Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Scotty]

We've had our Chevy for 11 years now and it looks exactly the same as the day we bought it, the difference being I've gone from end to end replacing, repairing and restoring as much of it as I can - and afford!
Every piece of chrome has been replaced, except the tail-light extensions as they look like they'll be a absolute bugger to get off, so I live with their "lived-in" look. I don't have any pictures of the work I've done as it never occured to me to take them, and really all you'd see is what it looked like before except it's now shinier or fresher.



Perhaps the more interesting part is my tracing of its history, which is the job I did in the dark, winter nights as it's too cold up here to work in an unheated garage. I discovered the car arrived in the UK in 1990 and was bought by a young guy in Blackburn, who didn't have it that long and in the end up the vehicle was swapped for other vehicles. It turns out the guy who got it was from all accounts less than willing to tell the truth about the vehicle because it was a Scot's guy who bought it next and discovered the transmission was shot - that's after the vendor delivered it up to Scotland, ate the meal provided for him and left with the cash without mentioning the car wouldn't shift gears! A very expensive rebuild took place and after another couple of years the car ended up in a car lot in Glasgow specialising in American vehicles.
At this time I was looking for a new project, having run an Upright Ford Anglia for about 6 years it was time for a change. By chance I'd wandered into the dealers and decided I liked the 1979 Cadillac sitting in the showroom - however the other half didn't when I took her over to see it, whereupon she decided I wanted the dirty old Chevy lying in the corner - at twice the price of the Caddy!

Since then I've been in contact with the last owners in the US, in Thornton, Denver, Colorado, where they sent paperwork to show that the original engine (283cu in) had been replaced with a rebuilt 350 cu in. The best part about this is not only the fantastic sound it makes, its also knowing the name of the guy who rebuilt it - Ricky Rivera.
I managed to get as far back as 1975 where the listed owners was a Martha Ray Logan, but the trail runs cold there. I've written to both MRL's in the telephone directory, but never received a reply - so that's where I'm at.



The car itself is pretty much stock, excepting the engine, transmission, brakes, interior, colour, back-end and wheels - in fact the only thing "stock" about it is the shape - and we love it!

[Uncle Joe]

Hi Scotty, I guess that you expected me to reply, didn't you? Its good to see that there is yet another on the forum with a taste for Detroit. It does look like a very nice Chevy you have.

How come you need 98 octane in it?

Regarding the post about my 300... (sixes, small blocks, big blocks) dare I mention that of my 3 yanks, two are big blocks, and the third a hemi?

[Stuchamp]

Very cool!
I'm a little partial to the '57's also.
98 octane??? A stock 350 should run just fine on 87%

[Uncle Joe]

stuchamp, I suppose that you already know this, but US 87 octane is the rough equivalent of 95 octane here in Europe, and European 98 is roughly US 91.... confusing isn't it?

[Scotty]

Hi guys,

Uncle Joe - one of the reasons I use octane booster is we can only get unleaded up here, nobody sells 4-star. The other is I'm friends with the Aston Martin Secretary here and one night when I was chatting with Roger I mentioned that the Chevy didn't run as well as it did when I could get 4-star. Roger then told me that local owners of Aston Martin's were in the same boat, but had discovered that Millers Octane Booster & Lead Replacement made all the difference. So I tried it, and the sparkle re-appeared, no more of what felt like soft acceleration, it returned to being like a whip being cracked.

Stuchamp - our unleaded gas octane quality in the UK is grim, we only get two levels - "Slow" & "Slightly Faster (but more expensive) than Slow".

And that's a whole heap of grunt you've got, especially the Hemi! I was once a passenger in a modified Ford 454 Big Block powered pick-up - turbine smooooooth!
These are a couple of pictures as it was getting built -

[Uncle Joe]

You do surprise me! My Lincoln runs very nicely on Unleaded 95, with no apparent problems, though I might change that when I lift the heads and see the valve seats! Its too early to comment about the 300, but from what I've seen so far, 98 plus lead additive seems OK, in spite ofthe fact that it is tuned.

Could it be so that the previous owner has gone a bit over the top tuning the 350?

[Scotty]

Hi UJ,

I don't think its over tuned, if anything its probably needing a good going over as I've never been able to find anybody I considered skilled enough to tune the 350 properly. I'm very guilty (which flys in the face of my restoration) of the old addage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", so I've stayed away on the most part from the very few companies up here who fix American vehicles. In Scotland I can count on two fingers firms that deal with American cars on a day to day basis, the rest are very much ordinary guys who have picked up the skills working on their own and then decide there's a living to be made working on other peoples vehicles. I'm not confident in taking my car to a guy who's going to learn how to set up my engine by trial and error. Don't get me wrong, these guys do a good job, its me being far too fussy!

