Dropping back in.

[marlinman93]

Been away from the forum for the last 5-6 months, as I have been starting a new project. I am scheduled to retire at Thanksgiving, and with the blessing of my lovely wife I purchased another hotrod project in June. This was supposed to be a "retirement gift/project, but like always I'm too impatient to wait, so it got started right away.
Anyway, I know that some of you guys are not just gun guys, but old hotrodders like me, so this is what I've been up to. I actually fired it off this afternoon, so it's not far from a running and driving vehicle soon!
And hopefully I'll be around here a lot more after I retire!

My 1937 Austin of England A8 sedan:




And what it looks like today with the 8 hp flathead removed and the 400+ hp 327 Chev installed:










And the new carbs and intake that are going on soon!

[Ben_Rumson]

[pwl44m]

That'l bring home the Bacon in a hurry. I love Hot Rods,started a couple-just can't stay focused.
I have a 28 Chev that needs to be done or find a new Home. At this point I prefer the new Home route. That would buy the 3 levers I am watching, and they take up a lot less room. Btw - nice car so far, it looks like U have more plans for it. R We going to see You on Pinks ?

[AJMD429]

"400+ HP" You won't want to pop the clutch on that baby unless you're wearing a neck brace!

[rafter-7]

small block chevrolet and bullet holes in the left rear quarter....????? Looks like somebodys "runnin" Shine Tried to get byron to help me cook a batch but he chickened out !!!


Been wonderin about you bud.. I see life is good!

^
7

[1886]

Great to hear from you, Vall. 1886.

[awp101]

Are you going for the old Gasser look?

Good looking start on a cool project...

[JReed]

Now that is cool. Good to see you back Val I was starting to wonder what had happened to you.

[kimwcook]

Looks like it's gonna be awful tight for a radiator. You running points? Gonna chop it?

[marlinman93]

No clutch; it's a TH350, but hopefully it will still bring the frontend off at launch with a car under 2300 lbs. if I can get traction!
Hey Chad! No bullet holes, and no room for shine. The trunk is full of Harwdood fuel cell and battery box, so no room for much more than a picnic basket!
Yep, the 60's gasser look is exactly what I was going for. I used to race a '55 Chevy gasser in the late 60's and after it got stolen I've always wanted to build an Anglia or Austin. The Austin came along, so that made the choice easy.
The radiator is very close, but I'm running a long water pump, so if it is a problem with pulleys I'll change to the short Chevy pump, but I'm positive it wont be an issue. I had the pulleys on it when I measured it all up, and it fit fine. I'm running an electric 2700cfm pusher fan in front of the radiator, so cooling should be fine and the fan wont be a clearance issue. I'm running a Pertronix distirbutor with electronic ignition. Had an HEI, but it was too big a diameter and wouldn't fit when the dual 4 bbls. go on it.
I actually fired the Austin up today for the first time! Very surprised to drop that distributor in and have it fire in about one crank of the engine! Sounds great, but those headers are a bit loud!
Thanks for the welcome back! I've been selling a few Marlins to finance this build, but picked up a couple old Ballards at the same time, so all is well in Gunville!

[Blaine]

Congrats on retirement......I can actually see that light at the end of the tunnel, but it's still 6 years down the road. That Austin looks like a real kick in the butt.

[Hobie]

I'm no gearhead but that is cool.

[TedH]

Cool project. Good to see ya back.

[JReed]

Oh yeah getting those rear tires to hook is gonna be tricky with that sort of power to weight ratio. What gearing are you running? That thing is so light you could get away with 3.75:1 and still blow the doors off most others on the road coming off the line. I hope you have some really solid seats for the interior for those hard launches.

[JerryB]

Good to see you back Vall.

[Old Savage]

Now that is a neat car!!!

[Kansas Ed]

Heads? Compression? Cam? Bob Weight? Lg. or Sm journal? Rod Length/ratio?

Ed

[gamekeeper]

That's the coolest Austin on the planet!

I spent 8 years working at the Austin factory in Longbridge, Birmingham.
Pity you weren't the chief designer.

[Borregos]

Great to see you back

[gak]

Great project! A set of nice, black Recaros and a Momo wheel and you're set to go!

[dr walker]

That is one cool Austin.

Are you leaving rat or what do you have in mind for body and paint?

[marlinman93]

Heads? Compression? Cam? Bob Weight? Lg. or Sm journal? Rod Length/ratio?

