FE Power Forums
FE Power Forums => Member Projects => Topic started by: mygasser on January 17, 2026, 04:27:57 PM
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hi all, here's a link to the build so far and although i've chopped and changed the plans so far i've settled on another fe build for it. this time it'll have a 5 speed manual box, my 66 fairlane gta had a c6 with the 390 as did my ford anglia wagon gasser seen in my profile pic.
cheers, neil.
https://forum.nsra.org.uk/showthread.php?81897-plan-B-ish-58-nash-rambler-project/page16
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just a little update... i've ordered one of Jay's intake adapters so i can fit a tunnel ram to my motor. i mean a gasser with a single 4 barrel wouldn't be right would it? plus it'll draw the eye away from the AC compressor hung on the side (i'm getting old, what can i say).
neil.
ps Jay is very easy to deal with as expected, thanks.
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Only 2 carburetors?
I hope that the a/c compressor is tucked WAAAY under.
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Only 2 carburetors?
I hope that the a/c compressor is tucked WAAAY under.
wellll.... if a single 4 tunnel ram comes up cheap enough i may redo the top for 3x2's, only they'd be weber 38/38's. with a progressive linkage that only runs on the centre carb til 1/2 throttle then all 3 in by full throttle it should be ok. we'll see what comes up.
neil.
ps the AC compressor's a small sanden type so easy enouigh to tuck out of the way, lol.
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a little nash update to squeeze in between other stuff we have going through the shop. i've found a 351c tunnel ram in florida and emailed for a shipping price to the uk, fingers crossed......
neil.
edit... that was a bust.
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looks like i've found a 351c tunnel ram. it's had the top altered for injection (enderle i think?) but at the price that's easily sorted.
neil.
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paid the customs fees today so my jay brown intake adapter should be delivered soon. i'll collect my 351 cleveland tunnel ram at the swapmeet sunday, that'll bolt to the above adapter. just need to see what carb's are there sunday and if not i'll buy a new pair of chedelbrock (chinese edelbrock, lol) 500's.
neil.
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the intake adapter arrived today, what a lovely bit of kit.
thanks Jay 8)
neil.
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Glad you like it Neil, post some pics when you get it installed.
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i've been looking at different steering wheels for my nash and decided and bought this 15" astrali wood rim one.
neil.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335139207106
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ok, call me a tart/poser but i just ordered 2x 3" electric exhaust cutouts for my nash. ::) i say 2x not a pair as 1 was on offer so £10 less than everyone else so i bought that and a 2nd from elsewhere.
neil.
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Are you going to street it? I had electric cutouts on my Mach 1 a while back, it was fun blowing by Corvettes with the cutouts open on the local freeways ;-)
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i've been looking at different steering wheels for my nash and decided and bought this 15" astrali wood rim one.
neil.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335139207106
That is absolutely cool looking!
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hopefully the 360 engine i have will fire up and run well enough to go in my nash while i build a 390 for it. i've got the inlet adapter and tunnel ram now and i'm looking into a retro fit roller cam swap. the cam and lifters will add up to about £800 which sounds a lot but it'll eliminate the issues with flat tappet cams/lifters. we'll see.....
neil.
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so i've ordered more bits and bobs for my nash and it's started to arrive. a lump of 8mm aluminium plate to unmodify the top of the tunnel ram, a pair of 1/2" phenolic spacers with studs to a) insulate the carbs and b) keep the carb linkages off of the above plate. also countersunk m6 allen bolts and nylocs to hold the plate to the top of the tunnel ram, a valve spring installed height checker, a new pair of butch crocodile clips for my big boy's snap on battery charger/starter and both of the electric 3" exhaust cutouts. oh and the very pretty steering wheel too ;D
we got the plate cut to size, the holes cut out to the open spacer's size and the stud holes drilled ready to tap. then it was full stop as we couldn't find a 5/16 unc tap.... bu66er, best order a couple then. ::)
neil.
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the thread taps arrived today, too late to get out and cut the threads though. we'll get that done tomorrow along with some countersunk holes in the plate and through the top of the tunnel ram so we can attach it.
neil.
edit, i also ordered a nice shiny centre/horn push for my nice shiny steering wheel. ;D
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i took delivery of a 4" length of 4" internal diameter stainless tube today. i intend to make an adjustable tapered piston ring compressor to make future engine builds a little easier.
neil.
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today we tapped the stud holes in the ally plate and loctited the studs in place. next it's neatening the edges/corners and drill/countersink it to bolt it to the tunnel ram.
neil.
