Looking like good progress! Is that shroud / fan set up going to do the job leaving the ends / that much of the radiator open Cheers!
I'd be lying if I said that hasn't crossed my mind Mark. But that ford fan is such a popular mod, and I've found multiple chevelles with the exact same radiator and fan setup, so I decided it was worth a shot. The fenders are done (welding wise, still gotta smooth them out some) and the car is about 50% block sanded. This warm weather was putting me in the mood to make some noise. So after a bout of fighting with proper distributor installation issues and a funky msd box connection (among other issues like the duel pump taking forever to prime etc etc etc) taulb and I quit goofing off, got serious, and finally made that glorious noise! Firing the 455 for the first time: https://youtu.be/iHW96chA3cs This engine had been run on a dyno, but this was the first time lighting the fires in the car! Still aiming for paint in 2 weeks. Its gonna be a busy 2 weeks but I think we can make it.
That was a great day! I would like to point out our little Coors radiator over flow bottle. This video was the first crank after getting fuel and timing correct, fired right up!!
In hind sight it should a been a Yuengling bottle.... Indeed! A nice shot in the arm before the home stretch of bodywork Amen brother, amen..... Yep, haven't really backed off the pace of work, its just the thread finally caught up to real time so the progress reports come a bit slower. And also, for whatever reason, even when there's been multiple of us lately (usually weekends taulb comes down a day, but throughout the week I'm out there most evenings after work) we've had our heads buried so deep in the work otself we've forgotten to take pictures. The end is in sight, so I guess we've just put our heads down and go. There was some fairly extensive work done to the fenders, but not much in the way of pictures. Same with throttle linkage, fuel line (which I'm really happy with) and a ton of other little stuff that woulda been cool to add to the thread, just didn't snap any shots. But the important part is, I've got o e fender to finish stripping, strip the hood/cut a big hole in it, a little filler work to do, and prime and we're ready to paint. I'm still aiming for the first weekend in April to drop it off. Here are a few gratuitous shots of fire up day for good measure though. Priming the oil system since it had been sitting a little while: Not much work here, I don't even know why there was a picture taken, but hey, whatever.... Photographic evidence that my buddy Jake will actually work on someone elses car... Jake and my old man on oil pressure gauge watch duty Taulb looking busy and me....well....not so much. Haha
Yeah, I'll admit I got a little excited. The oils system was heavily primed and the engine had been thoroughly broken in on a dyno, but I probably should've waited a bit longer to bump it. I should clarify, on the video Taulb posted it was at full operating temp.
What can I say Alan, I'm guilty of premature acceleration from time to time. Happens to the best of us..... Heres an idling video. (Also when I discovered the finger-tight reducers had rattled loose....) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkzPpVumTaE&list=FLS2vr5VejruossWx6F_hxlQ&index=3
I cant keep beer at my shop , all id get done is cutting the lights on , reminds me of "cooking with rayford" on "John Boy and Billy"
Ah, I always makes sure there are beverages a plenty. It adds to the "keeping it light" mind set we try to maintain. And we need all the help we can get.... Thanks! Its gonna sound much more mellow with the x-pipe exhaust, but I hope it keeps a little bit of the lopey idle. So a minor update. Here as of late its seemed I go 2 steps forward and one step back. With my goal of getting to paint the first weekend of April, its the last thing I need (that's 8 days for those playing along at home ) My driveshaft is being built as we speak, which is exciting. It should be here by Saturday or early next week. I pulled the cowl screen and cleaned up/painted that part, which is good. And got a few little odds and ends squared away (header reducer bolts that the top ones were an absolute bear to get to). Fuel gauge works, yada yada. Those are the 2 steps forward. Then comes the one step back..... FENDERS. I really had hope that with all the welding done it'd be down hill from there. But in true Rusty Hulk fashion, its fighting me every step of the way in the home stretch. I started the filler work on the passenger fender by laying up the duraglass. Did it all by the book, but when I started hitting it with the cheese grater some flaked off that shouldn't have. Ugh.... My new repop in dash tach is also reading wrong, and msd says I need an adapter, those in the know here say otherwise. I've ordered the adapter to try it, but its just a minor problem I don't want to be chasing. What's left is filler work/prime/block the fenders, strip/minor filler/prime/block the hood (and cut a big hole in the hood). Can I pull it off in a week? Maybe. Is it gonna suck? Definitely. There's light at the end of the tunnel, but it may just be a freight train headed my way.....
