Progress from today. We faxed in the order for all of our parts. That hurt. Then we put the front end back in. We also welded in the new mounts for the rear end (it originally mounted from the bottom.) I'll let the pictures do the talking from here... Thanks! Pete
Progress has been slow the last few days. School finally caught up with me and my grandpa's old dog has been having trouble, and that's been plenty to keep us out of the shop. We did get a little done today though. We bent all new brake lines for the frame, made U bolts for the rear end, cleaned and re-assembled the the drum brakes in the rear. As of now, I think I'm about done with the Spring Break grind. Good thing too, because I've just about run out of things that I can do right now. We're waiting on our big order of parts from Chev's of the '40's, our body to come back from the acid stripper and our engine to come back from the machine shop. Oh yeah, and we're waiting on a bunch of parts for the sand blaster. It bit the dust today too. (haha, sandy dust!) I'm happy with our progress. If only I had a few more weeks like this past one, we may be able to get this thing back together! Anyhow, I'm happy! No pictures from today... Not much to see... Sorry. Thanks! Pete
Well, I was able to sneak down to the shop for an hour or two yesterday. I got the emergency brake setup cleaned and made. All that has to be done is attach the two cables (I had to use the front part from the '40 Chevy and the rear part for the open driveline rear end) with a cable clamp. I also felt guilty about having no pictures for the last post, so I snapped some when I was down there. Thanks! Pete
It is good to run into the same folks on different boards. It's also good to se you making so much progress on your '40.
Agreed! Thanks! Now that you've said that, I'll announce that I haven't been making much progress on the '40! Haha, We've been getting steady shipments of little pieces and parts over the last week or so, it's just that we have no BIG pieces to put the little pieces on! The body is still at the strippers, and the engine is still at the builders waiting for pistons to be forged. So, it's hurry up and wait here at the shop. Hope it doesn't last too long, I may shrivel up and die if I have to keep staring at that bare frame... Thanks! Pete
Things are moving here again! We picked up the body today! Now with all the bondo gone, we wish we had never touched it, but hey at least I don't have to stare a that bare frame any longer. I have to say that whoever did the bondo work on this car did a fantastic job! The car looked laser straight when we got it, but now, it looks like it could have been in a destruction derby! Haha, it's actually not that bad. There is just going to be a day or two of bodywork. I'll let the pictures do the talking... I also got to try my hand at "picking and filing." It truly is an art form. My hat goes off to you metalworkers out there! Thanks! Pete
hey atleast your doing it right, I have plenty of parts in this condition. Very time consuming stuff. Keep it up, looks great.
Haha agreed! I'm learning slowly... Took me most of the day just to do the bondo work on the rear section of that fender I was beating on yesterday. I'm happy with the result. I still have to do the front part of that fender, but that's just about the worst of it. The rest of the dings are not so bad. They can easily be fixed with body filler. Also, the pistons for the 270 are scheduled to arrive here in the next few days... Might finally be able to put that engine back together! Thanks! Pete
Yesterday was kind of traumatic. We went to put in the crankshaft and realized that we did not have the main bearing caps. Then we tried to do the next best thing and put the cam shaft in. We then realized that the camshaft was too far in. After a few hours of cussing and a trip to Rocket Motors to see Rockey Marino (I think he's on this site) we realized that we didn't have the backing plate underneath, so we put that it lined right up. Then after a trip to the engine builder (Thanks John for coming down after hours!) to get the main caps. Everything flew together in a matter of hours. We're still mising two of the rod bearings, so that's why the picture shows 4 pistons all the way up at once, but I'm sure those will turn up eventually. They're probably up at the engine builder aswell. They're not that crucial now. We can go ahead and put the head, rocker arms, tappats etc. in and bolt up the last two rods on monday. Anyhow, that's where we're at, more to come today! Thanks! Pete
Did you find the caps? That is not good. If you don't have the caps that came on that block there is another trip to the machine shop in your future.
That's better. I thought you had some radical custom crank with 4 up and two down. That could make a rough idle and a harmonic issue. It is amazing how widely parts can get scattered. It's looking good.
