1949 Business coupe update

Not much car stuff happening the last month; we had our little anniversary vacation and I recently went to work for IKEA as a Facility Manager for the new St Louis store. We're in the midst of construction and getting ready to open the store in about 8 weeks so it's been pretty nuts.

I decided to change the formula a bit and just go with a warmed over 400 rather than the stroker. Just going with a set of TRW forged flat tops, a bigger cam, some home porting on the heads and I picked up an old Edelbrock TM6 intake. It should be plenty for what I want and will save me a good bit of $ going this route. I got my heads cleaned up and tore down today and will probably start some porting this coming week. I also found a highly elusive big block truck oil pan with a rear sump for a decent price; this was a tough item to come up with but a must for the install.

I took the 49 to the car show last night with my grand kids for one last time this season and then went ahead and pulled the motor today. It really does run nice for a cruiser but I think the big block will be a lot more fun. I'm putting the SHO motor up for sale to help finance the swap; I'm sure someone out there has a Falcon, Mustang, or Ranger they might want to stick it in.

The SHO motor left today on a truck to Milwaukee for it's new home in an Austin Healy Bugeye and I got some $$ to help finance the 400 swap. The crank and freeze plugs went in today; I'll be out of town working all next week but hope to get a little more done next weekend.

The business coupe will mean business with that mean vee eight.[cl

Yep; I think she'll definitely be a little more zippy with two more cylinders and twice the cubic inches.

I did some prep work tonight; I couldn't find the right oil pump pickup for the rear sump pan anywhere as it's out of production and the pan itself was hard enough to come by. So I just welded on a 6" extension and it looks like it will work and clear the crank fine. Also pulled out the clutch pedal as I'm going with a 727 trans, pulled out the 5/16" fuel lines and pulled off the exhaust. I hope to get the short block together next week if the machine shop gets my pistons put on the rods.

Is there a support for the pickup tube? I can't see one in the pic. I know Ford uses one on the rear sump pans on the 5.0's that attaches to a main bearing bolt. Long tube to not have a rear support....[S

Yeah, I thought about that. I'll have to make something for it.

I got all my pistons in, went to put the cam in and it got really, really tight when slipping it into the last cam bearing. You cant turn it by hand with the gear on it so something is wrong. I'm using one of Jeg's house brand cams; I guess I'm going to call their tech support and see if maybe one of the cam bearing surfaces could be a hair oversize. I think that's probably more likely that the new cam bearings being wrong?

look at the edge of the cam bearing. I've had an issue with a machine shop installing cam bearings with the wrong size installer and it leaves a swage mark or dent if you will in the edge of the bearing. This will make it tight

Thanks, John. i'll look at that.

I ended up just taking the engine up to the machine shop so they could look at it. I got the motor back yesterday; they just polished the cam journals a bit and its fits fine now. The more I looked at my oil pump pickup the more I didn't like it so I got this one from Milodon for a deep sump pan and did a little surgery on it. This fits much better and has a bracket to hold it in place. I also got the heads checked and resurfaced and started some mild porting. Nothing wild, just cleaning up the bowls and combustion chambers and port matching the intake. As soon as I get it all back together, I need to hunt down a 727 trans and start doing some trial fitting in the chassis.

Got the short block finished up today along with one head ported and back together. Hopefully I can get the other head finished and have them bolted on in a week or so. Lots of hours at work for the next 6 weeks so I don't have much fun time to spare.

There's a lot of work in porting heads [P

Old Iron said:

There's a lot of work in porting heads [P

Click to expand...

Yeah, I had about 6 hours in one head. Rough on the back and neck.

Sad day today; my #1 garage partner Monica went home to Jesus. 15 years old; she was a good friend.

Sorry to hear that.
Pets are a big part of our lives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry for you loss but you had 15 great years. I've lost quit a few and cry ever time one goes.

Yeah, she was a good one. Always listened to my complaints and never asked for anything besides a meal and the occasional belly scratch. I've got another cat and I can tell he really misses her; he's been crying and looking for her for several days. I'll have to get him another companion soon.

Finished up the heads today; should have them bolted on this week.

Sometimes I Like pets better than people. Sorry for your loss. Your're getting close on the engine.

Hey was just catching up on this build nice work! Car looks great [cl
Have fun kruzin