rebuilding after the crash

I can make a way bigger mess with way smaller projects!

 

As was I Brian!
2021 HAS to be better than 2020.
And as best as you can to stay HAMB kosher keep us up on the Chevelle project.

 

Ok. Brian is hard at it, as usual !

 

With all the overtime I'm working it's hard to coordinate everything. On my next day off I want to sandblast all the chassis components on the 66. The following week I want to take the parts to the powder coater. I have a weekend off before thanksgiving so I will run to iowa to service the heads. I hope to get the chassis back to a roller asap. I plan on adding disc brakes and a dual master cylinder. The 31 wont take much to be race ready. Alot was freshened around labor day then I didnt run it after that. I will be concentrating on getting more spares during the off season.

 

Brian we NEED updates

 

The chassis was completely disassembled and every part sandblasted. New brake lines; fuel line; control arm bushings; calipers; and all steering components are new. I up graded to disc brakes along the way. It's now in the trailer for winter storage so it's out of the way. Next up for it floor pan replacement. I'm back on the coupe. New parts are starting to arrive. The usual service items include rods; pistons; bearings; valves and springs. The block is getting some work performed on it. The water passages are being opened up. More on that soon. With covid still raging the amount of overtime I'm getting is starting to take a toll. The money is great but I have no time to work on my projects.

 

I like the way the frame turned out. They used a two step process. After sandblasting it was sealed with a epoxy coating. The black is a 60 percent gloss to resemble the factory finish. I think it has a nice rich look.

 

Take all your precautions at work STAY SAFE brother.

 

Was thinking about you the other day. Good to hear you're still at it. Hope this***** will soon start to fade away and everyone can get back to their lives. Frame looks great, that Chevy will be too nice to drive when you get it back together!

 

The plan is to drive the wheels off of it. I met my future wife in this car back in high school class of 84. I'm powder coating everything for a long lasting finish. The fuel and brake lines are stainless for durability as well. This wont be a concourse correct restoration. It will be a nice fast tight car that resembles what kids did in the early 70s.
A L-88 with a*****tershield; five slots; ladder bars; sun tach; hurst shifter etc. Nothing will be newer than 1970. I dont want another race car so no tubs or cage. A high 10 sec car is perfect for cruising.

 

"After sandblasting it was sealed with a epoxy coating" then "I'm powder coating everything for a long lasting finish".

I am confused, I thought powder coating went on bare metal but you mention an epoxy coating prior to the final coat/finish ... is the frame painted or powder coated?

 

I agree Brian, drive the snot out of it and enjoy. Stay safe and Happy New Year .

 

I was confused as well when they told me how they do things. They use some sort of epoxy finish over the bare metal. This helps seal the parts and fills in the surfaces imperfections. Then the color goes on. This two stage powder coating is what was recommended. It's my first time using it. So far so good. Happy new year to all.

 

We did it a couple of times when the customer demanded it.
We also powder painted glass and some wood.
It also adheres to humans.....but the curing becomes problematic

 

It came out so nice it needed an oriental rug under it.

 

Brian could you elaborate on this “and also it’s getting a 427” comment in a previous post?
Is this a typo or did something not work out with the 327 updates? If so are you talking a 427 bbc or sbc?


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I thought it was a big block car ?
Maybe I mis read it ?

Tommy

 

I had a 66 Chevelle and was also Class of 84. I knew I liked you for a reason Brian

 

i changed my mind. im going in a different direction. im done with small blocks in the 66. originally it was a real deal l-79 327 bench seat car. i want to keep it old so a 427 bbc is going in. there were just over 100 66 chevelles that were made with a 427. i think it would be cooler than the usual 454. i found a set of aluminum snow flake heads for the build. the lakewood*****tershield was also powder coated to the correct red. the ladder bars were coated yellow. the colors were chosen based on what was on them originally. it will resemble what guys did back then. pull the part out of the box and put it on the car. this is how we built them back then.

 

That sounds awesome Brian but I never got to take parts out of the box I had to make them lol but thanks to guys who did that give me the opportunity to study them then build a better one lol keep up the good work


Chrome don’t get ya home

 

I'm a little older than you guys. We had to take parts out of the box and fix them before bolting them on. Old hot rod stuff wasn't always very good. And, you were left to improvise any bits and pieces or hardware.

 

Back to the coupe. I dropped off the crank at Don's speed shop in Kenosha for a polish and magnafux. I got the call that the crank had two cracks. Heres the pics of the crank on the machine. The crank gets a positive charge on one end and a negative on the other end. The fluid is drawn into the crack. They dont use the powder like they used to. I sent the pics to Dave at Mile High Crankshaft in Colorado. They repair the majority of the cranks for NHRAs pro racers. He said it most likely can be repaired. They will first cut the crank .005 to see if the crack opens up deep under the surface. . If it cleans up then the journal is built back up. The crank rings on each counter weight so most likely it's not deep. If it produced a thud then the crack is deep. This is all just normal nitro servicing. Catching things now is the key to survival. If the crank breaks in the lights I will be starting a whole new thread.

 

I'm just sitting here [emoji15], the cranks cracked!
Normal nitro stuff. [emoji2962] It's amazing what it takes to run a car like that!

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The key to running a pro car on a sportsman budget is knowing how to get the most out what you have. Sending the crank to mile high for a experts eye on it is the way to go. They see this every day. They know what to do so it can run again. There cant be any speculation here. Definite answers are needed. A new crank it 5 large so decisions like this get real serious real fast. It's not a matter of having a crack. Its really about how long and how deep a crack is. Brand new nitro cranks can crack on the first pass. It's not uncommon. These cracks look like surface cracks. I cant see them without the magnafux machine. Stay tuned in for a full diagnosis on the crank. I have lined up a replacement if this one is considered junk for some strange reason.

 

Those guys know their stuff my machine shop uses them all the time and the average build in their shop is 30-40 thousand dollar complete race engines(which sounds unreasonable but when cranks cost 5k and a block costs 7k it’s doesn’t take much to make 30k) I would feel very confident in their diagnosis


Chrome don’t get ya home

 

Brian as you know I used Dave at Mile High for my gun drilled Bryant crank for my Hemi, and it came back as a piece of art. Glad ya found it the easy way, better than finding it the expensive way. Is this something that could have happened when ya bent the rod, or normal nitro use?

Tony

 

Just normal use. There is alot of violence going on in a nitro combustion chamber. It's all transferred to the crank times eight. These engines are not built for 200,000 miles. A big show nitro car only gets a handful of passes out of a crank. With my car I'm trying to get a few seasons out of it. That's the difference between 10,000 plus hp and 3,000 hp. It's hard to believe that cranks that cost five grand are considered consumables just like spark plugs but that's the way it is. That's why I work alot of overtime so I can keep injecting the nitro into my arm feeding the addiction. Nitro racing is a essential activity. Dinosaurs didnt have nitro and we all know how it turned out for them.

 

Tony that's why I introduced you to Dave at pri. You need to have those relationships to make it all work.