Projects '23 Ford Roadster build aka The Incredible Hulk

I pulled the stock distributor last week,
I had gone through it and made sure it was up to stock spec's
But felt it could use a little more spark.
I had another stock distributor I had put an old (NOS) Mallory dual point kit in, ordered up a Moroso mechanical advance kit and an adjustable vacuum can.
Stuck that in and started fiddling with it.
Oh, and for no good reason at all I installed steel shim head gaskets to bump the compression up a bit.
When I built the engine I had the block fitted with .060 over pistons, an NOS set of cast Ohio pistons, 'cause that's what I had around.

The dual point distributor made a noticable difference but with the bump in compression I had to dial back on the timing.
So far it seems to behave best with about 6° initial and 28° total mechanical and still dialing in the vacuum but I pulled a bunch out there too.
Not sure of exact compression ratio but I think it must be over 10.25:1 advertised for the '58 J2

 

looks great Paul !

 

What gas are you running? And what cam? Just curious. I'm not an Olds guy so compared to SBC numbers those are pretty conservative.

 

92 octane, slightly warmed regrind stock cam.
J2 Olds is a very different animal than typical SBC

 

The numbers were surprising at first, until I read a little about high compression naturally aspirated setups, it might like a little octane boost now too.

 

I felt like total mechanical was close but thinking initial could use some more.
So I pulled the distributor again,
Pull the shaft and pressed a limiter bushing on,
put it all back together and now with about 29° total mechanical it gives me about 11° initial.
Vacuum still at about 6° total at 15"
It seems to like it a little better here.

 

This is where a Dyno might come in handy.
I believe I have a pretty good ear and feel for what it wants.
But the numbers are still off by what seems like a lot from what the book says.

Weather looks promising today,
I'll run it through the paces again,
not that it's bad, I just want more.

 

Might just be as simple as the high test gasoline of 1958 compared to today's gas.

Whatever, it's a good excuse to go out and play.

 

I think that is probably the biggest part of the equation. The 91 If possible octane compared to 100 plus we used to have available makes a big difference on what you can do. If you are running pump gas you will be limited.

 

So I did something and I sure hope it works out.
The engine had been making way too much lifter noise since I got it going,
It would tick loudly until warm then quite down but not go all the way away..
Bugged the hell out of me.
So I ordered two sets of lifters and one set of push rods,
pulled the intake, valve covers and valley pan.
Pulled the rocker assemblies.
There were three lifters bleeding down.

I replaced just those three lifters...
Not something I've ever done,
when lifters go in they are part of a package, cam, lifters, push rods and timing set.
The engine has about 300 miles on it, probably about 10-15 hours I'd guess,
the cam and lifters had just started to show a wear pattern.
I also replaced all the push rods, the ones with the bad lifters were just starting to form tits at the rocker end...

Got it all back together and ran around the block a few times, sounds much better.
Hope it stays that way.
But if it goes TU I have a fresh cam and set of lifters ready.

 

Paul who made the lifters?

 

Another tough one to admit..
I bought two sets,
One set off shore for reasonable money
And one set NOS OEM for stupid money.
I replaced the three leakers with three from the cheap set.

 

Local cam grinder, Delta Camshaft, can recondition used lifters
but all they can do is clean them and put a new face on them
so they have to be good to begin with.

 

By offshore do you mean thru Falcon?

 

Old Parts Source on ebay.
As you know nobody is making new lifters for the '57-'64 Olds in the states.
I did open them up and bench primed them,
They passed visual and held like they should.
Hopefully they are made out of decent material.
Definitely feels like a crap shoot.

 

Interior panels coming together,
sorry no pictures of construction but
'made patterns with poster board,
Cut panels from plastic wall paneling from big box store,
glued yoga mat material from discount store to them
and used stainless finishing washers and oval head sheet metal screws to hold them in place.
This of course is just the foundation,
I need to make a decision on the seat and build it before upholstery material goes on.
Probably should get some paint on too..

 

Been putting a few miles on it when it's not raining,
never seem to notice that it rains all the time until there's a roadster in the garage..
And when a hot rod sits in the garage too long it gets worked on,
whether it needs it or not
and if it does need attention in one area it might get worked on in another.
Biggest things this car needs are paint and upholstery.
So I pulled the J2 tri-power intake and am putting a dual four barrel on it.
I've had this old "say why and" laying around for a while collecting dust.
'did a quick and dirty polish,
took it down to 1000 grit and a brief rub with Wenol red just to take some of the dull out and bolted it on.
The thermostat housing was pointing in the wrong direction so in the fashion of the one on the J2, I fabbed up a new one to fit this manifold.
Still needs a bit of lovin' but it's getting close.

 

nice work Paul... ya gonna chrome it ?

 

Slick!

 

A lot of Norms car look here in this one, very nice. JW

 

Would be nice, maybe some day.

Here it is after a bit more sanding and a trip through the blasting cabinet and then with a couple coats of paint.

 

You're kinda good at those t-stat housings eh

 

Gotta do whatcha gotta do

 

It'll be interesting to see what the difference in performance will be between the J-2 intake and the dual quads...

 

RATTLE CAN GOODNESS , CAN'T GO WRONG

 

Now that is some old time Hot Rodding fabrication at it's best!

 

And done.

 

Waiting on carburetors now.
These are Edelbrock 600 cfm
I have a pair of 500's on the way.

Also need to modify throttle linkage.
And run some fuel line..
Should be running around again in a week.

 

Great fab work .

 

Been there. I used a fence post cap I found somewhere in the interwebz.