9/19/06

Little has been done to the car in many months. The brakes, so much of a pain, have not relented. The right front wheel cylinder is leaking, and the left front shoes make noise. So back to Willard or someone to check the system. Really frustrating.

I have had several discussions with Ollie Hellert (Ollie's Machine) and Richard Mark (Crankshaft Grinding Co) regarding rebuilding the 348 motor. At this point the plan is thus: rebuild the 348 short block and bag it, using stock specs.

Get a 409 block from Richard Mark and stroke it with a SCAT 4.25” BBC crank and rotating assembly, and put about a .030” overbore for a whopping 482 cubic inches! Use the stock 348 heads and tripower and have a stock-appearing but MASSIVE torque machine with mild manners. Tracking down Mark is not easy. Meanwhile, I am ordering Vintage Air or Classic Air for the Impala and the KiloKub. There are two local dealers says friend Sal Moncibais. I'll check in the morning.

I followed John Jarnagin (he was driving the Impala) home from Bob's the other night, and I was struck by how beautiful it looked, and for a moment forgot it was mine! It looks spectacular. I am, however, going to upgrade a lot of chrome, perhaps later in the week or next week, through Creative Automotive's chrome guy.

9/20/06

Spoke with Mike Willard, who asked that I bring the Impala in next Monday to see what is going on with the leaking and noisy brakes.

I called Ollie and gave him the OK to go stock on the 348 rebuild.

If I don't get it happening with Richard Mark on the 409/482, I'll just put the stock 348 back in and be done with it. Joe Montalto has expressed interest in the 305 motor in there right now. That would grease things a bit.

I spoke with Morgan at Airmec and he advised using the original factory air Impala, saying it was a killer system. He noted the size of the condenser determined the ultimate cooling capacity of the system. Bigger is definitely better. He will attempt to get over here in the near future to look at the Stude KiloKub for some Classic Air (he does NOT prefer Vintage Air, claiming the Classic system has thicker parts and less shared pieces), and I'll round up my stock Impala system for his inspection.

9/30/06

Took the car back to Willard for the purported leaky wheel cylinder and noisy left brake. The wheel cylinder was fine, no leaks, and the left shoe was a tad too wide. Instant fix, no charge, all good. I then went to Economy Glass to correct some sagging passenger window and slow window motors. The car has there over a week. Apparently the glass was cut a little short by whomever restored the car 12 years ago. I suggested some solutions regarding shimming the regulator, etc. I have not heard if they were successful.

I have given Ollie the go ahead to rebuild the 348 as stock, and abandoned the 409/482 project.

SIMPLIFY.

10/2/06

Still no word from Economy. Just free parking.

10/15/06

Turns out Dirk at Economy had left a message on my cell voicemail many days ago, but I did enjoy the extra room. They did a great job on the windows, which haul ass up and down now. The right door is apparently hanging just a bit, and Dirk asserts this is the reason for the remaining gap at the rear of the passenger window. I will have Nick at Hamrick's or Frankie up at Creative handle it, or Joe Montalto during a break from the KiloKub construction.

I did a review of my diary from a year ago, and I STILL have not addressed any chrome work, engine beautification, etc. I DID launch the rebuild on the 348, and am having Ollie's Machine do the work. All this is naturally moving at glacial speed.

I never did hear back from Richard Mark, so that mondo motor project is a “forget about it” thing. I AM getting THUMPER from Randy, probably on Wednesday, which will be just another 800 HP hunk sitting on rollers in the garage under the saw table.

Morgan at Airmec has told me I should hold on to the original Harrison AC system, as it is larger than later units. Of course he has not managed to come over, despite numerous promises to do so, to look at the FOUR auto air-conditioning projects I have for him.

I need to look into some way to cure the discolored whitewalls on the Impala. I use lacquer thinner to clean them, but that really just melts the rubber, and they go bad again on their own. The tires are near new, with utterly NO wear on the tread. But I may just have to pony up for new tires. I'll consult Flip's Tires tomorrow for some guidance.

10/29/06

Maybe THIS tomorrow I will contact Flip's about the tires.

Randy and I went to the Cops for Tots car show at the Police Academy, with about 450 OTHER cars. HUGE show, very well run. Randy garnered a first place in the Muscle category on his FIRST time out with his 62 Biscayne 409!

