the summer project

[billcreller]

A friend came to help me on Monday, and after lots of fooling with the front clip, we have the hood adjusted & the hood latch working right.....
 I also found the gremlin in the dome light wiring 

So now I'm sanding on the body, and putting off finding the leak in the trans pan......

But the engine starts very quick, and runs great, and sounds really mean !

[billcreller]

So now I'm checking all the primed body surfaces and fooling with scratches & divits, which is why the primers is blotchy looking !.  Soon I will prime the body with red primer, after it's masked....
  At least the hood fits now...

[billcreller]

So now it's all masked off, and I'm sanding the self-etching primer and putting grey ( they didn't have any red in stock ) primer-surfacer on.
I hate sanding,and so does my arthritis ......and I'm finding a few real little dings I didn't see earlier,  that I have to fill & fix..

Hope to get it painted before it gets too cold here...

[billcreller]

Today I finished with the sanding of the primer, and cleaning the body of dust etc, and vacuuming the floor,etc.. 
This pic was from when I was going to close the hood until after paint. Tomorrow is paint day...base coat, and clear coat...

[DummyLoad]

Today I finished with the sanding of the primer, and cleaning the body of dust etc, and vacuuming the floor,etc.. 
This pic was from when I was going to close the hood until after paint. Tomorrow is paint day...base coat, and clear coat...

nice. what color are you going to shoot?
 

[billcreller]

The color is Firethorn, which is a red metallic..  My '74 Malibu is that color also.
Anyway, this morning I put the base coats on,  then came home and mowed my lawn.  After that & lunch,  I went back & applied two wet coats of clear.

I'll get pics later after the masking is pulled off...

It' has to be fine sanded & polished yet of course, which is the downside of the base/clear stuff...

[billcreller]

Here's the rear...




And the front...  lots of parts & trim to put on yet....

[Willabe]

WOW!!!!! That's a beautiful red!!!!!!


          Brad     

[DummyLoad]

bill, very, very nice! cool shade of red. can't wait to see completed pics.


--pete

[billcreller]

Thanks for the kind words !  At least I got it painted just before it cooled off here....like from the high 70s down to the 50s...
No heat in that building...

[billcreller]

At this point, I'm in no hurry to get into the wet color sanding and buffing, until the clear coat cures & hardens more.
And the transmission still leaks on the floor !
  I may have to pull the transmission & find out what the hell is leaking.  Front seal is OK, so maybe the big O ring on the pump is the culprit.....

The engine runs good though !

[billcreller]

Well, it's about time to put it on jack stands, and remove the leaky transmission.  I can hardly wait ! I also have some frame braces to install, to beef up the rear cross frame and control arm attachments.  Luckily a friend has a transmission jack that I can use....

[billcreller]

I have it up on stands. Have to remove the exhaust pipes and the "H" pipe in order to remove the cross member.  Luckily I have the entire exhaust system done with band clamps instead of the U bolt type, so it should come apart easy enough..

[billcreller]

Today I removed everything in the way of pulling the trans out, except bell housing bolts.  Should have it out to search the leak source tomorrow or Saturday.....
Going back in may take a few minutes longer...

[supro66]

I heard that custom Motorcycle that was on TV in Orange Calf could not pass the state emissions there

[billcreller]

Trans is out, leak fixed  ( big O-ring on the pump ) and it's ready to wrestle back in behind the engine.  The fun just never stops it seems...

[Willabe]

Trans is out, leak fixed  ( big O-ring on the pump )

You got it!

(Wasn't that thing eluding you for a while?)


               Brad   

[billcreller]

Yes !  With the converter in there, I couldn't see the front seal, pump seal etc , even though it was the leak area.

I have it back in & bolted to the engine.  Now it's the easy stuff, to finish it,  like drive shaft & exhaust ...

Then it's back to color sanding, which was interrupted by the ATF puddle on the floor !

[Ritchie200]

Gosh I hated pulling trannies.  If they only went together as easy as they slide apart......


Jim

[billcreller]

A transmission jack really works good when installing a trans.  Getting one out works with a floor jack with a chunk of half-inch plywood bolted to the jack pad, because it can be slid off onto the floor.  On the trans jack, it has to be hoisted to get it off & back on.
Time to try out my new buffer/polisher. It's a variable speed type, which should do the job OK....

