Rick's Projects

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A couple of forum members are interested and have asked me to post up pictures etc of the projects that I have going on.

So here goes..



A 360 rebuild for fellow forum member Fury5 for '91 Grand Wagoneer:
This one will get the Melling MTA-1 Cam (.450/.474 lift, 204/214 @ .050) and a Edelbrock Performer intake manifold. He will top it off with his current fuel injection system.

Purdy crank shaft cleaned up nice at -0.010"/0.010"
IMG_4309 by Rick Jones, on Flickr
Interesting that one of the connecting rods was flash plated to add material for machining. I see these quite often.
IMG_4318 by Rick Jones, on Flickr


Here is the current list of engines that I have on the go. I hope to retire or at least throttle way back after I get caught up with these.
56. CD418Stroker: For a Hornet Hatch race car to run on E85. The hope is to be in the 9's. Assembling now
97. SC397: 360 bored and stroked to 397. At the Machine Shop. I am in no rush
98. VL390: 1970 Javelin street car. Ready to assemble
102. Fury5 360: 1991 Jeep Wagoneer. Done!
103. TE401: 401 with Eddy heads for a Spirit.
104. Rozwell343: Cam bearing issue rebuild.
105. xranger360: Another tired Wagoneer rebuild TH400. At the Machine Shop
106. PaulA360: Jeep Pickup 6 cyl replacement TH400.
107. Comando360: For Javtwotone
108. NEJoe360; For his '70 AMX
109. Mld911304: A hot 304 for a CJ5.

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56. CD418Stroker: (4.18" bore x 3.8" stroke) This is a couple vids of my Buddy's race car. After this run he had a brain fart and shifted in to the wrong gear causing the engine to over rev. It was time for a freshen up anyway.. He was running in the 10ns and now he wants to jump in to the 9ns.

IMG_0613 by Rick Jones, on Flickr
IMG_0598 by Rick Jones, on Flickr


So this means bigger cam, more cylinder head flow, more compression (to take advantage of E85), and 4 bolt main caps.
IMG_4319 by Rick Jones, on Flickr


About half the time I have a problem with the cam bearings being too tight with the cam. In this case we have a Lunati Cam and King cam bearings. I made a cam bearing shaver out of a old cam and slowly spun it in there. I polished the bearings with a very fine sanding drum afterwards. Also, when we went to degree the cam we couldn't get the dial indicator down to the roller lifter so I Farmguy'd a old pair of llifters to get a measuring surface.
IMG_4320 by Rick Jones, on Flickr
This engine gets a solid lifter roller cam in it so we restrict the oil flow to the cam bearings. I drill a 1/8" hole in all except the very front bearing. I don't want to restrict the front one because it feeds the distributor gear.
IMG_2833 by Rick Jones, on Flickr
We also restrict the driver's side oil galley to the lifters. We can't restrict the other side because it feeds the main bearings.
IMG_2832 by Rick Jones, on Flickr

[SOLSAKS]

AWESOME PHOTOS/VIDEOS

LOOKS LIKE SOME BEEFY PARTS ON THE RACE ENGINE.

thanx for posting Rick

I got a problem with one word you used,.....retire.

I can deal with you scaling back

but I want one of your engines before you are done.

so that means I got to get with it.

P.S. was the dark car on the strip a Monza ? could not tell....
( my first car= factory V8 Monza, notchback, restored over a 5 yr period )

thanx again rick

dave in NC

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My buddy's maroon car is a 1973/74 AMC Hornet Hatchback.

He is racing a 1979 AMC Spirit/AMX.

[SOLSAKS]

10-4
both cars are rare.

dave

[rang-a-stang]

Sweet! Subscribing here too.

Sooooo..... when you say

...I hope to retire or at least throttle way back after I get caught up with these....

What does that look like to you? More beer time, more personal wrenching time, more time to travel, or all/some of the above? When you look at that list, does that look like a month of work? 2 weeks? 6 months?

When I clicked the link to read this thread, I thought this was going to be a thread on YOUR projects. So what is Rick working on that belongs to Rick? I did notice this:

...
97. SC397: 360 bored and stroked to 397. At the Machine Shop. I am in no rush ...

Considering your handle, I assume this is not the first 397 you have done. What is this going in? What are your goals with it?

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Well it is a little difficult to respond to.. I don't want to throttle back but my body says that I have to and I have this stupid attitude that I will work on someone else's stuff before my own. Anyway, other than working on my hunting cabin, nothing is getting done on my projects and I still have 10 engines to build.

The 397 engine is another level of 360 that is bored and stroked to 397 cubic inches with the stock 360 crank shaft. Who knows maybe it will break, but I am going to find out anyway.

