Greetings!
It's the middle of a blazing hot summer here in south central Washington state. The thermometer at Desert Classics says it's 102 degrees outside so I'm real fortunate to be inside the shop where it's only 100 degrees. One of the benefits of working in this weather is that the parts seem to slide together easier, bathed in sweat. No matter how damp I am or red in the face, my beautiful wife always seems to have just stepped out of the salon.
Since you asked; my wife Tammy & I recently said goodbye to our 19 year old son Joey as he boarded a white van in Spokane Washington and flew from Seattle to San Diego as a United States Marine Corps recruit. Undoubtedly, he's on a white, sandy beach in San Diego with a light westerly breeze busy with the other boot camp attendees practicing the administration of humanitarian aid. No need to check his ocean breeze-blown hair, it's in the dumpster with his civilian clothes. We won't be seeing him again until after his 13 week training is completed. Proud of him I am. Don't mind the finger in the photo, I asked the photographer to point to the most charming and attractive man in sight.
Gary supplied a new gas tank for the '51 Chevy coupe and I drilled a hole in the sending unit and attached a return fitting with JB Weld. I also attached some insulation with adhesive but the fit was so tight under the trunk that I soon tore it off to get more clearance. The return line is to make the electronic fuel injection work well. The fuel flows from the tank through a filter to a low pressure pump. This pump fills the 2-liter fuel cell mounted on the frame near the back of the engine. Another pump pushes the fuel into the throttle body injectors and any unused fuel is returned to the 2-liter fuel cell.
The fuel cell has an outlet that allows excess fuel to return to the tank through the fitting I installed in the top of the sending unit. The top two fittings are plugged. I had just enough fittings to make it work - maybe. I might have to get one or two different ones to make sure it doesn't come close to the exhaust pipe.
Here's a couple of pictures of the inner fender panels. For those who don't know where these are located on the car, they are the barriers that keep the dust off the engine. As you look at the engine bay with the hood up, they're to the left and right sides of the engine compartment. These have been modified. I filled all the unwanted holes, welded mounting brackets for the battery box, filled the steering box cut-out and cut an opening for the new independent front suspension. As you can see I used body filler to smooth the units followed by some catalyzed primer. After some sanding and a few more coats of primer I'll paint them black with a clear coat to match the firewall.
I had been having trouble with the power steering pump bracket supplied by White Performance & Machine. They supplied the whole front accessory assembly. Whenever I tried to tighten the power steering nut onto the bracket, the bracket would hit the pulley. I called White Performance & Machine and told them the problem and they were prompt to send me a replacement pulley. It didn't help. I took the bracket off and mounted it on my milling machine and took off nearly 3/8" of material as you can see in the close-up picture. My finger is pointing to the clearance that now seems to be sufficient.
Others may be interested in using the system developed and manufactured by WP&M because it's more affordable than some of the units on the market. Let me tell you what I think about the system: It's less costly than others like the March system. They sent a one-wire alternator with a chrome-plated case that I switched out for a 3-wire alternator after speaking to Mark Hamilton at MAD Enterprises (MAD Electrical), but many builders would prefer the one-wire. All the components were high quality and the assembly was well made, with the exception of the power steering bracket and the problem I mentioned above. The A/C bracket looks like it's also polished aluminum, but it's painted to resemble aluminum. The same it true for the bracket behind the alternator that anchors it to the cylinder head exhaust bolt location. How much trouble would it have been to make these out of aluminum also? My final criticism (although I haven't had the engine running yet) is the fasteners. They're cadmium plated and although they're all are new, I switched some of them out for chrome plated fasteners that I had on hand, and I'll switch out a few more before I deliver the car to Gary, the owner. The A/C compressor was new but was not polished nor plated. I had a new polished unit in the shop for my wife's pickup that I switched to make things look like they go together. The White Performance & Machine system is almost okay, if you have a milling machine in your shop and don't mind doing some of your own cosmetics. I'll bet they're super competent at the engine building they're known for and are just a bit too busy to pay much attention to fine tuning their little pulley kit.
Stay tuned for more, and thanks so much for visiting Doug's Drugs!
Doug
It's the middle of a blazing hot summer here in south central Washington state. The thermometer at Desert Classics says it's 102 degrees outside so I'm real fortunate to be inside the shop where it's only 100 degrees. One of the benefits of working in this weather is that the parts seem to slide together easier, bathed in sweat. No matter how damp I am or red in the face, my beautiful wife always seems to have just stepped out of the salon.
Gary supplied a new gas tank for the '51 Chevy coupe and I drilled a hole in the sending unit and attached a return fitting with JB Weld. I also attached some insulation with adhesive but the fit was so tight under the trunk that I soon tore it off to get more clearance. The return line is to make the electronic fuel injection work well. The fuel flows from the tank through a filter to a low pressure pump. This pump fills the 2-liter fuel cell mounted on the frame near the back of the engine. Another pump pushes the fuel into the throttle body injectors and any unused fuel is returned to the 2-liter fuel cell.Here's a couple of pictures of the inner fender panels. For those who don't know where these are located on the car, they are the barriers that keep the dust off the engine. As you look at the engine bay with the hood up, they're to the left and right sides of the engine compartment. These have been modified. I filled all the unwanted holes, welded mounting brackets for the battery box, filled the steering box cut-out and cut an opening for the new independent front suspension. As you can see I used body filler to smooth the units followed by some catalyzed primer. After some sanding and a few more coats of primer I'll paint them black with a clear coat to match the firewall.
I had been having trouble with the power steering pump bracket supplied by White Performance & Machine. They supplied the whole front accessory assembly. Whenever I tried to tighten the power steering nut onto the bracket, the bracket would hit the pulley. I called White Performance & Machine and told them the problem and they were prompt to send me a replacement pulley. It didn't help. I took the bracket off and mounted it on my milling machine and took off nearly 3/8" of material as you can see in the close-up picture. My finger is pointing to the clearance that now seems to be sufficient.
Others may be interested in using the system developed and manufactured by WP&M because it's more affordable than some of the units on the market. Let me tell you what I think about the system: It's less costly than others like the March system. They sent a one-wire alternator with a chrome-plated case that I switched out for a 3-wire alternator after speaking to Mark Hamilton at MAD Enterprises (MAD Electrical), but many builders would prefer the one-wire. All the components were high quality and the assembly was well made, with the exception of the power steering bracket and the problem I mentioned above. The A/C bracket looks like it's also polished aluminum, but it's painted to resemble aluminum. The same it true for the bracket behind the alternator that anchors it to the cylinder head exhaust bolt location. How much trouble would it have been to make these out of aluminum also? My final criticism (although I haven't had the engine running yet) is the fasteners. They're cadmium plated and although they're all are new, I switched some of them out for chrome plated fasteners that I had on hand, and I'll switch out a few more before I deliver the car to Gary, the owner. The A/C compressor was new but was not polished nor plated. I had a new polished unit in the shop for my wife's pickup that I switched to make things look like they go together. The White Performance & Machine system is almost okay, if you have a milling machine in your shop and don't mind doing some of your own cosmetics. I'll bet they're super competent at the engine building they're known for and are just a bit too busy to pay much attention to fine tuning their little pulley kit. Stay tuned for more, and thanks so much for visiting Doug's Drugs!
Doug
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