[DummyLoad]

A transmission jack really works good when installing a trans.

it helps. i've wedged in many C6, C4, TH350 & TH400 with just a floor jack and 2 x 6. the FMX were the worst: heavy POS - cast iron body.

a solid trans jack with good tilt pedestal is really nice to have though when it's a one-man operation.

glad you got it sorted, just in time for a spring cruise... :-)

--pete

[lego4040]

Beautiful Build, I miss my Hot Rod days. I changed a TH350 in my Nova SS on the street once in the rain with a standard floor jack and lumber. I didnt care, there was racing to be done

[billcreller]

The current pain in the butt is the sanding of the clear coat.  I hate sanding & body work anyway.....

I have some frame braces that need to be installed yet, which brace the rear cross member to the rear control arm mounts.  They are supposed to keep the cross member from cracking when a big torque load is loaded on the rear end control arms.
I wouldn't need them with the small block Chevy, but the Caddy is a torque monster.......

And I need to find new speakers for the rear.  There are factory grille holes in the rear door post trim, but only room for speakers with a bit less than 2 inch depth. 
I have new Pioneer 4 X 6 types which are just not thin enough

[PRR]

Call Crutchfield. They usually know what speaker fits any car/truck.

[DummyLoad]

http://www.crutchfield.com/car/carselector.aspx?lp=%2fCar%2foutfitmycar%2fcar.aspx

[lego4040]

That's a 511 big block in the Caddy wasn't it? Those were beasts

[Willabe]

My parents had a 2 door, white, hard top Caddy with that big 500+ engine in it. Man that thing was smooooth on the highway!


             Brad       

[billcreller]

In regard to Crutchfield, I plan on calling them about thinner speakers. I get their catalogs all the time. They usually don't show stuff for cars this old !  I may use the little 4X4 speakers in the doors, if there is room....
My engine is from a '76 Coupe DeVille that I had, a 500 inch, that's now 507 with the +.030 over-bore.

[PRR]

> They usually don't show stuff for cars this old !

They been in business a long time. They seem to measure every speaker on the market. They survive despite brutal competition *because* they can help. Try their robo-lookup, but in this case I'd also call. (It is possible one of their staff knows your truck and its specific speaker pocket.)

And yes, a good 4" round *may* beat the slim pickings in 4x6 size. I making assume the adapter plate won't trouble you. (But ask. Crutchfield may have a pre-made plate.)

[billcreller]

My buddy has been helping with the wet sanding, and one day he shows up with a new dual-action sander that has a little water hose on it, that feeds water through the special sanding discs.  It works really great.
Buffing is done except for the right door, which I need to re-paint part of.

  I just got my camera back from being fixed, So I'll have to get more photos soon...

Too many interruptions with fixing family cars an working on airplanes.
 I've been replacing generators on older airplanes with alternator kits.  Best thing to happen to old airplanes !
Generators are usually old Delcos.  Parts hard to find etc.  Delco hasn't made aircraft electrical parts since 1968, so OEM & after market is drying up.

[PRR]

> replacing generators on older airplanes with alternator kits.  Best thing to happen to old airplanes !

My tractor runs a generator. Will it fly higher with an alternator?

[Willabe]

My tractor runs a generator. Will it fly higher with an alternator?

 

[Ritchie200]

PRR,

Are you confusing alternator with supercharger?  They both can run off the same belt, but only one will make you fly....

Jim

[billcreller]

I've rebuilt a few 6 volt generators on old Farmall tractors.  I figure that if they worked for 75+ years, they will still work OK.

There are aftermarket 6 volt modified Delco alternators for old systems.
I did one on a Farmall A.  Well, even after I marked the battery cables & told the guy it has to be a negative ground, he replaced the battery & hooked it up the old way...positive ground......and wiped out the new alternator

I could have likely fixed the alternator, but....with a fence post for a brain, he would likely have done it again. I gave up on him...

I'm putting the trim moldings & mirrors back on the El Camino project..  Soon I'll have to fork over for new tires

I'm kinda anxious to do a few burn-outs with it !

[billcreller]

Bumpers are back on...still have to snap the rubber impact things back on the bumper guards.....



And here's the rear....



Still needs some more buffing, when I get it out of the building where there is more light...

[billcreller]

A couple days ago, I took it out on the runway at this private airstrip where I rebuilt it.  I wanted to check how the transmission shifts etc ( it's working OK )
 
Being a grass airstrip, I didn't do anything crazy.  No traction !
I believe it's going to be fun driver though ! 
I did run it for a short run on the concrete driveway alongside the runway,  to my buddy's house though, and couldn't keep the old rear tires from smoking when touching the gas pedal.  New tires will help......

