Technical advice wanted: traditional engine bay on a tri five

geriatric? who the fuck you callin old, white boy?

 

I said I am going to start acquiring parts, not install them. I am aware I will need an accompanying manifold.

 

It was suggested to me by a world renowned shop owner that consistent mileage of SBC's warrants the use of a catch-can setup for pcv, instead of the sad stock setup. I'm sure it will piss everyone off, but again, I'll be putting serious mileage on the car and don't want to deal with venting issues (and the ingestion of oil that comes with it).

This involves some -10an fittings on the valve covers to a small filtered/baffled box, and then back to the carb.

 

Big ol' aluminum cross-flow radiator, fake AN hoses (or real ones for that matter), and chrome power brakes.... as long as those are under the hood, that will never look 'traditional'...

 

You take a number and get in line for a new thread......the board is usually overbooked with "Help! I can't get a pedal since I put a Explorer disc rear"...


Oh, and I just stuck my head under the cold shower, and I am still bitchy from the heat..

...and I think I see slightly dented top radiator tanks on those two old survivor pics....come on, fess up oldsters...you know you also were guilty of kneeling on the radiator when trying to get the distributor back in.

..

 

What are you calling heat?

 

I smell a rat here, what do ya think Larry?
Just in case this guy is screw'n with us, I'll reccomend a Prius.

 

ok kid...I'm done. You don't need our advice if you have a world renowned shop owner on call.
Ryan!...Stop leavin the back door open!

 

Amazing how things have changed since" traditional " became "the in thing" Why are "traditional esthetics " hard for others to grasp?

If your really into or liked traditional old stuff , I'm not sure you would even have to ask this question


......I 'd just Keep the earls hose covers and add anodized moroso covers and just wait a few years for 80s to become trad.

 

Get a couple cans of black spray paint and some scotchbrite pads, scuff up then paint the radiator, brake booster, master cyl, alt bracket black. The air cleaner needs to go, a caddy bat wing cleaner would look nice (or are those out of style now?). Also ditch the JC Whitney "hose dress up kit", that stuff just slides right off. Other than air cleaner this should cost about 20 bucks.

 

not perfect;

 

Gee ,I wonder why the Tri-Five forum folks didn't welcome him?

 

Having or attaining some thick skin is a good place to start around here
Hang in there!

 

Do this...

 

This has been shared a bunch of times on the hamb before but it's a great article to deal with exactly this problem. Take a look.

http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/engine/1310-how-to-make-your-new-chevy-engine-look-old/

 

here's mine.

 

Is it too late to start the popcorn popper?
KK

 

I ran finned Cal Custom valve covers, matching air cleaner.. Say Why And intake... some splashes of chrome.. stock exhaust manifolds with generator.. black plug wires on my old 56 Nomad

 

Oh fuck I love this place

 

All of the hot lick Street Machine stuff has to go if you want a traditional engine compartment.
If I had a great running 350 I damned well wouldn't pull it out and stick an older engine in it's place just to say I had the older engine in there. I would be hunting car magazines from the late 50's and early 60's to see how the tri-5 guys had their engine compartments looking though. As several sCat won't fit anyhow. I lost track of how many sets of those I helped guys put on in highschool when you could run down to the Chev Garage and pick up a pair for abut 30 bucks. The parts guy kept about three sets on hand along with three or four 30-30 Duntov cams and sets of solid lifters. About the same price for a cam in those days too.

Or you could just never open the hood where the engine compartment would fight the trad look of the outside of the car and tell anyone that you never open the hood because it screws up the lines of the car and call it good.

 

Use a lot of orange and black rattle cans of paint. 90% of the people have no idea what the differences in a 350 or 265 are.

Why would anyone in their right mind consider swapping a good running 350 for a tired 265? Swap meets are full of 50's-60's engine dress up parts.
Swap your speed parts catalogs for a few old "little pages" books.

 

Never too late for popcorn,I got enough for all of us. HRP

 

You will also need to ditch the tribal flames that are on the car if you want it to look traditional. Given the cost of a repaint, I'd just get rid of the chintzy crap in the engine bay. I'd go with a clean modern hot rod look instead of a traditional one.

While a catch can will help to keep the intake runners and piston tops a little cleaner, it's not necessary to keep a consistent mileage. Just be diligent with your maintenance.

Really sounds like you aren't up to the rigors of driving a car with 60 year old technology as a daily driver. It will be a 180 from the import stuff you're used to.

That's a Spalding, not a DuCoil. DuCoil looks a lot more like a regular distributor with an extra coil tower sticking out hte top. The Spalding is definitely a way more wild looking piece.

 

Thanks for the correction on the ignition! My memory is getting bad...