That really looks good Jim. I agree, the front cover in natural aluminum along with some detail on the pulleys would really make it look sharp. How much weight are we talking about now with the aluminum heads and intake? Like you said, except for some of the aftermarket aluminum BB Chevys, we're probably going to set a nice mark for pounds per cubic inch in the motor. If we can get some good photos of our project collected into a managable folio it would be nice, then we could present that to prospective donors so that they could see what we've accomplished. I'll try to go back through the ones posted here and get those together, but we probably will still need a few more up to date shots and details. I'll put together an album on one of the photo sites so everyone can take a look.

QuoteI'll put together an album on one of the photo sites so everyone can take a look.

That sort of album is exactly what our message board's "Project Journal" section is for...

Curtis, what I have in mind is a presentation (Power Point) that we can give to potential donors. I would reference this board as well as the Project Journal or Roadmaster article as well. Short and to the point without all the technical detail that we gearheads like, but enough to let them know that the project is for real and worthy of their support.

Here's the link to the draft Power Point slides I've created. This should be a good basis for a nice presentation to a prospective donor. http://picasaweb.google.com/kcmidget/ProjectRoadmaster?authkey=IfTo82k2quY#

The slides I see on Picasa are only 406 by 304 pixel jpgs, and clicking on them doesn't enlarge them.

If they were in our Project Journal section, they'd appear 600 pixels wide. With our forum software, if the actual image files are larger than 600 wide (e.g. 700 pixels wide) then clicking on them would link automatically to the full-size version.

I love what you guys are doing. It really helps a lot.

I was hoping someone who was at Ted's would report back here but I guess the cold weather has everybody's fingers frozen. We had a mildly stressful return trip what with the rampant black ice and a misfire that developed 80 miles from the end. Hopefully that isn't anything serious, I see the InTech motors had coil-on-plug issues. Hopefully I'll know in a few hours. I'm used to snow. Roads that look normal but turn you sideways for no good reason, not so much, and we had quite a few miles of those to cover. 50-60 mph on that kind of a surface gets you a little tense, but we actually had more of a close call on the way up when emergency vehicles on the side caused traffic to stop and the Mercury behind us wasn't paying real good attention. But no harm done.

I guess there were about 30 people there, mostly the core group of dedicated conversion enthusiasts, at least those who could brave the weather and the distance and the schedule conflicts. Attendance was down a bit. Others can fill y'all in on stuff not Roadmaster related, so I'll concentrate on that. The first thing Steve DeGroat and I did was bring in the new aluminum heads and set them on the bench, where they quickly drew a crowd and much admiration. Steve and I had hoisted the engine into the new GT before packing the heads away, and took a photo and I carried that diskette around in my jacket pocket all weekend and then it disappeared. I think it may be in the floor of the truck and I'll look for it when I go out to plow the snow off the driveway later. What it shows is that we will have to do the steering column mods as anticipated but we gained an unexpected advantage on the exhaust. We knew we would pick up a couple inches per side on the width but what we didn't consider was that the ports are also nearly an inch higher than stock. This very neatly puts us above that bottom curve in the inner wing. I may have a surprise in the works on the headers but won't know about that until later.

We also weighed the bare heads, and they came out at about 27 lbs. I have the exact number but that's within a pound. I'll try to remember to weigh a bare 430 head for comparison. The ports are quite large and straight but would benefit from some light porting to remove edges and such. Just for fun we bolted one of them to Pete's plastic LS block but the cylinder spacing was way off.

As before, we had our winter meeting after breakfast at the Big Boy restaurant in Wayland the next morning, where matters discussed largely centered on the budget. Regrettably our Secretary had to return home and was not in attendance so we have no minutes and I certainly cannot remember what all we talked about, but discussion largely centered on the budget, t-shirts, and web development. We had donations of $140 at Ted's and it didn't occur to me at the time but perhaps we can get some feedback here.

Do you think we should pass the hat at the conclusion of business in our semi-annual meetings?

