f100_dreamin

The heads are only getting machined to take the double valve springs and having a quick once over. Because it’s the machinist we use for all our engine work he is doing me a good deal which is under a third of the cost of new edelbrock heads. Obviously if he finds that they need a bunch of work then I will have to re-asses from there. Cleaning up the valley has always been on the cards but I will have a look over the area you recommended, cheers for that.

Small update. Have rebuilt the front Callipers, new pistons and seals. And all painted up! Also pulled the PS pump apart ready to take to work to clean up then I’ll re-assemble and modify the pump to reduce the amount of assistance (common modification over in the states as it’s way too light at higher speeds) Again it feels good to be putting parts back together also spoke to a local sand blaster and they reckon a couple of hours should get the underbody all finished up so I’m going to make a couple of frames so I can lower the car onto a trailer and take it to be blasted soon.

Sunday I decided that I was sick of taking things apart so I decided to do a smaller job that I could finish up in the same day. I got my VJ Valiant disc brake conversion parts out of the shed. Broke it all down until I was left with the spindle, backing plate and hub. Made a makeshift petro-bath (using a petrol/diesel mix that we drained from a customers car) that plus a wire brush and all the grime was gone. Degreased everything and got it all etch primed. (Another great use for the hoist) Got it all painted black, fitted the new rotors (which have a black protective paint on them) to the hubs. Installed new wheel bearings and assembled everything to the spindle (ball joints are just sitting there temp for the picture) New piston and seal kits have been ordered for the Callipers, as has a new disc brake master cylinder (from Rockauto) Also ordered these. 4 1/4 star rating over 27 reviews so figured they were worth the punt. Plus at that price if I have to modify them then it’s not the end of the world. Summit wanted over $300usd to ship to New Zealand, so I had them free shipped to the guy I bought the car from (L.A Wellington Shipping on trademe) who will put them in a container and ship them over for less. Still haven’t been to get the explorer diff from Zebra yet. Hopefully can make it in the next couple of weekends (if it’s even still there haha)

Scored some garage time to work on this cream puff, Decided to take a break from the underseal removal. started on Saturday by pulling the engine further to pieces, timing chain has seen better days Not an issue as I already have a replacement double row chain that I got with my Cam kit. Proceeded to remove the cam to check the cam bearings. Unfortunately they’re goosed. so I’ll speak to my machinist and organise to get the motor down to him to have them replaced. I’ve got the heads ready to drop to him anyway to have them machined to take the double valve springs. I’ll give the ports a tickle up when I get them back from him.

I remember watching Deanis build this after he moved on from his EF daily driver. He is now working on a jet powered drag car I have a vague recollection of one of the engine pulleys hitting the chassis rails on launching at the drags and spraying sparks everywhere,

So Easter Friday the Middy went out an left me at home with the kids (who are on no screen time for Easter) so while they played outside I played in the garage, found another great use for the hoist separated the trans and motor then used the hoist to lift the engine off the k frame an trolley I built so I could get it on the engine stand. Dropped the sump to have a quick Nosey inside, which further confirmed my lack of service history there’s a reasonable amount of sludge, there was also a random small washer pulled a big end cap off crank and bearings look good all in all pretty happy with the condition. Should make for a good build to finish the day I returned to stripping underseal pretty happy with the lack of rust I’ve found

Discuss how I should just big block it here

Work on the scamp has been on the back burner a little bit lately. However a chap in my Hot rod club was in need of some 318 engine parts, so I removed the factory 2 barrel intel manifold and rebuilt carb, I could’ve stopped there but I was at a loose end so I decided to pull a head. Looks like it’s had a pretty poor service history it’s fairly black and gunky inside nothing seems overly worn however Pistons have no markings to indicate being oversized It has a small ring ridge which it to be expected, but a quick vernier of the bore (albeit on the ring ridge) shows 3.89”, stock bore should be 3.91” so looks to be stock bore heads are standard open chamber heads. Factory sized valves 1.78” in 1.5” exh. Obviously until I get it on the engine stand and drop the pants off there maybe a different story but at this point it looks like a good base to start a build with.