Haha, I'd like to see that engine run! Today was interesting. We dinged around with the Cam Shaft even more, realizing that there was a little oil dripper above the timing gears. After looking at and reading a few manuals, we realized that ours was different than the one in the manual. Our manual shows that the one end above the timing gear is crimped down to increase pressure. Ours is wide open. What do you guys think? Did what I just say make any sense at all? About noon, we got a call from a good friend of ours. He was down at a swap meet in Sacramento, Ca and saw a Nicson 2X1 intake w/ heat for a 270 GMC. He wanted to know if he should buy it. I almost dropped the phone. The guy wanted $375. After some haggeling, we could only get him down to $350. Pretty expensive, but the way I see it, it has two Rochester single barrels on it- throttle linkage and everything. $25 buck a piece for rebuild kits and I see them rebuilt going for $250 bucks on ebay. I think rebuilt with linkage, I'd put them up for $350 and see if I get any bites. That should re-coupe some of the money... I then tore apart our two Zenith Carburetors and stuck them in an over-night bucket of Carburetor Cleaner while my grandpa took apart and cleaned up the distributor. Oh yeah, and we put on the head. We're still waiting on the last two sets of rod bearings (will pick those up tomorrow most likely.) Then we can put everything else on. Man, I'm excited about that intake! I've been looking for one of those for almost a year now! Good timing too! Thanks! Pete
Thanks guys! I was able to pop on down to the shop for about an hour today, so grandpa and I put the cam shaft in (after crimping the little oil spigget to the timing gears so the opening was 1/16-1/32 of an inch. Thanks Drew from the inliners website!) We also put the tappets, push rods and rocker arms in. The rocker arm mounts were not in the right spots, so we took it apart, drilled a couple holes for oil to squirt and put them back together. (pictures w/ rocker arms to come.) Also, Zenith Carburetor rebuild kits to come tomorrow morning, as well as our new rod bearings (had to order new ones) and at long last our front shock absorbers! The last piece to get a rolling frame. Anyhow, movin' along! One more thing, anyone have some wisdom on how to go about refurbishing one of these aluminum intakes? How to safely strip the paint off, possibly polish it up nice and shiny? Thanks! Pete
Last two sets of rod bearings are in. Oil pump is in too. That's it for the internals! All that's left is to put all the covers and gaskets on and bolt up all the external stuff (oil filter, water pump etc.) Pete
Weekend Update: Carburetors are rebuilt! Word from the recently wise--do not try to rebuild two matching Zenith Carubretors! Every single cover, jet, screw, filter, butterfly, pump has a serial number on it! If the set doesn't match, you risk it not running properly. We got it sorted out thanks to a friend of mine who has shelves of Zeniths (thanks for letting me tear apart most of your carburetors!) but boy that took alot of work! While I was rolling around on the floor histerically trying to sort out the carburetors, my grandpa was working on the engine. He got the flywheel, bell housing and fuel pump on as well as the generator, oil filter, manifolds ready to put on once we get the motor mounts built and attached to the frame. Oh yeah, and he also adjusted the valve clearances. Thanks! Pete
been a while since i checked this thread. Looks like your makin good progress. Still love the fact that your using the gmc inliner. The body on the coupe doesnt look to bad at all. Looks like your learning alot working on it. Also glad to see you trying the pick and file method. In my opinion once you get the hang of it(im still learning it too) its much easier than doing bondo and putty work. Cant wait to see more progress on this one.
Haha, yeah... The body isn't too bad. The one rear fender is just about the worst of it. Right now we're racing to get the engine done, but we should start back on the bodywork here pretty quick. Thanks! Pete
Yesterday's update: Front coil springs and shocks are in, and nobody is missing any fingers so that's good! Then we did another engine-frame mock up and built the rear motor mount for the transmission. Also, we found a chromer who hasn't been crushed by the EPA, so we should drop all the trim, bumpers etc. here in the next few days. Thanks! Pete
Weekend Update: The day before yesterday we drove up to Sacramento to drop off all of our chrome. Sherms Custom Chroming is the place and they are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Our origional plan was to go to a place to Lodi, but just by the way they talked to us and were taking the afternoon off, we knew they didn't deserve our business anyway. So we called up Sherms, and the guy who answered the phone was plain nice, cracking jokes and having a good time. We told him that we were coming and should be there about 20 minutes before closing time, but traffic could be pretty bad. They said it was no problem. They would keep a guy to wait for us. If the traffic was super bad to the point that we would be hours late, than let them know and they could leave a place for us to drop the stuff and come put it inside over the weekend. That's the way to do buisness. Anyhow, rant over. Oh yeah, and we picked up our driveline from the driveline shop. Yesterday, we pulled the engine back off the frame. Put the clutch and pressure plate in then re-attached the transmission. Getting the transmission in took most of the day because getting and keeping everything in alignment while the transmission slid in took some effort. We then spent the rest of the day fixing and adjusting our shift linkage. The guy who we bought it from had lengthened it out to get the shifter was further back, so we cut it all to bits and welded it back up so it was back to the origional position. We may end up shortening it after putting it in the frame and doing some measurements because it still may end up under the seat. Quick tutorial on how to adjust the shift linkage on a Saginaw 4 speed. (because this took us half the day to figure out) There is a pin hole to line up all neutral on all the horizontal planes (see picture) then just adjust all the rest of the rods untill they go into their places. It's really simple, but impossible to do without putting a pin through. Thanks! Pete
The H head is good! From my studies, the small port is just fine, but the H is an added bonus! Good for you! Engine is in and painted. It sure is bright! Thanks! Pete
The Jalopy Journal
