Projects The bucket of ugly! A de-uglifying thread...

Damned cool! Wish I had the time to get into my '62 Ranchero right now. I am absolutely Jonesin' for some Falcon seat time! Still a little too painful to get too close to my wagon.... That reminds me, I have to call that lawyer on Monday...

 

I have had some unexpected results myself lately...
"No doubt that ElPolacko's CNC plasma table can cut out a bracket better than I can with my torch, but it is the minor imperfections that make me like my stuff a bit better. I can't think of another word for it."

Some of the nicest stuff I have ever seen was (and this is the case with Millers) finished with a fine-cut file and sandpaper. The best work isn't about exotic tools, its about the level of care that you put into it. This is the way it used to be done.
It harkens back to to another thread on here where the guy wants to paint his car in flat paint so it will hide his bodywork. Sandpaper, a rattle can guide coat and 30 40 hours with a long board isnt expensive, its just hard work, and really taking pride in what you are doing, to the point where you arent willing to put your name on something that you KNOW is half-assed, rather than trying to hide the half-assedness with flat paint.
I am NOT at all saying Chip is about this, I know thats not the case. What I am trying to say is what seperates the Millers & Bugattis of this world from the rest of us mere mortals isnt tools and equipment, its that theres no such thing as "passable" or "good enough" and they apply that philosophy to every individual piece, one piece at a time. I aint there, but I try to at least THINK of that when I am working on stuff. How nice can I make THIS PIECE, IN MY HAND, RIGHT NOW, WITH THE TOOLS I HAVE.
Shit, I should do that in fancy font, print it on a piece of 24"X36" bond paper, frame it, and hang it on my shop wall! Or maybe just "What would Harry do?"

 

Another thing that I was taught early on. Every wayward unfinished file mark, every unpolished forging line, every scratch is a place for a crack to start. The way it was explained to me was "Nice, you just told it where to break". This is why you NEVER EVER work across the shank when you are polishing rods, you always work along the shank. I know the guys I talked about were taught this same thing when they served thier apprenticeships in the teens twenties, thirties, ect.

 

Ha, ha, ha, I just thought about how I can sum up all the above. "Theres Ol' Skool, and theres Old School"... If I was the kind of guy that got tattoos, that'd be it...

 

I like that! Just took the car for ride tonight. Headed up to Camelback and Central and hung out with my buddy MechanicKieth for a bit, and a cruise back down Central past the house and into the wilds of downtown... Looks like it's thinking about raining a bit.

 

Rain??? Whats that???

 

Man, we got soaked on Thursday night! But ya, other than that...

 

Got a little sand and dust from the haboob, but no rain in my part of Scottsdale.

Did you get the other valve cover installed? Are those breathers workin' for you?

 

Its what pissed all over us today...as it sometimes seems like it does about 360 days a friggen year...
And did the one time you were here as well, as I seem to recall...

 

I'm still runnin' in Uni-Vette mode for right now. The left side is on and done, but the right is still giving me fits. See, before it was linkage clearance that was the hold up. Now, I have put a Quadra-jet to AFB adaptor in place (and thereby killing an intake leak that I didn't spot earlier) and an Edelbrock isolator gasket to control fuel boil when it's REALLY hot around here. We have the linkage thing whacked at this point. The other problem is that there is a boss on the side of the manifold for an EGR valve that is blocked off but still protrudes far enough out that if contacts the right breather on my Corvette cover..... Booo! I know the right way to do the fix would be pull the manifold and have John pas his magic mill over it and take a bout 3/16" off, but I'm not sure I want to expend that much effort on a manifold that I'm going to be taking off fairly soon anyway. I have a couple of Edelbrock Torker manifolds (I and II) out in the shop, but they are single plain stuff and low end torque is already pretty dismal with this little thing, comparatively. Then there is the specter of the three 97s and SP tops that became a thing last week with hrm2k's generous gift.

So, at this point, I'm thinking that next week I'll take a load of stuff out to So-Cal's monthly swap and dump it to raise some cash to procure a 3X2 manifold that I know of, the linkage stuff needed, and the rebuild stuff to go thought the carbs and just mainline the 3X2 setup...

 

Uni-Vette! That's hilarious. Assymetrical engines forever!

What time does Second Saturday kick off? I wonder if I can sneak out of th'hood without pissing off too many neighbors.

BTW, this showed up on the sedan delivery thread. Don't show it to Miss Judy!

 

That torker II is a good intake, very under-rated by most people.

 

That'll be sweet. Just what your "T" needs. (That, and a shiny orange paint job!!)

