Another can't stop smiling moment

[JPotter57]

Those of you who have known me for a long time know that this particular 57 Ford is a LONG term project.  I bought it as a complete basket case after selling my last Custom in 2005.  I bought this car in November of 2007, so this year will mark 10 years i have been carrying on with it.  In those 10 years i have waffled back and forth on engine and trans combinations, spending money here and there, buying, then changing my mind an selling.  I believe i started out this project with a 351C 2 bl motor that I was intending to build into a brute, then changed my mind a bought a 390 from a friend, and another friend gave me three more 390s.  I started gathering parts, then came up on a good deal for a 460, free, so I picked it up, set it in the car, and sold the 460 the next week.  Ate up too much room I thought.  Soon after while looking for 390 parts, I found a std bore 428 block on the internet and within 7 days, it was at my house.  I collected up a nice selection of parts for it, including Dove tunnelwedge intake, ironically, the same intake on my car now after changing hands a few times.  Somewhere in all that, I started thinking how cool it would be to run a Y block so that I could participate in the Y block shootout with my friends in October.  I placed an ad and sold my 428 to a guy in Florida, the tunnelwedge to a guy in Oregon, and all the 390s and other parts to a guy here locally.  Another ad led me to a 312 about 30 miles from home, then I bought a running 292 and a spare 292 from Ford Blue Blood Bill Krueger here on this site.  I spent a great deal of money buying parts, F-code supercharged specific parts that make FE stuff look cheap by comparison.  I had the complete F-code engine, including the blwer, and dropped everything off at the machine shop except for the blower.  It sat at the machine shop for almost a year, and I went to just pick it up, it wasnt even started on, the guy said it would be ready next week.  The next week I picked everything up, and it looked great.  I had been talking to my dad, and though the Y block still appeals to me today, I was having a hard time justifying the power made to dollars spent ratio.  I told Dad that if I thought I could find an FE, specifically a 406 3x2 or 427 2x4 for what I could get out of the 312 F code motor, I would do it in a second.  I got home and unloaded my shiny new y block, machine shop fresh and ready to assemble into a jewel of a powerplant.  I walked into the house sat down at my computer and put the 312 engine itself, ready to assemble with all new parts, Isky cam, new valve train, everything, except the blower for 3500 buy now price.  I also placed the supercharger setup on there for 1800 buy now, needing freshened.  The engine sold right away, the supercharger setup ran for a couple times before Tom "Wildhog" Drummond bought it for close to what I had originally asked.  This included all brackets, the hard to find double row pulley, and one of Frank Rice's outstanding airbox bonnets.  Meanwhile, my dad had reminded me that one our friends had two 427s that he had acquired in trade, so I called him up and asked him if he had them still, he said yes.  I asked if he was interested in selling one of them.  He said he hadnt thought of it, but would, and asked what they were worth.  I told him I hadnt priced any complete 427s, but a bare .015 over block I had looked at the weekend before was 2500, and it was fairly local, about 75 miles from home.  We talked on for a few minutes, and he asked me how 3500 sounded.  I told him it sounded like he just sold a 427.  I was at that point waiting on my money to clear paypal and the bank, so I told it it would be the next week before i could pick it up.  He said, don't worry, just come and get it now, I trust you.  If I had been in my truck then I would have loaded it up and brought it home, but had to wait til the next weekend to get it.  I was like a kid waiting on Christmas.  I got the 427 home, took it apart to find that what Donnie (my friend who I bought it from) had been right in his observation of the two 427s.  He used the other in a project he was working on.  The cylinder bores still had fresh honemarks in them.  The motors came from a big Chris Craft fresh water crusier, but this boat had a big pair of radiators with a closed coolant system, so the passages were clean.  He said the hour meter read less than 200 hours on both of these motors.  This was as close to a brand new 427 as I was ever going to find.  The inside of the valve covers looked like brand new, fresh blue Ford paint.  As anyone messing with boat motors know, the cams are junk, though mine turned out to be the correct rotation for automotive use. I chose a Comp 294S solid cam to liven it up, along with a set of NOS flat top early "bumper" std bore pistons.  I also swapped the small valve marine heads for a set of 67 Cougar GTE (427) heads, which are essentially 428 CJ heads, CJ sized valves, etc.  Though these heads were fresh, I installed my new valve springs and other stuff on the heads and bolted them on. I had gotten my old Tunnel Wedge intake back from a friend of the guy I sold it to.  I bolted it on, along with a pair of old 750 carbs that I was planning on building.  Upon counting the costs of the factory style throttle shafts, the kits to convert them, etc, I actually came out better buying a set of brand new BJ/BK Ford carbs from Carls Ford Parts.  These were spendy, but luckily a union dispute with my former company finally paid off and they made up our wage for 8 months prior and gave us vacation pay for that same period, so there was money to play with there.

