Author Archives: timsweet

Car Swap Meet Gems – The Show Cars

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Ok so we’re back to the swap meet and I shared some of the “project cars”.  Now here are a few of the show cars.

Tucson isn’t a large town when it comes to car club culture so you often see some of the same cars. But I never get tired of seeing this hot rod.

Here is a coupe that’s nearly complete.

Class rod.

I had a couple favorites and this Ford F-1 one of them.

Nice pick-up

Love the grill!!!!

That is a step plate!!!!

Badging

Simple Dash…but so kool!!!!

Powering that F1 is the Ford V8 – this one is nicely restored.

Next up is a great little Ford Deluxe.

Great looking coupe….the engine was outstanding.

Just the right amount of chrome

The 8 cylinder is fed by two Weber carbs.

This is a fresh looking Malibu

Straight Pipes look good on this Chevy and the exhaust comes from…..

…Nice Little V8

This Rivera was extremely well cared for.

This is the original paint combo

Last but not least is the custom Caddy.

Side pipes and no door handles – SWEET!!!

Thanks for reading.

Tim

So You Gonna Build an Engine? Part 3 – Bearings

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Federal Mogul Bearings

Have you even given this a thought?   Nope, not me either.

But here’s why you should and why you shouldn’t go cheap.

Engine bearings have the dual function of reducing friction between a rotating part of the engine (the crankshaft) and the stationary part (the main caps and engine block) and supporting the crank.

Because of the stresses caused by the explosions inside the internal combustion engine, the bearing material must be extremely strong, so a durable metal is required.

Engine bearings are small and relatively inexpensive components of internal combustion engines however failure of an engine bearing commonly leads to serious reconditioning works of the engine including its disassembling, regrinding the crankshaft and replacing the bearings.  Sound like fun?  No.  And we all know that it’s not cheap to rebuild, so let’s do it right and not cut corners in this area.

So what should you get? Well considering that there are all kind of ways to destroy your bearing, like dry starting (no oil coating) some of the following:

  • Wrong selection of the Engine bearing materials for the application.
  • Localized loading of the bearing due to a misalignment (eg. hour-glass journal, distorted connecting rod).
  • Fuel detonation caused by advanced ignition.
  • Running the engine under high loads (torque) at low rotation speeds for long period.
  • Poor conforming of the bearing back with the housing surface.
  • Over fueling.
  • Corrosive action of contaminated oil, which lowers the fatigue limit (Corrosion fatigue).

Yes it’s true bearing take a beating.  Here if you go cheap, especially if you are racing, you go home.

So double up on the cash because quality bearings like Michigan 77 or Federal Mogul competition will cost you twice as much.  Pay now or rebuild sooner.

Michigan 77’s

Thanks for reading.

Tim Sweet

Car Swap Meet Gems

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It’s not that often that I get out to a car swap meet.  Here in Arizona you are in  for a hot time…tempature-wise, do to the lack of shade.  Car parts so hot you’ve got to have oven mitts to handle ’em.  But the are still fun.

Down the street at the local drag strip they had one this weekend and I thought I’d pass on a few of the gems they had for sale.  There was a bit of a car show there as well.

You could pick-up some ‘Field Fresh’ projects like this coupe:

 

“Trailer Not Include”read the sign

 

Love the rear window

The floors are solid.

 

$3500 and the cob web are no extra charge.

 

 

Or this Pick-Up:

You could also find some project that the owner just couldn’t finish…some with some very extensive ‘restoration damage’  like tons of bondo holding the fender together.

This Chevy wasn’t the worst, but it had a lot of bondo.

This Dodge pickup wasn’t horrible. It would make a nice starter project.

This Plymouth Barracuda was pretty stripped down.

I actually think the owner had a lot of the parts laying on the ground for sale separately.

This ’65 Chevy is has been lowered and that’s about all.

Lot work left on this project.

Some cars did find new homes:

This Dodge found a new home.

This Imperial looks like it’s going to its new garage under its own power.

 

I love this car!!!!

Going to need some interior work. This one sported the push button shifting.

 

Coming up… some of the show cars.  Some nice rods.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

1998 Camaro Z28 – NICE!!! Update!

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You are gonna to love this car.

It is a one owner Camaro Z28.

ONLY 78,700 miles on this V8 with automatic transmission

Black & White with white leather interior (in perfect condition)

T-tops and ground effects

Fully loaded including:

power door locks, power windows, tilt wheel, fog lights, power remote mirrors, power seat, AM-FM  6 speaker  stereo with CD player,

theft deterrent alarm system, cruise control, anti-lock brakes, rear window defogger.

I know the owner and this car has had the best care.  It is an AZ car and is always garaged or covered when it’s not moving and it DOES move.

What’s under the hood?

