Ok cool, Ive talked w some mechanics who havent heard of them due to m/c being up high now adays! Anyway, the truck looks good...your making killer progress...Im just on a mission....its all I do
Alright, more bad news on the engine. Several cylinders are pitted beyond honing, so its getting the full bore treatment. Its already .40 over so I guess that means it will now be .60 over. He said the cam I have is a race cam and will be too much for normal driving. So in the end he sold me 2 heads that he went through, polished crank, bored block and a complete engine kit the he referred to as their stage 2 kit and a rumpity rump cam, and the other stuff that goes along with it.he puts it at about 350 hp which is fine by me! Also left him the old crusty performer intake which is hot bathed and bead blasted to like new appearance. I also told him to set me up a stall converter based on the engine specs, trans and rear gear ratio. So when its all said and done it will be a ton more than I really wanted to spend but it will be over with, supposed to have it done by the weekend, then reassembly starts at the shop. So last night I got my adjustable prop valve and pressure activated brake light switch, still waiting on a rear brake hose and a brass t with bolt hole for the front brake lines, then I can be done with the brakes. Once the engine is done I can stab it in with teh trans and get my trans mount set, welded, then painted. At that time I should have enought weight there to put in the coils and shocks in and if I can scare up some tires I should have a roller!!! After that its body time!! Later...
Should have it back by tomorrow, should... Guy had to go out to NC to do some engine testing for a NASCAR team and of course my engine wasnt going to hold him up. I ordered a few more things from him, new torque converter 2600 stall, balancer, carb rebuild kit, and a complete engine bolt kit. Also finally got all the brake line parts so I am going to try and knock that out this weekend. So frikin hot here in Texas it makes it hard to get moving.
I hear you man. It's been a pretty brutal summer here. I'd still take this heat over freezing my ass off during some other state's winter.
I know your getting all kinds of things done then your gonna do one of those posts with a ton of pictures where you catch and pass me!! hahah Keep at it man...I cant wait to see it done! Youve had to deal with a ton of BS and made it all rite...gonna be awesome when complete!
No way man, I still havent even touched a single body part. I have it all though, just need to get going..
Hahaha....Just poking a stick at ya to get you out into that heat....I just want to see another AD come to life!
Got a few things done the last couple weekends. Been messing with the brake lines, have redone them several time, just cant get a look I like. I think I have it how I want it now, jsut gotta put it all together. Got the running boards sand blasted and a few coats of etch prime just to keep them from rusting until I get back to them. Got my seat all stripped down and ready to sand blast and paint. Little odds and ends here and there but still waiting for my damn engine so I am hesitant to spend any more money until I get it done. Pics in a few....
So first off, I switched from plain steel brake line to the polyarmour line. Much easier to bend by hand and blends in better. I wrapped the entire rear axle line with spring, although not necessary I feel beet with a little more protection. I just need to decide how to secure it to the axle. I re-did the front lines and ran the crossover behind the crossmember instead of in front like the factory does it. I dont know if that will be a problem or not but it looks better. Once I get it in place I am going to replace the cheesy retiners with something a little nicer. Seat I picked up at a swap meet for $65 bucks. In excellent conditon, just a little surface rust that will be blasted off soon, then sent out for recovering. I want to do a distressed leather, something that looks old and comfortable. Maybe a little custsom stitching and matching door panel inserts. One running board and the seat side panels, the other one still needs a little blasting. There are a few hairline cracks I need to weld up, but otherwise pretty solid. This is a grill I stumbled across at a local flea market, I mentioned it a few posts ago. Blasted it clean and primed it, needs the top bar to be complete, or the top, 2nd and 3rd to be perfect. I am still debating wether or not I want to end up with a nice looking truck, or an old raggedy one with some personality and dents and dings. I bought this grill from a fellow hamber and was going to blast it and make one good grill out of the two but was getting my ass kicked trying to blast it. Turns out someone bondo'd over the original chrome grill then painted it, and the filler is as hard as a rock and was barely touched by the sand. Have to go and by a heavier grit I guess or just take it to a pro for blasting. Here is my latest tool purchase, works great but is a total pain the the ass and make a hell of a mess and noise. Thats it for now, just pokin around here and there waiting for the cooler weather so I can make some real progress, and oh yea, my DAMN ENGINE!!!!
Painted and mocked up!! Cant wait!!! So this week need to finish reassembly then put on all the goodies. Ill get it back to the house and put it on the frame then I can finally start on some body related items. Finally got all the brake lines run, what a pain in the ass. I must have redone them 5 times before I was happy. Hopefully there is no leaks!
Got the engine mostly done, just need to bolt on the oil pan tomorrow. The gasket kit had cheesy cork gaskets, so I headed to napa and bought a nice rubber/steel core gasket to match my valve cover gaskets. Wont do much more until I get it in the truck, don't want to damage anything or add weight to the front of the engine. So I got the top and second bars off the grill blasted and primed, then I can assemble one complete grill that's ready to go. The top bar off of the grille I bought from a fellow hamber had some rust holes under all the bondo, but earlier this week the wife and i decided we spent enough money on the chassis/drive train and are going to go back together with a "patina" build. meaning it is going to look like an old raggedy truck to the untrained eye, which is what I wanted from the beginning anyway.So the grille will fit in with the other minor rusted areas. I am going to get the seat redone nicely and of course get all the wiring done right, but other than floors, new wood in the bed, and new weatherstrips/glass, probably wont do much more to the body, at least not right now. So that brings me to the heater that was in the truck, I had pulled it out a long time ago and haven't thought of it until today. I decided I was going to see what it was and take it apart just for shits. As it turns out, the fan motor worked!! It sounded terrible but I knew if it worked it could be cleaned up and chances were it would be fine. So I pulled the motor apart and it looked really really good, just needed some TLC. All the bolts came right out with a little penetrating oil and I took it all outside and blasted it. It is a Hadees H 200, and I think it looks kick ass. The core flowed nicely after a few boogers came out and doesn't seem to have any leaks. Put it all back together and it looks old as hell but after putting some juice to it, it works like a champ!! The only thing is it is a 6v motor, so either I need to find a 12v motor or somehow reduce voltage to it through a resistor. So I am going to take it back apart and shoot it with a light clearcoat and put it back together so it stays like it is....Check it out... Just need to find some cool little knobs, chrome or maybe jeweled...
