Roadster pickup from leftovers.

[smallfoot]

I was holding my opinion on the off white until I saw the motor in the frame. Man that thing is really gonna pop with the contrast! Beautimus!

 

[donsrods]

Thanks, Smallfoot. I felt the same way, I was not sure about the off white suspension and all of that either. I generally play it safe on colors, that is why my 27 is a mix of satin and gloss black.........it is a no brainer that way. But I think this one will be ok like this.

It also opens the door for the body to be any color I want, I don't have to stick with the satin black I was leaning toward. I am 99% sure it will be some satin color, but I won't probably know until I walk into the paint store and lay down my money. Final color is always the toughest decision in a build.

I'm going to get my starter and intake gaskets ordered from Ross Racing today, which will put me closer to getting to fire this thing up.

Don

 

[Torchie]

Let me add my congrats on the motor color as well Don. Nice to see some thing oher than the usual suspects....
It's interesting as I was leaning towards Ivory for my flathead block. I have seen some pics of the built flatty being used in the Matranga Merc clone and it is done in Ivory as it was in the original.
[P [cl [P
Torchie.

 

[donsrods]

Thanks, Torchie. Yep, I have seen flatheads done in white and off white and they look great like that.

Don

 

[donsrods]

I've gotten a few things done in the past couple of weeks. I ordered the gear reduction starter from Ross Racing and got it installed. Really glad I bit the bullet and bought it, the thing looks and fits great. Should start the engine pretty well too.



The next thing I had to tackle was mounting the remote oil filter. I chose to put it along the inside of the right frame rail, and mounted it horizontally for clearance and to protect it from hitting anything going down the road.




I also got my double pass transmission cooler mounted behind the oil filter and called Summit for a bunch of Russell AN fitting and hoses to plumb it in with. Those should be here this next week, and then I can get the oil filter and transmission cooler plumbed for the last time.





Not huge progress, but progress, none the less.

Don

 

[soltz]

One step at a time, it's all looking good [cl

 

[earthman]

One step at a time, it's all looking good [cl

...................X2

 

[donsrods]

Thanks, guys. This phase is pretty pleasant, no grinding or burning myself with a torch, just drilling a few holes and bolting stuff on. I am also stalling because my LEAST favorite phase is coming up soon............BODYWORK ! I hate bodywork and am not good at it, but it is unavoidable.

I'm going to get my electric fuel pump and a few other parts ordered this week so I can get those mounted too. I also need to have an aluminum fuel tank built that will hide under the louvered tonneau cover.

Don

 

[donsrods]

My parts arrived from Summit yesterday and today so I was able to make up my oil filter lines tonight and get them installed. There was a perfect spot to run the hoses down beside the right rear motor mount and they will clear everything tucked in there.







My Son Dan found me the perfect fitting to screw into my oil filter adapter that has 1/8 npt threads in it. I put my oil pressure sender in there and it lays in a good place to clear my firewall and all the other stuff.




After I got those installed I decided to try something that has been on my mind........I hooked up a battery and tried cranking the engine for the first time. IT CRANKED JUST FINE !! I was worried because I have so many non stock parts in the mix, like a starter switchover plate, a custom flex plate from Bendtsens, and the gear reduction starter from Ross Racing. I was afraid it wouldn't all mesh, but it did. What I did forget was to remove the rubber corks I had shoved in each sparkplug hole to keep dirt out, and as I was cranking the motor all these rubber bullets kept flying past my head ! At least I know I have compression.

Next step is to drain the oil and put new oil and Lucas Breakin Additive in the pan and prelube the engine with my drill. I will probably do that tomorrow night after work.

Don

 

[I-R-POPS]

Looking good Don. It's always a big thrill to start a new engine. Hope it all goes well.

 

[zzrodder]

Nice tidy job of mounting the oil filter - kinda reminds me of how Indian Larry used to mount an oil filter on the side on his chops.
Good thing you didn't take an eye out with those projectiles..

 

[donsrods]

Thanks Pops and ZZ. I was really surprised how those corks blew out of the spark plug holes. At least I remembered to take the rags out of each intake port before cranking so they wouldn't get sucked down into the heads.

Don

 

[Dirtyrat]

Heh heh! Sounds like a new game, dodge the shooting corks!

Wondering where the exhaust will run on that side, and if you plan on getting some heat shield wraps for the cloth covered lines?

 

[donsrods]

I'm only running lakes headers, DR, and those are not as close to the hoses as it looks in the pictures. They come out of the head and immediately make an upward turn that takes them away from the hoses.

On my 23 the one header was almost touching the steering box and it never even got warm, and this one is further away.

I bought my oil today at work and am heading there to change the oil and prelube it.

Don

 

[soltz]

Thanks Pops and ZZ. I was really surprised how those corks blew out of the spark plug holes. At least I remembered to take the rags out of each intake port before cranking so they wouldn't get sucked down into the heads.

Don

Funny you should mention that. I left a large rag in the manifold when i put the 671 huffer on a sbf, good karmar, blow it all out and ran fine [S

 

[donsrods]

Went to the shop after work last night, changed the oil and hooked up the drill to prelube the engine. Oil pump is putting gallons of oil through the filter, just like it should. HOWEVER, very little was getting to the cam and lifters !

We could see tons of oil coming out right by the oil pump driveshaft, so that had to be the problem. I PM'd Tony from Ross Racing and he said he gets 1-2 calls a week on this problem.......says I forgot to put in a 3/8 galley plug by the distributor shaft. Won't be as hard of a fix as I feared, just remove the flexplate and there is a soft plug behind it, remove that and then install the allen head plug inside there. Then reinstall a new soft plug.

Last night I went to bed thinking I was going to have to tear down the motor, so I feel a whole lot better today. I put this motor together probably 9 years ago so I don't remember much about what all I did, but I think the machine shop installed those soft plugs and he evidently forgot to screw back in that plug. I don't use him any more and I think he is out of business.

Don

 

[ssimpala]

You, Sir, are the man! That's going to be beautiful!

 

[donsrods]

Thanks, Impala. If I ever get it to run, maybe.

Tonight after work my Son and I were able to pull the freeze plug on the back of the engine without removing the flexplate. The flexplate has 4 big holes in it and we were able to work through one of those holes. When I got the freeze plug out I was able to look up in the hole and there was NO GALLEY PLUG in there ! The machine shop forgot to install it.

We put a 3/8 allen head plug in the hole and reinstalled the freeze plug, and we had 50 pounds of oil pressure when I spun it with the drill this time. So that was the problem.

However................I started looking at the engine and wondered what else that crappy machine shop might have done wrong, and I don't want to get the car all built and then have engine problems, so I have decided to tear the engine completely apart, take it to the machine shop we are now using and start from scratch.

I am going to strip all the paint off and have them completely machine the block and heads and do whatever it takes to make it right. Funny part is, I really am not too upset about having to do this, I want this motor to be right, and the only way I can be sure is to start over.

We just have to keep telling ourselves, "This is just a hobby, and you can't get upset over minor setbacks........they happen."

Don

 

[zzrodder]

I had the exact same thing happen when starting a friends 425 Nailhead 30 years ago -no oil to the lifters, valvetrain clattering like mad. Took off the intake and valley pan and with a mirror I could see the hole for the missing plug and oil gushing out when cranking it !! One consolation was that at least the machine shop pulled the galley plugs when they hot tanked the block.... This engine was hooked to a Packard 3 speed so I had to pull the trans and flywheel to get at the freeze plug for access.

 

[smallfoot]

Don, it might be a set back now but you'll have more peace of mind later and don't blame you a bit for being that way.