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a little more done today, just need to cut the bolts to length ready for final assembly. that is once all the black paint's stripped off. it wasn't much but it seems more..... which is good. ;D
neil.
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today we set to on the tunnelram base with my (lidl's own) sawzall and a couple of grinders. all the bits that interfered with the adapter are now gone and it fits a treat. the corners/edges of the carb plate are smoothed off and the super length bolts are all cut to length. we're waiting for blast media now to remove all the paint from what remains of the tunnel ram ;D. it's done as far as modifications go so that's another job ticked off.
neil.
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I certainly think that will work out right fine. Glad to see it coming together for you.
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I certainly think that will work out right fine. Glad to see it coming together for you.
thanks, i see no reason why it shouldn't. i'm glad i got the tunnel ram so cheap (£250), it would've hurt cutting up an expensive one ;)
neil.
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that's that done then, even though we didn't need to do it yet. but i couldn't resist ;D. we'll have to knock up the engine run stand now to check out this 360. the results will determine if the nash can be on the road this year.... or not. fingers crossed ;)
neil.
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we started to remove the paint from the tunnel ram today.... i know i said we'd start the engine run stand but i got distracted. so sue me, lol. well it appears it's not painted, it's powder coated. my heat gun wouldn't touch it so out came the plumbers torch, that works a 'bit' better then. we got just over 3/4 of the way round the base section in about 1 1/2 hours! bl00dy hell that stuff's hard! then it was dinner time which seemed strange so early.... 'til i noticed i'd not changed the clock in my garage, doh! pics tomorrow after hopefully finishing the base and top sections. they will need blasting as the primer powder coat doesn't fully come off. the sand/garnet/blasty rough stuff arrived today as well as the handheld spot blast gun so we'll give that a go tomorrow too.
neil.
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we made a start on the run stand today.... finally. we grabbed my engine build stand from over the road as well as 1/2 of the 2" angle iron work bench ashley saved from a skip at a place he worked. first job was remove the seized carb from the 360, redrill my lift plate to suit and bolt that in place. then we could lift it up and remove the iron bellhousing and clutch and bolt on an ally fmx bellhousing. then the build stand's mounting 'spidery' thing was bolted to the bellhousing and slid into the stand. we cut a 2x4 to sit under the sump down tom the stand which held the engine slightly uphill, ideal to run it. lastly before dinner stopped play we cut and bent some more 2" angle and bolted them to the engine mounts while pointing down to the middle 'leg' of the stand. the plan is the engine will be held at those 3 places and the whole shebang will be stabilised by a cross beam on an extension of the middle leg to which a radiator and dash mount will bolt. either side of the cross beam will be new swivel castors keeping it all mobile.
hopefully we'll get it done ready to test the 360 by some time next week (read... next weekend, lol). we'll get more use from it once we've built ashley's 352 and later my 390 so it's all worth it. plus by just changing the engine mount section it can take other engines too.
neil.
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forgot to say i made an offer for a pair of chedelbrock 500cfm carbs today on ebay. it wasn't a daft offer so we'll see how it goes, fingers crossed.
neil.
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we got all of the run stand frame made today and the radiator mounted with top and bottom hoses. we added the front crossmember with castors as above but i wasn't happy with the engine's stability so we also put a stabiliser off of each side's engine mounting leg. that fixed it, it's solid now.next it's add a 'dashboard' so we can moniter the vitals and have an ignition switch. oh, and we'll have to fit a battery/fuel tank tray too. we're getting there though and by removing 1/2 a dozen nuts and bolts the engine build stand is back to stock and the rest breaks down to 3 seperate bits so not too bulky.
neil.
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so as you may know i'm frugal (ok read tight, lol) so on that basis i've been looking at different hydraulic roller lifters for my fe big block engine. i can buy small block ford ones for under 100 quid whereas the fe ones are 600 quid up. it seems the lifter bodies are the same but as the lifters are spaced further apart on the big block the link bars are longer too. some on fe forums have used small block ones with no issues, others say they won't work (have they tried though?) so i thought..... it's only metal so i'd cut the link bars and add the 1/4" needed to match my engine. it means i can do the roller cam conversion for about 400 quid which is not even twice the price of a stock replacement flat tappet cam and lifters.
neil.
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Make sure that the oil hole in the lifter body does NOT line up with the oil hole in the lifter bore. The oil should come from the clearance volume between the lifter bore and the lifter, not directly from the oil hole in the bore. You will over-oil the top end if those holes line up.
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Make sure that the oil hole in the lifter body does NOT line up with the oil hole in the lifter bore. The oil should come from the clearance volume between the lifter bore and the lifter, not directly from the oil hole in the bore. You will over-oil the top end if those holes line up.
thanks for that although i wasn't planning to 'run' oil through the pushrods so would that still be a concern?
neil.
