*Happy Ram-Jet Happy*

[Jims78elky]

Hey guys..

If some of you might recall i was interested in doing a engine swap
on the elky,for awhile i pondered the thoughts of a wild 434 stroker
a 427 smallblock,then got on a serious big block craving 454 or 496
i then even thought of going with a 540.After checking out the vid
of prodigy..can you blame me? lol...

To make this short,a good friend of mine is having some tough times
right now,he is going through a bad divorce,and if any of you have,it
doesn't need to be explained very well,anyway he has been working
on a old 55 bel-air thats been with him since high school.He calls me
last week to ask for a small loan,and if i was interested in the engine
he got for his 55.I remember him telling me about it,but i thought it
was a ZZ4-350 or something like that,i was in the car with the wife
at the time...so i had my ears full. lol..

Well,i said what do you want for it? he say's..well..how about $6500.00
and you can do me a couple of electrical jobs around my new place,and
help me "hide" my 55 from my X? I said well..thanks,but 7-grand for a
ZZ350? kind of high for me..He says its a 502 Ram-Jet dude,don't you
remember?Well after stuttering for awhile..we met at is place.

So here it is,iam so in shock about the whole deal,its a monster!! I have
been out in the garage just starring at it,i cant wait to get it going in
the elky this spring! Woo-Hooo!!! Got more detail work to do on
the elky,but iam in no rush,even thinking of sending the upper and lower
intake to street-perfromance for a polish job and of course a new hood
might be in order? Don't know if its going to fit..

He is a good friend,and iam very lucky to have him for one,i don't think
that i could have found a better deal,the engine has been sitting in his
storage building as of 2003.I owe him big time,and i hope i can
be there more for him at this bad time for him.

But i can tell you iam happy for sure...

-Jim

[hotwheels]

wow, that is nice......i would be excited too.

[awr68]

Nice score Jim!! I'm sure he really neaded the money...but I think you got the better end of that deal!!! Sure is clean!!

[Ricochet]

Ahhhh...Nothing like a 500" injected Rat!! Then again I'm kinda partial to the Rat motors!! Have you done any measurents yet? I know these things will not clear the Camaro cowl hood. What kind of hood do you plan on running?

[Jims78elky]

Originally Posted by Ricochet

Ahhhh...Nothing like a 500" injected Rat!! Then again I'm kinda partial to the Rat motors!! Have you done any measurents yet? I know these things will not clear the Camaro cowl hood. What kind of hood do you plan on running?

Brent,

Thanks! Coming from you it makes it even better,i could only hope that one
day i could build a car or anything close to what you turn out.I still have the
pictures of Ricochet on my PC,and that car is and was just amazing art.

Now back too my junk.. Well,iam going to "try" and run a 2" steel
cowl for the test fit,i have talked to another 502 owner with a 78 mailibu that
has it with no probs,of course with a new cowl hood.Other than that a new
set of BB headers,and iam not sure if i want to keep the 700R4,might go and
get a 460LE,iam taking my time..winter is here so iam working on the small
details first..of course i will screw it up though..

I have allot of clean-up to do,nothing like installing a brand new engine in a
dusty engine bay,no matter how much i detail..well you know lol..I do have
a quick question for ya,somebody was telling me that i should not have the
upper/lower manifold polished or chromed,did you have any probs such as
overheating? or "blueing" <---Spelling?

Thanks again..Nick is is going to kill us all this time!! Outstanding work!!

-Jim

[rockdogz]

Well just for comparison, it will fit a 1st gen Camaro with 2" cowl hood with no mods if it's fiberglass. The steel hood will clear with some modification of the hood structure - this is what I'm doing. I'm also running an Alston subframe, so I don't know where the motor sits compared to stock.

[Ricochet]

Jim-

Thanks for the nice words about Ricochet. That was a wild ride I do not think I'll be able to do again. Very fortunate the way everything turned out. Anyways, as far as polishing or chroming...It has been a known fact that polishing heads, intakes, radiators etc will retain more heat than non polished. As to how much?? I'm not sure. Me personally, I have never had or heard of anybody having a problem linked directly to polishing. As far as Chrome. It can turn blue due to heat. Mainly I have seen it on headers where it gets extremely hot. Not normally on intakes though. I'm sure whatever direction you go, it will look great!!

Brent

[comp-spec]

Im running full chrome 502 street+performance the cars never gone over 200. 100 degree days idle in boston traffic for hours never over 200.Easyer to clean then polish. Good guys award lines thay can get long never over 200 degrees theres some places u just don't want to over heat.NO blueing but have coated headers