how many of you actually planed your complete engine parts list and stuck to the plan,gathering parts and assembling an engine to match your list of listed matching components , rather than what I see all to frequently , guys who buy parts as they could find and afford them, and assemble those they can with as little help as possible, especially anything that might require careful fitting or expensive or complicated machining?
I know we have several rather talented individuals on the site that think ahead and plan in detail, but I can,t help thinking we are in the minority.
I don,t know about most guys, but personally I like to make a very detailed list and check off each component or machine work process as I proceed rather than the way I see many guys approach the project, which seems to be a rather random, bolting on of parts they happen to get a deal on, the price even if the parts don,t match the rest of the combo very well..
Bob loves to verbally poke me in the ribs about my reluctance to change plans, or substitute parts.
today I had a few minutes to start the dis-assembly of a old low performance 454 bbc engine I was given out of a guys motor home, about 3 years ago!
he had extensive damage done too the motor home when he drove it under a really large low tree and it was 30 plus years old so he told me I could have it if I would tow it away, as most of the top of the motor home was ripped up.
well I had it towed to the yard, I pulled the engine and trans and called the local salvage yard who was glad to tow the rest off for metal scrap value. so its been sitting on a rolling engine storage stand wrapped in a loose tarp.
when we got it, three years ago, I pulled the spark plugs and drained the old oil and coolant,and squirted a quart of marvel mystery oil into the empty spark plug holes and I poured 8 quarts of cheap 10w30 oil in the engine and replaced the oil filter, but until today it sat in the back of the shop waiting for dis-assembly.
Bob was there to help and as we removed and cleaned parts it was obviously a very low mileage engine that looked like it had had darn few oil changes, as it was pretty sludge up, but surprisingly not very worn.
we got to talking about what I would do with the engine and I simply stated Id clean it up extensively and reassemble it for long term storage,after careful detailed inspection, where Id carefully fill it with oil,again, and shoot oil into the spark plug holes,again, and let it sit on one of my engine stands for a few weeks to totally dry out,some more, then after removing ALL moisture Id bag it and store it until I had the finances to mess with it.
Bob pointed out that I already have several big block chevy cores in storage. which I do, but currently I don,t have the finances to do much with them.
we then started a rather lengthy discussion of what id do if i did have the cash, so I pulled out a list of potential parts and mods Id previously listed and he was amazed that it was not all that exotic or extensive a list!
I told Bob theres a big difference between rebuilding a older engine to be a decent street driven muscle car engine,
( which is what most guys want, a reasonably priced 450-500hp big block combo)
which basically doesn,t require a great deal more than good rings,bearings, pistons, and a high capacity oil pan, a new cam, lifters and valve train, plus some reworked stock heads and a better intake, carb and headers and that differs a great deal from what a real serious race engine would be!
READ THIS LINK OVER CAREFULLY TWICE
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/finding-a-machine-shop.321/#post-55314
in fact I can,t think of a single part off a low performance 454 big block that Id use on a serious race engine! id even prefer a DART BLOCK with a 4.560 bore and a totally different set of connecting rods and a forged crank if I was building a serious engine and I certainly would not use anything else from the stock engine , with the possible exception of the stock cast valve covers.
Bob knows I like to make rather extensive lists and work to a well thought thru plan, doing the research to make sure theres few if any surprises during the process but he seems to get a big grin out of trying to get me to change parts randomly by suggesting i just use parts he sees sitting on shelves. parts that in most cases Ive slowly acquired for my big block engine corvette engine swap, which Id never use that engine or any of its parts on.
keep in mind your shelving heights ,and where youll place light switches and lighting, you certainly don,t want shelf's covering outlets, or switches, or lighting mounted so low shelving interferes with adequate lighting and you probably want shelves that easily have the strength to safely hold heavy parts
I know I bought about 10 of these shelves rated at 1200 lbs per shelf
http://www.globalindustrial.com/g/storage/bulk-rack/heavy-duty/boltless-wide-span-storage-rack-5
http://www.uline.com/BL_4025/Heavy-Duty-Steel-Shelving
I know we have several rather talented individuals on the site that think ahead and plan in detail, but I can,t help thinking we are in the minority.
