Looking at 19 degrees tonight here in Crystal River with a single digit wind chill. The citrus farmers have got to be very nervous about the frost. I will leave the water running tonight.
Well , warmed up here in Houston , i had my stat at 50 at night , im bundled up in blankets since my daughter is away for Holidays....saved a bundle as my home is not insulated...ha ha ....stay warm you houligans.
Speedwrench, I used to split wood by hand till about 3 years ago{I think that's 1 reason for the sore shoulder.LOL.} The last 4 years I have u used my chain saw and my HARBOR FREIGHT log splitter {which is going on its 4th years now and still going strong hard to believe hu?}to do all that heavy work. That log splitter is a god send. lol. Now I just have to load it up from the shop and take it up to the front porch when I need some..Bruce .
I cant believe we haven had any snow .Why even Danny has had some in S.C. but tomorrow they are calling for freezing rain here in the morning then turning in to all rain. I hope that freezing rain doesn't last long that's what brings down the power lines. Bruce.
Finally a sunny day!..... I had to notch the motor mount brackets for the big late model balancer. Apparently the 350 is internally balanced so I can leave it on and my pulleys/Alt. etc. while using the '57 T/C and flexplate out back the brackets were slightly different in look so I massaged the odd one to match the other... different years I guess managed to find some bolts in the ol' coffee can and on they went
This engine has been sitting under a tarp for close to a year now with no ehaust manifolds in some climates that's not a big deal but since I had to wait for some "good" weather to put it in we've had every other weather front known to man: torrential down pours, gale force winds, extended periods of dry blowing snow, and ice storms so frankly I was surprised it turned over! I pumped the cylinders full of oil and hand cranked it a few times....hopefully she'll be ok new old V-8 mounts Another Craigslist score 1980 Chev van had been sitting for over 10 years the guy said he rebuilt the 350 not too long before taking it off the road....I brought a battery and pumped up one flat tire and chugged it all the way home! lol it's a considerable distance so a ridiculous thing to do but towing would've cost a mint It had a turbo 400 on it that was really low on fluid but a couple litres at the gas station got me home....yeah I know I should've kept it that and the Nova 8.5 10 bolt that came with the old chassis but I sold them A) I have a new baby and needed the money B) it ain't the '80's anymore (3spds suck gas) C) it had a truck trans with a fixed yolk (yes there are counter-bored yolks available) I could've paid to tow it over to the driveshaft shop for a custom driveshaft yada yada yada or I could buy a $75 mystery '57 powerglide "from a running car" (20 yrs ago) lol! and use my stock rear and drivehaft I already had and take a chance. I used the t400 to sweeten the deal on selling the '57 4 dr. I had to downsize
I worked for many years outside with NO garage. This is what makes you tough. Timing chains, clutches, rears, water pumps, countless brake jobs. I did a few starters and alternators (on newer cars...) with it being close to 0. We always looked forward to April where it would be okay to work outside without the frost bite thing. And try to get everything fixed in the fall before late November.
Re: post #16 ....Don't worry I was never under the car like that! I posed it for dramatic effect for the guy who bought the floor pan when he pulled up with a flatdeck It all worked out great I did it by myself with a cherry picker and a couple jacks I bought the parts car for $400 from a super nice guy (including towing from several cities down the valley) he had used it for parts for a wagon so it was pretty stripped..... pulled the frame, front (scuffed) and rear windsheild, and sold the rusty floor pan to a guy building a '55 with no floor at all for $300...I got the roof panel back (which I need) it was in bad shape dents and rust wise but better than nothing (later the neighbour's kids jumped all over it so that was a waste of time )the doors, trunklid, Bel-Air chrome and glass I threw in with the green '57 when I sold it to downsize (baby arrived), it seems ya can't give that 4 dr shit away... I managed to double my money selling the green car though (took a couple things but included the van th400) also in the pic is the $350. van I bought for it's 350/th400 .... later I lost my shirt on a shitty split bench seat trade for the 2 dr. doors that I got for the green car for the 4 dr to 2 dr. conversion I was planning so ya win some ya lose some...I got $40 at the scrapyard for the bent up frame/bumpers and stuff no one would buy lol and traded the 4 dr. front seat for the eng. compartment wiring harness
I hear you I recently did a starter for a buddy a few hours on the concrete on my back @ -3 degrees with a good stiff breeze to boot he was broke and needed to get to work I got paid in appreciation....I think
Is the green 150 in the background the one you parted out? All the ones I cut up, I should have saved enough panels to sham up a wall hanger. Like the uber rusty 210 2 door wagon. Pretty sure there's front end stuff here. A dude I met once built a shadow box ''garage'' about 3 feet deep and put together bumper, headlights & grille to look like a car was parked in there. A fun project. Going to get my kid involved in this one. Just sayin' - don't be too quick to scrap it all!
