Strip the interior

JtC came up in the evening to pull the seats and remove the carpet.

Results...




The sound deadener looks like it is in good condition...



A great example of why the carpet needs replacing...




Lost treasure!



The upholstery under the cover, under the cover...



Now to source some carpet, underlay and decide what to do with the seats.

Stay tuned!

John

Cruise

Went for a drive south with a couple of Mustangs, down Bullli pass and back across Lawrence Hargreaves Drive to home...





Unfortunately Rob's Mach 1 couldn't make it ;-(

...next time!

J

Intake Manifold for Quadrajet

Looks like the serial number is 346249...

http://outintheshop.com/faq/casting/intake_man.html
Casting Number: 346249
CID: 305/350/400
Years: 75-77
Type: 4-Brl
Comments: Quadrajet

http://www.nastyz28.com/sbcmenu.php
Years: 1976-82
Casting: 346249
CID: 305,350
Bbls: 4
Material: iron
Carb: Q-jet
Application: all/155,165,205HP

http://www.sevenhillsmotorcars.com/inventory/corvette_1977_orange_dark_b
rown_1z37l7s446693/corvette.htm
1977 Corvette with a 350 ci has it.

Movie Shoot!

JtC took the Chev and headed south to help a mate out with a movie she is shooting.

A quick shot at Bald Hill Lookout...

Quad'y

Picked up a Quadrajet off eBay for $20...

Old stock from Hume Performance at Warwick Farm. There is every chance
it has never been on a car and is coated in a light coating of surface
rust.

Has a Holley sticker on it which apparently means it is a Rochester
factory 2nd and was rebuilt/modified/rectified by Holley.

Serial Number: 7043266
Rochester ID: 70 (pre-1976)
Year Code: 43 (1973)
Emissions: 2 (49-State)
Division: 6 (Pontiac)
Transmission: 6 (Automatic)

Looks like it is off an auto trans 1973 Pontiac GTO with a 400 ci motor
http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/Kpontiac3.htm
http://www.carburetion.com/CarbNumber.asp?Number=7043266

Will need an electric choke conversion (now that I have removed the heat
riser) and we'll put a kit through it

28/4

JtC came up to check for himself the exhaust leak and my efforts with the shroud/fan.

Puttied-up exhaust leaks where the pipe enters the muffler and between the face of the muffler and the body. Holds, but seems temporary.

Fuel leak at carby wasn't fuel inlet as suspected, but it was a 0.25" welsh plug right next to the inlet that was leaking. A few taps with a punch looks to have sealed the leak.

Ooo... and the previously purchased Impala badges are on! (After a lot of cursing and squeezing an arm between the inner guard and the guard).

Finished with a clean.

Thanks Joe!

sent from my Telstra NEXTG™ handset

Exhaust Leak

From: John
Sent: Thursday, 26 April 2012 2:04 PM
To: Joe "The" Driver
Subject: Exhaust Leak

Hi there,

Been clocking up the miles on the Chev; went out to the beaches yesterday and to work today.

Near the driver’s door, you can hear a flutter from the exhaust. At lunch just now, I checked with a mate and blocking the tail pipe makes it louder.

The front of the muffler has slightly separated from the barrel of the muffler creating holes.

New exhaust time; or at least a weld patch-it job.

J

Radiator & Shroud Info

http://www.antechlabs.com/K0GFM/6566RadiatorsSpacers.pdf

Melting and Moulding

Rather than trim down the fan fins, we decided to try heating the shroud to soften it and mould it to give a bit more clearance to the fan.

I had a Holden Commodore 6-cylinder shroud lying around, so it became the test mule to see what was/wasn't achievable. The shroud was clamped to the workbench and the kids' mini skateboard used as a moulding tool.



A butane torch was the heat source and - after a bit of trial and error - I got a bit of a technique down on how to heat and mould the plastic.

The test also showed it was easier to clamp the skateboard to the workbench and bring the shroud to the modifying wheel like so...



If I was to do it again, I would have had a 2nd person heat while I worked the shroud over the skateboard wheel as it was hard to heat, then quickly work the softened plastic.

But, I got there!



The fan sits low in the shroud, so there is a larger gap a the top than the base, but it should be an improvement over no shroud at all.

Fine-tuning the Fan Fitting

With the shroud mounted-up, it was time to fit the fan.

It was decided to use the universal fan I got with the shroud.

Without a spacer, it fouled some of the ancillaries. A measure showed around 0.75" placed the centre of the fins along the entrance to the shroud.

As the water pump can accommodate two different fan mounting PCD's and the universal fan is slotted to also take a variety of bolt patterns, I tried a 1" spacer for a Holden Red Motor.

Of course, I completely forgot about the water pump pulley and it DOESN'T suit the Red Motor water pump bolt pattern <slap forehead>. 1" also looked like it was going to push the fan too far into the shroud and foul on the tapered section.

Back to Rare Spares.

Plan B was to try an aftermarket, universal 0.5" spacer.

Bingo!

Once it was all bolted together, the fins of the fan juuust skimmed the shroud. Time for some modification... another day.