Gramma's Car: the new project!

[VintageMusclecar]

BTW, I wouldn't worry too much about having to detail the engine bay because of the carb...that's one of the cruel ironies of my profession--all my hard work is usually hidden beneath a big ugly-assed air cleaner lol.

[njsteve]

Ran into the first engineering problem of the day...

The dipstick tube assembly that routes the dipstick away from the crankshaft and toward the oil pan sump had a little glitch in translating to a block five years younger.

See if you can identify the issue:




Yes, the bracket was designed for a 1975 block that had the #3 main cap with the two mounting bosses not a 1970 block that had #2 and #4 caps with the mounting bosses for a windage tray.

[njsteve]

So I went to the old bolt bucket and found a Pontiac cylinder head bolt with the stud that the negative battery cable mounts to. It was the perfect stand to mount the modified bracket to. Thankfully 455 blocks are predrilled for four bolt mains and the bolt just screwed right in. (along with some red Loctite to keep it in place).



And after two hours of test fitting, drilling, heating, bending, reheating, and rebending, the bracket mounted up nice and tight in the correct position. I used red Loctite on the nut as well as centerpunching the edges of the nut to crimp the threads slightly. I test fit the oil pan with the dipstick tubes in place, as well as spun the crank to make sure it was a long way away from the reciprocating assembly zone.