mini
Small Bore Long Stroke
Amen to that.
408 Build Thread
- Thread starter BrianT
- Start date
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Oh I hear ya. It's just that I dropped off all of my parts 18 months ago. Now granted, I know that I stopped them from working on the project TWICE because of health/employment issues, but now I'm ready to go!
Lol. The speed shop/machinist I know,has a set of 460 Ford heads for a full port & valve job. The initial invoice write up date: 1989. He drops by,pays storage fees,LMAO......
moper
Well-Known Member
Yeah, but you told him to stop... twice. So if it was me I'd be wary of investing a ton straight away wondering if the bill can be paid. Maybe toss him a deposit (on top of what you have, if you have already) so he knows this time it's for real... You also might want to have him order the small parts. His markup helps him, and chances are the shipping and gas will be more than his markup...
I see your point, but I don't really agree; however, since BT had them stop work for a while then restart, I can see them being slow to get moving. I guess it depends on where you go, who you talk to, etc. The last block I had worked on only took a few weeks to get back...and that was just before race season when things are crazy. I have heard of folks that drop off their engines and don't see them again for 3 or more months....that just sounds too long to me, but I'm not a machinist so idk.
I'm not upset with the machine shop, just bitching out loud really. I realize that it was my fault that work had to be stopped, and I in turn lost my spot in line. These were legit reasons though, not just buyer's remorse or getting cold feet. I had a lump that I thought was cancer the first time and then my wife lost her job for 53 weeks. House, food and bills were my first priority.
As far as giving them more money to get them restarted, they have over $5k in parts in their possession that belong to me. I would think that would be pretty good collateral. As far as buying parts from them, they are supplying rings, all of the bearings, and the push rods. I have always paid them CASH and they know that I'm good for the balance. I will offer them some money when I run a few small parts out next week and see what happens?
As far as giving them more money to get them restarted, they have over $5k in parts in their possession that belong to me. I would think that would be pretty good collateral. As far as buying parts from them, they are supplying rings, all of the bearings, and the push rods. I have always paid them CASH and they know that I'm good for the balance. I will offer them some money when I run a few small parts out next week and see what happens?
moper
Well-Known Member
That's cool - priorities are always variable. I'd wager your parts have no collateral value to them. You bought and paid for them - they're only in their way or taking up shelf space...lol. Most shops I've dealt with considered that only if and when they got boned on payment.
Case in point - I wanted my driveway paved some years ago. It was getting late in the paving season and the work had been delayed because I had similar prioritization in my life at the time. But - when it cleared I sent them a $10K check for a deposit. The only reason they took care of me (and good care I might add) is that large deposit. Shops are no different.
A loser to home situation - a car I'm supposed to be doing steel work on - the owner is a family guy, and owns his own company. I'm at a stand still because there's no $$ for steel. Life happens, but I'm not cutting anything off until I have everything to put back. So it sits. No harm, no foul, it will get done when he can pay for everything. In the meantime it's taking up covered storage space from me but it's all still his car & parts. He can come get it any time.
If you want action - and I don't mean because they're just never working on it - you gave them reasons in this case so I don't want that confused with the "paint-shop-jail" posts or anything - then show them you're capable and serious. I'd sugest tossing them a chunk of the labor estimate.
Case in point - I wanted my driveway paved some years ago. It was getting late in the paving season and the work had been delayed because I had similar prioritization in my life at the time. But - when it cleared I sent them a $10K check for a deposit. The only reason they took care of me (and good care I might add) is that large deposit. Shops are no different.
A loser to home situation - a car I'm supposed to be doing steel work on - the owner is a family guy, and owns his own company. I'm at a stand still because there's no $$ for steel. Life happens, but I'm not cutting anything off until I have everything to put back. So it sits. No harm, no foul, it will get done when he can pay for everything. In the meantime it's taking up covered storage space from me but it's all still his car & parts. He can come get it any time.
If you want action - and I don't mean because they're just never working on it - you gave them reasons in this case so I don't want that confused with the "paint-shop-jail" posts or anything - then show them you're capable and serious. I'd sugest tossing them a chunk of the labor estimate.
I sold a scooter on CL today and have a fistful of bucks for a change so I called Doc at the machine shop today to tell him that I have the money to proceed with the engine and the first thing he said was "Were your ears burnin?!?". He proceeded to tell me that Mike is ready to balance my rotating assembly. He wants to get it done before he leaves for a couple of weeks. After that, Doc can complete the heads and the rest of the assembly. He said it should be ready to tune on the dyno in 3-4 weeks when Mike gets back! I really wasn't expecting it that quickly but think I should strike while the iron is hot and get this thing paid off and done. I'll still have a few items to buy after the machine work is done such as exhaust and converter.
