Reco Heads are on their way!

 For a long while now I had been tossing up which heads to buy for the 351 Clevo. I read in the 351 bible somewhere that Open Chamber heads suck, and Closed Chamber were the one's to buy. That narrowed it down a little, but then there was the option of buying factory untouched 2v heads (And we are talking off a 302 Cleveland here in Australia) or buying something that had been worked over.

Pavtek make a beautiful 2v cast iron head from the original casting. Their quality is world famous, and the price is reasonable when you consider the work that has gone into upgrading these heads. At around $3500, they were a little pricey, especially when I initially did my search for alloy heads.

Whoa! What did I discover? Heaps! I learnt this: CHI are the reigning Clevo kings when it comes to heads. I learnt that if you want the best, you have to pay for it. I put in a request for a quote for their lowest spec stage one setup and after handing over ten grand, I'd have enough to buy some fish and chips and a half dozen scallops with lemon and two bottles of Pepsi. I'm not kidding.

So, off to second best. And I mean that respectfully. AFD heads have an enormous reputation for producing outstanding heads. The only problem with AFD is, I have no idea who to contact. I tried three times to leave messages. I left messages on their facebook page. I even rang their number and was told it was a wrong number and to ring some guy called Zoran from a mob called Competition Engines in Victoria. Mind you, they have a lively website and much better than the AFD facebook page which looks for all money to have been abandoned. So, I have no idea. I rang Competition Engine and I emailed them as well. Of course nobody bothered replying.  Beginning to wonder whether AFD is somewhat of a spent force these days? Correct me if I am wrong. 

There is also AFR, another company that makes excellent heads, and then there's Edelbrock, 

And then I discovered Procomp heads. And from what I learnt, discovered they were very hit and miss (mostly miss). Which led me to Speedmaster heads, Detroit Racing Product heads, and so forth. And I discovered they were one in the same.  That is, their aluminium casting came from China. 

And it all became too confusing and expensive.

So I went back to basics. 

My engine builder advised me to stick with a nice set of closed chamber heads. After all, I am only wanting a cruiser not a rocket ship. And so the search begins...

Curiously enough, they are not that easy to find. Plenty of open chamber stuff, but not many 302's around. In fact, hardly any engines.  And forget about looking in wrecking yards. This is not 1980 any more. 

Once we secure a set of heads Phil is going to commence the engine build. 

So, what else is going on? 

Well, the tailgate is almost at a stage where I can say it is at painting stage. Going to need a little more work, but it's manageable now. The MAR-K latches fit okay and all is well there. 

The handbrake cable is in and works well.

Brendan (X Piggy) is welding up my engine mounts soon and that can't happen soon enough. 

Phil, the mechanic is on board and nearly ready for the engine. 

The new wheels and tyres are on and look a treat!

Made up a funky locking piece for the battery cover out of a piece of spring steel from work. It was a bit leftover from our dead laminator. It was a piece of bar that was designed to allow the laminated page to slide off without catching. Well, I put it to a different use!

Works like a charm and just as ugly as the original. 

Another success story with the rocker covers. Finally gave up trying to clean these things. They were just too tarnished and old and after literally weeks of trying to get them shiny, gave up and hit them with some primer and some nice satin black paint. And then I just cleaned off the Holley logo for contrast. Whattaya reckon guys? 

Stay tuned! 

Things are starting to hot up around here! 

Getting ready to ship her off for some engine mounts and tranny mounts

 X-Piggy  has agreed to weld up my new engine mounts. I decided on a set of Tuff Mounts from here

These will replace the funky custom job that is already on it. 

The engineer is happy with them and hopefully it will solve a few issues with engine placement. Currently it sits too high, so am hoping the new mounts will drop the engine a couple of inches and thus clear the cabin floor with the transmission (c4) 

Not much else going on. Handbrake setup pretty much done. Came up quite well. 

Basically now preparing the truck for a journey to get engine and transmission fitted. Also Brendan is welding in the upper seatbelt mounts that he made. 

Check out those weird engine mounts. Custom jobs directly bolted to the Jag front. They don't really work terribly well there. And anyway it is doubtful they would pass the engineering inspection. 

There is a good couple of inches we can find if we ditch these custom mounts seen in the foreground. 

Guys, don't you hate that? Why don't they make them snug so they don't do this when you pick the container up? 

34th Goulburn Rotary Swap Meet

Put this in your diary, guys! Goulburn swap meet. These don't come around that often.

Sunday 7th April. (Saturday for sellers)

Goulburn Showground. Braidwood road there's a contact here: 0456245836 or email rotarygoulburnswapmeet@gmail.com

My 351 Cleveland beast getting ready to be souped up!

 

Can't wait for the mechanic to take this old motor away and rebuild it for me. 

I am considering lowering the engine and bringing it further toward the firewall, as it currently sits on Jag ifs mounts. 

