First drive for the 55

[jim_ss409]

The 55's finaly moving under it's own power.bang We drove it around the parking lot tonight. Everything seems to be working okay except it was running a bit hot. Too bad it's not licenced for the road, we could have gone for a real drive. There's still some loose ends to tie up but with a little luck we should be able to make it to the test and tune this weekend. I took some pictures today, I liked this one. There's a "Phantom" image on the wet pavement.

 

[SS425HP]

Pretty

That is NICE. Nuff said

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Awesome!

Jim:

Great work! And now you get to enjoy all the effort .

Even the puddle looks like it's going fast!!!

Cheers,
TomK

 

[CDNpontiac409guy]

aaahh.... I'll be keeping THAT photo in my archives

Amazing work, Jim

 

[JimKwiatkowski]

Jim Looks Great,the 09 runs a little hot with that big radiator

 

[Ronnie Russell]

Jim, Thanks for all the up-dates and pictures of the build. Still dont know how you got so much done in such a short amount of time. A real quality car. Cant wait to see it run in Kentucky.

 

[jim_ss409]

Yes, it got hot enough to blow out some coolant, about 220 on the gauge. I had the switches for both the water pump and fan in the "auto" position so my first thought was that maybe one of the sensors wasn't working, but even when the fan and pump were both in the constant run position the temp would creep up. I've got a new thermostat housing coming because the stock one is on the wrong angle, it should be here tomorrow. While I'm changing it I'll test the thermostat and I might experiment by removing it completely to see what happens. At the very least I think I'll drill some holes in the thermostat so that it will bypass some water into the rad even when it's closed. The electric water pump has no provision for a bypass hose so as near as I can tell when the thermostat is closed it can't really circulate the coolant. When the engine was in the Impala it always ran cool but when I was driving it out to the shop I noticed the temp. climbing higher than usual while it was idling. I did richen it up quite a bit last time it was at the track and I've got the vacuum advance disconnected so maybe that's part of the problem. I know things like timing and fuel mixture can cause a car to overheat. This car has a big rad and you can see the pump is flowing pretty well when you look into the rad so I'm not too sure where the problem is. I'm not all that worried about it because I know we'll figure it out eventually but I'd appreciate any suggestions or ideas.

 

[jim_ss409]

Ronnie, I'm really looking forward to the Kentucky trip. Are you bringing the Chevy ll? As I said we only ran the car in the parking lot but it seems like everything's working pretty well. I set up the 4 link at a fairly conservative setting and it seems to launch nice and straight. As you might expect the car feels a lot more rigid than the big convertible did. I didn't get to run it much though because I didn't want to make too much noise for the people that live near by.

 

[JimKwiatkowski]

Jim,I run a 3/4 inch restrictor in place of a stat,I've also run a gutted out stat

 

[MRHP]

Picture

I love the picture. Gives me goosebumps. The Mr.Horsepower on the fender is timeless. My 62 is getting them this spring.Thanks for the update. Looks beautiful!

 

[Ronnie Russell]

Jim, Yes, the plans are to bring the Chevy II, we have been running into delays. Should have fired the new motor weeks ago, but Murphys Law keeps biting us. Should be able to start motor this weekend. If everything checks out during test and tune, ( knock on wood) it will be at Clay City. If engine fails, my wife and I will still attend.