Projects Late 60's Vintage Modified

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I'll have to keep an eye out over here... Just realized the first one is this monday!

I'll try! By the way, what does Tnomoldw mean?

Thanks for the compliment! Boy that's a nice dragster! Always good to hear about those kinda of stories...

 

It's my name backwards,


W.D. (Bill) Lomont

 

Thanks for sharing your build. Just gave me some good entertainment for the last hour.

and now I finally know what Bill's HAMB name means. I was kinda affraid to ask.

 

Thanks! It's really been bugging me for quite a while now haha

Glad to hear it!

 

nice to see our old racers restored

 

super cool project and very sound work

 

sick build!!!! did you see my thread on Boston street racing in the 60s? a lot of circle track there too, my dad was big into circle track then

 

Thanks! I still like it when people restore these old rigs to their former glory, instead of trying to turn them back into a normal car body..

Thanks!

Thanks for the compliment, and I did check out your thread- pretty cool stuff on there! You guys down that way were pretty far advanced to the stock car racing that was going on up here- lot more paved tracks down in Mass compared to NH, but still love to see the old cars!

 

Just a small peek

 

Very nice Shaun !

 

Awesome!!!!

 

Thanks guys!

Hey, me too!

 

Looks great Shaun,When is the lettering getting done?

 

Think I'm going to have the guy do it when he puts the numbers on the car... Keep it consistent- the engine is the project now though!

 

nice. as they were

 

Well, from the pictures it won't look like I really accomplished much this weekend, but in reality a lot got accomplished... I think Saturday was about a 10 hour day, yesterday was about 12 hours and today was only about 8- but I managed to put new rings and bearings (rod and mains) in the flathead. It probably sounds ridiculous to take that much time to some, but it was the first time I've ever done it, and did so without help.

I did a compression test a few weeks ago and found 80 PSI on all cylinders except for number 4, where I got about 15. So I pulled the heads, and dropped the pan. To say the least, the piston was UGLY... The top compression ring had broken and came through the top of the piston, before smashing into the head and became imbedded in the piston itself- amazingly leaving the valves intact. The rod bearing was also pretty worn, so I pulled the number 1 piston had found a similar story, except the top ring didn't come up through piston (although it probably would have soon).

Last week I pulled the remaining pistons and found every piston had a broken top ring. Fortunately the bores had remained pretty intact (except some scoring on number 4), so I used a deglazer to put some cross-hatching back in it. It was still standard bore, but all the ring lands in the pistons were worn for the top ring, so I switched them with a set I have from a different flathead I got recently. Also went with cast iron rings to help seat them easier since this motor probably doesn't have the straightest bores

Anyways, after a quick hone, new rings, and putting new bearings in (boy was the top rear main bearing a pain to change!) I put it back together and fired it up this afternoon. I was worried at first because it seemed REAL tight when I tried cranking it, but after I let the jumper pack fully charge, it started right up. Still getting a bit of blue smoke, probably just from all the oil I put on the rings and getting them seated, but no blow-by through the breather at all. Also, managed to relocate the dipstick from the drivers side (where I had a lot of interference from exhaust and the steering box) to the passengers side, which made things a lot better.

 

I got the biggest grin right now.....BITCHIN'!!!

 

I have been following this for a while.

I have got to say, that I was not going to be surprised if you went another direction, but you have done an absolutely fabulous job of bringing this old racer back to it's former glory!!!

Congratulations on an amazing build!

Thanks for keeping the faith with this old girl!

 

Glad to hear that It looks different then 9-10 months ago haha!

Thank you for the kind word! I'm not sure how many other people out there would have kept it a race car instead of just robbing the body off of it, and if they did keep it a race car might have made it a clone car of someone else, etc. I guess the street legal aspect was one change, but at least I'll be able to get some more use out of it

 

Very nice , We all knew you were going in the right direction.

 

thats looking so good!!! you did it a lot of good! i was trying to find a picture of one that i saw online that i posted before, pretty sure it was your car sitting in the weeds. cant find it tho.

 

Really?? It was my car you think?? I've talked to one guy who remembers seeing it about 10-15 years ago, and took some pictures of it, but he can't seem to find them now... Would be kind of neat if he does turn up with them.

 

WOW I missed this thread awesome job on reconstruction hope to see it in person someday

 

Not much time for photos lately (nothing too great to show off), BUT I did get all of my brake lines runs and bled them... Had quite a time getting any pedal no matter how much I bled them, adjusted the shoes, etc. Turned out I just needed to adjust the push rod out about 1/4"... Made a world of difference! And now I've got brakes!

Also, on the Photoshop thread, Silver cat was kind enough to add the number to the side of the car:

 

Thanks! Hopefully! Don't think I'll be making too many trip to Mass with it though

 

Silver cat did a nice interpretation with the number, Cant wait to see it in a live picture,with the windows trimed ?

 

I'm still following your progress and love it! To be truthful, I'm glad you decided to run the flattie. There's nothing more cool than a dressed flattie in an old race car. Super job Shaun! Thanks for sharing the rebuild with us old oval track fans. Superb!!!

 

Just a quick update...

Here's the new master cylinder in place:



Originally it had a GM single pot master (with a screw top- believe they were only made in '63) but when I ran the casting number on it, it came back as a single or a dual. Figured to be on the safe side I might as well go with a dual. I forget what material the brake lines are made out of, but they have sort of a copper tone to them- sort of reminds me how most of the brake and fuel lines used to be copper on these old cars! Had a kit for 1/4" line and was able to use correct fittings to go right into the master cylinder without crude looking adapters- definitely helped with the space restrictions there too...

Also drilled and pop-riveted the driver's side door "flap" (no more green tape holding it down!):



And for the heck of it I went and installed my mirror:

 

Hopefully soon! Possibly VERY soon

Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad I decided to keep the flattie too... Guess the SBC idea was in a moment of weakness... This was one of the very last cars to run with a flathead at that race track, and after getting that original picture of the car with the flathead in it, it made the choice a little easier to give it another try.

Have to start working on a 3x2 set-up soon... Still looking to make my own, but did find a brand new Edelbrock for $265 shipped on sale- sorta tempting...