Yep, that is a Mummert 4 barrel intake manifold!
"Where have you been?"
It has been a very busy spring here at the Jessup house. I looked at my blog schedule and the most recent post I made was back in April. As a matter of fact, I wrote only one blog post that entire month! The last several weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, events, travel, and all the rest; since I have not checked in here on the blog within the last few weeks I thought I would give a brief update to let everyone know what is going on and what we have "baking in the oven" at HotRodReverend.com.
What about that E-4 Isky Cam?
The work on the 292 C2AE block in the 1955 Ford Fairlane is certainly continuing. What I have found is that documenting the process via photos and videos takes much more time than just simply performing the mechanical work. Things such as lighting, sound, camera angle, and all the rest have to be considered before I even get in the garage. I have just posted Part 3 to my YouTube channel if you want to get a look ahead, but I am planning to save the Part 3 and Part 4 video links for the second blog post about the camshaft upgrade. Hopefully Part 4's video will end with a successful break in session. I can tell you at this point is that we are at a stage when the valley pan has been straightened, painted, and re-installed. The rocker arms have been adjusted, the timing cover and water pump are secured to the block, and a few other tidbits have been taken care of.
Work continues on the camshaft upgrade...
In addition to such goodies as a Mummert aluminum intake, an E-4 camshaft, and a Rollmaster timing set, I am also restoring a decent set of aluminum Thunderbird valve covers. I am archiving that separate process as well so that later on down the road I can make a specific blog entry for what all I did and what results were achieved.
The 292 C2AE will sport a pair of aluminum valve covers soon.
Why aren't you working any faster?
For the blog series, the extra prep in equipment and all the rest just slows down the process of getting normal work accomplished. There are thousands of people who reap some benefit thought - the website analytics do show that we are getting over 1,000 visits each month and most of that traffic is on the blog pages. So, we will keep at it, archiving all of the efforts in the garage along the way.
Setting up lighting, camera angles, and mics takes up a lot of time.
In addition to editing videos and writing articles, there is quite a bit going on that is taking up time that could be otherwise spent in the garage; but you will find that all of these activities are time well spent with others. Probably the most important would have been our large Mother’s Day breakfast at our church. A full breakfast was prepared, cooked, and served for 300 ladies - I had a little bit to do with that and was glad to be a part. Arriving at 6 am to slice fresh fruit, prep potatoes, pull some K.P. duty and then stay through until after 10 am to wait tables are the least I could do for these moms. It was a very good way to say, “We appreciate you.”
On one weekend in late April I was able to travel to Carlisle, Pennsylvania to walk through the rows and rows of car part vendors. This spring a record crowd filled the fairgrounds, and I will have to say that the long lines at the port-a-potty’s and food trucks certainly proved the improvement in numbers! Most of the parts that I found for mid-50’s Fords were priced very high. Now mind you, I did find a few gems here and there but passed on several intake manifolds that carried sticker prices roughly $100 MORE than what you would find on eBay.
A record crowd showed up at the Spring Carlisle, Ohio swap meet.
At times, the repairs to personal vehicles have taken a toll on the time clock. Our grocery-getter Chrysler Town and Country mini-van, an otherwise very reliable vehicle, left me on the side of the road after it shredded a serpentine belt into rubber spaghetti. The culprit? A brand new tensioner pulley that evidently did not have enough bearing grease installed at the factory. It only had 1500 miles on it, and I was thankful that the incident occurred in my town - not out on the turnpike or while I was away in Pennsylvania. There is nothing quite like a parking lot repair, but after some time with a local auto parts store we were back on our way.
The seized pulley helped turn the belt to spaghetti!
What is going on with Fast Fords and the Y Block Nationals?
During test and tune in 2021, Dave Fuszner lined up against the Hot Rod Reverend.
Progress continues to be made as we make preparations for the weekend of racing and my work as the chaplain of the event. Very nice signage arrived just a couple of weeks ago. The banners and large outdoor posters will be used to point people to the meeting space, the donuts/coffee tables, and to the church service on Sunday morning of course. Our full color printed programs are in the proofing stage and are just about ready to be sent to press. We are printing 1200 of them for Fast Fords and the Y Block Nationals. In addition, I will be handing out copies of the Drag Racer’s New Testament - a Bible with a special cover and insert pages just for those of us who like to go fast down the track.
We are praying for good weather for Father’s Day weekend when the racing goes down, and of course for a better attendance than what we had last year. It does look like there will be more of the Y Block FaYthful this year, and the online group of members of Fast Fords at Dragway 42 has grown from 200 at this time last year to well over 1000. I do hope you can make the event and be with us. If you can't be there the entire weekend, at least consider Sunday!
Of course, some of the preparation involves my 1955 Ford Fairlane Club Sedan as well. While it is not a race car by any stretch of the imagination, I do enjoy tinkering, tuning, and making adjustments just to see what 1/4 mile improvements can be made from the race last year. The driveline from the transmission back is a stock affair so I am not expecting too much, but of course the engine is receiving some upgrades.
We will keep you posted with further updates on the 55 Ford as I move along. There is a 312 Y Block build in process. The heads are just about finished, my rotating assembly is being balanced, and there are some parts here and there that I continue to find. Also, I have begun work on a video concerning the wiring of the fuel sender and gauge to get all of that working properly.
The Hot Rod Reverend
aka Daniel Jessup