So now what? Lol
So now what? Lol
You know how they say, reassembly is the reverse of the disassembly.
But seriously watching your work on the Corvette and the 57 Chevy there shouldn't be too much you haven't seen before. If you need pics of how anything in particular goes together I can help out as best as I can.
In reply to SEADave :
Without the hardware... lol
They make restoration bolt kits now... .
Glad you got to experience the aftermath of kidney stones. Sounds a lot better than the experience of having them.
a_florida_man said:Did you know what feels exactly appendicitis?
Kidney stones. Never had one before.
It was quite painful.Resolved that and went the rest of the way to Decatur.
Loaded the trailer and the truck.
About to cannonball back home starting now.
I cannot be stopped!!!!!
I've had WAY to many! Fortunately, I don't have Hank Hill's problem (narrow urethra) so passing them has not been TOO bad. For me it's when they stop moving in the miniature tube between the kidney and the bladder!
I get through ALL of the other pain I've had, be reminding myself that "at least it's not stone the size of a pencil eraser, stuck in a tube too small to measure with a ruler!!!"
I roll my eyes when women really try to compare it to childbirth!
I took a first peek into the 455 that was out doors for 30 years or so.
I have to say it's looking pretty decent all together.
It was outside under the two halfs to a plastic dog kennel.
Setting on the wood apllet it had been shipped on in the 90's
First thing I did was pull the valley cover.
Meh, not bad. All of the lifters on the passeneger side had spilled out decades ago when the oil was thinner.
A little rodent activity was noted.
Next I noticed that only two bolts were holding the oil pan on... so...
Yep definite mouse house activity with a small flood. Possibly the cumulative effect of condensation? I don't know... but all in all not too bad as the water line was just in the sump.
So, luckily Jim had pulled the valve train, allowing the valves to close, and the spark plugs were still tight.
Putting a socket on the crank confirmed that the engine was still free. I did not fully rotate it, just gave it a wiggle.
Clearly the water never made it to the journals... thank goodness.
Most of this was likely due to the distributor having been pulled. Perfect mouse house door size!
none of the plugs showed any rust.
Remember this is 30+ years...
BTW, the 90's called and they want thier splitfires back...
Deeper digging, pulled the windage tray and the oil pump.
This is the kind of stuff I cringe at thinking about everytime I watch one of those "If I can brake it free, will it run ?" you tube videos.
Because running with that situation can ruin good things... like the rest of this engine.
Looking up, and the I see lots of silver. supposedly this was a 30 over 455 with low mileage onn the rebuild.
I believe it.
Looks to be silv-o-lite 4 eyebrow (P/N 1525) cast pistons, cast factory rods, and a factory cast Nodular crank.
Other than the engine, stuff, it took the whole day (and then some) to get the garage and the driveway back under control after 4 trips worth of bringing back stuff from Decatur.
I have squirreled away so much stuff, I could host a Pontiac themed 'Easter egg' hunt on 2 acres... lol.
Well, I couldn't stand not knowing.
Garage was clean... type to start the return cycle to chaos right?
Pretty happy to see this after 35 years outdoors without a distributor, intake or valve covers.
Look like the old ebay ad was correct... new stainless valves... check.
not bad...
Might actually be .060 over?!?
something 'c.c. '
yep gonna need to measure that too!
Heads look to have been milled.
Also noticed that the rods, as numbered, are on the wrong sides ie: odd vs even.
AND the piston notches are facing rearward. uhoh.
rods and crank might tell a story.
Hopefully the bearings carry date codes....
Stay tuned lol.
I like big valves and I can not lie, you other GRMer's can't deny. When the head comes off with big eyebrows in your face and a big round thing one the valve spring.
Confirmed 2.11 Intake 1.77 exhaust valves.
4.210 (.060 over) bore... which make the engine "square" with the 4.210 stroke.
rob bearing and crank look fantastic,
Pistons are like new... oil rings still have paint codes on the ends...
Valve springs are rusted but not pitted... and SUPER stiff.
It looks like someone took the trouble to shim them to the reccomended height for the proper closed seat pressure.
Pictures soon. :)
This should be an easy 400hp 600ft/lb 10:1 build... lol .. There's no replacement for displacement. :)
Looking at the LS7 roller lifter conversion for durability and faster valve ramps.
Thoughts?
a_florida_man said:
Looking at the LS7 roller lifter conversion for durability and faster valve ramps.
Thoughts?
roller cam FTW
A couple of pictures as promised in the preceding post:
And a bonus picture of all of the insect debris that the cooling system is packed full of.
Working plan right now:
Build the gold car as a rough runner with all of the mechanical goodness... all of the suspension and frame mods, the 455 that I am tearing down now, the 4 wheel discs... existing tri y headers. All of it.
And a couple of seats...and bring it to the challenge out of budget next year.
Thrash and repeat.
Hold on to the brown for now car just to see what sort of appetite I ultimately have for all of this.
In a week or two Ill be unpaking the enclosed trailer and sorting / documenting all of the parts.
Ill probably pull the engines and transmissions out of the two rollers as well. Time to banish all of the rodents... lol.
By the way, I think the piston has a 1990 date code!
The rod bearings are FM high quality bearings, 0.010 OS and do not have date codes.
Hopefully the mains will... I'd like to nail down when this engine was built...
a_florida_man said:Working plan right now:
Build the gold car as a rough runner with all of the mechanical goodness... all of the suspension and frame mods, the 455 that I am tearing down now, the 4 wheel discs... existing tri y headers. All of it.
And a couple of seats...and bring it to the challenge out of budget next year.
Thrash and repeat.
Hold on to the brown for now car just to see what sort of appetite I ultimately have for all of this.
In a week or two Ill be unpaking the enclosed trailer and sorting / documenting all of the parts.
Ill probably pull the engines and transmissions out of the two rollers as well. Time to banish all of the rodents... lol.
Sounds like a great plan! I love cars with original patina but serious underpinnings.
I am looking forward to all the Pontiac madness coming up in this thread. It's gonna RULE!
I am really enjoying this thread but I hate that I get Lynyrd Skynyrd stuck in my head every time I click the link.
More Tools Than Sense said:I am really enjoying this thread but I hate that I get Lynyrd Skynyrd stuck in my head every time I click the link.
I like it lol
I used to own one of Ronnie's black high roller hats!
Not a replica, one of his personally owned hats!
Found another picture of the two cars.
Probably late 90s
Sooo... moving projects around, hiding Firebirds... pulling the $2k Challenge car out...
.... but I HAD to stop and remove those god awful alluminum rubstrips off of the Formula before I hid it away...
I like this car about 400% more now.
And so I gave it a better bath with a magic eraser.
News flash. (And general notes)
The 71 Formula (Brown one) is a numbers matching car.
Vin, engine (400) and transmission (TH400) are all stamped with the same serial number.
The engine has a set of 1973 "46" heads off of a 350.. that may have been to boost compression. (89cc vs 96cc or 98cc)
That will be an interesting engine to tear down.
Also, the 'extra' front clip is actually the OE clip off of the Formula.
Now numbers matching isn't really my thing, but it's kinda cool to see....
I think that the 15" Rally II wheels on the Esprit were OE for the Formula.
I think that the 14" Rally II wheels (1 have 5) were OE to the Esprit.
You'll need to log in to post.
