My Eastwood order was “delivered” at 11am, I get home and sure as shit there’s no box. Neighbors didn’t see shit, and I get packages delivered probably once/twice a week from amazon and never have anything taken.
Started an investigation at FedEx, and left a MSG for Eastwood; so we’ll see what happens there. Just fucking pisses me off.
My guess, they rough handled the package and one of the 3 chemicals in it popped. So instead of delivering it damaged, they claimed delivery while disposing of the box somewhere. We’ll see what they say though.
New torque-angle wrench, paint, activator, pre-cleaner, and long mandrals for my cylinder head porting all gone. Now I gotta wait at least another week to get it. FUCKERS!!!
Well well well… Guess what showed up today… Te bid FedEx “delivered” yesterday.
Anyways, got another 2 hrs in the garage tonight. Have the block modified for the ls6 PCV integrated valley cover; so it’s now ready to get scrubbed.
Also put some more time into the cylinder head. Got the 4 exhaust ports gasket matched and mostly roughed in, and started on the intake bowl areas. Got 3 started and very preminarily roughed, hands started cramping and I still had homework to finish tonight so I stopped. I’ll post pics on Monday, should get a few more hours in out there this weekend.
Ok, Photo update time. Got another 2 hours or so out in the garage today.
Block completely prepped for final scrub-down. All threads chased, all sharp edges broken, flash removed, etc. Also now modified for the new LS6 Integrated PCV Valley Cover.
Going to go scrub it down once it warms up later this week, it’s cold out there today in comparison to lately. Supposed to warm back up later this week.
More time into the heads. The Ferrous bit is actually cutting better than the non-ferrous burr… shrugs hey fine with me.
It’s off the engine stand for cleaning! I bought a new one just for this engine, as posted earlier in the thread. And it’s not going anywhere, that’s one of those rough duty grey Rubbermaid garbage cans, I can stand on that thing and it won’t move. Pulled the engine off the stand so I can get at all the little spots and scrub all the holes/crevices when I wash it.
Got the block all prepped, then took the Moroso Engine Brush Kit to it with a bucket of Dawn dishwashing soap; scrubbed the block like there was no tomorrow. Got it as clean as I could.
Then started taping it up; and got paint on it. Overall the paint went on ok; the first coat seemed to be more of a “binder” coat, and the second actually filled in and leveled everything out. Have a few spots I need to go hit with a scotchbrite pad and touch-up. Did the block in 3 steps; the back (nearest the engine stand); then the front and one side, then the other side. Was easier to do it this way in regards to mixing the paint and keeping control of it all. I brushed it on, I didn’t spray.
Overall it seems to have turned out decent for my standards, most people would say it turned out great; but my anal-retentive must be perfect personality sees all the little flaws (IE: paint buildup in the corners, tape that wasn’t quite perfect, etc.)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]23955[/ATTACH]
Hardest part of it was masking the block off to keep machined surfaces clean. Ended up using 1/2 roll of 1.5" Blue painters tape, half-dozen wine bottle corks, and I don’t know how many straight razors.
Also been spending time with the die grinder…
Got one head 90% roughed in (just need to blend the valve seats; and do a final once over on the roughing side). And started on the 2nd head; got that one disassembled, and the 4 Rocker Stud Bosses removed; and started gasket matching the exhaust ports.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]23956[/ATTACH]
Slow and steady progress… Wish it would go faster, but such is life.
Quick Update, no pictures this time; I’ll get/post some later.
Block de-masked, some areas pulled up, so I need to go back and do some touchups, not a big deal though. Main spots were the side pockets for the cross bolts on the main caps; the wine bottle corks adhered a little too well to the paint and pealed some back. Bastard. I’ve got plenty of paint left, so that’s just a mix and touchup.
Got the 2nd head roughed in; so both heads have the general roughing done. Now working with some of the other Burrs doing some final shaping/cleanup before I switch to cartridge rolls.
Anyone have any suggestions for cleaning the factory valves up?
And finally… I started putting things together…
Got the Main/Cam bearings installed and checked, and the crank in. Had to swap 2 of the main bearing halves to get the clearance in spec, but all the one on the crank are dead center where they should be (0.0016-0.0018 for the mains, and 0.0035 for end-play). Just used the regular Clevite replacement bearings for the mains. I did use coated bearings for the cam though; pounded those in and threw the factory cam in to check it all, spun like butter.
New Eastwood Torque-Angle wrench is the shit though! 5 programmable memory settings; so I just programmed in the torque and angle, pulled to the torque, pushed one button, waited a second, then pulled to the angle. Definitely worth the investment (for me at least).
Now I need to order some more parts… (Rings, rod bearings, and block plugs).
Well, been a while since I made an update, mainly because progress has been super slow… life gets super busy and crazy at times! Not going to make my first deadline, but that’s ok; new goal is to have the fab work done and her rolling shortly seeing we HAVE to move by the end of June.
Have made some slow progress…
Took a bunch of parts to a local place for powder coating… the single stage, “easy” parts turned out fine. The multi-stage… I should’ve gone to Detective… they turned out eh at best. Most people wouldn’t notice or see, but the color is off, there’s drips, etc.
Got the back, and mocked up some of them onto the motor to get a look. (Replacing as many of the external motor fasteners with Stainless hardware as well).
Got a great Black Friday deal on new suspension parts, and the new Radiator (UMI tubular suspension with Rod-Ends, new Tranny cross-member with TA mount to get the TA off the tailshaft; and the larger Griffen Radiator to move vertical.)
Next up is the lower radiator mounts, Upper Radiator Cross-Member, and a little more seam welding grinding in the engine bay; then it’s time for Filler.
