Thanks for sharing the pics Lance! If you know of anyone with a filter top you can borrow, I'd be real curious how it affects airflow if you hit the chassis dyno. Amazing that something as simple as directing airflow can affect power.

When I had a cowl ind. scoop on my car in the fall it would "suck" leaves into it because of the pressure zone at the base of the windshield. It was a 2.5" scoop attached on top of the factory steel hood with the back completely open. Photo below shows my air cleaner housing (without the seal on it), and the leaves would collect down in there around the air cleaner. I guess that proves cowl induction really works. If you run the hood down on the dyno, maybe a small fan blowing into the back of the scoop would more accurately duplicate driving time.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l.../cowlind06.jpg

So, got back on it again today.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps0wcfxekl.jpg

Over the past few days I replaced the motor mount inserts, removed and rinsed the radiator, over flow and heater core and cleaned up a bit of the wiring.

Today my job was to replace the pilot bearing and install the engine.

I'm almost 50 years old and I still find things that I am doing for the first time, this was one of those. A great resource for this is YouTube...I must have watched about 6 or 7 videos of people removing pilot bearings by packing some sort of crap inside the bearing, pounding a bolt in and the crap forces the bearing out of the crank. Eff That!! I spent over an hours first trying this with wheel bearing grease, then resorting to bread... Eventually I was so pissed, I drove up to O'Reilly, rented a pilot bearing removal tool and after setting it up it literally took me less than 30 seconds to remove the bearing.

Before starting

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pskxfktcfb.jpg

End of crank full of grease and clutch alignment tool used as a punch

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psqneu8kga.jpg

All of the grease just flowed back out through the needle bearings.

Let's try bread...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psdy4uphgd.jpg

Finally got smart

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps4yzelyqo.jpg

30 seconds later...waa laa...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pspuwhz0ko.jpg


After that, things went pretty smooth. Just took my time, went slow, made sure that the changes I made would work without issue.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psldlipoxq.jpg

The engine is bolted in place, clutch installed, and starter wired up. Tomorrow I'll tidy up a few more new wire changes, drop the headers in...then maybe get the trans installed. But for now, here she sits...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pssyyc37el.jpg

Who says you can't be fast...and beautiful...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psrehibwgi.jpg

My headers are about 4 years old now and the ceramic coating on them had taken quite a beating. Between the many many excessive heat cycles and the banging off other things in the engine compartment, they had some significant wear. I scuffed them up with some scotch brite, cleaned real good with prep spray and applied 3 light coats of Eastwoods aerosol Ceramic coating that is supposedly good to 1400 degrees. They turned out great so far, once in the car you are supposed to start the car and have it idle for 20 minutes to cure the coating. Can't wait to see how they turn out, can't be any worse than they already were.

Along the same lines, one thing that happens when you build a custom car...and then race the wee out of it like I have the past few years is things hit things, and things not properly placed melt. As I have the car apart, I took this opportunity to assess previous arrangements, plan changes, and put plans into motion. Getting the passenger and driver side engine wire harnesses to stay off of the headers better was a priority. I rearranged the harnesses, re-loomed them and have them secured much better now. This is something most will never see, but I'll know now that things are safer from heat under the hood.

I also noticed some witness marks where the transmission had been hitting the body. Specifically the shifter had been hitting the passenger side of the hole in the trans tunnel enough to actually tear the shifter cover. The cover has been replaced and the hole enlarged. I also used the BFH to make a bit more room for the two bolt heads on the top of the trans that were also contacting the trans tunnel at times. I then applied a fresh coat of Eastwoods Extreme Chassis black to tidy things back up underneath.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psuarqivw2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psfk6shpdl.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psibqdnzdc.jpg


Next up, installing the transmission and then back up top to finish a few other detail items.

nice work, Lance. Glad to know you're getting close to having the car back on the road.

