NYC Journal

Devil Dan,

That monster pixel Blad is bad-ass. I love it.

BTW you and I could be like in that film Twins with Danny DeVito and Arnold. How did we get separated at birth? LOL.

I’m kinda maxing out a 1966 C-10, but this will be a practical truck. Even though lowered 4 1/2 inches in the front and 4 inches in the rear the load capacity will still be half ton OEM.

I have the factory option Auxiliary springs. My truck was ordered as a “camper” so it sports California Highway mirrors, has a rear step bumper. I think with a spacer I can recycle the Aux-springs to make it a kinda heavy half-ton.

That Ford 9 inch rear is rated a heavy half-ton (kinda 3/4 ton) with huge wheel bearings.

Cal
 
A new world order is happening. Capitol is flowing out of the U.S. and the capitol is heading to Europe.

The E.U. Economy as a unit has an economy that is sized pretty close to the U.S.

Hate to say this but the U.S. looks to becoming a poorer country. Mucho bad policy…

Cal
 
My muscles feel taunt in a good way. Very tropical weather happening. A cherry tomato plant grew a foot yesterday.

Went to a birthday dinner. The food was good.

“Maggie learned she was nominated to be considered for this years “Forbe’s Fifty.” Kinda odd since she now has a limited online presence. Kinda crazy.

Our house was one of 928 that suffered a power outage. The power is currently restored but they are still working on things a few blocks away.

Glad we got our power back. AC is life support.

Cal
 
My warm flashes from the hormone treatment are getting more severe. More chills and more sweating. So this side effect is growing.

I also just got approved by my insurance for 39 radiation treatments. This is the 5 days a week for 8 weeks. The missing day is likely the 4th of July.

Went to see my friend Joe’s exhibit at the Hudson River Museum to attend his artist’s talk. Met up with Snarky Joe. Last time we met up it was to ride from Yonkers to the Croton Dam along the viaduct with a guide.

It was really pleasant and it would be great to have a NYC Meet-Up again.

It would be really-really great if it were say in or near mid-town Madhattan. Does anyone know a place that could be like our old Puch Fair?

Had a busy day because we went to a forum about making Peekskill our city a better walking city. I guess the population of Peekskill has grown to 28K from 25K. I have to check this.

On the way to this forum I had parked my Audi and was checking to see if I had to feed the parking meter, and this woman in a Beamer rolled down her window and yelled to me that parking on weekends is free. That woman happened to be the Mayor of Peekskill. LOL. She was there to attend the forum.

Bike lanes are not wanted by the local businesses. Also parking downtown gets overblown because walking 2-3 blocks is not a death sentence. I made friends with the Chief of Police.

As a cyclist I brought up that the best bike lanes would be best if not within the downtown, best to keep cyclist and pedestrians separate and apart to avoid problems. I mention how Project Zero in NYC statistically showed how lower speed limits actually caused an increase in pedestrian mortality by encouraging congestion that increased more aggressive driving.

Lots of good points made and good dialog.

One of my neighbors was present, and I learned Marty is a big Republican organizer in Peekskill. He too is a Prostate Cancer survivor, had a Prostatectomy and hormone treatment a decade ago. His testosterone never returned, but now he gets injections every few weeks.

I hope that is not me…

Driving into the city I’d like to avoid, and I’d like to stay out of the subway if possible. Walking distance from Grand Central would be great.

Cal
 
After bombing Iranian nuclear sites expect a major jump in oil prices, and higher oil prices could trigger a recession.

Four out of five recessions are caused by spiking energy costs.

The Strait of Hormuz is very easily a choke point for oil to get exported.

Not good. Best to fill up on gas soon, but it will or should take some time to trickle into the pump prices.

Not good…

Cal
 
Calzone said:
Best to fill up on gas soon, but it will or should take some time to trickle into the pump prices.

Not good…

Cal
Click to expand...

You wish. We all wish. Here in Australia, land of greedy capitalists and the grab the cash mentality, petrol pump prices fly upward an hour after any major announcement on global supplies.
 
Oppressive tropical weather settled in. Kinda brutal. To an extent air conditioning is life support.

The warm flashes are increasing in intensity as drug levels I guess are still building up. Chills and warm flashes. No sweet spot of comfort for me.

Last night playing my non trem strat it got really confirmed how it has a Tele sensibility and is mucho Tele vibe. A huge part of the Strat vibe is the steel inertia block, the bridge floating on springs, and a kinda built in reverb. I was really digging the hardtail Strat a lot, and it seemed to have both opened up itself and somehow awakened something profound in me that I like.

