Edelbrock Tuning

Sarah's '71 Chevelle has been running well......but not perfectly. Ever since I had the Edelbrock carb, it has suffered from a hot start issue. Once the motor is warm and you shut it off and leave it for a few minutes, it needs to crank over a lot before it fires up again. It also smells like a bad fuel leak, and there isn't any leaks! It is like it ran out of gas, and it is very annoying and embarrassing to keep cranking it over, and over and over.

So, I did a little homework (thanks Google!), and came to realize the design of the carb and the ethanol in the fuel lead to "boiling-over" the carb - basically overheating the gas and causing the fuel to either evaporate or spill out into the intake. I installed an Edelbrock #9266 heat insulator gasket which keeps the carb cooler, and this seems to have done the trick. While I was at it, I re-adjusted the transmission kick-down cable, and she now runs great again!

Stripping Chevelle

Now that the new engine is back from the machine shop and tucked away in the garage, I have started to strip the paint off the '66 Chevelle so that I can get busy on the bodywork. I am using Captain Lee's chemical stripper on the roof first to remove most of the paint. Then I'll clean it up and go over the whole thing with the DA when I'm done. I plan on doing the quarter panels first, then the windows, doors and fenders....at least that is the plan.

I took a break yesterday to paint an XBOX for my pal Scott, came out OK. I had a tiny bit of "Sunset Orange Pearl" from the Honda left over....just barely enough to cover the game console. Of course I always mix up too much clear-coat and then walk around and look for stuff to clear. I hate that.

Harley Tank vs. Small block

I have not blogged anything lately, because I've been busy holding up my end of the Harley paint job vs. small block swap. That is how I acquired the 350 for the '66 Chevelle. Pete had a little accident on his 2001 Harley when he was hit by a deer, and I offered to paint the bike for him. He picked out a real nice blue color, and after some extensive body repair work, we got it painted this past Saturday. I wet sanded down the tank today with 1500 grit so that he could take it to get the "Harley Davidson" air brushed on it. Then I will cover it with a few more layers of clear coat. It has been a lot of work, but worth it. I'll post a pic when it is done.

Meanwhile, over at the machine shop, Bobby has been busy rebuilding the motor. We decided to swap out the heads for some bigger valve heads, and changed the balancer/timing cover to fit the older style engine. Everything is ready, and I'll probably run down and pick it up next week.