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Gathering more parts, almost have "everything" except there are always things left to get. I'm picking up some parts tomorrow from a used parts package I bought last year...stuff from a project car that changed direction. Some of them are already cleaned/painted and probably better than the parts I have on hand (front control arms, etc). I also picked up the latest batch of stuff from my sand blaster.
I also picked up all my other parts orders. Shipping to Canada can get expensive so I use a courier with a US delivery point, do my own brokerage and customs but that means about a three hour round trip...so I waited until everything I was expecting was on hand. This lot included parts from OPGI, Summit, Inline Tube, Lectric Limited, Fusick and OldsParts. Still to come are the BeCool radiator/module unit and Hydratech brake boost system. For what all this stuff cost I can't help feeling the pile of boxes should be bigger!!!
Yeah, yeah...it's not the size of the box, it's what's in it :-D
New black windlace for the front, rear, side and door jamb (I'm painting the white headliner black, and replacing the windlace), manual shifter hump and console conversion saddle, bucket seat mounting brackets, console mounting bracket.
New core support mounts, new hardware for front end, inner fenders, rear control arms, grills and a few other sets, OAI hood lock set (brackets, keepers, pins), W27 cover because I felt like it!
Big block battery tray, battery cables, engine to cowl ground, manual trans battery cable tube (actually partially in an earlier photo), front light and engine bay wiring harnesses
Some more blingy stuff. Alternator, power steering, breather grommets with baffles and AEM AFR gauge.
ACC carpet, sill plates
Steel brake lines, combination valve and Hurst Roll Control
The next few days will be lifting the body off the frame, stripping what little is left on the frame and getting it down to my sandblaster. Hopefully I'll have it back a couple of weeks from now and will start bolting all this goodness onto it!
Last edited by VI Cutty; March 9th, 2023 at 05:07 PM.
Picked up the last of the parts I bought last year. Control arms are nicely cleaned and painted, looks like new upper balljoints but the lower balljoint boots are mangled (and the spindles are still attached...argh). Hard to say if the lower balljoints are new or not. The bushings were painted over and at least one of them looks pretty rough so I'm going to assume they weren't changed. Spindles are factory disc brake, and also got the rotors, calipers and backing plates which I'll probably wind up using in my '71 eventually.
Also a set of rims in good condition, but I think these are Buick wheels? Tires have good tread but no idea on their age.
...and now the new shopping list starts growing as I find all the small things here and there that I still need. Hope to have the frame out from under the body in the next few days so I can see what else might be needed there.
...and to think I originally titled this as "just" a driveline upgrade. Darned MAWs anyways.
Pulled the body off the frame today, it went smoothly without any drama thanks to a big assist from a friend.
Frame is now pretty much stripped and will be off to the blaster this week. It looks good overall, but we'll see if the media reveals anything I don't wanna see. All the body mount holes except one looked to be in good condition. The front right was a bit weak around the perimeter.
The only surprise (so far) was the left rear body mount. I had to use the sawzall to cut the bolt as the nut was spinning. I was more than a little surprised to see the upper part of the mount with the nut perched on top resting on the frame as I lowered it away. The nut cage actually still seems in decent condition and firmly attached, but the body metal is rotted. Going to have to patch that part. Any suggestions or things to be aware of when I tackle that?
As luck would have it, I saved some sections of another '70 I parted out a few years ago, including this section of the rear. Seems solid so I think that will make the repair a lot easier.
Got my BeCool cooling module to add to the "I can't wait to start installing this stuff" pile.
Frame is off for blast and paint, and I've been making slow progress stripping undercoat from the underside of the body. Fun stuff. Been debating putting it on my rotisserie to make the job easier, but I won't be able to do that until I tackle the metal replacement at the back mount. Maybe this weekend...
Wow, a month and a half since I lifted the body off the frame and apparently things have been stagnating. Frame isn't back from blast and paint yet, should be finished soon. I've been procrastinating on cutting/welding the metal for the body mount repair under the trunk...really need to put on my game face and tackle that one, but I'm letting myself get distracted cleaning up a '73 Super Beetle to sell (because my Cutlass needs more parts!). Having that car gone will also give me floor space to build out the frame when it comes home. Still looking at a June or July time frame for my heads to arrive, then however long it takes my builder to do his thing. I had originally been hoping to be driving the car mid summer, then pushed that back to later in the fall, but now I think next spring is a realistic target. Of course I've been opening cans of worms while waiting for parts, which forces the completion date to move to the left.
