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Messages - gumby

79
User Rides / Re: BlueBird
The other turn this story takes is the mystery guy who I thought might be interested had in his possession a cylinder head which could fix the ugly that sits on top of all the beauty tucked inside this block. I presented Chuck with a deal to acquire his Australian crossflow head. I am going to mix all these parts together with a large helping of atmoshpere and see what sticks.

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Here we have a couple dirty bits getting to know one another
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And here is the head disassembled and somewhat clean
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I had the head tanked, welded up a few coolant ports that are an issue when fitting this head on a US block, and dropped it off to the cylinder head guy for some valve and port work. I will be breaking down the forged 200" engine to inspect the quality of machine work and assembly, doing a lot of measuring, and slowly working my way toward a complete engine with all the good parts in a later block and the crossflow head on top.
80
User Rides / Re: BlueBird
The overall result of this road trip has helped sort things and solidified some of my plans moving forward. The current suspension which I imagined would be mostly temporary actually works very well. There are a few geometry fixes that need to happen to continue running these parts at such a low ride height, and I think I will move on those vs waiting and ripping it all out later.
  • Adjustable RUCAs to address pinion angle
  • Lower axle brackets to fix RLCA angles
  • Adjustable perch RLCAs to maintain ride height with axle brackets
  • Taller lower balljoints for FLCAs
  • Dial in bumsteer
These things will happen to make the current suspension work better and kick my other plans way down the list.
What is moving up the list is an engine swap. Overall this car is pretty awesome, but 100hp ain't cutting it. I thought I could hack it for a while and concentrate on other ideas, but this is just not going to work for me.
I have been squirreling away parts and pieces, making a few large, directional changes, but not really spending much cash out of pocket to pull a plan together.

As promised, this car will stay a 6cly, but I am going to build a short stroke motor, drop displacement, and use this to scramble things up
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It is a kinda long, circular story but I had a local guy contact me because "I build weird shiznit" and should know someone to buy this engine he was selling. He had a list of details, but no receipts, and refused to open the motor up to verify any components. I tried to sell it to the only guy who might be interested, but without being able to prove what exactly was or wasn't done, no deal was struck. Nearly a year goes by, and I get another call to come get it for whatever I think it is worth before it goes to s. So I picked up a forged piston 3.3L
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81
User Rides / Re: BlueBird
Being as the ride down went so well, I did decide to put it on the dyno to get some baseline numbers. I still need to chase the driveline vibration, but the new tailshaft bushing and some tweaking to drive shaft angles got the vibration up above normal cruising speeds. We made one pull and used third gear to keep wheel speed down. I really just wanted to watch it make a pull, not break, and see what sort of plot a CFI 3.8 would make.

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Almost hit that century mark! If I had paid for a couple more pulls, I probably could have flipped the air cleaner lid, or bumped the timing for another 1.1hp  :crazy:
All said, Ford rated these at 120/205 and if you figure 18% loss thru the driveline, this car is pretty close even with 140K miles.
82
User Rides / Re: BlueBird
As much as it has fought the process, I am really diggin this car. I made the trip to Owensboro in completely uneventful fashion. The more miles I put on the car, the more things gel and small glitches work themselves out. This car is much more of a GT cruiser than my white car was. The TC was lean and visceral; raw and rough around the edges. Road trips were tolerable, but not its forté.
The ride is firm, but compliant enough that I don't need to be on high alert for bumps, rail crossings, minor potholes at the same level as before. Having insulation under the carpet, a radio, and functioning A/C are all pretty amazing!

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85
User Rides / Re: BlueBird
Eh, it's not too horrible. From finding the slop to trans on the bench was 35mins. Checking angles and making phone calls to find the part took longer. Having a lift and trans jack help immensely.
This car just doesn't know me yet. Having rejected the T5 transplant twice now, I can see we are being stubborn. I am going to grab a new bushing and attempt another graft implant tonight. Easy way or the hard way car, your choice.
86
User Rides / Re: BlueBird
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Yes, again.... this is what happens when you brag on the internet about reusing untested parts  :crazy:

Picked up a high speed vibration, felt like driveline but the angles and joints are all good. Found a bunch of slop in the tailshaft bushing.
89
User Rides / Re: BlueBird
Trans out last night, and back in tonight with a new TOB. All was quiet on the test drive, hopefully it stays that way so I can get onto the rest of my prep for the 18th.
Rolled the rear fender lips and tweaked the cooling fan adjustment tonight also

:birdsmily:
90
User Rides / Re: BlueBird
Drove the car to work yesterday. Wasn't late, didn't die!

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Unfortunately, on the way home just as things were really starting to smooth out and feeling like parts were jiving, the new TOB went from a slight whirring noise to full-on screechy and crunchy. Trans is coming back out  :dislike: