Junkyard Jimmy Super Low Buck Build Thread

[spike38]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

So I am at about $2579.

2 1/2 years,
2 1/2 trucks,
3 engines ?
? parts of other trucks,
$2579, Yes, that's a low buck hobby

Spike

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by spike38

2 1/2 years,
2 1/2 trucks,
3 engines ?
? parts of other trucks,
$2579, Yes, that's a low buck hobby

Spike

It's higher than I had hoped, but I've got some good stuff here. Lets not forget that I also have a 2wd blazer I'm accumulating parts for. So if I had something usable but didn't use it here, it's going there or got sold. I have very little in that project at this point, maybe $500 at most. Then there is my original first truck, the long term C-10 build. It's almost ready for paint and I'd be shocked if I spent more than $6000 altogether over the years on it. I've had it since 1983 or 84. I know guys who blow that much on a weekend in Vegas.

[hgs_notes]

I took an extra day off today with not much of an agenda. So I went to the local junkyard and found a few things. I needed a new gas cap. I didn't care for the locking one it had, and all of my other ones were the 72 style.


I have been reading about people using modern style washer tanks and pumps, so I picked up one of those from a 90 something Chevy truck. It had a bad pump, but the yard had a good one and we traded. I also took the hoses and spray nozzles and the wire conection. Looks alright to me.


I also got a new hood latch piece, the one on the hood. For some reason, it was missing from this hood.


Then I took a few minutes to line up the hood a bit better and it latches perfectly, but I think I'll end up having to shim the fenders out a bit. The hinges are loose too. I'll have to see if I have a better set around later.




I also got a set of valve covers for the new heads with the center bolt style. They need some more cleaning, sanding and some paint, but they'll do.


I went out to a friends place to drop off some scrap parts and forgot I left the rear bumper out there. So I brought it home and looked it over. Not pretty. Bent up and a mess. I looked around the parts storage some more hoping to find a better one, but I only have one other and it's for my C-10, unless I buy a nicer replacement for that later.

More in a bit.

[hgs_notes]

I decided to try and straighten it out. At least enough to look ok. I started with this. I'm not sure if you can see it, but it has a bow pushing the license plate area upwards.


Gave myself a reference line.


My vise would not stay in place, kept wanting to turn with the pressure, so I set up some bracing.


Then used a hydraulic jack to force it straight.


Doing this caused the top lip of the bumper to move up or down due to the stresses in it. I just kept working them out using a pair of crescent wrenches, vise grips with the wide bending jaws, a large hammer, etc. I think it turned out ok. There is still some upward bow above the license plate, but I can live with it. There was a couple dings I'll work out someother time.



I figured I should see how it looks. It wouldn't bolt up at first. I used a die grinder to enlarge to frame holes a bit, then it slipped right on. The two center bolts are holding it for now.

[hgs_notes]

I've also been continuing my research on my vortecs. There are several options for upgrades and some pretty affordable kits that have new springs, valves, retainers, locks and seals. And I asked myself, self? Why are you in such a rush to bolt those heads on? Turns out, I'm just impatient. So for now, I am thinking about tearing them down, let the machine shop clean and flux them and go from there. No cracks?, then I'll order a kit for upgrades and bolt 'em on. By then I should have an intake manifold and it'll be about ready to run.

Heres a link to a kit I thought was a good deal. 335 lb/in springs, stainless swirl polished valves with chrome stems and hardened tips, new seals, retainers and locks. Only $110.
http://www.competitionproducts.com/H...ductinfo/8511/

If anyone else would like to chime in here on this kit, or knows of some better deals, please speak up. Don't be shy.

[Tynee]

That bumper'll do for a driver, won't it? Reminds me I need to straighten mine.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Tynee

That bumper'll do for a driver, won't it? Reminds me I need to straighten mine.

It'll do, but it's still bent enough to notice. I've been thinking about fabricating my own, front and back. Maybe some rock sliders or nerf bars to match. Something strong enough that if you do have a slow bump into something it won't immediately bend back into the sheetmetal. Maybe a tube style, circa 1990, or plate, which looks more modern. That's a project for waaaaay down the road though.

I spent about $55 yesterday bringing the total to $2634.

I probably should have spent another $16 and got new chrome valve covers, but I did save a little money. This junkyard is not the cheapest by far, but it's anly a couple miles away and I'm helping the local economy a bit. And it saves a lot of driving time. I'm still searching for the best deal on an intake manifold. Looks like around $130 -140 right now. Plus the cost of a head rebuild, probably another $200 or so there. Not too many other costly items needed, thankfully.

[hgs_notes]

Turns out I may have wasted time on the bumper. I have been trying to clean up the garage in preparation for winter, and found another one that is in better shape. I think I'll keep the other one on for now though, lets call it insurance if it happens to get smacked up a bit.

