RocketDude

I believe what you're describing was best stated as, "Some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you,..!!"'

If given a choice of any old car, I would chose a '37 Chevy, my favorite. Many a year ago, I build a '37 with a small block Chevy, and later a '39 with a Cadillac. Your choice for a 348/409 is different, but looks good. Nice car...

Looks great, but it appears you might have missed a picture or two between January, 2014, and February, 2015... We live for the pictures and the story of the adventure along the way...

Of you were dinged for having an alternator rather than a generator, why not put a generator back on and be original? Here is a company that makes alternators that look just like a generator. Then you get the best of both worlds.. http://www.qualitypowerauto.com/item_543/6-Volt-GM-Positive-Ground.htm

As a long time professional engine builder who has build hundreds of engines, my thought on painting before or after assembly has always been to put the heads, V covers, intake manifold, etc on the block and paint everything. This is just sitting them in place, not bolting anything on. After the paint is dry, I take everything off and do final assembly. That was you can see all of the gasket edges. It looks much more professional than putting the engine all together and painting everything at once, gaskets and all. I hate the look of just one big painted blob, the contrast makes it look great. Just my take on the subject. Also, no special paint required, just a rattle can of the factory color engine paint, looks good and holds up well. I always stuck to factory stock engine colors, I appreciate what the factories did. Again, just my take on it..

I agree with dulling the black out some. Too many people use gloss black on frame and inner fender panels. The factory never used gloss, so it isn't original looking.

In the old days once the studs were pressed into the hub a swedging tool was used to flare out the protruding part of the stud to make sure it was tight and never came out. When it became necessary to remove the stud, a special cutter was placed over the stud and the flare was cut off before pressing the stud out. If the flare wasn't removed, it enlarged the hole, as you found out. I worked in an auto machine back in the day and did a million of those tasks. If the hole wasn't to sloppy, I could take a center punch and hit close to the hole and all around the hole, to expand the metal and in effect, make the hole smaller so the hub or drum wouldn't need to be replaced.

That 6 kind of surprised me too.

I took an auto body shop class at the local Jr College. They have an instructor, tools, and a paint booth... Also lots of like minded students to help when needed.

Watching your progress brings back a lot of memories. I bought 1959 Renault Dauphine when I was just out of High School, probably around 1962. It was an almost new, low mileage car, but had been hit in the front end. We cut it in half just in front of the front seat and at the window posts and grafted a new front end on it. We found a car at the wreaking yard that had been rolled but the front end was perfect. They wanted $175.00 for the front end, but would sell me the whole car for $200, as they didn't want to go to the trouble of cutting it in half. As luck would have it, another guy happened along that was looking for an engine for a Renault. We struck a deal at the counter, I purchased the car for $200, the other guy gave me half, and we split the car..! I took it home and cut the front end off and he picked the remains and off he went. One of those lucky days when things went right..!! Years later I worked at a foreign car parts store. Customers would come in and request a water pump for a Renault, and our first question would be, is it 6V or 12V. That always drew some strange looks, but the same time the factory changed voltage, they also changed water pump design, so the easiest way to determine which pump they needed was to ask what voltage is was.. It was a fun, inexpensive car to drive, I enjoyed it while it lasted.

Use this thread...! We are all enjoyimng following along with your adventure..!!

Get good manual and learn the proper way to remove the shocks, which requires taking the tension off of, and removing, the springs. Springs under pressure are DANGEROUS. Know what you're doing before doing that job, and be careful .

I assume you were talking about the ballast resister smoking... That's standard procedure, they always smoke when new... always scary when viewed by someone not familiar... Not to worry...

I have enjoyed following your restoration. I admire your willingness to work under such adverse conditions.!! My garage will sometimes go below 60 degrees, and I have no interest in working at that temperature. The thought of working in your conditions is the reason I moved to So Calif...! However, I love your car and your spirit. Keep up the good work... Thought you might like to see what people in So Calif do with their llama by products...... It might be your future...! Llama Brew - Home

Calyx Manifold Dressing

I posted the link, but it didn't work, so just go to Line-X.com

Sprayon Bedliners, Protective Coatings, Truck Bed Coating, Floor Coating, Industrial Flooring

It's not a simple project, you would have to replum your system. It's a far cry from just slapping on a dual cylinder. Go through your system, make it perfect, and don't even think of trying to put in a dual system. The brakes on the '57 worked graat for fifty years, don't attempt something you will regret...

The original question was how to time his engine at 20 degrees when the tab only goes to 14, so it definitely addressed the question. I didn't say 20 degrees is the advance that will make his engine perform to the maximum, that was the OP's idea, I just explained the easy way to do it.. It goes without saying a matching balancer and tab must be used, and in proper condition. Is an advance light more accurate..? No, but is certainly much easier to use and eliminates mistakes. You can't get easier than timing to zero, and let the light figure out the advance. Even easier than using a degreed balancer. If advance lights weren't better, they wouldn't make and sell them..! You can also easily check and set total advance with an advance light, which is very important when working on a high performance engine. Professional mechanics use advance lights. It is perfectly OK with me if you prefer to use the old school back yarder light. I have read many of your previous posts, and I know if I, or anyone else, say black, you say white. You are more interested in trying to impress people with your knowledge, which is somewhat limited. If you ever used an advance light you would be a believer, but then you don't come here to help, you come here to argue, so go for it. I promise not to offer advice any more. Let the people get their advise from a BSer and see how far they get.. I used to come here every day, now only once every month or so, and after today, probably never again. There are good knowledgeable people in here, but enough blow hard BSer's that have chased me away. There have been threads in here asking why participation is low, well now you know why I don't come around any more...

The better timing lights have adjustable advance built into the light. There is a dial on the light which you set to the advance you wish, in your case 20 degrees. Then you simply adjust the timing so the stationary pointer lines up with 0. With the light dialed in to 20 degrees, you time the engine to 0 degrees, and it will be at 20 degrees...! That is the most accruate way to set timing...

From what you're describing, it's a worn out starter drive....

Let me know if it doesn't sell, I'd be interested....

Good time to install an adaptor and convert to a spin-on filter....

The beauty of owning GM products.. You can bolt that old six cylinder bellhousing up to anything all the way to a 454...! Of course if you did, the trans probably wouldn't be around long....!

I worked for a private utility company back in the early 80's that had a 12V71 generator set mounted in the bed of an old military 6X6. We used it as an emergency generator in case the electricity went out at one of our pump stations. Fortunately we didn't have to use it often, as it was a hazard to drive with all of that weight mounted so high.. That old GMC 302 automatic could barely pull the thing... We were located just a couple of miles from the old El Toro Marine Air Station, and one time I called a company to come out and run a load bank on the engine. It desperately needed to have a load put on it to clean it out... After running it on the load bank for a few minutes, it completely darkened the sky, and in no time at all the Fire Department arrived. They thought for sure a Marine fighter had gone down.. We were not very popular with the fire department, or any of the neighbors for many blocks surrounding out yard....