Day three of paint stripping. Boy, am I getting tired!

 Three solid days worth of stripping and sanding and what not else has finally produced this result

They're looking pretty reasonable so far. Still have the inside of one fender to finish and that is everything except for the rear guards which I won't be stripping as they are fibreglass. So, I am guessing a fairly gentle paper on those. I also have the tub to strip as well. It has some kind of excellent zinc coating on it, and I am wondering whether it needs to completely come off? 

edit:

Well, I was just reading this article from the manufacturer's website and they provide specific and clear instructions as to how to tackle the tub. Basically you rub with solvent, wash with detergent, rub down again (don't these guys know we have actual lives to get on with?) and then hit with fine sandpaper up to 240 grit. What could be easier? 

Stripping off for a good cause!

My wife has given me the orders to get cracking on the project or else!

So, for the past few days I have been hitting the panels hard, hoping to get them all completely stripped over the next week, and then hit them with 2k Primer. The plan is to get everything done including the tub and then just do some sort of marathon spray painting session. Not sure how that will work as I think I am going to run out of room. But at least all the stripping will be done.

Other things:

Pretty disappointed that I missed out on securing a good running 351 Cleveland locally. Guy had it listed two hours before I saw it and it was already sold by the time I saw it. He wanted 4 grand for it, but at least you could see it and hear it running, and it was just down the road. Bummer. 

Phil, the mystery mechanic I was gonna get to rebuild my own engine has disappeared, so, have decided to take the engine to IAS for its rebuild. 

Have ordered rear and window glass and the seat rails have arrived.

Bought my third tin of KBS rust seal for the floor, and after that is done, should be ready to fit up the seat rails and lay the sound deadening stuff. 

I've had a good go at the rear cab corner and still more to do there. Decided to go ahead and buy the opposite side one.

Got a guy fabbing up some engine mounts with his plasma cutter and he plans to fit the engine up after the Easter break. By then the panels will be painted up and we should be well on the way toward getting the engine booked in for its rebuild.

More information on Pro Comp heads for the Clevo

 So, I was enjoying a chat with a guy in the USA this morning about Procomp heads for the Cleveland. I was tending to portray them in a fairly negative light; something that was very hit and miss, but generally something to avoid. Not through any personal experience, mind you, just on hearing all the whispers about how crap those heads really are.

However, my friend was telling me he bought the 3v Procomp heads and mated them to a genuine CHI 3v manifold. He CNC'd  and ported the heads to flow at intake around 390cfm and around 290cfm exhaust. He is also running big stainless steel valves. My cams total lift is up around 764 with a 1.750 steel rocker kit from T&D Rocker. (Ouch! Pricey buggers!) These are very good numbers! 

Now, I always sucked at maths, but it doesn't take much adding up to discover these Procomp heads are not really that much cheaper than the real deal.

Get this:

225CC 3V CHI manifold $1330.00

CHI bare heads 3v $3333.00

add your T&D roller stud kit $3800

add other bits like pushrods, guide plates, head gasket, heads bolts and so forth and you are looking at an easy $10,000.

if we went Procomp heads, we are looking at a bit under $2,000 for bare 3v heads before significant porting costs which would probably bring them in line with the CHI heads anyway. So where would the benefit be? 

I just can't see any.

I can't go back to square one if I am going around in circles, can I?

 Feels like things have hit a bit of brick wall here. But in reality, they haven't. The cogs are still turning and the truck is lurching toward completion at a slowish pace. With a little injection of funds, I was able to finish up buying a couple of expensive items that were on my wish list.

I was lucky to secure a complete brand new Vintage air Gen II system for the truck for well under $3k delivered.  That was cheaper than ten years ago when I bought one for Dorothy my 1954 F100!

Even the sales guy at the shop told me I had bought a real bargain. Don't I know it!

Other things happening are:

met a guy called Blake who is happy to make me up some new plates for the Tuff mounts and weld them to the chassis in our home. That is streets better than taking them to Brendan (who cannot do them for the time being as he is flat chat doing other stuff) So, that worked out really well. Blake hopes to get them done in the next couple of weeks.

Phil, the mechanic has gone underground for some reason and I have lost contact with him. The positive thing is, even though it will cost me double, I am taking it to Illawarra Automotive Specialists for Peter to work his magic.

Which brings me back to the heads. Oh, no. Here we go again! 

I can't remember where I was at with the head saga on the previous post without re reading it (and spare me the indignity of reading my own drivel) but I think I was settling down to buy a set of used Closed Chamber heads. from a guy in Queanbeyan when it kind of dawned on me that 

a) they could be warped

b) they could be cracked

185CC SBF ENFORCER CYLINDER HEAD

and I would have blown a few hundred bucks and another hundred in fuel and a day getting there and back. Although, it was still probably gonna be worth it. I found another guy who had a set for a grand and they had had some work done on them. But, I am not a mechanic and I don't really know what I am looking for when it comes to examining heads. I mean apart from the old ruler along the edge etc, there isn't much else I know. So, what I am saying for a grand these could be just normal heads cleaned up.

So, I started looking at alloy heads again, and got excited about the AFR Enforcer head; a budget head that was reasonably priced at around $1200 per head. After getting excited and almost placing an order, I contacted Outlaw Speed shop on eBay and spoke to someone there who advised AFR do NOT make a Cleveland head.

Um...what?

No, it's apparently true. They don't make them. Never have AFAIK. Well, wouldn't you know it? 

These are for Windsor engines. 

So, there is one horse less in the race. CHI are out, as they are way too expensive.  Procomp are out because they are way too unpredictable as far as quality goes. Edelbrock are out because they are not cheap and I have heard they are nowhere near as good as CHI. AFD are a lost cause because nobody answers the phone and when they do, they put you onto some guy who never rings you back. So, scrap them.

Suddenly we are left with...um...factory heads. 

How did we get back there again?

The next day...

I ended up buying a set of closed chamber 2v 302 Ford heads from a guy in Queanbeyan for a couple hundred bucks. They look like they will reco up pretty well.