He told me to get the Kevko pan and pickup ordered but when I called them this afternoon they were already closed. I'll try again tomorrow and get these parts ordered. As soon as they get to my house I'll gather up ALL of the parts that I've gathered in the past 5 years and take them to the machine shop. Doc said not to worry about giving him any money but I have an envelope with his name on it.
Sounds like things are gonna move pretty quickly, I need to get started on the engine compartment. The weather has been too cold for me to work in the garage but hopefully if it warms up soon, we can get back out there and do some stuff. The engine compartment still needs to be sanded and painted. I have new wiring to go back in there. Still have to deal with getting the Champion radiator and fans installed and wired. Plenty to do I guess?!?
He told me to get the Kevko pan and pickup ordered but when I called them this afternoon they were already closed. I'll try again tomorrow and get these parts ordered. As soon as they get to my house I'll gather up ALL of the parts that I've gathered in the past 5 years and take them to the machine shop. Doc said not to worry about giving him any money but I have an envelope with his name on it.
Sounds like things are gonna move pretty quickly, I need to get started on the engine compartment. The weather has been too cold for me to work in the garage but hopefully if it warms up soon, we can get back out there and do some stuff. The engine compartment still needs to be sanded and painted. I have new wiring to go back in there. Still have to deal with getting the Champion radiator and fans installed and wired. Plenty to do I guess?!?
6pkScamp
Well-Known Member
It took over a year to finally get mine completed. I showed up at the shop every couple of weeks, made phone calls in between visits and paid for parts and machine work as it was completed. I finally had to get an attitude to get it finished.
Sorry to hear about that. There are no hard feelings here at all. I needed to back away from the project and paid them what I owed them. They were fine waiting on me, and soon this project will be running again.
As soon as my pan arrives, I'm taking this pile of parts out to them. Hopefully by the end of next week. New balancer, springs and retainers, chain tensioner, water pump, fuel pump and other misc small parts.
As soon as my pan arrives, I'm taking this pile of parts out to them. Hopefully by the end of next week. New balancer, springs and retainers, chain tensioner, water pump, fuel pump and other misc small parts.
Duane
Well-Known Member
I feel for you on the divorce. I went through this as well and my car was parked for 9 years before I was able to play with it again. I feel I did well to have hung on to it. Lol
I ordered the Kevko pan and pick up today. They were in stock and should be here by the middle of next week. I'll run everything out to the machine shop then. I want to go over all of the little things that we talked about doing to the engine when the project began two years ago. Doc has a notebook that he uses to keep track of each build, but I still want to make sure that we are all still on the same page.
Sweet, progress !
Just read two and a half years of an engine build. Nice work keep it going.
****, I'm on a roll! More progress was made on the project today. For those of you that haven't been following along, the previous owner cut the crap out of my core support so that he could put a great big radiator in there that hung way down and was a prime target for speed bumps, rocks etc. Rather than replacing the whole core support, I decided to install this core support stiffener from USCartool.
I bought some aircraft stripper and proceeded to go at the bottom of the core support with brushes, scrapers and a scotch brite pad and this is what I ended up with three beers later.
I put the stiffener in place and held it there with a few C clamps while I proceeded to bang it into its final resting spot with a large dead blow hammer.
It'll probably need to be heated up with a flame to get it to it's final fitment when the guy comes over to weld it in. Member VOETOM's brother is going to bring his equipment by and weld it in for me hopefully by next weekend. I need to get some primer on all of this bare metal ASAP.
I bought some aircraft stripper and proceeded to go at the bottom of the core support with brushes, scrapers and a scotch brite pad and this is what I ended up with three beers later.
I put the stiffener in place and held it there with a few C clamps while I proceeded to bang it into its final resting spot with a large dead blow hammer.
It'll probably need to be heated up with a flame to get it to it's final fitment when the guy comes over to weld it in. Member VOETOM's brother is going to bring his equipment by and weld it in for me hopefully by next weekend. I need to get some primer on all of this bare metal ASAP.
I took some parts out to the machine shop today and went over a bunch of stuff that we had talked about a long time ago. Things like what were going to do to the Edelbrock heads, etc. I asked if my rotating assembly got balanced this week, Doc said no, but it's all mocked up and he made sure that he had the Mallory metal in stock for it. I also dropped off an envelope with a substantial amount of cash in it to sweeten the deal and hopefully get them a little more motivated.
I have a guy coming by tomorrow to weld in the core support stiffener, so I took it all back apart and coated the areas that are going together with weld thru primer. I figured with two pieces of raw steel being welded together, there would be no way to inhibit rust once the welding was done. I was very careful to only prime where the two pieces would be up against each other as it was explained to me that any exposed primer would have to be removed because regular primer or putty won't adhere to it. I bought the 3M weld thru primer at an automotive paint supply store and it was $25 for a rattle can!!!
