276 stroker from 35 years of parts

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by Ziggster

I went with Dupli-Color Ford Gray engine paint. Like the way it tuned out.

[GB SISSON]

Terry and Ron both. Your ingenious methods, along with your 'can do' attitude is to me the heart and soul of this great hobby. There are many, many ways to enjoy our cars (and trucks , but I am happiest when I'm solving problems with what I have around the place. Thanks for the inspiration. I love both of the block colors shown above. Since my wagon is far from an original vehicle it's great to have the freedom to choose such things.

[GB SISSON]

Reading those links above to older threads, it's great to 'see' some of the folks who aren't with us anymore. Time seems to pass so quickly now and so I'm very glad to be spending so much time doing the Ford projects I love. I am going to the swap meet tomorrow at the state fairgrounds in Monroe. I will look up Mike 'duece roadster' as he has a booth. I would like to meet up with any of you barners that will be there too. I have not been to any swap meet in about 4 years.
My copper big bore gaskets came today, but I did not get a chance to do anything but open the box. Decided I should fix the wipers and tail lights on my 'over town' rig before I got on the ferry in the morning. Anyhow, would enjoy meeting some of you. Thanks, GB

[GB SISSON]

Swap meet was a great outing, but too short. Working between first ferry off the rock and last one back, then the driving... Got a used set of 8rt pumps for ten bucks that feel tight and an oil bath with the right base for my 1 1/16th model 94 and a few other parts. Woke up early today and my brain was designing jigs and fixtures to mechanize the bowl shaping in my EAC heads. I had a good start by hand but lusted after those machined surfaces produced by Terry and Ron with their shop made cutters. My shapes were getting close, but I wanted an abrasive of some sort to grind my way evenly to that .040 .050 quench area that follows my new pistons. I figured I'd turn a wood plug with the piston crown shape. Cut slots in it for sanding belt strips and somehow introduce it into the piston dome/cumbustion chamber. But how to center it? How to hold the upside down head correctly on my drill press? Slowly it came to me. I already had the fixture I needed. With my new contour gauge I selected the perfect tool that would now hold the adhesive 'peel and stick' sandpaper strips and mimic the shape of the crown on my .125+ pistons. This became my bowl grinder. But how to hold the head perfectly centered and concentric to my new grinder? It would need to be a pretty substantial fixture to hold this spinning abrasive tool steady while pressure was applied to the cast iron bowl. ... To be continued

[GB SISSON]

I have a couple well worn .030 blocks and pistons. I found that with 60 grit adhesive sandpaper on a .030 piston, the contour is exactly the same as my .125's crown. I have a ton of rods so I cut one off and welded a 7/16" bolt on for my drill. Bolted one of the merc heads on, rolled the old block upside down and gave it a try. 3 items of note.
1) there is a step in the top perimeter of this junk piston that keeps the paper from grinding the last 1/8" from bowl's O.D. I leveled that step with epoxy tonight for tomorrow's run.
2) I had to cut a notch outa the junk pistons skirt so I can tilt the piston around some close bearing boss' and introduce it from bottom of cylinder.
3) I need to leave a dime sized 'no sandpaper zone' on top of the bowl grinder piston tool, but what you see was done with this sandpaper configuration. This will leave a center hump that I can carve out later with my angle grinder.
I unbolted the head and tested what you now see with a combination of foil balls and foil snakes and I'm 1/2 way to where I wanna be on this initial attempt. The areas with .018 quench are now about .025. As you can see, most of the meat is coming out of the middle ground. I'm cautiously optomistic, but happy with the initial findings. To be continued.

[Mart]

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That's about the craziest but CLEVERIST thing I ever saw! Great work GB!

[Bored&Stroked]

Poor man's doming tool! Love it!

[cadillac512]

Love it! Gary, you are a thinker. You constantly invent ways to get the job done with whatever you have on hand, and it's with impressive results. Well done.

[Als48]

Wow, GB! That is impressive. Keep up the good work.

Al H

[GB SISSON]

Wow guys. That's a vote of confidence if there ever was one. My epoxy is cured but alas, I have some house fixit projects I promisecd I'd help my wife with this morning. (But she does go to work at 10:30) so there's a pretty good chance I'll be spinning the piston again shortly after that

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

I have a couple well worn .030 blocks and pistons. I found that with 60 grit adhesive sandpaper on a .030 piston, the contour is exactly the same as my .125's crown. I have a ton of rods so I cut one off and welded a 7/16" bolt on for my drill. Bolted one of the merc heads on, rolled the old block upside down and gave it a try. 3 items of note.
1) there is a step in the top perimeter of this junk piston that keeps the paper from grinding the last 1/8" from bowl's O.D. I leveled that step with epoxy tonight for tomorrow's run.
2) I had to cut a notch outa the junk pistons skirt so I can tilt the piston around some close bearing boss' and introduce it from bottom of cylinder.
3) I need to leave a dime sized 'no sandpaper zone' on top of the bowl grinder piston tool, but what you see was done with this sandpaper configuration. This will leave a center hump that I can carve out later with my angle grinder.
I unbolted the head and tested what you now see with a combination of foil balls and foil snakes and I'm 1/2 way to where I wanna be on this initial attempt. The areas with .018 quench are now about .025. As you can see, most of the meat is coming out of the middle ground. I'm cautiously optomistic, but happy with the initial findings. To be continued.

