New Acquisition

[Lynn]

The guy that brokered this deal thought the engine needed a rebuild.

I don't think so. Will post a longer update tonight, but this engine is running smoothly and without smoke right now.

Just received the following message from a guy who has spent the last 55 years restoring Tri Fives. "Congratulations on finding a unicorn."

After I sent him info on all the "tells" this car has, he is reasonably certain it was a 2 x 4 barrel carb car originally; probably the 245 horse version.

Still lots to do. Did find the hidden partial VIN on the frame using a boroscope. There is no rust or pitting on top of the frame (where the bozos did NOT get undercoating). Very legible. It's a match.

My plan is to still just use it as a driver for now. Have too many irons in the fire that preclude me from trying to get it back all original.

Rear axle guts were changed from the factory 3.36 gears to a 64 Chevy pumpkin with 3.55 gears.

Was also surprised to find it had windshield washers. Hoses (really brittle, assuming they are original), switch and nozzles are present. The jar is missing.

[Lynn]

Not a lot going on with the 57 until Thursday.
Busy with Museum stuff when the weather was warm. We had a new record high on Monday Feb. 3rd.

Spent a lot of time down around zero since then. You Canadians need to keep that cold air up there where it belongs!!!!
Hard to get motivated in this cold weather.

I did get the PS control valve rebuilt (NO pitting on any of the mating surfaces… WOW) and installed new hoses. Glad to report I have not seen one drip of oil, trans fluid, or PS on the floor since the rebuild.

Hey Charley, now I can come visit and won’t leave any drips on your clean floor. Not bad for being such a “pile”.

My scissor lift is downstairs in my garage. Been doing some work on it, as I can get the garage up to 65F in about 10 minutes. My workshop, not so fast. Too much cubic footage.
Rebuilt the Quadrajet. Block, intake, carb and distributor are all from a 68 Chevy, 275 horse 327. I am shocked this thing even started. 1/8 inch of sediment in the float bowl. Power valve was stuck in the UP position (meaning it ran REALLY rich. NO accelerator pump action as the rubber had come loose. One of the air bleed tubes was completely blocked with a white chalky residue (usually means water). Had to get the pin vise out with tiny, tiny drill bit. Took about 10 minutes to get through.

The well plugs were not leaking, but I epoxied them anyway, as the plug on the fuel filter housing had a very slight leak (no drip, just fuel residue) so I had the epoxy out anyway. Let the epoxy set 48 hours under a heat lamp.

Fuel filter was completely clogged. Also has an in line filter. Could barely blow through it.

Good news? Other than a defective choke pull off (which doubles as the vac secondary control) the carb is in really good shape after a long soak in the Chemdip. Nothing is worn out. Kit did not include the little rubber for the idle vent valve. Found some on Ebay. Whittled on the original one to make it functional, and will replace today, as I just got the part yesterday.
Distributor wasn’t much better. Dwell was at 40⁰ and the vac advance was inoperable. Someone had stabbed it out of sync so No. 1 wire was not where it “belonged”. Am I the only guy who is OCD about #1 wire being where is SHOULD be?

Pulled it to put on my Sun distributor machine just to make sure all is good. Installed a new vac advance, and limited the vac advance to 12⁰. Will plug it in to manifold vac. The mechanical advance was actually pretty good. 26⁰ all in by 3000. Just disassembled, cleaned and lubed. Points didn’t look bad, but installed a new set… just because.

Will run 10⁰ initial, and see how it does. Turns out the heads are Power Pack heads, but not 1957 vintage. They are from a 65 283 engine. Actually have slightly larger chambers than the heads that would have been on the 327, so I don’t have to worry about too much compression for pump gas.

Changed the oil Thursday (if for no other reason to get that Fram filter off there… friends don’t let friends use Fram oil filters, and install a proper Baldwin filter, or at least a Wix) and will monitor oil usage. If it isn’t using oil, I MAY go ahead and change the heads to a set of 186 castings with 1.94 intakes. That’s down the road. For now, just want it driving safely.
Still doing some sleuthing on how the car came from the factory.

It does have the deluxe heater, back up lights (and they work) and even has the windshield washer set up, although the jar is missing. Also has electric wipers. I hated the vac wipers on my 210 in HS. They just stopped working when climbing a big hill.

I mentioned that it may have been a dual 4 barrel car originally. I have now confirmed, it has ALL the tells. It definitely was a dual 4 car. I had no idea. Sometimes we would rather be lucky than good.

I need to get some work done at the Museum today, but am going to try and figure out if this car came with a PG or a stick shift.

[Lynn]

Just a teaser, as I need to go out and get some things done today.

