1985 Monte Carlo SS known as Barney - Page 36 - Lateral-g Forums

SSLance · #**351** 01-02-2016, 10:41 PM

Thanks... Mostly it's just me sharing my pain with those that I know can commiserate.

Vegas69 · #**352** 01-02-2016, 11:40 PM

The only engines I've ever torn down that didn't need rebuilt were factory engines. Those bearings are toast. They have had debris through them. I'd consider blocking off your bypass.

SSLance · #**353** 01-03-2016, 08:27 AM

The builder asked me if I'd ever ran a Fram filter on it because of their bypass. I can't remember what I ran on it in the beginning, for the last 5 years or so it's always had a Wix Gold on it.

My uneducated guess might lean more toward an oil starvation issue than debris but who knows. The engine came with a 4 quart pan on it which I always overfilled to 5 quarts and I have abused it on hard corners for 4 seasons now.

Either way, I'm glad common sense kicked in and I took a look. Now I just have to figure out a way to pay for it...

**GregWeld** · #**354** 01-03-2016, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SSLance

The builder asked me if I'd ever ran a Fram filter on it because of their bypass. I can't remember what I ran on it in the beginning, for the last 5 years or so it's always had a Wix Gold on it.

My uneducated guess might lean more toward an oil starvation issue than debris but who knows. The engine came with a 4 quart pan on it which I always overfilled to 5 quarts and I have abused it on hard corners for 4 seasons now.

Either way, I'm glad common sense kicked in and I took a look. Now I just have to figure out a way to pay for it...

That's always the "pay me now.... or pay me later" question when doing this stuff. Put off what you know you should do now... and pay more for it later. Either way - it doesn't ease the wallet pain.

I read these threads - and read where the guy is saving up to buy some nasty big bad motor and tranny - and I think to myself.... "wow".... I sure hope it's a good one right off the bat! Because, sadly, sometimes they're not. The Oddo motor in the Mustang was a reminder of that. Three track events - three "re-dos".

Now is the time to change that pan if it's still the stock one. Get a larger sump but more importantly get one with road race baffling. I had to do that on the Lotus - the minute I stuck the sticky Yokohama slicks on it.... G loading jumped up to 2 G's..... and that'll have the oil climbing the sidewalls in a hurry.

Mizzouri · #**355** 01-03-2016, 09:55 AM

Lance, call me when you get the engine all buttoned up. I'd like to see what I am up against for next season!

What machine shop are you using for the refresh?

SSLance · #**356** 01-03-2016, 10:39 AM

Greg, a 7 quart Canton 15-250T with appropriate pickup is already on the way to me (right Ron Sutton?

)...this was ordered before I even started to disassemble the engine. https://www.cantonracingproducts.com...-1-PIECE-SEAL/

Probably also looking at an oil pump upgrade, don't need to get crazy here with a HV pump but an upgrade to a Melling 10552 seems like a prudent choice.

The idea is to do everything I can to help keep this engine alive given the abuse I plan on putting it through. A combination of parts and labor that all work well together without completely blowing the budget out of the water or compromising reliability.

Patrick, it's up at Yancy's here in town.

SSLance · #**357** 01-05-2016, 07:44 AM

One issue that I knew I was going to have to deal with when changing to the fastburn heads was header fitment. It wasn't until yesterday when my fastburn specific header gaskets finally got here that I was able to determine exactly what I was going to have to change to use my headers with these heads.

The fastburn exhaust ports are raised approx 3/16"s vs regular SBC heads while the bolt holes appear to be in the same spot. This header gasket fits the exhaust port on the heads perfectly. Here it is up against my 1 5/8" header flange with the bolt holes lined up.

You can see how the top of the gasket is covering about 1/8-3/16" of the exhaust port. If the header was just bolted to the heads like this it would not only most likely leak like a siv but also kill the exhaust port flow.

Here is the header gasket lined up with the header tube openings.

The header openings are large enough to cover the exhaust ports but the holes are going to have to be slotted to move the header up on the head. I have commissioned John to this task as I'm certain that I'd bugger it all up.

Opening the holes up shouldn't be that big of a deal but we want to fill in at least a couple of the holes on each side to give the header bolts something to sit against to keep them from sliding back down during or after install.

Since these are mid-length headers, raising the headers shouldn't cause me any other fitment issues on the car. If they were full long tubes I might be concerned about floor clearance or something like that but I don't think there will be any other issues.

The engine builder called yesterday, said the middle rod bearings were real bad...like ready to spin bad.

He also asked "Are you going to run the manual trans flywheel you dropped off?" I replied "well yeah" He said..."because I thought Monte Carlos only came with automatics..."

SSLance · #**358** 01-13-2016, 06:59 AM

There has been progress...

Not many pictures but I did get to visit my engine at the shop yesterday while delivering the rest of the parts for assembly. The machine work on the block is finished and the rotating assembly is installed. I dropped the cam and rest of the parts off and in the next day or so they'll finish up reassembly and prepare the engine for a dyno session.

One side of the block had a bad taper to the deck so he decked both sides to square it up, pistons now sit .0015 in the hole. The crank was 30 grams out of balance and that was cleaned up as well as a fresh plate hone and new rings and bearings installed.

This showed up the other day which hopefully along with a new oil pump will help with any future oil starvation issues.

More to come hopefully very soon!

SSLance · #**359** 01-14-2016, 01:07 PM

Dyno day tomorrow...

Still working on a few small issues, like the headers. We'll run the shop headers if I don't get mine ready but there is still a chance. Also want to change up the valve covers a bit now that I have heads that will take a perimeter bolt set. Again, this won't stop us from running it on the dyno.

Woo Hoo!!

6camaro9 · #**360** 01-14-2016, 02:10 PM

Lance I noticed in an earlier post you had the open plenum intake pictured with the new heads and cam. I see that you will be testing with what appears to be a duel plenum intake. Is there a reason for this? I have the ZZ383 that has the open plenum intake and I have been wondering how this would affect my low end torque. I have not had the opportunity to fire up my motor. Once you have the headers will you please post a picture of the work you had done. I will have to do the same thing to mine and I would like to see how yours turns out. Thank you. Car looks great and good luck with all the work.