[Vic1947]

Well the swap meet yesterday was uneventful. Only saw one 4 series posi and it was missing all the internals. By the time you bought what you needed, you'd have more in it than a new Eaton. Took a pass on that but did come home with some center caps for the wheels. Probably won't be what I end up with, but will work till I have time to design and machine some custom ones.

Picked up the engine on Friday. Block is a first gen 4 bolt main, .030 over 350. Heads are 062 casting Vortecs with a 3 angle valve job, new seals and springs but otherwise stock. They're setup to handle up to a .540 lift cam. Pistons are flat top Hypereutectics with coated skirts. Bob threw away my rods and scrounged up a better set which he reconditioned. Crank was ground and polished and rotating assembly balanced. Rings, bearings, gaskets, Melling oil pump were also in the box. CR came out between 9.7 and 9.8:1 according to the calculator. Probably closer to 9.8 as Bob also decked the block. I already have a Comp Cams kit and an Air Gap manifold for the Vortec heads. Just need to set aside some time to clean and paint the block, heads, water pump and etc. Then check and assemble it all.

Also have been busy getting the frame to look a little better. Ran a skim coat of filler on top of the rails in the area next to the inner fenderwells. Tooling marks and repairs left it looking pretty rough. Much better now that it's smoothed out and painted chassis black. Should be able to start assembling the suspension next week when the hardware gets back from the plating company.