Good news to start the week. My crankshaft is shipping back today. It only needed the polish, so it was quicker than expected. It has been turned before, no idea what that's all about, but I'm thankful it was an easy fix. So I'll have the block on Wednesday and the crnak on Thursday. Friday it will all go to the machine shop to start the machine work (on the block) and re-assembly!

You're welcome. :lol:

http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...7-drysump.html

What are 'friends' for.............:lol:


:popcorn2:

Some ribs and brisket from The Salt Lick --- some 3 stage dry sump and you've got a winning combo!! FTW!!



Cope --- 22 hot rods coming to town for the Roundup.... be ready!! LOL

Way ahead of you, already emailed him yesterday. :thumbsup:

Unfortunately though, as I understand it, that system works in conjunction with the stock LS7 dry sump pump. So I would have to add back in the LS7 dry sump pump, which means a different crankshaft, which as you know, snowballs quickly...

I have another piece to the puzzle that doesn't fit well too. It seems that the Wegner front drive setup that I have won't support an aftermarket dry sump pulley very easily. Wegner no longer makes and sells the kit I have, partially for this reason. Bill Dailey was the one that actually cautioned me to this, and a call to Wegner yesterday confirmed it. With this setup, there isn't room behind the damper and serpentine pulley to add a pulley for the dry sump pump. They (Wegner) would either have to craft up something custom for me, or I would have to replace the front drive I have. It wasn't even clear if I could convert my current setup over to an LS7 style crank given that they don't make this particular kit any more...

So the cost of a dry sump at this point would be dry sump system + front drive system, or new crank shaft + new rods + new front cover + ls7 pump/pan/etc + tank + misc pieces. Either path is :G-Dub:

Whenever I get you back down here I have a new place to take you. It's literally 1 mile from where I live, and it's what Lockhart SHOULD have been. Good stuff, I thought of you when I ate there yesterday. ;)

I can't wait! Where are you guys staying? I need to book a room this week also... Are you staying through the second weekend for USCA?

So..... What's your point??? LOL

April 15th and check out on April 19th Embassy Suites 300 Congress Ave. Austin Texas.


Bryan -- I wasn't going to do USCA -- Gwen and I are driving down in her '33 with the other Brizio crazies... But NOW -- I may arrange / ask Sutton if he wants to drive my rig down to USCA --- and see if that works. I'll have to do some poking around now.

Actually the dates don't work out at all --- USCA is MARCH 28/29th.... I won't be in Austin until April 15th.

Just send over that AmEx Black card number when you have a second... ;-)

Seriously though, I'm trying to keep myself realistic about how TOW is going to be used for the next year or two. Here in Central Texas, we don't have the number of big track events that other areas seem to. I have a monthly autocross I can attend, sometimes 2 if I go join the San Antonio group. I get GG twice a year in Fort Worth, again, an autocross, and then USCA assuming I make it.

I do have tracks close by, but will I get to attend more than 2 or 3 events a year at those? Last year I only did 2. If I find that I'm going to be able to do more on a more regular basis, then perhaps it will be time to step up. But given 'life' at the moment, I'm not sure there will be a lot of opportunity yet.

That said, I have some 'life' things in flux right now which could change the whole picture. :underchair: :headscratch:

http://0f6090ac5ca4ec80129c-b94de9bb...c748d5a8ac.png

http://www.terryblacksbbq.com/

It's about a mile and a half from where you're staying.

BZZT! Wrong answer... Just bring that rig on down anyway, that's what plane tickets are for if you need to be somewhere. Steve, Eric and I will take care of the rig for you. :)

GG is having their first event in Raleigh, NC the weekend you will be here. I was debating trying to get to it, since that's where I'm from. Not sure that will happen at this point though...

You know I was just poking you. I totally agree -- even when guys can spend unlimited amounts of money on "stuff" -- what's the point.... other than "I could". We are just building street cars. GM can put dry sumps on their production cars because of the price they buy for... they've got guys like Stielow to package it - and the customer just pays for it. I think they're smart doing that because of the bad rap they'd get if people went out and tracked their cars and had issues... only takes a few and the rumor mill cranks up... so they're almost in a "must do" situation.

For me -- I'd just add in an Accusump for the track "starvation" / G forces / oil climbing the pan etc occasions.

