Finally….

Finally, some progress. I have no excuses and I have plenty of excuses….. lol  but at least things are moving ahead again. It was a beautiful day here in Phoenix today, so I opened the shop door and started to put the top end of the engine back together. I’d been soaking the roller rockers & lifters in 80w90 gear oil for a couple of weeks, to make sure they’ll have lubrication upon fireup. Today, I put oil in the pan, dropped in the lifters, pushrods and rockers, then spun the oil pump over several times with the drill. Good oil pressure, oil slowly getting to where it needs to be. Next is the time-consuming job of setting all the valves, which I’ll start on this evening.

I still need to dial in top dead center and install a timing pointer. After much consideration of a bellypan (and being advised against it by Steve at the Frameworks) I’ve very reluctantly decided to put on one of the frikkin’ diapers – and it’s going to be a REAL pain in the ass because of the extremely close proximity of the starter to the framerails…. but oh well. All the new shields and belts are installed along with new oil pressure and water temp gauges. The goal is to be running for the March 21 Standard 1320 Invitational and Ron Miller Memorial at Speedworld (which I’m now the Event Coordinator for). Lots to do, not much time.

Went to the Winternationals last weekend, really enjoyed only the Nostalgia stuff including the EXCELLENT Legends Dinner benefit for the Museum. The guests were: Don Prudhomme, Don Garlits, Bill Jenkins, Bob Glidden, Kenny Bernstein, Shirley Muldowney, John Force, Larry Dixon and Tony Shumaker – all of whom were outstanding!

I’ll keep on plugging along…. should get the diaper tomorrow I hope. Stay tuned.