April Fools... Proform vs Scorpion

Welcome again to the money pit.

Some cars need never ending attention and must be showered with expensive trinkets,

like women or girls I tend to avoid.

Sadly if you buy substandard items,

even if the salesmen suggests them,

the outcome isn't pretty.

Thanks Jegs...

The question is what came first,

the broken rocker arm(s) or the new worn lifters

and probably camshaft.

Even the unworn lifters had issues,

fully compressed.

The trouble was most likely a result of the edelbrock performer rpm heads,

which have heavy duty valve springs.

Although these little lifters were suggested by a Jegs salesperson,

who had access to K's sales history,

there's no way they could stand the constant pressure,

if compared to the overbuilt Scorpion versions.

The proform rocker arms were questionable out of the packing.

Like an April Fools joke,

they'd rattle when shaken.

Not a good sign on a precision machine part.

We had even called up the Jegs tech-line,

to question there use,

but were given the go ahead.

Nothing has made me want to work on the whaler 

more than this frustrating situation!

A new cam kit is on order...

TP

Waking the sleeping beast

The clouds parted over the weekend,

and I became a 4-barrel convert.

The old 40 ran pretty good,

the tame that I blamed on the rear 2.80 gears.

The electronic ignition conversion really helped,

but there had to be more.

Back in February I scored an edelbrock performer manifold for cheap,

complete with a later holley 4180 carb,

with way too much smog stuff engineered in.

A 4150 was scrounged up,

but it needed a rebuild and even now it's in pieces.

Then on a Craigslist hunt I found the $45 missing link.

The autolite 4100 was the stock ford 4-barrel,

and holley made a modded version - the 4010.

I liked the traditional top cover,

versus the split side covers of the 4150.

May be easier to tune,

but seemed like future leakers.

The 4150 did donate it's choke mechanism.

As usual there was a little fabricating.

The kit spacers didn't match up,

so a riser was made out of a phenolic scrap,

along with a Uncle Steve special gasket.

Hey it saved me $30!

Plus this one was made to fit.

As usual these carbs aren't set up for the AOD TV cable.

No problem.

The old weld a washer trick version 3.

I stick welded this one,

too lazy to drive to the tig machine.

If you notice the measuring is precision,

just equal 1:1 ratio to the throttle pin.

Next was the TV cable mount.

Still planned to use the stock ford/Lincoln  one.

I thought about making a new bracket,

and keep the 2-barrel mount around just in case.

Nah way too much time in that little slider piece.

Cut...stick weld...paint...

Another version 3.

Little by little everything came together.

Not too stoked with the gas line routing,

for now it works fine.

Thanks Mike for letting me borrow the air cleaner!

So how does it run?

Holey Chit.

Now it's a moonshiner.

With a light foot,

it drives like the two barrel.

With a lead foot,

the vacuum secondaries kick in.

After a little lag,

BAM this thing moves!

If I don't watch out,

I'll need to find a donor 302/5.0 to rebuild.

Next up some proper exhaust headers.

TP

Daily Drivers

Here's a little prelude...

Ken picked up what looked and sounded like a bitchin camaro.

It made me want one too.

Then I remembered we couldn't afford to drive a GM musclecar when we had one,

and oh yeah we've got a handful of ford based hot rods already.

That's how the competition starts.

It's easier for me to dial the green 40 to be just as bad ass.

302 vs 350

It's an age old battle.

Of course in this case there's almost 30 years of styling differences.

And that's what makes it fun.

Old vs older...

Round vs square

Prewar vs postwar...

Sadly most people find comfort in slowly paying off an inflated car loan.

Thankfully car based America allows us to build this stuff.

Ken's got big plans for this beast.

I'll continue to scrape by.

Funner to be the underdog.

Stay tuned for the updates...

TP

priority balls

I've had these red morse control balls lying around forever.
They were originally destined for the shifter balls in the 40,
or replacements for chief.

morse control balls

However there is something a bit more of a priority.
The dipsticks for the 40 were the last throwback to its 90's heritage.

ford dipstick

A quick cut-n-paste and the balls now serve a better purpose.

perich brothers and sister mods

Isn't that the icing on the cake?
Much better than those goofy hooks.

ford in a ford - SBF in a 1940 coupe

Here's the change-up.
I grabbed these smiley face balls from the kids stash.

Jakob - 2013 - smiley face

They're hollow so still need some modifications,
but they do lighten up the engine bay.

moonshiner SBF

Always got my priorities straight!

TP

how to - make a shifter from scrap!

Driving the green 40 has been a bit of a chore.
There's no shifter so doing a 3-point turn is a series of crouches.
I've gotten used to it but this weekend was time to get real.

1940 ford coupe - garage time

With the help of a tasty payback beer from Chip,
I scrounged the yard for some donor parts.

alpine beer company

My original idea was to rig up the original column shifter to the AOD lever.
Although this would have been the best plan,
the levers didn't line up easily without some serious modifications.
For now I'd be happy with a simple floor shifter.

scrapola

Typically I'd make a spring-loaded pivot bracket,
and bend up a fancy stick,
until this trophy appeared out of the depths.
The perfect shifter donor.
With the help of the trusty 34 watt light bulb,
a simple L bracket was cut out and mounted on the transmission.

optimum work conditions

The beer didn't really help with my progress.
I spent way too much time sitting and thinking,
and ultimately it backfired as I couldn't even go for a late night drive.
The workbench did end up a bit cleaner!

parts

The next morning was strange.
A couple weeks ago I joined Instagram,
and found there was this whole community of picture addicts.
Hot rodders are really fond of this program,
and this guy nortongrimm was one of my first "followers".
There's a quick assimilation with the HAMB,
so I had recognized some of his posts on that forum.
Well while lying in bed expecting to see some shameless self-promotion pics,
it was a shocker to find out that he had died that night.
What?
He had just posted a picture of a fireplace and some car stuff,
and now he's dead?
Folks Of Interest Rest in Peace NortonG - THE H.A.M.B.
A quick search confirmed this and wow what an eerie feeling.
It's like you know someone with similar interests,
see there life through their camera eyes and what they write,
but don't expect it to just end in an instant.
The morning was melancholy for me,
a good time to get out to the garage.
RIP Dave aka Norton Grimm!

template

The rest of the shifter went together so smoothly,
I wondered why it had taken so long for something so simple.
How many times have I wondered that?

hidden gem

Yeah you may be shaking your head at this point.
I did warn that this was a shifter made from scrap!

linkage

And here's the almost finished product.
It's like driving a totally different car,
no more struggling trying to find the shifter in the dark.

AOD shifter

There's a spring at the pivot,

which allows the shifter to cock over a bit.

I'll remake or modify the bracket,

to add a reverse/park lockout.

holey chit

Now I can finally make the tranny hump!

TP