Oh I know. And I could do it, but it would delay getting the car together, particularly because the system I would want (the Dailey setup) is 6-8 weeks out right now. And I really like the clean underhood area of TOW right now. I'm trying to keep with the original idea behind my theme and not do add-on stuff at this point. Although Eric would happily package it all up for me. ;)

The Accusump should do just fine for my needs. I've got one on order with Ron, and when it arrives I'm going to have it recoated to change the blue to black to 'hide' it better. I've got some re-wiring to do to integrate it in the car, but that's no big deal. I only spent 6 weeks wiring the car the first time, right? :superhack: :weld:

Bad Dyno day
 

I agree with the accusump idea... I lunched a
bunch of motors and finally put one on my car years
back.... it ran great for a year and a half then I got
the bright idea to shed weight off the front end and
took the oil cooler and accusump off the car and instant
spun bearing... smart guy I am

Most of the Norcal Shelby guys run them on their cars
although I never seemed to need one on the Pantera
It has an Aviad pan that seems to work... try that
with a Pontiac motor not a chance.. Steffs makes some
custom units and I had the guys contact that did the
original Aviad designs but never called him
I have had 4 different type of so called road race pans
on my Pontiacs and none of them really worked

You should have put a Pontiac back in it... then you live
in constant fear of losing oil pressure:).. but the Torque
on those babies is incredible

Bob

I wouldn't mind the latter, but I already have enough worries on the former!

Bad Dyno day
 

I hear ya.. I am so deep into my motor now it is
bombproof and I still wonder about pushing it real hard
I remember the simple days when I bought a junkyard
Pontiac motor for $400 or $455 depending on how many
cubes.. spun till you won and blow it up eventually then
go get another one.. those were the days.. less opitions
less money and to me no worries cause you knew what
was going to happen

Bob

I hear ya Bob. I'm shocked at the pricing on engine parts these days. It's been a while since I've built one, but everything seems so pricey now. Inflation I suppose...

The LS7 block arrived today as scheduled. I opened up the crate, and things mostly look ok. I'm not sure what the history of this thing is, but I've never seen a thrust bearing on the crankshaft so worn out. Hopefully there isn't any kind of major problem on the mains. Line honing them will be part of the machine work, so unless it's something really off, I should be fine.

The cylinders have some light scuff from piston skirts which should clean up with a simple hone. So that's a good thing.

Assuming crank arrives as scheduled tomorrow, the block and crank and other pieces go to TSP on Friday to start assembly. Camshaft is on the way for early next week, so fingers crossed, I might get the short block plus cam back by the end of the week or early the next. I can then start reassembly on everything out of the car until the heads arrive...

I don't think I've mentioned this, but part of my push on this schedule is that I'll lose a week around the start of March due to some travel. My mother had to have a knee replacement yesterday, so I'm going to spend some time with her when she heads home from rehab. My sister is taking care of her during the hospital stay, and I'm trying to work out being there when she comes home. Thankfully the surgery went well, but she's in pain and pretty loopy on pain meds right now. I'm just glad the procedure itself is over and she can start on the path to recovery!

Well gee you aren't building a 300 hp 350 sbc. :lol:

Junkyard Dogs
 

LOL The summer after I graduated high school (1985) I went through 4 or 5 junkyard 455s racing my Firebird! I'd hurt it on Friday night, be at the yard Sat morning, looking for running Bonnevilles/Catalinas, swap my carb/intake/Crane "Fireball" cam/3-tube headers & Purple Hornies, and be back out Sat night! I still remember my Dad telling me not to rev it like the kids with the SBCs! :EmoteClueless:
Now I have a 4" stroke 440 so that I can!

http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/v...psaa09c49a.jpg

Dyno day
 

Ty I hear you... I always told everyone
that the valves would float so I had a rev limiter

We also worked a lot faster and did not have to make
a million upgrades or make it pretty because running them
was more important.... kinda miss the old days
Loaded that car up many a times at midnight so I could
racing in the morning after working on it endlessly


Bob

I'm not?! :knokwood:

I remember when I build the engine for Hunk 'o Metal, and I bought nice components for that thing. Don't remember spending nearly this level, but that was 14 years ago. D'oh!