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ok so the sbf hyd' roller lifters were offered with a discount code making them £68 so i bought them. but then it'd be rude not to get the cam too so...... that was £299 with shipping (duties/taxes this end too but...) from summit so overall not bad. obviously i'll have to get pushrods to suit but hey ho the big bits are ordered. this is the cam i chose... https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-8918
neil.
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Make sure that the oil hole in the lifter body does NOT line up with the oil hole in the lifter bore. The oil should come from the clearance volume between the lifter bore and the lifter, not directly from the oil hole in the bore. You will over-oil the top end if those holes line up.
thanks for that although i wasn't planning to 'run' oil through the pushrods so would that still be a concern?
neil.
Probably not a concern with hydraulic rollers, since the pushrods should stay in the lifter seat and block the oil. I've never tried it though...
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What did you buy for lifters at that price? Seems like single pair price for link bars
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What did you buy for lifters at that price? Seems like single pair price for link bars
i got them on ebay (uk) from the 'MaXpeedingrods Official Store'. that chinese company has been around for many years and they wouldn't last if they made crap so.....
anyway the ebay number was/is 357452291320
neil.
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LOL
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Ouch! I'd be throwing those lifters in the garbage, Neil...
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I agree with Jay, and although I wish you well, generally going the cheapest way and using parts not designed for the engine ends in disappointment.
If you do go this route, which I am not advocating, make sure those tie bars do not bind. They need to be checked with one at max lift and the other on the base, and when both on the base, to ensure there is additional travel available, so you don't break the pins
Then make sure you have enough spring pressure (>150 seat and 165 is better, about 400 open). Any loss of control or binding will beat them into submission. The pictures I attached are an engine that came in from another builder. It did not have adequate pressure and this is what happens when it loses control. He was lucky, no damage other than lifters and cam. Unfortunately, we don't know if those cheap rollers can handle that pressure, but without adequate pressure, it will cause damage, a "catch 22"
Additionally, when a roller axle fails (not the link pins), it makes a mess, usually worse than a failed flat tappet as the housing breaks apart and goes everywhere, usually eating its way through the bearings. So failure costs could be very high.
Trying the cheaper cam is one thing, but I am with the others, send them back or make a cool display for your wall.
ON EDIT: Those are not posed pictures, that is exactly what I saw when I pulled the intake. All the small parts were in the pan, but luckily didn't make it by a stock screen, a performance oil pump pickup likely would have sucked a lot more up
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I can't get behind any manufacturer whose only bullet point on their ad is "heat treated parts".
The amount of Procomp/Speedmaster parts that I've seen fail, both in person and online on forums, is astonishing, but yet they stay in business because people keep flocking to them because of the price.
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had a bit more time on the run stand today. we got the gauges, ignition switch, solenoid, battery tray and clamp and fuel 'tank' tray and 'clamp' all fitted. next it's wire it all up and fit the new distributor, coil, new starter and s/h carb to the engine. we're getting there. oh and yes the jerry can's held down with a bungy strap but as it'll need to come off to fill it each time it's fine. it's nice and sturdy so....
neil.
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we checked the 'truck' clutch plate on the tremec input shaft and it fits a treat. i'll get a new one ordered before it all goes together.
neil.
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i just followed up on a previous post re the clutch. i ended up ordering a full clutch kit so i could upgrade to a diaphram style pressure plate. these tend to give a lighter feel at the pedal than the stock 3 finger type. the kit from rock auto with shipping, uk duties and taxes was only ?165 so a bargain i thought. i'm finding the puzzle pieces slowly, i just need the lid off the box with the picture on so i know where they all go ;D
neil.
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my roller cam and lifters arrived so i had to have a peek. looks..... like a cam, lol.
neil.
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less than 3 days from ordering it my clutch kit arrived from rock auto! boy they're fast (bear in mind i'm in the uk).
neil.
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so..... either i just got the bargain of the week orrrr i'll get a message saying it was a mistake on the price and i've been refunded.
i had a chinese edelbrock 500 carb in my ebay watchlist at £163 waiting 'til i have the money spare to buy a pair for my tunnel rammed fe ford. today when looking at myebay the price was £17.98!! so i bought a pair... of course. then trying my luck i typed 600cfm carburetor, clicked cheapest first and they were listed at £22.98!! so i bought a pair of those too for our ashley's '63 ford zephyr gasser. we're building a tunnel rammed 440 mopar motor for it
now it's a waiting game to see if they all arrive.
neil.