Greetings!
I'm sure it's in poor taste to start a conversation with a report on the weather, but I want you to know that here in Central Washington State it's been quite cold. Not like it is in the Arctic. By the way, you guys who live in the Arctic must have really, really good jobs. I mean, what else keeps you there? The fishing?
I'm sure it's in poor taste to start a conversation with a report on the weather, but I want you to know that here in Central Washington State it's been quite cold. Not like it is in the Arctic. By the way, you guys who live in the Arctic must have really, really good jobs. I mean, what else keeps you there? The fishing?
Temps here have been in the 20s and 30s with high winds, today was a good example. It was about 34 degrees with the wind howling and I was outside at the edge of the orchard taking apart an engine from a late 80s Camaro. It is a 305 V8 that I've been saving for my wife's '54 pickup but I thought it would do real well in Gary's '51 Chevy coupe.he Lots of hot rodders pass on the 305 because it doesn't make as much power as a 350. However, they look identical in the engine compartment and all the same parts will bolt onto it. But, if you plan to drive the car, it makes good sense to make it go further on a gallon of gas. Nobody's going to know that you only have a 305 cubic inch engine unless you tell them. For that matter, you could tell your buddies that you have a 400 cubic inch motor. Then, when they have to stay home on a Saturday night because they can't afford to put gas in the hot rod, you're out on the town with the girl they told you about who works at the movie theater.
Being an '87 or so, it came from the factory with a roller cam and roller lifters. Apparently, it makes power more smoothly and runs more efficiently. Standard hydraulic lifters have a flat bottom that rides up and down on the lobes of the camshaft and open the valves when the engine's running. The roller lifters have a small wheel at the bottom that rolls over the face of the camshaft with much less friction and drag. It's the future. That is, if Obamacare doesn't make it illegal to use them. You can see them in the picture as small, round circles toward the center of the engine below the big round circles.
I was wearing my insulated and camouflaged hunting suit to keep me from becoming dead, and my dogs were sitting with me to protect me. I looked over at little Archie the dog and noticed him shivering. Dogs are so faithful. Unless they're busy chewing up the wiring to my security cameras.
The car this engine came from was previously owned by a young woman probably under 20. From the evidence I discovered taking the engine apart, I'm going to guess that she never changed the engine oil. Not once. She may have planned it once but probably had her nails done instead and then didn't have enough money to do the oil change. The rod bearings on the first two rods had disintegrated so that pieces were falling out as I took the rod caps off. I'm not sure that I'll be able to save the crankshaft because not only did the young woman skip the oil changes, but she continued to drive the car after it most certainly made horrible noises under the hood. Maybe she just had one of those stereos that plays music too loud.
This is not too good for me because I gave my customer a quote for a complete engine rebuild and I was assuming that I'd be able to re-use the crankshaft by having Brian at K&U polish the journals. If I have to pay for a replacement it will affect my profit on that part of the project. That's okay, the engine has to work well and last a long time.
I did, however, score a victory on eBay yesterday when I was the high bidder on an air cleaner that has dual snorkels; the tubes that bring air into the air cleaner. Since Gary's coupe has two air inlets in the front of the engine compartment for the vents, and since we're not going to use them as vents because he's going to use A/C, therefore I'm going to vent the two air cleaner inlets to the available, screened inlets on both sides of the radiator. This is going to allow his engine to use cooler outside air rather than the hot air in the engine compartment. I realize that the air cleaner looks unattractive now, but I'll make it right and it'll be an asset to Gary's jeweled under-hood components. 
There were several fasteners pushed through from the inside that held things in place under the dash. I've arranged for those things to be supported without the prongs sticking through the firewall. There is a lot of goopy sealant on the firewall that I'm scraping off. I'll weld some of the seam where the sealer was and then clean my welds with a grinder and some body filler. Things look pretty rough right now, but it'll shape up very well.
Sometimes it's better if the owner of the car doesn't visit during the part of the work where things get so rough. I'm sure Gary is okay with this, but some people can't see past the mess to catch the vision of the potential finish. I want to hurry and finish the body work on the firewall before the suspension parts arrive from Speedway Motors. As it is now I have plenty of working room with the front of the frame bare. I'll show some pictures of the cleanup process in this area as I go along. The firewall will become the background for the engine and accessories that are coming. Unfortunately, it's going to look worse before it starts to look better. It really needs to be done right and I can see the finished product in my mind. I love this stuff! Stay tuned.
Doug
Being an '87 or so, it came from the factory with a roller cam and roller lifters. Apparently, it makes power more smoothly and runs more efficiently. Standard hydraulic lifters have a flat bottom that rides up and down on the lobes of the camshaft and open the valves when the engine's running. The roller lifters have a small wheel at the bottom that rolls over the face of the camshaft with much less friction and drag. It's the future. That is, if Obamacare doesn't make it illegal to use them. You can see them in the picture as small, round circles toward the center of the engine below the big round circles.
The car this engine came from was previously owned by a young woman probably under 20. From the evidence I discovered taking the engine apart, I'm going to guess that she never changed the engine oil. Not once. She may have planned it once but probably had her nails done instead and then didn't have enough money to do the oil change. The rod bearings on the first two rods had disintegrated so that pieces were falling out as I took the rod caps off. I'm not sure that I'll be able to save the crankshaft because not only did the young woman skip the oil changes, but she continued to drive the car after it most certainly made horrible noises under the hood. Maybe she just had one of those stereos that plays music too loud.
This is not too good for me because I gave my customer a quote for a complete engine rebuild and I was assuming that I'd be able to re-use the crankshaft by having Brian at K&U polish the journals. If I have to pay for a replacement it will affect my profit on that part of the project. That's okay, the engine has to work well and last a long time.
One of the tasks I'm doing involves removing the stainless steel trim around the windows and polishing it. Evidently, the painters who worked on Gary's car didn't have a tool box so they couldn't remove the trim prior to doing the body work and paint. Consequently, the DA sander they used to quickly prep the paint surface repeatedly hit the stainless steel trim leaving a multitude of marks on every section. I admit, it took me the better part of an hour to work in the trunk to remove the mounting hardware and I had to remove the rear seats and side panels to get to the hardware hidden in there. It's all off now and I'll put a shine on it (if it will clean up) sometime in the next few days.
This evening I spent some time preparing the firewall for some surgery. To allow the V8 to fit properly the two vertical braces need to be removed. I'll replace it with some support pieces before I finish. I'm also removing everything that doesn't absolutely have to be on the firewall.
Sometimes it's better if the owner of the car doesn't visit during the part of the work where things get so rough. I'm sure Gary is okay with this, but some people can't see past the mess to catch the vision of the potential finish. I want to hurry and finish the body work on the firewall before the suspension parts arrive from Speedway Motors. As it is now I have plenty of working room with the front of the frame bare. I'll show some pictures of the cleanup process in this area as I go along. The firewall will become the background for the engine and accessories that are coming. Unfortunately, it's going to look worse before it starts to look better. It really needs to be done right and I can see the finished product in my mind. I love this stuff! Stay tuned.
Doug
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