In other news, I got the 35" tires off my aluminum slots today. One of the tires got wrecked while he was breaking the bead loose. Tore right through the sidewall. I might have got a bit more money for them if there was 4 tires. I'll have to see what happens selling 3.

The wheels were made by Shelby America, their called Shelby Cal 500 and are 15" x 8.5". I will probably be using a 32" tire on these wheels. I haven't decided if I'll try to polish them up or not.

I have an old Formula Desert Dog tire that was in one of the parts trucks as a spare. It actually looks like it's in good shape, but it is not DOT rated. It's a 10-15LT and looks about the same size as my 31x10.5 tires on it now.

[hgs_notes]

Got the heads disassembled tonight. No problems yet to the naked eye, but there might be some scoring in a couple of the valve guides because there was some burrs on a couple valves. Only a couple valves had any kind of build up on them. I'm not sure when I'll get them to the machine shop. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week. No rush. I'll have to wait until payday to order the replacement parts anyway. Looks like the bottom ends of the guide bosses need a little cleaning up with the die grinder to clean up some sharp edges, that's about it.

Here's a tip for guys looking to save a few bucks on used valve covers. Don't. It's not worth the hassle unless you find some that are in great shape. I should have just got the new ones, oh well. Lesson learned.

[hgs_notes]

The heads were a mixed bag. One was completely good, one has a crack, but repairable. The exhaust seat on the left has a crack at about the 6 o' clock position in this pic. The right exhaust port just has the start of a small one, you can't really see it. They can fix it for about $40. I brought them home so I can clean up some cast flashing in the ports first. I just ordered the rebuild kit for them ($121 with shipping), so the machine shop will have pair of the new valves for test fitting, etc. Overall, not bad for a set of $73 heads.

Too bad winter finally decided to show up. At the same time my propane bottle ran out for the garage heater. By keeping it warm out there this fall, I am able to heat the whole garage with a small electric heater until my gas line is done. It wouldn't do it last year because the cement slab was already colder than freezing.

I had one small fitting leak on the new gas line to the garage. I'll get my new manometer tomorrow so I can test and adjust the heater on natural gas. So hopefully, after tomorrow night I don't have to worry about losing heat out there again.

[VA72C10]

sounds like a good deal overall...what do you think you'll have in them when complete and ready to run?

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

sounds like a good deal overall...what do you think you'll have in them when complete and ready to run?

Not sure what the machine shop is charging for the clean and MT on them, probably around $40 or so. Then $40 to fix the cracks, then whatever comes up with making sure the guides are good, etc. $73 for the heads, $121 for parts, I'll guess about $300 to $350 for a solid set of rebuilt heads with good flow characteristics and a small combustion chamber with stainless valves and HD springs. Plus the cost of a new off brand dual plane intake manifold to fit at about $130. A new set might be had for about $620 a pair through summit. If you have the money, that's the way to go.

The heads are THE most important part for making engine power along with the cam. This should be a strong running engine. As long as I didn't mess something up.

[hgs_notes]

Spent a lot of time over the last week in the garage. Most of it was spent getting my heater converted back to gas. It took a few days extra while I waited for a manometer to get delivered for testing and adjusting. Anyway, it's working great.

The other time consuming thing was cleaning up the garage. Winter finally showed up and the wife want's her garage stall back. After parting stuff out and just piling it up, the garage was a disaster. It turned out ok, but the benches still need cleaned off so I can get the portable bench out.




Added a little more decoration. Couldn't sell it for the price I wanted, so I mounted the dash up on the wall. I'll probably add the gages and glove box door later.


There is some small progress to report though. The parts came in for the head upgrade.


And I got out the die grinder to clean up the ports a little. Nothing crazy here, I have no experience. I just did some common sense stuff like cleaning the cast flashing off in certain areas. In the intake ports, the bottom of the valve guide boss is machined, but the factory tooling left a ridge around the edge. I cleaned that up a little. I'll bring the heads back to the machine shop this week.

[71swb4x4]

Looking good!! Did you get the freezing rain today? What a mess this stuff is!

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by 71swb4x4

Looking good!! Did you get the freezing rain today? What a mess this stuff is!

Thanks. Yeah, I almost had my first fall of the year with my first step out of the house. I was not expecting it and was very lucky I didn't break my fall with the steps. Got the ice melter out right away and then it warmed enough to melt away.

The bad thing is they're predicting more sleet, freezing rain and snow and I'm supposed to drive to Nekoosa, WI then back up to Minneapolis tomorrow. Ick. It's a long enough drive in good weather.

