1929 Essex/Truck

sc5080 said:

I was in Saskatoon over the weekend to visit my daughter who lives there. Got to drive through some of that slop. Real weird sensation when the Cruze starts spinning the tires at 115 kph. Glad it hasn't made it to Winnipeg .... yet!

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Yup I was up there in Toon town on Thursday when they got the first dump, terrible drive up, not so much on the way home. I'm sure Winnipeg is not far behind getting some of this.

Finally had a break in the weather on got the Essex out for a cruise today. Was pretty chilly when I left 0c, but up to 10c when I got home a couple hours later. Made it to 2025 miles for the season (so far)
I have an order for parts from Speedway coming to address my steering issue, and a couple polyurethane rod ends to add to the back end of the hair pins to make SGI happy.
I did't like the look of the white paint on the roof so I took some aircraft stripper to it now it's just rust and old red primer mush better
Have been researching cams and got the chance to visit a fellow RR'R and heard his SBC with a Comp Cams 12-600-4 Thumper and loved it, so I'm thinking that's what I will order.
Kinda looking forward to winter now and getting a few more things done on RR

Parts



And the roof, I think it looks way better.

NO,NO,NO,NO I liked it better the other way...put it back.....

jes kiddin'[ddd Looks great....[P

forbigpicture said:

NO,NO,NO,NO I liked it better the other way...put it back.....

jes kiddin'[ddd Looks great....[P

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Thanks fbp, it would be easier to put back than it was to take off

Ford 9" help

Questions for all of you? The Ford 9" I installed came out of a 1970 ford LTD big block car. It has the step down axle tubes and 7/16 backing/plate axle retainer bolts, this would make it 31 spline axles right? [S

I'm tired of the one tire fire as said by a fellow RRer so I'm looking for a posi 9" preferably with a bit lower gear ration I'm at 2.79 and would like to go to 3.50 3.73 what would be the best models to look at for a donor?

Thanks for any and all help.

DozerII said:

Questions for all of you? The Ford 9" I installed came out of a 1970 ford LTD big block car. It has the step down axle tubes and 7/16 backing/plate axle retainer bolts, this would make it 31 spline axles right? [S

I'm tired of the one tire fire as said by a fellow RRer so I'm looking for a posi 9" preferably with a bit lower gear ration I'm at 2.79 and would like to go to 3.50 3.73 what would be the best models to look at for a donor?

Thanks for any and all help.

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If you can make it down to Havre this winter Ive got a 9" from a 76 f-150 with 3.73s you can have. I don't know if it's posi or not though and I'll have to count the splines to see if it's the right spline count or not.

endicott_jb said:

If you can make it down to Havre this winter Ive got a 9" from a 76 f-150 with 3.73s you can have. I don't know if it's posi or not though and I'll have to count the splines to see if it's the right spline count or not.

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Thanks for the offer JB, from what I've read if it has the large 7/16 backing plate bolts then it has the large bearings and 31 spline axles. We will see how the winter shapes up I may take you up on the offer.

You're welcome Dozer. That's what this hobby is all about right? Helping each other out to build the coolest rides we all can.

Now I know polishing has no business any where near a Rat, but a couple weeks ago I hopped in the Rat and went to see a guy about some polish for my aluminum boat. In true salesman fashion he had to put a little polish on everything including a little spot on the end of the collector on my headers.
Well to be honest I wasn't liking how the headers were gaining patina anyhow, as you can see in these two photos.





So I took an old tooth brush and this ULTRA LUSTER, OXIDIZATION REMOVER/METAL POLISH and 20 minutes and got this real nice gunmetal finish on the headers.







Now, I figured while the old guy was doing the spot on the header this won't last long, but it did, which is why I did both headers. We will see how they do from here.

That looks good[cl

The headers look real good with the polish. What is it?

Marty Z said:

That looks good[cl

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Thanks Marty

bob w said:

The headers look real good with the polish. What is it?

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Thanks Bob
Ultra Luster metal polish

https://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Luster-Polish-Oxidation-Remover/dp/B0037TRDY2

Nice [cl

I like that look too[cl

Winter is here

Well I finally broke down and called it quits for the season, it's just not warm enough to be comfortable driving the Essex.

So now working on the list of todo's begin.

I got all the parts for doing the cam and valve seals so pulled the motor and trans over the last couple days.



A little shocked at what I found when I opened the motor up, it's a real testament to how good and forgiving these old GM 350's are.

Valve seals are not going to fix these heads. I took the springs off 1 intake and 1 exhaust and found a minimum of an 1/8"side to side play in the valves. These heads are the very undesirable 624 casting, so will not gat any money spent on them.

Next I pulled the pan to check the bottom end, bearings all look good but I found a little pitting in #3 & 5 cyl where they sat for three years with a little moisture in the, nothing real bad and it will hone out easy. so I pilled all the pistons. This is where I got my real surprise, five of the eight pistons had broken top compression rings with two of them having the rings in more than four pieces, don't know how the cylinders aren't scored. Engine is twenty over, pistons look good, so I'm going to hone the bores put in new rings and find a set of heads.

essex build

going to be a cool looking ride hope my 29 essex coupe turns out that cool

stepdonn said:

going to be a cool looking ride hope my 29 essex coupe turns out that cool

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Thanks stepdonn. It is a blast. Do you have a build thread for yours?

Working on the fix for the cross steer issue I had with the special tie rod. I was really hesitant to cut the factory steering arm bosses off the spindles





I then had to make clearance for the bolts to hold the new arms on.



New arms bolted on and back on the Essex for fit.





I had to lengthen both the drag link and tie rod to the proper dimension.





While I'm waiting for all the engine parts to come in, I can start on replacing the rear hiem joint on the hairpins with bushed joints to keep SGI vehicle standards happy.[S

And the rod end fix for SGI.