Head games

It's been over four weeks since I sent my cylinder heads of to be refurbished. Every week, I check in

Moving on with a new relationship

to see what the progress is, only to be told that "it'll be a few more days". Last week, I was told that they were done, only there was a slight problem. It seems that upon "final inspection", a crack was discovered in one of the heads that would have to be pinned. The guy said he would look at it and figure out what it would take to fix it and get back to me on the cost.
That was the last straw. When I initially dropped them off, they told me that the first thing they would do is magnaflux them to check for cracks and determine if they were usable. This was really starting to feel like a bait and switch deal!
Scanning through Craigslist to see what my options were, I stumbled upon an ad for a pair of small block power pack heads, completely rebuilt, for $100. I called the guy up, got a good vibe from him, and stuffed a $100 bill in my pocket.
Turns out that he had a similar experience with the same machine shop, only to the tune of $5000 to rebuild a motor, which was

And moving on with the project

originally supposed to cost $2000. That gave me the confidence I needed to blow off this shop and move on. I suspect I'll never hear from them, as I've had to call them every time.
In the meantime, I've got a pair of nice looking heads bolted to my block. I'll have the rockers adjusted by tomorrow, and the exhaust bolted in by Thursday.
This weekend is the Spring Turkey Run here in Daytona. I've got a small list of things to look for, as well as a long list of things to photograph on finished cars, for reference.

Prepping, painting, and...waiting

Well, the cylinder head restoration that was promised to be done in "four to five days" is now

E-brake pulleys after and before sandblasting

stretching into the fourth week, with no end in sight. Last week, they were being reassembled and would be ready on Tuesday. Friday came around and still no call, and when I checked in I was told that they were assembled, but upon final inspection a small crack was discovered around one of the bolt holes. Now, they have to figure out what it will take to pin the crack against further damage.
In the meantime, I've busied myself with prepping a number of parts to be painted with black epoxy. I also took time this week to set the block on the frame and mock it up with the transmission and driveshaft in place. I've always

More parts cleaned and primered

assumed (never a good thing) that the aluminum Powerglide I've been storing for 20 years would be a direct swap with the old cast iron one. Wrong!
When I installed the driveshaft, it turned out that my Powerglide has a 6" tailshaft, and the original had a 9" tailshaft. The yoke barely reached the driveshaft of the transmission.
I spent a day in frustration trying to decide what to do, then concluded that since I can't use this tranny,  I'll just find a Turbo 350 to install. More confusing choices when I learned that there are three different TH350 lengths.
I finally went to see the mechanic who wil be doing the rebuild for me, who gave me direction on a

Some finished, some ready for the epoxy black

number of measurements to take to ensure I get the right size. It turns out the the TH350 I need is the most common of lengths, and he had three or four he could choose from for a rebuild. It's going to cost around $800, plus the cost of an aftermarket mounting kit to use the original Powerglide mounts, as well as a kickdown cable. Oh yes, and eventually a different indicator for the dash.
Last week I also pulled out the driver's side fender and prepped it for paint. There were three areas of rust to attend to, all very small and relatively easy to patch. After the welding, I took it outside and gave it a good sandblasting,

After sandblasting the front fender

followed by a good coat of etching primer.
Yesterday, I decided that I had enough parts ready to warrant mixing up and spraying a batch of epoxy black paint. On Friday after the work day ended, I commandeered the shop that I run my business out of and set up a number of racks to suspend all of the parts to be painted. Yesterday the paint went on, and today I have a good pile of finished parts to be wrapped, boxed and cataloged.
So tomorrow brings another week of waiting for my heads..and looking for other things to work on in the meantime.

Goodbye rust!

Ready for primer and bondo

More rust cut out and patched

New headlight brow

Whole bunch of stuff ready to be painted

Odds and ends

Work has slowed somewhat over the past few weeks. I decided to send the cylinder heads off to be rebuilt, so I'm stuck on my engine restoration until they come back--which is supposed to be sometime this week.
Once I get them back, I can complete the reassembly of the motor and mount it on the frame. Not having the motor in place is holding up other steps I need to take to wrap up the frame and move on to the body, as I don't really have the space to work on both at the same time. Installing the motor and transmission will allow installation of the exhaust system, which in turn will allow me to figure out what I need to do to fab a transmission bracket that will also accommodate the exhaust pipe.
In the meantime, progress creeps forward as I clean and paint small parts, along with some sheetmetal. I've got all of the emergency brake components done, wrapped up and stored away. I've also re-stripped the front splash pan and left front fender, and sprayed a good fresh coat of etching primer on everything. These parts are safely stowed in our upstairs guest bedroom, much to the dismay of my wife!
Hopefully my next post will chronicle the installation and test start of the motor.