by Mike » 2014 Aug 16 Sat 6:51 pm
Well...got my rocker arms from Harland Sharp...not too impressed, but I guess the price reflects what I received.
The adjuster cup diameter doesn't fit the Stude push rods, 5/16" adjuster cup vs. 3/8" push rod ball...! So...off looking for 3/8" cup adjusters. Seems there's not much out there in that diameter. T&D has adjusters that will work, but they are 10 bucks apiece.
I called Smith Brothers Push Rods, they will make me exactly what I need in a push rod for...9 bucks each..! So...I sent off a Stude pushrod (today) as a sample to make me a set of pushrods with 3/8" ball on one end and 5/16" ball on the other end, OEM length . Actually I asked for a touch longer. So HOPEFULLY, in a coupla weeks, the engine WILL be sorted out and finally ready to put between the fenders...!
I think I've figured out how the main wiring will be layed out and have ordered a length of #8 wire as the main power source. It will come from the battery (under the back seat) thru the shifter box, thru a false trans. tunnel to the firewall.
Yea, since there will be a few wires going from the firewall to the back of the car interior, I decided to build a false transmission tunnel from the shifter to the firewall. I just took a piece of sheet steel, spent a "while" forming it into a big cone of sorts. My next task will be to weld it to the existing trans. tunnel. So now I'll have a nice clean smooth shape for the Dynamat and or carpet (if I get that far..!) to go over. So now I'll have room for about any size or quantity of wiring that needs to go from front to rear. And it looks better than the stock tunnel too. It's about 1" higher than the highest part of the stock tunnel at both front and rear of the tunnel.
Since I don't want a bunch of screws sticking thru the firewall from mounting the fuse box and ignition box, I found a REALLY sticky double-backed tape to "tape two boxes to the interior firewall. I think it's actually just Butyl tape, just like the Dynamat is.. And once stuck down...it ISN'T comming off. So I'd better have it right first time. The fuse box is mounted currently, and I'll stick the MSD box on tomorrow after I put some black paint on the existing Dynamat. got to paint the firewall first then stick the box down on a nonpainted spot so the tape is stuck to the clean Dynamat...not paint.
I found some rust comming thru the engine compartment paint. So I wire brushed it to clean off all the rust from the bare metel and maybe get it recoated tomorrow.
Spent some time woring on the Lark today. It had a nasty sqeak that popped up in the drivers door a few weeks ago. It kept getting worse, so today I took the door panel off and oiled/WD-40'd everything in the door. Around the block I went....quiet as a proverbial church mouse.
All for now.
Mike
UPDATE -
Managed to get the false transmission tunnel welded in before it got too hot out. Even getting an early start, I was welding inbetween sweat drops into my eyes..!
It''s interesting on just how NON-symetric the trans. tunnel actually is. While it looks a "little" off, a piece of tubing (my false cover), doesn't lie about the shape of the cars tunnel.
One other thing...there's no place to set a drink anymore..! The flat on the stock tunnel is buried under a new piece of sheet steel.
Mike