Fitzy's GP is back!

[64 kiwi boni]

9 hours ago, Fitzy said:

I have thought about it, but that's all. I can only guess that you would need to fit fhe heads, then the manifold with the ports coated in something to leave a telltale to show what's not lining up and then CAREFULLY remove material with a Dremel, which I own. Does that sound right? I'll do some research. Good tip.

JustA use the intake manifold gasket as a template mate, and mark the inside of each port onto the head and the same on your intake manifold, and be mindful that if your machinist has decked the block you will need for him to shave the intake too.

[Fitzy]

JustA, I was pondering the validity of actually carving out 2 plates of thick stainless and then inserting then INTO the intake crossover ports, so that they would then be sitting behind those little thin stainless plates. When the thin ones burn out (after about 30 mins by the look of them) the thick ones will prevent the passage of exhaust gas thru the intake. I suppose I have to be realistic - the car is going to be used so infrequently that I'm probably overthinking the situation once again. Damn you strong morning coffee!

[Fitzy]

4 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

JustA use the intake manifold gasket as a template mate, and mark the inside of each port onto the head and the same on your intake manifold, and be mindful that if your machinist has decked the block you will need for him to shave the intake too.

Thanks Kiwi - that's far easier than what I was thinking. I'll have a look and see if it's within my meagre capabilities when all my crap comes back. And I had already wondered about getting the intake milled to match whatever material came off the deck & heads. I was assured that they keep it absolutely minimal and I reckoned that the gaskets will provide enough give if we're only talking .005" but of course .005" x 3 surfaces starts to add up.

[JUSTA6]

50 minutes ago, Fitzy said:

JustA, I was pondering the validity of actually carving out 2 plates of thick stainless and then inserting then INTO the intake crossover ports, so that they would then be sitting behind those little thin stainless plates. When the thin ones burn out (after about 30 mins by the look of them) the thick ones will prevent the passage of exhaust gas thru the intake. I suppose I have to be realistic - the car is going to be used so infrequently that I'm probably overthinking the situation once again. Damn you strong morning coffee!

That'sa better idea, then my ol buddy JB Weld to finish it off.  But the crossover doesn't have the pressure of the exhaust system, you should be fine.   I did mean the intake to the head, not head to block.  Brain fart.

[Fitzy]

I know you did. I was being respectful and pretended you never said that! You're right - the exhaust pressure should be negligible. For the record, I have disabled the auto choke on every one of my old cars that had such a thing and because they were all in good mechanical condition and tuned right, they would start on the coldest mornings almost instantly and would idle, but I would help them along with a few more revs whilst cold and of course the first few vehicle movements under load required a bit of tickling with the throttle but after a few minures they'd be fine. I never liked the idea of a rich mixture going in there for longer than necessary, washing all that nice oil from the cylinder walls.

[Fitzy]

Okay, What I Did Today: Clear coated the rocker covers, painted various pieces silver (they attach to silver painted intake) and prepped various other bits to be painted tomorrow and another coat of resin on the tiller.

See phenolic spacer pics. The ad said suits AFB, yeah, well it doesn't. I emailed the seller with pics and am waiting to see what they say. If I could drill new holes, no problem but the dimensions are so wrong, I'd have to cut all the edges off and just have it sandwiched between the carb and manifold which I suppose is viable, but I paid my money, so let's get it right.

Kiwi, I couldn't source that CRC rust converter you showed me, so bought (at great expense) some Fertan which has a very good reputation. I haven't used it yet, but will let you know.

 

Edited October 7, 2021 by Fitzy
Double up on photo

[Fitzy]

One more thing: at work the other night I'm chatting to one of my bus passengers and we're talking about retirement. I said mine wasn't far off and he said "what are you going to do with yourself?" I said that I owned a small acreage and had an old car I was fixing up. He asked what kind of car, so I told him. He said "you're joking." He then showed me pics of his 1960 Catalina! He is the first person I've met locally (sort of) who has another Pontiac. I'll ask his permission before I post pics, but it's a pretty cool looking car!

[Fitzy]

This is my newest friend's 1960 Catalina. Who doesn't love a red dashboard??? He tells me it's a 389 and that the wheels are 1964 Buick SS rims. Nice.

