Builds Shipwreck

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no pictures, but what do you do when you have new-to-you tires and you just got home from church? you go blast around your back field, of course... leave your wife wondering if you're sane... it's a good place to be on Christmas eve.

Merry Christmas everyone.
 
when I built my '40, there simply weren't any parts available to make a Toyota clutch... so I've been making due with an aftermarket solution... which is extremely heavy due to a number of compromises. I need to either fix that issue or replace the trans with an automatic. I'd rather not automatic it.... recently I realized I could get all the parts - so time to make them fit
somewhere in that dark hole, stuff needs to fit
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the stuff
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in other news, forklift is in the shop... I can't believe how unavailable tanks are... this runs but didn't come with a battery or propane tank. battery was easy, tank.... Jan 13.
 
updates... driving the '40 because, well, it's a Toyota :)
still haven't fixed the clutch - I honestly think that my reluctance to do the clutch is the concern I may have to replace the manual with a boring box because my left knee has taken the brunt of my bike racing and skiing injuries... there may be a day, soon, where using a clutch won't happen.... which sucks because everything in the next pictures have manual transmissions.... with that said, it may finally see Search and Rescue action - which was the original reason for building it.
working on my race car - trying to talk myself into building something even more insane and selling it. Watch Optima Challenge this year and you'll likely see it.
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suspension is close and the motor is even closer on the Blazer 6.5 turbo diesel with a lot of updates - still only 350 hp and 700 lb torque (it's no Cummins) but it fits and makes having AC easy... I know, I should have 12v'd it but I've watched too many do that swap and the gyrations they had to do to make it fit.
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and finally, working on a friend's car - with a 496 bbc that I picked up on the way home from SEMA... never driven a stroked bbc - can't wait to try this one out
timing chain is temporary... didn't arrive in time and needed to check clearances
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the car
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so the playing... went to load the '40 and the clutch wouldn't depress.... bloody hell?
If I had an eduguess - the hose collapsed... in the end, I used the pull style slave cylinder, lengthened the hardline and somehow go the leaks to stop...

and
what an utter pita to bleed

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but the clutch works, and works a lot better then before. so winning.... just no wheeling
 
I've had these half-doors mostly finished for years... time to get paint on them
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all I have to do is a bit of finish work, make them a bit less wavy (and seriously, good enough is more then good enough)
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*so reminder as it's been awhile - these doors are parts of 4 doors that were left over after I built my '40 (meaning I had 6 full doors - minus a lot that rust had removed). The outside of both doors are later (76 up) doors with new bottoms the inside is from 2 older doors. When done, the outside handles will be decorative only and the latch will be borrowed from the winter doors....
 
high build applied...
outside, of course
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and shot the insides too
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now 2-4 hours of sanding - the whole point is blend so it's not immediately identifiable as junk (need to look at it closer to determine that)... but whatever, they're full metal, aren't rusty, and will fit the hole... and, as I said before, probably never used....
 
well now, problems.
Yesterday, I drove my '40 and ended up beside the road because it was overheating. I've had trouble with 2 things, one - it randomly overheats (like it has an air bubble in the cooling system... but how does it get there? thought maybe a heater hose that was loose. then yesterday all the warnings went off and I walked home then towed it home.

I get it home and the lower cooling hose connection is disconnected. It's been there for 7 years - so, while it doesn't have a lip on the tube, it should have stayed... but it didn't... so first checked the thermostat because collapsed hose
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took 450* to get this to open
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and would close at 139*
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got a new one
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took it for a drive and blew the hose off again

back to the drawing board - in the past I noticed a bit of coolant in the exhaust on the passenger side.... which leads me to conclude I probably fully cracked the head...

which now leads me to what to do.... I have enough parts to build a 383 (from the crank I have left over from my worst day (those who know, know).
 
so, as I mentioned before, I have another set of Vortec heads. Uncut (no mega lift cams), the heads had like 3k miles on them - then got pulled apart. I bought them because my wife was designing an asthma inhaler that didn't use any compressed anything to power it. Long story short, she has a patent on her design and that design came about after they modeled these heads on a supercomputer so they could understand how the design worked. We actually may have a better flow model of stock, Vortec heads then GM does. The design was successful and is patented. It may even see production someday...

problem is that was 15 years ago and I have no idea where I put the valves... ah well, I'll drop them off at a machine shop to get put together... I have plenty of springs and keepers... benefit is when I go to fix this leak, it'll all happen in a day. Either the heads on it are good or they're not - it won't matter.

While I'm at it. I cheaped out on headers and learned that the exhaust port design is unique enough for the Vortec head that the manifolds on the car leak.

but first, time for the last test... pressure
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it didn't stay there long
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so maybe in a month or so, this will be back better then ever.... just in time for me to break the Corvette at Optima
 
well.... time to pull it apart
picture for posterity (and to remember which line goes where)
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and to know where the distributor was when pulled
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not a terrible space to work
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no smoking gun... but the center (4,6) got hot and there is some erosion.
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the erosion
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all signs (including rust on the spark plug threads) point to number 6 being the issue... but look at 8 - nice and steam cleaned...
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and the spark plugs - rich and a bit late timing... oh and a bit of oil on number 2
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but look under the exhaust valve for #6.... that looks like moisture got in there
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so the question of the century... pull the other head? sleeping dogs and all of that - but it would be annoying to put it back together then start with problems.... a reminder on these heads - they came from PF1 when I went to aluminum heads. They came with the car and were "new" - they were clean and unpainted - but I've never see a head fail in less then 10k miles... yet here we are.... granted, they were also on the motor that had a cracked cylinder (number 8 was the issue there)....

I suspect it'll cost about the same to fix this head as to have another set assembled and cut down for the higher lift...

and I'm going to the Rubicon in September (hard to believe it's been 30 years since I last wheeled it)... so it needs to be stone solid.
and I may have just answered my own question... but feel free to post your thoughts.
 
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