Fitzy's GP is back!

[64 kiwi boni]

nice work mate... that carb gasket looks justA like mine

whats up with your computer mate? thought ringo would have rebooted your ram and stuck a hard drive in your software and all would be sorted ???

or is it a dilithium crystal issue? ,, i have that after eating to many pickles 

Edited November 4, 2021 by 64 kiwi boni

[Fitzy]

Oh Man -  did I laugh! No firmware in sight. No ram...or sheep. I'm at the stage where ramming my firmware into the nearest motherboard might reboot me...out the door!

Oh, and no such thing as too many pickles. Like sex & vegetables: you can't overdose.

[JUSTA6]

You gonna plastic gauge those Mains N rod bearings before moving on?  Cheap insurance everythings OK.

[Frosty]

7 hours ago, Fitzy said:

Like sex & vegetables: you can't overdose.

But Willie will die of malnutrition and neglect.....sad really when you think about it.

[64 kiwi boni]

5 hours ago, JUSTA6 said:

You gonna plastic gauge those Mains N rod bearings before moving on?  Cheap insurance everythings OK.

oh you have to show us how thats done!!!

[Frosty]

Here you go.

 

[64 kiwi boni]

And there you go! i justA learnt Another trick!,,, thanks Frosty 

[Frosty]

It's a whole lot cheaper than shelling out for a huge set of micrometers, feeler gauges, etc. 

[Fitzy]

No need for plastigage. I quizzed the machinist and everything has been honed, checked & micrometered. Honestly, crank is a perfect fit. Those guys actually fitted everything and I said you might as well assemble the bottom end whilst you're there anyway, but they don't assemble engines. For the money I shelled out, I expect a perfect fit too!

[64 kiwi boni]

Famous last words ! 

wonder why they don’t assemble engines ????? 

I would check their work mate ,,, other wise you know what’s gona happen at 3 am aye !!! 

[JUSTA6]

6 minutes ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

Famous last words ! 

wonder why they don’t assemble engines ????? 

I would check their work mate ,,, other wise you know what’s gona happen at 3 am aye !!! 

Hate to say it, but the engine on my stand with all my blower parts ran all of 5 min and had to be pulled right back out to sit on that stand for the next 20 yrs. (that'll teach it a lesson!!!!)  Need to figure out what bearing is wrong.  Thinkin it'sa cam, but could be a wrist pin as he installed my new forged pistons as well.  

[Fitzy]

Thanks for giving me extra stuff to worry about - 3am is getting quite busy: I'll need to start making appointments so that I can worry about things in some sort of order. Okay, so crank is bolted in and just feels perfect. Cam is also a perfect fit. I made sure that cam bearing oil holes are where they're supposed to be and that the mains and rod bearings are all squeaky clean. I managed to install 2 pistons today and after torquing up the ARP bolts, they also feel perfect. I measured piston ring gaps and they are perfect. Each time I rotate the crank to line up the next rod journal, it turns beautifully with no binding, tightness nor anything other than perfect motion. Y'all can remind me of these words when I fire it up and the thing explodes into a million hot oily expensive pieces.

[64 kiwi boni]

Ah looking good mate 

did you set the rings in the correct location to each other 👍

[Frosty]

Great. Give him more things to worry about! He will be starking raving mad when he gets done with this thing....no wait. Never mind. Too late. 

[Fitzy]

At this point I would like to point out that I'm using How To Rebuild Pontiac V8s by Rocky Rotella as my guide, so yes, yes & yes. I positioned all rings as per the manufacturer's instructions. Pistons were installed onto rods in the correct orientation, pistons were then installed into block pointing in the right direction, everything is lubed with either assembly lube or engine oil. It sounds like you think I'm standing here with a box of shiny parts and I'm just stuffing them into the block willy nilly! Believe me, I read that Pontiac book and the service manual like novels, several times.

Here's a tip for anyone else wanting to descend into the yawning abyss of mental torture that is engine building: don't waste time with one of those generic band style ring compressors: get a tapered compressor that suits your particular bore. I can't proceed any further coz my ebay special compressor just ain't up to the task. I am now ordering a tapered one from Butler. Heed my words.

Oh...so there I am yesterday struggling & swearing whilst dancing around my block trying to jam those pistons in when a courier turns up and hands me an envelope. I look at it, puzzled and idly wonder who's husband has sent me another threat this time, and then open it and it's from Frosty! He has kindly sent me some Woodward Cruise paraphernalia! Apparently, I'm going to be the envy of my 'car buddies.' What Frosty doesn't realise is that my 'buddies' aren't silly enough to play with cars and are bringing up children instead. Pfft! The fools. Thanks fella!

[Frosty]

I was happy to do it mate!   You'll notice this didn't take as long as the tach did.

So think of it "I cruised Woodward for Fitzy!"

Enjoy it bud. You can brag to your mates once the car is back together! 

Hopefully this means you and Kiwi will join Justa and me on Woodward in the near future - once this crazy lockdown BS is over with.

