Progress Thread HeHateMe gets bent

What a clustfck of a cabin stay that was. Well, the trip was nice and the scenery was great, but Cabins of the Smokies...you're not good. Sunday, less than 18 hours before we check into the cabin, which was advertised as 2 bedrooms, 2 levels with balcony on each, scenic view, HOT TUB outside, video game system and pool table. Neither of us could care about the last 2. COTS (as they shall be called) EMAILED my wife and said, blah blah blah, you're almost here for a great vacation, oh btw we have a couple of maintenance issues we need to make you aware of. First, the hot tub is broken and needs service, the video game system is broken and the TWO pool tables have to be replaced. (sounds like someone had a good time).

My wife loses her :poo:. She spends the next 2 hours on the phone. So they offer an upgrade with a 4 bedroom cabin with a working hot tub, no games, no pool table. Fine. But you have to pay $400 more because it's a more expensive cabin. You shoulda not oughta said that. I sat in a pizza joint watching Dak break his leg on replay 80 more times, while she went 10 rounds with them. Best they would finally do was $120 upcharge. FINE, IF THE HOT TUB works. Secretly, I almost hoped it didn't so I could see Tyson-Holyfield II go off..

We get to the Gatlinburg area, wait on a call. Virtual check in, so they just call when the cabin is clean (clean is a relative term here) and give you the door code. Check in is at 4. About 20 calls and gnashing of teeth later, we finally got in at 8:30. It's not trashed, but it's not exactly Hampton Inn clean. 4 Beds -2 up 2 down. My wife immediately goes into full health dept inspector. Out of the 4, 1 bed was made up with a fitted sheet, flat sheet, and comforter. And it was obviously not CLEAN sheets. EW. The other 3 bedrooms were comforter no sheets, flat not fitted and fitted no flat. More calls, they offer to comp the first night. HOW ABOUT SOME SHEETS? Oh and some towels too. In the entire cabin there are 2 bath towels, unless you count the 2 dirty ones out by the hot tub, which, BTW is overflowing. They obviously drained it. Cleaned? Meh. But it's being refilled, to the tune of it pouring over the sides. But a quick drain, mess with the controls, it's COLD but heating up. So main criteria met.

About 9 oclock we have towels and clean sheets. We then go thru all 4 rooms like Goldilocks and pick the best (being generous) bed. It's downstairs, which is great because it is colder down there. But it's only marginally better than the floor. Then, wife read that some big group booked a bunch of cabins and the doors codes are ALL THE SAME. So someone is going to come in and kill us. So I had to barricade the upstairs door, even though the bottom balcony is some 20 feet off the ground and there's not other doors. Surprisingly, we made it 3 nights without murder.

But the view from the deck was AWESOME! Sitting in the hot tub, having drinks and looking at the mountains and the trees turning was worth the headaches.
But Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville in the fall...never again. It took us over 1.5 hours to make it the last mile up to the top of Clingman's dome! Awesome drive, if you're not sitting for 5 to 10 minutes at a time. Gatlinburg is one big tourist trap. The traffic is a nightmare. The pedestrians don't give a red rat's ass about the walk/don't walk signs and cause even more traffic snarl.

I will say this...Alamo Grill in Gatlinburg. It's a little outside of the downtown cluster:leghump:. We went to lunch 2 times there. It burned during the fire and was rebuilt. The food is excellent and the servers are awesome!

Now, I have a biz trip to Detroit. Then maybe I can get back to looking for a ride.

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So did you buy the T56?
hehe...well that's what the title was originally for. I am still waffling between stick and auto. I'm thinking a cheap 3 speed auto with a brake will get the drag racing part knocked out. But a stick AND a 2.3 turbo...well that would be fun too and the streetable part of it would be more pleasant. I'm thinking I've got 2 weeks to decide, because I'm still waiting for free time to open back up.

If you're wondering about 2.3 turbo and stick....see Bob Meyers...doing work in the Tremec street shootout at Beech Bend.

Tremec Shootout
 
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I found the perfect car for your experiment-
E4D4AB6E-91C5-4901-B071-C858EA12EDD2.png

now hear me out-it’s Falcon-esque’..
It’s rough enough,you won’t care to cut it up.
It’s solid enough to be a drag car.
How sweet would that be as a gasser.
I’m sure Mike Hates it lol.
4A140C72-339E-41E9-B0E8-7CF5A5AAD35E.png

Downside
It’s rough
It’s rusty
It’s in Kentucky
Mike probably hates it lol
 
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@RaggedGT I think you are joking, but a built Falcon Ranchero could be really cool. Specially this one.
Edit, auto correct changed my attempt at typing “Just not this one” to “Specially this one”. How did “Specially” even end up in Siri’s vocabulary?
 