[Ray in La Mesa]

Down here on the southern border(not to be racist) but the old school description of your jig would be mexicaneering. So KOOL!

[GB SISSON]

Pete, I'll pencil you in for time and a half as yer working overtime on this thread, and Ray you know what a climb it is just to reach my place, no wonder I need a tight squish. I have always marveled at the way the third world makes use of what recources they have. For instance the old US cars in Cuba, and those outboard motors in SE Asia with an 8' long propeller shaft coupled to a 4 cyl toyota diesel mounted on a swivel on the transom. Is it 10:30 yet?

[flatford8]

I knew you were gonna make this better than ANY TV show!!.......fine job ‘Ol Boy.........Mark

[GB SISSON]

Originally Posted by flatford8

I knew you were gonna make this better than ANY TV show!!.......fine job ‘Ol Boy.........Mark

Ya mean where the guys are 'building' a street rod and three pallets of boxes arrive with the mustang 2 front clip and all the other bolt on goodies?

I got one head all dialed in and I'm happy with it. I was surprised at the amount of material that still needed to be removed. My surfacer is rather slow at removal, but it always showed me what was high and low. Sometimes I'd use the grinder to go deeper where I needed to, as it was much faster. Then follow up with the piston headed bowl grinder to take out my highs and lows. In the end I left room for a light polish with a fine flap disc, thinking maybe less carbon if it's smooth.

[Bored&Stroked]

You are going to be surprised how well this new engine runs! Can't wait to hear about it. You better take a video of the "first fire" and "first drive" with it.

[GB SISSON]

Originally Posted by Bored&Stroked

You are going to be surprised how well this new engine runs! Can't wait to hear about it. You better take a video of the "first fire" and "first drive" with it.

I certainly plan to do that and will get it onto my youtube channel. I haven't put anything on there for over a year. I still have parts to order and then there's the whole T5 thing to deal with. I have been working on my hybrid driveshaft but I'm at the point where I need everything in to get the final length. Of course I'll have to fabricate a cross member for the transmission too. I have 5 grandkids looking forward to the Fourth of July parade in the woodie. If all is not complete by that date we can always field the foyota.

[38 coupe]

This is fun to follow. Please post pictures of a head in the process of being corrected with your piston doming tool.


Also, personal preference, (please ignore if you have different inclination) I have generally favored greens and blues for engine color, it just seems more interesting than bright colors or grays / blacks. I suggest the darker Ford blue that is commonly available at auto parts stores (at least it used to be) that happens to be similar to the post-war blue Ford used on the flatheads.

[GB SISSON]

Originally Posted by 38 coupe

This is fun to follow. Please post pictures of a head in the process of being corrected with your piston doming tool.


Also, personal preference, (please ignore if you have different inclination) I have generally favored greens and blues for engine color, it just seems more interesting than bright colors or grays / blacks. I suggest the darker Ford blue that is commonly available at auto parts stores (at least it used to be) that happens to be similar to the post-war blue Ford used on the flatheads.

I'm hoping to start the passenger side head today and will take photos. I continue to refine my process as I get a handle on how best to use this contraption. I learned that it is very helpful to grind out most of the material with the angle grinder using my coarse worn and rounded abrasive wheel. The 'doming head' wants to cut aggresively where it's rim speed is the greatest and the crown area, being far less aggressive holds the progress back, so I grind out extra there. Also the contour gauge has become increasingly useful and tells an amazingly accurate story of where I am in the process. Terry suggested it was rather crude, and as a career woodworker I always thought of them as a 'homeowner's gimmick' so never bought one. I was wrong. On the first head I never used it until I got close to the end. After well over a hundred foil balls and strips (for one side) I did a final check of bowl with the gauge and it matched up very well. There is the matter of the .052 compressed gasket not being in there for that test, but the foil with my .052" hardwood slats proved to me I no longer had any areas that were under .040" squish. The piston headed abrasive spinner did an excellent job of chasing down the highs and lows and bringing conformity to my work. To be continued.....

[Bored&Stroked]

Yeah, a contour gauge is a very handy tool for many different things - especially fabrication with tubing and other such fun!