[billcreller]

A guy stopped by a few days ago, just to see what I was working on in this hangar.  After he looked at my project, he asked about the engine, and I told him that it's just a 305 Chevy engine, with new paint.
And I didn't even bat an eye while spreading the BS !

[PRR]

Stock SBC distributor is at the other end, jammed tight to the firewall.

How clever of you to move it forward where you can reach it.

[DummyLoad]

ya kno, that kinda looks like a B wedge... 


but not really. 

[PRR]

> looks like a B wedge... 

In a GM? Blasphemy!

I did have the same thought. But I recall Mopar's distributor on the other side?

The neighbor got-in a Hudson Eight. 1940. Apparently it (and three others) was in a nailed-shut garage for 50 years.

The crank felt seized, but he talked to it a few days and it turns well. The valves (flathead) are sticking lightly but I'm sure he will sort that out. The brakes cleaned-up nice (iron un-worn but rubber rotted). The interior is beautiful (apparently no mice).

Hudson's heyday was a Six. Later they made the Eight but apparently about the same length as the Six. If you work out the geometry, such an 8 is *smaller* displacement than the 6. Actually the older 6 didn't push the envelope, the 8 is tightly packed. Still only grew to 258 CID. (<3" bore on 5" stroke) Did sell well (in the period when about every Ford was an 8). Postwar, Hudson realized they would never grow a OHV V-8, so they pushed their Flattie Six to the limit, around 308 CID, a potent mill for the early 1950s. An outside project brought in some head refinements, which became factory parts, and Hudson had a few years in front of NASCAR. But all the non-big-3 car companies collapsed into AMC and that was the end of that.

[billcreller]

I almost bought a Hudson Hornet with the 308 six in it, from a guy at work. back in the late 50s.  It had a GM Hydramatic transmission in it.  But it steered very hard ( no power), or maybe I would have bought it.  Actually a nice car.....
The Hornets gave the Olds 88 a hard time on the road, which is pretty good for a flat head engine..

[DummyLoad]

I did have the same thought. But I recall Mopar's distributor on the other side?

it is on the other side... since bill was telling tall tales about the SBC...

In a GM? Blasphemy!

folks put a SBC chevy in 30's and 40's ford chassis', now that's blasphemy! at least it is to me since ford actually has some decent v8's. b wedge is a great engine if you avoid the weaker production 440 rods. i prefer the LA family 340.

The neighbor got-in a Hudson Eight. 1940. Apparently it (and three others) was in a nailed-shut garage for 50 years.

cool cars. is it a hornet?

--pete

[PRR]

Not a Hornet. (AFAIK they were all Sixes. And later.) A Boss's Large 4dr Sedan, with desk for writing checks.

> folks put a SBC chevy in 30's and 40's ford chassis', now that's blasphemy! at least it is to me since ford actually has some decent v8's.

I was thinking why we (most folks) accept a SBC 350 in *everything*, from Ford to Graham-Paige. I think it goes back to Tex Smith, who passed only this year. Around 1960 he wrote a series of articles explaining how to put a Chevy V-8 in a Model A. Today a workable A is too precious to cut-up, but in 1960 there was one behind every barn. And the Chevy V-8 had been around just long enough that you could pick one up in any junkyard for less than any other working engine. And the Ford V-8s of the day were crap, flathead-in-A was over-done, and the Mopars were too heavy for a small roadster. Tex even had you run the Chevy with the A's gearbox and rear axle! He said it would break if you did any soup-up, but he was right that driveline stress is limited by traction, so if you went light and used the hard stock tires of the day, you could drive around with a modern V-8.

The "good" Ford didn't come out until 1963, wasn't junk inventory until late 1960s, and by that time the SBC had -so- much support (souping and adapting) that it never caught on. (And early production 260/289s were not all that good; the SBC is a better design and often better built. The later 351W is solid as a rock, but as big as an SBC, and mostly sold smog-choked.)

Even in heavier cars and racers, the Hemi didn't catch on until Garlits blew the Y-block in his truck and figured he needed a bigger engine to climb the passes. A DeSoto was the biggest engine in the junkyard. Then he blew the flattie in his dragster, and his wife told him to try the engine in the truck. The bone-stock DeSoto blew-away all the carefully honed engines in the meet. When everybody had an (old) Hemi, Don got the GMC blower. (Not sure who first tipped the Nitro in.) The heyday of dragsters blew-up all the old Hemis, but for other reasons (NASCAR) there was the New Hemi. As they chewed-through the small production, Black and others moved from mods to complete engines based on the Hemi.(For slightly less grunt and bread, Mopar has some 1966-ish Hemi crate motors.)

