Got my car running!

Not so new news anymore... but I got my car running 'bout month ago. During four months period, engine and trans got new life. All works was made by me, with just minor help from other people.

Original thought was to paint car, but when I was working with engine, I noticed that that idea was born dead... So now I had trans -plus- engine to repair.
New camshaft was needed, so I did not want to use old lifters anymore. New chain and gears were easy to replace at the same time. Chain is same one that big block Ford uses.

Old oil pump wasn't much worn out, but because I was already working on this, and parts were reasonably priced, I thought "whatta heck, I'll buy it"! New oil pump was installed...

Freeze plugs -which I had installed in 2004- were totally rusted out, few of them already spillin' water through them. Well, new freeze plugs were used. Also, I reworked heads. All valvetrain parts were cleaned also inside. Took quite a lot time to clean heads in and outside, waterpassages were cleaned also.
New waterpump was bolted on. Wouldn't need to, but my hot rod has same engine, and '57 had aluminum waterpump on it, so it was replaced with cast iron one, so aluminum one can now be polished for '31. 
New fuelpump was also used, because I had one unused layin' around in my garage. Old one worked, but was spittin' oil out sometimes...

New paint! Parts which are being hidden here, were painted earlier. Colour is not any already mixed colour, it was mixed between two already available colours, plus all metalflakes changed to bigger ones.

Reworked tri-power carbs also. It's simple as one-two-three. Anyone saying something else is wrong.

Put it all together... Looks great!
It is '57 364 cid nailhead with Offenhauser 3x2 intake (cast in 2002) ,vintage carbs, Eelco linkage, Offy fuel block, unknown fuel pressure gauge, vintage Mallory Rev-Pol distributor, valve covers designed by me and cast in Finland, and valley pan by me, cast in Finland. Polished all aluminum myself, including intake and distributor...

 Between them rails again!

First start!

Home at last! Got car running on tuesday, registerated in wednesday, and on thursday we went on a little trip to Sweden! So it was kind of hurry... Drove about 1000 kilometers, most of it in rain without wipers, and got back home also. It seems that engine and trans repairs were succesful!

Photos from Sweden trip coming later...

Basics of polishing aluminum

Or at least how I usually do it...

I have collection of vintage Mallory distributors, this one was back in the day marketed as "Double-Life". It has dual points, so same points have longer life... but you'll be buying two set of points anyway? ;)

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So I picked this from dusty shelfs in my garage. It has looked like this eversince I bought it.
This distributor fits for Pontiac from '55 to '81 until came GM HEI and too much electronic crap bolted under hood. It seems that this one has served in some 60's car, Pontiac used that colour in engine blocks by that time. At least in GTO's.

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As a start, I'm using 120 grit paper, idea is to grind down all casting flaws.

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Care should be taken on which way grinding happens. It should look clean also in this phase.

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Notice that tool has changed, between flaps of sandpaper, there are pieces of material which is good for buffing. Important is to grind just the opposite way than on previous sanding grit. That way you can see when previous grit's grooves disappear, and more fine, smaller grooves takes it's place.

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Even more fine sanding tools... and once again, sanding to opposite direction than on previous grit.

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Next comes felt which I'm using with polishing material...

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Starts to look ready but it is not...

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More fine felt is used for polishing... it makes surface to shine less brightly on this phase, but takes away possible residues of polishing material and that way gives aluminum equal shine around whole piece. Autosol is used to give aluminum it's shining back...

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What happened, where is my shiny distributor?!

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Well ok, here it is... Rubbing with clean cloth gives it that perfect final shine! No need to polish it from places which can't be seen, like underneath.

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