We should be there too. I’m fighting some flathead bugs as we speak so hopefully I’ll get them sorted out before then.
I ran in to a few bugs of my own tonight. Car ran great earlier today then once it warmed up it started to sputter and back fire randomly tonight. Tweaked on the carb as I thought that may have been the problem and no improvement. Started looking things over and the new coil is leaking oil. Hoping that’s the problem. Go figure new parts bad out of the box anymore it seems. Hopefully be back and going tomorrow night
Well things didn’t go as planned. I had my coil boil over this week. One of my vendors at work wanted me to try it out. I guess we both know how well that worked out. But anyways changed it over to a blue streak and still had a stumble in gear when warmed up. Started looking and seen some residue in the cap and decided to change the cap and rotor. The more I kept chasing it the worse the problem got. The only way it seemed to get better was to advance the timing but it was still missing. After more checking I found that I had cylinder 2 and 8 both pretty much dead. Pulled spark plug wires and no change. Pulled plugs and put new ones in. No change. Checked the oil and nothing out of the ordinary there. Then decided to check the radiator and my once green antifreeze is now a brown oily color. I’m at a loss on how this could have happend but it somehow has. Just what little bit I know about SBC and talking around it sounds like a crack in the block would be the only thing that could cause this. I haven’t tore it down yet but my buddy has a fresh rebuilt 283. Will probably just buy that from him and drop it in. Not the way I wanted my weekend to go. Was looking forward to putting miles on it this weekend. Oh well that’s a old car for ya
It’s got us stumped that’s for sure. Ran prefect in my dads 34 and the last 100 miles in the 46. Motor is lucky to have 10k miles on it if that. Will this thread posted as we go on through the tear down and either a motor rebuild or the motor swap
Me too. And it always seems to happen at the worst time. Cars already over budget and with it being August I’m not only sending 4 children back to school but also sending my wife back to college for her last semester. I am however going tomorrow after work to look at a fresh built 283 bored .30 over that a buddy of mine has built. Which should be a good one to drop in. May be a end of the Month project with schedules and what not but there is still some shows this fall I want to cruise to and enjoy with my car buddies. but at the end of the day it’s all about the smiles and the memories and this too is just one of those occasions. I’ll keep you guys posted on it.
@EV34 that sounds about like it is here! I'm the only one in the house not going back to school this week. I totally understand, its hard to buy a good project on a budget! I like the older small blocks, that should be right at home in the car. I don't know what I've got that could help you, but if you need anything, let me know.
Well some good news I think about the motor in the 46. My jar sample I took out of it and left on the shelf in the garage settled. And to my surprise it was all pure antifreeze on top and some silt and rust particles on the bottom. Drained the radiator and let it sit and no oil there either. We are thinking that after the motor sat the last two years in the shop after we pulled it from my dads 34 it flashed rusted or something sitting. It sat plugged up with rags and has less then 10k miles on it. We flushed it then but it was just cold water and no issues. I think with getting it up to temp has turned something loose and I just so happens to find it trying to chase my ignition problem. The problem with the stumble and two dead cylinders turned out to be the new distributor went bad. The part that rotates on the points rounded off and quit opening the points like it was suppose to. Dropped a distributor in off the shelf and fired right up. On all 8 cylinders. A sigh of relief there. I picked up some flush and going to work on flushing the cooling system and hopefully back to cruising some more miles on it.
I guess a good moral of the story is that sometimes walking away for a few mins thinking about the worst it can be and what it’s going to take to fix then coming back a few days later and digging into it usually brings a better and easier solution to the table.
Are you saying that two lobes on the distributor shaft went flat after only 100 miles? You should have some grease on that surface, but that's typically for protecting the follower pad on the points from wearing out. That shaft must be made from some pretty soft steel.
That’s exactly what happened and it did have some grease on it out of the box. That’s what buffaloed me on what it could be as it was new and the car only had 100 miles or less. That’s new parts for ya I guess
Filled the tank up and went for a cruise tonight. Flushing the cooling system and the new distributor. I also tuned the carb with my vacuum gauge and ol Dave is running better then it has. Took the middle daughter and the boy with us. I think they enjoyed it just as much as we did!! looking forward to some car action this weekend I’ll post more photos as we go. I’ll take that any day of the week. Even though she’s a teenager and hanging out with dad in his old car isn’t much fun to her these days deep down I still know she’s enjoys it. I gave her a hard time and she told me she didn’t want us to be lonely. I’ll take it any day I can get it
Dang man, nice job turned out killer. Did you get the adjustable height kit from posies? Just about any car looks killer with the right wheels and stance and too me this is right on. Plus having your son help you is so cool, something he will remember his whole life, I remember helping my dad work on cars as a little kid as well.
yes I used the adjustable rear leaf kit. Very nice kit and easy install. and thanks the build was very special all the way around. Had some close friends help out but having my dad and my boy involved was very special. I tell people there was 3 generations involved. and stance is everything. I was worried about the front tires but I really like it and how it came out!!
I'm glad you got fixed! It is best to walk away and come back to things with fresh eyes and mind, but dang that is so hard to do! Especially for guys like us in the hobby, we are tinkerers and fixers. But that was way easier to type than practice! Yeah! Because they look killer!!
Yup be there in the daily. 46’ still has no engine, got to sell a few more paintings and it’ll be going back together with a snotty 283
I totally understand that! there’s been a small group of us talking about going. We talked about everything from driving the daily up there to chasing each other in the cars. Regardless I want to try and get entered for next years show.
The original plan was to stage “the gathering in the lot” and get all the hot rods not in the show to park together in the parking lot haha. hopefully next year.
Got it pretty much cleaned up the last two days. I spent last night taking the dash apart and getting it ready to put my old chrome dash parts I found for it on. While I had the dash trim off I polished up the old original paint. It cleaned up pretty well. The this morning I got up early and headed over to my dad house to have a wash party. We cleaned up his 34 ford and the 46 this morning. There’s a cruise about 45 mins from us in Marshfield tonight. It’s usually a pretty good time plus my sister lives there so it’s a good excuse to catch up with her and her family. And will be a good maiden voyage for Dave. Old dash plastics and before I polished the dash up a little bit. The old plastics was so brittle they fell apart when I in bolted them. The old chrome parts I found for the dash. Looks great I think!! Dads 34 and the 46 getting a bath before the sun gets to them. Ready to cruise this afternoon!
The Jalopy Journal
