Update. Have found a manufacturer willing to make the gaskets.

Indicative pricing is $120, say $150 with freight and packing. Will finalise that number in coming weeks and check again that those who have nominated and still want to proceed. Recognise it is twice as expensive as it used to be, and some people will not be comfortable. It is OK to opt out - no harm, no foul.

My own mental picture says it has been five years since we started this gasket caper, and global prices have gone up. We have also had a pandemic in the middle of it which has shaken all kinds of stuff up in various supply chains. Local manufacturers like AA Gaskets continue to close down, leaving only the little bespoke gasket mobs. They are not set up to bang out 100 gaskets in an afternoon, so prices are higher.

The manufacturer is making up four sample gaskets for me. Will take a look at the quality before we go any further.

Cheers,
Harv

It makes me grin when you nominate a 1000km run to Melbourne. This is what they were made for.

Cheers,
Harv

Yep, called Swansons first. They are not able to do them in anything other than copper. Really nice people though.

Cheers,
Harv

Slight hiccup with the gaskets.

With the nominations now closed, I got hold of AA Gaskets to place the order. Unfortunately, AA Gaskets has ceased manufacturing about 18 months ago and sold off all their gear. I still own the tooling, and they were a little surprised that no one had contacted me to send the tooling to me. They are now trying to locate the gear.

Looks like I need to find a new manufacturer. Have opened conversations with a number of locals, and it is looking good so far. Will send a sample to one of them when I get home, and keep you all in the loop as we go. This may change pricing, so will let you know and can understand if the new pricing is not OK for you (no idea yet if it will be more or less expensive).

Apologies for the delay.

Cheers,
Harv

Glad you didn't "just throw it away" as suggested. 

Good save.

Cheers,
Harv

That sounds familiar. Most times I touch an old Holden I can hear "there's a hole in the bucket" playing.

Cheers,
Harv

Does it drop any fluid if parked for a week or so on clean concrete (or concrete with newspaper taped down to make a clean surface)?

Have you accidently mistraced the lines, and it's really the brake master cylinder which is losing level (I've done that before  ).

Cheers,
Harv

Grace's ute had a similar problem. It used to leak inside the car (along the pushrod) and dribble onto the floormat. A stainless liner in the cylinder fixed it.

Cheers,
Harv

An update on the quickest grey motor quarter mile pass. At the 27th of January 1980 meeting at Surfers Paradise (Ampol 3), Dennis Paul ran a 10.83s quarter mile pass in the grey powered Resurrection FED in E/dragster. The FED normally ran around 11.3, but the stars aligned for this run. He beat a red-motored powered T-bucket in this round, but was beaten in the subsequent round.

The grey had been taken out to 3.25” bore (155ci), running 12.5:1 Repco pistons with full floating pins. Factory cylinder head, ported and oversized red motor valves with home-made pedestal roller rockers. Lightened steel flywheel and large harmonic balancer. Bert Jones cam. Triple 1½” SUs on alky. Bosch twin-point dizzy. Standard rods, sand blasted (similar to shot peining in intent). Standard crank, balanced with main cap braces. Custom HV oil pump using Holden 308 gears. All-synchro 3-speed using only second and top. Shortened banjo running a 4.1:1 fine spline centre.

I have absolutely no reason to doubt Dennis’ story, as the background, equipment and era match up (some stories I hear about other grey powered records do not stack up for power/weight). I’d be interested though if anyone has either records from the track (unlikely), or if there was any magazine coverage of the event.

Cheers,
Harv

If I'm reading the MasterParts right, then the FB/EK and FC strips are the same. From memory, I've got a least one FB/EK one (I think one straight one and one bent one).

If you can't find any before then, give me a yell in the first week of February and I'll check the spare parts department.

Cheers,
Harv

Post Christmas update. We are now over the 50 mark, so should be able to place an order with AA Gaskets.

To finalise this up, I am going to set a deadline: need any more orders in place prior to the end of January please. I will then use that number to make the order.

Cheers,
Harv

One week in, 29 orders so far. Will likely need 50 to make a production run.

