[Glenn Lever]

Originally Posted by Gas455

Sorry, I meant Transmission..

Good old Power Glide built by Rutland Transmission Service (281) 350-1365 4415 Spring Stuebner Rd, Spring, TX 77389

[misterp266]

Car is coming along great, look awesome!
I think you should drive over to Phelps and hook up with Jack and maybe put that little old M/T Hemi in that thing...........just a thought.........

[Glenn Lever]

Originally Posted by misterp266

Car is coming along great, look awesome!
I think you should drive over to Phelps and hook up with Jack and maybe put that little old M/T Hemi in that thing...........just a thought.........

Jack provided the M/T Remote oil filter adapter. The Ponitac Hemi would look great in this. A little to much power for what I am ready for at the moment though, and I'm sure he would not let it go.

[misterp266]

I know Jack wouldn't give up the Hemi, I was thinking more of a team effort. Your blown motor will be plenty good I'm sure. Hope you can come east a bit and maybe run at Lebanon Valley next year, I'd love to see your car in person.
Rob...

[Glenn Lever]

Originally Posted by misterp266

I know Jack wouldn't give up the Hemi, I was thinking more of a team effort. Your blown motor will be plenty good I'm sure. Hope you can come east a bit and maybe run at Lebanon Valley next year, I'd love to see your car in person.
Rob...

That is also one place I will try and travel to.

[Glenn Lever]

It has been awhile since the last update...... so.

The Car Nuts got together again this weekend.

Believe it or not there will not be a Car Nuts meeting next weekend, the "Wife" will not allow it for some reason.

Starting Monday after Christmas I will be in the garage every morning Monday through Saturday 9 to 12 working on the dragster to get it ready for the World of Wheels show in February. If you feel like stopping by feel free, but it is always best to call first as I might be running for parts.

Saturday will continue to the official car nuts meeting date and on those days we will continue to have food and drink. The "Wife" out did herself this weekend with fresh Cinnamon swirl buns, coffee, soda, Water and bagels.

The powder coating will take a back seat to the dragster (I have also promised the "Wife" that I will get the tile work done in the kitchen before the company Christmas Party (really, who needs tile on the wall in the kitchen, I think the adhesive on the wall right now is an interesting pattern).

All past car nuts that have sat in the dragster receive 8 X 10 pictures of their smiling faces and we had two new members of that club this meeting of the car nuts. In addition everyone that attended today received 2011 magnetic calendars from Herd's Fasteners (that is until I ran out, but I will be getting more).

We almost lost Bill when he sat in the dragster as he almost went out of sight (dragster is a little large for him).

A lot of the wiring was laid out. Frank and Lenny became experts at installing weather pack connectors.

Even the Better Half was out in the garage helping. Without her we would not have been able to get the wiring diagram for the MSD box (my portable can now get to the innernet)

The remote oil filter cannot be left in the original spot it was intended to be. After purchasing two different set ups of AN fittings we were unable to get the hose for the remote filter to lay down in a fasion that was acceptable. Ken, Tom, and Vince took on the task of creating a new bracket to put the filter on a slant that will accept stright AN fittings (wait to I tell Matt). They got to play with the tools in the basement. They got to cut metal with fire! What can be more manly that that?

Bill and Don found that the starter cannot be bolted in as the hole in the engine plate is not large enough. At first we thought we could machine the snout of the starter flat, but the gear drive of the strter hits the engine plate. Sounds like a task I can take on this week with a die grinder and rasp.

I put together a short list of stuff that needs to be done and it is not so short!

[rod cole]

Dragster is cool. But the coolest thing is you cut a hole in the dang wall for it that is commitment. Rod

[Glenn Lever]

Originally Posted by rod cole

Dragster is cool. But the coolest thing is you cut a hole in the dang wall for it that is commitment. Rod

I am now a member of the "Hole in the Wall" gang.

[Glenn Lever]

I have not posted updates as this stuff Im sure everone has gone through, but I will bring you up todate.

12/27/2010

Unofficial official called off car nuts meeting progress

Over Christmas weekend and today:

1) The engine, transmission and engine plate were pulled from the dragster.

