Hack Weld Solder Sculpt: Bottom's Up! Main Bearings and Eggnog and 2016

So it's been a couple weeks, and I've managed to stay busy, as I'm sure we all did. Had some eggnog and sweets, and prime rib, hopefully not packing on too many extra pounds, but hey! I managed to keep going forward on the hot rod project, if only on a light-duty schedule. Hope every one of you had a relaxing holiday- Best wishes for health and prosperity for all of us in 2016!

Part 1. Our machinist delivers

"Sing Blue Silver"

Me and Kirk, our machinist from G&G, the day he returned our 289

Right before Christmas I got the block and crank back from our machinist at G&G. Kirk got everything squared away. The galling we saw on the bearings did end up affecting the crank, but Kirk ground it 20 thousandths and polished it to a mirror finish. He honed all the cylinder bores. Once he heard I was putting aluminum heads on, he trued the cylinder deck surfaces up so they're perfectly flat and square. He also installed new cam bearings and supplied all the crank and connecting rod bearings to go with his handiwork.

Part 2. Yuletide, gear head style

"This is the dawning of the rest of our lives - on holiday"

Not a 289, but rather a Ford OHC 427

Christmas was upon me and the garage work slowed down, partially because of the holidays, and partially because I realized I didn't remember to purchase a new rear main oil seal. This meant I couldn't put the new crank back in the block just yet. I did manage to install the Clevite 77 main bearings.

My thoughts shifted to what the Magi might present to the kid, given the automotive themes this year. I came up with this:

The kid needs his own welding helmet. For one, my head is bigger, For two, I don't know how I can teach anyone to weld if one of us can't look at our work, while we work on it.
Working on the car is ok, but the kid needs some ownership.

Ready to weld? Mmmm hmm.

Everyone needs an ornament that represents the events of the year

Bought Xavier a welding helmet, a high-volume oil pump, a MSD ignition, and a ford engine ornament. (Also got him a Surface Pro 4, which was so cool I immediately wanted to keep it for myself. So neat, heh!)

Part 3. Shop music situation

"Feels just like it should"

I even have an i-Thing! It's the new mix tape.

I set up a new stereo for the shop. All we listened to out there until now was a radio that would only tune in NPR. Now I like NPR, but as thought-provoking and entertaining as it is, it just does not seem to establish the appropriate creative, er, ambiance. The apropos and hilarious "Car Talk" of the Tappet brothers aside, the hot rod really needs to be forged amidst music, you know? Think of it his way- What's the difference between the generic ham you'd buy at any grocery store and prosciutto? Both are ham in the loosest definition of ham, but ham is just "ham" flavored and prosciutto is so tasty it makes my eyes roll into the back of my head, and costs 35 bucks a pound. Sure, the prosciutto is dry aged, but more importantly, in the best the pigs feed on a steady diet of parmesan whey and acorns. Ergo, when making something, the environment and inputs affect the quality of the final product. That's why this project needs to be bathed in the baddest-ass available rock, funk, techno, hip hop, metal, jazz, urban, punk, grunge, industrial, and yes, even classical. I spent a few hours on new year's day hand-picking 300 tunes so smokin' hot that I seriously have a hard time containing myself while working, since each one kicks so much ass that I usually sing at the top of my lungs, if not shaking my ass just a little bit when nobody's watching. My neighbors probably think- well actually I'm not sure what they'd think- possibly the same thing anyone who's ever caught me doing that at a stoplight thinks.

Part 4. New year / cam and crank are installed

"The pleasure is to play, makes no difference what you say"

Crank, bearing caps, cam, and cam thrust plate installed

Finally got that rear main oil seal and installed the cam, cam thrust plate, main bearings, and crank- rocking out the entire time, of course.

Heard Lemmy from Motörhead passed on to the the awesome machine in the hereafter this last week. I promise, for Lemmy's sake, that we'll get the heads on this motor soon and let 'er rip. For now, if you missed it, hit the link and rock out.