A big box of goodies arrived from Summit in the US of A this week. I’d decided to get a few bits and see how much they cost me by the time I’d paid all the shipping and VAT on it. A set of Patriot headers and a Holley fuel pump were amongst the bits I got, so when I got home from work, I decided to check it all fitted. First bit out of the box was a duel feed line for the carb. It didn’t fit by a mile (The fittings were 3/8″ and the Holley is 7/8″!). OK. Lets try the fuel pump. It wouldn’t fit as the outlets fouled the chassis. I felt like crying.

Rather than pay to send it back, I decided to take the pump to bits and see if you could turn the bottom half around. Turns out you can. Not so bad after all! Saturday I decided to bolt the front suspension together, minus the springs and shocks which I haven’t got yet. As it was all new, and the A Arms are freshly powdercoated, it went together easily. Apart from dropping the spindles on my head as I got the box down from the roof it was all pretty painless. By the time I packed up for the day, it had started to look like a car again.

Sunday I decided to try the new discs on, just to see what they looked like. They look the business, but there’s no point bolting them on yet as I need to put the springs in first. As the starter was on as well, and I couldn’t turn the motor over with a spanner, I decided to spin it over on the battery. My trusty bit of cable that I’d used to start the original engine was dug out, and connected to the starter. A pair of jump leads later and I was ready to go. Im always nervous doing stuff like this for the first time, so I touched the wires together quickly and over it went.

It didn’t sound right, and I guessed it was binding on the string holding the torque converter in place. I disconnected the battery and crawled under to bolt it up properly. It was then I realised I didn’t have a 12 point socket small enough to do up the ARP bolts i’d bought. Ah well. Finger tight for now, and bolt them up properly before I run the engine. Bumped it over a few times to get to the bolts, and it was spinning slowly. My battery was low. Quick charge while I took off the rocker covers to help me find Top Dead Centre. Five minutes on the charger gave me enough to spin it over with my finger over Number one plug hole to feel for compression. First time I’d ever done it, and there’s no mistaking when it’s on compression with a big hiss of air. There’s no timing mark on the timing cover, so I spun it over a few times till I got it roughly where I thought it should be. It was then I noticed the pool of oil under the car. Checking over the engine, it turned out it was coming from the top. Broken gasket? Split in the manifold? Err no. No oil pressure sender. Phew.

My new shed arrived last weekend, and a lot of the junk from the garage went in there making working an awful lot easier. I bought the proper bolts to fit the spare orange engine, and just to double check my measurements, I decided to put the old gearbox on the back as well. I asked Bob to give me a hand and a second pair of eyes, and within a few minutes we had the engine and box on the crane. It lowered in easily, but the mounts turned out to be about a centimetre out. Engine back out, grind the tack welds off and try again. We hung the mounts on the engine and lowered it back in. About 30 minutes later and with the engine out of alignment we decided to put the old transmission crossmember in to line it up. Another half hour of measuring and checking, and it looked spot on.

Two tiny tack welds to hold the position, then out with the engine again. A few more tack welds and then back in to double check. It’s an easy job with the heads and ancilliaries off. It went back in easily, so the blower motor came off the stand, the TH350 went on the back and was trial fitted on the mounts. As we hoped, it was a good fit, so out it came to finish weld the brackets. Halfway through the second one, disaster struck.
My nice new mig would not power off. Switching it on and off made no difference. The engine was still hanging on the crane, and it was late Saturday afternoon. Bob offered to be the trigger and switch the welder on and off so a few more beads put the bracket on securely, though not finished. The motor was a pig to get back in, as the distributor was on and the crossmember was in. After a few attempts I pulled the crossmember again, and the engine was in. Crossmember back on, and stand back. And there it was. What I’d wanted for as long as I can remember. A car with a blown small block fitted. I really should get out more. The old engine’s sump had fouled the steering on full lock, but after quickly hanging the steering rack, it fitted perfectly. It’s all going right for once. It was getting late so we tidied up quickly and closed up for the night.

This week I picked up my A-arms from the powder coaters next door to where I work. They had been blasted and painted black and looked the business. This was quite an important moment for me. I could start to put parts of the car together rather than take it to bits. I had brand new bushings ready to install, and thats what I started to do. The powder coating needed filing out inside the bushing holes, and I was impressed with how hard it was to take off. Before I could do any assembly I had to do more cleaning. The crossbars were as manky as the rest of the car was when I got it. A little while with the wire brush got the worst of the grime off before it got sprayed everywhere by the grinder wire brush. I got the vice out and put it on the floor to hold the parts while I cleaned. Not for much longer though. I ordered a shed this week, so I’ll finally have space for a workbench. I started to try and push the new bushings in using wooden blocks and a hammer. This was the first time I’d done this and didn’t know it would be so hard. The upper arms have a lot of flex in them, so they tend to spring rather than push the bushings in. It took me two hours to get them in on the first arm, and I realised that I was wasting my time. I decided to take the other three to the garage that pressed them out for me in the first place. I filed them out, took the bushings apart and got them in far enough to hold the crossbars for the arms in. With a bit of luck, the ball joints will be here this week. Might get some of the car back together next weekend!