What flywheel and clutch combo did you go with? I see that's a McLeod clutch. Is it their street twin? I'm finally working on getting my 383 built and am looking into clutches. I currently run a Fidanza aluminum flywheel and Luk replacement clutch and pp. I'd like to upgrade at least the clutch and pp. Not sure what to do about the flywheel. The aluminum has been fine and got even better once I installed 3.90s out back, no more difficult starts from stop. I'm just not sure if I should stay with it.

Thanks

Thanks... I went with the Mcleod Street Extreme kit

http://www.mcleodracing.com/index.ph...lutch-kit.html

It is supposed to be good for up to 700 ft lbs. The RST twin was considered but with the new required flywheel it was going to be almost twice the money this setup cost.

I'm just hoping this is halfway street compliant...not like an on off switch. Also hoping it lasts longer than a year. I did find it interesting that the pressure plate that came with this kit has the exact same part number as the pressure plate that came with the RAM kit that I put in last year. The way I understand it, there is only one company that makes replacement PPs for the LT1 style clutch kits and everyone that sells an LT1 clutch kit uses them.

Thanks Lance. Yeah, the street twin clutch has always been expensive and heavy. It was the best at holding the power back in the day though.

Luk is the company that produces the pp. You might be able to find a stamping on the pp from Luk. Factory replacement units are also supposedly LT4 equivalent designs. Let me know how it drives once you get it on the road.

Making good progress! Sorry to hear the bread didnt work out for you :P

Well, Barney moved under it's own power yesterday...twice actually... I made two ten mile easy drives just to shake it down and all systems are go, except for a somewhat nasty header leak that made it sound like a connecting rod was trying to fight it's way out of the engine.

Naturally this ruined the mood for me and I went dark for most of the weekend while I chased the problem...which I found today. Because I am running smallish oval port headers on raised D-port exhaust port heads, apparently there is very little margin for error in gasket placement. The gasket has about a 1/4" of wiggle room on the bolts where it moves around and if it is at any extreme edge of that movement, there is very little gasket material coverage of the flange. Here you can see where the gasket was stuck to the header flange and near the top you can where it blew thru as the heads heated up.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps9nsjwb1w.jpg

This was the other header where you can tell that the gasket was centered and there was no leaks on this side.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psed9xpfud.jpg

Once I had the new gaskets in hand, I discovered that the very same thing could happen to it if I didn't get the gasket set perfectly in place. I was standing there scratching my head, making marks on the gasket trying to figure out how I was going to line it up perfectly once the header was on the head...and Terri walked up and said, "why don't you just glue the gasket to the header?" So I did just that.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psbhti3wxj.jpg

I'm letting the RTV set up now and next time I have a couple of free hours, I'll get the headers back on the car and continue on with a start up and tuning of the new mill. The new clutch feels great, no fluid leaks so far, no strange vibrations or running issues, everything else seems pretty good. Just need to do some tuning on it once I can hear if there is any detonation, which was impossible before over the header leak.

I wouldn't glue them around the ports. I know they make a high temp rtv, is that what you used?

I didn't have the High temp RTV on hand so I just used a few dabs of grey RTV on the parts between the ports. I did not put any too close to any of the ports.

I just need it to hold the gasket in place until the bolts are snugged up. I'm sure the RTV will cook out after a few heat cycles but at this point if that is the worst of the evils I'm dealing with, I'm okay with it.

Congrats, Lance! Glad to hear the car moved again under its own power.

Thanks Trey, it was bitter sweet...wish the result would have been better so I could have enjoyed the fantastic weather in it this weekend. I'll get er all fixed up quickly though then let the tuning and breaking in commence.

Not too exciting but at least it's proof it runs...

Sounds sawwwweeeet!

Great job Lance, it sure sounds good. Where is your oil pressure at?

At idle after startup its at 60 psi, once warm and driven a bit it's around 40 at idle. Really hot and heat soaked it stabilizes at around 30 psi idling at 850 rpm. Just a bump in throttle raised right back up quickly.

