Update on BA 409

Tom Kochtanek

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 12
James and I put some time into the BA 409 project to get it ready (hopefully!) for Great Bend.

The pistons have been fly cut and are now at the machine shop getting upgraded rods and then balanced along with the crank. Should be done Friday. We begin the engine assembly Friday night :).

Today I ordered a bunch of parts, most come in early next week, so that could present a problem if any delays occur. I spent an hour looking for stuff I have somewhere down the basement, never did find the parts :(.

James and I connected this afternoon (Thursday) and pillaged my 1961 Belair Sport Coupe, removing the open pumpkin so we could "operate" on it. Don't laugh, it's getting leaded up and outfitted with a new 4.56 ring and pinion I had laying around. Cheap posi/spool. Then we went over to his house and moved the Belair into place to remove the existing posi. I've never been into the rear end on this car, turns out it was a GM posi in an open housing (not a "P" case). I plan to use that 3.36 in the 1961 Belair. We were concerned with detonating the rear end, so we're modifying a cheap open rear so we don't sacrifice a good GM posi :).

Tomorrow we order more parts (slicks, shocks, line lock, etc.) and then operate on the open rear end. Then we gather to begin the engine assembly. Hope to fire it up Sunday???

Still need t0 rebuild both carbs, hook up a tach, fit the rear end, bolt on some shocks, mount the drag slicks,add in a line lock, lots of little things. And assemble the engine and break it in. We might be thrashing into mid next week, but still think we can bring something to Great Bend. Wish us Good Luck!

TomK
 

BRYAN FUGATE

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 6
Tom you make me feel a lot better about what I have to get done. Good luck it will be all worth it when you get it there.
 

Ronnie Russell

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
Tom, What you and James are attempting is amazing to me. That job would take me 6 months to a year to do. Good luck, see you guys in Kansas.
 

Iowa 409 Guy

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 15
:flag:flagYou guys have your work cut out for you. Good Luck. I have to check the air in the tires on my trailer and car and load the old kid up tomorrow. :flag:flag:flag
 

boxerdog

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 5
Tom, best of luck with your thrash. Regardless of how it turns out, it is a great story.
 

Tom Kochtanek

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 12
James picked up the balanced rotating assembly up from the shop. I got home from campus at 8:30 PM tonight (long day for a Friday) and had to run over to the shop and square up with the proprietor :).

Here is that HAMB thread where James just posted a pic or two of the fly cut on the pistons:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...-to-great-bend-ks.941902/page-2#post-10618377

From the photos you can see that we removed the open pumpkin from my 1961 Belair Sport Coupe (we are cannibalizing!) so we could swap it out for the posi that was in the BA 409 car. Plans are to assemble the rear end so we can roll the vehicle around to be able to put the rebuilt engine in sometime this weekend (Sunday?). Gonna be a long weekend :).

Here are some pics from Thursday night:

IMG_8649.JPG
IMG_8649.JPG IMG_8653.JPG

Cheers!
TomK
 

Ishiftem

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
You are doing all this in a tent on top of it all?! You guys deserve an award if you finish or not!
 

DonSSDD

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
p1010019-jpg.2714512


Should bring this one along too Tom, nice pics in the HAMB post.

You may be tired by the time you are ready to hit the road.

Don
 

Tom Kochtanek

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 12
"You are doing all this in a tent on top of it all?!"

You bet! This is over at James' house, basically in the driveway with a framed tent over it. At least we're on concrete! He attached it to his basement entrance using stuff he had laying around (piping, lumber, etc.). When we catch our collective breaths, I hope to set up one of those metal structures up in it's place :).

Got a list of things to accomplish today. Need to find all the torque specs for the engine assembly. Gotta chase a bunch of parts down locally (15" tubes, VR-1 oil, and oil pump, etc.) and then head over to James' house to continue. Looks like the 4th link won't happen, those parts won't arrive until we depart. Plans today are to put the welded up rear end with new 4.56 gears back in place so we can roll the car around in preparation for fitting up the (to be) reassembled engine.

I don't know how he does it. James has a lot of patience, and a lot of talent/experience. No way I could accomplish this on my own! We all stand on each other's shoulders when it comes to something like this. The machine shop was kind enough to respond in a timely fashion with our requests for redoing the con rods, pins, and then balancing the rotating assembly. Another friend of James' did the fly cuts on the pistons. We are using standard bore GM/TRW forged aluminum pistons, I had a few NOS ones and then we sorted through a bunch of gently used ones I had down the basement.

To complicate things I plan to begin preparations for the '62SS car sometime today :) :) :).

Cheers!
TomK
 

Bub6le 2op

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 6
Tom your gonna have a few guys coming in on wed the 24th maybe we can help, at least hand tools to somebody, or hold a light. or hold a beer and give encouragement :pop looks like you have a lot goin on keep up the good work, when I pull something like that I usually have good luck at the track that weekend
 

oldskydog

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 10
Tom your gonna have a few guys coming in on wed the 24th maybe we can help, at least hand tools to somebody, or hold a light. or hold a beer and give encouragement :pop looks like you have a lot goin on keep up the good work, when I pull something like that I usually have good luck at the track that weekend
I'll bet he could use a "Beer Assistant".:cheers
 
Top