GM’s Generation III V-8 engine as configured in the Corvette.  It is the all-aluminum 5.7-liter (350-cubic-inch)  produce up to 350 horsepower in the two-seat sports car.

 100% Stock.   More Pics To come.

Interested?    Call me at 520-405-5314 or email me at timsweet@cox.net.

Asking $9k. That’s a steal in this condition. This isn’t my car, but if you buy and don’t like, I’ll buy it from you!!!!…Actually, I ought to buy it myself!!! I”m going to think about that some.

She looks great with the T’s off!!!!

 

Engine Pic1 – SOOOO CLEAN!!!

 

Engine Pic 2. Nicely Maintained!!!

 

Perfect Stock Interior!!!

 

Room for 2 in the back. Although it doesn’t look like anyone has ever sat back there!!!!

Interested?    Call me at 520-405-5314 or email me at timsweet@cox.net.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

So You Gonna Build an Engine? Part 2 – Harmonic Balancer

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As I collect more design specs (yes I used design, because it is an art) for what I figured would be a pretty straight forward head swap (my Cleveland 302 heads with 351 Cleveland Cobra Jet heads – some machine works – yes).  But to get the most I’m going to look at changing up the cam, intake, rods, etc.

One thing I’ll be unwavering in selecting  is a harmonic balance.  There is a lot of vibration in my bored .030 302 and I need to get that under control. So I might over spend a bit here.

So let’s get down to it.  The balancer is basically a damper for the combustion pulse shock that hits the crankshaft.  It’s meant to help control the vibration and increase the crankshaft’s life span.  Ideally you’ll need the heaviest for your engine, for example the small blocks (Ford) a 289 or Boss 3o2 balancer will work.  We are talking the real parts (as opposed to unreal…no…) used or new old stock.   For larger blocks you’ll need to find aftermarket balancers to fit those monsters.  Pick the right balancer and you can even see a power increase and a smoother running engine.  Remember the heavier they are the increased chances that you’ll put stress on the crankshaft and many crankshaft end (snoot) has been broken by a too heavy balancer.

This is a harmonic balancer for a Dodge. Remember street use doesn’t necessarily required a balancer. Get to your local Hot Rod shop if you need some suggestions.

Since the Mustang goes to the drag strip now and then I’m going to look at the aftermarket balancers.

Have some suggestions?  Drop a note.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

So You’re Gonna Build an Engine? Part 1 – Intro

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Every now and then I have to toss in a reminder that this blog for the average guy, especially when it comes to upgrades, processes and selecting the right parts.  Average Guy, Average Budget and you need to be careful to select what you need and not to waste that hard-earned cash.

This next series is for those of us that are dying to up grade the exiting power plants in our cars.  Some of the selection hints or tips will seem to lean toward my Ford 302, but they will apply to your ’57 Chevy or even your ’74 Dart.

In this series we are going to cover all the major engine components from bearings to harmonic  balancers and pistons to  flywheels.

And we’ll cover these as well.

Enjoy and please drop your opinions either there on  the blog our on our Facebook pages (https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/221683714508353/)

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Car Production Numbers. They Made How Many? 1956

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Well I wasn’t present for the 1956 year but it was an interesting year.  Lincoln and Continental were separate makes and interestingly enough the Clipper (a model of Packard) tried ‘independence’ on for size.  Oh…and there were some very cool show cars.

The finished out with Chevy and Ford way out in front with 1,567,117 and 1,408,487 – respectively.  They were followed over 500,oo behind, were Buick with 573,024, Plymouth with 571,634 and Oldsmobile with 485,458.  The rest of the field looked like this:

Pontiac – 405,730

Mercury – 327,943

Dodge – 240,686

Cadillac – 154, 577

Chrysler – 128,322

DeSoto – 109,442

Nash – 83,420

Studebaker – 69,593

Lincoln – 50,322

Hudson – 22,588

Clipper – 18,482 (out paced Packard by nearly 8,000 cars)

Imperial – 10,684

Packard – 10,353

Metropolitan – 9,0868

Continental – 2,550

Here is an ad for a 1956 Clippard Super…Looks alot like…>>>

…this 1955 Packard Clipper…doesn’t it?

1956 Show Cars were really hot looking.

1956 Centurion by Buick. Come on!!! Warp speed Mr. Sulu!!

Pontiac was in the game with their 1956 Pontiac Club de Mer show car. I like it!!!

What? A Parkard you say?!!!! Yup this was the Predictor (name only would have killed this model). But just think how cool that would have been!!!!

A few other things were happening in 1956 like:

– Studebaker’s Goldenhawk was given Packard’s 352 cid V8

– American Motors developed a 200 pound air-cooled V4 engine

– Plymouth ran a gas-turbine car from New Your to L.A.

It’s ugly!!!

Thanks for reading.

Tim