I had purchased another 8ba a few years ago from another club member for a future project. It was reportedly a pretty hot motor. Had adjustable lifters and nice heads, etc. I didn't pull anything to examine the inside I just figured the price was right so it didn't really matter. It sort of worked out because I had a lightened flywheel and bigger clutch that I didn't install last time around so I put that stuff in and put everything back together again with ANOTHER 8ba.
So now we are on engine number 3. I change everything back to the 8ba setup and we fire this engine. As you probably have already guessed, this engine does the exact same thing the last 2 did. I'm ready to find a new hobby. Lionel or stamps or some **** like that. My friends ***ure me I'm just a dumb*** and it's something simple. 5 of them show up one Saturday in the freezing *** cold of February and we start going through everything again, one thing at a time. After pulling literally everything off the motor and checking and rechecking we still have found nothing obvious. I'm about done with all of this again and have nothing left but anger. Im sitting on the floor with one of my friends going over every part that was common to every one of these engines and making sure we had swapped it for something else just to be sure. He finally says "what about the exhaust?"
I bought these *****in headers off someone here on the HAMB years ago. Im guessing they are speedway but really don't know. They were used but had never been installed.
We were sitting there on the floor and I just couldn't believe there could be any issue here. My friend grabbed his phone and shined the flashlight down the tube. Here is the drivers side. A little blurry but you can clearly see the holes where the runners meet the main tube on the left side.
I really have to thank everyone who helped out along the way again. @PINEAPPLE, @Willows, Flathead Paul, Ryan, Mike and the Denver Roadsters
After we got done laughing in disbelief, we went about putting everything back together and fired it with no exhaust. Cleaned up immediately and we proceeded to get proper drunk in celebration.
@seb fontana HA! no idea but hopefully this will help someone in the future. These guys who were helping me are all professional builders, racers, engineers and machinists. Not one of us would ever believe this was possible, haha
I ordered a set of those cheapo stainless center dump headers and built a new exhaust. We got everything dialed in to prep for running iron***e through the motor as a precaution.
During the run in session we had some drama when a radiator hose blew off and sprayed everyone with hot water and filth. We discovered most of the studs were leaking and there were a few that did not seal even after the iron***e had set up. I decided to pull the heads and see what was up. I found both head gaskets were cracked down the middle between the studs and were leaking out the stud on to the head. With the heads off we found the motor is bored 3-5/16 and 4" stroke. I took this "opportunity" to install my nice polished Edelbrock heads I've been sitting on for years. These are early heads so I plugged the water p***age, sealed all the studs with permatex and stuck them on.
A few more weeks of tying up loose ends and going over everything and I'm finally on the road after 15 years. It's been an emotional journey and I owe a lot of people my thanks for helping me get here.
Mostly did zip code stuff for the first fews months while working out the bugs. Drove to work a few times and a couple car club functions. And to happy hour. A lot.
Then the big day arrived. The club had our 60th anniversary run this summer. We did around 80 miles through the foothills west of Denver. I only got a few pics.
So there’s hope for the rest of us in the same predicament, 5 years in, and can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel… great story
I was fighting some overheating issues but nothing major. But as luck would have it, a few days after the run, tragedy struck. My wife and I hopped in the car to go to breakfast and the car was barely running. I ***umed the worst and pulled it back in the garage. A few days later I got up the courage and pulled the intake. To my surprise it wasn't as bad as all that. Have to pull the head again but at least its fixable.
Un-holy **** that header! I'm super glad you shared that, I've been thrown a few incredibly frustrating curveballs in the past but I gotta say, I never saw that one before, absolutely unreal. I run the same center-dumps on my '26 and I like them, they look good on your car, too. I got mine on some closeout sale off of a tip on the HAMB, I think they were $38 a pair shipped for the chrome ones. And unlike your first headers, they had all the proper holes in them.
Best guess is the keepers failed because the valve stem was worn. My friends came to my rescue again with a new valve, guide and some keepers, and some new 185g's from ISKY. Been back on the road for several months and no issues. I'll keep posting updates as I get the finishing touches done. Thanks for following along.
The Jalopy Journal
