Well, after a brief rest from the car, actually dealing with life’s little inconveniences, I’m back on the build trail. I have finally had the short block built and collected from the builder. I also have acquired some of the less glorified parts of the build. To date I have gotten:
1. Auto wire Highway 22 wiring kit. This kit is everything you need for one of our builds. I got two extra double relays and a few smaller items and it seems that’s all I needed. I am using 4 fans (2 front radiator and 2 rear small radiators for the oil and trans) and two pumps (Moroso electric water and Mocal transmission). Their instructions are very straightforward and their support staff is top notch. I wasn’t going to use the GM column connector and they helped with the rewiring to the extra switches and grounding needed. They even showed me how to wire in a safety and antitheft wiring for the ignition when I raised a question about wiring in the high-pressure fuel pump. It saved me from having to purchase a neutral safety switch. As you can see, I have 2 extra power outlets that may be used for the Mocal pump and a remote camera setup(one day).
2. Vintage Air Gen II A/C/heat/defrost system. I chose the Gen II mini unit and it fits like a glove. Haven’t done the hard tubing yet, but it is soon to follow. It measures 7.3”wide x 9” tall x 19”long and is hidden fairly well by the dash. It has 3 main outlets; two defrost outlets, and two foot outlets. It uses servo-actuated valves, and is a true bilevel operation. For now I mounted it in the center of the dash. If need be it can be moved over to the right side if space becomes necessary.
3. The Kennedy adapter and clutch package. My car came with an adapter but its measurements (mine) were off from theirs by ever the slightest and I didn’t want to save a dime to spend a dollar, so I ordered theirs. If mine checks out to be theirs, I will offer it up for sale later. It should be here in a week or so. I went with their heaviest pressure plate and organic clutch for the street. I plan on limited track time and I don’t think I will need that kind of compressive forces.
I picked up the short block from the builder and he did a great job. Started out with a 79 351 Windsor that had been bored 30 over by the previous owner (never cranked). We discovered as soon as the car arrived that he had left it out in the rain and some rust had formed in several of the cylinders (that got me a $1500 refund from the seller). So, since I had to rebuild the engine anyway, I sold off all the components except the block and went from there. Installed the following:
Eagle 3.85 stroker crank and internally balanced it.
Eagle H beam 5.956” rods.
Comp XE 282 hydraulic roller cam with 1.6:1 roller rockers.
AFR 205 heads
ARP bolts throughout.
TWM 8 port F.I.
Moroso electric water pump.
Kevko oil pan with pickup. Heavily baffled with trap doors and a crank scraper.
I chose the Kevko only because it was a little cheaper.
Will probably go with a FRP dampner as you can remove the 28 oz. offset to make it neutral. Will get the 2 grove pulley and then I can order the Electromotive ignition system (it would have been bought already, but one of life’s little inconveniences got in the way). Probably next month.
I picked up some Felpro gaskets to trial fit everything and all looks pretty good. I am enlarging the intake manifold outlets to match the gaskets, as they match the heads perfectly. As you can see in the pics the amount of aluminum needed to be relieved is considerable. The original outlets measured 26 mm. across and finished off about 31mm. The vertical height doesn’t increase even though it now matches the gasket. The narrowest part is in the curve and I felt it was a little thin to be grinding in that area, and I didn’t have a grinding tool long enough to reach all the way around the bend. It does make a better transition to the head though. The area of the outlet increases from 1.85 sq. in. to 2.23 or a 17% increase.
I outlined the area where the water jacket meets the intake manifold. This is where the vent lines will be drilled and tapped to relieve any trapped air.
I have borrowed a friends TIG welder and am practicing and practicing. Straight mild steel is not too difficult, but stainless to mild steel is another matter. I may have to let someone better than me handle this as I want it to look and function (read strength) correctly. A good friend who owns a chassis dyno has offered to make the headers out of stainless. He runs the outlaw class of drag cars and does good aluminum and stainless fabrication work, as all of his exhaust/blower/intercooler tubing is fabricated from aluminum and stainless. So he may be doing my paneling as well as the exhaust. When we sit down to hammer out the pricing for all this I will let you know if it is favorable.
Waiting for the 930 to come back to Atlanta from Los Angeles(very long story), and with a little luck it should be back some time next week. It all depends on how nice the judge and the Los Angeles police department is. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] Will tell the whole story when the oddesey is over.
Bill