Barthers!

I haven't posted in 6 years, I can't believe it has been that long.

Notable things that have transpired:

2019, driving back from the NH Nascar event, it was such a hot night. It must have been 130 out and humid. Ok, I exaggerate a bit, but one of the Xfinity series crew chiefs died that weekend, and I can't help but think the heat played a factor in it.

Rolling south of Manchester NH, I notice the temperature gauge climbing, and the voltage falling. Damn, a belt broke. Being the kind of guy that I am, I had the tools and belt to install. Sure was nice to have a freezer still full of Popsicles, that was a hot job! I have since found that there is a series of belts that is made for extreme reliability, so I have got one of those now also. I need to install that.

This year, with the "virus in the news" I haven't gotten the Barth out. I move it around the yard. Well, recently, the engine got really loud. I found that that what happened, is that where the intake manifold has an "exhaust crossover" underneath the carburetor area, that on the driver side of the carburetor, the cast iron rusted through. I am glad this happened in my yard. As soon as I yank the manifold off, and find out that I do indeed have the "peanut port" heads, I am going to order a Weiand 8122WND intake manifold for the 454. From what I can find, it is the only manifold on the market now meant for use with these heads.

In poking around, I also see that a bracket for the AC compressor cracked. This is the second time on that. And one time while owning this, a bolt to hold the bracket sheared. This is probably all within the space of 10K miles. I wonder if the bracket issue led to the belt breaking. Anyway, I will try to come up with a solution that does not involve this same type of bracket, the "7N4" option on the 454. I have even wondered if I could have a local foundry make me a cast iron replacement for the cast aluminum brackets that fail. I did sand casting in high school shop so I think it should be an easy job.

And also in poking around, I saw that a hose clamp had rusted apart. However, the hose had welded itself to the manifold fitting. I never replaced the clamps, nor the 5/8" hoses, nor the 3/4" hoses. I was lucky to find that in my yard. Those parts had been in place for 33 years. This seems to have been my only oversight in the resurrection of my rig. There are hoses made to higher levels of reliability per SAE standards, and I have bought those and will install those soon.

I am toying with the idea of when I have the intake manifold off, that I might as well install a new camshaft. If not now, then when, right?

I hope you have been weathering the storms out there.

Happy motoring!
Matt

Good to here from you Matt! The battle never ends.