I have a guy coming by tomorrow to weld in the core support stiffener, so I took it all back apart and coated the areas that are going together with weld thru primer. I figured with two pieces of raw steel being welded together, there would be no way to inhibit rust once the welding was done. I was very careful to only prime where the two pieces would be up against each other as it was explained to me that any exposed primer would have to be removed because regular primer or putty won't adhere to it. I bought the 3M weld thru primer at an automotive paint supply store and it was $25 for a rattle can!!!
Mad Dart
Nothing to see Here!
Glad to see you are back at it. Delays are usually Time, Money or both!
The core support brace is welded in and I've started stripping the engine compartment. My painter came by the other night and says that all I really need to do is scuff everything up real well and he'll take it from there. He's gonna shoot it with some adhesive promoter and then a layer of primer. We'll see what it looks like with the primer on it and see where we need to do a little more smoothing. Here's a shot of Joe welding the brace in.
I got a bonus from my company last weekend for reaching my twenty year anniversary! They gave me a $500 gift card which I immediately turned around and spent on parts for the Dart. I bought Poly Loc engine mounts and a transmission mount.
I also bought a PRW SFI rated flexplate. It was $35 cheaper than the B&M piece I had been planning on buying and several other members have had success with it.
I also bought a set of TTI reducers for my headers.
I also scored some misc ARP bolts, a new dip stick and tube, and a good carb base gasket.
I got a bonus from my company last weekend for reaching my twenty year anniversary! They gave me a $500 gift card which I immediately turned around and spent on parts for the Dart. I bought Poly Loc engine mounts and a transmission mount.
I also bought a PRW SFI rated flexplate. It was $35 cheaper than the B&M piece I had been planning on buying and several other members have had success with it.
I also bought a set of TTI reducers for my headers.
I also scored some misc ARP bolts, a new dip stick and tube, and a good carb base gasket.
Mad Dart
Nothing to see Here!
Those poly loc mounts won't last long. Pretty sure a couple members here with strokers put the hurting to them and tore them within a couple weeks. Solids will be on your menu.......
While I'm waiting on parts and the machine shop I decided to get a little work done on the engine compartment. My painter came over and looked at it and said that the paint that was on there hasn't started to flake or peel in the seven years that I've owned the car, so we should be able to get by with just a good scuff instead of going all the way to bare metal. There's a few areas that will require him to grind out old filler and redo it, but only three or four small areas.
The weather was decent last weekend, so my buddy Gary came over and we went at it with Scotchbrite pads. Took about three hours (and about 12 beers) to do everything, but it came out looking pretty decent.
While we were standing around admiring our work (and finishing the twelve pack) he talked me into pulling the wiper motor for a little cosmetic reconditioning. It's 48 years old and showing it's age, so off it came. Member Rocky_JS is going to take it all apart, blast it clean, paint the motor housing and grease the internals for me. Hopefully that is all he finds when he tears it apart.
Maybe the weather will be warm again soon, and I can get my bodyman back over here to get started on the rough areas.
The weather was decent last weekend, so my buddy Gary came over and we went at it with Scotchbrite pads. Took about three hours (and about 12 beers) to do everything, but it came out looking pretty decent.
While we were standing around admiring our work (and finishing the twelve pack) he talked me into pulling the wiper motor for a little cosmetic reconditioning. It's 48 years old and showing it's age, so off it came. Member Rocky_JS is going to take it all apart, blast it clean, paint the motor housing and grease the internals for me. Hopefully that is all he finds when he tears it apart.
Maybe the weather will be warm again soon, and I can get my bodyman back over here to get started on the rough areas.
acpat
Well-Known Member
This build will get interesting I am sure. Best of luck
dstemmerman
1972 Dart Swinger Denver
I was reading your story and realized you were talking about Pat and Clyde. I grew up in Lawrence and they machined my first cough*Chevy*cough small block in 1989 or so. I still remember watching them race their 340 Baracuda fastback in Topeka. Great shop and great knowledgeable guys.
The core support brace is welded in and I've started stripping the engine compartment. My painter came by the other night and says that all I really need to do is scuff everything up real well and he'll take it from there. He's gonna shoot it with some adhesive promoter and then a layer of primer. We'll see what it looks like with the primer on it and see where we need to do a little more smoothing. Here's a shot of Joe welding the brace in.
I can't believe your buddy was welding in sweat pants and tennis shoes.
Welding sparks hurt.
Yeah, they are Mopar guys to be sure. Clyde has passed away but Pat is still there doing all of the machine work. Doc handles the front office and does some head work and assembly.
You see where I was standing?!? I really didn't care what he was wearing. It was his welder and he's a big boy.
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