Low down Hillbilly

[OCD Garage]

A friend stopped by today to help me lift the engine off the stand and drop it in where it belongs. Once the tins are finished/painted, I'll start on the engine electrical and make the cables to connect the starter, relays, etc.

[OCD Garage]

I had the motor running yesterday for about 15 seconds, suddenly, I could see a steady stream of fresh oil running out from under the cooling tin. After a little internet investigation today, over pressurization from a sticking oil pressure relief valve was likely to be the cause of the leak. After removing the plug/spring from the flywheel end underneath, it didn't take long to determine the valve was firmly stuck in the bore. I used an appropriately sized tap to grab the valve and sprayed in liberal amounts of WD40, then wiggled and twisted the tap until the valve spun free again. Afterwhich I removed, polished, cleaned out the bore and reassembled it.

[OCD Garage]

Today was the first time this motor has been run (for more than 15 seconds) in over 20 years! It's showing a bit more smoke than I'd like, but the rings could be sticky from their long sleep and may seat with some run time. Next will be setting the carb and timing, then connecting the control cables. This chassis will soon be drivable for the first time after 5 years of work.


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[OCD Garage]

Even with the adjustment done as per online instructions, the old steering box made a clunking noise when changing direction and side to side play could be detected at the input shaft. I decided to buy one of the new Empi boxes that I read about on the Samba. These are not cheap, but appear to have the best build quality according to what I've seen. An adapter needed to be created as I'd had the input shaft of the old box modified to work with the u-joint, which I decided was not the best way to go for future serviceability. The adapter was created by cutting the old clamp off the collapsible end of the steering shaft and pressing the splined Empi stub into the adapter and welding. The end of the steering shaft was done in a similar fashion.

[OCD Garage]

Nothing new to show at this point, but I did get my chassis together and wired enough to go for a rip around the neighbourhood! (Shh, no telling). My personal goal for 2025 was to have it running/drivable and I just made it with a couple of days to spare. As stated elsewhere, I've owned most of the major parts of this build for over twenty years and have been working like I actually wanted to finish it for the last five and a half years. Still need to complete the wiring harness and the body work/paint, but it sure felt good to be finally rolling down the road. My initial impression is that it rides way smoother than either my static lowered Karman Ghia or Squareback-V8 ever did. The oil rings seem to have reseated and the motor has stopped blowing raw oil out the header slip joints/tailpipe. SeaFoam is a good product for dissolving dried up deposits and freeing things. A compression test now shows 130-135 on all cylinders. Once the last half can of SeaFoam works it's way through the fuel system and I change the oil, I hope it'll be clean enough to run for a while before the inevitable rebuild. Now on to 2026....

[OCD Garage]

Now that the steering is back together, I bolted down the fuel tank for safer clandestine runs around the neighbourhood (2 miles on the odometer so far). The braided fuel line back to the glass-bodied '55 Chev filter is also connected and runs over top of the transmission away from the engine.

[OCD Garage]

A quick walk around video today. We're up to 4 miles on the odometer so far...


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[MrGoodtunes]

[OCD Garage]

Originally, I bought a set of budget digital gauges to match the digital air-ride sytem pressure gauge. Unsurprisingly, (and well past the return date) two of the three I connect recently showed values when the motor was not running. I decided accuracy should be the first consideration to protect the motor not budget, and ordered a group of VDO gauges and wired them with plugs for future ease of service.

I think the pointer style gauges fit the spirit of the build better than the digital ones and tie in better with the GPS speedometer.

[OCD Garage]

A progress shot of wiring harness that will connect the gauges on the final install. Power for the cluster will come up from the head light switch at the bottom of the console. I will be adding another outlet plug below the upper plug to power the air-ride gauge, high beam and alternator lights.