Transmission is done!

Alright! I managed to get my Saginaw 4 Speed 3 ringer rebuilt! Took a little while, and to be honest the mysteries of the manual transmision are still... a bit of a mystery to me. Actually, it's not really all that complicated in principal- but you've gotta love the engineering that went into something like this. Gears, counter gears, sliding in and over eachother. It's transmission porn, I tell ya.  It took a bit of work to put everything back together, truth be told - there are a LOT of parts. The manual was... to put it lightly, mandatory. 

While I was working at it, I also cleaned up the shifter and aligned it as best I can for now. I'll need to torque down the tailshaft bolts (I don't have the right ones in there right now so there's no point) and make sure it doesn't leak, but it's assembled, and that's what counts.  The shifter and linkages will all need to be replaced, but it works well enough that I'll be able to install the transmission as it is until I can afford a nice HURST shifter for it. Priority now is getting it everything ready so I can install/fabricate mounts and brackets as needed.

Next up: Brakes! I'm planning on ordering a disk kit for the rear end and working out what to do for a master cylinder/pedal/clutch etc...

Lots of stuff done this week!

I finally managed to get the transmission apart and the casings cleaned up and painted. Next week I'll order a rebuild kit and put new bearings and gaskets in it so it's ready to go. Then I'll move on to the shifter, clutch and bell housing so it's all ready to drop into the car in the spring. There's still a lot of work to do, but at least I won't be TOTALLY covered in grease as I'm working on it. Notice the tailshaft housing has not been tapped yet for the shifter - I'll get to that next week and start restoring and mounting the shifter assembly.

In addition to that - Santa (okay, UPS) delivered part of the front end:

Yup! That's a Chassis Engineering bolt - in crossmember. I'll paint it this weekend before I put it in storage for the winter... I'm running out of good weather - and I'm afraid it'll be freezing by the time I get the whole front-end rebuilt, and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to drop in the motor yet anyway: I still need to do the clutch, bellhousing, rebuild the transmission, and then I want to give the motor a good cleaning and a fresh coat of paint. Maybe new valve covers, too.


Now I'm waiting on the Mustang II components, and the transmission rebuild kit...

Woah

JPL called me right after I put the order in for the Mustang II front end and gave me an awesome deal that included shipping, sway bar, and the braided brake hoses as well! It'll probably be too cold to start working on the car when it all arrives (we'll see, I love winter and I have an awesome suit) but there's still lots of stuff to do over the winter anyway.

I've just loaded the tranny casing into the back of the truck - heading up to Dad's so I can tap out a stuck side cover bolt. By the time that's done, the tail housing should be here and I can re-assemble the transmission, paint, fill and set it aside.

Once that's done, I'll start on the clutch... so that IF we get a warm-enough spell that I can put the new crossmember on, then I can shave the rest of the firewall, paint the firewall, set the motor & transmission in the car and fabricate the transmission mount as soon as spring is here.

THEN it's on to the rear end (which will get disk brakes, either in kit form or if I'm lucky and I find an LS1 camaro rear brake setup then I'm golden).

We're movin' slowly!

Still plugging away

The cold weather is approaching, so I've moved some of the work into the shop since I last wrote.

I DID manage to find some wicked awesome deals: '55 Chevy driveshaft, all of the necessary body patch panels and a new Saginaw transmission tailhousing.

The saginaw is sitting on my bench right now - in pieces - but all of the gears look good (enough) and the case is cleaning up nicely. (I have to retap one bolt hole).

Not much to look at, but progress none the less!

At the front, I've just ordered the crossmember and Mustang II front suspension. Tubular control arms, 2" dropped spindles, 11" crossdrilled rotors.

I'll be getting a hold of a rear - disk conversion for the 10 bolt rear end - four wheel disk brakes - and hopefully a new set of springs/perches/shocks. If I can get everything before the snow melts, then I will be VERY HAPPY. But there's no rush...

RUST! AAAAARRRRHHHHHHHHHH!

(Pics coming, I ran out of light)

So, in order to fit the v8 in, I needed to cut the 'ribs' in the firewall- the 350 is a lot wider than the original I6 that was in it. So, I started cutting away- and to my "surprise" - the front body mount was rotted out.

No problem.

I'll finish cutting the firewall ribs away and grind down the highspots, at which point I'll measure and fabricate new body mounts out of Lbar. I can easily weld them in to restore structural support.

I also pulled out the guages and radio, etc - so the dash is bare (and I shot a coat of primer).

While my speedo was beyond restoration (I managed to find a replacement on ebay) the oil, fuel, temp and ammeter all seem good. I polished the chrome ring by hand and it looks really nice.

So much to do... but while I wait to order the mustang II front end, cross member and so on, I have time!

Window seizure...

Freed up one of the rear windows today- the other will take a bit more work to free up.  I think I've also tracked down a new speedometer for it- I'll know more in a couple of days.

I'm hoping to sell off some more studio gear- I have a potential buyer - and if this deal goes through, I'll be able to order the new front end components. This is critical - I need the new front end to position the motor mounts, which I need to do in order to fabricate the new transmission mount & measure for the driveshaft.

New Engine!

Picked up a "new" engine today- it's a 350 out of a 1969 Full size chevy. It's complete, carb-to-pan and runs well. She'll get new 64cc aluminum heads and  a crane blue racer camshaft. I've also tracked down a dual plane intake and 600cfm carb. That combo should be good for around 350 horsepower- perhaps more...

Block Cleanup Stopped

The pitting in my #5 cylinder isn't bad, but it would need some serious machining. Since the machine shop work would total around $700, I've decided to change plans a bit. Not that I'm cheap - I'll still rebuild this motor, but not for the Chevy. I'll probably use it in my next project (Tracee want's a classic pickup).

I've found a '69 350 from a Z28 (300hp) I might pick up instead. It's complete, and in good condition. I'll be calling the guy later today and checking it out soon.

I should probably go clean up the garage though...

:)

Block cleanup underway

I'm looking for a machinist - the 305 came fairly clean, but there's still some residual "pitting" in two of the cylinders. I'll ask them to go .020 - I'd like to avoid a radical rebore.

I know it's crazy. Really crazy - but I'm planning to stroke this motor out, using a 3.75" crank and 5.7" rods.

If the bore is increased by .020 the total displacement will be around 332 cid.  I just love the idea of taking the most common "corporate" block from the 80s and turning it into something unique.

Add to that an RV cam, corvette intake and carb, and my HO 416 heads (ported and polished), I hope to make an honest 350hp. The 416 heads are 58cc - and if I'm not mistaken that'll put my compression ratio in at around 10:1.

I've read... now I don't know true this really is... but I've heard stories of similar setups making more than 400 horses, so I'm optimistic.

Tomorrow, I'll finish the cleanup of the block, and then I'll clean the crap off the garage floor.

Ugh.

Crank

Flipped the motor over in the stand today and started pulling apart the bottom end. It's really messy. It's almost 8:30, and I'm exhausted- so I'll stop before I pull of the mains and try to free the crank up.

Oh, did I mention this baby is seized? Yup. Chevy's really are "like a rock".

Well, I probably won't use this block, but since it was more or less free I figure what the hell, I'll keep going. It won't cost me anything to take it right down and then decide if it's worth the cost of machining it.

On the plus side, there didn't appear to be a lot of "rust" in there, even after it sitting in water for so long. So, until it's just a block, I'll keep plugging away.

I'll have to remember to take some pictures tomorrow. Where's that camera?

PS:  Catherine Wheel - Crank - wicked band, awesome song.

Off with the heads.

Woke up early. Pulled both heads off the 305 - that was actually easier than the last time I did it- I didn't put a guage on the head bolts, but some of them were NOT torqued down to spec. I think it's 'empty' now - that is, the reast of the water poured out of it. The cylinder walls are dirty, a little rusty and will require a hone. HOW MUCH machining is yet to be seen- I'm going to head out next week and pick up a new set of caliper / cylinder guages, a hone, a reamer and then pull the bottom end apart to see how bad it is on the other side. I'm not going to be too upset if I end up going with a different block, but I would LOVE to use this thing - and keep the car's build in the spirit of "work with what ya got". On the other hand, if it needs a lot of work to bring back to life, then I could just as easily take that money and put it into a 350. Hmm.

Oh- I'll take pics tomorrow afternoon and post them in the gallery...

Awesome Parts Deal

Tracked down an new rear end - from a second-generation camaro - a saginaw 4 speed transmission - from a second-generation camaro - and a 305 small block. All of it was very cheap, and it's true that you get what you pay for.

The motor will need a complete rebuild - when I pulled it off the back of my truck a couple liters of water poured out of it. I'll need to pull it apart to see what I'm dealing with here. I'd hate to throw it away, I really hope I can use it.

The transmission has a broken shifter boss - I'll need to weld it closed and then tap it for the shifter assembly to fit back on it - and that's if I don't use a floor mounted shifter (instead of a tranny mounted shifter).

The rear end is in good shape. Seems to be a 2.73:1 non-posi unit. It will do just great until I get a posi carrier for it.

Ok. Let me get my wrenches out. Heh heh.

Registered!

Well, that was less painful than I suspected. The '51 is now registered to me! Now that it's all legit, I'd better start working, right?

History!

After calling Saskatchewan., Alberta, Manitoba and British Columbia's respective "Transportation Ministries" - some easier than others - I've tracked the car back to Alberta. It's not been registered since 1989. Never reported stolen or written off. Next step: Create the affidavit, have it notarised and then off to the MTO I go...

Getting it registered!

So... for the past few days I've been on the phone with the MTO. Called 6 different times, and I've gotten 6 different answers. So far, I know I need to trace the 'history' of the car, and then sign an affidavit indicating that the car's not stolen, and that it's rightfully mine.

I spoke with the chap I bought it from- and he tells me he's had the thing in his yard for at least the past 6 years - and that it originally came from the praries. So - I'll start with the Ministry Of Transportation out west first and see what we come up with. More in a day or two!

The Project Begins!

Brought home a new project / toy today! It's a 1951 Chevrolet Styleline Special. There's not really that much to it right now - no motor, no floors... it needs brakes, steering, heating, cooling, electical, upholstery... new rear end... new front suspension... new glass...

Ok, so it needs a lot. I'd better start working, eh? First step: Getting it registered. More on that in the next post!