I was outbid at the LAST second on a silent auction for a Ford engine at $1150, worth about $4500. Oh well.

I still need to correct the “hanging” passenger door.

I also need to reconnect with Morgan at AirMec regarding the AC system.

And I would like to get going on the rechroming of the bumpers, window edging, and other pieces.

There are some other areas of detailing that could use doing, like the gray painted area around the turn signals in front, making the glove box a real working thing, and putting a later steering system (the #305 box) in for quicker steering.

What is stopping me? Fear about money (a job has turned sour for about $38K), being overbooked on car stuff, and just feeling overwhelmed. I'll get past it, mainly by just doing what I fear. I AM moving on the Hemi Dodge project, the KiloKub is chugging away, the Tbird massive motor makeover is happening……see, too many projects spreading me too thin. But what the hell, just get on with it.

Better yet, sell some cars!

11/17/06

Two big black guys broke into the Impala on the street nearly in front of my house at around noon today, and were within seconds of driving it away when Brett confronted them. They moved hastily down the street, hopped in a white 90's Honda with no license plates and sped away.

The right door had been jimmied, with paint wrecked on the window sill, the lock peg snapped off, and some damage to the chrome trim around the right rear window. The left wind wing was pushed in at the top (breaking the rubber holding it), and the ignition switch broken. A police report was filed, and a forensic team is due back tomorrow to dust the car for prints. Brett would have had them, but jumped in the Buick to give chase, and the electric gate would not open. Sad. Makes me obviously angry, and just necessitates more security measures within the cars and around the property. Fuel and electrical shutoffs, probably installing LoJacks, NEVER leaving the cars outside again (only there for an hour), and installing yet MORE comprehensive video, as I had intended a while back, but Brett was too busy. NOW we'll do that.

I will not make a claim to Grundy/Chubb on this, as the costs are likely under my deductible. One day I'm going to catch someone robbing me, and I'll make him pay for ALL the ones I didn't catch!

1/8/07

The car is ready for pickup from AirMec, having the heater/defroster functions completed on the Classic Air install. This is an entirely under dash unit, with no heater or evaporator sticking through the firewall. We therefore had to seal up the old heater and air intake openings in the firewall, which were done flawlessly by Papa Joe Montalto. Here is the view with the rough panels in place.

The finished product is painted and looks factory.

We can not complete the AC install until the 348 motor is installed, the compressor mounted on that engine, and lines run to that new compressor location. The 350 TPI motor computer and wiring harness will get removed at that time as well.

Of course, Ollie has done ZERO in almost 4 months on the 348 rebuild, notwithstanding my having given him $1000 months ago to get the rebuild kit for the motor. I confronted him yet again Friday, and talked to him once more today. If he has not gotten proof of ordering the parts by tomorrow, I'll just ask for my money back and go elsewhere, like QMP. It's a shame when stuff just goes bad like this, but I've got to learn to cut my losses and get on with people who can perform.

The tripower manifold has been sandblasted and painted.

I will need some additional linkage, and Carlos at BFIC will be the guy for that.

3/13/07

I had Economy Glass do some work on the windows, as the passenger side was off the track, and they were moving slowly. All better now.

Ollie has not even lined bored the block as yet, although he claims to have all the parts for the motor on hand.

I picked it up from AirMec after phase two (of three) on the AC install. Morgan has sold the company, but promises to finish the install of the compressor, condenser, and hoses once I get the 348 in there and we can run the lines once and for all. For now, the ducting, airbox, defroster/heater, and controls are all in and functional. The unit looks wonderful, and is ALL under the dash, with nothing protruding into the engine compartment.

The car, however, runs like crap. There is something awry with the intake, and it runs WAY lean on part throttle, just fine on half to full throttle. Greg up at GK Automotive is futzing with it. He thought the fuel pump was bad. Not so. I think it is the TPS. Whatever, it's free parking off site for a week. It's a little silly as I will be pulling the motor out for sale, but I can't give it to someone knowing something is wrong. And given Ollie's continued slowness, I probably will have to drive it for another two months or so.

I might pull some chrome pieces off it and send them with the Graham chrome.