The NCH Garage

My printer/fax/copier/scanner/automatic transmission is on the fritz...but...I can probably get it in black and white.

Got my new "Line Chaser" from MSRA... and there was a North Country Hillbillys flag!!  Keeeoool.

Not the cover of the rolling stone...but...

Kooooool  Drift Trike.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su7gNQf8gK8&feature=related

Better one of the same vehicle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeNLMN_RqSI&feature=related

Almost there:  If you chose springs that are bigger in diameter than your stock springs (dual springs?) the little pad where the springs hit the heads needs to be machined to match.  Round outer spring but flat inner spring in a ford is usually 1.46" in diameter.  Slightly bigger than stock.  Round outer spring and round inner spring will be in the 1.50's.  Stock diameter may be less than 1.30.  Early heads have small chambers, and you can get good compression.  Buy octane booster by the case.  Big springs sitting on a too-small machined spot might wobble a bit and allow rubbing.

If you do get the early 58CC chambers and get some pinging, here's what I do:  Take each chamber and put an old intake valve in place with a spring/retainer.  Put the tiny rotary grinder tip (tapered) and carefully work off some material next to the intake valve edge to "un-shroud" the intake flow  Don't leave a sharp edge anywhere.  If you carefully make the 8 intakes equally un-shrouded you might end up with a 60cc chamber, less likely to ping.  There are also "fat" head gaskets to allow you to manipulate your chamber volume.  This will really help if you are using bigger than stock valves.  I've also seen that area "spot faced in the machine process to open it up a little.  Stock ford heads have too-small exhaust ports.  The port is shaped like an upside down "L"  The floor is the "short side" and the roof is the long side.  If you port them yourself, take a big off the short side right in the middle of the bend, as much as you want to off the long side, and wider never hurts.  If you have an old head, you can sawzall it apart and see how much iron is around the ports.  If you take off more than .125" anywhere, you need to know where the "thin" spots are.  With stock heads, they'll still be too small, but every little bit helps.

Bear with me...Since the guide plates don't move, I assume you mean something is rubbing on the guide plates.  It had better be the pushrods!  The pushrods need to be hardened pushrods.  Stock pushrods won't live with guide plates, and the shavings coming off the pushrods are headed to your main bearings.  

If you already have that covered, and if the rockers are rubbing on the guide plates, the towers the screw-in studs for the rockers weren't milled enough.  A few early 289 heads already had screw-in studs...but 302/351W heads don't and need to have...uh...0.331 (I think) milled off before you finish drilling and threading the holes for the screw-in studs.  If you only take off .25 there may be a problem.  

3rd possibility:  How did you determine the required pushrod length?  With screw-in studs and guideplates, the pushrod length MAY change.  Last thing:  You might reset the lash when the engine is hot.  Sounds gruesome.  Sorry to talk about screwins.

Last minute add-on...maybe you have a partially collapsed lifter or two???  Or is it solid (or solid roller) lifters?

Every rainy day I get creative.

Over 250 cars at the Cambridge "customer appreciation day" show, and the spectators did a pretty good imitation of the Back to the 50's crowd for a couple of hours.  Man!  perfect weather, lotsa cars....

Check out this link to the Peckerheadz show in Mahtowa.  Better leave the sound off on this one...but good pictures of about half the cars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbBG-GmriXc

Includes the "other" manure spreader with the slant 6.  Why?  'Cause they don't make a slant 7.  Has the Musher truck at 7:21.  Too shiny for this show.

Yesterday I got my MSRA Line Chaser, and there is an article on the spreader with comments by the builder.

So...I'm ahead of the curve, but only by a day.

Even though it is on Friday, Sept 14th I think it is 4:00 to 8:00 pm....Come on down to Cambridge for "Customer Appreciation Day".  Should be 100 cars or so scattered around the downtown area:  Post office to Baptist Church, east to the Legion, etc.  Some free chow if you can stand in line.  Awful music, cars...can't be beat.

But thennn....Don't miss the Frankensteiner's Ball #7 at the Anoka County Fairgrounds (down 47 to the fairgrounds.) This is on October 14th 9:00 am to 3:00 (Sunday)  Bring kids in Kostumes, bring some treats for the kids to put in front of your ride...maybe get a Kostume for the vehicle.   Great show, lots of cars.

In between there....there is an unknown quantity:  Hot Rod Roundup #2 in Sauk Rapids on Saturday October 7th[/b.  11:00 am to 4:00[/b] pm Sponsored by the Hot Rod Junkies and the Sewer Rats car clubs.  Might be a good show if we all go.  Says $5 per car, address is 940 35th Ave NE in Sauk Rapids:  Go west to end of Highway 95, left on Highway 23 a short hop to 35th Ave NE.  Some controversy about the name of the place:  Rollie's  or...could be Dusty's.  We're going to check it out.  Only 42 miles west of Cambridge...so...9 gallons of gas. (and 9 back).  If you speed properly.

As nice as the Pontiac is....

sorry, just a couple more.  I don't have the slant 6 manure spreader.

okay...lets try that again.

I'm having a herd of senior moments with putting pics in here.   Bear with me.

Bad news for me.  The trip to Atlanta I was going on is cancelled for us.  Yeah, I'm fighting off tears...  So instead of sitting in airports half the weekend getting my junk X-rayed while I hold my shoes in my hand....I find myself forced to try and find a car show on short notice.   Darn!

Anybody know of a car show...in...say...4 days  I could bring my (other) junk and park it someplace.