The 283 Rebuild Begins

[MacAttack]

Originally Posted by justcuz

How do you crack an intake manifold? Does this guy build hobby stock race engines? Old stock Chevy 2BBL intakes are worth bank to these guys for some reason.

Got the manifold back today - when the shop owner drove down to pick up the back-up '283'. The crack was right at the water neck. Typical hack (the guy that took my truck) and he'd over tightened the 3/8-16 bolts on the thermostat housing. What a schmuck. Anyway - good catch on the cam - and yes, we're going for just a minor bump above stock, for the sake of the 2-barrel's economy. About 75% of Eddings rebuilds are close to street-stock and the rest are marine and HP stuff. They have a heck of a reputation here in the Southland. It will all be good - in about two Saturdays.

On the engine compartment front: Finished the painting and detail today. Took all the wrapping off the wire looms and redid it with 3-M Friction tape - old school to the max. Then I coated it with Performix 'Liquid Tape'. Looks like showroom quality now. Can't wait for the new engine struts and motor mounts to arrive next week by UPS. Took 30 hours of scraping, sanding, primer and flat black to get the sheetmetal back to a decent condition. The amount of engineering that went into the assembly is phenomenal - even for 64/65 and the rust was (thankfully) very, very lite. Tomorrow I'll secure the wire looms with S/S clamps and take the idiotic clutch pedal assembly off. One day at a time.