Yay! a hood... I bought a hood, inner fenders, and a front fender for $250. and resold the fender for $200. I threw the inner fenders in with the 4 dr. deal and traded my original hood (a little rust in the corners) + a new passport ($100.)+ $100. U.S. + a 4 hr. drive to Washington for a split bench seat! ....the fellow knew it was worth $800. -$1,000 even though I wasn't sure if he knew the market value I had set in my mind that I would tell him because I didn't want anyone to feel bad later (I know how it feels) but he told me he did and was fine with the rust on the hood too! what an awesome experience and so refreshing to deal with someone who wasn't crying all the way to the bank over a penny or two....especially after being put through the ringer by one of our local '57 guys on the first seat I found....Thanks again Fred!
Decent used inner 57 fenders are $300 U.S. and a hood is 200. You did ok, lets see a pic of the seat.
No, it was the copper bel-air from post #16. Before we found out about the baby I had delusions of grandeur I was going to build a 2 door post conversion out of the green car. Let me go back a bit...this whole thing started when I proposed to my fiance, while making wedding plans she says: "it would be neat to have an old car to drive off in" I said: " you mean like the Falcon?" (I was building a '63 289 Falcon) her: "no something classy with fins" me: "like what? look at some pics on the 'net and show me" her: "this" lo and behold it was a '57 Chevy (yeah I'm lucky to have a girl like that!) a car I've wanted since childhood! Knowing they are hard to find I said "don't hold your breath but i'll try" soon after a smokin' deal on this brown 4 dr. 210 came up I always miss Craigslist deals by a hair so this time I jumped on it...I reached up the rear 1/4 and grabbed the frame rail it crumbled in my hand but I decided to go for it. When leaving I said I had to go to the bank machine ( it was late at night) he said "I'm going out of town for the weekend don't worry about it pay me monday when I get back"...that weekend was hell for me... first thing monday I called and.... he had sold it to another guy for $200 more over the weekend I had already located and paid for the copper parts car (for the frame) so it was a bit of a bummer to say the least ....soon after I found the black 2 dr. bare shell, then the green 4 dr roller, I was going to convert but after we found out about the baby coming I decided to let the 4 dr to 2 dr plan go and sold the green one. ha ha ha after I sold the rest of the shell I made giving back the roof part of the deal but shortly thereafter I wished i'd asked for the 1/4s back too...why? I dreamt up a front porch seat made out of the '57 1/4's rear bumper and front seat with the trunklid for a canopy....would've been a cool piece and would've felt much better than scrapping them and might've been worth a few $ I also hated scrapping the left over odds and ends but I rent and that shit takes up space and tends to rent space in your head too
I guess in my excitement I forgot to take one...this is the first seat I got soaked on This was the worst deal I made out the whole thing.... actually what am I saying I got soaked pretty good on the 2 dr. shell too oh well as I was saying I actually traded this split bench rust pile for a pair of pretty decent 2 dr post door shells then later realized how badly I got f#*$ed and traded it off for a gauge cluster
Been There, Done That ! As a kid growing up my Dad's garage was full of his Midget race car stuff, then I lived with my sister, no garage, first flat I rented, shared owners 2 car, better than nothing, second flat same deal, shared 2 car garage, So you are not alone having fun freezing and waiting on weather. The garage deal will improve as your life moves forward.
Ive got a 30 x 30 red iron and sheet metal shop. and it is too full of engines and tools to get a vehicle inside. It has that chopped up newspaper blown in insulation. Crappy stuff and not very good at insulating. I can build a hot fire in the wood stove but it is still cold 10 feet away from the stove but I do have a large concrete slab covered with a canopy (The place was a gas station & country store) where I do most of my work. I cant turn wrenches in the cold any more and the heat gets to me also. My eldest son revamped his garage reframed the inside and rewired it. He has ten inch thick insulated walls. air cond and natural gas heat. He poured a new floor and ground it flat and put on some kind of expensive floor paint. I wouldn't want to work in it because I would be afraid of getting it dirty.
Those are horror stories. I have a garage, that I cant get into but the front slab is great. I was on gravel for years. Nothing like a floor jack sliding on a frame to give a tight pucker.
