Any Other Gearheads Out There?

I was born into a car/Jeep family. My parents owned a 1973 Ford Gran Torino, a 1995 Jeep Wrangler YJ, a 1987 Jeep CJ-5, and a 1998(?) Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ. We now own all Jeeps, including me with a 1995 Jeep Cherokee XJ and a 1956 Willys Pickup. I've worked on many vehicles, from installing lockers in differentials to rebuilding the 4-cylinder in my mom's YJ with my parents. That's my story, what's yours? You can post multiple times if you feel like it.

 

I'm pretty much the same but with firebirds, over the summer I pulled the engine out of my 79 and now it is in a million little pieces in the garage until I decide weather to keep the olds 403 and throw a 5 speed behind it or ditch it and put a 400 with a 5 speed behind it, I am a product of a car family as my dad has a 79 firebird trans am with an olds 455 and a turbo 350 in it , a 2000 firebird t/a ws6 with a 6 speed, a 94 eclipse gsx manual, and 04 silverado with a manual, my mom has a 2014 kia serento and I have a 1979 pontiac firebird with every performance option on it except the pontiac 400 with a 4 speed manual insead it has an olds 403 with a 3 speed auto

 

Had 1977 Mercury Grand marquis 4dr with 460 was my first car in High school back in 1994.. still have it but needs heavy restoration shes in a barn now with my other toys... i hope to restore her.. she needs a new frame.. has rot on the rear left and right.. tried to move her with the tractor and the rear axle came out. brakes were frozen and in dirt.... i was the black sheep of my family owning a ford.. my family had all 60's 70's Chyrsler/Mopars.

 

My uncle still has a bunch of older cars in PR. He keeps them running in pretty good shape. He has a '82 Jeep Laredo pickup, a '83 Toyota Celica Supra, a '89 Peugeot 405, '90 Mazda 323 hatchback, '91 Pontiac Sunbird 2dr manual, '92 Pontiac Grand Prix SE coupe, '92 VW Jetta Carat 4dr and a '09 Hyundai Accent 4dr or as they call it in PR, the Hyundai Brio. He mostly uses the hyundai as a daily so he won't ruin the other cars since they're becoming rare and parts are also becoming really rare, especially for the Peugeot which he uses the least. I was born and raised around lots of different cars so I'm open minded yo many types of cars.

 

In my opinion, you should keep the 403, not enough people in the hot rod community keep the factory engines in their cars. Dual carb tunnel ram intake with dual four-barrel Holleys....

 

I need to see if the block can be cleaned up because it was seized for a wile

 

I got a 1954 willys pickup with the continental flathead 6. Still original running gear, T90 3 speed etc
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Also 1997 mustang gt 4.6 2 valve 5 speed magnaflow exhaust. Pi head cam intake swap soon or Lincoln mark viii/cobra 4 valve swap still deciding. Two vw bugs all taken apart (baja bugs). And my dad has a 68 fastback mustang with a 5.0 and kenne bell 2.2 supercharger t56 6 speed Global West suspension. All are never ending projects

 

nothing is ever finished

 

Dude! That's awesome. I've got the flathead 6 in my Willys too. It has some valve float so it backfires like a bitch though. I want to do a 5.0 swap in it because I'm a Ford guy at heart, but an LS is cheap and easy to find and repair.

 

I have 1967 F100 Shortbed Project and a Daily a 1995 K1500.

 

If its a seized block... take rod and main bearings off and coat them with locktite if there in good shape and then fill the oil with atf.. also the cylinders .let it sit 24hrs and it should move free... this worked for me hundreds of times ~mechanic over 15yrs
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try adjusting the timing and also tighten the valve springs.. that sometimes solves the valve float in the low range with those flatheads.

 

If you want an affordable ls swap, try the LM7 5.3 engine from a 2001 and up Silverado,Tahoe, etc. They can be had fully dressed with harness for around $500. If oil pan doesn't work, use the F body oil pan. You can also run carb on it with the edlebrock intake and module (runs the crank trigger/ coil packs) very easy.

 

its already apart but the cylinder walls are a little rough

 

try adjusting the timing and also tighten the valve springs.. that sometimes solves the valve float in the low range with those flatheads

You have any pics of the cyl walls? you can hone each cylinder and then use new rings if the pistons are fine

 

If I LS swap it, I'll go straight to fuel injection because I want to four wheel it and carbs don't like off camber.

 

unfortunately not but I should be able to have the walls honed but I will probably replace the pistons because I have read that the stockers are crap and a few of mine haven't cleaned up very well

 

Gearhead here too. From Sweden which explains the lack of american influences.
Most JDM cars for me. Currently modifying a last generation Nissan Stagea. Before that a Skyline R32 Gtst for skidding about. Before that a 350z with a VH45DE in it (first ever finished in the world afaik). Other cars are R33 Gtst, R33 GTR, Toyota Aristo V300 (2jz-gte with a manual tranny swap), FD RX-7 and so on.
Ran a shop building and tuning JDM cars and engines. Built myself a forged rb2630dett for that R33 Gtst. Other than that most of my personal projects kept their bottom end sort of stock.
Almost enjoys building a car more than driving it.

 

Nice! i had a VH45DE in my old 95 Infiniti Q45 i think they call em Nissan Presidents elsewhere. but very strong motors!

 

Cool, we didnt get to have Infiniti that early here, earliest cars and engines is the VK45 from FX's. You had the series 2 VH (95-96) i assume, the better one of the two! Mine did come from Japan, out of a 96 President (with vtc or vct, cant remember..), low mileage and so on. That 350Z is now owned by someone only 100km (10 swedish 'mil') from here, hoping to see it now and then. Ye theyre really strong, thick as hell con rods, a beefy gurdle and what not!