Back when air shocks, Keystone Klassics and those yellow Lakewood slapper bars were all you really needed? LMAO

This thread is making me think I should seriously consider an Accusump system when I plan my 383 build. I might take it on a road course one day. I'd rather not destroy my newly built engine since it's not a simple junk yard motor.

Glad you're making positive headway, Bryan. Good luck.

Bad day at the dyno
 

I was told many years back that my 69 Z/28 DZ motor
had a swinging pickup on the oil pump.. it never starved
for oil pressure although I did spin a bearing in it but I
think that was from changing the piston in the parking lot
at college after a keeper fell off my newly done heads
I am sure metal got in the engine from the parking lot hone

But I have never heard again about a swinging pickup.. does
anyone know if they actually had them and why not now??

Bob

Nope, the swinging pickup is a myth. The 302 oil pans did have a lot of baffling to contain the oil at the pickup more consistently.
I feel that with a properly designed pan sump, followed by proper baffling, there's really no need to have the pickup move in the pan.

The lotus can pull 2g's and with the stock pan that's a disaster. I installed a moroso road race pan and it's nicely baffled. I still take comfort knowing the accusump is there if and or when the pressure falls.

May of been a myth that the 302's had a swinging oil pump p/u. But they do or did make them

Yes sir, I should have been more specific. Swinging oil pump pickups are not a myth, they do exist, created primarily, but not specifically for some Mopar applications. I was referring to the DZ 302 Chevy engine. I've heard through the years many talk about this engine using a swinging pickup from the factory, and it's simply not true.
Someone recently designed a swinging pickup for the V-10 Viper engine, but I've not heard if it worked better than those designed decades ago for early hemi engines and 440's, which had a reputation of sticking in the wrong position. These were sought after for drag racing, and would swing front to back, for accel/decel oil control. Perhaps other types were tried in road race style engine applications? Not sure about that...

Bad Dyno day
 

Thanks Scott for clearing up the Dz info
Back when I was 17 someone said something
and I figured it was correct. Nowadays I am questioning
some of those statements

Bob

Exactly, The ones I've seen are for Mopars, I have heard of some that were made for road racing apps but have never seen any.

More updated with positive progress...

I mentioned the LS7 block arrived last week. Things look ok with it after my quick check, so I was waiting for the crank to arrive, which was supposed to happen Thursday. Well, UPS decided that it needed to make an extra detour, so after tracking showed it here Wednesday night, it went back to Dallas on Thursday, and finally arrived to me on Friday. That delayed my ability to get everything to TSP until Monday.

So yesterday I hauled it all up to those guys. I was surprised how easily the block fit in the trunk of my C63. :lostmarbles: They had to order a set of pistons for it which should arrive today, and then they will start the balance work and machine work for reassembly. They gave me a 2-week timeline, but I'm hoping for a bit sooner.

I received notice that the cam shipped yesterday also, so I'll have it tomorrow and take it to them to stab and degree while they are doing the shortblock. I'd like them to install the oil pump, so the other pieces need to be in place first. I'm not sure if they will get the heads of if I'll just do those myself. It will depending on the timing of it all...

Multiple pieces are in transit at this point. Lifters and clutch should arrive this week, AGR power steering pump arrived last week, Accusump is on the way, and a big order with Summit is getting placed today for fittings, fluids, and various other parts and pieces...

My timeline isn't coming together as nicely as I would have hoped, only because I'm going to have to travel to help out my mother when she finishes up her rehab for her surgery. That looks like it will happen in 2 weeks. So I will keep pushing, but the FW GG event may be in danger at this point. If that happens, it would free me up to attend SXSW, a huge music event here in Austin, so that wouldn't be the end of the world.

Sounds like it coming together. It may seem like forever but you are moving along nicely. What pistons did you end up getting.

Jeff

Thanx. Yep, feels like forever, but in reality just a few weeks.

I'm going with the Wiseco K463's. Not sure if we will have to bore/home 0.005" or not yet. Likely will. I'm targeting 12:1 SCR and about 8.8:1 DCR with this setup. Once I know the deck height, I'll target the chamber size to match via milling.

Amazing how fast a week goes by... Current status:

- Short block is in the assembly phase at TSP. I haven't spoken to them today, but I expect it to be done around Thursday, maybe Friday. I dropped off the cam for them to install and degree last Friday.

