Plastic Fantastic 2

[SuperBuickGuy]

picture of head gasket kit that I think is poorly described (thought I was only getting MLS head gaskets, not a set)


hmmm.... anti-gravity device is faulty


electric requires moving '40, which would mean opening the door (it's 20 degrees outside), and letting the heat out of the shop


wait, I have another option


anti-gravity enabled


time to hit my thumb...err... mark rods


plan b, I'm still artistic with my dremel


forgot about this catch basin on my washing cabinet.... filled with sludge but very little sludge in tank (win)

clean pistons


and honing

then clean oil passages


which brings me to a question... why 2 holes in the cam bearings?edited there are not two galleys....

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

new, rebuilt heads arrived


I'll leave these original size, sorry for the slow load times

two holes... why? only one oil passage


here's the weld/connection point - I am guessing but it may be part of the problem of the wear because that would divert oil from the bearing - especially if it was tight up against the oil feed hole


in this picture, you can even see where the oil was diverted out of the bearing


this surface has a very rough texture


and then what about the high and low spots of the bearing? presumptively it's a round hole so why would there be pressure points (the shiny)?


anyway, puzzling and something I've never seen before
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[SuperBuickGuy]

so I have basically 5 months to make this track-ready.... and we start today, slllloooowwwwwlllly
but it was a start

I need to put these in the front shocks

 

[bobs77vet]

looking good! i see you have been working quite diligently!

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

update .... compare the new cam bearings to the old.... thinking perhaps someone noticed there was a problem beside me

another coat of paint, I'm giving the paint a good chance to set up (it has been kind of cold for painting) but plan on slapping this together 'next'
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[SuperBuickGuy]

Oh were these a pain to get out


then realized I didn't have the right bushings... so I ordered and went onto the next.... bumper


first cut a space


then cut and weld the old bumper brackets in place



and the reason why - I'm keeping the pop up lights but making them lighter and not reliant on vacuum
first remove everything inside


then start test fitting


this opens perfectly that if I was using the stock lights and bezel, it'd fit


my hope is to build brackets so that someone could simply buy the linear actuators, cut a slot then put it in their car as well... and thinking very cheap, like less then $25 cheap (for the brackets - the actuators are $40 each)...edited

 

[bobs77vet]

that's a cool idea. and eliminates all low vacuum worries for sure

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

closed

up

it will fit stock headlights (though I'm not using, being able to set the open and close heights easily is a big deal to me)


https://youtu.be/nDfJp5mabXs

https://youtu.be/vUXoq8Sj82k

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

that's a cool idea. and eliminates all low vacuum worries for sure

and the motors actuators are good to 225 lbs.... and it gets weight off the nose.... and the vacuum issue is no issue, best of all - I'm pretty sure I can run these with existing wiring. The stock, GM light switch has power in the off position - at worst it's one wire to the front, but I think there's power to the closed switch (which turns the light off when it's closed.... if there is, that's what will close the light.

the actuator itself is IP67 rated - that means dust proof and can be immersed in water. I expect it to have reasonable longevity.... but most of all, be rid of the vacuum. Open time/Close time is less then 3 seconds.

and the other thing - I want to put smaller lights in the space, thus the amount the light opens is adjustable.... that video of it opening is about how far I'm going to open it and it will get some combination of LED and projector headlights.... and the other goal, most other conversions are in the 450-750 range, if you keep your stock headlights, this should be less then 200 and likely closer to 100 with the actuators.... I really hope that if it works that I can sell to a supplier who would then put it in the market.... and final edition may eliminate the need to cut the bucket...

 

[SRountree]

Pretty impressive!

 

[bobs77vet]

that's a really nice job on those.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

beta version

supervision and complaints to Buick

remove all this stuff

install precision brackets and ram

and voila

Video of it opening fully
https://youtu.be/PvGzgb0IoH4

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

one of the videos I watched used carb cleaner to clean the pistons... as I'm not thrilled with the solvent method, here we go


then time to knock cam bearings in place... what a pita


then slid the cam in place

and set the crank in place....edited

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

Pistons are coming out nice from the carb cleaner



in other news, I got the parts from Aiden American so installed them
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[SuperBuickGuy]

finish up the suspension

tighten it down and level it up



so I can go onto the next 'big' thing
this side is good enough, not perfect, just good enough

this side is terrible

no going back now

first test fit

second fit

much better


what they did wrong was not do the same wheel opening side to side, the left side had a hook at about 2 o'clock.... cut, slice, dice and move forward so it's a radius and it's 'fixed'edited next up a lot of epoxy

then onto this issue
the hood doesn't follow the shape of the fenders... it's like they all got together and decided to use the one Corvette that was no other