At any rate, I have rambled on a bit now, time to wrap it up..

This car has sat idle in my garage, moved to another garage and sat idle some more.  Finally, on June 1, I was able to pre oil it, fill it with fluids, and crank that big old 427.  It sounds strong, cant wait to drive it.  Unfortunately, about 20 minutes into the cam break-in process, it broke a belt and began overheating.  I saw the steam, and thought the cap was just loose.  I put a towel over it and pushed down on the cap, and it failed at that point, coming apart and shooting 190* coolant out over my hands.  I got some nasty steam burns, but this stuff my wife deals with fixed them right up.  Didn't even hurt the next day.  At any rate, the broken belt is replaced, the water is replaced in the radiator, and I am about to crank it again and finish running in the sweet solid lifter camshaft.  I will video it this time and put it here in a little while.  Its been a long strange trip...I can FINALLY see the end of the tunnel.

[John Palmer]

LOL, great story! 

Drive it like you stole it!

I've been married over 50 years, I always thought women are always the ones that change their minds?

[hiball3985]

It can't get any better then that, great news. What trans? I'm guessing a top loader..

[JPotter57]

Yep, toploader..man transmission, man engine....love it.

[hiball3985]

Yep, toploader..man transmission, man engine....love it.

Nothing is more fun then grabbing gears for me, I hate those girlie transmissions 

[jumping jack flash]

Great news. I get so envious reading these post of stage completions. Someday I'll get back to mine.Soon I hope.

[Ford Blue blood]

James I know that is an ear to ear smile that will stay there for a long time!  Congratulations!  Can't wait to see the video.....

[Ecode70D]

James
     It looks like you have put in your time and paid your dues  in getting to this point with your very serious engine. That  cam break in  is always scary because any little thing can go wrong no matter how much rechecking is done.  I hope that everything goes well next time and I'm looking forward to the video
Jay .   

[lalessi1]

James I am really looking forward to seeing it in person! I am waiting on a new gas tank that will let me get over to see y'all without stopping. The dyno guys broke in my flat tappet cam, COMP 282, so far so good. I have about 500 miles on the engine and I am using COMP Cam's oil.

[JPotter57]

Im using Shell Rotella with a bottle of Comp Zinc additive for breaking in their cam.  At oil change time it will get either Brad Penn or another US brand a friend of mine is trying to turn me onto..I have to get my driveshaft cut to 60 inches, so as soon as that happens I can wheel it onto the road for a minute...gotta look out for the man as I have no front fenders on it yet, lol.

[lalessi1]

I just had a new driveshaft made here in Baton Rouge. I lengthened mine by 1". I have the old one which worked, just thought it was a little short. I think the new one is 59". 

[JPotter57]

I was going to have the man cut mine to 59.5 , 2 inches longer than my aluminum one.  it is shaping up exactly like I wanted it to.  My goal was for the car to look as if it had been built in the mid 60's.

[rmk57]

Not sure what valve springs your using but I always remove the inner spring when breaking in a cam. My springs aren't over the top by any means but why take a chance on messing up a fresh engine.
I'm using the Shell Rotella t4  15-40 to which still has 1200 ppm zinc in it.

[lalessi1]

I knew about the recommendation about breaking the cam in without the inner springs but in my mind "is that really breaking it in" ? I am not up to speed on oil at all...so Comp Cam oil it is?  I am using 6 quarts in a 5 quart oil pan... their additive treats 5 quarts... so many questions...it is hard to be trapped in my head...

I was going to have the man cut mine to 59.5 , 2 inches longer than my aluminum one.  it is shaping up exactly like I wanted it to.  My goal was for the car to look as if it had been built in the mid 60's.

Me too....

[John Palmer]

Im using Shell Rotella with a bottle of Comp Zinc additive for breaking in their cam.  At oil change time it will get either Brad Penn or another US brand a friend of mine is trying to turn me onto..I have to get my driveshaft cut to 60 inches, so as soon as that happens I can wheel it onto the road for a minute...gotta look out for the man as I have no front fenders on it yet, lol.

Is that other oil brand LAT?  We have had good luck using LAT brand oils in our high valve spring pressure race engines.

Todays "street car" oils suck, with all the zinc removed.  Lots of flat tappet lifter problems due to oil.