It seems this might be a good way to raise some funds, but I don't want to do anything to discourage attendance. At any rate, we didn't have an exact figure due to delays in banking but we presently have something under $200 in the treasury. We need to buy coil-over units for the rear, flywheel, clutch, pressure plate, starter, carb, distributor, and header parts. The flywheel is going to be the big expense, $300 from TA plus shipping for a 38 lb steel unit, but some of the other parts are nearly as much. I also sold the aluminum 8.8" IRS axle housing Pete donated, (well, in truth he gave it to me but since I decided not to use it I felt I should pass it on) and the extra set of 300 heads from Jack Morris in Chatanooga, though the money isn't in hand yet. I had given $75 for the one good head but then I sold them as a pair so I will take my costs out of the proceeds and remit the rest to the treasury. Between those two sales we should have around another hundred to work with, maybe a little more. And I will continue with other sales as I can. I appreciate that Rob wanted to help with this but I think the logistics are a problem. Now if he was to come up here with a trailer... ;-)

I think that's about it. Y'all feel free to add to my report.

Jim

More good news!
I talked to Dale Spooner (Motion Machine) today, and he's done so much for the project already, I was a little hesitant to ask him to do more. But I felt I really had to since he's been our go-to guy on the machine work. His response when I asked if he could do the TA heads? "Well of course." Now there is a guy who is truly dedicated to the project. Considering he's already donated upwards of $1800 worth of labor and parts, a sizeable part of which went into the heads we are selling, nobody could really expect him to do more, but he did anyway. Now there is a shining example we can be proud of, and I for one am pretty tickled to be able to say, "He's one of us."

Well after that nothing would do but I had to go out and get some work done on the car. I've made all of the cuts for the body mods, made an "adjustment" here and there, and will try to get the seams welded up tomorrow. Then the engine will go back in for a final test fit before cleanup. That will be our first real chance to see what we're looking at on the exhaust.

Jim

Guys, this is an essential part for the Jag IRS. Jaguar wants $69 and change plus shipping for it. One of the ones on the IRS for the Roadmaster had been cut up with a torch and completely destroyed, as opposed to the unit I'm using for my roadster which was complete and fully assembled. I loaned one for the meet last summer, but I'm afraid I cannot buy one for the project, and I don't think it is wise to spend treasury money on it either. Can't one of you guys who has Jag connections come up with one for us? Until that happens, this car is going nowhere, no matter what other work we do. Here's a photo:


Just the washer.

Thanks for your help,

Jim

I have some progress to report. The iron heads off the 455 just sold on ebay for $522. I would say that the buyer got a pretty nice bargain, but at the same time we will be getting operating funds that we have to have to make progress. I don't think Dale will be too disappointed, though we really were hoping they would go over $600. In addition to transferring that money into our account once the purchase is paid for, I will transfer the funds at the same time that came in from the 300 heads and the diff housing. After deducting the money that I have in those parts it leaves $91. That should put us somewhere around $700-750 in the treasury, Steve can report on that at his convenience sometime after the deposits are made if he likes.

I have contacted QA1 about coil-over units. It sounds like we can get what we are looking for but I have to take some more accurate measurements and work out the geometry to get the correct spring rates working with them, and then we will have Ted Lathrop order the units using those specs. They will be very similar to the #8552 units he stocks but will need different mounts so I will probably call him also in the next week or so to figure out the details.I can get pricing at that time. We will have to buy valves, springs, retainers and keepers for the TA heads. By the time we've done that we'll be short on funds again, but I promise I'll find time to look through our spares and see if we can't auction off a few more things to help out. For one, we have a brand new steering rack which we won't be using, I'm sure we can get a few bucks for that.

Jim

First test fit of the alloy head 455 in the blue GT:

Looking good.....nice job with E-Bay, as well!

Dave Van Wyck stopped by a couple of days ago on his way back to the great white north (Michigan that is) following a stint in the sunny south (and how I envy that trip). We met at Ted's winter party and it turned out he was looking for some 215 conversion parts and also was in the business of making custom exhaust headers, now mostly retired. Dave was very interested in our project and wants to be involved, so he took measurements and photos and asked me to get him an exhaust manifold gasket, which I will order as soon as TA Performance opens for business the first of the week. Dave is going to lay out the parts and prepare sketches of two options for exhaust, one a tubular shorty fenderwell header, and the other a tubular fenderwell log exhaust, and once we have those we can pick which one pleases us the most. Then once he has had the chance to cut the pieces we will take the car up to his place and let him fit it all up. This is great news to all of us and neatly handles one of the more troubling aspects of the conversion, so now, those of you who happen to be somewhat well heeled and waiting in the wings just to see where this experiment will go, the riddles are mostly solved and your very own all aluminum Buick 455 engined MGB is one large step closer, as Dave will undoubtedly keep the patterns. It looks very much like our pledge of leading the way to a BBB MGB with the same weight as a stock vehicle is well on the way to being met. Not that this one will do that, but we are close enough that a TA aluminum block and Ted's IFS will surely finish the job.

