Vintage Musclecar Parts

10/14/2026

Brief update;

Yes, I'm still alive and kicking, and still getting work done, I've just been avoiding Facebook for the most part as it's once again dumbassery season (read: election season) and I've had WAY more than my fill of that tripe.

On a *hopefully* brighter note--the 572 is back with Kevin, he picked it up at lunch today. Again, I'm 90% certain I found the problem and it has been addressed, but as noting what it was would immediately point fingers, I'm keeping it to myself.

No, it didn't involve me, Mike nor Kevin. Leave it at that.

While I had it on the stand, I reluctantly decided to swap the new Crane HR out for the COMP 11-450-8 that came in the LS7 454 I bought last year. While it more than pained me to do so, the Crane was apparently just too small for the 572 resulting in it hitting a literal RPM wall at 4900-5000. The COMP is about 10° bigger @ .050" on the intake than the Crane was, and the exhaust sides were similar with the Crane having just slightly more lift and the COMP having a 110° LSA as opposed to the Crane's 112°. I'm anticipating there will be a more noticeable chop at idle, but if it's too much I'll just swap in a custom ground cam from Jones and be done with it.

Shortly I'll be posting up a few carbs I've gotten done recently, and hopefully the new heads for the Mystery 496 will be here by next week so I can finally get that project wrapped up. It will be the next one to go to the dyno, followed by the LS7 project. After that, who knows...

More soon.

10/09/2026

Been without internet since yesterday around 3:00 (internet and cable package), cable came back on around 7:00 last night but no internet.

Called Spectrum "tech" numerous times only to be told my router has to be changed out...again...the last time was +/- 2 years ago and was an epic fiasco which required the emergency services of my computer guy Dante Estep , he was on the phone with "tech" for close to an hour before they manged to get it debugged and working.

Procured replacement router this afternoon and the exact same scenario is again unfolding. No connection, waiting on Dante to make an emergency house call tonight to get me back online.

Before anyone asks, I don't have anything other than Facebook on my phone, no email, no banking, nothing for security reasons.

Spectrum Cable absolutely sucks. The only reason I haven't went to another provider is because I've been with Spectrum (Time Warner previously and Continental Cable before that) since 1977, so starting over again will be an equally daunting nightmare...but I'm just about there.

10/08/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AoKMKD6FE/

The more you know, the more you understand

10/08/2026

Another sign of the times--and it ain't good. 😕

My hometown track Kil-Kare (NOT Darana, don't give a s**t what the new sign says) is on the auction block.

Just gonn'a put this out there: I'm a capitalist to the core, but unrestrained greed like this is a merciless master, and in instances like this, FAFO also results in a lot of collateral damage to others.

On the plus side, since Kil-Kare is located in what essentially amounts to a flood zone, it's doubtful it will be bought up for use as a Data Center or housing development.

A bad situation for sure as 11 drag strips and 1 Nascar track are u...

10/07/2026

Yeti 572 update;

Kevin wasn't able to drop it off yesterday afternoon, he had to wait until after he got off work so I didn't get started on it until this morning.

I'm not going to go into details because doing so would point fingers and I'm not going to throw shade on anyone, but I'm pretty sure I found the problem--and this time it wasn't on my end...but I'm the one who gets to clean up the mess...and pay for it.

At least it won't require any machine work to repair, just a lot of cleaning.

Thankfully the issue does not appear to involve the flaw in the #6 bore as I'd previously feared, but I will be pressure testing the block just to make 100% certain before buttoning everything back up again.

More than a little sick to my stomach right now...this is a hassle and an expense I did NOT need...at all.

Turning off comments as I don't want any speculations being posted.

*EDIT* I spoke to my friend Gregg Montgomery this morning about the issue and to order the parts to repair it. In an epic twist of fate, Gregg has a brand new crate engine in his shop from a VERY well-known engine company with the *exact* same problem as mine--an oil pan full of water--the exact same issue was missed on his as well (not the engine company's fault FWIW).

10/06/2026

Yeti update;

Kevin got the 572 plucked back out last night and will hopefully be dropping it off this afternoon.

Further updates as they become available.