It has the Brad Penn oil in it the builder used, think it is 10w30.

Little bit better day today... Reinstalled the headers today and installed the wideband. Started the car up and it was pretty quiet...maybe just the slightest ticking, almost like a lifter tick but I know it's not. I let it warm up real good, then shut it off and retorqued the header bolts.

So I took off on a test drive with a vacuum gauge and Air Fuel meter running inside the car. Car sounded great, ran great and I really enjoyed my short drive. I drove up to the engine builders shop just to see if he was there, as I pull up...I hear the leak coming back. Sure enough, it has started puffing out a header flange somewhere again. It's not as bad and at least I know what it is now. When I got back home I torqued the bolts one more time with it really hot and a few of them were a bit loose...hopefully this will stop it. Either way, I'm not going to worry about it right now. I know what it is, I know why it's doing it and I may have a plan on how to attack it once I'm good and ready. For now though, it's off to tuning and breaking the new clutch in.

I did open the secondaries up this round...you know, just to make sure they still work. :D It's quite a bit different than before.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps33rp1tfa.jpg

I've been driving Barney around quite a bit last few days, even drove it 40 minutes across KC to the SCCA meeting last night. I'm having a blast driving it, it's much the same...but oh so different at the same time. It looks the same, it sounds the same, and it drives the same, until you press on the loud pedal. Before it pulled real hard out of the hole, then kind of slacked off the rest of the way up the RPMs. Now it pulls hard out of the hole...and keeps on pulling just as hard all the way up.

I'm really happy with the new Mcleod Street Extreme clutch. It is smooth as silk upon engagement, no chatter whatsoever. I'm still taking it easy on it breaking it in right, but so far I like it.

I've been working on the AFRs, tune a bit, drive a bit, tune a bit, drive a bit and I've discovered that as it heat soaks, the vacuum gets erratic and the AFRs lean out...signs of a vacuum leak. I reused the old carb to manifold insulator so I have a new one on the way, hopefully that is it. If not I have a few other things to check. Once that is ironed out I'll nail down the carb tuning.

It is already much better than I had it last year after the carb swap. While at cruise, it used to stumble or shudder just a bit as it got fat if throttle was applied below 1800 RPM. I drove it home last night in 6th gear mostly around 1500-1600 RPM and it stayed around 15:1 AFR and smooth. Off idle is good as well. It is pretty hard for me to watch AFRs while on WOT for now, need a passenger to do this safely, but I know it feels pretty good with the butt dyno.

A header is leaking again, it gets worse as it gets hotter and is almost quiet on cold start up. I'm not worried about that now. I'm formulating a plan to fix it right but for now I'm working on everything else.

That's sweet Lance.

Be careful of that leak -- those hot gasses can "erode" those aluminum heads and then you have even more problems.

Yeah, I'm not driving it much. Plus I'm certain that the leak is on the header side of the gasket, not the head side.

I'm developing a plan for a fix, just need to nail down someone good with a tig welder and a machinist to clean the flanges back up after.

Well, it's not hot rodding if you don't have to love on some things...right?

Seems my continuing battle for space on this car while trying to cram 10 pounds of crap in a 5 pound bag continues.

I pulled the headers off yet again yesterday to investigate for a possible gasket fix and found no sign of a leak whatsoever...they were sealed up tight. After some reassembly, some discussions with the engine builder, and more investigation...I discovered I could feel a rod cap contacting the windage tray inside the new Canton oil pan once the oil pan started to take heat.

It clears and is quiet when started cold, but the more heat the pan takes, the worse the feel and the noise gets. This was not present during the dyno runs, our thoughts are the pan shifted sideways just a touch when the engine was sat on it for the ride home. We knew it was close and we thought this might be a possibility when we first discussed the noise, but the header leak seemed more likely so I spent a week chasing that angle. Had I just put my fingers on the pan instead of everything else under there beside the pan, I could have saved myself a lot of time and anguish.

