Here's where we stand:

Trans in, clutch works (at least I can turn the output shaft when the clutch is in and car is in gear), exhaust is up (fun doing that by yourself), accessories are close to done. Need to fill coolant, install belts, prime, stab distributor and cross my fingers.

Two problems I had:
* Hedman 68301s interfered with Lakewood RM-6022 bellhousing. Had to clerarance the bellhousing a little (~1/4).
* Outboard starter bolt hole was not fully threaded, I got lucky that I noticed the bolt flange was about 1/16" above the surface. It felt right and looked right when I was underneath it, but while I was spot checking things I saw the gap. Had to pull starter and tap the hole just a bit more. Easy from there on out.

I likely would have fired it up on Sunday, but had to help sister-in-law replace a catalytic converter on her Integra. The impact gun and angle grinder(twice in one weekend!) got involved on that project...

I borrowed tsw71's angle grinder, and ended up having to go to Harbor Freight anyways to get a couple small things. I saw they had an angle grinder on sale for $3.50, wonder if it's any good....

 

 

First fire today.

Primed the oil system with a primer, put on the spark plugs, turned the motor over a few times to prime the carburetor, set the motor to TDC (OK, I missed a bit and the pointer was about 20ATDC, so I eyeballed the difference at the distributor).

Here's the "raw video":


I must say, I was surprised... it went perfectly too. No leaks, no backfiring... I wanted ~6deg BTDC and got 8degBTDC.

A lot of work to do before it hits the ground, and I'm calling it an evening.

 

 

Excellent!

 

There's nothing like the 1st time they fire. And make noise! Cool...

 

Congrats! Sounds very good for an initial fire up. I hear your able assistant in the background. Nice to have a wife who shares your excitement. Looking forward to more when you're satisfied with the tune up- idling from behind would be and so would a little "under throttle" footage.

 

Sweet, Can't wait to see it.

 

Is it on the road?

 

D'oh. I knew I forgot something.

I've put about 75 miles on the car in the last week.

The new engine is much torquier than the last, and can pull out of 3rd gear at 10mph like the old one did in 2nd.

I'm still babying the new clutch, but here are my observations:

• Much more responsive at ALL RPM
• 3/4 throttle in first gear was shut up and hold on. The pull I felt was similar to my 2009 Z06.
• I hit my head a few times against the sail panel from the unexpected torque.
• The engine definitely has a bit more presence than the last one, sounds more "big blockish".
• I can use gears down to about 1500 RPM, the old engine was unhappy below 2000 except for first and maybe 2nd.
• 5th at 2000(70mph) has PLENTY of pull.

I ordered a new long handle 1/4" ratchet on Monday to help snug up the header bolts. I'm going to play with timing and carb tune (idle mixture, secondary air-valve tension) this weekend to see if I can wake it up a bit more. Definitely need to get on the pedal more than I think I should, given the dyno runs. I think I'll be OK removing about a 1/4 or maybe 3/8 turn out of the airvalve tension, given how much more motor I have now.



Drove it to the previous owner (grandmother)'s house on Sunday. Work is hell this week, or I'd do a bit more.

 

Congratulations.

 

So, it's been a little over 2 months. The motor, worked trans and new clutch have a little over 600 miles on them.

They are all behaving pretty flawlessly.

Last weekend I set the timing curve to full timing advance and re-set the idle and idle mixture. It's idling much nicer than it did and has a bit more torque, not that it really needs any. If you roll into first gear too hard, the car gets pretty wiggly.

For those that accused me of being a bad driver in regards to not being able to shift from 2-3 in my TKO, well it's clear from the video that between the time I shipped the car off to Liberty's and got it back, I learned how to shift from 2-3. Kidding aside, the trans shifts amazing compared to how it did before. I've not missed a 2-3 shift yet. A friend of mine just finished a 496 build with a TKO 600(untouched) behind it in a 70 'vette, and that one also shifts fine from 2-3(yes, with me driving. I built the Q-Jet for it and "was forced" to do some WOT testing). Must have been something strange with the way mine was set up internally, although Liberty's didn't notice anything.


