79 ta
 

Stunning
Good to see you are starting to enjoy it

Bob

Thanks Bob. I'm glad to finally get a chance to drive it. Next up is an EFI conversion in the next two weeks.

Wow!

Congrats Doug. :thumbsup:

Btw-you made a number of structural improvements.

How would you describe the before and after feel when driving it?

I haven't pushed it hard just yet but the street testing I've done has shown me the car turns like it's on rails. It's a little harder to physically turn the wheel and the ride is definitely stiffer. It's not a cushy ride over bumps. To do hard cornering I'm going to need to finish the EFI up and install an Accusump to protect the motor.

To explain this a little further....

There are two important items I need to check off my list. the first is EFI, which will solve all sorts of problems for this car. Right now I can't get a filter to fit inside the shaker drop base due to the amount I had to drop it. The engine, on 3 occasions, has suddenly run out of gas or air under hard revving of the motor. Whether it's air or fuel really doesn't matter at this point since I'm improving both with the EFI system.

I believe a significant contributor to the problem the shaker not supplying enough air for such a big motor. I can't even get a filter in the drop base at this point due to the amount of drop I had to use to get the shaker under the hood. I'll have considerably more room using using the 1/2 height throttle body from Holley, so I'll be able to fit a 4" filter in the new drop base and then I will be feeding that same dropbase from inlets installed in it's side and ducted through two 3 1/2 pipes from under the radiator support. That should supply plenty of air. I'll probably close off the back of the shaker at that point to keep the "ram air" contained.

Even though I have installed a Canton Road race pan, I can still see the oil pressure drop on a hard right turn. So I'm going to install a 3 quart Accusump to make sure there is plenty of oil on cornering..

After that the to-do list will have all the performance items checked off and only smaller more cosmetic items to complete.

Awesome

Getting her ready for a few more upgrades. Fuel injection is underway. The manifold is being modified by Mark Luhn at Luhn Performance and a new drop base and air supply system will be fitted by Nth Degree. I also have to finalize a windshield wiper system and an Accusump system before I'm ready to take her on a lengthy road trip.

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Looking really good Doug! Thank you for the answer on the gages, another question for you though - is that 3" exhaust you are running up and over the rear axle? Also, it looks like a DSE rear sway bar, is the rest of the rear DSE as well?

Thanks!

It's a full DSE rear suspension, Greg.

Very nice Doug. Glad you've gotten it back on the road. Obviously, I love the color.

The rear suspension is all DSE. The exhaust if a 3" Pypes system for a DSE Quadralink. Worked very well for me.
http://pypesexhaust.com/i-23437219-7...lnk-sgf15.html

I finally settled on the RainGear hidden wiper system. I can use the non-Firebird / modern switch version since my dash bezel is non factory and I don't have a superstructure behind the gauges anymore.
http://www.raingearwipers.com/produc...-wiper-system/

Good to know as that's most likely the next upgrade, DSE Quadralink, the Y88-R will get!

Any updates on your project?

Particularly interested in your engine and your thoughts about how it works in your application.

I have an aluminum IAII block for my '70 Formula and I'm at the point in my project where I need to make final decisions regarding the combo (e.g., displacement, cam, etc). Was planning on 535 and shooting for 700/700 type deal, but in the back of my mind wonder whether I might be happier with something a little smaller (505 or even 440) and a little more tame. These days I value reliability and simplicity over max effort--hoping to avoid having to use a vacuum pump, for example. Ideally, would like to demonstrate that although it may cost a bit more, Pontiac is a good alternative to LS in our firebirds and gtos.

As always, the car is looking fantastic Doug! You've given me several ideas for mine!

I don't think the 700 hp number is anything magical. It is pretty simple to get there these days. I'd focus more on driveability, which to me equated to multi-port fuel injection. I've been working on that project for six months and am installing it now. It takes a while to get a custom intake done, though Mark Luhn at Luhn Performance is the man! I was lucky enough to have him supply me an extra manifold like mine, while he did the work so I could still drive the car.

By the time you send one to be modified and get it all finished you're looking at a 4-6 month deal. You can get some already designed for EFI but if you are using high flow heads most won't fit. A standard Pontiac intake manifold flange doesn't even cover the porting on my e-heads. I think a Victor might have worked but I would have lost my shaker in the process.

That's where our LS friends have a tremendous advantage on us. By the time you take a IA2 motor, put the necessary goodies in it and fuel inject it properly, you're looking a more than you could buy a dual turbo LS for with far more reliability and a better design. I put the IA2 in this car but the other one I'm building, which is lower to the ground with a full AME chassis, gets the LS motor with a dry sump.

I've done a few more things to the car so I should throw them in here...
One of the major things I have been working on is adding multi port fuel injection to the car. This 535 Pontiac is pretty stout motor for an old design. Essentially there's nothing on this motor actually made by Pontiac but the basic motor was their design.

The manifold was taken off and sent to my friend Mark Luhn at Luhn Performance. He did the CNC magic on the manifold and you can see some of his work here in these photos.

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Nocturne blue 79 Ta
 

Doug,
Just wondering if you are going to change out your cam
when you put on the EFI?

I have a 494 Mr2 cv-1 headed Pontiac and we softened
the solid roller to 750 lift from 775...also eased the ramps
slightly but still carbed... it is very stout but at the same time
fairly smooth and easy to drive


Bob

Bob,

At this time, I don't have any plans to change the cam. This is a similar motor to yours, though it is an IA2 block 535. It ran pretty well on the street as it was but I wanted more reliability and the ability to see what was going on via computer. The carb was okay but sometimes hard to start and I really didn't like the smell of raw gas at idle. Both of these should go away with this setup as well as some hard cornering stumble issues I had with the carb. I've been advised that it will be a much smoother acceleration and to be careful at first because it will accelerate very quickly without the telltale 4 barrel opening sound. We'll see soon! I'm within 2-3 hours of firing it up now.

Doug

The fuel injection required quite a bit of additional wiring to my custom built harness. I couldn't just leave it as is, since many wires were too long, so I cut, soldered and labeled every wire, installed techflex and labeled most of the groups as well. Here's the ECU mounted with a custom bracket made by Mark Luhn, though I added the rivnuts.
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https://farm1.staticflickr.com/939/4...18e54ee3_c.jpg

I set up two paths for power. One distribution unit is fed by a 100Amp Solid State Relay and the other a 50Amp Solid State Relay with Power Surge proetction. I put all the computer stuff on the surge protected PDU and all the noisy stuff on the other.

Moved a few fuses for the windows, though most fuses are under the back seat. You can barely see the ECU back behind all the relays now. LOL
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Throttle body installed

Custom cold air intake now complete with proper fit for the lower TB. This allows a full height air filter to fit properly.
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That's a whole lotta stuff under that hood. Looks great!