2) The engine plate was modified by Steve to;
a) Allow the wiring to be pulled through it (Roo Man made provisions to pull the wire through the chassis; however I would like to be able to swap the harness when I put the blown alcohol engine in. I would like to build a new harness for that engine so that I can swap back to the stroker if there is a problem with the blown engine. This means that I have to be able to pull weather pack connecters through the frame.
b) The capillary tube for the temperature gauge and line or the oil pressure gauge needed a slot cut to allow passage around the engine plate and the body of the dragster.
c) The hole for the starter had to be enlarged to allow it to be bolted to the engine.

3) The torque converter was installed into the transmission and the flex plate was trial fitted to the torque converter.

4) The transmission was set back between the rails of the dragster ready for the engine plate to be reinstalled.

5) The alignment dowels on the rear of the engine were removed and extra long ones were installed so that they travel through the engine plate and engage the transmission bell housing to align it. Vise gripes were not strong enough to twist out the dowel so a trip had to be made to get a dowel pin remover tool. With the right tool they came right out.

6) The water pump was pulled off the engine. Extensions (made by Roo Man) were installed between the pump and the water tubes that engage the block. These were needed because the engine plate is bolted between the block and the water pump.

7) The remote oil filter adapter was removed, Matt enlarged the ports, I put it back on the block and have installed the AN fittings for good.

I have a Doctor appointment in the morning at 10:30. Later in the day I hope to test fit the flex plate on the rear of the engine and bolt the starter in place. This will allow me to check the gage between the starter gear drive and flex plate and adjust as needed.

If that goes well I will try and get the engine back between the rails.

It was discovered in this process that the drive shaft was missing, but Roo Man is shipping it.

Once the engine is in place I will return to wiring.

[Glenn Lever]

12/28/2010

Ok, today's canceled unofficial official car nuts update,

The engine plate was bolted to the rear of the engine and the starter was test fitted through the engine plate. I had to enlarge the hole for the starter again as the starter still would not fit. Once it fit I then bolted the flex plate on to see if that fit correctly.

I also found that the starter covers most of the hole that was created for the wiring. I could still have used it but would have had to remove the starter to pass the weather tight plugs through it. We were smart enough to make identical holes on both sides of the engine plate, so, I will pull all the wiring back out and run it down the right side instead.

I have found there is a problem with the clearance between the starter gear drive and the flex plate when the starter is at rest. I have shims coming from Jegs.

A friend of mine set me an excellent link to the proper installation of a starter and I have forwarded that link to you here. http://www.tiltonracing.com/ins/98-295.pdf

The flex plate was then removed from the engine; the engine plate was removed from the engine and bolted into the chassis.

The flex plate was then bolted back on the engine and the starter was installed. This starter is now starting to tick me off as now there is also a clearance problem between the starter and the rod catching pan.

The correct size bolts were obtained and the transmission, engine plate and engine are now bolted together.

In the morning the first task will be to bolt the flex plate to the torque converter.

[Glenn Lever]

12/29/2010

Ok, another day in the garage.

Not much progress to report – worked all day, Bill stopped by to help out.

6:30 PM tonight I was where I should have been at 8:15 AM this morning.

Why you ask, you did ask didn’t you?

I went to bolt up the torque converter to the flex plate (the only part I did not test fit yesterday, you see where this is going) and found that the torque converter was hitting the flex plate bolts and holding the torque converter back from moving far enough forward to engage the crankshaft and also make contact with the flex plate.

So….

I pulled the transmission, pulled the flex plate, pulled the flex plate bolts

Called around and talked with Matt, Steve, and Carl (of completion transmissions (builder of the torque converter)).

It was decided that the heads of the bolts holding the flex plate to the crankshaft were too long. Ordered up two new, and different, sets of ARP Pontiac flex plate bolts. They would not work as one set had an unthreaded shaft that was too long and the second set of bolts were too short to travel through the SFI flex plate and also have enough threads to hold it to the crankshaft.

I went and bought some 8 grade hard bolts and Matt turned the heads down to get us enough clearance to bolt the flex plate up.

Went to bolt the flex plate up and the bolt heads of these bolts are larger than the original bolts and the socket hits the crankshaft.

I created a “special” tool to tighten the bolts down.

I installed the flex plate, transmission, bolted the torque converter up. I pulled the plugs and rotated the engine over by hand and nothing hits, hopefully that project is done.

Tomorrow the shims from Jegs should arrive and I can put the starter in.

In the morning I will start by pulling out the wiring that we installed and start running it down the right side this time.

