Jim, I am not sure. If I had to guess I would say its a strong possibility. I think Dave and I will be able to get the car road ready fairly fast but I have been very sick lately and so has everyone in my house (Taking my daughter to doc tomorrow for possible flu ). Dave is now also very sick as well. I have a lot of work to do to the car to get it where I want it to be but if we get close I will push off some stuff and just take it without being perfect. My plan right now is to do the first two legs then drive home. No plan to do the whole thing any longer. You were right its nearly impossible to get rooms. The engine situation is pushing me back more than anything right now. Trans will be done soon and Dave is helping me decide on what all to do with the suspension of the car. Going to look into my parts stash and see what I can pull out this week. Looking for a few things I just know I have but cant put my hand on them.
Dave worked some magic and was able to get the pistons out of the engine today. The look to be TRW 30 over pistons. The Cam is odd in that it says Crower but Dave talked to Crower today and the man he spoke to says he has never seen a non stamped cam. This one looks to be scribed into. Dave also found where the Block was stamped "D A SANTUCCI"
Took a little time to check the rear axle out today and it looks to be a Chevy 12 bolt out of a 1969 Chevelle (3959038) with a date code of March 25th from McKinnon Industries (K code) I did a roll check just to get an idea of the gearing. Bill said it was 4:56 gears and from what I see that looks correct to me. I am going to pull the cover later to see what all was done inside. Dave is all about the archaeology of this car and its really cool to see all the different things about it as we take it apart. I just hope we can get it back together soon.
Got the motor disassembled and here are my findings. 70 350 bored .030 over with TRW forged pistons with 9cc dish. Decked .008 and .010 resulting in a .050" deck height. .040" thick head gaskets Heads were not cut and have 58cc chambers. There has been some port wok done. Cam was the Crower 201 HB. Still looking for the specs on it. This resulted in a 9.65:1 compression. If the .020" gaskets had been used this would have resulted in a 10 to 1 compression.
Dug out some parts from my stash today. I am looking forward to putting these on for sure. Hotchkis Sport Suspension Anti-Sway Bars Front Sway Bar Diameter 1.375 inch Rear Sway Bar Diameter 1.000 inch After reading a lot about the Lakewood latterbars and talking to Bill the orig owner I have decided for the amount of driving I want to do putting Boxed lower control arms and large swaybars on will get this car to handle great. Dave has a little something up he sleeve for this cars drivability also but I will let him tell about that later on.
Oh well, So much for the sign with the advertised 11.5 to 1 Much more decking needed to reach that number.
Thanks to Dave Tumas and some good weather. Made some progress today. Painted factory GM Blue and Cast Aluminum colors. I was shocked how much nicer the intake looks painted vs raw aluminum finish. Can’t wait to see this all put together.
I painted it in Duplicolor cast aluminum. I like it so much better than the raw aluminum look. Has a nice shine to it and just looks way better. I almost decided not to paint it but I am really glad I did after seeing how much better it now looks.
It's really important to paint it something. Aluminum intakes as delivered are porous. Unless you polish them or paint them, the aluminum will oxidize and stain. Eventually, they look terrible. I painted mine Buick Red, but if you like them natural, paint them that way. Aluminum dissipates heat so much quicker so the paint lasts forever.