After trial fitting the engine mounts while the stripped block hung on the crane, I realised that the mounts which I thought were 3/4" forward were actually normal position ones. I pulled the block back clear and re-fitted the old front engine mounts as a guide, then lowered it back in and tightened it up. Try as I might, the mounts would not fit far enough forward without being pushed out by the chassis rivets. In the position that the instructions showed, they were about 1/2" too far back. After hours of fitting and refitting, I decided to grind the middle chassis rivet out and tack the mounts in place. I got my nice shiny new mig out, guessed what the settings should be, and gave it a go. Hmm. Not enough penetration, bit more power. Nope still on the surface. I’ll adjust this other dial. It keeps cutting off before you can get a decent weld going, and I end up with a load of poor welds that need to be ground off. So I did. Couple of tacks on the other side, just as bad. Hmmm. I gave up for the day and decided to try again on Sunday on some scrap metal. Same problem. Hmmm. Then it dawned on me. One of the dials is a spot weld timer. Set it to maximum and I can weld properly. Well better anyway! Couple of decent tack welds either end of the drivers side bracket and a few over some of the ground out bad welds on the passenger side and it was time to try again with the engine hanging on the new brackets. Fit like a glove. Well a boxing glove. the brackets are both flat against the frame, and the top rivet. But the passenger side one is a few degrees different. The motor fits on, but its still different. It looks like a different angle to the other bracket. Ah well. I have just enough clearance for a HEI (I Think!), but i’ve got a normal sized distributor anyway. I’ll look at this again when I get my trans crossmember.

I had been keeping an eye out for a small supercharger with a plan of fitting it to the rebuilt green 350. Adam from Tris-R-Us spotted one for sale on the Eurodragster website and let me know. I rang the guy about buying it and asked him how much for the complete engine. After ten minutes of friendly bartering, I’d bought it complete. A 4 bolt 350 with a B&M 144 Supercharger and a Holley 700cfm carb on the top. That makes 3 small blocks in the garage! The orange ones sold, so I’d better shift the green one.

After a long time waiting, I could finally collect my bits from the NSRA nats in Bedfordshire. I got up early and got there for 8.30am on the Saturday. It turned out to be one of the hottest days on record, but was a great day out. My boot was full of nice new bits, and with a bit of sunburn and more parts ordered from Tris-R-Us I set off home. I didn’t have all the bits for the front end rebuild yet, and my A-Arms are still being powder coated, so I decided to start fitting the engine mounts. They seem to be easy enough to fit, but I wanted to make sure everything was right before welding them in. I didn’t want to strip one of the complete engines, and Adam had said he was going to rebuild the 283, so I stripped the top end off and boxed it all up ready to go.
This left me with a much lighter and easier to work around guide for the motor mounts. There wasnt a single good gasket on the entire top end, yet it started easily when it was in the car. The 1957 vintage block was hung on the crane and slid into position in the ninety degree heat, only to find the load balancer hits the bulkhead. It was getting late, so I decided to pack in for the day, and get Bob to give me a hand next weekend. Nice to be back in the garage though!

I’ve got loads of bits on order from Tris-R-Us, and I’m running out of things to take off the car in the meantime. I don’t want to touch the bodywork yet, and I need to get my acto together and buy a shed before I spray the contents of my garage with underseal and rust by grinder brushing the underside again. The wirings all stripped out as far as the door pillars, the brake and fuel lines are stripped out (They were all crushed and rotten). The old exhausts are off, despite the nuts being welded on!

The old column is out, not that it was really in. It was held in with wire and weld. Theres a new one on the way. I found a 10 bolt Posi axle the correct width to replace the one I’ve got. It’s got discs on it already, which is what I planned to do ultimately. I’ll pick that up in a week or so hopefully Got a replacement pan for the TH350 along with a gasket and filter. and pulled the pan off. It was full of sludge. Im hoping this is from it having no dipstick in while it was at Doosters and in my garage. The box was coated in a thick layer of dust and grease, and then wire brushed clean.

I scraped it all out and broke it up in my fingers to try and work out if it was metallic. It’s impossible to tell, so I changed the filter, wiped up the last of the oil and put the old pan back on temporarily. The nice new chrome one has a drain hole, but I won’t put it on till the box is in the car. I realised the speedo drive was missing, and thought “I wonder if the one off the old ‘glide will fit?”. Amazingly it does! Will it work? I’ll tell you in a few years when I get the car on the road!

