It's ready!!!!!!!!! Rebuild done.
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It's ready!!!!!!!!! Rebuild done.
The 463 is ready to be driven home and I'm just a bit excited.
Been waiting for this all winter. A great local shop rebuilt the 427/390 with some gentle mods... Edelbrock Performer RPM aluminum heads, 454 crank, +.040 bore, and the controversial Thumpr cam. The builder looked past the marketing and felt the cam specs would provide the pull we were after in a good rev range for street application.
I was able to fire it up the other day and it with the Flowmaster exhaust it felt and sounded very very healthy. Didn't drive it because carb wasn't really set up yet.
Builder called today. He's put some miles on it, gotten it set up says he's happy with the results.
I'm hoping to get over there this wkend and bring the old boy home! I'll let y'all know how the combination of components drives.
Last edited by LOTSARED; Apr 10, 2008 at 06:08 PM.
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Update
Hey, thanks all for your positive comments...
Now a quick update-- Well, so far so good. I've only driven it 3 times, but here are initial impressions:
+ Civilized, around town driver. Although when I stop at an intersection, the sound at idle has mother's grabbing their children.
+ Fourth gear pull at speed is amazing... 70-100 for instance.
+ I did run it up thru the gears one time, shifting at 5krpm... impressive. Especially noticed the difference when I hit 3rd and 4th. The shove back into the seat used to be gentler on the 2-3 shift vs the 1-2 shift. Not anymore.
+ Was afraid vacuum might be low enough to cause headlight issues. Nope. Headlights and wiper door work great.
+ Runs nice and cool.
- (+?) Sound... at idle this thing really lopes. Sounds huge and evil. That's fun, but it's on the loud side. Thumbs up approval from everyone so far, but... I may go to a muffler change eventually. I'm running 2-1/2 system with 2-chamber Flowmasters. With the Thumpr cam the sound is about on par with the side-pipe pseudo-Cobras.
So... can't share any dyno numbers. Plan is to dyno after a few hundred miles. We'll see if I'm up for another $500 or so when the time comes.
That's it for now! Still getting to know the "new" L36.
Now a quick update-- Well, so far so good. I've only driven it 3 times, but here are initial impressions:
+ Civilized, around town driver. Although when I stop at an intersection, the sound at idle has mother's grabbing their children.
+ Fourth gear pull at speed is amazing... 70-100 for instance.
+ I did run it up thru the gears one time, shifting at 5krpm... impressive. Especially noticed the difference when I hit 3rd and 4th. The shove back into the seat used to be gentler on the 2-3 shift vs the 1-2 shift. Not anymore.
+ Was afraid vacuum might be low enough to cause headlight issues. Nope. Headlights and wiper door work great.
+ Runs nice and cool.
- (+?) Sound... at idle this thing really lopes. Sounds huge and evil. That's fun, but it's on the loud side. Thumbs up approval from everyone so far, but... I may go to a muffler change eventually. I'm running 2-1/2 system with 2-chamber Flowmasters. With the Thumpr cam the sound is about on par with the side-pipe pseudo-Cobras.
So... can't share any dyno numbers. Plan is to dyno after a few hundred miles. We'll see if I'm up for another $500 or so when the time comes.
That's it for now! Still getting to know the "new" L36.
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I don't have the exact part number here right now. But it's for non-roller, hydraulic application, and it's the "milder" of three grinds.
Having said that... if this is the milder of the 3, I wouldn't want either of the others. I'm going to try bumping my idle speed up a bit. At 750rpm idle, it's very lopey... enough to visibly jiggle the car a bit. For me, I think the others would be needlessly uncomfortable. Initially hearing/feeling the idle characteristics with this cam, I was afraid I'd need to rev it up a bit and feather the clutch away from every stop sign, but that's not the case at all. It easily lopes away from a stop and is easy to drive thru town. Yet, if I roll the loud pedal down and romp up thru the gears, it pushes the seat into my back nicely.
But be ready for the sound. Mine's probably beyond some driver's noise tolerance. BTW, this 463 was built to 9.7 compression, and it's speaking thru 2-chamber Flowmasters. Good luck w/your build.
Having said that... if this is the milder of the 3, I wouldn't want either of the others. I'm going to try bumping my idle speed up a bit. At 750rpm idle, it's very lopey... enough to visibly jiggle the car a bit. For me, I think the others would be needlessly uncomfortable. Initially hearing/feeling the idle characteristics with this cam, I was afraid I'd need to rev it up a bit and feather the clutch away from every stop sign, but that's not the case at all. It easily lopes away from a stop and is easy to drive thru town. Yet, if I roll the loud pedal down and romp up thru the gears, it pushes the seat into my back nicely.
But be ready for the sound. Mine's probably beyond some driver's noise tolerance. BTW, this 463 was built to 9.7 compression, and it's speaking thru 2-chamber Flowmasters. Good luck w/your build.
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Posting vids
I'd love to post a video clip, but :o don't know how yet. I use a camcorder frequently... it's got firewire, my PC has fire wire input, but I've just never taken the time to figure out how to upload the clips to the PC >>> to DVD >>> to e-mail, etc.
Soon I hope.
Soon I hope.
Melting Slicks
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From: Nashville TN
St. Jude Donor '09
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Yup, you've got the idea! This car has always been very straight, stock, and original. And for me that works. For this engine rebuild we decided to benefit from advances in head design, and aluminum vs iron, and the fun of a bit angrier cam. But I didn't want to compromise on stock appearance. So, I had the builder fill the Edelbrock logos and paint the heads. The squat L36 intake limits the benefit I'm getting from the heads/cam, but I couldn't bear to replace it. And hey... it seems to be making "adequate" power.