Ed

It's 10:1 compression, and an unkown cam, as the neighbor I bought the 327 from didn't know the specs. The car weighs about 2200-2300 complete. It's a large journal 327, bored .040" over, balanced, blueprinted, 1.94 fueler heads, Edelbrock performer intake and carb (for now) and a set of Doug's headers. The engine came out of a '67 Chevelle that got wrecked less than 500 miles after a total rebuild. It's got 55 lbs. oil pressure at idle, and is really very tight little engine.
The rearend still has the stock gears in it that came with it; a whopping 2.73 posi! Once I've got it all setup and driveable it's going to the shop for a set of Richmond gears in 3.73 or 3.90, and a locker unit.
No Recaro seats for my old school tastes. I'm going with some old Harwood racing buckets with 5 point harnesses.

[awp101]

No Recaro seats for my old school tastes. I'm going with some old Harwood racing buckets with 5 point harnesses.

Old school? Go with bomber seats...

I like the bailing wire holding the steering column in place....

[marlinman93]

Yes, bomber seats are definitely old school street, but not old school racing. The Austin actually came with seats that looked much like bomber seats, but I wanted more protection and harnesses, so these won out!

[JReed]

What rear end does it have in it now? 2.73 would give you a heck of a top speed but it would take all day to get there

[KirkD]

Outstanding! Welcome back.

[rogn]

I see you fixed the steering too. Cuts down the #s of things to worry over when youre driving. Neat wheels, will it be streetable?

[claybob86]

Great car! Glad to see you back here!

[awp101]

Yes, bomber seats are definitely old school street, but not old school racing. The Austin actually came with seats that looked much like bomber seats, but I wanted more protection and harnesses, so these won out!

Meh, safety is SOOOO over rated...

[marlinman93]

What rear end does it have in it now? 2.73 would give you a heck of a top speed but it would take all day to get there

I'm running a 8.5" GM 10 bolt from a full sized Chevy, narowed about 10" to fit under this little car that's only 52" wide fender to fender!

[marlinman93]

That is one cool Austin.

Are you leaving rat or what do you have in mind for body and paint?

Definitely getting pint at some point, but the wife and I are still in negotiations on that. She wants metallic blue, and I want black. I have to consider her input as she's the gal who puts up with my hobby!

[marlinman93]

I see you fixed the steering too. Cuts down the #s of things to worry over when youre driving. Neat wheels, will it be streetable?

Yes, it will be 100% street legal with lights, turn signals, etc. Exhaust will be minimal, and no frills in the comfort area. Might install a radio if I can hide it under the seat.

[KWK]

with the 8 hp flathead removed and the 400+ hp 327 Chev installed

Makes me worry what sort of reloads you feed your fine old Marlins!

It is good to hear from you again.

[Ysabel Kid]

Welcome back!!!

[rafter-7]

That is one cool Austin.

Are you leaving rat or what do you have in mind for body and paint?

Definitely getting pint at some point, but the wife and I are still in negotiations on that. She wants metallic blue, and I want black. I have to consider her input as she's the gal who puts up with my hobby!

I love a minty,dark jade forrest type of green

I painted this my first ride when I was 16

I owned a 99 ford f-350 and a 99 subaru outback they both had a really nice dark green in thoes years Heavy metallic of course


so theres my vote

^

[C. Cash]

Welcome back Val!

[Griff]

Welcome back Vall. Cool Austin. Yeah, I'd say you jumped a little ahead of yourself! When I pulled the 4-spd & 427 L-88 outta my '55 and went with an TPI 350 & 700R4 I dropped the 4:88 posi and installed a 3:42 limited slip I found what I lost in accelleration I gained in fuel ecoomy & driveability!

And hey, if I could pull the left front tire off the ground in a '72 4WD Blazer, with a 350ci/350TH combo, that Austin oughta be a piece of cake! Well ok, while it weighed 5100lbs, and had 35" gumbo-mudders, @ ~325hp, those 4:11s need a little help in the form of a 2:1 transfer case! IIRC, in 1st gear it was like 16.x:1 on the rear axle!

Even my little '91 Camaro street car has two complete rearends... one set for freeway flying @ 3.08, the other setup with those mid-gear 3:42s.

Oh yeah: Black body with blue fenders... that oughta keep the peace!

[marlinman93]

Well it's not nearly done, but it did take it's first run yesterday! The streets were wet from a good rain so I held her down and didn't get too squirrelly! It does like to try and lift the left front while getting a little loose in the rear. Wonder what it will be like once I get the gears changed from 2.73's to 3.73's and the streets are dry?;)

[gamekeeper]

Wow! I'd love to drive that Austin around the streets of Longbridge.

