Thread: Moving ahead rebuilding my '27 roadster.

Tweet

I love that coupe and Morelands 40 also.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZyioNpUBwg

Don

Ahhhhhhhhhhh ........ Don has seen my project ........ I don't think that the paint will EVER be as slick as the FJ46 but the underpinnings & driveline will be stout!.

Don ..... you know what I'm talking about.

But let us dygress ....... back to Don's build. mine is in another thread.

Paul / aka Ratty 46

I think Don should paint the new (rebuild ) UPS brown............LOL
BradC

Hey Don; As for the heat in the shop, I know exactly what you mean.
I can't go out in my shop during the day, It's like 150 degrees in there
with 100% humidity. Me and the wife have been watching for some good sales on window AC unit's. I'll have to cut a hole in one of the wall's because I don't have
any windows in the shop. The Lathe I got is a 1930 Regal Leblond about 12 feet.
I think the usable part is inbetween 7 and 8 feet though.
They did some modifacations to it though with a big plate beside the gears with the motor and a two speed trany. The motor was down sized from a 3 phase to a 2 phase
motor. But they gave me the 3 phase motor too, in case I wanted to use it.
And it is all cast iron too, Wish I could find another one so I could get some extra
stuff for it. Mine is missing a steady rest and a few other nick nacks I'd like to have.
Kurt

Ya know Paul, I have this neat flathead engine and drivetrain that I could make you a super deal on............bet it would fit right in that 46 of yours! Yep, your car is going to be well built. I sure hope you get cracking on it, I want to see it at Billetproof or TR soon.

Brad: I know what you mean, UPS brown is becoming my favorite color.

Kurt: You could turn driveshafts with that baby! That must be some lathe. Can you imagine what it would cost to buy that one new today? If you keep watching EBAY I bet you will find those missing pieces in time.

Well, the UPS truck showed up today and I got my stroker kit........man is it pretty. Has these short little pistons that I guess strokers need to clear the crank on the downstroke. This weekend I am going to start putting it together and next week I should have made up my mind on the rest of the parts I need.

Met a super nice couple tonight. I sold my 39 Dodge pickup cab on Ebay and they drove down tonight to pick it up. We are just out of room in the shop and some stuff had to go, and I am so glad Alan and Nancy got it, they are really excited to get started on it and I am happy to see it go to someone who will appreciate it. I figured I will never live long enough to finish the ones I have left, so it is better to see it go to someone who might actually finish it. And we picked up a lot of room in the shop because I threw in the frame as we are going to build a new one for the RPU when I get around to it.

Don

Well Don - thanks for the motivational talk. Sat. I'm back down to the shop - early & I'll be cutting only a few more items out of the frame. Seems ALL of my new stuff has arrived. As soon as its a roller it'll be back at my place for some steady fab'n.

I'm sure I'll see youat the TRR this year - with out the coupe. But next year ........

Paul

Haven't updated for a while because I've been waiting for more parts to show up. The big brown truck came on Friday, so this weekend was spent starting to assemble my engine.

The first thing I did was scrub the entire engine inside and out with Dawn dish detergent and water, then I blew out all the passages and coated it with WD40 so it wouldn't instantly rust. Ran a tap in every threaded hole and finally got to start putting the good stuff in. The components I decided to go with were a Scat Crank and forged rods, and Keith Black forged flat top pistons. I went with the 331 stroker instead of the 347 because I just heard so many good things about them.

For the valve train I am using a Motorsport X303 cam which is the same one my Son Don is running. I like the way his idles and it revs like mad. I chose Motorsport roller lifters and a Comp Cam timing set. For an oil pump I bought a stock Melling pump, saw no need for a high volume. I did upgrade to an ARP oil pump drive shaft because I rounded off a stock one years ago.

So now I am down to having to make a decision on heads. Pretty sure they will be aluminum, but I don't want to spend more than $ 1000.00 or so. I am going to sit down with the Summit and Jegs catalogs tonight and make a decision..........might also have to do some more research on line. Then I can figure out if I am going to go with Comp Cams or Harlan Sharp roller rockers. One thing I need the heads to do is bolt up to my existing 2 x 4 aluminum manifold and my Sanderson headers, some heads have odd bolt patterns I understand.

Here are a couple of pictures of the engine as I left it tonight. Still shooting to have it in the frame by the end of September.

Don

Isn't a new engine a thing of beauty? Keep em coming.

Looks great pops! Looks like I am going to have to build a 347 stroker to keep up with you! Don Jr.

Yeah Steve, I LOVE working with new parts. This thing almost put itself together so far.

Don: Fat chance bud. With your T and Dans car to contend with I had to up the ante a little! Got tired of you picking on my little 350 T.

Don

Well the good news is, my Edelbrock heads showed up today from Summit. The bad news is, they are on their way back. Last night for some reason the thought entered my head (no pun intended) that maybe these heads weren't made for roller cam engines. I started looking at Summit's and Edelbrocks websites and it said "hydraulic cams." Did that mean hydraulic flat tappet only, or hydraulic flat tappet AND hydraulic roller cams?


I called Summit's tech line and they didn't know, so I called Edelbrock at 11 am this morning and they said these E Street heads were intended for flat tappet cams. They said they would work with a roller cam but not over 5500 rpms. Long story short, Summit stepped up the the plate and told me to return these, and I ordered Performer RPM heads which might be here Friday in time for this weekend. Summit isn't even waiting until the E Streets are bacl before they issue credit. All they needed was proof UPS has them enroute to them in Ohio.

So now my budgeted expenditure of $ 1000.00 went to 1150.00 but they are a better head from what Edelbrock told me. I also had to get a $ 50 bushing kit so I can use ARP 7/16 head bolts in these heads. Here I was so happy I had finally made a decision on heads and turns out I still messed up.

Now Richard (Techinspector1) will have to be kind enough to work up some numbers for me on the engine with these new heads. He spent a lot of time and worked up some numbers with the E Streets and got about 424 HP peak. Maybe now I'll get 800 or so.

Don

I think 800hp is a bit optimistic Don. I bet you won't get any more than 725 out of that combination.

But you forget Bill, I also have aluminum valve covers!

The guys at Summit score again...........been tracking the new heads and they are scheduled to show up via UPS today, how good is that of Summit? You figure, they shipped out the E Street heads Monday, I got them Wednesday. Then I returned the other ones Wednesday and they shipped out the Performer RPMs that day. What a great company to deal with.

There is a real lesson to be learned here on how to do business. Some companies look at problems as being YOUR problem not theirs, and they put you through so many hoops. In all the years I have dealt with Summit, Speedway, and Coker I can't remember any time either of those companies didn't step up to the plate and try their best to make things easy and right. For that reason alone I keep going back to them. Sure glad I don't live in Tallmadge Ohio because I would be spending every Payday in their store.

Don

Don for me it's Sparks NV. And thank god thats a drive! They are the best about sending and returning too! One day service no extra charge. Can't beat that, nice and informative too. Not afraid to call the manufacturers when needed to help out.

I agree Steve. Many times they have given me some manufacturers phone number so I could call and get a more exact answer.

BTW, that is a pet peeve of mine, and something I will never figure out. What I'm talking about is manufacturers who do not post a phone number on their websites. It is like they don't want to be bothered with calls. If I were one of them my phone number would be prominently displayed in huge letters. When I see one of those I get the feeling they are trying to hide or something.

Don