Dave: What I do is pull the front end off and pull the engine and transmission as an assembly. Easy to remove, and easier to put back together, can be done all by myself if need be and I dont have to fuck with the hood alignment. Once you do it the first time and get all the rusted bolts broke loose it gets real easy to do it again. I painted the whole radiator support and all its parts the first time I took it apart too. Now I leave the radiator and fan shroud on the radiator support and just take the whole thing off at once. Take the bumper off at the frame (4 bolts), take the grilles and headlight housings off (9 bolts), take the front wiring harness loose and get it out of the way, then it is 13 bolts per side to get the radiator support off but all of them are 1/2in except for the body mount bolt so thats easy. Drain all the fluids while you do this. Then get that bitch out of the way and start unhooking the engine shit. Wiring, oil pressure and temp sender lines, 4 vac. lines, PS hoses, ground straps, heater/radiator hoses, etc. Then under the car take the exhaust loose, get rid of the starter, undo the motor mount thru bolts, undo the shift linkage, speedo cable, kickdown cable and unbolt the transmission mount to crossmember bolts. Take the 4 crossmember bolts out of the frame and take the driveshaft off. You can leave the oil filter on but its probably gonna get fucked up, mine always does but who cares. Then let the car down on the ground, and hook up the hoist. Support the transmission with a floor jack and hammer the crossmember back about 8-10 inches in the frame then yank it all out. Today I set the transmission back down on the frame where the engine goes and unbolted it right there and left it lol. You know the rest. Oh yeah I have a hoist.

Eric: I pulled the valve covers today but everything looked great up top. The problem is down below. I am taking it back to HRT tomorrow morning.

Quote :

" I didnt even get the chance to get on it hard before it started tapping Saturday afternoon while I was in Virginia- I turned around and headed home and the tapping got worse. The oil pressure was still around 20 while cruising (I was taking it easy obviously) but I had just got back into town when I felt it losing power and the tapping became a heavy knock. Immediately had it towed home and didnt restart it. The oil has turned dark gray and to make a long story short, the motor's on its way back out- and then back to the machinist/engine builder. "

2/8/2005 8:55:46 PM

Quote :

"Mine has had 3 motors in the last 2500 miles"

lol

2/8/2005 9:08:03 PM

Damn ole Olds motors cant take the rrrrrs. I should state that only one of the motors had been rebuilt. The other 2 were just runners that died. Had the car 8 years ....still does sound bad though..lol Dave

2/8/2005 11:56:49 PM

spun #5 was about to spin #6

more later

2/9/2005 4:17:13 PM

last weekend






last night

[Edited on February 9, 2005 at 5:37 PM. Reason : .]

2/9/2005 5:36:53 PM

so why didnt you assemble the engine yourself?

2/9/2005 5:42:26 PM

isnt that obvious? because I would rather have a PROFESSIONAL MACHINIST AND ENGINE BUILDER do it right the first time. (not that it was his fault) I didnt want to assemble it myself and have it detonate on ignition. I did assemble the top end though, which was no problem since I have plenty of experience in that area.

2/9/2005 6:00:10 PM

Quote :

"because I would rather have a PROFESSIONAL MACHINIST AND ENGINE BUILDER do it right the first time."

yup. that paid off.

2/9/2005 6:21:14 PM

we will have to wait and see.

2/9/2005 6:22:28 PM

yeah.

and to think you were the same asshole talking shit to me about not doing everything myself.
hahaha

Quote :

"dont you work at phantasm underPSi? what do you do there? i thought you were a mechanic of some sort. but I must have been wrong, mechanics dont have mechanics to take the jobs they cant handle. im not trashing you, just wondering what exactly you do. "

2/9/2005 6:29:05 PM

Damn son how long did it take to find that? Wifey not giving the one armed man any lovin tonight? Im not a machinist or an engine builder. I have built engines but not on my dime so the risk was minimal- also I just slapped some bearings and rings in them and that was it. And on top of that I drove the hell out of them to break them in. Thank god I didnt do that with my car it probably would have thrown a rod.

2/10/2005 12:56:49 AM

So what did your machinist say?

2/10/2005 7:32:20 PM

^ no word yet

2/10/2005 7:39:48 PM

Quote :

"Wifey not giving the one armed man any lovin tonight? "

hahaha. its obvious you're not married or you'd know that sex stops at the reception.
thats what girlfriends are for.

2/10/2005 8:42:40 PM

He was told the whole engine needed to be rebuilt again with new pistons and stuff. With re-doing the heads and all its like $1200 labor but they only asked him for $400 to help cover the parts costs. I think he is going to do it but this time he wants oil restritors and a high volume oil pump and stuff like that. He would tell you more but he is suspended from the wolf web.

2/12/2005 10:09:07 AM

why? time for a free optmusprimer thread. we need some more entertainment and calling out around here.

2/12/2005 12:11:01 PM

Jenn, hook us up with some updates

2/16/2005 1:03:25 AM

Joel tells me that "oil system porting, HV oil pump, oil restrictors for the cam bearings and ported full groove main bearings" are going to be part of the rebuild. He is looking at 3 weeks till he gets it back. His spare crank went to the grinder today he says, and the parts should all be on the way this week.

2/16/2005 1:32:19 AM

back to the tizzop

3/3/2005 12:34:46 PM

yeah well oops didnt mean to sleep on my thread. bondo dust must be getting to me... the special ported main bearings were only just shipped today with the threaded cam bearing oil restrictors but all the other parts are in, the block is in the honing machine, the rods are ready, ARP head hardware is in, crank's ground and ready to go and the valve job/ new guides are almost done. the guys at HRT couldnt really be more helpful at this point. the engine builder was telling me how I could spray it if I really wanted to. we will wait and see.

