Street Freak Rambler build

[LetsFNgo]

Had some time to work on the transmission on breaks and lunch. I’m waiting for new bearings to finish putting it together, after that it’ll get put away for whenever the car gets assembled.
First and second are proshifted
Third and fourth are faceplated
The tailshaft housing is mostly assembled and the speedo hole is plugged.

Otherwise I’m working on mounting the passenger seat and got a quote to have the whole car dry blasted in April or May after the spring rains end. Then the body and paintwork can begin. Luckily this car is pretty straight. But I hate the undercoating on the bottom of the car and since everything is coming out so nicely I might as well do the body right.

[LetsFNgo]

Haven’t had much time to work on the car lately. I may get a chance to play with it tomorrow. But I did end up with enough time on lunch today to get the transmission all back together. It went together fairly well, other than me not realizing I couldn’t follow the book due to the size of the 3rd gear lugs, I had to slide the countershaft back out of the way to clear the main shaft, which according to the book isn’t a problem with a factory iron T10.

I also marked what it is so if I die someone won’t just assume it’s a stock trans if they buy it at the estate sale lol.

[LetsFNgo]

Time for a small update on the gasser.
The cars sat for the last few weeks, I just kind of needed a small break from spending money on it. But now I’m recharged and ready to get after it a bit.

I have a media blaster coming the second half of June to blast the whole car inside and out so I can have a clean base to do all my other welding and fabrication on. I need to do the floors and a bunch of other panels to cover holes and build a partition wall to the trunk.

I have a list of small parts I’m going to try to find at Ford Carlisle in a couple of weeks. Fuel system stuff.

The Lakewood bellhousing is machined flat(it was only .005 out but my machinist says he always does these because he’s seen a lot of variation on them.

And I have all of my fiberglass parts that I’ll need to figure out how to mount. I have some time off in June so I’m going to try and spend a couple days assembling the long block so it can get stored away with the transmission until it’s ready to go in. So I should have some bigger updates coming up. Thanks for reading.

[scuncio]

Nice, what type of cutter did your machinist use on that bell?

[LetsFNgo]

Originally Posted by scuncio

Nice, what type of cutter did your machinist use on that bell?

His exact words were “the dullest one I have. It cuts these the best.”

[LetsFNgo]

I need to get parts off my work bench. The easiest way to do that is to assemble the engine since I have most everything to build it. Specs are

Crower blower cam installed
Crank installed with arp main bolts torqued to 110
Weisco pistons .020 below the deck with Molnar connecting rods
Crank is .030/.030 and was a pain in the ass to find bearings for.
Ring gaps are .025 for the top ring and .027 for the middle ring.
Cam is installed straight up using a Rollmaster gold timing chain set.
Waiting for a friend to stop over and double check the cam to degree it in 100%.
Once I get the cam done I’ll get the front cover, oil pan, and heads on and actually have room on my workbenches for when the car gets blasted in a few weeks.

[LetsFNgo]

Small update today, spent a little time outside going over engine parts. I found that the Milodon head studs are way too long for the heads. After calling Milodon and sending pictures they agreed to swap them out for shorter studs. Hopefully I’ll have the long block together next week and start figuring out all the pulleys for the blower and alternator.
Also got the rocker studs in and torqued to get rid of a box that’s been in my way for months.

[LetsFNgo]

Small update today.
Stopped at an auto supply place and talked to the guy about primer and paint and decided to use them for all of my supplies for the car. I picked up epoxy primer and am ready to get started on the bodywork. This Saturday the car gets media blasted and then the real work begins.

Spent some time when I got home working on the engine. Checked intake centerline and degreed the cam in. Ended up retarding the cam 2 degrees to put it at 108ish. The cam card calls for 110 on the centerline and I’m figuring on 1-2 degrees being added by the valvetrain and timing chain stretch.

I then installed the front timing gear cover and began getting everything ready for the oil pan. The plate on the cover is for the electric water pump I’ll eventually have to order.

Enjoy the pictures both of the work and Marty helping me on the engine and the car.

Thanks for reading. I hope everyone reading this has a great day.

[LetsFNgo]

Well…
I was going to post an update where I was very excited. All day today was spent getting the car media blasted. Top and bottom. Mostly because I wanted to remove all the factory undercoating and I figured since I’m keeping this car for the long haul I’d get the topside blasted to have all fresh metal to start with.

I guess that ended up being a mistake because everything is warped now. It wasn’t noticeable until a couple hours later and everything was out of the sun and cooled off, but the roof, nice original trunklid, doors, and quarters to the gasser are all warped. I guess I should’ve known everything was going too well.

I’m sure it all can be fixed and I’m trying really hard not to be incredibly disappointed about everything being damaged. I spent good money with a guy who swore he’s had experience blasting cars and wasn’t worried about it. I’ll probably have an update once the car is in epoxy primer and I can start figuring out where to begin with the mountain of bodywork I just created for myself.

Sorry for the long read.

[Too Many Projects]

I was hoping, for your sake, that wouldn't happen, but it is all too often the outcome. Pulling warped sheetmetal back close enough to not need a ton of filler is an art unto itself. You may be able to learn how, but things will get worse during the learning curve.....been there and still learning...sorry for what you had done.