The "Other" Project

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mikester

Comic Book Super Hero
Mar 10, 2010
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Small town NY
Had a less than productive day working on this yesterday. UGH.
The guy that built the motor came over to prime the pump, drop in the new MSD distributor and finally get it running again. Tweak what needs to be adjusted. Figured it would be finally running and mobile. Nothing ever goes as planned right ?
Before he even got here I found a leak at the thermostat housing. Not bad, tightened the bolt and I think it stopped. I'll go out there in a bit to check but I picked up another gasket just in case.
As we were cranking it to get TDC the flex plate was rubbing on the cover. The ironic thing was I spent hours at the yard looking for 2 mint OEM steel covers. Guess I have to find 2 plastic ones. But the best part was trying to remove it. The headers and transmission lines made if impossible to get out without bending the crap out of the one side. Sad, it was a perfect cover all painted up in gloss black. So much for little details. SMH.
Now the best part. The distributor is slightly larger in diameter than the Mallory. It hits the oil pressure sending unit. Not by much but no way it would drop in. So a quick trip to the local auto parts and the only two hardware stores in the area and neither place had a 45 degree 1/8" NPT elbow. After he left I took a 35 minute ride to the old school auto parts that has every fitting known to man. Got two brass 45s and an extra adapter just in case I need it. The guy that built the motors coming back over Tuesday. I need this car finished !!!!
 
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JAMCAR223

Royal Smart Person
Jun 6, 2014
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I love this car!
 
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mikester

Comic Book Super Hero
Mar 10, 2010
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Small town NY
Today was start up round 2. Got the sending unit back in, 6AL temporarily wired up and the new MSD distributor in. I have the 6AL sitting on a towel on the drivers side cowl since the left inner fender isnt in yet. Yeah, I know. Some of you folks might be wondering why but that was just in case I needed to do anything with the wiring at the bulkhead connection.
Battery charged, cranks over nice and fast. Now no gas at the carb. Took the feed line off, no gas. Took the lines off the pump, no pressure, no suction. Stupid pump. LOL
This was a nickle plated Carter pump that I bought MANY years ago. I guess from sitting so long the diaphragm got screwed up. So instead of trying to rebuild the pump (discontinued long ago) I drove out to S&K speed and bought a new Edelbrock for $154 out the door.
So, Thursday AM will be round 3 and I hope nothing else holds this up. SMH, LOL
 
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mikester

Comic Book Super Hero
Mar 10, 2010
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Small town NY
RUNNING !!!!! FINALLY !!!
I have to replace the power valve and from sitting I have a very slight oil leak at the right front corner of the pan. I used a 1 piece Felpro gasket. Im hoping this will be an easy fix.
 
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mikester

Comic Book Super Hero
Mar 10, 2010
2,904
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Small town NY
So in todays mail there was something really neat. Turbogeezer (Bill) happened to be a close friend of the late Tom Gerrard who was the gentleman down in WV that sold me my 81. Toms daughter gave him these two photos from back in 1991 when Tom showed the car at a Super Chevy show at Maple Grove in PA.
Bill messaged me last week and told me he was going to mail them to me. I was like a little kid at Christmas trying to open the envelope !

IMG_0012 (002).jpg


Bill and Tom together.

IMG_0017 (002).jpg


I cant thank Bill enough for sending these to me !!!
 
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TURNA

Rocket Powered Basset Hound
Jul 24, 2009
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Socialist NY
It;s got a miss!
 

mikester

Comic Book Super Hero
Mar 10, 2010
2,904
3,639
113
Small town NY
I know its been a while since my last update so I figured you folks might like to hear the dirt.
The day that video was taken we discovered a pretty steady oil leak coming out of the timing chain cover on the right side. Bad enough that it has to be fixed. The leak is 100% my fault. When the motor was being built I sprayed every part with Dupont Variprime and acrylic enamel before it was assembled. I have to say the paint came out like glass. The bad thing is when I was putting the timing cover on the alignment pins on the front of the block had a little too much paint on them and it prevented the cover from sealing to the block. Once the bolts were tightened the cover actually tweaked. Not enough to see when I was putting it together. NOT GOOD.
We talked about trying to repair the leak with the motor still in the car. Being a hardhead I dont want to do it that way. My thinking is I have to pull everything off the front of the motor, pull the starter and headers, raise the motor and try to fix it. If it still leaks after all that work Im going to be pretty pissed. So, the motors got to come back out and its going to be done on the stand. My plan was to get the wagon completely finished and running and then tackle the 81.
Now comes the good part. Im sure some of you folks will be calling me an idiot after this. Its okay.
Ive got the crate motor in the wagon about 95% finished. Couple of wires, drop the distributor in, and hook up the fuel line after putting in the new Edelbrock fuel pump and its ready to start.
Today I put in the power steering and the radiator hoses. While I was on my back under the car putting the lower hose I happened to glance up at the timing chain cover. Im sure you guys know what Im about to write.
Yup. The same side. Covers tweaked. Cant see it from above or the side but from down below you can see the gap between the cover and block. I guess I should have rotated the motor on the stand and looked at it a lot closer one last time before it went in.
I made a few calls tonight. Got a few friends that will help me get this done. Im going out there on Sunday to start pulling crap apart. Im pissed at myself for not paying attention to what I was doing.
Im hoping I can get this done in a few days. I bought a new cover for the 81. I'll probably do the same for the wagon.
One of my good friends just sold a really clean 67 Nova that hes had for around 5 years. 327, 4spd. Super clean car. He just flew to MI and bought a used 1320 Challenger. He said he was tired of messing with it. Im starting to feel the same way. SMH
 
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