So what do you do when progress on the project grinds to a halt? Order more parts, of course!
I wasn't going to do anything significant with my suspension until I found a good deal on a pair of UMI front springs on the local marketplace...so now I'm getting UMI rear control arms, springs, sway bar and UMI front sway bar plus some other goodies on the way. In the meantime, my Rock Auto order arrived today. New tie rod ends, adjusting sleeves, idler arm, drag link, upper and lower control arm bushings, blower fan motor, front and rear shocks. Most of the Moog parts were Made in USA, a couple were from Mexico and a couple other pieces from China.
Last edited by VI Cutty; May 1st, 2023 at 03:11 PM.
Well, been a while. Things were moving real slowly for a while but starting to pick up again. Bernard should be a week into my head work and my Hydratech brake boosting system is on it's way. I have the frame back and it's looking great in a satin black finish...I need to shuffle some cars so I can get it on my lift and start some assembly.
My biggest hurdle was putting off dealing with the rusted left rear body mount on the car. I finally tackled that today and tacked in the replacement piece I'd saved from an old parts car. Just need to finish the welding and I can get the body onto the rotisserie, hopefully in the next week.
I finished up the welding then set about to mounting the rotisserie...that was when things took a few steps backwards. The nut cage in the replacement patch had been repaired by a weld at some point in the past and I reached the fateful conclusion that "it held before, it should hold now".
Well, we all know about "assume". I had chased it with what I thought was the right bolt which threaded in smoothly. Turned out it was the wrong bolt...the correct bolt had some mild resistance when threading and sure enough, with a little torque applied I heard the dreaded "click" of the weld snapping and the caged nut spinning. I wound up cutting the patch back out, replacing the cage and re-installing the patch for a second time.
With that repair behind me, I was now able to mount the body on the rotisserie.
Now I'll be back to stripping the underside and hopefully be setup to start working on the chassis as well.
I'll have my heads in the next week or two so the engine build will be able to move ahead at last.
Got my "care package" from SpeedHut today. These are 3 3/8" gauges complete with all needed senders. They're slightly smaller than the bezel openings, but 4" gauges would have been too big...either way it looks like some bezel modification is needed. I'm happy with how these turned out can can't wait to see them come to life!
My current thinking is to get a piece of metal laser cut to the shape of the woodgrain piece with smaller openings for the gauges. I'll need to trim the backside flange of the bezel down to be able to catch enough threads on the keeper rings.
Speedhut lets you add custom graphics to the dial face, amongst many other options. I don't think I'll get tired of looking at the rockets.
The holes are too big to clamp the gauge in the bezel. The back plate might work for this, but then I'm still stuck with having to address the missing chrome around the holes, so I figure a custom piece will take care of all these issues. I have a friend with a laser cutter and powder coat oven so we might just have some fun here.
First time seeing these. I love them. Rough price for all?
First time seeing these. I love them. Rough price for all?
Jeff:
I went with the SpeedHut gauges for my '72 ragtop project. With a little effort and custom dial faces from SpeedHut the 4-1/2" gauges will fit behind the factory bezel. Shoot me a PM if you want more info or pics.
Finally got my heads from Bernard and hauled everything down to my builder's shop. From the various things I've been seeing regarding the "Out of the Box" quality, I think the wait and extra expense of having Bernard inspect and improve the heads will be well worth it. Hopefully they'll be able to start assembly fairly soon so I guess I should get going on the chassis so I'll have something to put the completed engine in! My builder is going to do the break in, tune and dyno runs.
Also picked up the hydroboost braking system from Hydratech. The package I got included the lines and a polished master cylinder. The impetus for this system was the tall GMPP valve covers. I'm not 100% I actually need the taller covers but I do like the appearance of these ones and the extra clearance can't hurt. It didn't sound as though they would clear any size of brake booster though, so the slimmer line of the hydroboost seemed the way to go. A friend of mine has been very happy with they Hydratech product in his car although I'm sure there are likely less pricey options available.
