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lookin good you do some nice work so far

itll be nice when the car is all one color too to compliment the engine bay

Your telling me! I cant wait for things too be back together. This "refresh" build is getting expensive! lol

I just decided yesterday that i want to pull everything out of the engine bay and repaint the inside to make it look alot nicer than it has been. I have scratches everywhere in there as well as paint missing.

I'll have more pics for everyone this evening!

Well things didnt go, entirely as planned today. Sadly, i wasnt able to get the complete long block together and ready to go. I forgot that im still waiting on the timing chain and tentioner shoe. Although, i did do alot of cleaning and painting, and staring at the motor waiting for the day its complete and ready to go back in.

Heres the pics from today "progress"

Block dry and waiting for all the parts. Oil pan installed



Random parts painted and drying and waiting to be painted.



Another of the IDI cover, was hoping to have some ribs cleaned off but ran out of time.


For some reason, my camera is making the red seem alot brighter than it really is. Its actually a few shades darker.

Some of the parts i got cleaned up and painted with "cast coat aluminum" paint. Didnt want anything fancy, just typical aluminum color parts. Again, camera made the parts seem brighter than they really are.

And the head cleaned up and installed. Now, before anyone says anything about it, i spent enough time with the head today i really didnt want to tape off the whole damn thing, just to paint it to match the rest of the parts. I cleaned it up as best as i could, installed some new Viton valve seals and put it on the motor. Seeing as how its gonna be hardly visible when its all said and done, im not worried about it. Sides, the worst part will be covered up by the timing housing

Intake is just hangin there for the pic, wanted to see how it would look against the block.





So far, i like the look of the motor. Its not as flashy as it was the first time i put it together. Less color clashes makes for a much tidier look. Im hoping i can get all the rest of my engine parts by next weekend so i can seriously get the motor sealed up and ready to go.

Discuss, comment, whatever comes to mind

I'm loving that cast aluminum paint!!!

careful rolling the car around without axles in it... The bearings will start to loosen up and could fall apart. Mine were extremely loose after I had my axles out and the car only went out of the garage and into the yard, one trip and there was a good amount of wobble top to bottom before I put it back together.

I'm still a fan of my "Industrial Gray" color that I used

Lookin' good! What color are you gonna paint the car?

3X00-Modified wrote:careful rolling the car around without axles in it... The bearings will start to loosen up and could fall apart. Mine were extremely loose after I had my axles out and the car only went out of the garage and into the yard, one trip and there was a good amount of wobble top to bottom before I put it back together.

x2 on this. One of my bearings totally fell apart just pushing the car in and out of the garage like 2 times.

3400beretta wrote:

3X00-Modified wrote:careful rolling the car around without axles in it... The bearings will start to loosen up and could fall apart. Mine were extremely loose after I had my axles out and the car only went out of the garage and into the yard, one trip and there was a good amount of wobble top to bottom before I put it back together.

x2 on this. One of my bearings totally fell apart just pushing the car in and out of the garage like 2 times.

Wheel bearings?

No, muffler bearings Woody!

i plan on replacing them before Bfest anyways. Im not too worried about it. I have rolled that car around so many times without the axles or stubs in there in the past, and never had any problems. But thanks for your advice

The car is getting repainted the stock white color. Im gonna try and decide sometime between now and June, whether or not im gonna add the Chevy Racing stripes.

Heres a couple pics i found on Cardomain back from the first time i put the motor in. You can see how crazy i went with the red and silver paint.






Way too much color. I still look at those and facepalm

Well, today was a decently short day at work, so i headed out to my dads for a couple hours and did some more work. I had some steel wool and brake cleaner that i picked up so i could buff the cams before i installed them in the motor. By the time i got done, they looked like brand new, no marks, no pits, nothing but a nice shiny, smooth surface from to back.

I got some more parts cleaned up today and painted with the aluminum paint as well. I only have a couple other things left to do for prepping. Im still trying to figure out how im gonna clean up and paint the timing housing since i couldnt get it hot tanked and bead blasted. The guy i have do the cleaning, said he no longer does any pressing after an axle bearing exploded on him and took out all his front teeth. Lucky for me, the housing is pretty simple, just large. Pulling the paint off and respraying it with the better color shouldnt be too hard, just time consuming.

So, all in all, im a few components short of having a completed long block. Once i get that far, i can then get the trans cleaned up, maybe get it painted and looking better, and get the two ready to be joined once again. If im off on thursday, im hoping to get things cleaned up some more, and pull the wiring out of the engine bay and start cleaning it up for repaint. If it turns out well enough, the motor and trans will go back in the car from the bottom so as not to mess up my clean up job. Once the motor and trans are back in, i will lay the wiring over the car, clean, and reloom the whole thing front to back, top to bottom. I want it to look like brand new under the hood when im all done with it

Im still debating on the manual steering conversion too, but not sure. I found an 85 Cavy with manual steering in the yard, and since my rack is knocking, i was gonna replace it. Seeing as how i cannot find a rebuilt 2.25 steering rack anywhere, the manual was my next option, but again, still undecided.


Keep checking back in, progress is....progressing

3400beretta wrote:No, muffler bearings Woody!

Just seems odd they would do that. They're a sealed bearing.

90GTZHO wrote:

Everyone gives me crap for being Mr. Red, but I've gotta say I liked the IDI better black. Everything else is definitely an improvement, though. haha Is that chrome paint?