The Man Cave Chronicles: Chapter 1, Coffee Table

[Jersey Mike]

Following weeks of rigorous negotiations, I got the OK to convert the den into my personal "Man Cave." This is manly just a place to spend Football Sundays with the guys & retreat to when she's watching The Bachelor/AGT/PLL/etc.

So, I got a couch, a little TV, a bucket of paint, and she even got me some little knickknacks to commemorate my humble little quarters. But I need at least a coffee table or something to hold my drinks & snacks.

My next call? I reached out the usual suspects here on NJFBOA to hunt down a blown motor, so I could make my own little "budget-friendly, engine coffee table." Chris (NJTorque) told me he had a LS1 he was scrapping that I was welcome to. One truck, a few dozen wings, & an Andrew Jackson later, I came home with this:





She'll be hot-tanked & bead blasted soon, at which point I'll start the polishing process & assembly.

And of course, an obligatory picture of the carnage, in true NJTorque Racing fashion:






I'll be tapping the block to accept the pistons as pedestals for the glass next. I'll try to update this thread with pics as things develop.

Wish me luck!
Mike

[BonzoHansen]

Paul @ RPM made one out of a SBC block

[sweetbmxrider]

I just scrapped kirk's old block last week

[Jersey Mike]

Originally Posted by BonzoHansen

Paul @ RPM made one out of a SBC block

Now I'm going to have to stalk him to see what he did. Knowing his reputation though, it was probably leaps & bounds better than what this thing will ever be...

[Jersey Mike]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

I just scrapped kirk's old block last week

Just out of curiosity, what did you get for it?*



*Assuming it wasn't part of an assortment of other things. Long shot.

[sweetbmxrider]

It was but I think he said $40?

[PolarBear]

You can't hot tank aluminum. it will eat it away.

I have some pistons with rods that I am probably not going to use

[Featherburner]

Originally Posted by PolarBear

You can't hot tank aluminum. it will eat it away.

I have some pistons with rods that I am probably not going to use

But you can have it Jet-washed.

[PolarBear]

Originally Posted by Featherburner

But you can have it Jet-washed.

Not sure if that is different than a pressure wash, lol. Just didn't want him to take it somewhere and ask for it to be hot tanked and have it dissolve

[MDSheds_SS]

We use aluminum brightener when cleaning some condenser coils at work. **** works great. You have to wash it off real good or it will eat away at the aluminum. But it also does make for a good shine in the end.

[PolarBear]

Originally Posted by MDSheds_SS

We use aluminum brightener when cleaning some condenser coils at work. **** works great. You have to wash it off real good or it will eat away at the aluminum. But it also does make for a good shine in the end.

Is that a name brand?

[Jersey Mike]

Hmm... Haledon Auto is the machine shop that I spoke to about doing the cleaning work. The staff has handled many LS1s, and are aware of the aluminum construction. That's an interesting point that I'll bring up to them when I go there, James. Thanks!

[MDSheds_SS]

Originally Posted by PolarBear

Is that a name brand?

Nu-Calgon Nu-Brite is the pink stuff that makes aluminum shine.

[BonzoHansen]

I found these, but no finished pic. You might want to PM Paul.

Shows someone else's table
http://www.njfboa.org/forums/showthr...ighlight=table

partially shows the one he made out of my 305 block.
http://www.njfboa.org/forums/showthr...ighlight=table

[Jersey Mike]

Thanks, Scott!!

[Featherburner]

Originally Posted by PolarBear

Not sure if that is different than a pressure wash, lol. Just didn't want him to take it somewhere and ask for it to be hot tanked and have it dissolve

http://www.equipmentmanufacturing.co...rjet-home.html

[BonzoHansen]

Originally Posted by Featherburner

http://www.equipmentmanufacturing.co...rjet-home.html

you have one of those too?

[Featherburner]

Originally Posted by BonzoHansen

you have one of those too?

Not exactly...

[BonzoHansen]

Originally Posted by Featherburner

Not exactly...

Dont tell your wife you put parts in the dishwasher

[redsoxsstink]

Originally Posted by Jersey Mike

Hmm... Haledon Auto is the machine shop that I spoke to about doing the cleaning work. The staff has handled many LS1s, and are aware of the aluminum construction. That's an interesting point that I'll bring up to them when I go there, James. Thanks!

my dad and i use them for all our machine work, never steered us in the wrong direction i would trust their opinion. plus this is a table, who cares if a fews .001s are eaten away as long as it looks good

[LS1ow]

Paint it to match the car

[Jersey Mike]

So, I figured I'd update this a bit...


I'm still not finished, but I went in a different direction. I ended up grappling with the final height of the glass & decided that I needed the whole thing to sit higher. While debaing getting an LS engine stand to help this sit a few inches higher, I stumbled across this picture and really liked the idea of an assembled engine on display. I grabbed my stock intake, a set of 241 heads donated from "Creeper", my old throttle body, and various other little things to slap on. I loved it because this also managed to clear some real estate on my parts shelves in the process

I opted out of the hot tank & blasting--mainly out of laziness. I ended up cleaning the block a little bit & then hitting it with High Heat Bright Beauty spray paint. I'm going to continue cleaning up the other parts like the intake & the heads, and likely spray the throttle body with the same spray paint as well. I'm looking to get my hands on a junk cam to slide in there & a sprocket to wrap my chain around.

In addition, I have a good friend who has the equipment & ability to cut me a 4 head plates out of aluminum. I may go that route instead of cleaning & polishing the front/back of the heads.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures of where we're at now. Gotta start working on mounting the pistons & rods next.

[redsoxsstink]

Your table looks better than most people's engines. My friend Keith says you should have spent those efforts on a 6 speed swap.

Oh and does it hold beer?

[V]

Not bad. Almost seems you need better lighting in that cave... to make that table really pop.

[Blackbirdws6]

Looks good from here. When does the GP begin?