I had the opportunity to plug in and adjust the pickups on the baritone Tele hollow body. What a great voice, and then I plugged into my vintage Matchless Lightning (1997) and got some amazing tone out of that amp.

The weather makes me lazy, and the early morning rain made us can going to New Milton Connecticut to do Elephant’s Trunk the antique flea market. This is not so far away…

Yesterday I stumbled into a road testing of 9 light truck tires rated for a quiet ride. The evaluation was a thorough one, and it helped me sort through my priorities. I heavily favored the handling and braking performance, so the quiet ride led me to two tires that held only a moderate rating as far as quiet ride.

I once had a set of BFG Mud Terrains on the Jeep, exceptionally loud tires, and it was fatiguing. In fact I likely suffered some hearing damage from driving around in the summers without a top. Sustained high background noise…

Some of the ratings were for both dry and wet conditions, and even snow and ice.

The Continental tire was the best for dry conditions, but the Bridgestone Dueler was best for foul weather and winter driving. Pretty much I favor the Bridgestone for the adverse conditions, to me more of an all-season tire.

So this chase saved me lots of time, because I went to the Bridgestone site and used their fit calculator to kinda reverse engineer rim size through availability. This cut through a lot of endless searching.

End result though is that I need to run an ideal 28 inch diameter tire for both ground clearance and body clearance. I knew the sweet spot to optimize the new suspension that will drop the front end about 4 inches and the rear about 6 inches.

Know that I will not suffer any OEM load capacity, and I think I can still use the factory ordered Auxiliary leaf spring to have use of an overload spring by shimming the perch off the frame. EZ-PZ, very trick, and mucho clever.

So my truck remains a truck where I can still use it for hauling as designed and intended. Many lowered trucks compromise their OEM load capacity. Kinda lame… Why not just drive a car if the truck an’t be loaded?

So it ends up my 15 inch OEM rims cannot be used and need to be replaced. They will be replaced with 18 inch rims, the same diameter as on my A4 Audi, but the tires will have considerably more sidewalls.

Understand that a 29 inch tire that is available for the 15 inch rim has the possibility of rubbing the wheel wells and interfering with the steering on a lowered truck. The ideal 28 inch tire diameter also has been heavily engineered for me by the suspension kit builder.

Solving the tire/wheel combination gets complicated fast. Creativity made the problem solving fun and rewarding. Also know there is no real compromise here and all the engineering work makes for a fully integrated and unified design.

Very rewarding, and I’ll be spending my money only once. No mistakes…

Cal
 
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Cal, you need to go to Youtube and look at the horsepower some of the engine rebuilders are getting out of I-6 engines.
PowerNation got 300HP out of a Slant Six before they added a turbocharger-after they got 430HP ! that's 426 Hemi power!
 
MFM,

Tom Langdon from Stovebolt retired, so that rabbit hole is closed off. I was into his work years ago. I also saw that Power Nation.

I would love to get a 292 and work that engine out, but those motors had tall heads so they only fit in trucks, and today finding a 292 is not so easy. There is one on EBAY now for $1800.00 that was a stationary motor, perhaps to pump water or power a generator.

It is a big project building a motor. Basically it involves a lot, especially money…

The thing with a 350 small block is this engine is so readily available, and there is a huge aftermarket. Parts are cheap.

Then Snarky Joe told me the old hot rod adage: “No replacement for displacement.”

350 is more than 292, and also 250. Hmmm… A stroked 383 crate motor: 450 HP; 444 foot pounds of torque… That amount of power is good for destroying tires. I figure my C-10 will weigh about 3600-3800 pounds.

My 84 Jeep Scrambler weighed 3000 pounds without the doors and top: 350 HP and 400 foot pounds. I think 405 HP from a ZZ6 is enough.

“No replacement for displacement,” though…

Anyways buying a Crate Motor from Chevy is actually the most cost effective. These engines and tranny packages are mass produced and there is an economy of scale. Warranted I think for 2 years or 50K miles. This is brand new and not rebuilt…

My 250 inline 6 could be a 250 HP pretty easily with natural aspiration. The trick is major head work and bigger valves with a cam. The guy who kinda did all the heavy lifting now is retired. Right now it is stock and produces 155 HP, red lines at 4200 RPM. A 250HP I-6 would be a screamer that rev’ed high.

