Gramma's Car: the new project!

[Verne_Frantz]

Steve, You are a very fortunate man to have your kids involved like this. That makes it more than a project; it makes it a really good memory.

Verne [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

[njsteve]

Thanks for the kind thoughts, Verne! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]

[njsteve]

Tried mowing the lawn today but the mower belt ripped halfway through the backyard from the weight of the still-wet grass from the full week of rain we had. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img]

So I went ahead with installing the engine. Connected the tranny to the motor. Here's a shot of the original overspray on the flexplate as compared to the Bill Hirsch paint mix. Very good match for this hard-to-find paint color.



Everything hooked togather and ready for lifting:

[njsteve]

We have liftoff!



Had the wife and kids assisting with the maneauvering. Quite an entertaining time had by all. Much yelling - mostly on safety issues like keeping hands out from underneath the whole contraption just in case the chain breaks, etc...

Got the engine in place rather quickly. The biggest P.I.T.A. were the damn motor mount bolts. They were new motor mounts, that I prefit and made sure the bolt ran through the bracketry beforehand. The '75 Firebirds used a weird mounting system where bracket attaches to the block but the actual rubber mount is bolted to the subframe. Very hard to get the exact angle right to get the bolt to find the threaded end on the other side. That part took two hours!

Touchdown!

[njsteve]

Done for the night.

[njsteve]

Got the car all together today, added the last of the fluids, rechecked everything and got ready for the longwinded start up process...You know the drill, crank it over, stand back for the inevitable backfing and loss of eyebrows...pull the distributor and reinstall it 180 degrees out from where it was, find out where the leaking oil/gas/water/beer is coming from...try again...yada, yada, yada. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img]



I can tell you that in 35 years of playing with cars and building engines I have never run into something like this:

I had the boy outside with me holding the fire extinguisher (from prior experience, just in case). All I was trying to do was bump the starter in order to move the timing mark on the balancer to the &quot;0&quot; spot on the timing mark. I turn the key for half a second and the car is running. No cranking, no backfiring, I mean running like I had just shut it off a minute ago. Instant 60 pounds of oil pressure, no weird noises, no leaks, no running out of gas.

So I end up sitting there with a stop watch and running the rpms up and down around 1500 to 2000 pm for 15 minutes. After that, I shut her off and drained the oil - looked clean, the magnetic drain plug was perfectly clean - not even a speck of metal anywhere. Refilled the oil and added another can of break-in additive and turned the key again, and she starts up on the first crank again. Set the timing and we both hopped in.

So we took Grammas Rose's car out for a victory lap and went to Rita's Ice for some Italian ice to celebrate. Got home and here's how she sounds after our victory ride: (click on the photo)




So, between the 455HO my daughter built in 3rd grade and this 350 my son built in 4th grade, the moral of the story is that from now on I will only have my kids build my engines for me.

Sounds like an idea for a new TV show:

Can You Build An Engine Better Than a 4th Grader? [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]

[MrsBillyBobcat]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Verne_Frantz</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Steve, You are a very fortunate man to have your kids involved like this. That makes it more than a project; it makes it a really good memory.

Verne [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img] </div></div>

I agree Verne! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]

Gramma's car looks great! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/worship.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/worship.gif[/img]

BTW Steve... While I was reading your last couple posts, I heard &quot;It's Not Unusual&quot; [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/shocked.gif[/img] ...Tom Jones was on American Idol! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/wink.gif[/img]

[njsteve]

You know the old saying: Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/naughty.gif[/img]

[MrsBillyBobcat]

Yep! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/wink.gif[/img]

[njsteve]

Figured out the high speed fan problem.

I checked the relay connection and it is the melted wire syndrome. 20 years ago I put an inline fuse in the power feed for the high speed circuit, where it enters the relay. You can actually see the orange wired, white plastic inline fuse holder in the upper left corner by the passenger side hood hinge, in the first photo above. I think I did this because the original wire melted, so I thought a fuse would protect the wire in the future.

In actuality, all it does is heat up the inline fuse carrier enough that it softens the plastic and then the metal connectors no longer contact the inline fuse, cutting off the 12 volts feed.

I jumped the two ends of the melted fuse holder and high speed then functioned perfectly.

I guess I forgot that the relay is the thing that is supposed to be protecting the circuit from heat damage but it doesn't do too good of a job at it.

I guess I will go back to the original 12 gauge wire and forget the fuse.

This seems to be a common problem on the F-bodies.