Bad day on the dyno...

[intocarss]

Originally Posted by Che70velle

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...

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.

[carbuff]

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. 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.

[spode]

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

Jeff

[carbuff]

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.

[carbuff]

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!

[SSLance]

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

[carbuff]

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.



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:

[carbuff]

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...

[Panteracer]

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

Thanks
Sorry to hear about all the delays

Bob

[Flash68]

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?