Tom built out a 292 and it had a great flat torque curve on the dyno. That engine was mighty cool but I bet expensive. A powerful engine without a turbo.

Anyways, once I pull the head, get new valve seals, and get hardened valve seats installed, pretty much my old 250 that is 59 years old, only has 61K miles on it. My phase one is do up the chassis and use the truck with the 6 and three on the tree. No power steering, so a very different driving experience.

I am pleased that I figured out my wheels and tires.

I also found out that my old OEM 6-bolt steel rims sell on EBAY for about $125.00 each. Know I have also a fifth spare rim. I think mine would sell fast because I have a complete OEM set and it has a wonderful patina where the white paint is now a shade of ivory.

The chrome dog dish hub caps also sell for big dollars. My version seems not so available, or abundant, and I have an entire set. Today the dog dish and “poverty” caps, were on the lowest cost cars and trucks. Today they are a badge of honor and a status symbol.

On the 18 inch steel wheels I like, they can drill and add clips so I can retain my dog dish caps.

235/55R18 Bridgestone Dueler on the front that is 28.2” tall (diameter), 5.1 inch sidewall for some cush, and a 9.3 wide tread.

The rear would be a matching Bridgestone Dueler 255/50R18: 28” tall; 5.0” sidewall; and 10” wide.

This would be with a 4 1/2 front drop and a 6” rear drop. I figure the top of the top lip of the front and rear fender would have a height of 28 inches from the ground. I still would have a good amount of truck height, have a good amount of ground clearence, and would not loose any load capacity. It basically would remain a half-ton truck, but kinda with a minivan height.

Figure the guys that slam a truck and use airbags use 20 inch and 22 inch diameter rims with low profile tires with profiles that are either 30 or 35, basically almost no sidewalls.

A near OEM size on a 1966 C-10 is a 225/75R15: 28.3” tall (diameter); 6.6” sidewall; and a 8.9” width. My diameters are not far from OEM, but the profile and width are both lower and wider that are kinda modern.

A big reason I want the 18 inch wheels is I want 13 inch rotors, and this also means 6 pistons on the front caliper, and 4 pistons on the rear caliper.

Don’t forget 405 HP from a ZZ6 crate motor. Also know that my 250 cubic inch I-6 weighs 440 pounds. A regular Chevy 350 small block weighs about 550 pounds, but the ZZ6 has an aluminum intake manifold, and aluminum heads. Add on a pair of headers and at least 100 pounds is shaved, perhaps more… So the ZZ6 likely will weigh less than the I-6.

The SM318 three-on-a-tree tranny only weighs 65 pounds. The T-56 six-speed weighs 130 pounds.

I can’t justify the 15x6 steel rims because that reduces the rotor size to 11 or 12 inches. Perhaps too much sidewall and flex also at high speeds.

Great brakes are an asset.

Anyways an evil truck…

Cal
 
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One of the keys is the planning and learning I’m doing now.

The suspension is all bolt-on, about a weekend for me, and a pro in a garage maybe a day.

Pretty much lots of project management and nailing the details.

The rear axel costs about $4.7K from Currie, but the Ford nine-inch is assembled, has the correct brackets welded in, has the brakes installed, and is powder coated. Pretty much bolt it in and add the 4 quarts of oil.

Today all the engineering is kinda done for you, but don’t cheap out or you’ll spend your money twice.

That is why I’m planning now…

New engine, new tranny, new rear axel. All HD and kinda bomb proof. In a ways better than what I could buy in a new truck. No compromise…

Anyways, that is the way to live.

Cal
 
The thing that will take time to clean and apply POR-15 to first pickle and then pot in the surface rust on the frame.

Some things will happen fast, and other things will take mucho time.

BTW the first generation C-10’s are kinda getting scarce. It seems the markets mostly like/love the next generation “Square Bodies” that first came out in 1973. Lots of comfort was added to the interiors.

GM gained lots of momentum off the first generation trucks like mine, but the first gen were simpler and kinda bare bones. The Square Bodies really took off, and because GM made millions of them they are very much the most popular today.

Point here is there is an huge abundant supply of square bodies, and this reinforces their popularity. My 1966 C-10 is harder to secure and not so abundant.