- Heads are being cut and assembled this week. They will be ready Friday or Monday. I'm going to pick them up along with the intake manifold on Tuesday.

- Clutch should hopefully be here on Monday. The weather in Dallas yesterday and today is slowing down both the clutch and the heads.

- My rockers with the Harland Sharp trunion upgrade arrived yesterday, so I'm ready for the top end assembly. I will have to determine the pushrod length and diameter once I have everything together.

- I found a set of flow matched 42# injectors that I picked up for a good deal, so I'll replace my FAST injectors with those for a little extra headroom.

Per my other thread on plumbing my Accusump, I have a lot of pieces in flight related to that right now. The oil filter mount arrived yesterday and is in Eric's hands to determine the best mounting location. A large order of Russell and Fragola fittings and adapters are on the way as well. So we should be able to knock some of that out before the engine is ready to go in.

If everything continues to go as it has been, and we don't hit any big snags during re-assembly, I feel a lot better about getting it together for my March events. Next week will be the big thrash, then I'll have at least a week to break it in and tune. Woo hoo! :thumbsup:

Nice work!! Keep up the good progress...

Thanx Lance!

Just after I posted, Eric sent me a few pictures of work he did this morning. He just received the mount 2 hours ago. :)

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps526b1c09.jpg

We also decided to modify the lower radiator hose connector, as the hose was always pinched right at the frame rail when it came straight out. This will make life easier to install/remove the hose:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psdac88ed7.jpg

Time for an update now that I'm back from my trip...

Things are not going as smoothly as I had hoped, and this is going to translate into a thrash next week as I try to get ready for my GG road trip. On the good front, I was able to pick up my ported heads and intake this week. I also received my new clutch from UPS on Tuesday. Now all I need is that short block and I'll be good to go.

Well, about that... Part delays and some inefficiencies in inventory management have led to delays getting the engine together. I'm really frustrated by this, but it's out of my control. I've done everything I can short of building the engine myself to try and keep it on track. But the latest issue is out of even the builder's hands...

I received a phone call this afternoon letting me know that apparently the previous engine builder (Golen Engine Service) installed my Champ LS1000 pan using their original Milodon oil pickup tube that was on the engine from their original build. The pan was one of a few things I had them change before shipping the engine to me (another being the cam, and also the intake). I ordered the pan and pickup tube from Prodigy and had it drop shipped to Golen. I have no earthly idea why they would do this, but TSP tells me that the existing pickup tube was bent to try and make it 'work'. And I wonder why I might have ever had any oiling issues???

So I called Champ about getting a new pickup tube on the way. Unfortunately I missed their shipping cutoff, so it will go out Monday and get to TSP on Tuesday. So hopefully I'll be able to pick it up Tuesday afternoon. The one thing I'll have left to get at this point is a set of pushrods. TSP will measure them for me, and I'll place an order with Manton to get the custom length units I need for the motor. I'll drop those in once they arrive, hopefully after the engine is in the car again.

While I was gone, Eric was able to get my Accusump cylinder powder coated. I assembled that today, and it turned out nice. I pressurized it to about 20#, and it's sitting with that right now to ensure no leaks. After a couple of hours, it was still right where it should have been. We need to make some brackets to mount it, but we want the engine in place to ensure we locate it correctly. It's a tight squeeze between the pulleys and the radiator.

Oh, and since I have 4 events targeted for the next 2 months, I went ahead and picked up a new set of Falken's to have ready for install. I'll need them either after GG, or after USCA weekend I imagine. So I'm armed and ready. :)

Here are a few pics for your viewing pleasure. The heads are the TFS GenX LS3 castings ported by Frankenstein Racing Heads. I spent 2 hours with Chris Frank the owner on Wednesday. He's got a great shop and definitely educated me on many things head and engine related. Some of the high dollar parts he had in the shop were pretty impressive as well...

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...pstcsohcq1.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psv9c94vlt.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps0fzp547z.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psogzdbxfn.jpg

Bad day on the Dyno
 

What size falkins? And where did you get them
Thinking of switching

Thanks
Sorry to hear about all the delays

Bob

Lot of moving parts there Bryan.... sounds like you're doing about as well as one could.

Parts look sharp!

275 / 315 Falkens I'd guess?