The builder wants me to bring the car to him because he says he has a trick way of moving the pan over a touch and cinching it back down. Sure hope it works as option #2 is lifting the engine to remove the pan and modify it or use a thicker pan gasket.

I'm frustrated yet happy at the same time that the issue is now properly diagnosed and we can continue on with a proper fix.

I've got about 200 miles on it now and I must say it is a radically different feel that what I had under there before. It looks sounds and feels almost the same until you open the secondaries up, then things change in a big way. Still getting used to it and still haven't really got on it hard as I'm trying to break the new clutch in the right way. Can't wait until I can finish the fine tuning on a quiet engine and turn the wick up to really see what she has now.

That's good news, Lance. Glad it's working out well for you.

Great news

I hate to hear about the bottom end of your motor. Hopefully once you get it fixed you can get out and really start enjoying it. Thanks for all the info about the headers it was really helpful.

Barney is back home safe and sound, tucked away in the house garage and ready to be driven...

The shop raised the engine a bit and dropped down the pan. They snapped these two pictures with their Snap On scope Camera (I took pictures of their screen, sorry for the quality).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psewaawrpk.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps3bkhyuiy.jpg

What you see there is a piece of metal that holds the scraper. On that metal you can see where a rod nut was just touching it enough to knock the plating off in one spot.

Here is a picture that shows the scraper better

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pshznu5xii.jpg

They then pushed down on the metal just a bit there where it was hitting and reinstalled the pan being sure to push it as far to the passenger side as possible before cinching it down.

The rods cleared when turning the engine by hand so they buttoned it up, put new oil and filter on it and test drove it to put some heat in it and it stayed quiet. I'm calling it fixed.

I didn't like any part of this, but they assured me that it is not all that uncommon and not that big of a deal, but also realized the noise was unsettling. I'm just glad it's fixed so I can go on with the rest of my off season projects... I sure appreciate Yancy taking care of this for me, this was much easier than pulling the engine again to pull the pan which would have been my remedy.

It's better than your car builder (in my case Steve Frisbee Auto Restorations AKA: SAR in Portland Oregon) starting and running your brand new engine without any oil in it at all.....


Had to get that in there! LOL

Doh!! :D Yes, it's better than that.

We all understand that shiat happens. Sometimes it happens to some more than others and sometimes it's a lot worse shiat than others... How it is dealt with when it does happen separates those I'll deal with again and those I won't.

This was an unusual deal where circumstances made things worse, no one to really blame for the circumstances, only praise for those that helped fix it. Only loss was some time.

I think I might just leave well enough alone... :D

I have about 500 miles on the new mill now, it is running fantastic and exceeding all expectations. Now that the clutch is broke in I can really start hammering on it, might even make a video or two...

What I have been working on lately is programming the MSD box to get the timing as efficient as I can get it as well as working on the cooling system to keep the temps in a more comfortable range.

The timing escapades can be followed here if interested https://lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=48612 I am going to stop right where I'm at instead of advancing the distributor to 45* locked in as I'm a bit concerned about rotor phasing and cross firing with it that far advanced. I really don't see that the added gain by the additional steps will affect the way I drive the car that much, not enough to take the chance of adding additional troubles.

The cooling system is getting better, I might have it where I need it now and if not, I have one more trick up my sleeve. The car doesn't overheat, but the way it was configured...the electric fans wouldn't kick on low speed until the dash gauge went past 220*, then shut back off at around 212*. At idle, any temp over 210* or so caused a bit of an erractic idle, caused the idle to raise from 850 to 950 RPM and the AFRs got a bit wacky as well. As long as it was idling under 200*, everything just worked smoother. This is most likely carb related and I've resigned myself that I just won't get this setup to run as smooth as a EFI inducted setup. It's pretty good like it is though so I just worked on getting the idle temps down. For reference, at cruise on the highway...it stays steady at 180* without the fans running, due to the 180* thermostat.

