I think I'm ready to install the engine and transmission. The firewall is blacked out and the throttle linkage is in place.
I like these RAM brand clutch discs. They feature "poly coil" springs in the center. I've found them to be less harsh on engagement. Think about the regular springs and what happens when the clutch is dumped at high RPM's . They stack solid and "BANG" harsh impact! I liken it to hitting everything downstream of the clutch with a hammer. These springs can't stack solid. They will compress a little but with more of a "thump". It's my opinion that these substantially extend drive-train parts longevity. I have successfully run T-5's in conditions that I feel would be beyond their capability and had no problems.
After bolting on my new high dollar flywheel(that came with the car) and clutch assembly, it's time to dial in the belhousing to verify it's centered with the crank. Of course it had too much run-out and the "proper" way to adjust it would be with offset dowel pins. Well I don't have any of those and I want to get this done today so I came up with a different solution that really worked good. It sounds kinda severe but I cut out around the locating holes and centered the housing and then re-welded the pieces back in place. It worked perfect.
The previous owner had removed the original fuel tank for a fuel cell. That's fine, at least he kept it all. The bad part was he also cut the tank hangers off, I guess to save weight? Anyway I had to fabricate some new ones and weld them in. The tank looks good inside and was reinstalled with a new 3/8 sender/pickup. The sender installs from the front of the tank and picks up fuel from the middle of the tank. I extended the pick up tube about 6 inches so it would reach to the rear of the tank to better collect fuel during acceleration. Fuel starvation can be a real problem on cars that pull hard unless you run a full tank. of gas.
I must have filled 15 extra holes in this dash. I'm guessing that at one time or another it had a tape deck, power booster, CB radio, Gauges, fire extinguisher, tissue dispenser, coffee maker and anything else you can think of hanging under there. Don't forget the assortment of different tach's on top of the dash next to the speaker grill. and a couple of dents where I'm guessing somebody hit it with their fist.
Just sold the MSD ignition box and rev limiter for 235.80 lowering the purchase cost to $3864.28. Finally under 4 grand! HOORAY!
Just sold the one nice rear bumper end that came with the car on E-Bay for 53.80 bringing the total down to $3810.48!
I running a hydraulic clutch throwout bearing on the TKX trans and what they don't tell you is that it uses a special bearing and bearing collar on the trans or it will be to long to give any clearence. The bearing will compress the cluth when the trans is bolted up. After getting the wrong one (cheap) and finding this out, I sent the first one back and got the correct (expensive ) one and all is good. It was kinda a pain to put in the bellhousing with the lines attached and stick the trans through into the clutch. The picture is of the wrong one. The correct one has a machined down bearing collar and a shorter throwout bearing to provide clearance.
Making progress. Installed the engine and built the trans cross member last weekend. Painted headers and installed. Began headliner installation. Put in the rear window and trim yesterday. Setup throttle linkage and bled the hydraulic clutch. It's nice to have that little hole in the trans tunnel so I could push the clutch in and reach over and turn the output yolk to check disengagement. Now for a confession, I've been upfront with my mistakes during this build and here's another one that about kills me. I bought the cheapest headliner I could find on the internet from Cars Inc. $198 I believe. Anyway it gets here and I begin to install it and it's awful. I jump on the net and find out that Ciadella makes a good one, so I rip out the old one and buy the Ciadella one. It's so much better. It cost a little over $300 but at least I can make it work. Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy by trying to cut corners all the time. Now I'm in the headliner $500! . A lot of times I get away with it, not his time. I hate it. On a positive note, I sold a Dana 70 posi carrier for $350 last week so It sort of helped offset this deal. $
Time for mounting the steering wheel. In all my junk I don't seem to have a chrome steering wheel bell the proper size. All mine are to large diameter. The wheel off the car had a black one the right size, maybe I could strip the paint and polish it? Yep. Looks good.
I bought what I thought was a tube grill for a 57 off E-Bay a few months ago. Opened the box and immediately realized it wasn't . I stewed about it for a while and decided to see if I could alter it and make it work. since I wasn't having any luck finding a correct one elsewhere. The good thing is it was to big. I could cut it down. First modification was to take some angle out of the tubes and flatten the profile a little with out kinking anything. A couple of deep sockets slid in behind the tube and a curved half pipe to push on so it didn't put a dent in the face and it worked great.
Some careful eyeballing Magazine pictures and measuring the opening and I was able to cut down the grill and reattach the ends. Yes it has some splice cuts visible, but on the car it looks pretty dang good.
Installed on the car it looks pretty impressive considering the Mickey Mouse nature of it. Oh yeah, I put the fenders on too.
And yet another deviation from the real car. There doesn't seem to be a picture of the car with two park lights mounted. Only the left one. They used a stock lamp and mounted it to and existing hole in the grill pan with a simple angle bracket. I need to have both to get through state inspection so I reluctantly mounted the right one. I think it's really starting to look like something now.
What are we seeing behind the grill? Was the core support chrome? But, I'm just curious. I think you are doing a great job on the car. I'm also in the boat of never really considering building a 57. But, this one is killer.
Today's project was the heater block off plate. I couldn't fine an original one so the next best thing was an aftermarket part. The problem was it was blank and it didn't have the blanked off holes for the motor and hoses. I got creative and used a couple of different size sockets and the vise and pressed recesses into the plate where the hoses would exit. Then with a 2 inch section of an axle housing tube and a ring made out of 1/8 welding wire I pressed the large diameter recess where the heater motor would be. Some pop rivets latter and it looks good.
The Jalopy Journal
