Gettin' Stoopid 66G

I hear you Joe, seems when you get time to work on your van here in MI you spend more time getting the shop warm so you get work on it

Got this far today.





I got the bushings for the RA X member also but I better get this sealed up first.

Some more progress.

Just set the intake and covers on. Waiting on a new balancer before I run the valves.

The end of the day ...I realized some dummy forgot to torque the oil pump down after he had the pan on. New gasket coming for that,,LOL
The sump install tool worked great, made life alot easier

Excellent!!! Love Engine Porn!!! Shiny!!!

Those valve covers look great on there!!!!

I love the valve covers.

I know this doesnt look much different but I did get the harmonic balancer on today and ran the valves.

Putting the balancer on was a re-learned lesson. I had left the part in my truck, it got down to near 10* the night before. Well anyway there was noway it was going on yesturday so I brought it home and set it by the woodstove overnight. Big difference ! It went on fairly easily being warmer than the engine which was 50*. I'll be putting it on its little cart and setting it off to the side until we get busier this spring and get some more $ moving.Next will be getting back on the RA. I have most of the iron and parts to go quite aways on that.

Dang that looks so good on there Joe.Son in laws(?) work really sets it off on those v/covers.

Yeah Moe, my son-in-law Randy has some talent with an airbrush. I need to come up with some more "Motivantional Art" to fill the void here at home now,,LOL

Digs That looks GREAT. your son in law could make some nice money just painting valve covers and selling them on e-bay....( very cool)

Get to work on the brain teaser RA some more finally.

Next step is making a X-bracket to hang that 100# center from.

Great looking work Digz!!! That is gonna one bad a$$ van when you get it finished!!! I love the 454!!!

Some more today.

Good thing Im not in a hurry , 'cause something always slows me down. Ran out of Mig wire after 5 tacks but went on and layed some stuff out.

I trimmed the ends back after I had the bushing sleeves tacked in.

Some very creative metalwork going on here! "I LIKE IT!!!"

SOMETHING TO BE SAID FOR DOING IT RIGHT! And this is how you do it right.
It is a monster in the making for sure.

Great job!

Dan

More...





Get this welded up and I think I can start narrowing things.

Moving right along on a Major project Joe.
You'll probably have it moving by spring

It's hanging. Got alot to do yet but it's a handy place to store it for now...

you are doing some very nice work...

Looking good digz. Nice and clean.

I know its not finished, but will the suspension provide more support torque-wise for the differential?

I still need to mount at least 2 braces towards the front of the unit.

These will help keep things from twisting on cornering and control the pinions movement up and down. They will be bushed at the upper frame and heims joints at the bottom. Once I get the lower control arms and the axles in that will let me design the bottom bracketry and get the coil overs mounted and then there will be the trailing links to figure out. Thats the plan anyway ,LOL

Started the axle shortening process. Turned the needed areas down to 1-1/4" to slip/press fit into the DOM tubing.

Pic ended up fuzzed on me , but it's 1-3/4 OD and 1-1/4" ID

Not going to weld it yet til I do another mockup.

Might mess with it more today before the game ,,or maybe not ,,LOL
Have to pick up the chunk for the other axle this week yet.

Will you drill the DOM and plug weld as well as go around the ends of the DOM?

Used a big pipe cutter to take out the 2" piece

Quick n dirty, 3 pieces of angle to line it up and 4 level blocks under the fulcrum shafts to keep those flat.

Yeah I will drill it and put a couple plugs on each end. I had an issue getting the one end in as far as I wanted but it will be okay still over 2". Just be more aware on the second one, at 13$ a foot I was gonna make it work ,,LOL