I had my two fan switches both in the thermostat housing and had the gauge sensor in the driver side head. I moved the low speed fan switch to the passenger side head and that made the fans kick on low speed just before the gauge gets to 220* and it kicks back off between 200-210*, at idle in the garage the fans only run for a minute or so.

This is much better and the idle stays pretty stable in the garage. I don't think I ever hear the fans kick on high speed, really don't think the engine ever gets hot enough for high speed to be necessary. Now I can override the temp switches with my 3 position switch on the dash for the fans, what I will probably do during race days is use the dash switch to put the fans on high right before and right after runs to help keep the temps at bay when not at highway speeds.

If I decide it's necessary, I'll pick up a lower temp switch (like on at 195-off at 185) and put it in the t-stat housing to make the fans come on even sooner. This is a pretty easy fix and won't require draining the water again or moving any wires.

One thing I can not figure out though, and I'm sure it is carb related is the idle speed after driving the car. No matter how hard or easy I drive the car, once out on the road, any time I come to a stop light, the idle stays between 950-1000 RPM. I can not figure out what is different, or what is happening after the car is driven but it must be either extra fuel in the idle circuits or maybe extra air getting into the carb somehow, but it is constant and has been like this for a while. About the only thing I have not tried to correct this is swapping out the PCV valve. Not sure if that would affect this but I've pretty much resigned myself to live with this as well.

Like I said, most people driving this car would never notice any of this, all they would notice is this car runs VERY close to as if it actually had fuel injection. Starts are seamless, even hot starts, it can be driven right away after start up with no hiccups, it never has even the slightest of hesitations once on road...if you ask for it, it is there every time... Overall it is SWEET to drive. Can't wait to get it out on the track. My first event is an autocross test n tune April 9th.

Just my opinion - for what it's worth....


I've NEVER known a small block Chevy that ran with 45* advance.... and the more efficient the heads are - the LESS timing they require.

I've taken many EFI tuning classes - including those where the engine being tuned is on a dyno. It was demonstrated to us that FUEL RATIOS were relatively unimportant... affecting very little horsepower on the dyno from pig fat to too lean. What WAS important was as little as 2* of timing off optimal. The timing could affect as much as 40HP with just the slightest change. Remembering that horsepower is nothing more than a mathematical equation based off RPM and TORQUE... the torque is critically important to making a horsepower number.

Back in the day - during my drag racing years. We'd make a full throttle run - then pull the plugs (we used tow vehicles as I ran D/Gas). We'd then compare the MILES PER HOUR -- and read the plug strap. With the right timing - the miles per hour would improve - and the plug strap would change color right in the middle of the curve. That was a bingo. Now days we need a dyno to find this critical event.

Greg, at WOT my engine's sweet spot is 32* and I currently have my distributor locked out at 32*. I can however retard the timing either by set RPM or vacuum with my ignition box. I currently have it retarding the timing at high load, low RPM instances with the MAP sensor and boost retard function to prevent pinging when driving on the street.

These engines will idle cleaner and cooler with 37-40* of timing and cruise timing (just off idle with a light load) also likes some extra timing. The way to accomplish that with my setup is to lock the distributor in well advanced (like 45*) and retard the timing via either RPM Run retard or Boost retard with vacuum signals. Doing this will help (a bit) at idle and heavy load, no vacuum, low RPM instances...but do nothing for WOT high RPM runs.

This is one of those street car vs race car battles that I constantly find myself in. Race car won this round, even though it still drives pretty dang good on the street too.

Good tech talk Lance, Greg and Dr. S. Sauce. :thumbsup:

CAM Challenge
 

Lance,

Will you be in Mineral Wells, TX in May for the SCCA CAM Challenge?

milt

I was finally able to secure an entry to the Midwest Muscle Car event in Putnam, IN this year, an event that I've missed out on the last couple of years...then the SCCA announces that the Texas CAM event is the same weekend.

