www.the351cforum.com

Thanks Matt. It's not mine, so I dont get much say in what gets done to it other than just keep it running.

As for the racing bug, I want to go racing, but have no desire to work on the car, and the thought of spending more money on that POS repulses me. So, I'm not gonna count on it happening any time soon.

I decided I'm going to sell a few of the parts to a fairly local guy who wants a few things, but not everything. One of the things he is interested in are the ported 2v heads with screw in studs/guideplates/etc.
Unfortunately, one of them was damaged when it went thru a fairly violent engine failure. One of the shops back home repaired it, well, they did the first step. They "stitched" it back together. I cleaned it up, but need to have it pressure tested before I sell it to anyone. If it leaks, I'll probably just pull the hardware off and throw it in the dumpster.
Anyways, I took it over to the shop to get it tested, but they dont have a fixture to test a Ford head. I kind of figured that was gonna be the case, but ran over there anyways just to verify it. They did give me the name of another shop that can, but they are close to an hour away, and it's hard for me to get off work and get there before they close.
While I was at the shop, I told them about the last outing and how the oil pressure dropped, and it hurt a bearing. Right away, one of the guys said he bet it broke the end off the pickup tube. Given the last oil pan had that issue and that was why I had to buy a new one (couldn't get that pick up tube any longer), coupled with how big the wheelstands had gotten, plus having lifted a couple of times with the wheels two feet in the air, it's probably a pretty good bet that is what happened; the end broke off, it sucked air and hurt a bearing.

Even tiny wheel stands tend to tear up parts. Big un's - yea.

Rumor is that the local guy that does good work is closing up. Not enough business to keep the doors open, especially with the local track closing and the dealerships mostly doing R&R work on vehicles vs "fixing" things. That leaves one guy that for a myriad of reasons both personal and "local politics" I'd rather not deal with. I don't need anything right now, but when it comes up I'll just deal with the problem.

I intended to go to Caprock Motorplex this last Saturday to test but 35F morning and high of maybe 48 and cloud cover said "don't bother". So we'll just take cash and checks and head over this Friday, maybe get in the gamblers and for sure throw money at No Box on Saturday. I re-upped my old IHRA license for the next two years as most tracks are now with IHRA. I get two classes with IHRA/2 years for nearly the same $ as a single NHRA license. Caprock is 160 miles more or less, so the $ difference between that and Xtreme is about $50, with fuel making the difference. Caprock has more fee$ but its so much closer. Oh well.

On a side note, I'm looking hard at Holley EFI and trying to run a dual program - one for gas and one for methanol. It would allow me to put the tunnel ram back on the C and have enough lbs/hr injectors on the motor for both. That scheme has been pushed back a ways, thanks to a $900 bill this morning to fix our heat pump system. R410-A is now $55/lb and the system took 10 lbs, not counting additional parts and labor. Ouch.

_________________
Chris - Merkel, TX
http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod
"Owner built, owner abused."

How about that - I sold the 400 block I had last week. So there's still a little interest out there somewhere LOL. $150, that'll cover about 1/3 of this weekend's race. Hah!

_________________
Chris - Merkel, TX
http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod
"Owner built, owner abused."

I had to take the weezer block back to the shop to get cam bearings put in it. When I started to assemble the motor, the cam wouldn't go in all the way. It would get to the last journal and get stuck. I dropped it off tonight, he said he will have it ready tomorrow. Looks like I will be putting a 393W together this weekend.

I sold a few C parts over the weekend. That fellow came by, we went thru some stuff and sorted out what he was interested in, I shot him a price I thought was probably on the low side, he countered, I said, "let's load it up in your truck."
He bought both oil pans I had, the set of ported 2v heads even though I never had them tested, all 3 of the aluminum 2v intakes I had, two sets of aluminum roller rockers, two sets of chrome Moroso valve covers, an aluminum water pump, and I'm sure there was at least one more item I just cant think of right now.
Anyways, I figured selling stuff that was in my way taking up space, stuff I was probably never going to use, for less than it was really worth, was better than it continuing to sit in my way.

Well....we're off to a rocky start this season.

The tow out to Penwell was total hell on Friday. nearly head on west wind at 25~35 with gusts to 50 MPH. in the Midland/Odessa area there was so much dirt flying that it got like fog with only a couple hundred feet of visibility. Normally I get 7.5ish MPG, we got 5 and had to stop for fuel with about 90 miles left in the tank. Snaking a 63' rig through a Walmart parking lot is a trick. Coming back Saturday with a nice NW breeze - we left with 199 miles to empty, drove 169 miles and at the house still had 166 miles to empty.

Made two good passes on Friday. Would have made more but they had a butt load of street cars and the 2nd pass took 45 minutes from entering the lanes to rolling under the tower. I should have entered the gamblers - there was only 5. I'd have had at least one more pass.