[misterp266]

It's really coming along great Glenn, first class work! Hope to see it in person one day.

[Glenn Lever]

12/30/2010

Ok, now for today’s update on progress and we did make progress!

Don Goodman and Tom Deyle stopped by to lend a hand and brought some good luck along with them.

Don removed the tape that has covered the intake for over a year, cleaned the surface and bolted on the carburetor.

Tom bolted the starter back in (the shims from Jegs has not arrived yet so the starter will have to come out again) and put the rod catcher pan back on. The pan requires no modification. It fits like a glove around the starter.

Both Tom and Don collaborated and installed the transmission dip stick.

Tom went through the pile of boxes that has been growing by the garage door and organized the parts that have been arriving to be bolted on to the dragster.

I started blowing out the fuel lines. This meant removing all the fittings. I doped up all the treads of the fittings that screw into the fuel filter, fuel pump, and fuel regulator. This caused another problem in that with the teflon pipe dope on the treads lubricated the treads which caused the fittings to screw deeper into the fuel filter, fuel pump, and fuel regulator. When I went to put the lines back in place they were short by a ¼ inch. I was able to fix this by carefully straightening out some of the bends in the pipes gaining back the ¼ inch needed to make the lines fit snugly.

All the wiring that had been threaded through the chassis has been pulled back out, as we are now going to run the wiring down the right side of the dragster.

The new battery has been set in place (up to this time we have been using the battery out of the trailer to mock things in place.

I spent most of the rest of the day running for parts.

I picked up the hoses and clamps needed to put the coolant system together and I think that will be one of the projects for the Official gathering of the car nuts this Saturday at 9:00 AM.

The blower engine may be hard blocked tomorrow (that is a whole other project).

[Glenn Lever]

12/31/2010

Ok, today’s update

For an unofficial car nuts meeting we had a great turn out and progress has again been made on several fronts. It seems we are having problems completing tasks so they can be crossed of the board. The tasks are like loose teeth; they are close but just refuse to be removed.

The starter shims arrived from Jegs, Tom once again removed the rod catcher pan and the starter. The shim was installed and the starter has been reinstalled and is waiting wiring (a task for tomorrow). The starter clearances are no A-OK. Still cannot be crossed off the list.

The crankcase ventilation system has been started, the tubes connecting the through frame vents to the puke tank are in at the rear of the dragster. This 1.25 inch ID tubing is a pain to work with!

Part of the engine coolant system is in place, and most of the rest of it will be completed tomorrow. We will not be able to cross the task off though as we need a radiator cap.

The guy with the white hair and pony tail was caught working I wonder who that is and how come he was actually working. Most of the time he is just standing around assigning tasks and was caught cutting off a 3 ½ inch length of wire.

Next time you see Jack ask him about that 3 ½ inch piece of wire he is holding in the group photo.

I marked and cut the fixed piece of fuel line, ran to Matt’s and had him weld on the AN fitting, returned and finished plumbing the fuel system. It should now be fuel tight. I do still want to add a filter right before the carburetor (still cannot be crossed off the list).

On the way back from Matt’s I stopped at the beach (1000 feet from our front door) and took a photo of the ice burgs floating into shore. I cannot wait for spring for a number of reasons; can you guess at least two?

The lines for the remote oil filter have been run and are complete, now the bracket for the filter has to be finished (still cannot be crossed off the list).

Some of the wiring is being finial fitted, but some of it has not even been started yet.

We are close enough that we could start to think about firing up the engine, Fuel system is complete, coolant is almost done, electric is not too far away (need headers to get the exhaust away from the chassis).

Control cables are being laid out, but we are missing some clevis.

More tomorrow, next week will be half days as I have some powder coat work that has come in and the tile work in the kitchen needs to be done.

[Glenn Lever]

01/09/2011

Ok, starter cables

Tom Deyle spent several days in unofficial car nut meetings planning out and wired the starter circuit.

With the help of Steve's cable crimper the cables were cut to length and installed one by one.

That circuit is complete and the engine cranks over.

[twooldgoats]

Glenn,

Thanks for the posts detailing every step along the way. I wish now I had done that when I was building my car so I could look back today and see where five years went. It's an eyeopener too, I'm sure, to anyone considering such a build to see all the little frustrations and triumphs along the way. I always think of a recipe my mom had typed on an old faded 3" X 5" card that said "bake for two hours at 400 degrees". Someone else, in pencil, had added the words "takes longer". It always "takes longer" when you're building a car from scratch.

