Its been a few weeks. Been busy and waiting on parts. Got the trans out and needed some extra stuff for it, so pulled the torque tube as the diff was leaking back into the trans so that needed fixing also. So after pulling the torque tube, I decided to scrape off the grease pile on the crossmember. It was 1" thick there as well. So decided to give the Trans case a good scrub and paint since I was delayed. I was going to shove the engine and trans in as one. But I didnt want to dangle it on the hoist all together and try to put it in that way, So trans first, then motor... Here she is in her new home!!!! That was yesterday and today....... Went ahead and popped it off real quick to make sure it didn't need to come back out for some dumb reason, I didn't think it would but hey never know right? Priming oil system by filling through the oil pressure port worked great, 5 seconds of turning over I had 40 lbs of pressure. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO!
Thanks Algoma56... I try to look at every step back as a way forward or a way to improve. Thanks Jacksmith, yeah I am pretty pleased, sounds like I thought it would... Here is the IDLE clip of it after cam break in... Tomorrow, Seating the rings hopefully and sweating my balls off in 99 degree weather. VIDEO HERE! Thanks for following along folks. Hope to get some miles on her soon!
Thanks CSPIDY, appreciate it man. I did alot of research on the cam and trying to dial its specs in for this car. I think I nailed the hot rod cam sound, now to see how she drives.
Here is some Flathead Friday for yall. Video Click HERE! Took her for a little drive this morning, stopped at the local park to do a walk around. I thought the 9" clutch would be good but I bought a speedway clutch as I was jonesing for time and itching to get her back on the road, well she is driving through the clutch in 3rd gear when rolling into the throttle about 1/2 way. So I am going to try to baby it a bit and see if the clutch beds in, but I am thinking I just dont have enough spring pressure, so May have to come back out and do a Ft Wayne Clutch in her. Trying to not have to do that, but it may have to happen.
Sounds pretty kool idling can’t wait to hear her when she’s angry It’s a shame you must pull a new clutch
Shame your new mill has too much power. No wait, that's a GOOD thing! Definitely has that lope, even the general public is not going to mistake it for a stocker. Here's hoping that you enjoy it and have fun until the new clutch goes in.
So, decided to get the car out saturday night, got rained on, but good ride all in all to the local street meet down here. So after doing that, me and my buddy with the 49 in this pic, decided lets do the clutch at his house today. So I got up and went over do his casa and enjoyed working with space around a vehicle for the first time in a long time. Also a Lift was nice also but barely needed. Had the trans out in an hour and half, back in took a bit longer due to old guys slowing down and coffee wearing off. Had to stop for a bit on the way home, and thankfully the Fort Wayne Clutch did the trick with their 30% extra springs installed. Shipping the speedway motors one back this week. So now to put a few miles on the old gal as cooler weather is coming!!!!! Ready for cooler weather!
Well, after driving the car the other night, the windshield was so bad it was like trying to look through a prisim. So I decided to pull it out and hopefully get a new one, debating between getting one on line or the local glass shop, they are about the same price. So in pulling the header panel out, Found the a nest long abandoned. 2 pics of the nasty find. Thankfully no smell but still time to clean. Kind of amazing how much stuff the little things have deposited in an area and there was nothing leaking out of here, no dust or anything flying out of here.
At least the local shop can see what you have, offer advise if needed & will probably be more appreciative of your custom. Just my 2c
Used the local shop, but I guess 220 for a windshield is not much more than mail order. The quarter and rear will have to wait for now as I got other irons in the fire.
Jesus like flatheads too! Ole smokey was in stellar shape pulling it apart honestly. Bearings looked great etc, but was down about 6 rings total, 4 upper and 2 middle. Kinda amazing he still had over 100 across the board on compression test. Ole smokey is at the machine shop, hope to get it back sooner than later. Tuck it away for another future build. New Flatty is running stout, got it on the freeway for the first time, did 50 miles last friday to my buddies exhaust shop, got pipes out the back, no pics on that yet. On the way home once it got some heat in it, a certain RPM started making a clanking noise, thought it was driveline related as locked down ebrake and letting out on the clutch while giving it the beans didnt make the noise near as much but kinda did, but when driving it and giving it some beans it made the noise alot more. Dug a bit and thinking maybe the gas I got just may be a little lower octane, so turned the brake screw on the dizzy after it cooled down a bit and drove it again, no noise. So maybe a little detonation is what I was hearing, kinda weird but I guess flathead detonation sounds different than the pinging on an overhead. Pulled all the plugs and had one exhaust valve that was a bit white but rest were dark tan with a little carbon. Plugs were good across the board with no damage or normal detonation indicators is what was kinda weird about it. But I'll know once I can get it nice and hot again on the freeway. Changed the oil again also just for good measure since I'm not running a filter. Averages about 10 mpg mixed driving right now. This motor pulls hills and overpasses like a boss, ole smokey did well but this thing has guts galore now. Got bored and decided to do a few edits of some photos over the last year. Ready for cooler temps for sure to get some good miles in on this. If your not following my 51 Buick build thread, well I tripped on the jack last Saturday and broke a few ribs by landing on a coil spring with my ribs. I don't suggest ever doing that, it hurts like hell. So, I'm moving a little slower for a while but hope to be back soon. Bad part is the hood is off the 34 right now, and I'm not going to attempt putting it back on for a bit, so I will be looking more hotrod for a bit. The other bad part is I probably wont make the Gathering at the ROC now. Gota love some black and white pictures! Stay tuned! Hope everyone is doing well!
