Last Indian

Nah, never really did. Just kind of something I tinker with here and there.

Kudos to you Stewy! Most folks would or do think folks like us are crazy! But we get it, and for me that’s enough! When you put that much of yourself in something it takes on a personality, it may be an inanimate object, but really it is so much more! As long as at the end of the day we know what it’s proper place is with respect to other things, than we’re good.

Started to bend up some pieces for the new plenum! What do you do when you don’t have a brake? Improvise! What else! But still a long way too go!

Just what I was thinking Sprint! That’s actually what, I, would do, but I would just bore it out to the next size up and make a new piston for the next size up seals. In that way you’ll move more fluid and make the brakes even better! Any good machine shop could do that.

We’re always glade when things work out! The divider plate proximity to the impeller is another example of cavitation that creates flow disruptions. Way to go Frosty!

Ok a couple things strike me. One depending on several things, taking the thermostat out can, not always, but can have a negative impact on engine temp! Pulley size, water pump design and radiator type/design can and does impact coolant flow! If the the combination allows free movement of the coolant it can circulate the coolant to fast never allowing it to stay in the radiator long enough to cool. If the combination causes a restriction in the right place it can cause cavitation, which can act as a type of air lock that causes heating problems. Sometimes it will even allow coolant to move through an engine in a non uniform manner causing localized heating because of areas that become stagnant in movement. Also you mention that you have a shroud and that the fan is 1” away from the radiator! I presume the shroud is deeper than 1”? If so and the shroud is a typical shroud that is built as a tapper, then the fan blade tips need to be placed at the smallest portion of the shroud opening. Otherwise the fan will actually cause cavitation of the air flow and become very in efficient at moving air through the radiator! To a degree it will act like blocking the front of the radiator to restrict air flow!

Understandable, but just in case you’re not aware; you might want to either hang on to the 283 or sell it, even as is! To a good Hot Rodder they are gold! Any good muscle car guy worth his weight can take a two bolt main 283 and build one of the nastiest small block engine that ever existed. 600+ hp & 500 lb. of torque is an easy reach for that motor.

Ahhh the memories! Dragway 42, Thompson drag raceway, Norwalk! I’ll never get to do that again, but remembering is always good! Thanks buddy! Now I have to go get a tissue!

Yes, Pontiac, in those years did run a Chevy drivetrain. So the tranny should mate to any Chevy small block engine. That said, depending on what you have to spend and what kind of power you want? The 283 could be the better choice as a rebuild! If built right you could get anywhere from 400 to 500+ hp! Do you know what the tranny is?

Copy that! It might fill up really quick! Had a little good weather! Got paint?

Those are excellent jack stands! More than sufficient for even a 4000 lb car like my Lacrosse’s. The only thing I get concerned about with all of those types of jack stands are the top footprint. It’s conducive if there is a channel to place in the V groove of the top part of the jack or a good flat portion of frame, which today most cars don’t have! So I made my own many years age out of 3” pipe and pipe flanges! Very very stable & very strong! Still what you have is good!

Good question Ringo! Depends on a number of factors. First are they tripods or four sided? Stamped steel or cast aluminum! Ratchet tooth or shear pin? If stamped steel do you know what gage or can you measure the thickness of the steel? Finally, do you use them to just change tires & oil or do you do more vigorous work under the car? Additionally I should include that each stand supports 3 ton. So say you have 4 stands & put the entire car in the air you are supporting, as an example, 2 ton with 12 ton! If we divide the car in quarters each quarter weighs approximately 1/2 a ton. Which is being supported by a 3 ton jack stand!

Well, I’d say you got your money’s worth out of it! I figured you didn’t use Dex-cool, but you never know! That s- - t is bad stuff!

I feel for you buddy! Been there do that, only in a stone driveway and no convertible! You are right, it's ugly! How old is the core? & Quick question, what kind of anti-freeze do you use?

Welcome Thomas! I thought you were a Ford guy!

Well when I built the valve covers for the 3800 on the Indian I had the right stock, but when I built the plenum cover I didn’t! So I made do with what I had. So now I will design and build a new arrangement! Not sure what it will look like yet, but it will be different. The valve covers have a deep fin, a more traditional look. the plenum cover is very shallow. Not the same kind of look!

Ok! On the custom autosound site they show three choices for GTO, but none for Lemans!

Ok! That’s better! Now that’s my hat! I see that, but custom autosound shows no radio for the Lemans! I assume that the GTO dash for the radio is enough different?!

I’m sorry, but coloring is more on the Corvette blue side! I also don’t wear that style of a hat! On the important side of things! You may have dealt with them before, but if not you might try them! Crutchfield, I have done business with them since the late “70s”! They have always been very good, helpful & knowledgeable. Easy to do business with easy return policy if needed, etc.. https://www.crutchfield.com/S-IDWuOkbb60b/

Ok wise acre! It a smurf bench top!

Well got went to my local metal supplier today! Got this for a new project I’ll start who knows when?! Any guesses as to what it will become?

First of all thank you for the kind words, but I hope I did not mislead anyone! I don’t think I did, but if I did I apologize! I am not a scientist, a chemist or an engineer, at least by formal education! Yes I did all of these things in one form or another for my company for many years, & loved every minute of doing it. In many ways I was viewed as such to the point it caused embarrassment more than once for folks within my own company! There were times we would host an outside person or group or company or would go to another company for an exchange about work we were engage with together. They would assume as you that I was one of those things. It wasn’t uncommon that I would garner the attention, because to them it seemed that I had this breadth of knowledge that spanned both chemistry, mechanically function & application. Where my colleagues did not seem that why, and in my colleagues defense more than one of them said they did not. But to me in their field I was no where near even a distant second! Still when these time occurred & I would need to set them straight that I was not what it was they assumed, the others always had to defend the fact that this fact was not meant to deceive, just an oversight that had not been conveyed. In the end it never seemed to matter to any of them. So as to not beleaguer this any longer than necessary, I finished high school, that’s it! Not to belittle myself, so yes I was smart, but a bad home life, hating school except for sports, which could have maybe gone somewhere if I had parents that had been supportive to that, but! Yah so that led to basically a kid with no direction, no interest in school and not sure where to head. I had already been doing these thing for my company for 10 years, when a colleague that I worked with for just a few short years, and then he left, said to me, “ you have a God given talent, I can’t believe what you do”! I can’t argue that! And so I really can’t take credit for it either! I never touched a lathe, mill, drill press or any of that type machinery! Never took a class for it in my life! But I could just run them & at a skilled level from the start. I never learned or knew how to weld, no one ever taught me, not any kind! But I just started welding when I needed it and I could, ark, tig, mig & oxyacetylene! Never studied chemistry beyond high school chemistry, but I for some reason understood all these things about it. I went to this company as a 25 year old machinist looking for a job! A chemical company! The world headquarters & r&d facility! A place that had 4 machinists in it, period. A 25 year old with 3 years machine experience. 10 years after I started, I end up doing special corporate r&d development projects for the next 30! You explain it, I can’t! And that’s why I did that work and not automotive design, not that anyone would have offered it to me! Go figure!

Yup the wheels take some patients, but these push the things to new heights. The outer rim inset is all finished by hand, as well as all the detail! All those lines on the Indian are carved in by hand! It’s actually a little painful!

Well if you modify the back end right and put a top canopy on it you can park Lucy on the back and use it as a transport and portable garage! And if she over heats again, you have a portable water supply! 😁 See how things work out!

Frosty! You might want to be carful, if they run low on water they may melt you down, suck you up through the hose & adios Frosty! ah! I kill me!