Now that I'm past the more time intensive responsibilities of the summer I'm hoping to start moving a lot quicker on the underside of the car and making space to work on frame assembly. I'm not gonna say I have too many cars (2 x Cutlass, 2 x VW Beetle) but I will say I just don't have enough space. My wife thinks it's the other way around, but we all know how that discussion goes :-D
Last edited by VI Cutty; August 24th, 2023 at 11:44 AM.
nice to see it finally heading to the shop. it was good talking to you and michel at Sunfest, didnt know you were a T-shirt guy as well. how was the car show? im sure it went well
nice to see it finally heading to the shop. it was good talking to you and michel at Sunfest, didnt know you were a T-shirt guy as well. how was the car show? im sure it went well
Yeah, it was great catching up with you too! Definitely need to carry on the conversation in a more relaxed atmosphere.
The car show as brilliant. We had 166 cars in the Rod Run Saturday night and around 200 cars at the show (for anybody lucky enough to have 500 cars at an evening cruise in, we're on an island with a smaller capture area so the turn out was pretty darned good for the area). Matt and Steve from Lost Car Rescue showed up and everyone seemed to have a good time. We'll probably be donating something in excess of $13,000 to charities and I raised another $900 for Tour de Rock/Cops for Cancer by shaving my beard at the show!
Gotta have this car there next year (under it's own power!). Would be great to see your '65 make it out too ;-D
Nothing, if not an adventure! I've put the frame on my lift so I can start getting it back together but the first issue I encountered was too much end play in my axles. The full storry is in this thread (https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...arings-174482/) but the short story is the axle bearings were installed backwards so that will be fixed next week.
I've started installing the differential and UMI tubular control arms, etc now, which is going well so far. Replacing the bushings in the diff housing ears went good using the drill through the rubber then collapse the outer bushing housing method.
I tried my hand at installing the front lower control arm bushings, and that didn't go so well. The first bushing slid in without drama, although slid is obviously an over simplification. The second bushing must have got offline and slammed into place with a big POP...and the side of the control arm was kind of deformed. Lesson one, which I should have known anyhow, is don't use an impact driver because you don't feel like doing it by hand. Discouraged, frustrated, but undaunted (mostly) I tried the next bushing on the other control arm but it started going sideways as well but at least I was using a hand ratchet and could stop before anything else got damaged. Long story short, the control arms and bushings are in the hands of the local front end shop to set things right. They'll be doing the eventual alignment so they better be happy with the control arms! I was so disgusted with myself that I didn't bother taking photos.
The machine shop has started work on my engine, initial setup and measuring and whatever other voodoo the machine shops do. The machining should be done later next week and then into assembly. Dropped some parts off today and this was the status on my crank, which still needs to be machined for the manual input shaft.
I've started installing the differential and UMI tubular control arms, etc now, which is going well so far. Replacing the bushings in the diff housing ears went good using the drill through the rubber then collapse the outer bushing housing method.
See...this right here. This is where I jinxed myself! I was haviing a heck of a time getting all the control arms and the springs aligned and bolted in place at the same time. After a couple nights of fighting those parts on top of the previous challenges I was starting to feel kind of defeated...and still so much to be done! But, thanks to input from Rallye469 and oldcutlass in this thread (https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...-frame-174610/) I went back at it tonight and got it done. Long and short, I needed a little more creative thinking and more brute energy putting the springs in place.
Heading in the right direction now! Front and rear suspension is in, brakes are installed and it's a roller. The rear is all UMI tubular, springs and sway bar with stock drum brakes. The front has stock control arms and spindles, UMI springs and sway bar and Wilwood disc brakes. The steering components are just fitted enough to let me roll the chassis without the wheels doing the splits but they still need paint then installation. I'm debating getting a close ratio steering box as well.
I rolled the frame off the lift and outside for the first time today. Hopefully the next time it rolls outside it'll have the engine and transmission installed, and will be getting positioned under the body (which has been untouched for a couple months now, lots of work to do there yet).
I bought the American Racing Torque Thrust II's used so I wasn't 100% sure they were going to work, so I bolted them up to my '71 today and took it for a quick rip. No problems, these will work and I like how they look. The rims are 17" x 7 front and 17" x 8 rear and have some very tired M/T's on them now. Looking at tire options now, leaning towards 235/45 front and 255/50 rear which give dimensions closer to the tires I was planning to use - more sidewall than the M/Ts.
The machine shop is still working on the engine - crank had to be machined for the input shaft and pilot bearing, and should be ground by now, bell housing runout was tested and corrected.