Well, its been a hell of a month. But getting better. So I got ole smokey flathead back from the machine shop. She cleaned up at .060. Now to find a good used 8ba 4" crank. The car really is at a point where the major stuff is complete, so I will get some more miles breaking the motor in when its cooled down a bit. I did get the Exhaust done and routed at the rear now. I went ahead and did some shorty Cherry Bomb mufflers to knock down the tone a bit. No pictures of that yet, but I do have a exhaust clip. Loving the deep idle of it now, and it really took the bite off the upper frequencies. https://youtube.com/shorts/uuNMTibl_ss?si=NO47P7bvOi98QeO_ Hope Everyone is doing well, and the goal is to drive it to the Hotrod Showdown in Wimberly in February.
Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. I have been putting off re lacing the grill but decided to get after it last weekend. Also decided to clean up the teeth a bit also and address the 1 thing that has bothered me since I got this car. the front fenders to the grill opening. I didnt know the full order of how this was supposed to go together. I figured it out and also figured out the top of the radiator had the brackets up too high, so I lowered it .125" that helped a bit figure out what was supposed to go where. The splash pan going on the bottom helped things out also. The bigger fix was the bullhorn on the front, it was inside the fender brackets, had to readjust that to go on the outside of the fenders. All in all 1/2" gap removed in total. Before. After. Overall view with it cleaned up a bit.
Well, its been a busy first part of the year, and getting the gal ready to road trip to Hotrod Showdown in 2 weeks. So I got really tired of the hood sides being layered with RED paint, it was the last part of the car that really looked un matching. SO I stripped them down, and shot them with a little black paint for the mean time. So now that we have a nice decent match on the main body finish. I decided to move on to the Right Rear fender, it was creased pretty bad in a few spot from someone before me or the barn it was in. Nevertheless, hammer and dolly time, and got a decent result. So Decided to drive her to lunch with the wife sunday last weekend. Running great, then cough cough cough DIE. Fun discoveries in the gas station I drifted into. So Hagerty did me right, 20 minutes and tow truck was there. So got a new rotor, cap seems to still be ok and not cracked so I am running it. Found the clips and seal for the cap were not aligning right, so I think the seal failed and allowed the clip to pop off. So I tightened the clips up with a little re bend, and have a proper cap seal now, fits TIGHT. Ya live and you learn. So after getting her back together I took her to lunch yesterday. Got good street parking in Old Town Spring so I had to shoot a pic. Hope everyone is doing well, hopefully see yall in 2 weeks at the Showdown.
So Here we are. I have done alot of prep work to make this trip, alot of uncertainty in a pretty fresh motor with under 1k miles on it. So we headed to the Hotrod Showdown in the freezing weather. Inside the car was not terrible in the cold honestly, thankfully I have windows. So here is phase 1 of the trip.
Phase 2 was a bit less eventful, fighting a carb issue now, had a hung needle and seat, but changed it out and got it somewhat better still was starting to get a little roughness in the light throttle area but still went like hell in the skinny pedal.. Few road shots from the back roads I went to get there. I didn't want to get on major interstates with nowhere to pull off in case of issue.
So Upon arrival at the showdown, I decided to rebuild the carbs kinda, clean passages and re assemble. Worked to get me around town for the weekend. While at the show its sensory overload, I cannot say enough good things about this show and the vibe here. I have been to way too many car shows, and have kinda been showed out for a long time now. But this show is nothing less than spectacular. If you haven't been, put it on your bucket list. Here are a few pics from the show. Cars were iced up saturday morning. Cabin we stayed at on site had a great view of the river, and close to the show so you can go warm up and grab more coffee as it was needed in this cold wet weather. Inside the show at Pioneer Village. The Opera house is fun and brings you back for sure, I really was looking for dancing girls but found the awards show instead.
So I had this note left on my windshield. One of my buddies pointed it out, I honestly thought it was a joke. I was at the award show, watched some of my good buddies get some awards, and there we up to the last award that is the Winner of the show, At this point I knew I was duped and was plotting revenge in some way. And then I hear my name called. Honestly a full list of stunned and amazed and confusion all at once hit me. My very traditional, mechanical brakes car that I drove from Houston area and DIDNT clean just won? Yeah that just happened. I have won some awards in my day, I think this one nails my favorite Sinatra song. "The best is yet to come" And it came and is still coming. One of my buddies wanted a few pics of me and the car, and I am not much on the other side of the camera so I look like mr tough guy I guess.
The Jalopy Journal
