Second birthday

It's our grand daughter's second birthday and there was a really big Corvette show nearby, but there was still enough time to Parkerize the bolts for the motor mounts.

As for the Corvette show, the best shark car had to be this unrestored 1970 454 four-speed A/C car in Donnybrooke Green.

Small jobs

The two motor mounts were restored as work began to strip the engine down.

The exhaust manifolds, motor mounts and ignition shielding were all removed while preparing the engine for rebuild.

Three and counting

Three of four wheels are on the car.

Jewelry

These lovely handmade synchronizers came in today along with a few other transmission parts from Paul Cangialosi, the master of the Muncie transmission. It's nice to know where to find the best parts - and it's really not even close - since there are a lot of options out there.

Sick as a dog, this is just about all that got done this week.

Arm wrestling match

In an attempt to avoid chipping paint off of the newly painted wheels, the second tire was wrestled onto the wheel without using the tire machine's mechanism. It was tough, but with a lot of soap and work, it went on.

With a little more soap and work and the beads seated and this second wheel was ready to put onto the car.

Installment plan

After a bit of struggle, the first of five tires is installed. The tire is narrow, so getting it to stretch and seat both beads took some doing. At first, a bead blaster seemed to be the plan that would work the best, but that didn't work at all. In the end, good old fashioned soapy water and elbow grease got it to go.

These tires are $400 each, so we're getting them one at a time as the budget allows. That's how everything has happened for this guy up until now and that's just fine.

Some more parts for the transmission came allowing the cluster gear and input shaft to be installed along with a new countershaft and new bronze bushings.

Shiny

The wheels were all painted black and then Argent silver. They look spectacular to be sure.

Right on cue, the first of five reproduction FR70-15 Firestone Wide Oval tires arrived.