As far as my projects... The list is long and I won't be able to finish them in 2 lifetimes.
1948 Empire Tractor – It’s a Willys Thing…
1949 Empire Walk Behind – It’s a Empire Thing..
1958 M274 Mechanical Mule – Air Cooled Willys
1952 Willys Aero Wing – To be slight ‘50’s Custom
1953 Willys Pickup – To be AMC360 powered.
1962 M422 AMC Mighty Mite – Rolling Restore fun!
1967 Rambler Rogue Convert – Needs total restore
1968 AMX 343/5spd – Smashed, needs fixed.
1969 AMX 290/4spd – Needs total restore
1969 AMX 390/Auto – Needs restored again..
1969 Hurst SC/Rambler – Needs LOTS of TLC.
1969 Javelin – Driving & Storing it for my Daughter
1970 Rebel Machine – Needs resurrected
1971 Hornet SC/360 – 75% Restored.
1974 AMC Wheel Horse Garden Tractor -
Here is a picture of the Mighty Mite, Willys Pick-Up, and Willys Aero all of which need a full or partial resto.
IMG_1533 by Rick Jones, on Flickr
Here is a picture of '70 Rebel Machine, '69 Hurst SC/Rambler, '71 Hornet SC/360, and my '69 AMX that I bought in 1974.

IMG_3082 by Rick Jones, on Flickr

[SOLSAKS]

HOLY CRAP

what a nice gee-rage !!!!!

even nicer,....are the rare vehicles that you don't see everyday and get BORED with.

damn rick,.... did not think your cool factor could go up any higher,....

but it just did.

as far a projects we want to do and the time factor we all face,......

TIME is a CRUEL JOKE,

especially for people who should live for at least 200 years

the ones with pride,... talent

and a willingness to work and do a fine job,...like you.

thanx for the photos. eye candy.

P.S. I may be older than you at 50+, but will you at least will the "when wagoneers roamed the earth" t shirt to me,....????

dave in NC

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LOL! Jeff Nelson had those shirts made up. You could contact him to see if he has any left.
I think that he is on the forum but I don't remember what his handle is.

IMG_4323 by Rick Jones, on Flickr


BTW.. I turn 65 in March. My Grandpa told me not to get old but I did it anyway. I should have listened to him.


I just found this vid that I took after I spent 6 weeks redoing my parts room. This was before I messed it all up again LOL!
IMG_3421 by Rick Jones, on Flickr
This is a before picture of the back room.
IMG_3122 by Rick Jones, on Flickr

[SOLSAKS]

wow,.....

thanx for the tour of the shop.

browsed thru several of your Flickr photos

but had to get back to work.

nice engine room or Clean room.

I know it took a long time to organize.

super nice floor coating too.

and a big bottle of Smirnoff on the wall to calm the nerves.

can I ask who they guy in AMC pants signing the car was......

I have heard the name Curtis Breedlove that I saw in the B/W photo of a race car. but don't know anything other than that.

thanx again forswearing the pics/videos.

P.S. great story with photo of 2wd wagoneer.

dave in NC

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"Chopper Bob" Shultz. One of the nicest guys that you will ever meet. He is a character you might say.. I beat him at the AMC nationals so I made him sign the trunk of my Rot Rogue. He has a 12 second 401 powered '70 AMX and I was running my first 383 (360) stroker. I think I ran a 12.41 that day to beat him. It was a blast!
493 by Rick Jones, on Flickr


Craig Breedlove is a different guy altogether. As if I don't have enough to do, I am working on one of two record holders that was driven by he and his wife in 1968.
IMG_2497 by Rick Jones, on Flickr

[SOLSAKS]

WHAT ????????????

damn the stories just keep getting better......

museum pieces.

dave

[rang-a-stang]

WHAT ????????????

damn the stories just keep getting better......

museum pieces.

dave

FOR SURE!!! Glad we asked!!!

Those pants Chopper Bob is wearing:

I need to get me a pair!!!

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Page 4 has more details on the Breedlove car. Thanks to Covid, we have been on hold for almost a year now.

https://rebsamcandjeep.proboards.com...rations?page=4
Here is an old video about the cars. Believe it or not, both cars are within 40 miles of each other right now. It is crazy but I introduced both current owners to each other.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aze2...ature=emb_logo

[Fury5]

Gotta chime in here and say how lucky and thankful I am that Rick agreed to build an engine for our 91 Waggy. We got over 175k miles out of the original engine before the old 360 gave up the ghost this fall. It was my Mom's jeep and I plan on keeping it on the road as long as I can still drive. I'm sure Rick's engine will easily give us another 200k.


Thanks Rick!