Cheers,
Harv

Ladies and gents,

It's gotten round to that time again. I did a batch of the gaskets a while back, and kept about a dozen for my own stash. Over time I've helped people out who didn't order (I'm a sucker for a grey motor rebuild story), and now have no gaskets left in my own stash (other than the 3 I still owe Dave).

It seems that there is still some demand from people wanting the cylinder head gaskets, so I will do another round (I've had more than 300 made so far). Same deal as the last three times, and pricing will be similar (the numbers below were from last time, and may change slightly):

a) Gasket: $43 per gasket (or whatever AA Gaskets quotes me).
b) Packaging (7mm ply, wrapped in tape, instructions stashed inside): $3 regardless of the number of gaskets ordered.
c) Postage: $25 regardless of the number of gaskets ordered (yes, your postage might be slightly less... you still pay $25. Trying to manage many, many individual postage costs is beyond my attention span).

So if you want one gasket, you owe me $71.
If you want two gaskets, you owe me $114.
If you want three gaskets, you owe me $157
If you want four gaskets, you owe me $200
If you want five gaskets, you owe me $243
If you want six gaskets, you owe me $286

Rough timing for the process:
a) I'll collect expressions of interest from these forum posts. I need at least 50 nominations to make a gasket run. Not sure how long it will take to get 50 nominations - please be patient. I don't make a red cent out of these gaskets, and I have more than enough grey motored projects that are lagging behind. My mental picture is that it might be May or so of next year before you get your gasket
b) Once we have 50 nominations, for those who express an interest, you get a month to pony up the funds to me. There is always one or two people who don't bother paying, which I guess is human nature.
c) I'll place the order, and AA Gaskets will let us know the timing. Stupid me normally pays AA Gaskets as soon as we have the 50 people (to make the process faster), so anyone who doesn't pay is at my risk.
d) When the gaskets arrive, I'll parcel them up in plywood (like last time) and send them to you. Note that it is cheaper if you combine postage with a few mates, or as a Club.

Cheers,
Harv (deputy apprentice gasket scraper).

Reviving an old post.

As far as research can tell me, the fastest ever quarter mile powered by a grey motor (regardless of body type... door car, FED etc) is Barry Goong's 11.49s (D/Dragster, 1970 Nationals). If anyone knows of a quicker time, please share.

Part of the reason for my curiosity is my FED project. To race in Modified, I am going to need to make the grey pull a 10.99s or quicker pass. As far as I can tell, that would need it to be the world's fastest grey, by 0.5 seconds. I've got Eldred, Phil and Hedley helping, but think it will still be a pretty fair challenge.

Cheers,
Harv

Good thinking on the fishoil gun.

Cheers,
Harv

From my understanding of the Queensland rules:

If the vehicle was manufactured before 1 January 1992 and the manufacturer hasn’t specified a maximum towing capacity:

a) 1.5 times the unloaded mass of the vehicle—if the trailer is fitted with appropriate brakes, or
b) a maximum of 750kg—if the trailer isn’t fitted with brakes.

https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/vehicle-safety/towing/towing-vehicles-and-trailers

Cheers,
Harv

Ah. Some Googling shows a fancy red shop near my friends at the RMS. That shopping centre once had a Robbo's auto in it that were not too bad for parts. Shame the Bunnings there closed shop, or I could have done all my errands at once 

Cheers,
Harv

Options:  Go to Rare Spares armed with a steel rule and ask to go through all their sills until I find one that matches factory dimensions . . . 

Now that Prospect Rares is shut  , where is our nearest actual Rares store?

Cheers,
Harv

From memory, the cracked block bolt holes are blind, so unlikely to leak coolant. Perhaps spread some sealant along the bolt threads during assembly if worried about corrosion.

The cracks may allow the bolt holes to spread though. Put a head bolt into each with a long pile of washers on the bolt. Torque the bolt up to 65 ftlb and see if the thread holds, or has spread.

Cheers,
Harv

eBay for main jets.

Most are from Genuine Stromberg - Clive is still churning out the jets in a variety of sizes:
https://www.stromberg-97.com/product-index/parts/?cat=genuine-97-jets-and-valves

Cheers,
Harv