CorvetteFirstTimer

Well, let me give you a little back story. I bought my 79 corvette last June real cheap for what its worth. I thought it was a great deal, and the car seemed to be in really good shape running wise and performance. I started noticing some oil sitting on top of the intake near the supercharger so I tightens some lose bolts and kept on driving. When I was done driving that day, I noticed oil on the intake again. So I talked to a buddy of mine and he said it may be time for the gaskets to be changed since you don't know when they were last changed. So, to make a long story short: We changed all the gaskets from the intake up, not including the heads. We also rebuilt the supercharger (bearings, gaskets, pulley's). After we finished the top end rebuild, mid feb 2012, I noticed when driving the car, oil was squirting on the windshield, all over the intake. I was like WHAT THE HELL!!!! After some long research, figuring out, and a leak down tester, I figured out that when we rebuilt the supercharger, it was performing a lot better. It was building more pressure which was making the oil squirt out more furious. It was only coming out of the valve covers though, so we were very confused. I had them heat treated and straightened. That still did not solve the problem. Then I put new gaskets (I had reusable felpro's in before). That didn't work. So finally my buddy said it could be something I didn't want to hear. He said the piston rings could be shot causing pressure to build up in the crank case shooting oil out of the valve covers. Sure enough, we did the leak down test and each cylinder was leaking at the minimum 60%. To clearify, the only reason why I bought the car is because it was a great deal and thought it was problem free. Sure enough I spent around $1500 on the top end rebuild and now I need to rebuild the bottom end. The original block was in there which is a two bolt main, so I decided to get a four bolt and forged pistons and crank to handle the power. Great place with great prices: http://high-performance-engines.com/index.shtml . So this past saturday, I finally pulled the old tired two bolt out. The new block should be in next week, but we have a lot of work to do. We are going to paint under the hood and clean it all up so it goes from a rats nest to a show engine. We are using all the same accessories and heads and such from the old block, just replacing the block and cleaning everything up. Also, which is the most important part, the 383 stroker block was the same price as the 350 so UPGRADE!!!!!!!!! So here are some pictures of the car now:

The car this summer:



Under the hood:



The supercharger off the car:



The jack stands saving our lives while we're under the car:



One of the socket wrenches that took me forever to find after I took this pic:



My buddy moving stuff out of the way while we have the cherry picker hooked up:



Almost comletely out, forgot to disconnect the ground, oops :



ITS OUT!!:



The empty hole :



The engine on the stand:



I'll keep all you posted as the project goes along. Comment with your oppinions and thoughts! Thanks

CorvetteFirstTimer

What do you guys think of these valve covers? http://www.jegs.com/i/Proform/778/141-927/10002/-1

Jedi926

All that matters is what you think of them. I went with Chevy orange vc's from trans dapt.

Phil Zell

I like the covers.
I also like my 383, hint, hint !

CorvetteFirstTimer

If you look in my bio, this is my first classic car/muscle car with my dad. I am rediculously excited about this 383. Plus we're putting in the proper cam for the car, which it didnt have before. I'm expecting around, if not over, 600 hp. Plus people have been telling me the torque difference and I'm excited.

CorvetteFirstTimer

Oh, you know. Cleaning 4 years of dirt, oil, and grime. And yes, that puddle was really brown:

jesse10886

i love them

CorvetteFirstTimer

I definitly think I'm going to go with them.

AdamMeh

Hey CFT! Sorry to hear about the motor problems, but exciting things are ahead for sure.

I like the valve covers - fitting for the type of build you are doing. Look forward to seeing more photos as you move along in the process!

Adam

CorvetteFirstTimer

I will keep you all posted. The stroker block is supposed to be here either Saturday or Monday and I can't wait! I'll post pics when I get it in.

CorvetteFirstTimer

Update:

THE BLOCK IS IN!!!!!!!! And its BEAUTIFUL!!



I also got some other goodies in!!

I got my new valve covers in and they are going to look awesome:



If you can't tell, I'm pretty excited about all this. Haha

We also started painting the engine compartment, we still need to lay another coat and paint the headers:







Even with all the excitement, we found the reason why the engine blew in the first place. A valve stem seal on each head broke apart and got sucked through the oiling system God knows how many times.

The heads and some other components along with the old valve covers:



The stripped down (old) block (well almost completed stripped):



Other fun stuff:



And now, the damage. Now the rust is there because we power washed the old engine, but the rust formed in the scratches of where the seals cut into the cylinders. That right there is what caused all this mess!:



PLEASE, leave your comments on what you thik of the paint and everything else!!!! I'll keep you posted

CorvetteFirstTimer

Hopefully I'll have partially built block to show you guys tomorrow.

TurboStitchCW

awesome! Everything is looking great so far! Keep up the good work.

CorvetteFirstTimer

Thanks! Will Do!

CorvetteFirstTimer

Update:

Well we didn't accomplish much this weekend. We sprayed another coat on the engine bay and also painted the headers. The fun part was unwrapping everything. It was like Christmas!!

Here's some pics:

Before Paint:



After Paint and Unwrapped:



Its kind of hard to tell the difference, and the pictures don't do justice. To make it a little easier, look at the brake lines up against the frame in both pictures and also look at the little rubber flaps that hides some of the suspension. What do you guys think?

Also, Out with the old:



In with the new:



Beautiful 4 bolt with a steel Scat crank and forged Pistons:



$hit, I forgot where this stuff goes!:




Let me know what you guys think. Feedback is well appreciated.

Thanks!

69 Chevy

Have you done the math and figured the new compression ratio?

CorvetteFirstTimer

8-1/2 : 1 That's what the engine builder said. Do you know the math for it?

AdamMeh

Looking good! Engine compartment turned out great. New short block sure is

Keep up the good work!

Adam

CorvetteFirstTimer

Thanks! Its still hard to tell because of the rats nest of wires, but I am going to clean all that up too. I'll definitely post pics of the before and after when the new engine is in. Hopefully the new engine will be completely built after this weekend.

TurboStitchCW

the big piece goes on top.