Had a bit of bad luck

[earlbrown]

The more I look at it, the more I think you should just pull the frame leg straight.  From the bend back really doesn't do anything important.  All it does is hold up the trunk.
  All the weight of the car is in front of the bend, (hence the weakspot there) and all the suspension load is well in front of that at the front of the link arms.


It's basically a tuning fork hanging out there in the wind.

[TexasT]

Rich asked me about them. I’ll be home this afternoon and I’ll try to run out to Charlie’s old place and see if they’re still there.

DO you happen to know the guy Charlie rented from? That would be a fitting tribute if we could secure one of those. .




On another tangent. I talked to the adjuster while ago. He seemed almost giddy and said he had what he thought was good news. They valued the car very well in my opinion and with their calculations they are going to repair it. Crazy I know. So I put in a message to the body guy to see about getting a time to bring it over and into his frame machine and do some tugging and pulling and see if the original estimate will do or if there will be additional cost.


This is pretty good news to me. And might even afford me the coin to aquire that rosewood LTD shell. Time will tell.


Oh and also talked to a guy local who has what he thinks is a turbo regal roller with what might be a good quarter. He sent pix but I'm going to see it next sat and pick it up if it will work.


Next question. Not for street driving but I'm thinking I will get some washers behind  the wheel to space it out so the body work doesn't tear up the spare. Just for moving it around. Should be good, any objections. Second option is a sledge hammer and some adjustment.

[earlbrown]

Some washers just to roll it around will be fine.     Just just can't drive on it because the wheel might not be hubcentric anymore.

[TexasT]

Cool. I really value y'all's opinions. I can come up with things that I need to be told no on and I'm glad there are those here that will do just that.


I'm felling better about the whole thing and will keep moving fwd.


Looking at cheap plasma cutters and maybe a $7-800 welder that can do ac/dc so I can tig. Nothing fancy, but Id like to do some fab so I can stiffen up the frames I put under these cars.


Son is suppose to be ordering up the brackets and engine mounts for the fiero swap and we are almost done with the daughters sundance head gasket failure/replacement. Who knew we would need a special tool to tension the timing belt? So there went a week of down time waiting for it to come(actually came wed so that was quick.).   


Like the river we are pushing forward!

[SuperSix]

Sorry to hear, buddy - hope you are OK, cars can be fixed.

[TexasT]

We located and aquirred a donor vehicle. It is in the garage. Still waiting on the insurance fundage. Talked to the adjuster yesterday. He is sending a check. We are going to get sent plasma cutter and cut up the donor for the quarter. It has some rust but was the nicest one I could locate that was in the budget. And it came with a bunch of decent interior pieces and exterior trim to replace my faded and damaged stuff. So I'm hoping to learn about body work. And after that paint. 
We still have the fiero swap, trans for the suburban and now a fence post broke off and the wife has been wanting that. Section of fence replaced with taller so that came to the top of the to do list. Digging up thirty yr old landscape timbers used as fence posts pretty much sux. City requires the use of metal posts so I bought five ten footers and we are doing eight foot high fence for four eight foot sections. Should make her happy. Going to actually be six ft fence and two ft corrugated metal at the top as seen on Pinterest. I'm glad aim handy. Paying someone to do up what she wants could be expensive.   

[TexasT]

Well time sure doesn't stop. I'm into the thoughts on assembling an engine. For the mythical rosewood car. I have it in my sights and am getting the rolling chassis from the white one readied to hopefully make that aquasition. So with that come the need for an engine. I picked up the .040 over 291 4.1 L short block. Suppose to be rebuilt and all wrapped in shrink wrap and came from an engine seller in Dallas. Just old stick he was getting rid of according to him. Anyway I'm to the point of probably doing at least a half fill of hard block and hoping the bores are straight. This would get me to a set of the Earl brown special pistons and a chicom forged crank. I'm thinking if I can have the crank not flex it will help this old a$$ block stay together and not need the billet middle caps. This would help keep the machining cost down as it wouldn't need the line hone hopefully with the new caps. Would want to do studs so it still might need a hone. Time will tell. 
Am I way off thinking I can get away with the forged crank and stock rods with the stock caps with the studs? 
Also the $499 forged crank at full throttle speed notes that it is internally balanced. Does this differ from stock? Is it a drop in piece or do I need to plan the budget accordingly to include some more machine work on it? 
Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think. 

[Scoobum]

Before you do anything...get the block magnafluxed. Better yet...sell the block. You want as much 'meat' between the cylinder bore and water jacket as possible. I went into the water jackets on a .030 over 109 not once...not twice...but 3 times. The third time the cylinder cracked all the way to the deck...and I tossed the block. Stock 109 block, rods, pistons and crank will run bottom 10's all day with zero KR. Find yourself as close to standard bore 109 as possible.