So, to "show off", I made a video last week using a fairly old GoPro setup. Unfortunately, the camera doesn't capture the audio very well. It's still a fair bit meaner sounding than a stock 78 Pace Car though.


At some point, I need to get this thing dynoed.

 

(Looks like San Tomas Expressway?)

And smogged ;-)

Awesome Steve, great job.

 

Glad to see you finished the project....Im sorry i sold my Pace Car...similar build to yours....but now I have the Z06 so.....I cant really complain.

More pics please!

D

 

Fantastic job! Very Impressive!

I too have to give a big kudos to 63mako in helping me select my roller cam for the L-82 355 I rebuilt!

I am really curious now about getting my build on the dyno as well. I have 180 AFR's with the Howards roller .525/.525, LSA 110, duration 219/225 with a Holley 4175 650 vacuum secondary carb, compression 10.2:1. I backed my timing back to 32-33 as well. I have about 650 miles on the new engine and it continues to run great but still have a number of issues to address:

1. Carb needs to be dialed in: Original 59-2 primary jets I changed to 63's (all I had lying around) but are still probably too lean. The secondaries are the stock metering plate for a 78 L-82-need an adjustable metering block install.

2. Thinking of going to 15/8 -1 3/4 full length headers.

3. Sticking to the OEM L-82 intake for now but may switch to the performer RPM.

With all that said, the motor like yours, pulls VERY hard mid range RPM, lifting the nose in 2/3 gear noticeably and has mid range punch like my 10 Z06 which is barely broken in with 3,000 miles on it-no time to drive....The other aspect of my motor is that pulls easily and fast to 6,000 RPM and is VERY smooth-engine and clutch were balanced.

Carb tuning is next.... will try and post a go pro video soon.

Great job again! Really nice to see others building their own motors versus crate motors.

 

Thanks!

Are you still running the stock air cleaner on yours or have you gone to an open element?

I'm also considering the performer RPM, but I'd have to figure out which air cleaner to run and I'd have to switch it out for smog, or find a way to get EGR working without it (but that would probably involve an EGR throttle plate: oh boy... more hood height isuses)

I'm actually not sure how many people have fit a tall intake under a 78 hood. I think the RPM can be done with a drop base air cleaner.

 

I am still running the L-82 dual snorkel intake with a K&N filter in the stock housing. I know that the performer RPM can fit with a drop base air cleaner-Karol's 78 L-82 has a performer RPM with the drop base air cleaner. I would worry less about the intake and more about the headers/exhaust, if I had to pick one but I think you have an visual inspection issue on the air cleaner side. I wonder if anyone has tried taking a typical stock GM air intake and modifying it for a C3 to fit under the hood with a performer RPM or similar for inspection..just to pass? Seems easy enough. cut it down, put it a shorter filter, paint it up black, put the top on. and you have a short GM style air cleaner.

 

Steve, I put a performer rpm on my pace car. Had to use an edelbrock drop base air cleaner. All smog was hooked and operable except for the EGR obviously. But I suppose you could attach it to the intake to make it look like it was hooked up.
The choke stove was a challenge but I was able to jimmy it onto the headers to work.

The performer was identical to stock, and easy to swap for smog testing.

 

I have 1 5/8" headers right now, with AIR tubes and a CA E.O. so I'm mostly OK on that. I could probably benefit from 1 3/4", but I really suspect the intake is holding me back more than anything.

I also have a Weiand 7525 that I'm somewhat curious about trying...

 

I have the stove on my headers hooked up to a bracket-jimmy-rig that Hedman includes w/ their smog legal headers.

It's basically a thin piece of flat stock with a round tube welded to it. The flat stock clamps to the header tubes with worm clamps.