Customs 57 Chevy Budget 4 door build

I've got a lead on an intake, should have it ready to go on the 283 Saturday afternoon. A local guy is bringing a few stock intakes to the swap meet near me this weekend, he's wanting i think 35 each for them, said they've been blasted, and they've got the oil fill tubes so I can use the valve covers I already stripped and painted! Depending on how this weekend goes I might be able to get everything all put back together by the time I have to go back to class on Monday. I don't want to be too optimistic about getting it to stay running this weekend, but it's definitely a possibility, i think I have pretty much everything I need besides the intake.

 

Not bad for a cleaned up part, paint & install it and you don't even get dirty...

 

Nothing wrong with some optimism. You got this man. I'm excited for you!


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the sheet-metal baffle under the manifold could have sand stuck to the sludge in there. Those are held on with spiral rivets . I weld a washer to those, then weld a bolt bolt and it should unscrew.


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Good point, there is enough of a gap where the can meets the bottom of the intake for shit to get in. They could be drilled out too. Replace them with self-tappers and a little Loctite.

 

Well crap, the swap meet where I'm gonna get the intake is on sunday, just checked the calendar. Well, I may not get it installed this weekend, since I usually have to leave sunday afternoon to get back to school. I'll find something to do on the car though. maybe take the fuel line out and blow it out or something, drain the tank to make sure no rust from the fill tube is clogging anything.

 

Spent an hr looking for the guy with the intake, didn’t find him. Got myself a $5 adapter plate and a couple $1-$2 bits i needed to get eventually like gaskets and stuff. Dissapointed but $5 is $5

 

That's life at the swap meet for myself as well. Go empty handed (no cash just looking) everything is there. Go with cash nothing there.

 

The old "ya snooze ya lose" syndrome. Keep your eyes peeled, it isn't like you dont have 100 other tasks that need to be completed before you have the car safe and road worthy. Carry on Pin3appl3!

 

Tore town the top of the engine, good thing too because i had a jammed push rod, and the intake bolts where in no way close to spec’d torque. I have to head back to school so I’ll leave you guys with this now. It’s all just sitting there, no gaskets or bolts, but it seems like it’s all gonna line up pretty good, just have to spend the time and put it all together. I’m pretty happy to finally get to have my oil fill tube and old script valve covers like I’ve wanted since I knew what a sbc was. I’m actually going to have a week off here from school for thanksgiving and as long as it isn’t too horribly cold (i’m back in the rickety garage i was in when I got the car, not the one connected to the house) so it’s the same temp in here as it is out there. Today i got lucky with 40 degree temps.

Again huge thanks to not just GeoFord, but everyone who has helped with advice, or even given me parts along the way. I can tell I’m close now. Once again it’s just time and patience.

Til next weekend, peace!

 

I could be wrong but that looks like water in the galley, maybe it's oil, but to my old eye it looks like water. If it is and it's gotten in the pan through those returns then be sure to drain and change the oil before you even consider cranking the engine cause water is heavier than oil and will be on the bottom of pan and the first thing the oil pump will suck up and pump to the bearings and F them up big time. Ralphie PS, why were you manifold hunting when you had one all along???

 

Yeah it’s definitely water. When i took the radiator hose off a bunch pooled on the intake and i don’t think it was water tight so an oil change is in the near future. I need to clean out the galley really well because theres all kinds of crap in it, paint and bits of gasket and what not.

 

I was wondering the same thing? Maybe it isn't eggzachary what he wanted??

 

Looks like an adapter in there. Square bore carb on Quadrajet manifold?

 

Wanted a square bore manifold but didn’t find one so i used what i had with an adapter

 

Keep plugging away. Here and at school.

 

Do you know Ed Zackery?

 

I know a few with Ed Zachery Disease but I digress. This is about a 57 Chevy.

 

That is Ed Zackery what I'm referring to.

 

Before i lay down any sealer or gaskets, i want to make sure my poly locks on the lifters are done right. Like i mentioned I had one come loose and the rod actually got jammed in the head and i had to wack it with a mallet to get it out. I could turn the poly lock by hand it was so loose. So how can i check these to make sure i won’t have this problem again?

 

And do i need to put any sealer in the bolt holes going into the heads? I know on mopars you do because they go straight through to oil but not sure on sbcs.

 

No sealer on the intake bolts. If the locknuts for the rockers loosened themselves up, they need replacing.

I would put it together and run it, knowing I have everything set correctly. But budget for a new set of rocker nuts for if and when the valve train gets noisy.

 

If you are ever unsure about any engine an easy to check is to take a piece of tie wire and bend it so it can't slip through greasy fingers. Cut it about 6" long and if it bottoms out you don't need any sealer, blind hole. If it can drop all the way through then you need sealer. Very slender screwdriver will work too just don't drop it through or you will have to go in deeper than your budget will allow.

 

I used ARP sealer on all of my intake bolts, my intake and heads are aluminum so there's also an anti-gall aspect to the sealer.

 

Should i torque down the lock nuts? I don’t want to have to be taking off the valve covers more than i have to, if i can go grab a set of nuts and throw it back together and not have to do it again i’ll do that

 

????? For now the answer is no because there is nothing for the nuts to seat themselves against. Now, you mentioned poly locks earlier. Which do you actually have. See pics given.

 

my bad, yeah poly locks, the first pic. so should i just tighten the loose one down with a socket?

 

I got the intake installed, was a lot easier than i thought and everything seemed to line up pretty well. The adapter i bought seems like it isn't going to line up, so i may have to find another one. I put it all together and the secondaries get caught on the plastic piece that actually does the square/spread conversion. I'll mess with it when its warmer out there. I had some 50 degree weather earlier but it's back down in the 30s again.

 

Kinda late to ask this, but did you put the draft tube baffle back in.

 

You may be able to clearance it with a file. Just remove enough to clear and have a little wiggle room. Do not do this with it installed on the intake. The plastic probably would go through the engine OK but why chance it.