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I have a 63 Ranchero I could be convinced to sell. These pics are old the epoxy primer is worn thru and it's developed a nice patina.
 

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The bending beam torque wrenches ae lifetime calibrated. If the pointer doesn't point to 0 when at rest, you just bend the pointer rod until it does. Bingo! You are back in calibration...

You need 4 things to check the accuracy of a torque wrench.
1.) A vise to clamp the square drive end of the torque wrench so that it is stable and isn't moving all over the place.
2.) A suitable weight that is within 2% of the weight marked on it.
3.) A ruler or tape measure.
4.) A coat hanger or wire strong enough to hold the weight.

Mount the square drive of the torque wrench in the vise and tighten it down securely. Measure from the center point of the square drive to the line in the middle of the torque wrench handle or handle pivot. Multiply the measured distance by the known value of the weight.
Example:
14 inches x 50 lbs = 700 inch pounds.
Divide by 12 to get foot pounds: 700/12 = 58.33 foot lbs.
It works out best if you use multiple weights so that you can check for accuracy throughout the entire range of the torque wrench.
If the torque wrench has a setting dial, set it to the value you just calculated. Attach the wire or coat hanger that has the weight to the pivot point, or line on the handle. Listen for the click or beep, or watch for the flash or the indication on the dial. It should match the calculated value within 2%.

That’s the simple part. Unfortunately I have no idea how to adjust anything but the bending beam torque wrenches, so you are on your own from this point on.
 
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The bending beam torque wrenches ae lifetime calibrated. If the pointer doesn't point to 0 when at rest, you just bend the pointer rod until it does. Bingo! You are back in calibration...

You need 4 things to check the accuracy of a torque wrench.
1.) A vise to clamp the square drive end of the torque wrench so that it is stable and isn't moving all over the place.
2.) A suitable weight that is within 2% of the weight marked on it.
3.) A ruler or tape measure.
4.) A coat hanger or wire strong enough to hold the weight.

Mount the square drive of the torque wrench in the vise and tighten it down securely. Measure from the center point of the square drive to the line in the middle of the torque wrench handle or handle pivot. Multiply the measured distance by the known value of the weight.
Example:
14 inches x 50 lbs = 700 inch pounds.
Divide by 12 to get foot pounds: 700/12 = 58.33 foot lbs.
It works out best if you use multiple weights so that you can check for accuracy throughout the entire range of the torque wrench.
If the torque wrench has a setting dial, set it to the value you just calculated. Attach the wire or coat hanger that has the weight to the pivot point, or line on the handle. Listen for the click or beep, or watch for the flash or the indication on the dial. It should match the calculated value within 2%.

That’s the simple part. Unfortunately I have no idea how to adjust anything but the bending beam torque wrenches, so you are on your own from this point on.

I've read similar before. My question is How do you know it's accurate without a huge assortment of weights. If you set it to 50 ft lbs, set 50lbs one foot out on the handle and it clicks...is it clicking at 50? Or maybe it's really clicking at 30???

In my case, ARP says 50 ft lbs should stretch the rod bolt .005-.007. My dumb self didn't use moly lube. So I'll use Moly lube and see if old Crafty or new Pitty come close to the stretch at 50 ft lbs. WO moly the Crafty at 70 ft lbs only stretch it .004. But by feel when loosing with a breaker bar, that seemed MUCH looser than how they came out of the box.
Not that I am sure if Crower torques every rod bolt to spec before it leaves.
 
What a clustfck of a cabin stay that was. Well, the trip was nice and the scenery was great, but Cabins of the Smokies...you're not good. Sunday, less than 18 hours before we check into the cabin, which was advertised as 2 bedrooms, 2 levels with balcony on each, scenic view, HOT TUB outside, video game system and pool table. Neither of us could care about the last 2. COTS (as they shall be called) EMAILED my wife and said, blah blah blah, you're almost here for a great vacation, oh btw we have a couple of maintenance issues we need to make you aware of. First, the hot tub is broken and needs service, the video game system is broken and the TWO pool tables have to be replaced. (sounds like someone had a good time).

My wife loses her :poo:. She spends the next 2 hours on the phone. So they offer an upgrade with a 4 bedroom cabin with a working hot tub, no games, no pool table. Fine. But you have to pay $400 more because it's a more expensive cabin. You shoulda not oughta said that. I sat in a pizza joint watching Dak break his leg on replay 80 more times, while she went 10 rounds with them. Best they would finally do was $120 upcharge. FINE, IF THE HOT TUB works. Secretly, I almost hoped it didn't so I could see Tyson-Holyfield II go off..

