Scott Smith from Harm's Auto donated a pair of 346 heads to the cause for nothing more than the cost of shipping. Now that's why they say hot rodders are the best folks in the world. I spent a good long time cleaning them up, knocked the crud out of the heads and off of the valves, re-lapped the valves and replaced the stem seals. Finally I get it all back together and... the guides leak just enough to burn a little oil, but it's really only noticeable during morning start up. As long as it doesn't smoke like a mosquito spraying truck I'll be just peachy! Meanwhile, I know the engine needs a rebuild... don't know if it can take one. If the prior owner already bored it out to the maximum bore, I'm stuck needing a whole 'nother engine, too! So the hunt begins. I'd love to find a 400 and build a 451 out of my parts. Sweet action!
Here's the engine after the latest round of work. I finally got the plug wires anchored like I want them after making my own holders to mount the Taylor wire separators into. I also found I had a fuel pressure problem, hence the regulator and yet another bracket I had to make. Now that I finally get it all sorted out, I'm dying to rip it all right back out of there and pour money into it again. ;-)
Or in this case... driving that would make Miss Daisy die of fright! After finding out I had a leaky PCV valve, things are running pretty good overall. My engine noise is diminished, the PCV was causing the "soft" cylinder (felt like one hole was sort of dead and sort of not) by oiling down #7 for some reason. Overall it's doing real well and carted my family all over town during their visit last week. So far this latest round of work has included new fuel tank, new disc brake conversion and new rear brakes (plus cylinders), new carburetor and fuel plumbing, new plug wires (finally re-routed the way I wanted them) and new ignition. Whew! There's been a whole myriad of refurbishing and cosmetics going on... still have a long way to go but for now I'm just enjoying driving it. We even managed to cruise the Suds last Saturday night and if I wasn't headed to another show this weekend, I'd be doing it again! :-)
For now, enjoy some shots taken at Indianapolis' Crown Hill Cemetary last weekend:
Taken at the top of Crown Hill just behind the memorial to James Whitcomb Riley
Taken in front of the Confederate Mound, where the remains of Confederate POW's were re-interred in 1933.
Leaving Crown Hill after a quiet day (except when I happened to be driving haha)
Wow... An entire fall and part of spring spent driving the GTX with nearly no problems. Lots of annoyances (to a perfectionist like me, anyway), but no real problems. Although a couple of weeks ago, I noticed coolant seeping out of the front of the head-to-block area. I'd been hoping to do a rebuild all along... just holding back for fear of the expense I know I'm going to incur as I'm unable to keep myself from putting all the fun things in it I was never able to afford for my ol' '55 when I was a juvenile delinquent. "What the hell are you talking about?"
I'm talking about these:
Speaking of fun things, I finally saw it summed up (on Ebay of all places) what it is I like the most about this hobby. I like to buy rusted out relics and spend lots of money to put shiny new things on rusted out relics.
It's about to get interesting around here. Stay tuned. ;-)
So it took me a little while to finish.... I had a lot to do! Spending all my time at work didn't help much either, but I managed to get it most of the way there and Dad arrived last week for the annual parental visit... and boy did we have a good time working together! I think the last time we ever worked together was when I was maybe a couple of years out of high school, and being a typical 19 year old, I didn't want to hear any of it.
But this time was a lot of fun. A few beers here there (well... I drank a few beers. Dad was drinking Coors Light.), Dad gophering tools and making sure I didn't forget anything, and me getting so sloppy dirty I bet I could have left a ring around a cesspool. But by the time it was finished the GTX had benefited from a slew of upgrades :
Was that enough? Whew! Still lots of jobs on the plate to be done. The engine's bottom end still needs a rebuild, but thankfully that will be some time away yet. Still need to finish tuning what I have, align the front end and then work on the myriad of small jobs. But it's just about to the point where I can set it aside, enjoy the summer, and get that damn '55 running!
Here's a couple of gratuitous engine bay shots. Looking at it in pictures makes me think I really need to do something about that ugly ass wiring!
