Whelp, this last couple months has been a MESS. I had a work incident where I lost some significant hearing and got tinnitus real bad, got a terrible case of pneumonia, then my back went out due to coughing with pneumonia... oh yeah, then most of Ventura County lit on fire. Over that time, I got a tiny bit of stuff done on the BelAir.
I took a day , drank some whiskey and lowered the front end. The front was about 1.5 to 2 inches too high. I cut off a coil and it is now exactly where I want it. The top picture is lowered, the bottom is one of the only photos I have that show the height of the front end. It is from the PO's craigslist ad. I did not think it would make that big of a difference while driving, but I can actually tell the rake is different. P.S. The Nova in the back is my friend's.
As I mentioned above, I bought a 4-speed Saginaw for this beast. However, the trans sat in the last owner's shed for 15 YEARS! It was a little nasty inside (I guess on the outside too). Well, I have almost finished the rebuild. It has been pretty interesting considering I have never rebuilt a trans before, though I did have some help. Being a Saginaw 4-speed, the teardown was pretty straightforward.
The help:
This kiddo LOVES to be around when I am working on the cars. After getting all the guts out, I painted the case parts.
This is the only picture I took during the actual rebuild. My hands were just messy with grease and oil. I took this one because it is pretty much the only way I could think of to keep the roller bearings in place while I assembled things. I bought a rebuild kit for the trans for something like 65 bucks. It included all seals, bearings, and synchros. I bought a new countershaft shaft because there was some scarring on the shaft and a new one was 13 bucks. I probably could have re-used it, but for $13, why?
Here is where I am at now. I have not started the side cover yet. I still have to pull out the shift forks and associated shafts and clean it all up.
I have THISSSSS for when the trans is done. I have everything I need but the trans breather (yeah, yeah, it is like 3 bucks at NPD, but I have not had the time to pick one up), and I need to figure out the driveshaft. I don't know what, if any, difference there is in the length of the driveshaft from the Powerglide to the Saginaw. I have the part that slips into the output end of the trans, I just need to get it all figured out. I got the Speedway Motors hydraulic T/O bearing, so that will be new to me to set up.
As I said, fire... there was a MASSIVE fire in Ventura County, I ended up working a ton because of the fire, a lot of people did. I got very lucky I did not lose my house. My grandmother did, so did a lot of people. One firefighter lost his life fighting it, one person crashed their car trying to outrun the fire when they stayed in their house too long. With the things I saw from this fire, I am amazed more people did not lose their life. At one point, the winds were so bad the fire was moving faster than 1 acre per second. In this picture, my house is right at the foot of the mountain that is the big glowing blob here. My house is literally almost in the center of this picture.
Luckily, my house dodged the fire. This is three days later. Still burning, still lots of smoke.
The fire is actually still burning. At one point there were more than 6,500 firefighters from all over the country in the county working on saving homes. They did not start actually trying to put the fire out for a week and a half or so.
Once the fire let up and I could travel out of the county, I got myself a treat. The 29th was my birthday, so it was fitting this happened Friday. Remember the motorcycle cover from the back of the BelAir? I figured I'd put it to use. I have been wanting one of these since they came to the US 7 years ago. This is a good 200 cc's more than anything I have ever ridden, but very controllable and predictable. This is just before my ride home.
It is a 2010 KTM RC8 R, this thing really moves. I think it is solidly into the STUPID fast category. This one is not quite factory fresh, but it is in great condition and has just under 8,000 miles. I got lucky and almost immediately located the bike when I started looking, the exact year bike I wanted. The R trim came out in 2009. I keep seeing conflicting versions of this, but I have heard it never came to the USA in 2009. The R trim changed in 2011 and got a somewhat redesigned motor and a few other things to make it more "streetable." Things I would rather not have, like a heavier flywheel and a less aggressive suspension. Though this one has been modified a bit, I don't think it is THAT much more fast than a stock one. It does throw some sweet fireballs when you throttle back after a good acceleration period. I'll try and figure out how to get it on video, but my GoPro suction mount is not overly fond of sticking to the matte bodywork that has 0 flat areas.
The funny part, it does not fit under the cover. So the cover went in the trash. HAHA, oh well, it was a good excuse to buy the motorcycle. She sleeps in the garage anyway. This next week I'll be moving. I'm hoping the new living situation will be a bit more conducive to car work. The new roommate is a buddy of mine, between us we have three cars from the 1960s and two cars from the 1970s. Should be some fun!
I approve 