Pretty much everything stripped forward of the firewall to prep for paint. Interior gutted, steering column removed. Pulling the interior out of the donor car now...things are tight in the shop.
Just found this and it brought a smile to my face knowing that I'm not the only one with this space problem. None the less, you might be able to get 1 more vehicle over there by the shop vacuum. Lol, great read and looking forward to seeing updates.
Just found this and it brought a smile to my face knowing that I'm not the only one with this space problem. None the less, you might be able to get 1 more vehicle over there by the shop vacuum. Lol, great read and looking forward to seeing updates.
yeah, that vacuum takes up a lot of space :-D
Although the lift is down so there's easy room for another car underneath....and I do have two cars parked outside. When I only had Volkswagens, I could fit more in the shop. Here we have 2 Mk 1 Sciroccos and 3 Beetles, and I was speculating I could fit one more Beetle in there If I really tried!
I'm down to 4 cars at the moment, one of them's for sale so call it 3. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to get below that number but maybe the answer will become clear once this '70 project is on the road!
- My swap meet wheels are going to cost me as much as I paid for them to be repaired back to a usable condition. Hurts, but it will still cost less than tossing them and buying something else.
- Frame's back in the shop, no further progress on it but now it needs a good wipe down/cleaning
- Stripping the undercoat from the floor pans is progressing. Slowly.
- Assembly is happening on the engine. First piston was in when I visited it on Thursday, degree wheel was being setup and they're getting ready to set the endplay.
My builder was originally going to source my waterpump but that turned into "Why don't you find one Clay" on Friday...and so commenced my education on water pumps and pulleys. It's a '69 engine going into a '70 Cutlass with a BeCool aluminum radiator. Long story short, I just ordered a 1971 waterpump and have to dig out the right pulleys...even if I have to steal them off my spare 350. Worst case is I wind up with a spare pump for my '71! I'm still dreaming of a drive by late spring...
Things are starting to progress here, at last. Been getting various smaller things sorted out, discovering more aftermarket part fitment issues to resolve, but more importantly I got the engine home and set into the frame and the transmission installed. Almost ready to paint the underbody, probably another week or so for that.
It's really coming along- I hate to even think about how much $$$ you've already got into the project. What did you decide about the valve covers? IMO, they'd look great if you painted the top silver, like the intake, then paint them black to match the engine. Run a little sandpaper over the raised parts to scuff off the black and expose the silver underneath. Or I guess you could just use a sponge brush to lay the silver down. Black like the engine with silver highlights would be so cool, I think. Or you could mill and polish the raised sections, black and silver. That's what I would do, for what that's worth. Have you decided on a body color?
It's really coming along- I hate to even think about how much $$$ you've already got into the project.
Thanks! I'm afraid to tally up the bills at this point, but I have to admit that I'm yet another victim of scope creep on this project. As long as my wife doesn't sell it for what I told I paid...
What did you decide about the valve covers? IMO, they'd look great if you painted the top silver, like the intake, then paint them black to match the engine. Run a little sandpaper over the raised parts to scuff off the black and expose the silver underneath. Or I guess you could just use a sponge brush to lay the silver down. Black like the engine with silver highlights would be so cool, I think. Or you could mill and polish the raised sections, black and silver. That's what I would do, for what that's worth. Have you decided on a body color?
I'm going to leave the covers the way they are for the time being as there are higher priority jobs to get done first. Eventually I plan to paint them black then use sandpaper to expose the fins and lettering on top.
Looking great. What bellhousing did you use? What clutch? Hydraulic or mechanical clutch? Looking great!
Thanks! Silver Sport Transmission supplied the bellhousing and everything else I needed to switch from column shift automatic. Their invoice just lists the bellhousing as "Reproduction cast Aluminum Buick/Olds/Pontiac bellhousing for SST" so no idea what the original source of it is. Clutch is McLeod "Super Street Pro Kit 11" x 1-1/8x26". Hydraulic clutch.
I just noticed the Cal bug in the background. Looks nice, my wife wants me to build her one. Her first car was a bug.
It's a fun car. This one's a 1957 with a sliding cloth sunroof and currently has a 2165cc engine. I restored it from the ground up in 1991 then daily drove it for a few years, bracket raced and generally have a blast with it!