[JReed]

Cool deal. Is she sitting high in front intentionally?

[awp101]

Wonder what it will be like once I get the gears changed from 2.73's to 3.73's and the streets are dry?;)

Ummm, more fun than would be allowed in many states?

Is she sitting high in front intentionally?

Yup! As I understand it, nose high has the effect of transferring some weight to the rear which help the rear tires hook up and improves the launch off the line. Do a google image search for "gassers" and you'll see most of them were nose high and running a straight front axle. Very classic look from the late 50s through the 60s.

[JReed]

Wonder what it will be like once I get the gears changed from 2.73's to 3.73's and the streets are dry?;)

Ummm, more fun than would be allowed in many states?

Is she sitting high in front intentionally?

Yup! As I understand it, nose high has the effect of transferring some weight to the rear which help the rear tires hook up and improves the launch off the line. Do a google image search for "gassers" and you'll see most of them were nose high and running a straight front axle. Very classic look from the late 50s through the 60s.

Just so used to cars sitting low at the nose that I had to ask.

[marlinman93]

Yeah Jeremy. It's exactly the way the old gassers of the 60's sat with the nose up high for weight transfer. I know it's not the look that race cars or pro street cars have today, but that wasn't what I was going for.
Back in the 60's NHRA had a 24" limit on the centerline of the crankshaft and most gassers pushed that to the limit by dropping their engines deep into the frame and bringing the bodies as high as possible. I've kept to the old NHRA rules and my crank is deep in the frame with the body angled up to plant the rear wheels well, but at 23" it's below what the old rules required.

[marlinman93]

Wow! I'd love to drive that Austin around the streets of Longbridge.

Thanks Gamekeeper! I know some of your fellow countrymen might be a bit put off by taking a decent stock bodied old Austin and making it into a hotrod. Glad you appreciate what I was going for.

[Gobblerforge]

Heads? Compression? Cam? Bob Weight? Lg. or Sm journal? Rod Length/ratio?

Ed

That's what I was thinking. What do all these things mean?
Gobbler

[marlinman93]

Well the Edelbrock Performer RPM intake and carb are a thing of the past. The Holley Pro Dominator is now in place. Still need to plumb and do the linkage before it's ready for another test run!

[sore shoulder]

I'm inclined to suggest you might have too much carburetor. RPMs, cam and head flow would dictate of course but it's only 327ci. I spent some time researching this subject looking for a carb for a built 460 and one resource was a very good manual from Holley with a very nice graph for sizing and a very well explained tutorial describing the common practice of over carbureting. I have since built a few carbureted engines using the knowledge I gained and have been pleased with the results. Of course nothing beats EFI.

[marlinman93]

You're probably right. I've been building hotrods for over 35 years, and haven't used 900cfm of carbs prior to this on a smallblock. But it's not all about cfm/cubic inches though. Things like compression, head flow, exhaust, weight of the car, gear ratio, etc. all have effect on the size carb (cfm) that your engine and setrup will allow.
I've seen a lot of small block Chevys that ran extremely well with over 1200 cfm of carburetion, so we'll see how this works out, and if it doesn't I'll drop down to two 390 cfm Holleys.

[Buffboy]

Yup Frank, over carburated, unless they are 390s and they don't look it(mechanical secondaries) but I'll bet Val knows it. They are there more for the cool factor than street performance. Won't hurt him on the track but will more of an annoyance for street driving. I wish him luck. It's been a long time since I've done multiple carbs on anything. I even took them off my 240Z for a 4barrel setup. I'd developed a real dislike for setting up Holleys on dual quad setups(or single carb setups for that matter). Those side mount float bowls are gonna give him headaches on something that gonna jump like that beast is gonna with them mounted sideways too but again, I'll bet he knows that too.

Had a friend that I helped set up a tunnel on his 327 Chevelle drag car with two Predators on it for more or less the same reason. That actually worked really well as they are glorified constant velocity carbs but that 327 sure didn't need 2000cfm+ of carburetor. One would have been more than enough and would probably been actually faster on the strip but it was easy to get dialed with the two. Really look cool though.

Edit: looks like I was right.

[sore shoulder]

Yea I was thinkin of the cool factor, and of course if you are runnin a high enough rpm and enough cam lift and flowed heads you could probably swaller the fuel they'll dump. IMO I would start with the smallest jets possible, but like Buff said, you prob already thought of that .

Buff, I quit using Holley's and went to Edelbrock carbs about 15 years ago. My 69 Gladiator J2000 stepside still wears one on the built 350.