Page #4: Parts Fabrication & Installation - HARD PARTS
ADDITIONAL PAGE CONTENTS:
Page#1: Main Site Page
Page#2: Construction Of 'Love Is Blue'
Page#3: Interior & Sound
Page#4: Parts Fabrication & Installation - HARD PARTS
Page#5: The Early Years Of My 1966 Corvette
Page#6: Trips & Journey Taken In 'Love'
Page#7: Other Corvettes I've Built Over The Years
Page#8: Cheesecake Photos w/ 'Love Is Blue'
Page#9: Construction of 1/25th tribute scale model of 'Love Is Blue' by: Ron Drechsler
Blower adapter plate being made to adapt the old 3X2's onto the B&M Mega blower.
Converting over to the current 2X4 set up
Milling the NEW 2X4 set up's spacers to work on my B&M Mega blower.
The 2 new Barry Grant 750 Mighty Demon carbs.
Custom made linkage bracket. Seems nothing is for B&M, just the other major brand blowers.
Modifying a new $400+ 'ShotGun Bill' air scoop to make it my own style. Cut holes in the back to mount the boost & fuel pressure gages, then trial fitted.
Fabricated pods welded onto the rear of air scoop for a level 'sight line' while driving.
Smoothed the welds, sanded & polished to shine.
2006
I sold the stick trans and all the parts down to the clutch pedal! I decided to go to a Turbo 400 built to the hilt by JW Performance Transmissions out of Rockledge, Fl.! When I pulled the bellhousing and McLeod duel disc clutch, I found the inner disc was BLOWN! The material had come off the face. Got lucky on that one! Glad I had a quality blow shield.
Trans oil cooler mounted. Note duel oil filter mounts to left.
New TH400 trans, installed in the newly modified chassis for clearance!
New B&M Mega shifter installed.
New Optima battery and battery tender attached on top.
....ON AND ON AND ON THE BAD LUCK CONTINUED in 2006!
Overheating problems that we couldn't track down on the road killed us this year as we tried to do the 'LONG HAUL' on the '06 Hot Rod Power Tour!
It's a shame when your kids have to come and bail 'father' out!! All the work these past two years and we failed.
What a let down.
Had to remove rear body clip. We then found where water was leaking from the aux water pump. Note stain on air pick up tube.
Once pump was removed, it reveals where water was leaking out under pressure. Turned out the housing has split from overheating pressure. There goes another $365.00! Decided not to replace it at this time and just rely on the front CSR electric main pump. Specailty parts get real expensive, fast.
JULY 2006!
Pulled motor out and apart yet once again!
Found 2 cracked pistons from overheating. Good thing we didn't push on and try to do the whole tour.
New set of Keith Black forged pistons.
New thermal coating appliede on top and sides of pistons.
Shipped them off to machine shop for balancing & got it put back together.
May 2007
After rebuilding the engine due to two broken pistons in 2006, it came back apart after only a 100 miles or so...
The engine builder installed 4 of the 8 link bars on the roller lifters upside down, causing those lifters to run sideways on the roller cam. The lifters broke and destroyed the cam putting metal all thru the motor. BACK OUT AGAIN for yet another rebuild! At least this one won't cost me money since it was the engine builder's error. Whew!
That, of course, took the brand new .652" lift solid roller Comp Cam out!
It sure ran strong for only having 6 good cylinders! Good thing I only made two half throttle pass at SPEED WORLD in January.
Water pump with new by-pass fittings installed on sides and the new lines running to the back of the intake manifold to feed cool water directly to the top back of the heads.
The 'operation room'
Block back from machine shop. You can see the nearly unbreakable bottom end installed with Carrillo steel rods and Dyna Rev 4340 crank. Look at the size of the ports on those Big Brodix-2 aluminum heads!
Heads re-installed using new Cometic gaskets & custom modified Moroso trap door & baffeled oil pan.
07-02-07 Entire oil system with cooler and Accusump system hold 12 qts of Royal Purple Synthetic 20/50wt oil.
Going back into Corvette. Time to rock N roll again!
Redesigned the thermostat housing area to include a filler cap above the water line. Made refilling a lot easier.
New overflow tank and braided line installed next to p/s reservoir.
Also re-installed 2 new lower 12" fans to increase air flow while sitting still in traffic.
Radiator fans installed in rear of car.
The 2 'Be Cool' Aluminum Radiators with built in puller 12" fans and overflow reservoir.
December 2007 Improved radiator cooling
Overheating problems began to creep back into the picture but the problem turned out to be I over pressurized the system. While trying to keep the water from boiling out, I increased the cap pressure & that caused the tubes in the radiator to swell, crushing the fins closed and blocking the air flow thru them. It's called 'balooning'. I had to have both radiators replace...$1,200.00 Thanks to Tom DeWitts Radiators for finding and correcting the problem finally!
The custom expansion tank attached to the top of the radiators. Finally the car runs without overheating! It now runs at 180 degrees in 98 degree temps here during Florida summers.
2008
New temp sending probe installed in water line from engine to radiators.
Flex-A-Lite variable speed temp control unit installed in rear compartment along with a service light.
Redesign of fuel cell to increase airflow to radiators
Mike Loescher modifying the aluminum fuel cell. Cut and welded new shape of fuel cell's top to increase air flow to bottom of radiator housings & constructed a new sump pick-up on the bottom of the cell. 22 gallon tank now only hold 19 gallons.
Fiberglass modifications needed for new fuel cell design. Aux lower fans visible at bottom of air pick-up tube.
Heat shield made & installed to insulate fuel cell from exhaust heat while sitting in traffic.
New Aeromotive fuel pumps for the 2 fuel systems:
The main system is fed by the A1000 600lbs/hr pump and the nitrous system equipped with a A2000 350gph with a diaphragm-controlled regulator return flow pump.
Dash removed for more wiring work. NOTE the Jiffy-Tite quick relase fitting on the brake pressure gauge.
Constructed a swing down panel for Centech fuse panel under dash beneath glove box brace.
ADDITIONAL PAGE CONTENTS:
Page#1: Main Site Page
Page#2: Construction Of 'Love Is Blue'
Page#3: Interior & Sound
Page#4: Parts Fabrication & Installation - HARD PARTS
Page#5: The Early Years Of My 1966 Corvette
Page#6: Trips & Journey Taken In 'Love'
Page#7: Other Corvettes I've Built Over The Years
Page#8: Cheesecake Photos w/ 'Love Is Blue'
Page#9: Construction of 1/25th tribute scale model of 'Love Is Blue' by: Ron Drechsler
