Project Yellowjacket, my '72 442, has been mainly collecting dust in the garage. I did manage to find a complete 455 big block out of a boat. After the initial tear down I discovered the bores were already .060 over! The machine shop confirmed that the cylinders were tapered and some had rust pits that would not hone out. The block was magged and was in good shape, so I pulled the trigger on 8 sleeves and had the block bored to .030 oversize. You're probably wondering why I didn't leave it standard being I was starting out "new" again. Well, when I was pricing forged pistons, the standard size was almost double the price of .030 over pistons! Besides, a little more cubic inches never hurts. The crank was .010/.010 and was in good shape, so it was micro polished. The big end of the rods were reconditioned, new rod bolts were installed, and they were pressed onto the new pistons. The entire assembly was also balanced. The short block is just about ready to assemble, all I need to do is pick out a new cam. Because I am looking at putting a hydraulic roller in it, which costs about as much as I have in the block so far, it might be awhile...
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| Now I just have to put it together! |
Among the things preventing me from working on the Olds is my newest acquisition, a 1956 Chevy 210. As with all my project cars, I had to come up with a name for the '56. This particular car had been sitting in a garage for 25 plus years. When I really started looking things over I noticed that everything that had been done to the car was from at least two decades ago! It was almost like it was in a time capsule, so the name 'Time Warp" seemed like a good fit. Turns out Time Warp needs a little more work then what I initially thought. Oops, who could have guessed that? The plan was to work on it and get it back on the road as soon as possible, with safety being the priority. I discovered the front suspension was shot, along with the steering box, along with the steering column, along with the brakes, along with plenty of other stuff but I stopped looking because I ran out of money for parts. The jury is still out on getting Time Warp on the road soon, but one thing for sure is that I need to get it into the garage and out of the elements.
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| Now I just have to take it apart! |
The first major project of the new year won't involve working on cars, it will be making room for them! The Amberlight is going to get a make over of sorts. Maybe a "move over" is more appropriate as I will be moving a lot of stuff out of one garage and into another. The goal is to house two vehicles in the detached garage instead of just one and move the engine building and entire parts inventory into the main garage. (I have a lot of parts, aka "stuff") This will give me a clean room of sorts for the engine work and free up a lot of room in the Amberlight so it can actually hold two cars. Stay tuned for more posts on these project cars and who knows what else, possibly another one? I just happened to hear a story the other day about a Camaro that has been stored in a garage since 1983... Wait, I don't have anymore room, or do I??
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| Now all I have to do is move this "stuff"! |
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