BUILD THREAD Sweet Johnny & Gina: A Love "Two Large" To Fail

Not finished yet, I got out a few cans of Rust-Oleum Flat Black Enamel and began coating the interior first. I went beyond where I'd sprayed the sealer, all the way up to and including the rear roof section. I also coated the package tray and around all of the windows. I like my budget window tint job but decided to use it as masking so I could just finish this part of the process. I think a proper tint job is called for in the future since this stuff peeled a bit anyway.



Since I used up so much paint doing that I didn't have quite enough to finish coating the trunk too, so I'll have to grab a can or two while I'm out doing job interviews. I made sure to hit the perimeter, seams, and cavities, and the flat spots and spare tire well should be easy to finish up later.



And at the behest of people looking out for my health I dug out the ol' 3M breathamathingy this time. Thanks CopperNick, this was absolutely the correct thing to do.

Time to switch gears- my brain bounces all over so this thread does too...

If you follow the "What Did You Do" thread then you might've seen that I'm gearing up for an intake manifold swap. I hate the manifold I'm currently running as it's been nothing but trouble from the start, and I exacerbated things by using the wrong bolts and stripping threads before utilizing a "Micro Mechanic" to plug some small coolant leaks. Well, my fears have proven to be true: she ain't just leaking coolant. I've got video I can't post, but said video shows my vacuum gauge being a rock solid 17 at idle and my tach fluttering by only 50-100 rpm, and that's what I've had until now. The weather change has affected my engine more than it should so I searched all around for external vacuum leaks, finding but one at the charcoal canister weeks ago that I previously missed. Starting fluid couldn't find any others but instinct told me to check every fastener again. In doing so I found that the screws holding the top of my carb on were about 1/4 of a turn loose. Every one of them. That's 100% my fault because I put that thing on. After I tightened them things changed for the worse- it became obvious that I have a leak because my steady vacuum gauge now "hunts". Dun-dun-dunnnn....

You might've heard that I purchased a new radiator and hope to install it soon due to a leaky core, and the holdup is the intake setup. If I'm going to drain the coolant I might as well only do it once. The intake swap means that I can finally use the absolutely beautiful carburetor that 78delta88 painstakingly built for me and paid extra to ship to me immediately, and I'm embarrassed and ashamed that it's taken me 6 months to install it. I'd hoped an inferior ignition system caused the issues such as surging that cropped up when I mounted the carb for a short time, but it now appears that those are likely due to an internal air leak. Yay lean surge.

I don't want to put the stock manifold back on and can't afford to buy another, even @ $150, so I'm using what I've got: a Weiand Stealth. To bolt a Rochester on top you need an adapter, but this just turns your intake charge into turbulence. The solution is to blend the spreadbore pattern into the manifold and radius all the edges, so after tracing two different adapters I chose to modify a piece of crap from Spectre using a die grinder and some bits made for wood. I left 1/4" of gasket surface where I modified the manifold.



The adapter was only meant to bolt a Holley to a Rochester manifold so the spreadbore bolt holes had recesses but the Holley ones were threaded, and weren't even in the right spots. I drilled out the holes, enlarged the recesses off center to fix things, and added recesses to the other side using Harbor Freight "plunge cut end mills" in their $25 drill press, making things fit the intake so snug it can't even move 1/16" when loose. I made the half that feeds the lower plane slightly smaller since I think this intake has the most plenum volume of any SBC dual plane. Not ideal for a 305 but it'll work- the Stealth is a phenomenal intake.




The adapter required threads for the carb bolts so I used JB Weld to secure some nuts in the recesses I made. Cooking spray on the threads kept the epoxy from locking the bolts in place and pieces of drinking straw acted as a dam for the other holes. While it was still soft I removed the bolts and shaved the adapter with a knife.



Then I reinstalled the bolts with more butter and completely covered them with epoxy, securing the nuts as best I could. A razor blade was used to get the flattest plane possible before I drilled the epoxy with a 17/64" bit and followed that with a 5/16-18 thread chaser. I don't expect the epoxy to serve as a nut but didn't want the bolts to snag or push anything out so threads were necessary. I could add a bit more epoxy but may not.



The bolts supplied with the adapter are also junk so I secured some Allen socket Button Heads and trimmed them to just fit in their homes. I chose these because they have a much shorter head profile than the standard Allen socket Cap Screw and I made my recesses shallow to avoid major issues.



Now I have this:



But I'm going to add this to the heat insulator gasket:



Yeah, at 1/8" it's twice as thick as normal but I see no problem with that, though the 10" x 14" heat shield will need plenty of trimming. I know it's winter. I know it's not a race car. I also know that if I installed this in the summer I wouldn't remove it for winter, and it'll bolt right into any engine I use. The soon to be cold carb has a choke and the intake is heated by exhaust so winter driving should be no issue as long as I use the correct gas line antifreeze and not kerosene.

Personal update: Had a meeting with my plant manager, H.R., and Legal last Thursday. They weren't interested in a 2 sided conversation so I quit. Went out on my terms which is better than being fired, and they owe me 2 weeks of PTO. *Fist pump*

Doctors said I won't be needing the back surgery, and I'm up to 70% mobility in my left arm. *Charlie Brown dance*

Just came from a meeting with my lawyer concerning my car accident last year. I accepted the first check, and although over $22k of it goes to medical bills I get enough to cover my credit card and personal bills for a month. I'll be receiving another that should be equal to roughly 6 months of paychecks from work. *BOOGIE!!!*

SoFloG said:

Wooo! Congrats on the good news all around.

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Thank you sir, I appreciate it!

Another small update: I made some heat insulating carb gaskets. I started with a roll of fiber gasket material from AutoZone and 2 stamped aluminum food tray lids from the Dollar Tree, and traced the outline of a Holley and a Rochester gasket to each before cutting them out individually with scissors. I left Mr. Gasket in the package as a backup. I then utilized a length of 5/16" brake line and a hammer to make the holes one at a time. Careful placement of the template on the aluminum ensures that the dimples all line up with each other and the pieces will become one easily when bolted down.



I then placed each Holley style gasket under the adapter and used an Exacto knife to trim the inside contour to perfectly match, again one at a time to get the best results.



The process was repeated for the Rochester versions, though I should have finished the heat shield first so it would help prevent movement. These didn't turn out quite as pristine but will still work perfectly.



When it was all finished I had these to show for my efforts:



The plan is to sandwich the two aluminum sheets between two 1/32" gaskets to form one with an internal heat barrier. Current overall thickness is 0.090", just about 4 thousandths under 3/32".



These will be used above and below the adapter which still needs the center plastic shaved to be the same height as its frame. You can see the gap under the heat shield caused by the adapter in the following picture, and that's with a regular gasket in place. A mill file should handle that without trouble. The carb is currently sitting on another spacer that won't be used- it's providing clearance until I finish trimming the heat shield.

mclellan83 said:

As long as you are happy with it, I would have wanted them to have to pay me unemployment

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Oh I considered it. I reeaally considered it. I had the option to take this or garnish her wages and make a civil case but she could just claim bankruptcy, and the insurance companies all point the finger at each other. They've tried every dirty play I know thus far, and it's a convoluted case to begin with.

The settlement precludes that and guarantees $$ in my pocket immediately. I'm definitely not getting nearly enough but don't want to drag this out and live in poverty while doing so. The wreck made a big impact on my second chance so moving on is likely best for my mental health as well. Hopefully this $$ allows me to get my truck back together, solidify the Cutlass, and have a bit of a safety net for the first time. Combine that with my rising credit score and 2025 is looking pretty good to me.