While assessing the carb situation and wondering about my current fuel pump, I noticed a 3/8 fuel line. Still has the double flare and flare nut on the end, but has a rubber hose slid up over the flare adapting it to a fuel pump with inlets and outlet in less than ideal position. But, working for now.

Fuel gauge does not work. The gas tank has obviously been replaced. Went to check the that the sender was hooked up. The line in the new sender is 5/16. I thought that was odd. It has a rubber hose going to a 3/8 fuel line. Again, still has the double flare and flare nut.

The 3/8 fuel line is routed on the outside of the passenger side frame rail. After some research, I discovered that confirmed it was a dual exhaust car. Cool, that means it had a four barrel from the factory (or so I thought). The single exhaust cars had the fuel line run on the inside.

Then I started looking for a sending unit with a 3/8 line. I THOUGHT that the four barrels got 3/8 and the two barrels got the 5/16. While searching, I was informed that the "standard" fuel line for all cars OTHER THAN dual fours or FI cars, is 5/16.

That made me wonder if someone changed the fuel line. Got with the expert on tri five restos. He told me to look for a clip at the top of the frame above the rear axle. That clip is peculiar to the 3/8 fuel line. Also said there would be a clip on the firewall behind the distributor next to the trim tag. The dual four cars and fuelie cars are the only ones with that clip. It is for the temp sensor wire to re route it down the passenger side valve cover so it doesn't get tangled in the carb linkage.

Sent him the pics below. His response:
"Both look correct for what I was referring to. You should look into getting the right motor and Dual quad set up"

I said something about the undercoating. He said: "The undercoating you are dealing with was Dealer Applied. It was an option many dealers sold.
The fact it is on the underside of the hood confirms this. What you will find under it is usually well preserved metal."

I wasn't sure when the undercoating was applied. At some point, someone ADDED some more, as there is some on the exhaust pipes. But most of what is there has apparently been there since March 1957. That makes sense. I found anchors for dealer installed seat belts. All the anchors and bolts are still there. All are covered up by the old undercoating.

Contemplating having it dry ice blasted. Not sure i want to disturb the dealer applied undercoat.

The quest continues.

[NorCam]

Very cool 57 Lynn.

While I'm still a sucker for TriFives and might be a nimrod for thinking this, I am jonsing for a Tuxedo Black 69 which has me thinking of selling my current 210 post build as I get it finished here. Might move it along while it's freshly restored build and get myself into another Camaro. Something I said I wouldn't do for a long while as I thought I had my fill? (guess not)

Time to top up my drunken sailor fund and go out and right the right code 10 or - - Z/28

[Lynn]

As much as I love my new 57 (told Charley I am reliving my youth) I can't give up the Z.

Took off the Centerline wheels and put the original YH rally wheels on with repop Goodyears.

Have not even driven it on the Goodyears yet. Will when the weather gets better.

Here it is last spring.

Need to pull the brake master and send it out to be sleeved. It is original to the car.
Starting to leak. Ate some paint on the frame, so will be touching that up.

[RPOLS3]

Originally Posted by Lynn

Took off the Centerline wheels and put the original YH rally wheels on with repop Goodyears.

Need some pics of the new shoes on the car..........

[Lynn]

Will do when I get it out in a couple weeks.

[Lynn]

Got the car running pretty well. With the power valve in the Qjet stuck in the "up" position, it was running really rich... when it ran. Could not get it started without starting fluid. Now it starts instantly, and the divorced choke set up works great.

Also changed spark plugs last night. All were black and sooty. Three of them came out with just my fingers. None were tight. Have some original wire looms coming so I can correctly route all the plug wires.

Sherri and I made a run to Braums for frozen yogurt cones. Runs really well. Need to adjust the kickdown linkage as it was taking too long to shift out of low.

Overall, really happy with how it drives. Has some vibration coming up from the exhaust because of how some moron mounted it. I can see threaded holes for factory hangers, but no hangers there. Mounted stiff to the frame on both sides.
Steering is a bit loose, but I think it still has the original tie rods. Shows 84,000 miles and that may be original.

Got the spinners cleaned up and installed.

Just to give you an idea of how rich it had been running, check out the trail of soot left on my shop floor from the first start after rebuilding the Qjet.

[Tracker1]

Here ya go Lynn

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...06543661%22%7D

And that is Canadian dollars

[Lynn]

That is a great price and a great deal for someone with a Corvette. The suffix code is different. I need an FD block. That one is FG.

Might be worth it to me to purchase it and then look for the correct block. Might take a while.

Would work if someone in Niagra could pick it up and bring to MCACN.

Would hate to ship. Can't imagine.

I don't even have a facebook account. May have to set one up just to talk with the guy.