Cal
 
Morning Devil Cal,

520mm 20 inch Apo Ronar Pair 4x5 HP5 D23 F32 one pop by Nokton48, on Flickr

Testing my new 5x7/4x5 Sinar Norma Twin Lens Reflex with my longest matching lens pair set/ 520mm 20" F9 Rodenstock Apo Ronars. These are 45 degree Dialyte process type lenses offered by Sinar Norma in the day. F32 one pop YG Sinar Norma 103mm glass yelow green filter D23 1:1 Unicolor Unidrum and Uniroller. 4X 8x10 Aristo #2 RC print developed in Multigrade dev. Omega DII with Omegalite diffusion head. BTW I picked up my stand-in "model" and the plant base at the local IKEA store. 🙂 The base is "Rubbermaid Studio". Seemed appropriate to me The canvas background was hand painted by Artist James Bright
 
My thinking is that many households are waiting patiently for interest cuts later this year, and then they could use HELOC and the equity in their homes to unwind credit card debt.

A note is that HELOC was mucho popular before the housing crisis, and it was said that this flow of money was homeowners using their home’s equity as if an ATM. Interest rates were low then…

So now some households are waiting for interest rates to drop to 6%, but also know that HELOC had started gaining popularity since 2022.

With record levels of household debt and record levels of credit card debt it is easy to see that a repeat in history is kinda occurring.

Hmmm. Not the best time to gamble with your home, but for mucho many it is now a forced move. If a housing correction happens and prices drop, again many homeowners could find themselves underwater. I doubt though it would be on the scale of 2007-2008 though.

I see it as people that refi’ed of locked in record low rates though throwing away the advantage they gained that not only was historical, but may never happen again.

I sit back and say, “Oh-well…”

Cal
 
Inline sixes are known for both low rpm torque and a lower RPM operating range. Lots of heavy equipment use I-6 for the low end torque and the aforementioned build strength. These I-6 engines were known for durability and longevity, even under heavy duty and industrial use.

Plainly a great sturdy design.

The one handicap though is the size, meaning length. V-6’s are smaller and more compact. I’m not such a big fan of V-6’s…

My OEM Jeep Scrambler engine was an I-6 with 258 cubic inches of displacement. It made 220 foot pounds of torque and the torque curve came in early and the curve was flat. My engine had a red-line of only 3200 RPM. Of course this created little wear. The I-6 258 was called a stump puller. Kinda was like an industrial tractor.

I’m a big fan of I-6’s…

Cal
 
Basically bombing nuclear facilities in Iran is no big deal to the markets. Oil slid to the $69.XX range.

The Wall Street rally today kinda emboldens further craziness and perhaps yet another escalation to even more craziness.

What I am saying id crazy is the new normal.

IMHO the markets are irrational…

Cal
 
Figured out that I can install the suspension system and keep the rear axel and drum brakes. The front wheels though need to upgrade to disc brakes with the suspension.

At a later time the rear axel would get changed out (EZ-PZ) and at that time rear disc brakes could be added. The axel change would be a Ford 9-inch that could handle the added power and torque and would include the needed gear change.

The brake enhancement also would also be needed to add another level of performance because the rear axel would coincide with the ZZ6 engine install.

I figured out that a workaround for the mandatory 5x5.0 lug conversion on the front could be offset for about $300.00 via the purchase of reproduction steel rims with the lug pattern and spacing required. Basically no-big deal, and when the Ford rearend gets installed I could convert the lug pattern on the new rear to match the front.

A little odd, but initially I would sport a 5x5.0 lug pattern on the front and a truck 6 lug on the rear (6x5.5).

No one would be the wiser because my dog dish hubcaps would cover the lugs in the phase one, and in the phase 2 an additional pair of 5x5.0 rims would be secured for a second pair for an entire matched set.

Know the Ford 9-inch rear would happen along with the ZZ6 engine transplant, meanwhile for not a lot of money I get a new suspension, a set of new tires (235/75R15) for big sidewall comfort, and of course updated front disc brakes.

The Wilwood master cylinder has an adjustable proportioning valve to adjust the front/rear bias. This also serves when the rear disc brake conversion happens.

Know that if I decide to upgrade the size of the brakes via bigger rotors for mucho stopping power and higher safety, the adjustable master cylinder still is the ultimate. Initial cost though is about $750.00. Ouch, but I’d rather spend my money only once. IMHO worth the price…

Phase one now only $7.7K after getting the head situated and having a freshened up engine.

Less money required speeds up the timeline. Meanwhile I’ll have a usable truck, and I could easily recover all the money spent rather easily.

At Grumman and at two National Labs this is kinda the work I did, and I know I’m really great at doing project management as well as dealing with all the details to get things to work. In a ways this project is a tribute to honor my career.

Cal
 
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