So I brought the engine home and am having hell trying to get it in. Cant for the life of me figure it out. I have taken the mounts off the frame 15 times it seems and always drop a nut down inside the frame where I cant get to it. If I had any hair I would have pulled it all out by now... This is the same engine, same frame and same mount brackets in the same spot, the only diff is the prothane inserts. Grrrr!!
Start comparing measurements from the old mount to the new. Just 'cause its new don't make it right. If they are mounted in the same holes on the frame and everything else is the same, mounts could be wrong.
hey brother ... your trucks coming along nicely. I have a 54 and just want to give you a little bit of a heads up on your seat. If your taller than I am I would seriously consider this ... try sitting in a stock truck and you'll see what I mean. I'm 5' 10" and when I had the stock seat in my truck I had a hard time getting comfortable ... the seat sits high and the back is real thick, couldn't stretch out. I swapped it out for a 89 Silverado bench seat, fits perfect and actually makes the cab look more spacious. The back is way thinner and the seat is a lot more comfortable. The best part about this swap is that i kept the original sliding rails buy mounting a piece of flat iron to the rails and then mounted the seat to the flat iron ... that way I maintain the back and forth adjustment of the original rails !!! I had to put some square tube spacers between the seat and the flat iron. Trust me on this one ...
Is the centering hole for the new mounts in the same place as the old ones? Were the old ones up higher? Hard to say from the pic. But the engine isn't hanging on anything, just won't drop down in the mounts?
Actually it is on the hoist still, just hovering above the mounts. But I have tried every which way possible with no luck. From the AD truck thread: Nope, kept them and repainted them, installed them when I got the engine back. Aside from the fact that I took pics of where the mount was previously, I have removed and reinstalled them at least 5 times each side to either swap out inserts or check, recheck, double, trip and quadruple recheck the holes and there is only one way they go on. I even went as far as to take the mounts off the block and put them on the frame mounts, installed the long engine mount bolt and tightend it all up, then measured. I got 15" between the mounts. I had the engine on a stand that was built out of angle iron and there are four mounting points, two on the rear bell housing and one on each side at the forward most hole that is used for the block mounts. Since it is hard to measure the width of the block at the mounts, I measured the stand across where the bolting points are and got 16". WTF is going on here. BTW, I don't know if I mentioned it but I bought a new set of mounts with inserts for a 74 Camaro and they are the three hole design. Now the existing mounts are 4 hole, but there are only three holes that line up in the frame and the fourth is unused. The three hole ones I bought line up at the top two holes, but the third hole doesnt line up with any other holes already in the frame. I put in just the top two bolts and if they had fit I would have just drilled the third hole and been done, but they sit in the exact spot as the existing ones I have and didnt fix the problem. I looked on the prothane site and pretty much every sbc v8 in that era for camaro/nova use the same number insert, but I dont think its an insert issue anyway as they are all centered as you said. At this point, I have checked and rechecked everything so many times its rediculous, I think I am just going to redrill holes above the existing holes and be done with it, this is getting out of hand....ha!
Stupid question, but are you sure you got the same block back from the shop? I too looked at your pics from page 1 to now... sure look the same to me too! If you put the mounts higher, will the engine be sitting higher in the frame? Good luck! Seems maddening!
Yea, i thought that too for a while but I had written down the serial number and its the same. Anyway, HOLY SHIT I GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Got the stock mounts and same problem....thought maybe the frame was twisted as I had it on jack stands so i set iup up level, no go. Set it up to intentionally twist maybe give me more room, nope. Drilled out all holes with a 1/2 inch uni bit and viola!! Screw it, I have been messin with this waaaay to long.
My wife and I got the transmission installed today, just need to put in the torque converter/flywheel bolts. I wanted to start installing accessories but need a bunch of odds and ends like spark plug wire looms, balancer spacer and cap screws that were missing out of m pulley bracket set. I swear every time you think you are done with one area, you think of 20 more things you need.... So now on to my next problem. I haven't messed with it any, but Does the trans cross member bolt inside the frame rail or outside. It seems like inside but it hits the master cylinder before it gets to the trans....
i've got a chassis engineering trans mount and my mc hit the cross member as well.i ended up notching mine ...my mount uses the stock bolt location but yours seems to bolt to the bottom of the frame rail....maybe this is riggin it but why couldnt you just position it where it clears.drill new holes in the frams rails...weld a piece of plate down on the mounting surface and extend that foward and drill new hole for the transmission mount ?.........whid
Honestly I think it bolts to the bottom of the frame rail and hangs down lower. The engine is actually sitting about 3 degrees forward right now from the jack stand, so if I leveled it or even leaned it back slightly the trans mount wouldn't fit because the cross member would be too high. I still haven't gotten time to mess with it, but I think I remember seeing other pics of trucks with it underneath...
not sure if you saw this thread or not, but check post #167 - he shows the trans cross member installed like you're saying http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6972525#post6972525
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