting it blue to match the roof and dash. Prefer to paint over factory paint. And should I do less than perfect painting it I'd much rather have black poke through where it chips than bright orange lol. Not concerned about the timing cover and oil pan. Those will be replaced with chrome. So now I just gotta get more carb cleaner lol

 

You ruined my paint job.

 

Well it'll still be getting paint I got from you lol.

 

If you are running that breather in the other valve cover, you are going to want to run a pcv valve hooked to vacuum here.

 

The breather cap in the over valve cover is actually a pcv disguised as a breather cap

 

Lil more visually pleasing than a standard pcv lol

 

Cool, haven't seen that before.

 

AutoZone special actually. I think I gave like $15 for it

 

Well looks like I'll get to run the oil pan I wanted lol. Had intended on running the same type of finned aluminum oil pan as on my 53. But every time I checked for the last couple weeks it showed to be backordered. So I had settled for the plan of a chrome oil pan. Happened to check today and the finned aluminum one showed to be in stock. May go ahead and order it next week as I have some in store credit I could put towards it. Already have the chrome timing cover I'll need for it

 

That's unreal. I had a finned pan. Sold it last year at swap meet.
What else are you dreaming of? I may have it.

 

Cad/olds air filter is the main thing that comes to mind

 

More progress on the paint removal. Also started chasing all the threads. Going to likely go to lacquer thinner and a wire wheel soon

 

Odd bit for the build. Anytime I do a car I like to do up a small metal toolbox painted the cars secondary color full of vintage mostly snap on tools. I have a snap on red Kennedy box for the 53. Still haven't gotten a box for the 54 (but I think I have one found) but I found these Williams wrenches at a flea market today. While not owned by snap on when these were made Williams is owned by snap on now. In fact most snap on dealers will warranty Williams for snap on. But yeah these are common Chevy hardware sizes so I'll put them aside till I get a box

 

I have a small chevy toolbox. I will send pictures soon.

 

Gonna have to say you're doing a bang up job on competing with speedway on the amount of parts supplied on one of my builds lol

 

That's funny. I've collected a lot of stuff over the years.
We must have the same taste or style.

 

Definitely some overlap lol

 

I found the toolbox. Bad news the wife thought she needed it in the Nova. Sorry, I have other small boxes though.