[earlbrown]

I would highly recommend the pistons.

Those things exist because I broke federal mogul cast pistons TWICE on my 4.1 (3 pistons total).  The first two only went a couple hundred yards before cracking #1 and #3.

I can make them .041" too if you don't like the current hone job or there's rust on the walls.

[Steve Wood]

If I recall correctly, stock is externally balanced.  Internal balance will require matching damper and flex plate.

Hate to say it, but, I might consider an LS because it might be cheaper, and more reliable.

[TexasT]

I'm too die hard to go ls. Though that is why I bought the 2003 k2500 for the kids to destroy but it just keeps on running.

I've always wanted to do a 4.1 but I do know the cube difference aint much. Thought about stroker as I've dreamed of that too but then you get into a set of rods too. I just wanted to try it cheap. Though would like to do forged pistons and forged crank as I think the stock crank flexes too much and that is what wrecks the stock blocks. Gets to wiggling all over the place and spits it out the bottom. Thought the hard block and forged crank could keep that under control. Stock rods seem plenty strong as I don't see people have probs with them.

I don't want a strip only , all out drag car. Needs to cruise and be a street car. And as a rosewood it won't Garner the attention of a black car. Just needs to have ac, be comfortable and if it can lay down some beatings on the street or strip that much better. I loved driving my we4 and definately miss it. Though I'm about ready to pull the GS out of the trailer out the we4 in and go at that for fun and excitement. Helped a buddy swap an engine in his 71 ls5 Chevelle and he let me have a turn behind the wheel and I definately could be happy with the GS up and running/driving.

Lots to think over. A 109 out of the we4 is definately in play along with the 4.1 as I have the .040 over one and another that I picked up that I believe it is stock bore so it would go 4.00 I believe. But with some custom pistons I think the .040 is best to start with as the STD bore block would bring more if it went on the block to sell. Did I mention I'm a cheap bastid.

Thanks for the input I value all of it. Keep it coming if you have more.

[Scoobum]

As I said above. A stock 109 short block will run bottom 10's all day long with zero KR. Bison has pounded several minutes of 9 second power through the stock 109 short block in his blue car. He said in a post awhile back he'd take every 109 block GM ever produced, cuz they're that durable. I agree, cuz I walked the walk with stock junk every weekend, and ran circles around most. Stay as close to standard bore as possible with a 109, stay out of KR...and you'll have no issues. Spend all the money you want on internals...bu t throw some KR in...and the engine will eat itself anyway.

[TexasT]

It will most likely be run on e85 and might get some ta heads. Might even spray some meth into it to cool the thing a bit. And Ken told me the custom slic should be worked out and ready to copy by the time I get it together. 
-8 feed,-6 return and a big pump or two in the tank. Might even be into a stand alone to do some flexfuel sensor and pwm on a second pump. Lots of cool new stuff to try out. 

[earlbrown]

No reason to go straight to 4.000" on the 4.1 unless you just have to.  That's .035" over right off the bat.

[TexasT]

I guess that is old thinking to get to cheap rings.

As above I think I'd start with the .040 over block and a chicom forged crank. Half fill it with hard block and do an aluminum radiator with big tubes to cool it. I have a couple sets of two dot rods and a couple sets of 8445 heads. But would want to go to aluminum heads so I could run a decent amount  of compression. Custom pistons for size and height so I can zero deck it. I need to get that short block stripped down and measured to see about the bores and deck height. No telling after it went through what I would think is a mass rebuilder.

I understand the 109 has been done. It works because guys like bison and Dan's sil worked at it. When they say stock, I wouldn't believe it has never been apart. Those LS engines go straight from the wrecking yard to a fox body with a pg and big turbo and are in the 5s in the eighth. Again, seen it so why would I want to do that? 

Next cool thing would be a ta block and lots of boost but that kinda kills the budget vibe. And I dream of one of these new Ken Betts bbb block to do a port injected turbo big block. Maybe 470 inches, some e85 and lots of boost. A lottery win is all that stands in my way.  

I'll keep an eye out for a 109 but they(30 yr old cars)  have pretty much all but dried up at my local yards. I can see why guys do the ls. They are everywhere and with some hptuners can run the stock computer until it gets pretty wild. 

We are definately in a time never before seen. The muscle cars of the sixties and seventies were pretty wild and the eighties and early ninties produced some great cars. But man, today from the showroom floor there are vehicles that are unfathomable compared to those eras. 

It is an awesome time to be a car guy .