We put him up for the night, greatly enjoyed the visit, and sent Dave on his way a happy man, several steps closer to his own 215 conversion as many of the parts I will not be able to use with my new 340 were now in his truck. He was happy, I was happy, the project got a big boost, and just as importantly we made new friends. In the end I think that's probably the greatest benefit of all.

Jim

Jim,
That really looks good.
We do have about $700 in our massive treasury.
I have alittle trouble keeping up since I get most of the information second hand.
Hope there will be something left to do when I get up there in April.

Steve

Oh, I don't think there's any worry about that Steve. Right now I'm negotiating for parts and I should know more in a day or two. I've got the specs for the coil-overs and will try to contact Ted about them tomorrow plus check on a starter, then there's a package deal I'm working on which could net us most of the engine parts we need including a flywheel. I'll post again when I have more details.

Jim

The coil-over shocks are ordered and should be in within a few days. We all know these are expensive, but I figure Ted saved us close to a hundred by getting them for us at his cost. Also, Jamie McClinton from the V8Buick forum donated a mini starter to the project. Jamie is a very respected vendor on that site and sells mini starters that fit the BBB, SBB, and V6 Buick for $165, which is quite a bit better price than you can get for a generic one at the local parts store. He takes extra steps to insure that they fit, work right, actually start the engine the way they are supposed to do right out of the box, and to improve durability and reliability. He's the go-to source over there for starters. He also supplies starters for the Nailhead motors and may have something for the BOPR as well, though I haven't asked yet. http://www.v8buick.com/member.php?u=226

Another member over there, "Coach", has donated a mild Isky cam, lifters and pushrods, and another, Kurt "455 Powered" http://www.v8buick.com/member.php?u=17463 has valves and associated parts he'll make us a deal on so we're rolling along pretty good. At this point we have maybe $250 we can afford to use and still keep a minimum balance in the checking account. I have a little over a hundred of that yet to deposit but I will probably wait until after I transfer the title, probably tomorrow. I had the Sheriff's deputy out today to inspect the VIN number and after hearing what we were doing he waived $10 of the $15 inspection fee.

I have people looking for a flywheel and other parts, but one thing we really need badly and that I am quite certain somebody has, is the lower oil pump housing, or cover that the oil filter screws on to. The one we need comes off a 215 and has the oil filter shooting straight out rather than going off at an angle. This was the stock 215 piece so there have to be quite a few of them out there but for whatever reason I'm having a real problem getting one. I just know one of you guys have got one you aren't using. So give it up! Donate it to the project already! Or, if we must, we'll buy it.

Jim

Remember Allen Mandeen? He's the Buick guy out in Kansas who donated the 455 engine that we're using in this project. Then Bill Young and Dan Jones transported the engine back here so we could begin the build in earnest with the proper engine.

Well, Allen has just donated a flywheel. This is no small matter, manual transmission 455 flywheels are not that common and aftermarket ones start at about $300.

We will have to surface it, and get a clutch and pressure plate, plus the one other part we will need is the HTOB. We may have to take up a collection for that.

This is great news! One more major hurdle bites the dust!

So can we make it by June? I don't know but we're sure going to try.

Jim

I should have the oil pump housing. I'll look later today.

Thanks Carl, that'd be great. That one little piece will allow us to use a standard screw-on filter and avoid oil lines and such.

I need to make a small correction, it was Eric DeGroat, Steve's brother who brought the 455 back from Kansas, and then he and Steve brought it up from down south. A small mistake but I want to give credit where it is due whenever possible. Bill and Dan were going to do it but had trouble making the connection with Allen due to distance.

We're looking at right after Easter to do the exhaust, then the heads go to Dale. We also need to get him the flywheel and flex plate for balancing, Allen said he'd go ahead and get it resurfaced for us.

That pretty much leaves clutch, pressure plate, and HTOB. A plain generic GM clutch and pressure plate should do fine, (11 inch preferred) and any HTOB that will work in a garden variety GM V8 application should also work.