The previous owners rebuild note states the engine was rebuilt to a Vette spec - however the lifters are still hydraulic, whereas I understand Vette lifters are solid. So I take the rebuild specs with a pinch of salt, although its been 20 years since its rebuild and it's never really given me a problem the 11 years we've owned it, except for the starter - and that's not really the engines fault.
The carb is a Holley 600, so that isn't too big and its mounted on an Edlebrock Performer inlet manifold, both intended for street use.

[buzzy bee]

Hi

I just want to say that I have zero knoledge of all things american, and you have totally lost me as far as all of the things you are talking about above!

That I am not to worried about, though I do like learning new things, but I like little quaint english machines at the moment anyway, as far as cars go anyway!

I was going to ask you probably a very simple question that most will giggle about, but what is the differences between big and small block and hemi, obviously size comes in somewhere!?

Cheers

Dave

[Uncle Joe]

Ah grasshopper, you ask simple question that has difficult answer!

Oversimplified, you can say that the difference is just the castings. Small blocks are one type of casting, engines up to say 350 cu in. Big blocks are the bigger castings, say from 350 upwards, though there is a bit of overlap nowadays.

Hemi simply refers to the shape of the combustion chamber on some of the more infamous (powerwise) Chrysler big block engines. They were (?) the first US engine with 300bhp in a road car, and capable of a lot more. Enough to be still used in competition today! Being expensive to produce, they were superceded by the 'Max Wedge' that I have mentioned previously. Max Wedges are again, still used competitively, which is no surprise. A Max Wedge engined 'B-body' (Polara) would cover a 1/4 mile in 12 secs., in 1961-2. Faster than most motorcycles! As one website puts it, 'fast enough to embarass a Dodge Viper!'

[buzzy bee]

Hi UJ

Thanks for enlightening me, I will have a read now I have an idea of what it is about!

Sounds pretty oarsome though!

I am partial to watch a litle stock car racing, f1's they have normally big blocks but one rather famous racer allways uses the small block to great sucess!

Cheers

Dave

[Uncle Joe]

buzzy, the Stock Car racing to watch is the american version, NASCAR, and if you like speedway, look out for the US version of that... I'm not sure if they still do, but once upon a time, they used to use Harley's that woluld go well over 100mph - on dirt!

[Scotty]

Hi bb,

I've been where you are.

I went from an 8 hp Upright Ford Anglia to an 8 mpg fire breathing monster - and the learning curve was rapid to say the least. Gone are the days of carrying a little Ford gearbox in one hand and now needing a trolley and cradle for the automatic transmission under this brute.

I wanted (in true Monty Python fashion) something completely different - so I decided a 5.7 litre V8 would be a little different. And I loved it!

I can absolutely recommend that if you get a bit jaded with the classic scene you're currently in (not implying there's anything wrong with what you're into) then go completely the other way. It forces you to learn a whole heap of new skills and gives you the opportunity to expand the groups of people you know.
I love the groups that own classic Americans - you meet the Hot Rodders, the Stock men, the Rock & Rollers, the Customised and my favourite group - the "I'm too cool to talk to anybody's!"

[Uncle Joe]

Scotty, I hope that 8mpg was just a figure of speech... I'm getting more than that with my big block Chrysler! If you want to see pictures of it, look under the topic 'Tracing a US cars history' on this part of the forum. If you look, let me know what you think.

I fully agree with you about the US car owners. I dont know how it is in the UK, but here there is a big social side thats a lot of fun with none of the 'we cant accept your choice' that there is with the classic european car owners. I'm just meaning here, not the UK, so I hope no-one gets offended!

UJ

[Uncle Joe]

Scotty, I just had a thought as regards your engine spec. Anything to start a discussion and get Buzzy even more confused:lol:

If I was building up a street 350, then I would have used a Holley 750 Vacuum. I would expect that the 600 would be a little to small, and could possibly be the reason that you need the 4 star.

I do have a reasoning behind this thought.

[buzzy bee]

Hi

I don't mind nascars but the f1's over here seemed to be fun to me as they are full contact, big engines and big contact!! I have veered away from them a little now, but still try to get to the world finals most years!

I think if you start a new thread on engine specs, you will have to start an aditional one just to explain all of the terms etc!

Cheers UJ and Scotty

Dave