We get to the Gatlinburg area, wait on a call. Virtual check in, so they just call when the cabin is clean (clean is a relative term here) and give you the door code. Check in is at 4. About 20 calls and gnashing of teeth later, we finally got in at 8:30. It's not trashed, but it's not exactly Hampton Inn clean. 4 Beds -2 up 2 down. My wife immediately goes into full health dept inspector. Out of the 4, 1 bed was made up with a fitted sheet, flat sheet, and comforter. And it was obviously not CLEAN sheets. EW. The other 3 bedrooms were comforter no sheets, flat not fitted and fitted no flat. More calls, they offer to comp the first night. HOW ABOUT SOME SHEETS? Oh and some towels too. In the entire cabin there are 2 bath towels, unless you count the 2 dirty ones out by the hot tub, which, BTW is overflowing. They obviously drained it. Cleaned? Meh. But it's being refilled, to the tune of it pouring over the sides. But a quick drain, mess with the controls, it's COLD but heating up. So main criteria met.

About 9 oclock we have towels and clean sheets. We then go thru all 4 rooms like Goldilocks and pick the best (being generous) bed. It's downstairs, which is great because it is colder down there. But it's only marginally better than the floor. Then, wife read that some big group booked a bunch of cabins and the doors codes are ALL THE SAME. So someone is going to come in and kill us. So I had to barricade the upstairs door, even though the bottom balcony is some 20 feet off the ground and there's not other doors. Surprisingly, we made it 3 nights without murder.

But the view from the deck was AWESOME! Sitting in the hot tub, having drinks and looking at the mountains and the trees turning was worth the headaches.
But Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville in the fall...never again. It took us over 1.5 hours to make it the last mile up to the top of Clingman's dome! Awesome drive, if you're not sitting for 5 to 10 minutes at a time. Gatlinburg is one big tourist trap. The traffic is a nightmare. The pedestrians don't give a red rat's ass about the walk/don't walk signs and cause even more traffic snarl.

I will say this...Alamo Grill in Gatlinburg. It's a little outside of the downtown cluster:leghump:. We went to lunch 2 times there. It burned during the fire and was rebuilt. The food is excellent and the servers are awesome!

Now, I have a biz trip to Detroit. Then maybe I can get back to looking for a ride.

IMG_20201015_085529.jpg
IMG_20201015_085529.jpg
IMG_20201014_215012.jpg
IMG_20201014_161537.jpg
IMG_20201014_135441.jpg
Fall color is great, but peak season in the Smokies, so we avoid it.
 
Well, I thought I shot a video of me taking the rod bolt that was torque to 50 ft lbs with the Craftsman and then torquing it to 50 on the Pittsburgh.
I guess I didn't hit record.

What the video would have shown is the socket turned another AT LEAST 20 degrees. The stretch went from about .0035 to the just a hair over .005 you see below. 11.99 torque wrenches FOR THE WIN.

I still need rod bearings. The Clevite 77P are just too tight still. They have about .0011-.0013. For a performance application I would like to see them a hair over .002. The stock type replacements are right at .002. I found ACL bearings makes race bearings for the 2.3 and they also make an oversize set. So I am going to order a std set first and see where they are at. Actually I ordered a std and a .001 oversized set. I'll send the one I don't use back.

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I've got my travel plans. I'm excited. I already ordered my first parts. Don't even have the new ride yet.

See what I've done. My brother swapped worked vehicles from a Sequoia to a 2019 Ram 2500 Cummins 4x4 and volunteered it...even better to keep miles off my truck!


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I've read similar before. My question is How do you know it's accurate without a huge assortment of weights. If you set it to 50 ft lbs, set 50lbs one foot out on the handle and it clicks...is it clicking at 50? Or maybe it's really clicking at 30???

In my case, ARP says 50 ft lbs should stretch the rod bolt .005-.007. My dumb self didn't use moly lube. So I'll use Moly lube and see if old Crafty or new Pitty come close to the stretch at 50 ft lbs. WO moly the Crafty at 70 ft lbs only stretch it .004. But by feel when loosing with a breaker bar, that seemed MUCH looser than how they came out of the box.
Not that I am sure if Crower torques every rod bolt to spec before it leaves.
The instructions I read say after securing the socket drive in a sturdy vice, use a piece of tape to mark the specified distance to the middle of the handle. Then you can move the hook or wire loop the weight hangs on to before and after the mark to make sure it clicks at the right weight.
 
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On the road to pickup the future 2.3 home.
Soooooo.....you’re not telling anybody what the future home for the 2.3 is?
And here I always just thought that the “ home” for that engine was the stand that it’s attached to. :shrug:


You provided a pic of some “whazthatfit” AJE k member,....Tell us mystery man.

* Never mind....The k member fits a 64-70 mustang. Since you’re not going with that, it’ll also fit a maverick, falcon, comet, or.....ranchero. My guess is the latter..and if it is that.....I hope to hell youre not buying the one that’s turning into forest floor, and have opted for Rick‘s car.

Of which surprisingly, I kinda like.:cautious:
 
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