I've been wondering since you started this if you had ran the engine.
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Stuff my dog says; on second thought I'll just build a race car
- Thread starter NashGTI
- Start date
I was looking forward to hearing that 6 running through that gorgeous header. Sounds good!
Idle has a very nice sound, well done...
What is the programme of work to follow?
What is the programme of work to follow?
OK lets try this again.
It was great to hear the thing run. There is nothing unusual happening yet that would keep the engine from running, it's mostly the same as it was when it was pulled out of the truck with the addition of the ignition box. Actually having the engine running in this thing that I've made from basically nothing is fantastic. First thought, it's way more quiet than I was expecting. It has a normal inline six sound and isn't really anything remarkable that way. I've neglected the distributor cap to this point and the coil terminal is in poor condition so that's ordered and possibly arriving today now. The engine probably also needs more timing advance as it sits right now, but that would almost certainly have to come right back out when the blower is working. With that being the case though the engine still fires right up and everything sounds normal engine wise.
I tried the fuel pump yesterday to check the circuit, there isn't any fuel in the tank nor is the line actually hooked up past the regulator so the system is dry but the pump is almost certainly bad at of the box. It sounds terrible and while I haven't check I'm sure it's no good. It was back in one of the original parts orders a year and a half ago so that's just money lost at this point which sucks but that's life. The gauges that are electrical seem to work as they should in so much as you can check on an engine with no coolant in it. I've got lines ordered for the boost and oil pressure gauges which again could be here as soon as today. Also coming are a handful of weld studs and a pair of idler pulleys for the supercharger drive.
It was great to hear the thing run. There is nothing unusual happening yet that would keep the engine from running, it's mostly the same as it was when it was pulled out of the truck with the addition of the ignition box. Actually having the engine running in this thing that I've made from basically nothing is fantastic. First thought, it's way more quiet than I was expecting. It has a normal inline six sound and isn't really anything remarkable that way. I've neglected the distributor cap to this point and the coil terminal is in poor condition so that's ordered and possibly arriving today now. The engine probably also needs more timing advance as it sits right now, but that would almost certainly have to come right back out when the blower is working. With that being the case though the engine still fires right up and everything sounds normal engine wise.
I tried the fuel pump yesterday to check the circuit, there isn't any fuel in the tank nor is the line actually hooked up past the regulator so the system is dry but the pump is almost certainly bad at of the box. It sounds terrible and while I haven't check I'm sure it's no good. It was back in one of the original parts orders a year and a half ago so that's just money lost at this point which sucks but that's life. The gauges that are electrical seem to work as they should in so much as you can check on an engine with no coolant in it. I've got lines ordered for the boost and oil pressure gauges which again could be here as soon as today. Also coming are a handful of weld studs and a pair of idler pulleys for the supercharger drive.
No work tonight, had grass to cut that I should've done yesterday when it was cooler and less humid out....but was busy. Something I forgot to add earlier was there is a pinhole in at least one of the exhaust welds, I noticed condensation dripping out of the pipe after running the engine on the lower bit of pipe in front of the 2-1 merge just before the elbow. It's not an audible leak and I'm actually thinking of leaving it so it can function as that drain in hopes it'll keep the pipes from rusting from the inside out. On the off chance anyone cares I had my wife there yesterday so she was there when it fired for the first time. Don't know that it meant anything to her as such but I'm glad she was there.
The next thing, and I apologize for the lack of video evidence for this, I started the car after work today to let the guys in the shop hear it. With there being an audience this time I was easily goaded into giving it a little more RPM and the exhaust went from "that's pretty smooth for an old truck engine" to "Oh Wow that sounds good." That bit is actually a direct quote too from the unlikeliest of places, the lady at work who does the social media and has purposely cropped pictures and videos around my XS at work and whom my boss said didn't want the car there period when the two of them discussed it a month or so back. It does too, I didn't go crazy with there still being no coolant on it so without actually being able to see the tachometer and work the throttle I'm guessing 2000-2500rpm but it hit a resonance spot or something and turned into that European inline six howl. I can't wait to hear this thing with the blower on and moving under load.
The next thing, and I apologize for the lack of video evidence for this, I started the car after work today to let the guys in the shop hear it. With there being an audience this time I was easily goaded into giving it a little more RPM and the exhaust went from "that's pretty smooth for an old truck engine" to "Oh Wow that sounds good." That bit is actually a direct quote too from the unlikeliest of places, the lady at work who does the social media and has purposely cropped pictures and videos around my XS at work and whom my boss said didn't want the car there period when the two of them discussed it a month or so back. It does too, I didn't go crazy with there still being no coolant on it so without actually being able to see the tachometer and work the throttle I'm guessing 2000-2500rpm but it hit a resonance spot or something and turned into that European inline six howl. I can't wait to hear this thing with the blower on and moving under load.
I used to race NASCAR Limited Sportsman in the 70's with a '57 Chevy running a 250 C.I. six with 10 1/2-1 Arias pistons, Schooler Cam, Clifford intake with a 650 Holley and headers Trust me, I know what you mean about the sound of a hot six. Cool ride.
Took two evenings but I have the oil cooler mounted. So if you're wondering just how much this takes just the oil cooler mounting was about four and a half hours. Earlier I'm the week I got my pipes and ran them to the boost and oil pressure gauges and those work. Plus I got my bag of zip ties and got the harness all zip tied up and looking racy.
It's now a car, great progress...
Any day now we should be seeing the first lap around the parking lot!
Any day now we should be seeing the first lap around the parking lot!
That'd be cool, but can't help but think that's a little optimistic.