I'll be in Putnam...

I decided that since my engine upgrade is basically finished and I had a bit of time and money left over...that I'd tackle some left over suspension projects.

My first chore was to corner weigh and balance the car again. I have not done this since before all of the interior changes last year and the aluminum heads this year. First step was to disconnect the sway bars front and rear. After that set tire pressures to race trim, remove spare tire and it was ready to weigh...fuel tank was completely full. Basically the car shed about 80 pounds with the changes above, but the corner balance\cross weights stayed in the range they needed so I didn't need to make any adjustments to the springs.

Here is the car in race trim, no driver.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psvg7om1gi.jpg

With driver

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psyuux7yu6.jpg
and cross...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psdnziwi59.jpg

Car still has 57% on the front just a little bit less than before is all. Cross is within a half a point of the total right weight which is where Ron likes to see the cross on a left heavy car like mine. Right front could use 10 more pounds or so but that isn't enough to mess with making changes in our eyes. Overall I'm happy with it, really good to see it under 3500#s now.

So while it was on the level blocks, I decided to recheck the alignment.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pscn4cabma.jpg

Apparently my mechanic forgot to set the toe last year after making some rear ride height and caster changes...so I raced all year last year with a 1/4" toe in. Good news is, with alignment set at 1/8" out...now my steering wheel is straight again.

Then I removed the F41 Jounce bars and Gran Prix bars along with the already removed rear sway bar...in preparation for some new parts on their way from UMI.

The Jounce and Gran prix bars plus hardware weighed in at 6.76#, Ramey says UMI's new front brace weighs 9#s. I'm thinking the extra 3 pounds will be worth it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pss2hqreuu.jpg

I'll weigh the new rear sway bar against the old once it gets here and share as well.

That's it for this weekend...unless I get froggy and decide to clean the wheels up, they kinda need it.

Sweet Lance, excited to see how she does on track!

Last night I installed a third chassis mounted Pro-Touring style rear sway bar on my car. The first one I never even finished with the install because it would not clear the lower control arms I had on the car at the time (the company graciously accepted the return). The second one required me to heavily modify the axle mounts to get it to clear my 9” housing and also took quite a bit of reconfiguring to get the end links to clear my tail pipes and lower control arms. I took it back off right away after testing showed it to be much too stiff for my application.

For over a year now I have been asking Ramey at UMI Performance to build a chassis mounted rear sway bar of the right size to work for how I use my car. They did just that and I finally ordered one of their ¾” solid rear sway bar kits for a G-Body and installed it last night. I’m not kidding when I say it took me less than hour start to finish for the install. The hardware UMI provided with the kit is top notch and everything fit just perfect on the first attempt. For example, the brackets used to attach the end links to the chassis, the other 2 bars used a single bolt to hold the brackets to the frame… the UMI kit uses not only 2 bolts but also a reinforcement plate behind the chassis to secure the bracket to the frame.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps0fzwh7wj.jpg

And the end links are short enough to allow the bar to sit at a decent angle even with the lowered stance my car sits at.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pswo5egz6b.jpg

The bar clears the axle housing with zero issues and sits just about as perfect as it can.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pshvi1owvh.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psi5bpqxvt.jpg

Overall, I’m impressed with the build quality and more importantly the design that went into this product. I can’t wait to see how it performs on the street and on the track. My first autocross test n tune is April 9th. I’ll have my new UMI G-Body front chassis brace installed by then as well.

Put my UMI Performance Inc. front chassis brace on this morning, another fine piece from UMI. Bolted right up, fits like it should and looks to be beefy as heck.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ps6xsqehok.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psk5incxeu.jpg

Clears the massive MuscleBar easily...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...pswwhrvnsh.jpg


Just one week away from putting all these new parts to the real test. All car needs now is a good cleaning and it's ready to race.

that does look good... can't wait to see how it performs!!