I don,t know about most guys, but personally I like to make a very detailed list and check off each component or machine work process as I proceed rather than the way I see many guys approach the project, which seems to be a rather random, bolting on of parts they happen to get a deal on, the price even if the parts don,t match the rest of the combo very well..
Bob loves to verbally poke me in the ribs about my reluctance to change plans, or substitute parts.
today I had a few minutes to start the dis-assembly of a old low performance 454 bbc engine I was given out of a guys motor home, about 3 years ago!
he had extensive damage done too the motor home when he drove it under a really large low tree and it was 30 plus years old so he told me I could have it if I would tow it away, as most of the top of the motor home was ripped up.
well I had it towed to the yard, I pulled the engine and trans and called the local salvage yard who was glad to tow the rest off for metal scrap value. so its been sitting on a rolling engine storage stand wrapped in a loose tarp.
when we got it, three years ago, I pulled the spark plugs and drained the old oil and coolant,and squirted a quart of marvel mystery oil into the empty spark plug holes and I poured 8 quarts of cheap 10w30 oil in the engine and replaced the oil filter, but until today it sat in the back of the shop waiting for dis-assembly.
Bob was there to help and as we removed and cleaned parts it was obviously a very low mileage engine that looked like it had had darn few oil changes, as it was pretty sludge up, but surprisingly not very worn.
we got to talking about what I would do with the engine and I simply stated Id clean it up extensively and reassemble it for long term storage,after careful detailed inspection, where Id carefully fill it with oil,again, and shoot oil into the spark plug holes,again, and let it sit on one of my engine stands for a few weeks to totally dry out,some more, then after removing ALL moisture Id bag it and store it until I had the finances to mess with it.
Bob pointed out that I already have several big block chevy cores in storage. which I do, but currently I don,t have the finances to do much with them.
we then started a rather lengthy discussion of what id do if i did have the cash, so I pulled out a list of potential parts and mods Id previously listed and he was amazed that it was not all that exotic or extensive a list!
I told Bob theres a big difference between rebuilding a older engine to be a decent street driven muscle car engine,
( which is what most guys want, a reasonably priced 450-500hp big block combo)
which basically doesn,t require a great deal more than good rings,bearings, pistons, and a high capacity oil pan, a new cam, lifters and valve train, plus some reworked stock heads and a better intake, carb and headers and that differs a great deal from what a real serious race engine would be!
READ THIS LINK OVER CAREFULLY TWICE
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/finding-a-machine-shop.321/#post-55314
in fact I can,t think of a single part off a low performance 454 big block that Id use on a serious race engine! id even prefer a DART BLOCK with a 4.560 bore and a totally different set of connecting rods and a forged crank if I was building a serious engine and I certainly would not use anything else from the stock engine , with the possible exception of the stock cast valve covers.
Bob knows I like to make rather extensive lists and work to a well thought thru plan, doing the research to make sure theres few if any surprises during the process but he seems to get a big grin out of trying to get me to change parts randomly by suggesting i just use parts he sees sitting on shelves. parts that in most cases Ive slowly acquired for my big block engine corvette engine swap, which Id never use that engine or any of its parts on.
keep in mind your shelving heights ,and where youll place light switches and lighting, you certainly don,t want shelf's covering outlets, or switches, or lighting mounted so low shelving interferes with adequate lighting and you probably want shelves that easily have the strength to safely hold heavy parts
I know I bought about 10 of these shelves rated at 1200 lbs per shelf
http://www.globalindustrial.com/g/storage/bulk-rack/heavy-duty/boltless-wide-span-storage-rack-5
http://www.uline.com/BL_4025/Heavy-Duty-Steel-Shelving