Tuff mounts have a universal mount that looks ideal for the job. It's here: https://tuffmounts.com.au/product/engine-mounts/tuff-mounts-engine-mounts-universal-ford-v8/

My engineer has advised it looks suitable for the job, so it is just a case of me aligning the engine where I think it should sit and go from there, checking clearances etc. X Piggy said they are happy to weld them in for me.

Still tossing up what sort of head I could buy for the engine. Was thinking alloy, and would not be impartial to Procomp blank heads and get a head shop to add the extras. Not being a mechanic, and a total ignoramus to boot, engine components leave me a bit out in the woods.

I have already purchased a Holley Sniper EFI unit (including distributor coil and whatever else for the engine and a Bosch electric fuel pump, so that is a start. 

I was reading from my 351 engine builder's bible and noted that the open chamber 351 heads were not the best and the author suggested they be tossed to the bottom of the sea. 302 closed chamber heads were more desirable, but I have got to understand they only work with a mild cam system and are prone to detonation. I don't know what sort of a big deal that should prove to be as I always use 98 octane anyway. 

So this opens a whole big can of possibilities. 

1. Do I look for a decent CC 302 head and get it reconditioned?

2. Do I just go for an alloy head setup? IF so, do I lash out on a very expensive head or buy Procomp  blank head and put my own valves etc in it? What is the cost compared to buying ready to install heads? 

I am starting to believe ALL alloy heads come from China and it's then up to the companies to work their magic 11 secret herbs and spices on the head. 

I could be wrong. Dead Wrong.

CHI apparently do an amazing head, but we're talking in the realm of somewhere near five grand for a complete setup. And maybe even more!

Cams? What do I get? Thinking hydraulic roller cam. Why? I dunno. A couple of guys told me so. LOL!

Car event at Reddall Parade Lake Illawarra Feb 4th 2024

 Apparently, every couple of months these guys and girls get their cars out of the garage and drive down to Lake Illawarra to do the thing that car enthusiasts do best: talk cars! And I am just gonna let the cars do the talking while you check out a small sample of what was on display. A bit lucky we were as we had just gone down to the foreshore for our regular one hour walk by the lake, and by the time we go back to our car, the parking area was full of these things! 

My wife doesn't really get it when I say things like "this car excites me more than any show car." I think it is because it excites the imagination and tells us a little bit of a story of it's journey along the way. 

The new and the old Mustang together. I know which one I like! What about you? 

Okay, I don't mind beetles, but my wife absolutely loves them, so she insisted I take heaps of photos of this beetle. Sure, it looked authentic and all, but does it get my blood flowing?

Nup, not as much as a very nice XB Falcon coupe that looked very original. Dunno what happened to the headlights?

I think there is a ton of custom work going on here. I just can't put my finger on what sort of car it is. Anglia? 

We (my wife and I) both agreed this stunning Camaro was allowed to follow us home if it wanted to. Alas, the owner wouldn't let it. Clean paint and beautiful lines. Win/ win all day.  Couple of nice Torana's next to it which I missed snapping as I was right in the middle of the road and people were hussling through. 

What did I tell you? I said my wife loves beetles... Here's the same beetle from another angle. 

I'll bee honest and say I dunno what is going on here. A bearded four legged bee? 

I'm assuming this driver has a blue disabled sticker! The car looked very able. 

Someone else hogging the disability parking area. Great looking XP Coupe. There were a couple of them on display. 

Photogenic little buggers, those Corvettes!  Nice Monaro across the road. Just missed getting it in the photo. 

Half the car was parked in Lake Illawarra, the other half in Warilla. 

Right across the road sat a beautiful pearl Chevy and a very clean XP Ford. I was too lazy to cross the road for a closer look. 

This one was for sale. Under $40k Looked beautiful. A couple of people took photos so maybe it now has a new owner. My wife delicately pointed out the fact that I could have been driving around in a car like this instead of my mangled nightmare inside the garage. Women sure know how to kick a guy in the guts. 

An hour before there was just one car...ours, and a couple of pelicans. Couple of RX2 Rotaries came down for the drive. Keeping company with three Holdens.

Oh, god no! Another bloody beetle! Of course I had to take ten photos of it! 

X Piggy to the rescue for upper seat mounts

 Now that Midfifty is selling up, the chances of me securing a righteous set of these upper shoulder seatbelt mounts is pretty slim; not to mention the cost of them by the time they arrive on this shore. 

pic from Midfifty website

pic from Midfifty website

I had a set for my '54, and can vouch for their excellence, but the shipping charges this company hit you with were always high, and now they are absurd. I was quoted $6000 to ship a set of front fenders for instance. 

Anyway, I was grateful for Midfifty for what I did purchase back in the day. They certainly helped me out when I was working on ol' Dorothy. 

This time around, however, I have had to source a local guy to make up the mounts for me.

Once again I called on the services of X Piggy fabrications. Brendan came to the party once more and made up a nice set of mounts for me and welded in a couple of 7/16 UNF Weld-In Inserts that I bought from Maximum Motorsports in WA. Picking them up next week to see how they fit. Should be good to go!