Mocking up parts to check fitment, so far everything is looking good. I was concerned about the passenger side mount alternator bracket on the GMPP tall valve covers but there doesn't seem to be an issue there. RobbMC fuel pump is a tight fit, but I think it will work. It's mostly in position but not cinched down yet. A couple of the cover screws are real close to the heads and I'm hoping it doesn't become necessary to do some clearancing there. I need to get the right fuel line fittings yet...hoping I can get away with a 30 or 45 degree coming out of the pump.
The headers are from Patriot (subsidiary of Pertronix) and slipped into place easily. No signs of chassis interference and hopefully no issues when the body gets dropped back on.
Fitting these parts up is a partial distraction allowing me to procrastinate from the never ending job of getting the body pan ready for paint! I'm so over that now.
Very nice detail job, I run the same air cleaner and wondering where you got the chrome lid, mine has some corrosion.
Rocket On!
Thanks!
I found the air cleaner at a swap meet last year, new in the box and a killer price. It's a Holley product so you should be able to source one through them or one of the suppliers although I have no idea if the lids are available separately. This one has a Demon logo on it although I'm running a Quick Fuel. It will work for now but longer term and budget permitting, I have another one in mind.
Prepping the body pan for repaint isn't fun. Not fun at all, and it feels like it never ends! I'm getting there, though...slowly...and hope to be ready for a two part epoxy etching primer soon.
What I've learned...
- Laying on your back working underneath the car with a heat gun and putty knife is slow and not a lot of fun
- Laying on your back using a multi-tool seemed even less fun than using the heat gun, and didn't really seem as effective as some people had suggested it might be
- Laying on your back using a propane torch was a non starter and didn't sound like any kind of fun at all
- Putting the body on a rotisserie isn't much fun, but it's more fun than the previous three lessons
- Using a heat gun and putty knife with the body on a rotisserie is a lot easier than laying on your back. But, still not fun.
- Using a multi tool...after previous attempts, I just didn't bother. Didn't promise to be fun.
- Using a knotted wire wheel in an angle grinder removes the undercoat and rust a lot quicker than any of the other methods I tried. But, lots of airborne debris. Effective, but not fun.
- Using a knotted wire wheel in an angle grinder to remove skin from your finger because you're too stupid get put on proper gloves - definitely not fun. I got lucky, and yes, I wear appropriate PPE now.
- Using a knotted wire wheel in a Milwaukee M18 angle grinder leads to the escape of all it's magic smoke. It seems like the turning resistance was too much for the motor which overheated one day (after many sessions, mind you) and is now seized up. Use a corded grinder for this. Replacing an out of warranty Milwaukee tool isn't fun.
I wanted to remove the undercoat so I could confirm there were no other issues being hidden while the car was off the frame. I've seen cars with seemingly good areas turning out to be nothing but undercoat because the metal behind it had completely rotted away. Definitely a tedious task which I'll be glad to have finished, but I would certainly do it again.
The heat gun, putty knife and picks are good for getting the undercoating out of nooks and crannies the wire wheels can't reach. I've been using a combination of a 5" flat wheel, a cupped wheel and a couple smaller wire bits for my angle grinder which again lets me get into nooks and crannies.
I found the air cleaner at a swap meet last year, new in the box and a killer price. It's a Holley product so you should be able to source one through them or one of the suppliers although I have no idea if the lids are available separately. This one has a Demon logo on it although I'm running a Quick Fuel. It will work for now but longer term and budget permitting, I have another one in mind.
Body work sucks, just time consuming, picky work. I'm probably going to my Daughter's Boyfriend to help me me weld and replace panels at their garage then off to the body shop from their on my 70S. He's in his second year as a Welder/Millright and a gear head. May patience be your friend, you need him.
Body work sucks, just time consuming, picky work. I'm probably going to my Daughter's Boyfriend to help me me weld and replace panels at their garage then off to the body shop from their on my 70S. He's in his second year as a Welder/Millright and a gear head. May patience be your friend, you need him.
It definitely is, and it's always a bonus when you have a good resource to draw on like him! Fortunately I don't have to touch the shiny side of the car as it's been painted a couple of times already but there were some areas underneath that hadn't really been touched or addressed.
This is what I started out with...painted a couple years before it was stashed in a storage locker for 20 years and never touched. Pulled it out and drove it home...the photo outside the locker and then in my driveway were both taken on the same day.
