Sounds like winter is not done with you guys yet. Good time to put that motor together and have it ready to drop in. Glad you got your cam, they are real nice people and easy to work with and they stand behind what they do. Lots of sportsman cars in the Pacific Northwest run their units.
No. The body is lowered and fastened at the firewall with Dzus buttons. I step over the body into the cockpit (I'm 6'6" tall). Which brings to mind a comment a crew member said once a long time ago, "Man, every time you get into that thing I think your legs are going to pop out the bottom, like The Flintstone Flyer. And thus was born the name The Frenchtown Flyer.
Eight days after placing the order, my cam and lifters arrived. Great service and price from Oregon Cams. Oh, and more snow this afternoon. I need some warm weather so I can wash the block in the driveway before I start assembly. FTF, Interesting how you got your race name. I'm only a foot shorter than you. But, at my age I'm shrinking even more. I might need a series of hand holds and foot holds to get in the thing if I put a body on it. On the medical front, I got a steroid shot in my gimpy shoulder. It took a week for any effect and it is minimal. If it needs surgery I'm trying to hold off til fall.
A lady friend drag racer had a slide-out step on her Bantam altered so she could enter/exit "daintily". It retracted under the seat when she was in.
bobw -- Glad to hear that Oregon Cams did you right. I had them grind a roller cam for the altered 502 BBC motor will I was living up in WA State, real easy people to work with. Sorry to hear about your continuing shoulder problem, hope you can hold off surgery until the fall like you said. My wife had a complete shoulder replacement last October and is doing great, but you really have to follow Dr orders on recovery. What's with your ever going winter, snow & more snow. May have to run a hose off your hot water heater to flush the block.
At least it's on the stand. Crank went in nice. No. 1 piston and rod did too. Almost a zero deck on no.1. Can't find the cam card so I called Oregon Cams to have them mail another one. Stuck some light checking springs on the Chevy valves, put the big block Chevy rockers on and the valve geometry is terrible. Would require a .500 longer than stock pushrod and still not good. I ordered a set of Harland Sharp aluminum roller rockers designed for this engine. Thinking I might have to remove the rocker studs and cut the bosses down some more. The good news is it's coming along. The bad news is it is going slow.
How much did you mill off the head & block? Can you take a picture with the head off & #1 piston at top? What pistons are you using? You will have that motor built in no time.
Got the Harland Sharp aluminum roller rockers today. After babysitting grandkids (they sure can wear you out) all day I set up the valve train. With a 5/16" longer than stock pushrod I get a perfect pattern on the valve stem with no clearance problems anywhere. Also checked valve to piston clearance and was surprized to see it was at least 1/4" at the tightest. It's a pretty mild cam. Tom, we cut .030" off the head and .014"-.024" front to back off the block. Using Sealed Power forged flat top pistons for a 390 Ford. Not trick but economical. I think the need for longer pushrods is because of the .100" longer valve stems on the Chevy valves, the reground cam (material removed from the lobe bases) and the rocker stud bosses were not cut down as much as is normally done (my error). Gotta order pushrods from Smith Bros. tomorrow.
Sounds like your on the right path, with any luck you will have her running in a few weeks. Get those grandkids out in the shop to help, now that could wear you out for sure. Wish Sealed Power made some forged pistons for the 307's that fit a Chevy 250.
Received the Harland Sharp aluminum rockers and figured out the pushrod length I need. Ordered them from Smith Bros. Custom length pushrods with next day shipping. What a company! Degreed the cam today. It came out 3 degrees advanced. I'm leaving it there. Hoping there are no additional roadblocks to assembling the engine.
Never ordered anything from them, but they sound like a good place to deal with. My cam in the 194" motor is at 2 degrees and it runs fine. Weather is getting better in your area and should keep you in the shop most all day. We are looking forward to seeing your idea's on intake & exhaust. Remember, use old Dudes like pictures
The pistons sit .006" down in the hole. Was planning on zero down, but errors crept in. Using the head gasket recommended by the Frenchtown Flyer (.039"), my quench will be .045". Could be a little tighter. Not sure how much that head gasket compresses. I've got a ton of piston to valve clearance. Mild cam. And the valves come almost straight down. The rocker pattern on the valve stem tip is excellent. Sure would be nice to not have those valve reliefs in the pistons.
That looks real nice Bob, I don't think that mild cam motor will care that it is .006" in the hole. I don't know what cc your chambers are, but I would bet your in 10.0-10.50 CR range even with the valve reliefs. This is the same issue that pops up when you put a set of 307 pistons in the Chevy 250 motor. The plus for you is that yours are forged pistons and the price was right.
The head is ready to go on the block. Waiting for the Brown Truck to deliver a head gasket. Also waiting for a water pump, thermostat housing and a few other small parts. Quite sure I'll have it together and a few shakedown runs on it before the Meltdown Drags. The Meltdown will be the highlight of my summer.
Hearing a motor start up for the first time is right up there with seeing your children born. Of course it is in second place. bobw: I hope to see you at Byron if it isn't 100 degrees.
100 degrees around here comes with 80% humidity. It's like trying to breathe while holding your head under a show turned to straight hot water. The dehumidifier discharge on the central air runs like a faucet someone left on. I keep asking myself why I am still here. Oh yeah, grandkids.
HA/GR purists should avert their eyes. I removed the stick shift bushing from the end of the crank using the grease and socket method. Worked good. After some fine adjustments I got the block plate, the JW flexplate and hub adapter installed. Had to trim the large bolt pattern lugs from the Midwest 9" converter, and it now fits. The converter is probably not as high stall as desired. I'll figure that out at the strip.
Looks real clean, I have had to remove outside bolt lugs from some converters when using a small Chevy 153 flex plate. Is the 9" converter a V8 or 6 cylinder? If it is a V8 like mine may be 4500 stall that will work out to about 2800-3000 stall. Much over 2400 and you will fry those hides for 50' before you get hooked up. That 300+ inch motor/PG setup will feel like a small V8 and should put a on your face. Keep at it.
Tom, the comverter was used behind a mild 406 sbc in a street driven, and occasionally raced tube frame glass Fiat. I think the Tulsa SDRA guys would suggest it isn't enough stall. Time will tell... My Reo project, which I'm trying to get ready for this summer is hampering progress on the dragster a bit. Getting close though.
Bob, you have pulled out another fine looking hot rod from the frigid north. Should be a lot of fun on Friday cruse night. You will know how much stall & how hard you want to leave after your first few passes. You have a very short race season and a long winter next year to do a trick converter. Looking forward to your driveway test real soon.
If you can get to a 3500 stall behind one of these 6's, great. As you said, it takes a 4500 + to get there. With out spending a lot it is hard to find a converter that will get you above 3500.
All the parts went together without any problems. Got a few clean up jobs on the frame. Still plenty to do. Driveshaft, header, shifter and so on. Pretty confident about making the Meltdown Drags though. Yes, Crkinsp & Tom, this converter will not stall high enough, I predict. JW makes a 7" converter for low horsepower engines. Costs around a grand though. However, my engine combination should make power at pretty low rpm's so I might get a good ride out of it. The Powerglide has a trans brake in it (shame, shame) that I might want to try. Am I correct that with the street tires and trans brake it will probably blow the tires off on the starting line?
Engine and trans are in the chassis. Started building the exhaust. Six individual pipes, no collectors, with a flare on the end of each pipe. That's the plan, even though it might cost a little horsepower.
Bob, looks great with the engine in there.Gotta say you are making it tough to fight off the temptation to jump ship! Anyone want to buy a pinto ??ha ha
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