[hgs_notes]

The machine shop is done working the heads. Turns out a full valve regrind was needed to clean the seats up so the costs went up. That's ok with me, considering the new parts and a rebuilt shortblock it's going on. Leaky valves would have been very disappointing. My wife will drop off the new parts for the assembly tomorrow on her way to work. The shop does not charge for assembling them because they would like to be sure the valves are lubed in the guides properly, springs shimmed, etc. I better get a move on buying the intake manifold. That's about all I need to finish the engine up. Do a little wiring and get the fuel hooked up and see what happens.

[hgs_notes]

Picked up my high dollar heads yesterday. Machine shop bill is right around $250. Thet did a crack repair, replaced a valve seat, honed the guides, full seat regrind, milled the gasket surface and full assembly. It was about $100 more than I had planned. The valve regrind might actually help HP a bit, because they ground out the lip around the intake valve from the factory job, which should help flow slightly and prevent detonation from the sharp edges that were around the valve seats. Might have slightly higher compression with the milling, but I think removal of some material with the valve seat grinding mill make up for some of that. I put a bid on an intake manifold but it'll be a week before that ends. If I can roll this thing into the garage during my xmas vacation, I might drive it back out!



You can just make out a spot at the 9 o'clock position where they installed a plug to remove the crack.

[VA72C10]

glad you got them back and they're good to go now. Sorry bout the unexpected expenses...that's why I haven't ever bought used heads. You scored them for a deal, but even with that it (as you mentioned) added up to nearly what a set of new ones run from ebay or summit.

[Tynee]

I'd fire your body man if he can't keep the overspray off the internals of the engine

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

glad you got them back and they're good to go now. Sorry bout the unexpected expenses...that's why I haven't ever bought used heads. You scored them for a deal, but even with that it (as you mentioned) added up to nearly what a set of new ones run from ebay or summit.

New ones would have cost another couple hundred at least. There are a few scenarios that could have happened. I could have used the set from the old engine as they were. They would work, they were cheap, that's about all the pros on that.

Or buy and use this set as is and rebuild them later. The one crack may have become a problem, it's hard to guess on those things.

I could have bought another used set for more money (lower mileage, junkyard guarentee) and maybe get lucky enough to use as is. The yards I asked quoted me about $270 to $300 a pair.

Or do like I did, but use the original hardware and save about $100.

But this engine is basically a rebuild on a budget with a few performance parts to increase the fun factor. Basic re-ring job with performance cam, upgraded heads with better valve springs and valves, performance intake and edelbrock carb. All together the engine is costing about $1000. I did it myself and I'm hoping it runs well enough that I'll be satisfied.

Originally Posted by Tynee

I'd fire your body man if he can't keep the overspray off the internals of the engine

OK, I'm fired.

[ERASER5]

What pistons are you using? Flat or dish? If dish, what -cc?

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by ERASER5

What pistons are you using? Flat or dish? If dish, what -cc?

They are dished and the ones that were in it. No idea how much, so I can't really estimate compression ratio.

I have the old engine I pulled out on the stand and it's a 4 bolt main 350. I'll rebuild that one later on. Depending on the condition of the block anyway. I've always wanted to build a stroker and I think that block will be a good candidate. Who knows, it may end up under these heads in this truck in a couple years. Or not.

[hgs_notes]

Wish I had more to report than the fact that I just ordered some parts, but that's all I got, plus a lot of excuses. Let's see, the weather (it really has been bad), christmas prep, work, motivation, etc...

I had tried to find a better deal on a used vortec intake, it just never worked out, so I broke down and bought the summit brand dual plane intake for the vortec today. I also ordered intake bolts, gaskets, chrome valve covers + bolts and gaskets, and a carb flange gasket. I didn't want to wait any more because I'm taking most of the rest of the year off to use up my vacation and wanted the parts here in time to work on it.

I've been thinking about using a points style distributor with an electronic upgrade because I don't like how tight the HEI cap is against the firewall. Anyone out there done this? Please comment if you have.

It would be nice to drive this out of the garage in a couple weeks.

[hgs_notes]

I got a bunch of parts delivered yesterday. Looks like I have what I need to button up the engine. ARP intake bolts, some quality gaskets, summit intake (looks good btw), new valve covers and bolts, etc. All for $225.


Now I just need to get this from here...


Into here...


Expecting up to another half foot of snow tonight. Yippee!

Someone called me the other day about buying some parts, we'll see if that works out. Getting rid of a double wall top maybe.

Total spent so far, minus parts sold recently, $3110.

[Putter]

Wow. I just found this thread and read every single page. Lots of work going on. Very inspiring, to say the least. Keep hacking away at it. I will keep following the progress. Getting closer to that finish line!!!