With a Week of Work, Time to Rock and Roll

I threw some comp time along with my leave days this period and managed to get a full 7 days off. What's amazing is that pretty much every one of those days have something scheduled, and all of the sudden I'm left scrambling to find time to work on my Camaro. The plan was...and still is...to get everything I have bolted in place, leaving just some fuel lines and a few other electrical items left in order to get the car back up and running by June. Sadly, Hot Rod's Power Tour kickoff here in Detroit ain't gonna happen. A family member is getting married that day, so as much as it hurts, I will miss the tour this year. That said, I should be ready to go come June, I just have a few things to figure out/fabricate.

I started off by getting the thermostat housing bolted on, bypass hose in place, plug installed, and coolant temp gauge sensor mounted in place...the easy stuff.



Next, I had to clearance the carb mounting pad on my Edelbrock Super Victor with 4500 flange...which I would like to add, is SPECIFICALLY MADE to mount a 4500 style carb to. I'm not sure whether on not Holley changed their design slightly with their new Ultra Dominator, since I never had the original style. Yet one would like to believe that Holley would not have done such a thing, considering it would cause issues with existing intakes. After taping up the top of the manifold to prevent debris from entering, I got out the Milwaukee angle grinder and took two of the corners down. NOW the Dominator fits without rubbing the intake. I keep reading in magazines how great the aftermarket quality is these days, yet I just don't see it. Every damn part I buy seems to require modification in order to fit, but hey, isn't that part of hotrodding?





I thought I would install the carb at this point. I went into the basement, cleaned up the carb studs on the wire wheel. Apparently, these studs aren't hardened studs, as it seems the wire wheel messed up the threads on every damn one of them. Luckily, I have a "miscellaneous parts bin," consisting of "extra parts," and other items. While I only located 2 carb studs, I did discover multiple other items which I didn't know I had, including a fuel pump block off plate. Ironically, I just bought a block off plate about 2 weeks ago. At least it was only $10 or so. I'm going to start mounting some of these parts that don't belong in my parts bin up on my peg board. At least then they will be in the back of my mind, as opposed to buried in a rubbermade container. Parts bin #2 (top of the tool box) also proved unsuccessful, so it seems a run to the parts store or Home Depot are in order.

Next up, I figured I may as well get the fuel pump block off plate installed, as that is a gasket and two bolt fix away. That turned out to be a no-go as well, since I didn't have an allen wrench large enough to remove the plug so I could remove the fuel pump rod. Well, it seems like this day is quickly becoming a wash, and I may as well make a run to the store and get one I need, and hopefully salvage a few hours of this day. Grrrrr.

Update: After returning from the store, with carb studs and a new set of Allen wrenches, I just didn't have the desire to head back out to the garage at 9 pm, especially so considering the way the day had gone already. With that said, I should be good to go tomorrow and hopefully get a lot accomplished.