Well, it sure has been a
long time. Hell, I was fresh out of high school the last time I posted here. I don't even know where to begin. Well, okay, we'll start here; The car's now in my name. Unfortunately, we lost Pappaw in 2022 due to a heart attack caused by lung cancer. My last conversation with him, mere minutes before he passed, was confirming the small block in his (now my) garage was in fact a 383 stroker. The whole family said for that brief moment, his voice was stronger than it'd been in some time. He also told my aunt Amy that he was never able to mess with this car and sort it out, and it was my car to fix. I miss him every single day.
As for the car, well... It's languishing. Badly.
The engine, as probably anyone who heard it, me included knew, ate the cam. I blame it on an oil change in 2015. Not long after, the car began knocking. Dad and I didn't know much about the car, and neither of us knew about ZDDP or why it would matter, so... yeah.
I've since got the oil pan off- a Milodon pan, nice- and confirmed the presence of glitter. I also got the timing cover off and found an old Comp 300H, instead of the 305H I was told it had. By a miracle, I found an NOS one on eBay that night, so it'll be running the same grind. Unfortunately, the brakes never got fixed, either, so it still needs to be swapped to discs when the engine goes back in. Which, speaking of, is going to a bare block... eventually. I was going to start here soon but I got laid off, so... no money. Again.
When it DOES go back together, I have a little surprise for it. No more Flowmasters.
(These were a truly idiotic purchase. I had
no money at the time and basically bankrupted myself over them two years ago. Young and dumb, I can be.
In the last ten years, I've had the traction bars redone, put more stickers in the windows, and dressed up the engine bay for motivation with M/T valve covers and Accel wires. Inside, I put a RetroSound radio and speakers in it. Yeah, literally nothing of note, I know. It was that old sillyness of 'well, it doesn't cost too much, and it helps give me an image of what I'm going for.' It should be noted these (windows stickers excluded) were also done before Pap left us and it was still assumed he'd be having the repairs done. I never pushed him on it, though. Never felt right to do so.
OH, by the by, the guy who put this 454 in it said he sold off the original 396 and 4 speed. So, if anyone out there has a block and 4 speed with the partial VIN 399642, you have my car's original stuff. I'd love to know if it's still out there 40 years later, but even if I had the money I don't think I'd want them back (well, maybe the transmission- that clutch pedal still gives me ideas...)
(I'm not sure now if General Discussion is the best place for this thread. I wouldn't really call it a restoration, since for the most part, I don't really intend to go back to factory anything, except the brakes will be the factory style discs... that this car never came with, and maybe rear springs if I get around to replacing them. Whatever the mods feel is the right place for a build thread, basically. If that's still right here, then fair enough!)