​​​​​​​ah well, I have epoxy, fabric and I know how to use it....edited

 

[69427]

I gotta say, I admire your patience and determination. :thumbs:

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

tonight's fun.... tighten crank bolts

check the rings.... .018 and .019 2nd.... need to file fit to .020 and .022

which stops that because my filer is broken....edited
how I keep the rings square


got stopped now waiting for parts that may or may not arrive on Thursday (we have a snow 'event' - which usually means nothing gets delivered)

The C3 didn't get any love because the epoxy I have is not cold weather stuff.... so waiting on parts there too

 

[bobs77vet]

very nice, I wonder what BG44k would do for cleaning pistons?

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

no idea what that is

so I didn't want to wait until it warms up so I bought colder glue


glue it, pin it, wait 40 minutes if 40 degrees


and it's there


next up fiberglass the inside of the fender (which I am NOT looking forward to), then fill the seam and start body work.... and raise the scoop... and do the rear fenders.... and do the rear floor....edited

 

[phantomjock]

Panel Joining Tip

An idea I use - but, I bet you've started already:

1. Layup a few pieces of cloth on a sheet of glass. Width, length, and number to gap-fill.
2. Wet out and let kick.
3. Remove from the glass
4. Adhere to the inside. (Assuming adequate surface prep there too.)
5. For added structural strength -- do several layers (follow-on ones wider of course.)
6. Continue layup/smoothing of outside.
7. Prep and paint.

The trick is to get just enough in that layup to remain flexible, but firm enough to support the outside, and tie the two together.

Less mess than welding overhead!

Cheers - Jim

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I've never used glass to lay it out, I'll have to try it. On the top side I'm using West Systems epoxy and filler (which is basically glass dust) - but that requires starting on the inside, which requires a lot of sanding and then fiberglassing.... at least it's sub-40 degrees, which really helps get the fiberglass to set quickly but it's still an ugly mess (and yeah, I'm whining)

 

[phantomjock]

BOAT YARD TIP #2:

If you are just filling for fairing - and not adhesive/any strength - add talc. Yes - baby powder! Sands easy, even in epoxy, and smells kinda nice. Get the unscented variety. Cheap too.

Cheers Jim

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

for those who wonder if I have ADD ..... look LS

It's springtime

one of these is not like the others

apparently they needed to replace a stock spring and used a similar spring to what I replaced the stock springsedited

dog bone or bar bell goes this way

rear main installed



and head dowels

rings ground
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first piston ringed

the rest of the rings installed

ring compressor ready to go

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

assembly continues
pistons in holes


high dollar crank turner

pan test fit after installing the oil pump

notice no oil pump spacing.... I did a check, GM doesn't say to space, and some guy on Corvette Forum, who owns Mastiffs, said he didn't space them either.
Mastiff owners know it all, so I went with it.
and you all think Google is my final authority
heads look nice on there, too bad I bought the wrong ARP bolts

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

round 1 - tl;dr, I may be scraping this off and doing it again tomorrow

5:1 mix.... not sure that's right....edited

in theory it's supposed to be solid to touch in 40 minutes.... 2 hours later it's still squishy


​​​​​​​oh well, good thing this isn't my day job.

 

[phantomjock]

.... at least it's sub-40 degrees, which really helps get the fiberglass to set quickly but it's still an ugly mess (and yeah, I'm whining)

I see you've added a heater. Good idea. Actually, cold hinders the resin from setting.

When I was doing some boat work in SEA, I needed to chill the resin as it would "kick" quickly due to the outside air temp - was upwards of 98-100F! Chilling it let me get it mixed and on the project before having to toss it.

If you are using 205 hardener you've already got the fast cure.



Hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised when returning from the "day job!"

Good Luck!

Cheers - Jim

\

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

it's solid now - I'll work on sculpting it after my day job.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I know some might question doing the outside first.... *shrug*


fixed


once I finish fiberglassing all the holes I made putting the suspension in and doing the fiberglass inner fenders then I'll be onto final fitment and hopefully paint soon after
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[mfain]

I'm really glad you fixed the fender flare to center the wheel. That was going to bother me forever. Nice work.

Pappy

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I'm really glad you fixed the fender flare to center the wheel. That was going to bother me forever. Nice work.

Pappy

the hardest part of the job was getting over that I paid $2000 for that crap....