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"Full Inventory" (Projects, Completions and Personal Collection) |
 77 Lancia Scorpion |
 67 Camaro RS Conv. |
 68 Austin Healey Sprite |
 68 Cougar |
 69 Corvette |
 70 Opel GT |
 69 Marcos 3000GT |
 86 TVR 280i |
 73 TVR 2500M |
 90 Buick Reatta |
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BEFORE | ||||
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DISASSEMBLY | ||||
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The source of the leak between cylinders 5 and 7 was never fully determined because once the heads were removed it was revealed that the heads were in desperate need of some serious valve work. Apparently, a previous owner had done a quick-and-dirty valve job that was intended to make it run well enough to get the car sold. The valves seats had been cut so deep that the face of several of the valves were recessed more than 1/8" below the surface of the combustion chamber. Several of the valves were also burned beyond the point of being salvageable. This cheesy repair job did fufill its intended mission - to make the car run well enough to sell with noticable roughness that could easily be explained away as old fuel. Without a compression test (unlikely to happen during most prepurchase inspections), there is no way to dispute such an explanation. The viable options presented to the client were to:
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ENGINE | ||||
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Based on our recommendation, the client opted to replace the engine with a period-correct remanufactured 383 long-block engine from S and J Engines out of Oregon. We've used S and J Engines on a previous project (1965 Mustang Restoration) with great results, so we're confident this engine will fufill the mission perfectly.
All the external engine components were media blasted and refinished as appropriate. The engine itself was painted in Hemi Orange using POR15 engine paint for maximum rust resistance.
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ENGINE BAY | ||||
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With the front clip removed and all firewall orifices sealed, the entire engine compartment (and separate headlight support structure - not shown) was sodablasted down to bare metal. The sodablasting process was augmented with water injection to "carbonize" the areas of rusted metal to produce a paintable surface. A side-benefit to using the water injection is that the soda dust is kept to a minimum - reducing dust that may get inside the interior via leaks in the weatherstripping or other means. Once prepped for blasting, the entire process took just 1 hour and 20 minutes to remove nearly every trace of paint, grease, gunk and other goo from the engine bay and headlight support structure.
Once stripped, the all metal surfaces were treated with POR15's "Metal-Ready" prep solution to further ensure rust protection and to provide the best adhesion base for the POR15 rust inhibiting coating. The final step in the refinishing process was to spray two full coats of POR15 gloss black rust inhibitive paint. As this project progresses, we will be shooting a gloss black finish on the exterior body. While we could have used the same paint here under the hood, the black exterior color gives us the ability to use POR15's (gloss black) rust inhibiting paint for added durability. This stuff is arguably tougher than powder coating and - when properly applied - does not crack, chip or peel. It is also resistant to most chemicals you'll find under the hood. In fact, on an earlier project (1963 Galaxie 2-Door Sedan), our sodablasting rig was only able to lightly etch the firewall that was coated in POR15. The gloss black finish of the POR15 coating - while not as nice as the paint we'll spray on the body, will provide a nearly seamless transition between the exterior body and engine bay.
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- Send Mail to
- bob@midlifeclassics.com