10/03/2026

12.5-1 468 project update;

For once, everything went smoothly and according to plan...not quite sure what to make of that in light of the endless series of fiascos and debacles that have been plaguing me recently, but lest I look a gift horse in the mouth...

I got the drivers side head and valvetrain mocked up today and checked piston to valve clearances, and much to my relief--no pun intended--with .000" lash and the .040" head gasket in place, there was .205" on the exhaust and .293" on the intake with roughly .047 radial, so that's checked off the list.

I swapped the checking springs out for the NOS CRANE roller springs and torqued the heads down with a new set of ARP head bolts.

I installed the slightly used BAM solid roller lifters that were in the 572 in Yeti previously (along with the same pushrods and same CRANE 1.7 roller rockers that were on the 572 previously--as well as the same cylinder heads--getting the picture?), and the geometry checked out quite nicely...as one might expect given that the same heads, lifters and pushrods were previously scienced out on the 572.

I believe all I have left to buy now are some ARP rocker studs with about another .250" of top thread length to get the poly-locks and rocker trunions properly set up, but that's about it.

I topped it off with the Edelbrock Victor 454R intake I picked up a while back for testing on the 505, but it'll reside for now on the 468.

More whenever my bank account recovers.

Between getting all these engine projects basically done, the still-evolving Yeti saga (more on that next week), and that unexpected bill for the shop repairs, those hits definitely left their marks. 😒

More eventually.

No idea when.

10/01/2026

LS7 454 project update;

I picked up the lifters from Jeff this morning. I'd originally intended to have them modified with a .021" EDM hole in the face, but that turned out to be wildly cost prohibitive.

I had a "plan B" ready however.

Anyone familiar with the GM 60° V6 engines from the 1980's knows that GM had a serious issue with cam and lifters failures in those engines due to poor splash lubrication. GM's fix was to introduce a modified hydraulic flat tappet with a tiny groove machined from the oil band down to just above the lifter face. This allowed extra oiling via bleed-off through the slot to keep the cam & lifter sufficiently lubricated, and it actually worked like a charm.

People soon figured out that the same modification could be done to V8 lifters, and today manufacturers like Crower and others offer the same style of lifter off the shelf. Crower calls theirs "cam saver" lifters I believe, and I'm actually running a set of those exact Crower lifters in the new 396 that's now in the Chevelle...so far, so good.

I figured if the mod worked for hydraulic lifters, it'd also work for solid lifters so I had Jeff machine these NOS CRANE solid lifters with the same grooves.

However, where the GM and Crower (et.al) lifters only utilize a single groove, I had Jeff machine 2 grooves into each lifter 180° apart to help ensure full-time oiling to the cam. The GM lifters are machined with the grooves approximately. 003" deep, I had Jeff machine these .002" deep.

Guess we're gonn'a find out soon enough if this works as well with solid flat tappets as it does with hydraulics.

The rockers are a mis-matched set of CRANE 1.7 rollers, 13 are early style small trunion and 3 are newer style larger trunion. If I can come up with 3 nice early style rockers I'll swap them out just for the sake of having a "matched set" (big whoop, I now), but as of now a suitable trio has eluded me.

The intake is bolted down temporarily as it needs to be cut .045"-.050" on each side to get the bolt holes (and ports) to better line up, but I'll address that when it finally goes to the dyno.

I have to pick up another set of plastic bock-off exhaust port covers and screw in a set of plugs before I can pull it off the stand and put it back into storage, but I'll futz with that next week.

Next on the stand will be the 12.5-1 468 project so I can mock up and verify piston to valve clearances, then I can install the BPE heads and get it buttoned up and ready for the dyno as well.

As far as when these will actually make it to the dyno, that remains to be seen for several reasons, not the least of which is Yeti is still DOA (dead on its axles) until Kevin gets a chance to pressure test the cooling system to try to trace down the source of the coolant leak...more on that later.

On top of that, I've been hemorrhaging cash at an alarming rate this summer and really need to replenish the bank accounts, but I should be able to make a dent in that next week now that I'll be back to doing carb work again for the foreseeable future.

More soon, stay tooned.