Projects Leaky carbs lead to complete engine cleanup (Pic heavy)

My carbs have been leaking a little for the past few months and it has lead to a bit of grime and paint damage. As I tried to clean things up around the carbs, everything else just looked worse and it just snowballed out of control. I hope to have it back on the road in the next week or two though if I can stop changing things.

It's a basic 60s SBC, 350, Ford/Holley 94's and when I built the car I used Detroit Diesel Alpine Green for the color and I liked the color quite a bit. The new parts added are stainless studs, some new brackets for holding stuff, alternator cover, fan and pulley, air cleaner nuts, aluminum water neck, aluminum timing cover, wire lacing, and of course the carb rebuild kits from Mike's. Sorry in advance for some of the blurry pics, I seem to have a less steady hand as I age.

Before I got started, a test drive or two into the hot rod season



Carb's off, looking at the dirt and mess that will cause me a months work



Knowing a repaint was inevitable, I ordered some more Detroit Diesel Alpine green paint, this time using Motor Coater. Well the Amazon label on the can said Detroit Diesel Alpine green, however it didnt look like it inside. Might as well see what it looks like.



....So that's not green. After peeling Amazon's inventory label back, I can see the Motor Coater label clearly states Cummins Beige. I contacted Amazon about the wrong color and they said a they wanted to refund for the mistake and to keep the paint since I opened it.

I didn't want to wait for more paint, and I kind of like the color so on goes the free Cummins Beige paint!



Stripping and painting.



Mostly cured, random work.



Now the insanity can begin. I had these two unused bosses on the manifold, so I moved the PCV over to the drivers side, made a new line and some brackets to use them up.



More installed, some mockup ready for teh next stages.



Took a painting break to cleanup some wiring, a little bit of rcable lacing and rerouting.



Cleanup and prep for timing cover anbd fuel pump.



Started putting the fuel system together.



Fuel pump, timing cover, fuel line, water pump, alternator, balancer,and pulley.



My neighbor had some round aluminum cutoffs sitting around he was going to toss so I made up some wire harness standoffs. There are two more that go in on that frame rail.



Nice front view of the mostly assembled engine now, more wiring and accessories on.


Cleanup and final mounting on drivers side.



Passenger side, need to finish up the fuel system and build a cover to go over all of the brass and regulator.



And how it sits this morning



More to come if ya'all are interested - a few things left to do still....

 

You do some pretty detail work! That is a very nice car.However if you drive it much it is going to do the same thing again.That wont undo your detail work,but it sure will mess up your fresh paint . I dimly remember some vehicle or other(may have been a tractor?) that actually had a factory drip pan between the carb and manifold.I bet you could make one out of stainless without too much difficulty.

 

Looking good, brother!

 

Very very nice.

 

Lookin good

 

I'm not that concerned, now I have a paint I can match up and a lot to spare. The first couple years was fine, and I think I got a good kit that will keep these dry for some time. The drip tray is a good idea though, I may make up a "sitting tray" to put there when it sees any stretch of garage time.

 

Some closeups...

Brackets and the PCV line they hold.



Main harness, cloth wire and cable lacing.



Fuel pump, line, and clamp.



Air cleaners, top nuts, and choke bracket.



Main harness wire bundle standoffs. Mounts in the center hole. TO the right is the scrap pieces I used to make them.

 

looking good - yep, just a basic clean-up and repaint sure can get involved

 

Nice. I like the color choice.

 

The new engine color looks great, concerning carb leakage, Charlie Price at Vintage Speed sells thick carb gaskets for the 94's, I go through the carbs on my avatar every winter, changing out the gaskets, checking float levels, power valves, etc. I like the Holley 94's and the thicker gaskets (in the picture) make a world of difference, keeps everything so much cleaner.
http://vintagespeed.com/

 

Very nice detail work, looks great! To clean up any leaks or stains try using lighter fluid, it works great to dissolve and remove any fuel or oil stains, and dries quickly without leaving any residue.

