Just looking at the car in the outside shot brings one word to my mind. Intimidating I'd back down from a race just by pulling up next to it and looking at it. Yes, call me chicken shit.
looking great Baron, been following with great interest. As always your abilities shine through. Be glad you can follow your dreams, we never know when our expiration date is, as was just proved by the news about Sonny. My coupe is going to have its flames returned early in May at Wilson and Steely, design by Dennis Day. Excited!
Hey Pal, 4-24-2016 I Feel "Honored", to Be Able to Be There at Times, to Watch You "Meticulously", Build This "57" Corvette Gasser; "LIVE" !! ......... "FREE" Classroom For Me ! Having An "INTIMIDATING" Look(Quoting: "2many projects"), is A Great Way Of Putting It !! The Car Looks, "SICK" !! ....... Just Another Way of Putting It !! "GREAT JOB, Keep It Up ....See You Soon" !!
Sometime you get the wolf, sometime the wolf gets you. Fired up the motor today. Started up instantly, and sounded great, at least for a little while ,long enough for breaking in the cam. But the longer it ran, the right bank sounded a little weak. Anyway, to make a long story short, I did a compression test and sure enough, the left bank were all around 165-170. The right bank was a different story. 2, 4 and 6 had zero and 8 had 160. A quick leak down test showed an intake valve problem, so I removed the heads and sure enough, 3 intake valves on the right bank had come in contact with the pistons. Interesting that the left side had no contact ( one milled more than the other?) Anyway, it's my fault for not checking piston to valve clearance. So, as the saying goes, "back to the drawing board". Anything that can be fixed with time and money is a minor problem. Compared to the health problems some of my good friends have had lately, I consider this a minor inconvenience.
That sucks! Perspective is right, and hopefully your issue is not too costly. Love this car so much better than the restored snooty ones.
That's too bad! But I guess we've all had something just not go totally right if we built cars long enough! So are you planning on going with a little less left, thicker gaskets, or ?????
Bummer! I guess nobody saw that issue coming on. It's good that it happened in the shop and not down the old dark, lonely road on a rainy night with no cell phone. Now Baron you have the perfect excuse to build a bigger, better, stronger engine.
The car sure looks killer outside, sorry to hear about the kissing problem, did you hurt the pistons or bend the valves ?
Sucks about your motor issues Baron. I have owned a dozen vettes and I have a funny feeling there are more in my future, yours is excellent! Curious, are you wiring a battery cutoff switch? NHRA tech inspection requires them I think when you mount the battery in the trunk (I found this out the hard way). Get her back running and post the video. Love to hear her run.
Thanks guys. Looks like I bent five intake valves( a friend of mine dropped them off at the machine shop this afternoon). I either have to change the cam or pistons. The pistons have a very small relief in them that will not work with my current combination, so most likely the pistons will have to go. The other option I am looking at is buying a Shafiroff 540 cu in short block . Just weighing all the options right now. I'll know better in a few days. Hi Hoop. Good seeing you and meeting your cousin. It was a nice, relaxing day. Thanks for making the trip up.
540 ? oh boy, you'll be testing the rest of the drive train...lol When I was shopping for my short block I found the 540, 555, 565 were all the same price, I chose the 540 because I knew my heads wouldn't flow enough to support the bigger cubes.
Love your build! That exact model is my dream car built just like you have it but with a SBC. Awesome!
Sorry to hear about the engine problems Baron. I know you will get it sorted out. Cain't wait to see/hear it run!
These guys have a few different cutter options if you want to try to enlarge the valve reliefs in your existing pistons ... http://www.lindytools.com/
Sorry about the motor, but your last comment is so true. Thanks for the good outlook and putting things into perspective.
The machine shop called me today. Bent all eight intake valves. I have decided to keep going with this motor and ordered a set of pistons, rings and gaskets today. Friday I'll pull the pan and remove the pistons and rods so I can get them to the machine shop to swap the rods onto the new pistons. All is good.
Baron, this car is one fine machine. Among the best looking 'vettes ever! Really enjoying following the build.
Installed the new pistons today and got the oil pan is back on. Would have had the heads on today, but I ordered the wrong head gaskets. Correct ones will be in tomorrow and I should have it up and running tomorrow afternoon.
I'm excited for you Baron. Tomorrow is going to be a huge day. There is no telling how long it has been since it move under its own power.