Hack Weld Solder Sculpt: Achievement unlocked

Looks good! Carb just for show, installing fuel injection later

When test fitting the oil pan last week, I noticed one bolt not really threading in well. Why? Well the threads in the block mating surface were trashed. There was also a bolt fragment jammed down in there. And when the machinist went over the block in December, he must've overlooked this one. Now I have normally sent this sort of thing back to the machinist, but this thing is so far down the road, it'd be a real pisser to send out at this point. And I'm doing this to figure stuff out, so why not figure out how to repair the threads? So this week, I got a 17/64" drill bit, a 1/4-20 helicoil kit, and got down to business. After marveling at the magic of the machinist, I managed to borrow a tiny bit. I drilled out the opening, re-tapped it, and inserted the new threads. And it looked great! Glad I gave it a go, now broken threads, busted bolts, and other minor repairs are within my reach. It really didn't take much time. I in fact spent way more time hemming, hawing, and hand-wringing than I did doing the job.

So, new drama aside, I finally installed the newly painted oil pan. After rechecking the valve lash, I closed up the heads with some new valve covers that had just arrived from Summit, installed the intake manifold, and finished it off witthe thermostat/waterneck. Coming: I still need to install pulleys, alternator, coil, distributor, wires, plugs, and headers.