March 2006 . . .

To get the block out of the way I purchased a Pioneer vibration damper and bolt. I wanted to finish up the bottom end and once again Newport Motor Manufacturing out of North York (near Toronto) were life-savers, or at least life-educators.

Being a rookie I had one helluva time getting the damper on. It would get stuck with about 1/2in to spare and I could not get it on any farther. Andy at Newport took the damper in and slipped it on a 350 rebuild of his as easy as can be using the same install tool.

Reason for my problem? Failure to file off the high points on the crank snout, and also take some emery cloth and smooth it out all around. Once I did that it slid on easier than a (insert sexual reference here).

So the bottom-end should be finished up tonight. Pics within days I hope!

April 1 2006 . . .

Today I got the heads on and torqued down in 3 passes using the ARP bolts and moly-based assembly lube. This was a measurement assembly therefore the first head would be coming back off anyway.

Given the mild intake and exhaust lift of .462"/.482" I was certainly not expecting any valve to piston contact. I was well within spec for that measure and the spring bind, so all is well. As a matter of fact I could probably go to 1:6 ratio rockers and still be OK.

I put the rest together in about 30 minutes...

April Fools!

.. actually I'll finish up the valvetrain in the next week or so.

April 9 2006 . . .

Finished the valvetrain and placed the valve covers, intake and
carb on to check it out. How does it look? I'm pretty happy with it so far!

Next I'm going to attach the battery to the fuse box under the hood and see what still works! Keep the fire extinguisher handy!