Are those headers ceramic coated?

Those pcv and fuel line clamps look to me like they could eventually bore a hole through the line, which could create a vacuum leak on the pcv line but worse would be a potential fire risk on the fuel line. I think some rubber cushioning to prevent metal to metal contact would offer more peace of mind.

 

Yes the headers are ceramic coated, I had them done last fall by a local shop.

There is silicone above and below the line a larger one of up for the tension screw and a thinner one at the bottom made form Sugru. Anywhere I have metal to metal contact there is either nylon or rubber.

Thanks for the lighter fluid tip, I usually use MEK or diluted acetone.

Graham - thanks for the gasket tip, I'll keep that in mind.

 

Nice attention to detail. And I like the color. I'd opt for a tri power intake but that's just me

 

Nice, I just recently repainted mine (after installing baffles), was thinking of having them ceramic coated but went with paint. I like the way your's look, I may need to do that.

Nice! As good as it all looks I should've figured you had something there, just couldn't see anything, it looked like metal on metal. Good job.

 

IMHO, the beige is a WAY better fit with the maroon anyway.

 

Engine looks great. Now fix your carbs.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/94-carbs-leaking.806754/

 

I did fix the carbs, that was the catalyst for the entire project.

 

well your first mistake was using leaker green ! maybe the cummins beige will stop the leaking problem ( and make it smoke less)

as for paint you have to be carefull as there are 2 shades of detroit green , one is almost pontiac blue , the other is the alpine green , and there both labeled as such , the proper is #1618 , we buy ours from the detroit dealer as he has cases of it .

 

This might be the wrong forum to put this out there but the three best sounds (engine)in the world is: y block ford, SBC with a Duntov 3030 cam or a Detroit Diesel 2 stroke right before shifting to 2nd direct. (Screamin jimmy)

Flathead is fine, but not that good.
And the "green grenade"-color is a nice engine color.

Keep at it, lad. You do nice work

 

Hey now, I liked my green It was a cheap duplicolor spray they only had one shade of Alpine green. The beige should hold up well, I've used motor coater before and its rock solid.

I could use some advice on how to hide or at least make look less pronounced the 6-wire weatherpack harness on the frame rain. I have thought about making a leather sleeve or and aluminum cover/housing. Any thoughts?

 

Here is the coating up close and disassembled. I had them done at my good friend Bill's place,. QC Coatings in Shelby Twp MI.

 

must have been sleeping under a rock - don't think that I have ever seen KBS MotorCoater Engine Enamel before - never seen it For Sale in my part of the world

 

Very sanitary... Say, where did you get that coooool 'Y' adaptor??
Is it aluminum or steel? Please tell me where, and how much? Thanks.
The 'beige' outweighs the green, in my humble opinion. (green just looks like Gore...)

 

nothing wrong with it , for many years I called it cash green as I made money with them motors of that color ( my O/t shop truck was painted it vs the GM black ) , and the color grows on you after a while ( and its better than the DD silver Ugh ... ... the beige I have to say looks sharp with the body color .

as for the weather pack cover I would do aluminum as leather absorbs water and also some leaches the tanning acids out when wet and might cause corrosion issues ( the WP are tight but they still ocassionally leak )

 

I know Cummins beige well, just never thought of it on a rod engine. VERY COOL!!!

 

Today's update, I started working on a cover for all of the fuel fittings, regulator, and such. Still have a great deal of metalwork to do, but this is the rough shape/idea

 

The adapter is steel, I got the slingshot and carbs from Dickster on here a few years back.

 

STUNNING DETAIL JOB!

 

Removed the cowl to cleanup some of the wiring that goes to the engine bay, and a few miscellaneous things while im in there.

The before's





After some wire cleanup, lacing, rerouting, and general cleaning. It's not as dressed out as the engine bay, but it's rarely seen. At least that's my justification for not spending a week in there





and how it sits this morning.

 

Thanks to all for the compliments, it helps to know that I am on the right track with where I am trying to take this car.