Well, as my buddy Martin is not as much of a reporter as I am, I think this will fit into my thread as he will ultimately be involved in my trucks bodywork as an advisor and trouble shooter (trouble maker)
He has been looking for a V8 engine to go into his truck for quite some time.
Martin's truck is going to be a lot of show and less go as he does not need a 400BHP monster.
He found a seller on Rods n Sods recently who was selling a 307ci motor with auto box for sensible money and decided to drive the 180 miles there to go look at the motor and see it all in the 57 Chevy truck it is in at the moment. The motor and box were from a Chevy Caprice wagon Roger broke a few years ago.
So on Saturday morning, armed with some wood, hammer, nails, tie down straps, overalls, gloves and a bag full of food and coffee,with my trail bike trailer behind his dog walking Mondeo ST estate we set off at 05.40 to drive up to Derbyshire......Heated seats were a bonus.
Stopped after 2 hrs for the loo....
We got to the sellers home at exactly 09.00 and found a real petrol head and his wife living there.
Roger has had some Street Machine featured cars, including a mad Orange SAAB years ago, tubbed and madly modded, which lives in Germany now. He still has a bunch of varied Saab's and is a keen old skool Scooterist with a bunch of stunning Lambretta scooters as well as some projects that are in process.
First to meet us was this Saab pickup, made from a Saab 7 seater estate that he saved years ago and uses as a general runnabout.
Front view.
Chopper in process.
Beauty.
Saab with Ford V4 power. Another one of his winners.
The guy really does love his toys to look good.
And another Saab in process, that will end up like all his other spotless examples...... Leadsled with 3500cc Rover V8 with a blower on top.
Should make for an interesting car.
Having seen and heard to motor run and move under its own power, Martin agreed to buy it.
The deal was good for Martin with the engine and gearbox being unbolted from the truck and sold as it was with all ancillaries including power steering pump etc.
Roger also threw in a pair of Kenlowe fans, a massive radiator with integrated oil cooler, a prop shaft and other bits for the build.
One of the biggest scores of the day was a pair of block hugger headers that Roger gave to Martin along with the motor they were fitted to.
Having all the bits n pieces from its original Smog control still on the carburetor etc, Roger had built from heavily layered glassfibre a nice under bonnet scoop to cover all the unsightly bits and pieces.
From the time we landed Martin could not keep his eyes or hands off this piece that bolts down over everything..... in the end he convinced Roger to sell it to him for £75.00 which I thought was a great price as you could not make it for that money.
Rogers truck.
Clean bay before removing the motor and box, and I have to say, not a mark on any of the paint after all was done and removed.
Time for a change of Face.....
Martin trying so hard not to buy the scoop.....
Ready to rock n roll....
Strapped down, one of the hooks still managed to make a bid for freedom by the time we filled the car a couple of miles later.
The rest of the road trip was filled with talk, driving and eating all the food we had brought alon.
Got to Martins place, moved the truck out the way, unhooked the trailer and stashed it behind the truck.
The engine will go into the garage once he moves his V-Rod to his mums garage and makes space to store the engine till he is ready to fit it.
That's all for now.
Hopefully Martin will pull finger and start his own build thread some time.