[Ritchie200]

And the Ford V-8s of the day were crap,

The "good" Ford didn't come out until 1963, wasn't junk inventory until late 1960s, and by that time the SBC had -so- much support (souping and adapting) that it never caught on. (And early production 260/289s were not all that good; the SBC is a better design and often better built. The later 351W is solid as a rock, but as big as an SBC, and mostly sold smog-choked.)

The early FE designs didn't hit their stride until the 390 and were basically truck engines.  The second gen FE 406 was a match for the venerable 409 and there were many a great matchup at the drag strips.  Many of those second gen FE engines found their way to the race tracks.

The side oiler wedge motors were awesome beasts with thrashings and winnings at Le Mans and other long distance races to prove it.  Tunnelport...oooooooh!  SOHC...ahhhhh!  The blown SOHC cammer motor was a Hemi killer - IF you could keep the 60 ft of timing chains in check!  Heck naturally aspirated out of the crate it produced something like 670HP and was the only motor in history banned from NASCAR (due to the wah, wah, wah, from Mopar who was already getting spanked by the tunnelport).

Ok the 260 was not so hot, but the 289/302 was a great engine!  Even with two bolt mains were easy 7,000rpm spinners with the right springs.  The 351W was a choked down utility/boat engine with small valves and horrid flow.

The 351 Cleveland was bulletproof and with the right trimmings (351 Boss) was an incredible motor.  De-stroked with a steel Boss 302 crank and you have a 10K spinner all day.  The Cleveland head was a brilliant design.

So yes there were LOADs of junkyard Cheap Heaps for Every Youngster parts out there (for a reason!).  However, the mighty (although in the minority and often maligned - out of jealousy I might add...) Fords were holding down the performance milestones (and we haven't even touched on Indy OR F1!).

And my royal flush of this card game to trump any response.....  Who the heck would put a distributor on the BACK of a motor!!!!

Ahhh, you bow tie guys and misguided Mostly Old Parts And Rust lemmings, how silly you think the world revolves around you......

First On Race Day

Jim

[sluckey]

Come on. Be brave. Just stand up and say "My name is Jim and I'm a FORD".   

[Ritchie200]

My name is Jim and after one too many (make that many too many) Fix Or Repair Daily events totaling up from a 1983 diesel dually, a 90 something Taurus, a 90 something Sable, and a 94 diesel dually - changed me into a Honda/Toyota/Subaru!  There were a few bright spots along the way however, (2) 88 Tbird turbo coupes - one of the best cars in the history of automobiles and the Yamaha powered Taurus SHO.  Not enough to prevent my conversion tho....

But don't mess with my 60's and 70's Fords!

Jim

[Willabe]

But don't mess with my 60's and 70's Fords!

That's what Rory Gallagher said too!   

Souped Up Ford     


https://youtu.be/WvtD2c6Xxd4

[Ritchie200]

AND had it not been for his "Flat head Ford", Billy and Dusty would have never met Precious and Grace while "cruising down the boulevard"!

Jim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBgqzvviTrQ

[Willabe]

Love it! That's my fav ZZ album! 

[DummyLoad]

SBC was a better fit because it has a rear sump oil pan. the 332/352 fords were in junkyards and just as good as SBC, however, they are a front sump so oil pan would not fit over 32/33 coupe front axle and that's likely the real reason there + there were more SBC performance parts available at lower cost, so SBC made sense.

in then end you have ford body, chevy engine and trans with a ford rear end. what a bastard franken child.

Who the heck would put a distributor on the BACK of a motor!!!!

duntov did that to simplify the oiling system and make a rear sump power plant: duntov knew what he was doing. all ford V8 of 50-60-70's are front distributor, so they are front oil pump and sump and installing in hot rod you have to install them more rearward or forward: in smaller chassis this is next to impossible, unless you relocate the oil pickup tube and build you own rear sump pan. there are exceptions - later 70's-80's 4WD truck FE and 385 Lima were rear sump, so you buy truck parts and retrofit to FE or 385 Lima in hot rod.

BTW jim, cryco had a legitimate gripe to disallow 427 SOHC since it was not a production engine. FIA outlawed the 427 for dominating lemans simply because no other manufacturer had a big block V8 that performed as well as the 427 side oiler at the time. sad.

FORD - backwards... Driver Returns On Foot 

--pete