Hey @cletus have you seen the leaf spring sliders that seems to be common to use on A body’s in the U S of A, would they be all good to use in NZ https://www.manciniracing.com/lespsl.html

Not much to report, have just been working on removing the underseal, lots easier with a hoist, but still not fun. On the plus side I’m finding lots of nice metal. which has left a nice pile of crap on the floor

Awesome cheers @cletus Hopefully its it’s still there next weekend so I can grab it.

https://www.staparts.co.nz/View-A-Product/id/2290/description/Cylinder head Chrysler SB 318ci 360ci performer Rpm alloy there you go, edelbrocks cheaper than the procomps, by the time I’m at the point of building the engine I should have done some much better research. The guys in the states seem to complain the the valve guides are too tight on the edelbrocks, but regardless of what heads I buy I’ll get them checked over

Looking at these, https://www.trademe.co.nz/trade-me-motors/car-parts-accessories/performance/core-engine/auction-1937897885.htm now i know speedmaster is the same as procomp and that should have me running for the hills, there are plenty of guys in the states rubishing them but none have used them there is a few guys using them that say they look good , but it seems that even the edelbrock heads are leaving the factory with issues and have to be checked over. So buying these and sending them to my machinist to be given a once over maybe the go, to be fair though the engine is on the bottom of the list at the moment, as the body/metal work is my first mission. So I still have plenty of time for research and shopping around.

Yeah the KB167 are what I am planning on using, no intention to run nitrous so should be sweet but cheers for the heads up,

Made more progress this weekend, car is basically mechanically stripped now Made a cradle out of 6x2 building timber, literally slapped it together on some little caster wheels (woefully underrated with a loadrating of 30kg each) disconnected the last of the wiring, the last of the shift linkage, removed the PS box and it was time to lower the car onto the cradle unbolted the trans x-member, unbolted the K frame and pushed the up button, such an easy way to remove an engine and trans. Video: Carefully wheeled engine and trans to side of the garage, Pulled a rocker cover to see what the inside of the motor looks like, not the greatest, but that’s not a huge surprise Plans have somewhat evolved (read snowballed) will be taking a bit more time and instead of just doing the minimum to get it complied, plans have stretched to minitubs, move springs inboard so I can fit some nice fat wheels in the back engine will get alloy heads, flat top pistons, headers and a bigger carb than the 500cfm edelbrock that I already have. Cheers Ben

Cheers @cletus, Yeah torsion bars are fully unadjusted. Have tried the vice grips to no avail, will try loosen lower arms and give that a go tomorrow night,

Did some more work on this tonight. Managed to remove the rear suspension and diff, then removed the fuel tank and fuel lines now have plenty of room to play still need to build a cradle to drop the engine and gearbox onto for easy removal, but first I need to get the torsion bars out which are proving to be very stubborn, there are plans on a mopar A body website of how to make a tool to remove them so that maybe the next step

Haha negotiations always start with two prices at the end of the spectrum, how good at negotiating you are will determine how close you stay to your openings offer, but yeah I lowballed the hell out of you haha

Maaate, I wanted to buy this off you and you wouldn’t sell it, so now you better finish it haha!

Discussion thread here

Long time no yarns, haven’t had much chance to work on this as leading up to Xmas I was working on the family caravan so we could go away in it. Managed to get stuck into it today, started removing parts so I can remove the motor, trans, fuel tank and rear end so that I can continue the process of stripping the underbody so I can have it inspected by a repair certifier before I take it for compliance had to take on some extra help pulling it apart it seems that the previous owner in the US of A had spent a bit of money to get this back up and running reliably it’s got a rebuilt Carter carb, Pertronix Ignition, with a flamethrower coil, new AC pump and hoses (although it had a bunch of leaks so it had already de-gassed itself) am going to build a cradle so I can drop the engine and trans out of the bottom of the car as one, Will continue the updates over the next couple of days

They will need Cert eventually but that will come after a V8 engine swap/automatic conversion on the blueflame 6cylinder.

Old and lame New and improved To make the booster fit I had to relocate the oil filter housing, this meant I could use the oil bath air cleaner anymore, At a loss as to what to do, and struggling to find an air filter with a 63mm neck size (that wasn’t a ramflo filter) I figured I could make something work with the oil bath, I separated the top and bottom halves, and found that that would just sit above the oil filter. I made some measurements and found a round air filter that would fit inside, made a lid to stop air bypassing the filter and worked out a mount, and happily it all works, and the engine bay still looks kinda factory. Pics will follow tomorrow.

Haha the snowball effect is happening.

I picked up a Bosch 120a alternator from AES for about $280 (trade price, from memory) and that thing is grunty as. Even crawling around beach hop at idle with lights/stereo/airbag compressors going we had no issues.