 

Edited October 7, 2021 by Fitzy
Double up on photo

[Ringo64]

44 minutes ago, Fitzy said:

This is my newest friend's 1960 Catalina. Who doesn't love a red dashboard??? He tells me it's a 389 and that the wheels are 1964 Buick SS rims. Nice.

 

Nice! love the red dash. Did you tell him to join up here?  

[JUSTA6]

5 hours ago, Fitzy said:

One more thing: at work the other night I'm chatting to one of my bus passengers and we're talking about retirement. I said mine wasn't far off and he said "what are you going to do with yourself?" I said that I owned a small acreage and had an old car I was fixing up. He asked what kind of car, so I told him. He said "you're joking." He then showed me pics of his 1960 Catalina! He is the first person I've met locally (sort of) who has another Pontiac. I'll ask his permission before I post pics, but it's a pretty cool looking car!

Get him to join.

[64 kiwi boni]

cool 60 mate.... are those 59 caddy tail lights ???

[Fitzy]

Well, I told him of FP but I think he likes to go it alone - he's not a member of any clubs or anything. He said he was happy for me to post the pics so that 'it may inspire someone.' I thought these guys don't need any more encouragement to keep throwing buckets of money at their cars.

He also has a Corvair that he wants to sell, a couple other cars and a few bikes. Clearly, we're paying him too much. Now that he knows his pics are up, he might be tempted to join and I can collect the enormous Spotter's Fee that Ringo promised me.

Yeah, the first thing I thought of when I saw those tail lights was 59 Caddy. They'd have to be - nobody else was audacious enough to come up with a design like that.

[Fitzy]

Another day of cleaning engine bits & pieces. I gotta say, I'm over it! Tomorrow should see the last few bits cleaned up. I painted the crank pulley black to match my new single groove water pump pulley, and all the other bits will be polished clear coated steel. As you can see, the Pontiac Room is once again filling with shiny engine bits - not far off now before all that crap gets bolted together again and shoved back in the engine bay. The good news is that my Butler engine rebuild kit got delivered today. Look at those beautiful KB hypereutectics. A little worryingly, the cam that I ordered the week before is still out there somewhere - good ol' USPS. Kiwi, if you're reading this: when you get the option of how you'd like your stuff delivered, pay the extra few bucks and go the step above USPS. Just like Australia Post, stuff will just sit around until one of the employees sees it and because they've already had lunch and smoko, they'll then reluctantly put it on the conveyor belt. The Frosty Memorial Tacho suffered the USPS treatment en route to Oz.

The new pistons have only 2 valve reliefs whereas the stockers have 4. Here's hoping everything works properly! To my surprise, the new slugs have fully floating wrist pins where the stockers are a press fit. I hope the rods can accommodate the change. Bring on 3am! Worry worry worry...

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by Fitzy
Double up on photo

[64 kiwi boni]

ah Christmas time at Fitzy house !!! what a lot of shiny bits you have there mate!!

looking good too!! all nice and clean and tidy!! .... or is that your bedroom ???? 

I see you too have a xmas theme going on !!!! justA the the side of your white draws is a whole bunch of wrapper and is it a mini tree ???

are you going to send us a xmas pressy ?? 

Edited October 8, 2021 by 64 kiwi boni

[64 kiwi boni]

i will, get in quick here before JustA6 does..... i want door seals, window rubbers, a set of white walls and front wheel bearings please Santa   

Edited October 8, 2021 by 64 kiwi boni

[Fitzy]

I KNEW you'd comment on my Boss's silly bloody Xmas tree and stupid wrapping paper that she insists on keeping, even though we haven't used any of that crap for 5 years now. Pfft! Whatever. At least her undies aren't on display this time! I think that engine parts are the perfect juxtaposition to her girly crap.