I was thinking about things at work yesterday and thinking it'd be nice to actually put some body panels onto the thing. As it sits now that's the main question I get is "Is it going to have a body on it or just stay open tubes?" That's a funny question to me as it seems obvious that it will because I do have the arcs above the dash and toe bars that would otherwise be unnecessary. Putting the full body on at this point would just make other things more difficult to get to but was looking around at places I could put some panels on. The answer to that question though was not many yet, there is too much left to do under the skin to bother putting skin in the way.
Will the car get totally stripped down for painting?
That's the plan, there are a handful of areas that need welded on the bottom side of things so it'll get stripped to flip it and weld those. Well, I guess that's provided my boss doesn't flip out at the idea of my parts everywhere for a few days.
Made a bracket for the remote oil filter adapter this morning and ordered 450 dollars worth of fittings and hoses plus a PCV catch can.
Also, and I don't know if I've mentioned this before but whoever put the GM alternator on the engine didn't actually bother to align the belt. So I trimmed about a quarter inch off the mount and them shaved the slide arm and got the thing actually lined up.
Well, I set myself the goal of getting working brakes by end of day tomorrow. Should be a relatively easy task, rear end needs wheel cylinders and brake shoes. To do that the rear end needs painted, otherwise it's just doing work twice. To paint the rear end it needs the rust cleaned off it again since I let it rust again after I cleaned it off the first time. So out came the portable sand blaster.
Got the main part of the housing blasted and then cleaned the tubes by hand rather than continue to get blasted by sand. The tubes cleaned I took the cover off and sand blasted it in the cabinet. Took the axles out to get the backing plates off and stick them in the blast cabinet, only I can't because the backing plates won't go over the axle bearings. That's not the end of the world, just replace the axle bearings that should've been planned to be replaced all along. Only I never thought about the axle bearings, despite having had the rear end apart before I was thinking it was a C clip rear end for whatever reason. So no bearings here, also no bearings at my local parts store. So no functioning brakes this weekend.
Got the main part of the housing blasted and then cleaned the tubes by hand rather than continue to get blasted by sand. The tubes cleaned I took the cover off and sand blasted it in the cabinet. Took the axles out to get the backing plates off and stick them in the blast cabinet, only I can't because the backing plates won't go over the axle bearings. That's not the end of the world, just replace the axle bearings that should've been planned to be replaced all along. Only I never thought about the axle bearings, despite having had the rear end apart before I was thinking it was a C clip rear end for whatever reason. So no bearings here, also no bearings at my local parts store. So no functioning brakes this weekend.
The fruits of 10 or so hard hours is a not completely painted rear axle. Turns out the flash time on the paint is measured in hours, and the working time is 24 hours. So without having any other way to suspend the thing I don't have a good way to paint the ends at the moment so I popped the wheels back on it and attached it back to the chassis to get the car rolled back into it's spot out of the way for tomorrow. It wasn't all that though as I got some studs welded on to anchor the brake lines and harness in the engine bay. Also measured and ordered a belt for the supercharger ton be able to work on the idler and tensioner for it.
One interesting thing I found was that the axle that I got from a 1965 Wagoneer isn't from a 1965 Wagoneer. I hadn't really paid that much attention to it the first time I had it apart (hence the snafu with the bearing) but looking at it this morning the splines looked too many to be 19 which is what it should be. Turns out someone had swapped in a later model axle into the Wagoneer. It's kinda cool that it's the newer model since that'll make it easier to change to the gear type limited slip later. The newer 30 spline axle is also stronger but I don't think that will really matter.
One interesting thing I found was that the axle that I got from a 1965 Wagoneer isn't from a 1965 Wagoneer. I hadn't really paid that much attention to it the first time I had it apart (hence the snafu with the bearing) but looking at it this morning the splines looked too many to be 19 which is what it should be. Turns out someone had swapped in a later model axle into the Wagoneer. It's kinda cool that it's the newer model since that'll make it easier to change to the gear type limited slip later. The newer 30 spline axle is also stronger but I don't think that will really matter.
Taking a moment to complain. Ordering belts sucks because they often times aren't actually the measurements they are advertised as. I run into it all the time through work especially with V belts but this time the 6 rib belt for the supercharger.
I measured it yesterday, we keep a long cut belt around specifically to measure with, and ordered to the outside circumference measurement advertised. Belt comes in this morning and it's too short to go around the pulleys. So I measure again this evening and get the same number on the car, then I measure the belt and the belt is a half inch shorter than the measurement given for its part number.
And it's frustrating doubly so because it's such a stupid problem. Why not just make the measurements match?
I measured it yesterday, we keep a long cut belt around specifically to measure with, and ordered to the outside circumference measurement advertised. Belt comes in this morning and it's too short to go around the pulleys. So I measure again this evening and get the same number on the car, then I measure the belt and the belt is a half inch shorter than the measurement given for its part number.
And it's frustrating doubly so because it's such a stupid problem. Why not just make the measurements match?
Without a belt installed the finally dry paint covered clutch master cylinders and filled that system. I also filled the front brakes then capped the tee fitting at the rear and put fluid in there as well. So now I have a working clutch and working front brakes.
Also, just throwing it out there....Technically could now inch the car forward and backward on the clutch and say that I've "driven" it. I did no such thing and make no such claim.
Yet
Yet
I've seen that myself! Two different companies with the belt for the same application list the lengths as being different. I think the problem is, at least in some cases, that one gives the length as it would measure with tape wrapped around the outside of the installed belt. Then the other uses the "effective length" more or less measured at the center of the cross section of the belt. Or something like that!
Still not as long as I'd like to get more pulley wrap. It looks like something fancy though.
