Been busy.. Work, soccer, work more. Had a deal flop right in my lap earlier this summer. A customer of mine needed help selling a '56 Pontiac Chieftan wagon (not a Safari).
We made arrangements to yank it out of the shed it's been in for the last ten years (last ran 3 years ago that we knew) and had it hauled to my house. The NSRA Rocky Mountain street rod nationals were the following weekend. I washed the dirt off of it, charged the battery for a day and the Poncho fired up! Bonus! It was puking trans fluid like a stuck hog out of the front seal though. On the advise of my tranny guru I shoved a bottle of Lucas trans conditioner down it's gullet and topped it off with some fresh dex 6. Amazingly it slowed the leak from a big one to just an every now and again drip. Brakes stopped nice and even the A/C blew ice friggen cold! Plan was for my Dad and I to park it in the swap meet area, but we didn't want to get locked in there so I just put it in the show. Made two laps of the fairgrounds to find a parking spot with the a/c on full at an idle and it never got hot. Parked it, wiped off a couple of spots I missed in the dark and threw the for sale signs in it. Within 10 minutes I had people asking about it. By 20 I had one dude very seriously after it. By the end of the first hour a deal had been struck and I sold it. Made 10% on the deal and got to cruise it for the weekend.
Those proceeds put a needed shot in the arm of the parts procurement process. I've had some turmoil at the shop so needed time off hasn't come. But as per usual Larry's come to the rescue! He and I got the 8.1 fat block I traded him for the pcm and harness out of my garage last month. We moved the GMC front clip over to his place too to help unload it at the same time. Larry's cleaned and painted the block, mounted the accessory bracket and alternator. He sends me texts at work: Ran out of parts to install- bring me more! I dropped off more and we repeat the cycle.
This weekend I've ordered the engine swap brackets, the raptor liner and scored on a set of polyurethane motor mounts off of craigslist for $40 for the pair. Wrangled a set of H2 6.0l exhaust manifolds out of my Dad's stash and a fresh water pump too.
Before the interior goes together we have to spot blast the minor crust on the floor, weld up a couple of small holes and prep it for the Raptor liner. We can shoot the inside. Larry's already yanked some of the butchered wiring from under the hood and under the dash. We've got some other questionable crap to remove too. One more cleanup under the hood and some more tractor black paint and we can stab the 5.3 into place.
The train is starting to pick up some momentum. Whoo hoo! Big thanks to Larry for using some of his free time while I'm tied up!