[64 kiwi boni]

2 minutes ago, Fitzy said:

I KNEW you'd comment on my Boss's silly bloody Xmas tree and stupid wrapping paper that she insists on keeping, even though we haven't used any of that crap for 5 years now. Pfft! Whatever. At least her undies aren't on display this time! I think that engine parts are the perfect juxtaposition to her girly crap.

hahaha i have to agree mate 

[64 kiwi boni]

On 10/7/2021 at 8:34 PM, Fitzy said:

Kiwi, I couldn't source that CRC rust converter you showed me, so bought (at great expense) some Fertan which has a very good reputation. I haven't used it yet, but will let you know.

mate your gona have to show me how that Fertan works... it looks good shit ! 

the crc rust converter is good but i read the fertan is good too for a pommy product 

[Fitzy]

I want to coat my upper wishbones in the engine bay with it, and just leave that nice neutral coating, so that it's not rusty but not painted either. I don't want the engine bay tarted up too much - I gotta show a little restraint.

I'll be sure to let you know how it goes. BTW it's made here in Oz.

[JUSTA6]

6 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

i will, get in quick here before JustA6 does..... i want door seals, window rubbers, a set of white walls and front wheel bearings please Santa   

Did you take Santa from the corner, put him in the chair and sit on his lap, before discussing the wish list??  🎅 I send mine in a letter.

These days I'm not sure if you can use an Email or if your suppose to text??                                                                                 Anyway Santa, need to find the knock in the block I have on the stand.  Block was done, shop installed my new blower pistons, rods N crank and installed my cam bearings.  Brought home the short block, rest of bearing/seal kit and engine gasket set.  I wrote in large letters right on the work order when I dropped the block off.  Michigan Clevite Engine bearings only!!!!!!!!!!!   The bstard put TRW bearings in it.   From much experience, Michigan bearings are the only ones that holds up.  On a time crunch to get the Sunbird to our clubs last show.  Built it stuffed it in, fires right up idles down perfect.  Go to pull the car out in the driveway and get a knock when reving up. Pulled the engine and went on a quest for a turbo long block.  Long story, but the car never made it to the last show.  TURBO motor the guy sold me  turned out to be an outdated reg 231 V6. None of my blower parts worked on that block.  I did some things to that motor I won't even tell ya about.  Should have blown up on the 1st burnout.  Ended up lasting 20 years of Woodward N showing off before I burned a piston. Thankz for many miles of smiles LIL V6.

[Fitzy]

Here's the pic - computer went funny...

Edited October 19, 2021 by Fitzy
It doubled up for no reason.

[Fitzy]

Check it out Boys, Melling repro 067 cam turned up in my absence. This was one of only 2 that Butler had in stock - Ames was already out of stock. It goes down to the machinist tomorrow morning so that they can check the clearance against the new installed cam bearings. I've got 3 weeks off and unfortunately, can't spend every waking moment on the car but I am hoping to get just about everything done - maybe even the engine reassembled if I get all the bits back in time.

Kiwi - how's the covid situation in NZ? We were going to go to Tasmania as a sort of short term alternative but it went into lockdown, so I canned the whole trip. I assured her that once things stabilise, we'll go to NZ and have the best time ever. So, warm up the pizza oven and chill those beers.

[64 kiwi boni]

2 minutes ago, Fitzy said:

Kiwi - how's the covid situation in NZ? We were going to go to Tasmania as a sort of short term alternative but it went into lockdown, so I canned the whole trip. I assured her that once things stabilise, we'll go to NZ and have the best time ever. So, warm up the pizza oven and chill those beers.

its a bloody mess mate ! Auckland had its highest daily rate yet! 

clearly they are not doing the right thing! 

 would like to say, hell, justA jump on a plane and come over! but that wont happen, you have to get a spot in miq just to be aloud here!! then you will sit in isolation for two weeks before you can head south to us!! F--K that !!

best wait till the new year, as i think thats when they will open up the boarder when enough ppl have been vaccinated !! 

hay show us some pics of the cam man!!

you know JustA he loves pictures 

[64 kiwi boni]

i have wheel bearings, locks, door rubbers and something special coming from Florida all on tracking at the moment... very exciting!!! 

oh and long weekend for us this coming one, so off to the beach to NOT work and do some fishing and spend time with my grandies ! 

[64 kiwi boni]

maybe when you are over i could show you this drone fishing thing we do? its kinda cool, you dont even get your feet wet!

and its out front of the beach house so its like 30 steps back to the fridge !!! very convenient