Jim

We're one step closer. Dale will get us the parts for the heads at cost and defer payment until after the meet. Now I realize this is "credit" and something that I had hoped to avoid, but the amount is probably going to be around $300 which is surely not more than we can raise, if by no other means than by selling spare parts. I don't have time to do that until after the show and Rob's too far away, but I have a small trailer load of parts if someone wanted to take on that part of the project. Just make a road trip here and load them up.

That leaves the HTOB, clutch and pressure plate. I will check out prices on the clutch and pressure plate and probably pick them up locally. I will then let you all know what funds we have left to put towards the HTOB and other final expenses. (For instance, flexible brake lines.)

Guys, we've almost made it as far as the purchases go. There's still a lot to do and I'll need help with it but I think we can pull this off.

Jim

Jim, I have a lot of -4 teflon braided stainless hose salvaged from my job. I've used it on my Midget throughout the car without problems. Give me an estimate of the length of the lines we need and I'll send you some tubing. I don't have all the fittings, but I'll try to get lines long enough so we can cut them and make two lines from the original piece and only have to buy one new fitting for the cut ends.

Excellent Bill. I'll do some measuring in the next day or so.

Jim

I believe I now have the paperwork all squared away. I deposited the $113.70 that was left from the sale of the heads (that includes the last of the proceeds from the donated alloy 300 heads) and aluminum 8.8 housing after subtracting costs of the coil-overs, header gaskets, redi-sleeve (for the damper seal) and VIN inspection plus shipping on the mini starter, and I just got back from the clerk's office. On the title transfer we were asked to pay $84 in fees and taxes($75). I'm inclined to think that we should be exempt from the tax but without a ready answer I just had to go ahead and pay it. When I get the chance I'll look into that and see if we can get that back, but it may not be before the fees come due again next year.

Bottom line, with a balance of $278.97 before title transfer we are now at $194.97 and of course we need to keep at least $20 or so in the account. So we've got $175 to work with. I found a GM OEM HTOB for about $125 on ebay including shipping and sent the link to Carl to see if he thought that would work. I've also found several clutch and PP sets at about the same price. Well, the clutch & PP come first so that the PP can be balanced with the flywheel. That puts us about $75 short on the HTOB if everything works out, plus if we ship parts to Dale we're looking at nearly $200 in shipping charges. (both ways) Add in what we'll have to pay Dale for the valves and such and we're almost $600 short. I'll do everything I can to make this work, but I can't even possibly cover that, you guys are going to have to help out some if it's going to happen. It probably won't take $600 but a hundred here and there should come real close.

Oh, and I did finally set up the bank account for online access. I will be getting the log-in information to Steve right away.

Jim

A clutch package has been purchased and shipped to Dale. It's a pretty generic 11" Corvette setup. Allen is sending him the flywheel after it has been surfaced and is sending us a rebuilt Q-jet carb and $20 for flywheel bolts. We also need to buy pressure plate bolts. The starter has arrived and is bolted into place. It clears nicely. We are waiting on the cam, the coil-over shocks, and a few other small bits. I'm working on completing the engine mounts and hope to finish up within the week. Then I'll get back to the rear suspension and finish that up.

I've begun fender and tub work on the mule and now know where the cuts will need to be made for the flares. What has to be decided is how wide to go and to fit up the Omni pieces and see how well they will cover and at what width. http://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?2,7495  next to last post.

The last mechanical piece of the puzzle is the clutch release. We have two choices. Well, three really. HTOB is the simplest. An external pull cylinder is also an option, it appears there is room for one. Third possibility is a cable release. I haven't really looked into that one but will investigate it a bit more today. I kind of like that idea really, if we can make it work. But with the later style pedal box I have doubts.

Jim

Jim, any chance on the clutch that you could use a setup similar to the solution I found for my Midget? I'd think if you have room for a pull type slave that you might have room on the engine side for a small diameter slave cylinder such as the Spitfire/1500 Midget piece and it's mount.
Braided stainless lines shoud be there tomorrow or Wednesday. Let me know if you need anything else.

I don't know Bill, it might be possible to go through the area where the extra starter bulge that we cut out was. We'd have to shorten the clutch fork pretty drastically... well we don't even have one yet so we'd have to get one first.

By the way, the brake lines got here today along with the brake pawl. Looks pretty usable to me, tomorrow should be warmer and I'll try to get out to the shop for awhile.

Jim