Messages

Hi, me again. I haven't been here much lately due to "life" things my wife got bad news back in January and recently had major surgery and so far it's all been good news. She is recovering remarkably well and quickly. We can finally get back to a near normal life, whatever that may be.
On the car front I FINALLY got my '46 Chevy back on the road. Seems to run OK but I have a strange thing going on. The water temp will spike for a short time then drop back to the 180° t stat I have in it. I have replaced the stat and no change. I burped it, twice, with no change, got quite a bit of air out though. It goes to about 210° then drops back to 180 although it has gone as high as 224. Should it try burping it again? I ran it about a half hour today and wasn't seeing any air by then, but the temp went to 212.  Any ideas or suggestions?

....aand we jump 40 cents overnight. $3:59 today.

We are as "low" as $3.19 here. I have seen a lot more Canadians over here lately, we're on the border with Canada, since gas is about $5:50 a gallon over there.

Since I got my now hopefully fixed engine back in my '46 Chevy I have been chasing one little problem after another. First was the burnt wire, then the big oil leak, then a transmission leak, a power steering leak and the fuel pump nearly touching the frame. After getting the wiring fixed, the oil leak fixed and hopefully the trans leak fixed I crawled under it again today and found a nearly impossible to reach clamp loose on the P. S. Got it tight with a 5/16 wrench 1/8 of a turn at a time. Loosened the motor and trans mounts and was able to move the engine over to get more clearance on the fuel pump. Hopefully this is the end of all the little stuff and we can get on the road. We do this cause it's fun....right? 😀

Nice looking work!

Not sure if I showed these recent paintings on here. I have been away from the easel for a month or more, stuff happens, but I will be back at it soon. Git a great reference photo at the Detroit Autorama I want to do.

I don't get on here too much for some reason lately. I am glad to see the site still is the same. It us appreciated. 

KB426, the top hose was cold, as was the rad, I figured nothing was circulating at all. I already switched out the t-stat, we'll find out tomorrow!

Hi guys, I haven't been around much lately, just life I guess. If anyone remembers I built a 383 stroker a year or so ago and the cam went flat in it.I took the cam out of another engine I had and put it in the stroker.I finally got it started yesterday and it seems to be running well, but with some of the usual startup gremlins. First I had to
Rewire the alternator circuit due to my own inattention, then after it started the was a massive oil leak under the car. Again my own inattention as the oil pan bolts were only finger tight.🤪 today I ran it again and now the thermostat is not opening, I shut it off at 229*. At least it's idleing with 68 pnds of oil pressure and my fuel line doesn't leak now! 👍🏼

That's a nice piece!

Merry Christmas to all!

Frank, I really don't know what years the blocks are. The old one is a mid '70's smog motor, the new one is a four bolt block I bought freshly machined from a machine shop.

KB426, My first thought was to go with rollers for a replacement..then I looked at the price for a retrofit set  The cam I want to use has 8-10K miles on it, so it's well broken in!

Went through a drought with my painting for a while, I got burned on a commission and that seemed to ruin my motivation. Got back in the saddle and did a couple pieces the last few weeks.

I haven't been back much lately, been too much going on to do much car stuff. If anyone remembers I built a 383 SBC stroker last Winter and it developed a tapping noise. I finally got around to pulling the engine back out of my '46 to investigate. I found a couple bad lifters and lobes on the cam, so it's time for a new cam set. I have a cam in another engine that I really like and think I will swap that into this engine. I am wondering about re-using the lifters from that, the good cam, in the new(er) engine. I read that some guys always use new lifters when swapping a cam and some guys re-use the already broken in lifters that were with that cam. I am leaning toward re-using the lifters, since they are already married to that cam, being sure to use them on the same lobe they broke in on. What thoughts on this one way or the other.