Art & Inspiration Engines: Lying in Wait

you’re about 3/4 to a mailbox with that if you have any interest.

 

Don’t do that Bob, I have enough junk….er stuff, on the shop floors. .
But I could make room for “that old good for nothing” Chevy engine you have!

 

@bchctybob , this is a great thread and I appreciate you bringing it to us but, there are questions that keep running through my mind. I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers here. Are the current owners of these engines actually going to use them and are any of them for sale? I ask because I'm downsizing. I currently have two running 59AB's, a good AB block and .010-.010 Merc crank, a 283 that's going in my 46 Merc four door, a two bolt 350 I have no use for and a Model A banger that I bought for some obscure reason. One of the AB's is going in my 29 RPU. the 283 is going in the Merc and if I can get rid of all the other stuff, I'm going to have a lot more workspace in my shop. I guess the point I'm trying to put across here is that, if you're not going to use it, why have it?

 

We’re going to use it. All of it. Someday

 

If I could sell them for what I have in them, plus something for my time and meticulous attention to detail when assembling them, I would.

So I doubt that anyone would buy them.

My intent is to keep on chugging as long as I can, and hopefully use them all at some time or another. If I get too old to do this stuff anymore, or cack before I can use them all, watch this space. The first place they will be listed for sale is here on the HAMB.

 

Thanks.
I guess it’s a couple things. A lot of those engines represent dreams or visions and they give us the illusion that we’ll live long enough to fulfill those dreams and visions.
Some are just items that came to us cheap as we went about the hot rod life and we didn’t want to see them scrapped. We haven’t found a project or a buyer yet.
And for me, when I closed my shop and moved 400 miles away to NorCal, I did get rid of a lot of it.
I can’t imagine walking into a sterile, empty garage with just a toolbox, a shelf with wax and rags and my car. I was raised in garages with exposed studs and rafters and crumbling concrete floors, surrounded by wheels, tires and engine and transmission parts. Being in my cluttered shop is truly comfort and home, to me.

 

...and as someone else stated in another thread recently, if it wasn't for us evil "hoarders", a lot of this stuff wouldn't even exist anymore. It would have been melted down in China.

 

I for one never set out to be a hoarder, my stuff is just a 50 some year accumulation. This engine corner is made up of some I have ran and replaced, some that just came to me ; and a couple that I actually have plans for. For starters , there are about 12 to 15 “A” short and long blocks that could be a good deal for someone. Though it seems these days , you can’t give them away!

 

Well I thought I had a lot of flatheads at well over a dozen or so, but you got me beat!

 

Only 2 at the moment. 1970 454 and a 1966 L-79 327.
Not sure if I'll ever use either one but they can sit and rest.
I'll probably snag a few 283 and 327's this summer.
No....they are not for sale.

 

Why do we have 5 9/16ths wrenches, etc

 

I have limited room in my garage, and my two storage units are getting full, so I try not to keep spare or extra engines laying around. Of course, I have numerous sets of cylinder heads, extra transmissions, extra differentials, etc, so I'm not sure if it would make much of a difference if I had a spare hemi or two squirreled away in corner...

 

My shop (with an adjoining fenced storage yard) and my home garage overflowed and I got a storage space for $140/month at one point. I paid for it for about a year and then decided that I was out of control accumulating stuff. I took a truck load of the stuff to the Long Beach Swap Meet and compacted the rest into my home garages.
At my shop I did small stuff that the big shops didn't want to mess with, and I tried to help local guys on a budget get what they needed done in a more economical way. The trouble was, I kept getting stuff offered to me at my shop and I often took stuff in trade for the work I did.

 

I've got this one sitting on the stand without a home. It's the '67 Camaro 350 that came out of my Austin when I put in the blown 355. I freshened it up to put in my roadster but went with the '56 Olds and hydro instead. It may end up in my coupe.

 

Thanks Joey! I like the workbench over your banger. Reminds me of the years when I worked in a rented 1 car garage. Somewhere I have a picture of me on the driveway in front of my 1 car garage chopping the top of my '32 5w with a hacksaw! Lack of space should never get in the way of building a hot rod, huh?
I thought those headers were on your roadster? Or is that an old picture?

 

(1) 59A flathead, (2) 265 Chevys, (3) 283s, (2) 327s, (2) 348s, (3) 350s, and a 390 FE. I have the flathead and the 327s because they’re cool, and two of the 350s are too good to recycle. Everything else is for a current or planned project. I’m jealous of the 409s and the hemis some of you have.

 

Only thing I have to offer is this lonely 502 that has been hiding under the bench for 10 years.

 

I don't believe I've labeled you or anyone else on the HAMB as an evil "hoarder". If I were to designate anyone as such, it would be those persons who grab as much of a certain item as they can, be it Hemi engines, flatheads or toilet paper, with the intent of extortion. Rant over.

 

I have one of those in 509 inch hiding under the hood of my 65 Chevelle.
If I get a break in the weather I need to pull it out.

 

Mine will probably stay under the bench for awhile, it has 13 .1 compression and a big ass mechanical roller . It dynoed at 750 hp but its aluminum rods are at the end of their life cycle.

 

^^^^ That’s why my 375 hp 396 is still under the bench. It supposedly has 12.5:1 pistons and a big Sig Erson solid cam. But then, it was supposed to be a 427 when I made the deal. It’s probably stock inside.

 

375 HP 396 is a good engine. I built one for a 68 SS RS, that car would scoot down the road pretty good.
The 502/509 was a crate engine I installed for a kid's 82 GMC short box truck. It never made a ring seal so it was bored .010 over and some JE pistons with a better ring package. 10.25:1 with a hydraulic flat tappet street performance cam so it was just a hot street engine. The truck scared the shit out of this kid so I installed a crate 350 engine. Ended up making a deal for the engine and installed it in my rear engine dragster. That car being geared for 1/8 mile it would run 5.18 @ 120. It was fun but the rear engine car just never did anything for me.

 

For the same reason we can never find a 10mm.

 

303 olds ready to go in 39 ford coupe.

 

Or a phillips screwdriver!

 

A few more olds and hemis

 

Psst, look for a slot , Phillips will appear

 

And vice versa.

 

That's a beauty!

 

I have a soft spot for Golden Rocket Boosters.