That little piston edge break is typical of a broken or carbon siezed compression ring.

My only other advice on roller cam is that you can have a very smooth running motor with 6-10 degrees more duration at .050 than their h-flat counter parts duration. So if an L-82 had 222@.050 a 228 I roller would have the same or greater vacuum

 

Gkull,

Thanks for that insight on the piece-I will find out when the engine is out. I already have the AFR 180 65 CC heads and a Howards Roller Cam-.525/.525 Lift, 219/225 duration, and LSA110. I think now it is going to be bit before i can get it running again with the new heads and cam. i am going to work on getting this rebuilt by end of April-Target date. Thanks.

 

Ditto on stroking it doesnt really cost much more just a bit
Still got the stock block/look if anything it should be a + come resale time. Who would complain about more torque I sure wouldnt!

 

with your short block in that condition it makes you wonder the effect it may have had on your dyno numbers. why not store the manifold and upgrade it too , just paint it all blue use the stock air cleaner. no one would know the difference

 

blue...........................

 

jb...you're one of the most schooled on this site...if not the most... and your input is always appreciated.... going stock is always neat and clean...and some appreciate it...

i'm looking forward to any brake upgrade and suspension type stuff as a sticky that you can post...

got a c3 (82) and thinking of the c4 suspension...just love the body from high school... does anyone have any info on how well a c3 with a c4 suspension works?

fyi...this is just a toy project... i run the texas mile in a yardo... for fun...and wanting a high tech c3...

many thanks in advance..

 

yeah, i know but he wants it "original "

 

what mallethead decided that was a good color?

 

certainly wasn't me, id rather have it covered in grease than blew

 

I actually thought the same about the dyno runs after I discovered the weak #6 cylinder (90 PSI) about 1.5 years ago. However, a couple of thoughts. The other 7 cylinders ALL had 160-165 PSI which is really VERY good. Best dyno run Stock was 233 RWHP but would probably be 240 RWHP if all 8 cylinders had good compression which is pretty darn impressive for a stock L-82 with headers and duals. The other 3 cylinders on that bank in the photos show mostly carbon and some oil which I believe came from worn valve guides in the crap 882 heads which BTW, the passenger side shows no cracks so far but have not looked closely yet. The plugs pretty much indicated exactly what the pictures showed. I have not removed the drivers side head yet but I expect it to show better pictures than the Passenger side since that is the side where the issues seem to be. I honestly think that the head was causing most of the issues and the chip in the piston is from a bad compression ring or broken ring as postulated by Gkull but have to wait and see. I expect the bottom end to look real good based on the lifters I have removed on the pass head side-they look literally brand new-perfectly flat-I was shocked. As I stated before, I have run a full synthetic since 1985. Most of us know the 882 heads are not great and the rings used back in the 70's/80's were being kind, junk.

As for the intake manifold, I thought about storing the L-82 one and using an edlelbrock or another but I am not convinced that the HP difference is big enough to warrant a change and to my knowledge, I am not aware of one that will fit the OEM air filter intake.

 

I appreciate the kind comments but there are many folks on this forum who are more knowledgeable about various subjects. Thanks though!

 

i think the further you go from stock the more benefit you would get from a different intake would be. you have A.F.R heads let em breath.

 

Replacing those 882 heads with afr's sounds like about the best thing on your list. Now, if we can talk you into the 383 . . .

 

Use the Speed Pro forged VM-75 alloy replacements.

 

Ok. So I pulled the driver's side head off today and the pistons and cam lifters look great. The plan next is to pull the short block and 4 speed tranny together out the next session. I have 2 contacts to have the short block rebuilt and will be speaking with them next week. I will check the clutch, flywheel, etc once the unit is out. I plan on replacing all 8 pistons with forged VMS-75 alloy ones, new rings, all new bearings, new oil pump, new fuel pump etc. Once the short block comes back from the machine shop, I will re-assembly the top end and hopefully we can get this baby back on the road. Stay tuned.

 

I like it when a plan comes together.

 

Update:

Spoke to the engine builder/restorer in person today and I am pretty sure that he is my man-4 vette motors being restored/built in his shop as well as various muscle cars and he does race cars as well. Not cheap though! But:

Looked at my pictures and thought the piston chip was from detonation like another source, probably before I owned thee car since it never pinged that I know of since I bought the car in 1983 BUT it used to run 225-245 when stock with all emissions equipment. That will make it ping for sure!!

He thought that the other 7 pistons look OK but cant tell until it is apart. The oil valley looked great in my pictures-remarkably clean. I told him about the like new OEM lifters and he was not surprised since I run synthetic-another vote for synthetic.

 

Here is the oil galley after 36.5 years-pretty darn good!

[IMG][/IMG]

 

That looks great Jeff!

 

So you are going to get the bottom end done properly at a machine shop ?

Sealed Power, SpeedPro are all made by Federal Mogul. I would not pay for the forged pistons I made 550HP with SpeedPro Hyperutectic pistons the ones with the lightning bolt on them, as far as I know that motor (406ci) is still running 10 years later.

If you want to keep the crank and rod they are OK for your RPM limits. I can't stress how important it is to tear the whole bottom end down and get it machined so you are not doing it again in a couple of months. I run Mahle forged pistons in my 427ci engine, Nascar uses them in some of their 850 hp small blocks, they are overkill for you