Jim

[Glenn Lever]

01/10/2011

Ok, the dragster wiring continues.

It was mentioned to me that there was some confusion as to why the wiring is taking so long because, after all, it is a dragster and how much wiring could there be?

Well there are a number of things that have to be wired; fuel pump, water pump, radiator fan, starter (these are all high current draw systems and cannot just be wired with a switch, they require a relay in the circuit to carry the current required to run these items), coil, distributor, data logger (this is a whole wiring circuit all by itself), gauges, MSD box, RPM Trigger (the tach does not have a shift light so a RPM trigger is needed to run the shift light), neutral safety, air shift (electrical circuit), transmission brake, shift light, low oil pressure light, and last but not lest the tail light.

All components have been wired with weather pack connectors so any one component can be removed and replaced without having to cut wires.

The whole harness is being wired so that it is removable so that when the blower engine is install this harness can be removed as one piece and a new harness install for the needs of the blower engine (Magneto and transformer (Matt I used the right terms just for you). If the need arose to remove the blower engine this one will be able to reinstalled with this harness (back up engine)

The rat's nest of wires is slowly being reduced and made "neat".

A relay panel was fabed up (sure wish we had Roo Man's metal working skills), well at least there is a piece of metal on the car that I can claim as mine.

[Glenn Lever]

01/10/2011

Ok, unofficial car nuts meetings continue week days, and we did have an official cat nuts meeting this Saturday. As always everyone is welcome, it is always best to call during the week for the unofficial car nuts meetings and the official car nuts meeting is 9 to noon on Saturday.

Tom Deyle has taken on the task of modifying the air scoop to function with a single 4 barrel carburetor vs the dual four barrel carburetors it was original set up for. In addition he is creating a way to mount the scoop to the carburetor.

The scoop is also being modified to hold the shift light and low oil pressure light. Matt's shop did the machine work on the scoop to have the lights poke through the rear of the scoop, Don Goodman modified the light brackets so they would be at the correct height to line up with the holes (this may sound like a simple task, but the lights have to be level and straight. Any carpenter will tell you one of the hardest things to do is to make a well fit square box, it may look simple, but it is hard to do.

Jack Dennis and Lenny Ball worked on the switch panel (more of the dreaded wiring). Lenny also replaced the cable clamp for the shut off switch on the push bar.

Frank Serafine put together a wiring harness for the gauges (yes, more wiring (and the wires still need to be run to the sensors). He also repaired the wiring to the transmission break and straighten out the plunger on the brake.

Don Doan removed the wheel lug nuts, removed the temporary wheel spacers and replaced them with new ones sent by Roo Man.

The shenanigans continue, I do not know who the prankster is but the kitchen florescent light I remove earlier in the week end up wire tied to the roll bars as the new cockpit light, complete with a Jeg's part number, and 110 volt wiring, (I'm, not adding an inverter to the dragster to run it!)

A lot of work actually is getting do, but we still are having problems crossing of completed tasks on the board. Only 30 day remain to I have to leave to go to Indiana with the dragster.

[Brian Baker]

Looking good!

[Glenn Lever]

01/11/2011 (up to date now)

Ok, new dragster (or should I say, Tom's new project) update.

The latest task Tom has taken on is the conversion of a used air scoop, into an air scoop for the dragster, that is also the holder for the shift light and low oil pressure warning light (I'm gun shy after blowing up the engine in the Firebird with what is thought to have been a low oil pressure problem).

I picked the air scoop up at the last Rochester Street Rod swap meet ( I have heard rumors that there will be another one this summer, there was lots of good stuff at the last one, be sure to put it on your calendar for a do not miss event). It was originally set up for dual four barrels.

I had Matt weld in some material that could be used as mounting tabs, Tom drilled and taped them for bolts.

He made new bottom plates for the single four barrel and power coated them.

Don Goodman modified the mounting brackets on the sift lights and swapped the lense in one form yellow to red for the low oil pressure light.

When sitting in the cockpit you are looking right at them, perfect for a novice driver.

When you look at the rear of the scoop at the right angle it sort of looks like the head of an alien robot.

The only thing left to do, you guessed it and I dread it, is wire up the lights, and oil pressure sensor.

There will be no unofficial car nuts meeting this Thursday.