 

Edited November 6, 2021 by Frosty

[Fitzy]

You know what - I might just make that trip my last one. We are due to go to NZ next year and I announced to my missus that would be my final OS trip, but enticing me to go to the US for cars & beers and sitting in a lobster shack for the rest of the afternoon is a pretty easy thing to do. Kiwi and I can tee something up, I'm sure. It would be an honour to meet you guys in person and I reckon we could make at least one evening devolve into the sort of beer soaked bloodbath that we all love so much. If there's one thing I love, it's chugging a heap of beers and then falling outside with the munchies and locating somewhere that sells tacos or burgers or pastrami sandwiches, or golden fried chicken. Yeah, we've got all that too, but the Yanks do fast food better.  Mind you, when you boys come over here, one of our burgers with the lot is gonna knock you flat.

I positioned two of Frosty's latest gifts in what I consider to be prime locations: one is on my beer fridge (hallowed ground) and the other above my workbench. In fact, with the tacho, tiger tail, baseball caps, pins & decals, he's just about moved in! I hope you like short, cranky women Frosty: taming the beast I call my missus will surely be your greatest challenge. No, of course she hasn't read this: I wanna live a bit longer.

 

 

Edited November 6, 2021 by Fitzy

[Fitzy]

For the record, Frosty did NOT use USPS this time, and that's why his stuff turned up this year and not the next!

I just wanted to give a shout out to Ringo who appears to have fixed my connection problem.  Can you believe that this was the only site on the Internet that I couldn't access? Wait a minute...have you guys done something...? Anyway, I'm back, so stand by for much hilarity as I continue to jam engine components into places they're not supposed to go. Having said that, I can't do anything more until the tapered ring compressor turns up, so a coupla weeks.

[64 kiwi boni]

6 hours ago, Frosty said:

I was happy to do it mate!   You'll notice this didn't take as long as the tach did.

So think of it "I cruised Woodward for Fitzy!"

Enjoy it bud. You can brag to your mates once the car is back together! 

Hopefully this means you and Kiwi will join Justa and me on Woodward in the near future - once this crazy lockdown BS is over with.

 

i am in !!! 

[64 kiwi boni]

1 hour ago, Fitzy said:

For the record, Frosty did NOT use USPS this time, and that's why his stuff turned up this year and not the next!

I just wanted to give a shout out to Ringo who appears to have fixed my connection problem.  Can you believe that this was the only site on the Internet that I couldn't access? Wait a minute...have you guys done something...? Anyway, I'm back, so stand by for much hilarity as I continue to jam engine components into places they're not supposed to go. Having said that, I can't do anything more until the tapered ring compressor turns up, so a coupla weeks.

wow thats cool that Ringo sorted it mate 

[64 kiwi boni]

HAY !!! whats with that tiny fridge?? is that your fishing bait fridge? 

cant be your beer fridge it wouldnt fit any more than a box in it, wtf !! 

you live on the hottest  part of the planet , you must have a REAL fridge for beers!!

Edited November 6, 2021 by 64 kiwi boni

[Fitzy]

My beer fridge is so 'tiny' because (a) I'm not an alcoholic (b) I am the only one who drinks beer around here and (c) I have no friends to drink with. My drinking buddy (half marathon runner, works out, who looks after himself and is 13 years younger than me had a minor stroke and now has gout! What a lightweight. We live out in the bush and so visitors are few and far between, so THAT'S why I have a tiny fridge! Oh, and I brew beer in tallies, so it holds plenty of those bad boys. For our American viewers, a 'tallie' is a 750ml bottle of beer, about 26 fluid ounces, I think.

Oh, did I mention that the double row timing set with multiple keyways that I bought from Ames is actually made in Australia? JP Performance supplied. So Kiwi, when you rebuild that smokey boat anchor that's bolted to the front of your Bonnie, you can source the timing set from Oz! See? I'm saving you money already.

[Fitzy]

Hey y'all, so I'm sitting around at home looking like Homer bored and surfing 100 channels of crap when I see a movie called Driven. I see it's about John DeLorean, so I figure I'll have a look. It was actually a good film. It got better when I see that one of the characters has a bright red tri power GTO. John DeLorean waltzes up, declares it's a 389 and helps him adjust one of the carbs. I can only hope my own 389 sounds one tenth as good as the one in the film. If you haven't seen it and (a) it's snowing outside coz you're in the northern hemisphere or (b) it's 38 degrees Celsius and you're sick of hearing about global warming and the fridge is bursting with icy cold beer (size of fridge is unimportant for our Kiwi viewers) and you're in the southern hemisphere,  have a look at it. As I'm watching it I can recognise the external mirror, the wiper blades, the guage layout, the beltline shape, etc etc. A year ago, I wouldn't have known anything. And they say I'm boring.

[Frosty]

Mate - I'm so proud of you. Look at the progress you've made. A little over a year ago you couldn't spell it, now you are one!

A Ponti-yacker!!!! Well done mate! 

Oh and a bottle in front of me beats a frontal lobotomy!

[Fitzy]

Yo Frosty, I'll let you know re coming swap meet frenzy. Like Kiwi, I think I've got everything but there must be something. Another tacho as an ornament perhaps and for some reason I feel some urgency in procuring a spare set of 65 GP tail lights, as they were a one model one year item. Anyway, keep us posted as to the next meet you guys will be going to.

We'll buy the beers when we come over for a visit as a thank you. Pabst Blue Ribbon for all!