Ha ha Yeah without rocks poking into my back, rain, snow or blistering sun on my head etc. I'd probably fall asleep under the car Ha ha just happened last week... mine is also on quite a slant changing a tire on the DD in park, e-brake on, using blocks, and TWO jacking points to offset the balance....crash! bent up my trolley jack, and my new Canadian Tire scissor jack, bent the dust cover, and hurt my pride
My 2.5 car garage is tight with the machine shop room I built, 10" x 16". So it sucks up a lot of the 2nd bay. I strongly prefer to work outside than inside. By mid March the outside is pretty good to work in. Or I back the car in if I work on the engine or front of the car.
Winter of '78 the starter went in my '64 Ford wagon. Starter arrived too late to change at work, I get a push-start and head for home. Dark out too. I ran the car up on a snow bank that was pretty hard. Dug out under the car with a shovel, no jack or stands either, just snow. Laid down on cardboard, using only a flash light and working fast, changed it in 10 minutes. Another cold winter maybe 1991, the starter went on my '82 Chevy Caprice wagon. I parked it with a wheel on a wood ramp and Belgium block, the height was good. That took a long time since the starter had a frame bracket in the way that took about 5 sockets and end wrenches to remove.
awesome! the cheap craigslist score headers seem to fit on the pass. side! it's a tight squeeze and took a bit to wrassle 'em up from underneath luckily the centre link is disconnected right now also very snug is the starter i'll have to unbolt the header to pull it! what I was most afraid of is that the seller forgot what they were or they were the type you have to cut the transmission crossmember ears off...but I got lucky lets hope its the same on the steering box side no problems there...until I went to put the top bolt in the starter and encountered this problem.... it's not a huge gap but enough to create problems if anyone has encountered this before let me know what your fix was...I'm thinking dremel the edge of the pan down a bit and hope that's all it takes
I can't really see what starter motor you're using (looks like it "might" be a 3 bolt), but I can see it's a Cast Iron Powerglide in there. That means you HAVE to use a starter motor that bolts to the BELL-HOUSING, with 3 bolts. The same starter is used for both manual transmission and C.I. Powerglides, though NOT for the Turbo-glide transmissions, or the later, more modern aluminum cased automatics. If your starter motor is the kind that bolts to the block, you'll need one to work with a 168 tooth flywheel/flex-plate, and I'm not sure IF they will work with a C.I. Powerglide; they will work with a manual bell-housing if the innermost/lowermost bolt boss on the bell-housing is removed (broken off/cut off/torched off-I've seen all those methods used). You "might" be able to grind enough metal off the 3 bolt starter, if that's what you do have, so you can "clock" it right to fit, but I can't say for sure. It looks like your engine is/was a Target Master type of 305-350 with the oil pan that can take either a right or left hand dipstick. As far as the driver side header goes, a lot of the 55-56-57 Chevrolet cars need to have the pitman arm swapped in order to fit a header on that side; there are two different ones, and one has more of a "curve" to it. All kinds of issues crop up trying to crossbreed parts with early/late model Chevrolet's, such as you having to cut the front engine mounts to clear the dampener. Is the shape of the oil pan, with the bulge for an unused dipstick causing interference, and not allowing you to be able to clock the starter enough to get the bolt (s) in? I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
Hi Butch I was hoping you'd find this thread!.....the engine is an '80 350 somewhere around these years they switched the dipstick casting on the block to the pass. side that's why the oil pan gaskets come with "ears" on both sides. Luckily the pre'65 rule isn't strictly enforced on engines otherwise a lot of us would be in trouble The transmission is indeed a '57 casty with stock 168 tooth flexplate and the starter is a '55-7 3 bolt PG adaptor plate mount. I couldn't get the upper bolt started so I realized it was up against the lip of the oilpan I ground the lip down and although it's very hard to see up there I think the starter is just clearing it now by a few mm's so everything tightened up and I don't think there will any alignment issues. ah shit a new worry ha ha....well so far I got lucky on the pass. side it was a tight squeeze and I was mainly worried they might require cutting off the trans mnt ears they werent meant for the PG as one tube just touches the pg adptr/starter but nothing a couple taps with a hammer won't fix... as for the driver's side this set was obviously meant for having the engine in stock position since the pass. side fit perfectly so thats a good thing it also had a bracket for a stock gennie so I'm hoping they are designed as stock replacement headers (fingers crossed lol) My main concerns now are A)this possible pitman arm thing B) my column shift linkage fitting C) using the 8" harmonic balancer when the 283 had virtually no balancer on it ... I can't see the '57 flexplate and T/C weighing less than the same size ring gear th4oo parts I do know the 283 balancer would cause harmonics and frag the motor.... if anyone has a definitive answer on that please chime in
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