THE PARTS PILE GROWS

Drew and I hit the New Braunfels swap meet today and there were a lot of cool parts to be had.

I was specifically looking to find a bell housing, a good four-speed shifter with linkage, and perhaps a clutch. I ended up meeting vendor named Kajun Jon, who had all sorts of 4-speed parts and best of all, knowledge.

After telling him what I was building, I seized the opportunity to pepper Kajun Jon with all my 4-speed questons.  Should I get an 10.5" clutch or a 11" set-up ? Jon's answer? 10.5" less rotating mass for quicker revs. Should I go with an aluminum flywheel? "Absolutely!" Light cars love aluminum flywheels!" I'm thinking of going with a CenterForce clutch, what do you think. "Overkill, a single will work fine."

After bleeding him dry of info, I did the only thing a decent human being would.

I bought a zoom clutch with throw-out bearing, disk, aluminum flywheel and chevrolet passenger car bell housing from the dude.

The next step was to track down Jeff,  a guy who I'd talked to who had a 327 shortblock for sale on Craigslist. We'd arranged for me to look at his short block at this meet.

I'd already talked with him at length about the engine, which had only a matter of hours on it before he'd grenaded an Art Carr Trans. He'd already sold off the aftermarket heads. I'd balked at going to see it for three good reasons: he was a couple hours away, it was expensive and I figured it was way more motor than I needed.

As it turned out, the short block was in super condition and the internals were clearly new.

He provided the cam card, and had brought along a full set of roller lifters, ARP bolts and push rods, which all appeared new and were included in the sale. The engine also had a Fluidamper dampener .

We ran the numbers on the block itself, a 64-67 327 truck, corvette or passenger car motor. It was packed with high end goodies and the block appeared to be everything Jeff had previously described.

Despite the fact that it was more than I wanted to spend, I was mightily impressed by how tidy the engine and all the parts looked. I agreed to pay a little more than I wanted to and Jeff took a a fair share less than his original asking. I can't wait to hear it run in the roadster, and I'll likely be changing out the cam to something less radical and sousrcing some vintage heads in good running condition or rebuildable.

It was a great day out with my son, and the parts pile is getting higher. I did find a shifter but it was more than I wanted to spend and the seller wasn't budging, so I let him keep it.

I'll keep you all posted as the momentum builds.

GATHERING PARTS

The parts pile is coming together nicely for the '29's drivetrain. Not sure whether I mentioned it before, but I sourced a 9" Ford Detroit locker rear end with a 3.50 rear ratio. I also found a Muncie M-20 4-speed tranny, the one with the 2.52 first gear. Next decision is the engine. Do I run the warmed over 425 Buick Nailhead that I bought it with, or put together a stout little small block chevy for it. I'm leaning towards the small block chevy, figuring the weight savings would make it handle a bit better. I figure a sixties era 327 with one horsepower pure cube would do quite nicely, given the car's weight of 2,000 lbs. Plus, I've got an Edelebrock 3X2 intake with Holley 94's all ready to go should I opt for the 327. If I go with the 425, I'll need to get the transmission adaptor kit from Bendtsen's. Fun times.

I'll keep you posted.

29 ROADSTER IS A GO!

Thanks to a gentleman in Minnesota, my '65 Riviera has a new owner and that means I now have a build budget for my roadster. The body will be headed back out to Marty South for mock-up on the custom frame he's constructed. I've decided to keep the 425 ci nailhead for another project and we're going to set-up the 29 for a small block chevy, preferably a mildly built 327 with a 3X2 intake with a 4-speed backing it up. I also found a 9" Detroit Locker rear with 3.50 gears we're going to put out back. We're going to set-up cowl steering to free up room in the footwell for three pedals. We're just now gathering up the parts and I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, we're off to vend the Lone Star Round Up. Hopefully, I'll be able to peruse the swap meet area. More details too follow.

PROGRESS HAS BEEN S-L-O-W

Well folks, for those of you who might be wonderin' if I'm ever gonna have this this back up to speed, the answer is yes....eventually. With the economy on its belly, I'm holding off on the build for now, unless I sell my 1965 Buick Riviera, which can currently be seen on carsonline, and other places. Patience will hopefully prevail. Looking forward to posting more progress soon.

29 ROADSTER AND 65 RIVIERA

HIT to Play.........
FYI, Just in case...... My Rivi is for sale.

Progress Report

Here's the body with new Brookville quarter panels tack welded in place. The frame is completely refabbed from scratch. Unlike the damaged frame, it will exit from the firewall lower and more perpendicular than the prior one. We're going to run the spring above the rails, rather than below as it was before. We're also going to run the front drop axle suicide style, in front of the grill shell. The frame itself is pinched and sectioned. We got a long ways to go, but Marty South is doing a damn fine job.

Here's a poeek at the pass side quarter. The Brookvilles pieces are very nice and it's beginning to look like a car again.

The Pheonix Rises

Well after what seems like forever, I've finally started moving toward getting my little roadster fixed. Meeting Marty South was the catalyst. Marty is a guy who recently moved to Georgetown, TX from Long Beach, California, not far from my old stomping grounds. My son, Drew, had posted a Craig's List ad in search of a 63-65 Riviera and Marty called saying he had one. We drove out to see it and while we didn't end up buying Marty's Riviera-- way too nice-- , we really enjoyed talking about California, Hot Rods, favorite cars, favoriet buiilders, etc.
It turns out we had a mutual acquaintence, none othe than Rob Fortier, Managing Editor of Classic Trucks magazine. Anyhow, to make a long story short, I mentioned to Marty that I had a crashed 29 roadster, and he said something to the effect of, "I could probably fix it." As we chatted further, I learned that he wanted to build hot rods for a living and had moved to Austin and found a four-car garage so he coulkd start building cars at home and getting out of collision repair ASAP. I asked him if he's like to stop by my place to see the 29 and see if really could fix it. He did, and the more we chatted, the more convinvced I became that he'd be the perfect cat to build me a new frame and do the initial body repair on my car. So I dragged the mess from my garage to his.