The Cell Block Chronicles (PMC's 40 Project) (1 Viewer)

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Awesome. Reliving my paint bomb/booth days with this.

thanks, but maybe more akin to your military days, as I was fighting more barn dust than a desert sandstorm, and i had to hold a night time vigil after the paint went down to make sure the barn cats didn’t walk all over it.
 
Pro Tip: Old Emblems covered in cement colored primer provide good concealment for the shanks:

4_14_21_(1).jpg
 
Was able to sneak my driveshafts out of the yard for a little resizing and rebalancing care of Jackson Power Train:


drive shafts.jpg


Finished up e-brake install:

4_14_21_(2).jpg


4_14_21_(3).jpg


New u joints, cleaned up and installed:

drive shaft_rear_installed.jpg


And, yes, I have to put the creeper in 4 low moon rover mode to navigate the shop floor....
 
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somebody must be in the hole. ie solitary.
 
#PROOFOFLIFE
 
Okay, this is what had happened:

I was inching my way towards the rest of the engine assembly.

I put on a new fan clutch and fan:
fan and clutch.jpg


Then, worked on some test fits with the new radiator (I know the hose is not the right size by was just using what I had to make sure I had sufficient clearance from the fan):
Radiator test fit.jpg


You can see from this picture that I had to offset the radiator just a tad towards the passenger side (cut off welded bolts on the bottom of the cradle and then put some new bolts in):

radiator offset.jpg



Started working on a home-made shroud from a universal kit:
fan shroud.jpg


Cut, painted and installed:

radiator installed with shroud.jpg
 
The Green Weenie is going to be all juiced up when it gets out of the joint.
 
Also, did some work on the tranny hump.

When doing a V8 swap, the trans and t case holes generally don't line up anymore (need to be moved closer to the engine bay).

So, I basically covered the old holes in fiberglass and then bondo and then cut new ones (basically a time lapse). Prison footwear makes another appearance:

beginning 2.jpg


Next:


beginning 3.jpg


Then gave it the final turd polish alongside some other pieces:
polish.jpg



A consequence of the transmission being closer to the firewall is that you have to bend the gear shifter to get clearance under the heater. I did this with some heat and a vice:
installed.jpg
 
At this point, I'm feeling my oats, and so i take the plunge and order a new AFI harness for the TBI computer. Also, ordered and installed a new prom chip calibrated to that harness. That along with all new sensors for each harness connection and a new distributor, etc..., the works:

new harness.jpg




new prom chip.jpg
 
At this point, I figure it's a good as time as any to find top dead on #1 cylinder in anticipation installing distributor, and then the throttle body and all that good stuff.

I put my socket on the crank nut and turned. Hmmm.. not moving. that's weird. It turned over when I had the oil pan off and I watched the crank move.

Well, it's been sitting a while, maybe I need a little more oompf. Out comes the breaker bar. Still no joy.

The consensus was that maybe the rings were just stuck. sitting a while in the jail cell..... Just squirt a little marvel mystery oil in the cylinders and let it sit.

So, I did that... and waited. for 2 weeks. Still no joy.

I decide I'm going to take it out to nolen's; get in on the lift , remove transmission and t case and make sure sure nothing is binding on the back end as I had installed the flywheel, pressure plate and clutch and it was certainly within my bag of tricks to screw that up.

While Nolen let me borrow his trailer, everyone was a bit pre-occupied with their own business to help load her up for the transport. So, I was on my own:

Related: Nolen's car hauler trailer has one of those sleeves on the tongue that you have to slide up (his requires a hammer assist) to secure it on the trailer ball. This is what it looks like close up:

trailer tongue.jpg


And this is what it looks like from a distance when you don't get it seated well and a partially loaded trailer comes off the ball and proceeds to destroy the rear end of your truck:

trailer incident.jpg


At this point, I'm by myself in the middle of level 10 cluster. I'm officially having a bad day. But don't worry, it gets worse.
 
I shove the 40 back into the jail cell using my own super human strength and somehow disentangle the trailer from tailgate and rear bumper with the help of a hi-lift jack.

Miraculously I escaped with a few scratches and broken tail light glass (but Ford owns a patent on those with all the sensors and they are not available aftermarket and must be purchased as a complete assembly as I would come to find out $750 dollars later):

Truck broken.jpg


Got it transported and on the lift:

hoisted.jpg


Removed my custom "Pat Rick" drive shafts and then the gears:
transmission out.jpg


Removed clutch pieces and fly wheel and gave it some hard cranks from the back side:
stripped.jpg



At this point, there was nothing left to do but yank it:
engine removed.jpg
 
Off with heads to find a cocktail of marvel mystery oil and rust. Bad deal. Rust makes one helluva of strong weld:

cylinders.jpg



And, hence the ride of shame video that preceded this update. Honestly, not sure what happened,. Yes, the cell block is somewhat exposed to the elements but it's never spent a night without a roof over it's head and all the holes have been plugged. Maybe humidity and condensation killed it. Who knows, but it's definitely a boat anchor at this point.

I'm presently thinking I won't do a rebuild and will just try and buy a GM crate motor and drop it in. But like everything else on the planet right now, there is a bit of markup and scarcity going on with those.

So, yeah, in short, I'm on my 3rd year of this project and looking for my 3rd engine. A wiser man would have probably quit long ago, but I'm still planning on trying to resurrect this beast... at least for now.
 
**** all that. I’ve got a later model 350 TBI/4L60 out of a suburban. Bought it off a guy at the quick lube in Florence several years ago. Never did anything with it, but the guy led us to believe it was a solid runner when it was pulled.

It’s on a pallet at jrob’s office. It’s yours if you want it. Don’t give up on her yet!
 

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