 

I often have my best ideas first thing in the morning...This am, my first thought was "hey, all these douchebags around here that convert thier built-in garages to basement suites, I have a suite I'm not renting, knock out a couple walls, add some support posts, hell, I could add another 6-7 bays!"Now all I gotta do is figure out how to sell this plan to the wife!

 

Here's the link to the photo, click on it to see more...

061914 Rods & Woodies on 101 015 by SoCalCarCulture, on Flickr

 

Man, I had to do a double take on this picture both times! My eyes kept seeing the roof of the car in the background as either a RV rooftop A/C unit or one of those old Van rooftop vents. Immediately followed by my brain screaming "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

 

I am very thankful to all those who bay a new Volvo every year.
That pay my needs for old American cars.
I work in Volvos engine factory making crankshafts.

 

Chip if you can find one use a C3B or a C3BX by Edelbrock.

 

Just so you're not freaked out...

061914 Rods & Woodies on 101 016 by SoCalCarCulture, on Flickr

 

I meant to give credit for that photo to Dave and missed it. Sorry!

Blownfuel, that was funny. Me too!

 

Thanks

 

George,you seem to know lots of general stuff about after market manifolds. How would that Torker II compare to say the Weiand dual plane that' son there now in the low end dept?

 

The weiand would probably be marginally better(5-7 ft lbs) to around 3500/4000, then the torker 2 would pull away. By 5500, it would be handing the weiand it's ass in a big way. The Torker II is a good piece, very popular on roundy round claimer motors.

 

Chip, I've run the Torker II on several cars over the years, it's always run really well for me. The only caveat to my recommendation is none of those cars had higher than 3.73 gears in them, so they went through that low rpm range fairly quickly. Deliverability was good on all of them though, in case that's your concern.

 

Its always a little tough for me to recommend parts on the hamb, I've never owned a car for any meaningful length of time that had a rear gear taller than 3.91. I could insert a comment about ol lady candy-assed street rodders here, but that wouldn't be nice, would it?

 

No, I got ya George. Recommending parts from 1100 miles away is always tough. Time has not been even remotely on my side lately, other wise I would have just put it on and tried. I don't believe that I'll give it a shot either, 'cause if I play my hand correctly I can do my next set of tuning on the triple 97 deal.

 

And that's exactly why I added the caveat, my El Camino has 3.73's, both my old Camaro and the Chevy II have 4.10's, the T has 4.11's, and I even ran 4.56's in the Vette at one point, but that was in Hawaii (back in the day you could get away with that as there was only one road with a 55 mph speed limit then). You know, it's amazing how little a 4 series mid-year Vette carrier and gears are worth these days (if I remember right, it's date coded '67), I remember when they were gold!.

 

I agree 100%, focus on the tripps. And if they are set up right, below 6k there probably wont even be much difference between that and the tripps. The C355B actually works pretty damn good, especially with small-base rochesters.

 

I've run 4.56s behind a BB. These guys who think they arent giving up much performance with a 3.0 some-odd rear gear are just kidding themselves. Its just a whole different world. REALLY. My sleepy refrigerator white O/T Chevy II wagon has 4.10s and 25" tall drag radials with a 200r4. If I didnt have the OD, the 4.10s would stay, and I'd just put up with civilians giving me funny looks on the freeway. NO WAY IN HELL would I give up my gears....
I am slowly rounding up parts for a sixties style small-block ford T bucket, with the 29"/30" tall tires I will be running, I have a set of 4.89s for that. The HORROR.... THE HORROR...

 

See, it's like being from outer space around here, as far as gearing goes. Everything is a freeway around this joint, and very few of us old timers know where all the surface streets actually go to get you around town. Add to that a town that is a legitimate 100 miles across means that you DO use freeways everyday. That would be all well and good if they were marked at 55, and folks followed that.

That isn't the case however! If you jump on the I-10 from the third street H.O.V. entrance less than 3 blocks from house, you'd best be going at least 75 by the end of the ramp or you will be killed. The traffic flows through that section of I-10 at an average of about 80 although it's marked at 65. You leave Phoenix and although the freeways are marked at 75, you will not get a ticket in place like western Arizona until you are well over 100. A car with a 1 to 1 trans and 4.56s around here is actually MORE worthless than tits on a warthog. This is why you see me pounding the drums for overdrives on every other thread out there beyond this one. A bucket is about the only car left that I would consider running a 1 to 1 trans of any sort in with 2.79 or 3.00 type gears anymore because they are so light.