Kit 075 Restart

[sread]

remember what I said about coming out of surgery as a hot stripper - see, she's already giving you grief...


but seriously, if it is assembled properly with good parts I would go with it - unless you are turning Ethyl into a real race car you may be surprised how long she will live

[wrp]

Ugh that sucks. But you have the expensive rotating assembly, surely its easy/cheap to find a 4 bolt main block? I got mine for $500 and had it tested/machined. You have sunk cost into that block, true, but that parts are where the money's at, right?

Flatheads surely suck for you.. they look pretty but have comparatively no HP, even when blown. And yours will be covered up anyway.

Btw, I called a drag racing friend of mine, been racing the same '55 in his family since 59, run a ton of motors through it. 283, 350, 383, blown, etc, and he says as long as you keep below 7000, you can get 500-600 hp out of two bolt mains.

"Naturally aspirated you can push 500 to 600 hp (which is a ton of hp to make on the street) keeping RPM under 7000 with no problem."

That is a pretty uplifting assessment. I was already getting around 400 to the crank with the old motor on the flat tappet cam and took it to 6500 regularly. I am hoping that the roller cam and Vortec heads will surprise me. On either the flathead or the Hemi I had an interest in the historical and esthetics. I am about of the opinion to set the redline at 7000 and enjoy it.

[wrp]

So the motor is together and will probably be in the car today, hopefully. The shop put a lot attention to detail in the motor. Things like painting the top of the machined area around the intake so all exposed metal is covered and protected from rust. I am really stoked at the quality of work. I think the engine will look good with the polished firewall and polished Hood panel liners.

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[RoadRacer]

Yummy, I love me a full roller chevy. Jealous.

Should have put a loud gear drive in though

[wrp]

I don't think it is going to spin fast enough to merit one

[wrp]

Drove up to the shop today to get a firsthand look at how things were going. I had gotten a FAST Dual Synch and for some reason it was not meshing up with the MSD/Holley Sniper combination. I chucked the whole thing and ordered a Hyperspark kit. Maybe next week will see this complete.

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[wrp]

Was a long week. Summit sent the wrong distributor with the hyperspark kit and had to order another. Instead of shipping it from Arlington which would have been at worst two days, they shipped it from Georgia to St. Louis, to DFW, to St. Louis, then back to Tulsa, then over to REady Motorsports. Most excrutiating 5 days of my life. Lesson learned. I could have bought the part in Arlinggton and driven it up, returning the same day. But at any rate, most everything is in. They are checking details, connections and tying up the wiring etc. Should be able to start it Monday.

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[sread]

while you're waiting I got a feeling you'll get a kick out of this

https://youtu.be/g2Rp-x59uVY

[wrp]

Thanks, that was fun

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[wrp]

First start, relatively uneventful. Thanks to Charles Ready at Ready Motorsports for helping guide me to get this together.

[wrp]

Don Ross is building me engine side hood panels with louvers. Don is a well know nostalgia restorer and fabricator. He has restore at least one of Don Garlit's Swamp Rats as well as the Dragster Jim Nichols Crashed in 67 at Indy. He is currentl;y working on a restoration of the Shark Car, a AA/FD car from the early 1960's. My panels will have louvers.


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[wrp]

Welp she's completed. Some final tuning up and break in/heat cycling. Should have her home by Friday. Really Appreciate Charles Ready at Ready Motorsports for the workhe and his team have done plus the counciling he has provided through the project.

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[wrp]

Okay got her home Thursday Unloading her and I hear a thud on the other side of the trailer. rushed around to see what was up and my wife was face down on the concrete sidewalk. Huge pool of blood. after a minute she was coherent and we got her up and in the house. She refused to go to the hospital which made for a long evening. Got her to the Dr's office Friday, aside from some pretty bad bruising and a broken nose she is okay. After 70, falling is a terrifying thing, probably one of the biggest killers. Completely forgot about the car until today. I had an appointment with Don for the final fitment of the hood panels but had to cancel it. The tune wasn't sport on because I rushed the shop to get the car on Thursday. It is a 4 hour drive. Messed with it a bit Friday night and got it idling pretty good, took it out to log some hours. Brand new motor is tight, probably less than 100 miles on it so I am taking it pretty easy. Took it out today and did some tuning logs. Adjusted the mechanical timing which was off pretty badly and have now started the tuning/relearning process. Have a really good tuner coming over Monday night to tweak it.

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[AJT '33]

Oh my God Bill, please pass along our thoughts to your wife, its the scariest thing I have gone through too. Make sure she's OK!!