I have the car up on axle stands as high as I can get the cheap trolley jack to go. Even more cleaning now, as I try and get the underseal and dirt off the bottom of the car to check that there’s no rust or surprises.The axle looked in a sorry state, and there was very old oil that had leaked from the front of it. There was no oil on the floor underneath it in the garage, so It was either out of oil, or wasn’t leaking that quickly. The gasket looked like it had come out, and it needed a clean so pull it out, clean it and check it I thought. I thought about it for a while, then undid the shocks and hangers. Right. Lift it out over the springs now. I never really thought how heavy it would be. I had to lift it sideways by hand, and then jacked it up in the centre. It didn’t slide easily on the jack, and I gave up and used the engine hoist to pull it out the rest of the way. I put it on the floor, balanced it up, and lifted it diff down to look at it. The gasket turned out to be silicone that had been run round the edge. I gave it a quick clean off with white spirit, and left it hang overnight. Next day there was a puddle of oil that was like gloss paint on the floor. Rebuild it then. Or swap it for something beefier. Hmmm.

I’ve decided to keep the HEI distributor and get side engine mounts to replace the tired front mounts I took off. The new engine will sit about 3/4″ or so further forward, So I might as well move the gearbox crossmember, cut the prop and fit the TH350 that I’ve got spare. My cousin Bob came over to use my tools and garage, and after sorting the plug leads on his Supra, offered to give me a hand.
I was cleaning the steering, so I suggested he clean the dirty gearbox. Here’s what it looks like now!

At some point in the past, the previous owner had snapped a bolt on the rag joint. Rather than replace it, they had welded it badly to the pump shaft. I carefully grinded the weld open, and freed the top of the shaft. After cracking the last of the weld, off it popped. I’ve never seen one before, but this looks knackered. I’ll leave the weld on there till the new joint arrives, and build it up with more weld if needs be to locate it. My trusty grinder wire brush is nearly dead, and the A arms have too many bits you can’t reach with it.

The steering was temporarily re-hung to make it easier to paint. It’s so shiny now, I’m tempted to leave it bare, but I’ll probably paint it silver just in case. The steering and suspension bushes are about four or five weeks away now, according to Tris-R-Us, so it’s on to the interior next weekend. It’s stripped out apart from the door panels and just needs wire brushing and painting. And theres a small hole that needs sealing I think.

I realised that I hadn’t written about the front end now it’s completely stripped and painted. I’m looking after my daughter this morning, so it’s no garage for me till later. The A arms are still waiting to be cleaned, as the wire brush can’t get into the corners. I’m going to get those sandblasted as soon as I can get the old bushings pressed out. The new ones will be here soon, so I’d better get a wriggle on.

The front end was cleaned down to bare metal, or as close as I could get with the grinder and scrapers. I wasn’t happy with how clean the drivers side was before I painted it, so that got taken to bare metal again. With all the suspension and steering off, It was light enough to lift by hand! I raised it up as high as the axle stands would go safely, and cleaned the underside as well. Not even close to being fun, but needed doing. I looked like a coal miner.

Looking back through the pics I’d taken, I couldn’t ever remember the frame ever being this dirty, but it must have been! My father in law thought that the shiny black front end was a brand new one I’d bought and stuck on!. I’m going to have to get underneath and clean the underside of the floor and chassis. Not looking forward to that at all. It was bad enough taking the exhausts off. More about that later.

I pulled all the carpets and soundproofing up when I first had the car, as it had been outside for a few weeks and the seals leaked like a sieve. It was soaking wet inside, so the seats went into the garage roof to dry (They are a rancid grey velour, so recover those along with the matching door panels you can see below!) and the rest went in the bin. The floor looked OK, but had a layer of surface rust on, and some brown paint.

There’s also a strange hole in the floor under the rear passenger seat. Cant work out whether something has torn out, or something has come through. Either way it doesn’t look right. I hammered it back down so I could clean it up. It all started to clean up easily, and I took off the sill seam covers dreading what I would find underneath. A one cent piece, two earrings and no holes. Amazing.

The footwells looked the worst, so I took the grinder brush to them. I kept going till I’d got rid of the worst of the rust, and found it was full of pinholes. Looking underneath, it looks like it’s rusted from the inside out. Years of soggy carpet probably. Ah well. The floor looks loads better now, not that you can tell from the pics!. Better get it welded and painted up before the rust gets at it again. Next Saturday with a bit of luck. I’ll get in touch with Adam at Tris-R-Us and find out how much a patch panel is.