[Edited on March 3, 2005 at 5:21 PM. Reason : not gonna jinx myself]

3/3/2005 5:20:32 PM

Short block is assembled with all the new parts, the cam is degreed, the heads are almost done (they were waiting on new valvesprings) and the whole deal should be ready tomorrow. I dont think I will be picking it up untill Monday or Tuesday of next week though, gotta put some paint on the car.

3/10/2005 10:54:55 PM

3/14/2005 10:25:27 AM

how do you like your springs? I'm running the stock ones and the front of my car is very boat-like. I hit a speed bump and its like its not there.

3/14/2005 10:34:06 AM

my springs kick ass but I am not using isolators so they sometimes go BONGGGGGGGG when I go over a speed bump or whenever I jack the car up or let it down.

3/14/2005 10:43:11 AM

hope the project keeps going well

3/14/2005 10:43:22 AM

The engine is basically finished now. It turns out with the new cam I was going to go into coil bind on the old valvesprings so now I have new Mondello springs, caps and keepers. Debating wether or not to possibly get a 7 or 8 quart oil pan. I also have a new oil pump driveshaft and ARP head bolts, and the cam went in straight up.

By the way, the paint scheme has changed to red, with silver valve covers and everything will be cleared.

Now to sell some junk and finish the bodywork.

3/14/2005 6:22:45 PM

Located a 7 or 8 quart Oil pan for $50 The oiling system on this engine will be totally modified when it is done. Oil changes are going to be a bit more costly though.

3/15/2005 12:34:00 PM

Dammit, kid in greenville screwed me over on the $50 oil pan. Chump.

I ordered this one today slightly used for $150:



(port for oil temp gauge)


(8 quart, new $230)

I do not want to risk running the pan dry.

3/17/2005 12:17:15 AM

how do you insure an old muscle car? obviously if you put money into it and you get into an accident you want to recover monetary value of all those new parts. do you provide insurance company with receipts or how does it work?

3/17/2005 12:50:22 AM

Well you obviouisly try not to let anything happen, but certian companies specialize in insuring specialty cars, and their agents are trained in apprasing them as well. Basically they look at what you have, determine the insured value then sell you a policy on it.

I have never had special insurance on my car but it is something I will be looking into in the future.

[Edited on March 17, 2005 at 1:03 AM. Reason : http://www.hagerty.com]

3/17/2005 12:57:25 AM

gotcha. i was just thinking about that guy who posted pictures (few months back) of his busted 240sx with sr20det and upgraded turbos, IC and what not. bitch ran after causing him to crash. if you put some serious money into any car you should at leas insure the expensive mods be it old muscle or newer car.

3/17/2005 1:07:17 AM

agreed. lets not forget that rich in jacksonville whos 800+ hp white supra burned to the ground at the dragstrip.

[Edited on March 17, 2005 at 1:53 AM. Reason : edited]

3/17/2005 1:51:58 AM

you can have it apprased and insure it for that or someplaces will let you total recipts (sp?) and add that to their value of the car.

my t-bird is insured at around 40k

3/17/2005 2:19:45 AM

Had to order a special high volume bolt on oil pickup today. It and the 8qt pan should be in Tuesday.

3/18/2005 9:34:10 PM

before I forget

SBC (positive) style valve seals

3/21/2005 11:52:17 AM

3/23/2005 1:07:52 AM

es ist schon (i dont know how to do umlaut in here). anyway, the color is more uniform now

3/23/2005 1:12:01 AM

that goes in the auto body thread miss

3/23/2005 1:23:27 AM

Its ready!! It is getting a clear coat today and I might even pick it up tomorrow. I should have a good picture of it tomorrow morning sometime.

3/24/2005 5:20:41 PM

Hahaha yeah! Picked it up this afternoon. Paint is dupli-color F0Rd red but is a real close match to the color on the car.

3/26/2005 12:04:16 AM

3/26/2005 10:45:20 AM

What's with this gangster shit? why isn't that bitch running? it's a stock rebuild pretty much. wtf? why did it knock? why didn't you build it yourself fag! and did you paint your car with rustoleum? what are these damn kids thinking???? j/k.

3/26/2005 1:38:28 PM

yeah its rustoleum and you know its not stock

at least I didnt puss out and sell all my stuff

3/26/2005 4:06:15 PM

it's ok. I'm the man. that will never change. and selling a slow mustang and a bunch of random crap, I hope is by no means, pussing out. when I hit it big, bigger and better things will be built. Goodluck with 455. Hope your posi is working good. one leggers get old with all that torque.

3/27/2005 4:24:27 PM

Im cursed with having to go to advance auto over and over again for the simplest little shit. and last night I was clearing the tstat housing and water pump and they got all milky and the paint started lifting WTF

3/28/2005 9:16:55 AM

3/29/2005 11:59:31 PM

Im debating wether or not I should pull an all nighter tonight. The engines in, and everything is hooked up. I still need to install the radiator support assembly before starting it and I dont want to start it untill at least 8AM. There are other things I can do though like install the rear bumper... I dunno I only got 5 hours last night

3/31/2005 12:49:27 AM

Lookin' good, glad to see everything finally coming together.

3/31/2005 12:59:55 AM

3/31/2005 1:00:26 AM

haha im still working on it. i have to go get a carb gasket but its ready to start up

3/31/2005 9:52:48 AM