[FF33rod]

Bill, our thoughts are with ya regarding your wife! Was it heat? did she trip? Health stuff is perplexing and scary as we get older.

Steve

[RoadRacer]

Hey Bill, just saw this - hope everything is ok up there. Let us know how we can help, there's many of us within driving distance..

[wrp]

Actually wife is doing well. Broke her nose and got some bruises on her arms. All in all a miraculous outcome. She tripped over an expansion joint in the sidewalk. One of those fluke things. Falls get dastardly after age 60. Since she has recovered, I have been able to return to putting the car together. Did some EFI tuning. enjoy the video.

[wrp]

Here is a video of the car riding around

[33fromSD]

Sounds nice...Is that a Holley Sniper you're running?

[wrp]

Yessir, a 4150 Stealth

[33fromSD]

Yessir, a 4150 Stealth

Nice, I put the Holley Sniper & Holley Hyper Spark system on my 70 Challenger...I really like it.

[wrp]

One thing I had not thought much of was the throttle body propensity to got WOT if a return spring breaks. Had that happen in the GTO once and before I could get the key switched off I was at about 130 mph. when I switched the key off, the steering wheel locked, fortunately straight line. When I switched it back on, WOT again. I finally got it straight enough to shut it off in lockdown mode long enough that when I switched the key to on the motor didn't refire and got it stopped. Someone pointed out only one return spring on my Sniper TB. I added a dual throttle return spring setup today.

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[RoadRacer]

Ouch, yes double springs forever! One of the most important things to remember on a car.. luckily when I learnt that lesson many years ago it was sitting in my garage, even then it was scary!

[33fromSD]

Yup...two things on a car to get 100% right all the time

1) Double springs on TB
2) Well maintained brakes

[wrp]

Out tuning the car yesterday and captured some footage, Enjoy

[HVACMAN]

That's pretty awesome. Looks like he couldn't catch you until you got out of it.

[wrp]

Actually I was waiting for him to come up beside me, expecting to do a roll. He just nailed it a few yards back and literally flew by initially. You can see/hear his tires barking when he got around me. He passed me at WOT and I was barely into it. I stopped his WOT pull caught and passed him. The look on his face as I drove around him was priceless. I did let off, I never go past the top of third on these things?

[wrp]

So today was a special day. Went down to Don Ross Fabrication so he could do the final measuring on the Louvered Hood Panels. At the end of the day the panels FFR sells would probably be just as good but I would have had to modify and cut them as well. Don has made these panels out of mild steel. I cannot wait to get them painted and installed. Don is a renowned fabricator. He restored several Nostalgia Dragsters including the Scorpion 2 Car which is current in Garlit's Museum as well as the Nichols dragster destroyed in the famous crash while running Prudhomme in the mid 60's at Indy. He has several nostalgia dragsters in the shop right now.

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[wrp]

Catching up on the loose ends. I installed a Lokar flexible dipstick in the new motor the other day. fit like a champ.

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[wrp]

Keeping everything build related together, I did post this elsewhere. After five years of wrestling with the hood hinges on my Gen 1 I discovered a solution put out by Dan Ruth some time ago. The solution itself is simple. Move the bottom mounting ball on the gas struts down one inch. It is so obvious it is silly but seems to work better than it ever had worked before.

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[wrp]

Put a new set of wire looms on the car. Since going to the center bolt Votec heads the old school SBC looms don't work. Anyone need a set of the old School Ones?

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[60's Kid]

WRP--Can you show me some pics of how you mounted the rubber seal around your doors? I have seen a couple of different ways. Looking for options.

Thanks Rick

[wrp]

I am away from my photos, iwill get it to you as soon as is possible

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[wrp]

Spent a lot of time at my Dad's house this summer. One drawback is no Hot Rod to fiddle with. First thing up on return home is a short cruise to get the oil pressure pumped up. This new motor has an amazing thrid gear pull.

[j33ptj]

What was that car next to you trying to keep up?

[wrp]

350/370Z car. I rolled into it from the light, about midway through second he nailed it, what you see is stopping his pull and reversing it.

[wrp]

Went to the Garland Texas Bass Pro Car Show today. Got a best of show award from a previous show. Met Warren there.

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[33fromSD]

How much was the maroon camaro next to you going for? Yours is a sharp looking car.

[wrp]

He is asking $69,000. I think this is his first time out trying to sell it

[33fromSD]

He is asking $69,000. I think this is his first time out trying to sell it

Wow..that's like a Barret Jackson price.......