Or - maybe not. 1 TT Saturday I mind-dialed 7.60, car ran 7.597. Mild dialed same for TT #2 and got a 7.62, .5 MPH off and almost no oil pressure on the return road. Rolled under the tower with 60 PSI, had barely 15 on the return. Stayed to watch friends run 1st round then loaded up and came home. Bought a cheap mechanical oil pressure gauge and it reads the same as the dash gauge, so not a gauge problem. Pulled the oil filter and the oil in that looked pretty ugly, especially since it was all fresh with only 4 passes. Drained the filter and looks like I'm panning for gold, just a bit of shimmer in the pan. Engine made no noises other than the right side hydro rollers seemed a little louder. I'll cut the filter open later but looks like I lost a bearing somewhere, maybe #1 I'm not feeling it's an issue with the pump bypass. The bronze gear on the distributor looks good too, so not that. I had to start it to back it in the shop and it starts at zero pressure then slowly builds to around 18 PSI with cold 10w-30.

I'll post when I get the motor out and the pan off - probably check each rod journal, push the pistons up in the cylinder then pull the mains. If the crank isn't hurt, might be back running shortly. Better look and see if I have a spare rear main seal.

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Chris - Merkel, TX
http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod
"Owner built, owner abused."

Man, that sounds all too familiar to me. Mine wasn't gold flake, it was silver. It looked like metal flake paint.

It's faint, so that's a good sign if there is one. The oil I spilled out while testing pressure gauges is clean, like I'd expect. The oil out of the filter is discolored gray which kinda threw me off. I'll cut the filter open after a bit to see what's in there. Should have the motor out in the next couple of days. IIRC, I use P bearings in the hope that the bearing(s) will take the hit and not the crank. I should get the headers coated while it's out so I can have a better chance of getting a diaper on the car and not burning it up. Not sure there's a local vendor for that.

Edit - Abilene Powder Coat can do ceramic, $300 for long tube. Not a bad deal, and right on the way to work.

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Chris - Merkel, TX
http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod
"Owner built, owner abused."

Mine was clear as day the bearing was hurt with what came out of the filter. No need to even cut the filter open. All the little specs are bearing material as well.

I'm kicking around what I want to do with my street car.
Here's where I am with the projects. The better half wants her convertible running. I have a motor about ready to go in it. The problem is, I cant work on with where it is sitting now, and it does not run. It really needs to be sitting where my 70 is sitting. But it doesnt run, and the easiest way to move it, requires her racecar to be moved. It also currently does not run. My thought process is, I have the short block together for it, a buddy gave me a set of barely used slicks that will fit it, and I need to get the bell housing welded up. To me it makes sense to get it running so it will move under it's own power. Once it is out of the way then I can drag my 70 out from where it currently sits, get her convertible drug over to that empty spot, and get the motor swapped out in it. Then I really want to work on my 70. It hasnt been on the road since 2001, and I really want to drive it. I need to get a street friendly converter, figuring something just shy of 3000, swap out the 4.71 gear for a 3.25 (need to be able to run 70 mph without an OD trans), but that leaves what to do about a motor. My original thought was to take a stock 351W I have, toss a set of aluminum heads on it, a RPM Airgap intake I picked up off marketplace, a solid flat tappet cam I have sitting on the shelf, and run it. I would need to stick with heads with a 1.94 intake to try and minimize valve to piston clearance issues with the stock flat tops.
It should run pretty good and other than the aluminum heads, I wouldn't have much money in it. I was thinking a set of AFR Enforcer 185s, or even a set of Flo Tek 180s.
Or, this idea keeps floating around as well. Since my 377C broke a piston and no one wants to give me anything for it, I could order a set of custom dished pistons .040 over, toss a solid flat tappet in it that I have on the shelf, my Torker, my Super Comp headers off the racecar (if I fix the 393C, I'm going to put the big tube Hedman headers on it), but I would need an oil pan and valve covers as I sold my spares. I would have more money in it than the windsor, but it would also be a lot better motor (better parts, freshly machined, more inches, etc.) Then I'll look at the racecar.
Guess my first goal should be to finish one project, then go from there. LOL

"Too many projects" - should be on every car guy/gal tombstone.

Headers dropped off for black ceramic coat. Motor should be out tonight - but I have to mod the home made engine storage cradle to fit the pan on the 302 so I can get that off the other stand. And still finishing the bedroom end tables - bought new bedroom furniture and the matching end tables were too wide to fit the bedroom wall space, so I'm painting and staining the existing units to kinda match. So that's in the teardown space for the motor. If I can finish the top of the last one tonight then I'll have the space I need. The yearly swap meet is Saturday and I'd like to go to that and smooze everyone, maybe pick up some fun stuff. Would like to know by the weekend WTH is the problem so I can order parts. Wife has surgery next Thursday and I got a Jury Duty notice for that next Monday that I'm going to try and get out of because of Dr follow ups. She obviously can't drive for a while.

Yea - too many projects.

_________________
Chris - Merkel, TX
http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod
"Owner built, owner abused."