Flipped the body over on Friday so I could get at the hidden areas (where I didn't want to be working upside down). I've got most of it done now, just the rear axle arch, trunk floor and rear valance areas to finish cleaning up...then getting into corners with a pick or something and lots of degreaser before painting. I'll be using a two part epoxy, rolled and brushed on. Aiming for a dark grey as close to the body colour as possible, just a slight contrast for all the black in the frame and suspension.
Some of my Legendary upholstery order arrived, but nothing too exciting. Sunvisors and new parcel shelf. Seat installation kits were in the shipment too. It will be a long wait for the rest...their site indicates how many days turnaround for the parts, but I'm assuming that doesn't include weekends and holidays...I'm hoping I'll see the door panels in April or May but it's unlikely I'll see my upholstery until this time next year (March 2025). My front seats are usable in their current condition, just not fantastic in appearance.
Upcoming tasks will be positioning the bucket seat mounts (this was a bench seat car), locating the area to cut for the shifter and hump, then getting the console brackets in the right place. So, are there any indicators on the tunnel for locating the hump opening or console brackets? There's a flattened circular area where the tunnel steps down (left circle), I think that would be for the cable going to a floor shift automatic. Same location for the shifter cut out? There are assorted dimples in the tunnel area (circled) - are they locators for the console?
Got the bucket seat brackets welded in, hopefully I got them straight! My welding skills are still pretty much non-existent but I think I got a couple of decent looking beads in the mix here. Penetration was good and it will all hold the way it should. I'll wait until the body is back on the frame before dealing with the console mounting brackets and trimming the console for the manual transmission install. It looks like positioning the shifter tunnel hump will be fairly straight forward, just have to match it to the contour.
Wiped the underside down with degreaser today, found a couple spots I'll revisit with the wire wheel and maybe a small metal patch to deal with before painting. I'll probably degrease another couple of times before the paint goes on, hopefully in the next week.
coming along niceley Clay, that tub looks relatively rust free , lucky find around here
It's not without it's issues, but definitely counting my blessings on this one! That was one of the reasons for buying this one in the first place. It wasn't the car I really wanted, not really the car I needed but it was a good clean car to build on.
Two coats of two part epoxy primer on the underside and spun the body around in the shop in preparation for sliding the frame back underneath in a couple of weeks. Still have to clean and paint the contact areas where the rotisserie mounts and will be painting the firewall too, then we should get to reunion day.
Still need to finish up the brake lines, part of which looks like it will be figuring out a frame bracket that will fit the front flex lines. The hole in the original one is too big for the Wilwood hose. Fuel line and fittings will be here this week as well.
Bucket seat foam came in a week or so ago as well, much earlier than expected. Ordered from Legendary, drop shipped by American Cushion. It would be awesome if the upholstery was a few months early too, but I'm not holding my breath!
I think I messed up on my wheel selection, though. These seem to be wee bit too small?
Finally took the body off the rotisserie and back on the supports, then masked and painted the firewall. Just need to clean and paint the mount areas I couldn't get at while it was on the rotisserie then the body will be ready for setting back down on the frame. Seemed like a lot of effort building a quick booth around the front to avoid overspray getting everywhere but got it done.
Fitting the fuel pump up has been an ongoing task. The new Edelbrock heads have a recess to allow the use of some aftermarket fuel pumps which previously didn't clear the aluminum heads. I bought a new RobbMC Performance mechanical pump based on Bernard Mondello's recommendation for the engine combination I was building but that was before the heads were really out and about anywhere. What I've found is that there isn't quite enough clearance due to the shape of the head recess. (Described in more detail in this thread: https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...l-pump-178452/).
I contacted Robb (owner and designer at RobbMC Performance) who got back to me with impressive swiftness on a long weekend, and I seem to be the first one contacting him regarding this combination. He advised me that I should be able to remove about 1/16" off the top of the pump, so I've been using a small hand file and trying to sneak up to the right amount of clearancing by removing material off the upper edge of the pump and the sharp V point of the head recess. I think I'm almost there now, might be able to slip a .005" blade through the gap, maybe. I don't want the pump in contact with the head, and would like a little clearance to account for expansion of a hot engine so I'm going to do a bit more filing yet. (Someone let me know if I'm worrying too much at this point please!). The contact point originally prevented the pump from seating flush on the block but I've now removed enough to overcome that.
Once I'm happy with the pump I'll finish the fuel lines and a few other loose ends before sliding the frame under the body sometime in the next week.
March 9th, 2023, 05:05 PM
