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Pic is there now. CKP. 72 400 170 hp 2bbl Caprice. At least that is what it was. If that block is good it'll be hard to justify spending largish money for less engine. With the better 1st gear it will also pull out better.
Last edited by derekderek; Jul 21, 2018 at 06:17 PM.
So we found the source of the oil smoke. The pictures below are the two front cylinders on the left cylinder bank. The cylinder on the right is the source of the detailed close-up where you can see what is either a scratch or (possibly) a crack in the cylinder wall. My understanding is that fixing this will involve boring out the cylinders and, effectively, doing a complete rebuild as long as it's just a scratch and not a crack in the wall.
scratch. not a crack. walls rarely crack. what bore now? those are not OEM pistons. those scratches will probably clean up with a hone. why is the block deck so black? looks like it could be a gasket issue. that could also be the issue. i would be tempted to get the deck good and hone and re-ring that motor. Could also be oil coming in from a bad intake guide.
Last edited by derekderek; Jul 25, 2018 at 06:02 PM.
6089 eddy heads. a guy got hold of edelbrock. this is his post on another forum. "I called Edelbrock and couldn't get an extact answer but it looks like the heads are RPM from 2004. They were 170 or 165 intake and came in 60, 64 1nd 70 chambers. I had them freshened up at the machine shop including a light cut do to brinelling. He cc'ed the chambers and said they were 60 and are now 58. Not what I wanted. I have a block ready for the cam and assembly specs below. I'm thinking I should not use these heads with 58 cc chambers." I think the ports are a little small for 406 and you need to cc those chambers. i use a 4 buck walmart flavor shooter. basically a 25 cc syringe for injecting juice into roast beef or turkey. but it also works to inject water into a cyl head. that and a piece of plexi with a 1/4 to 3/8ths hole drilled in it and some grease. i put a set of small chambered early 60's double hump heads on a 400 and put it in a SeaRay Sundancer. engine didn't like the compression ratio so it adjusted it for me. spat several hunks of piston out the exhausts to lower CR to a number it preferred.
Last edited by derekderek; Jul 25, 2018 at 06:21 PM.
Checked the other cylinders this morning. 4 of the 8 cylinders have visible scoring in them. We have a machinist in our complex and he's going to mic the cylinders later today so we can determine the current bore. We also found some scoring on at least one of the journals.
Update: the machinist came over and measured the cylinders at 4.157 inches, so it appears the block has already been bored once. The scoring in the cylinders is deep enough to catch a fingernail and even to feel with the tip of the finger in some cases.
All cyls will have some scoring. Might cost half of 1% power. Get the part number off those pistons, measure how deep in the bore at tdc. Re-ring it. Now you have money for better heads and you can pick the chamber size that gets you the CR you want. Buy bare castings. Buy name brand valves. Ferrea or such. Beehive springs cost a bit more, but the smaller top and retainer greatly reduces weight the springs have to control.
OK, I made the decision after talking to the machinist, the trusted experienced Chevy-oriented mechanic who looked over the disassembled motor, another experienced GM mechanic, and the Corvette restoration shop I've used in the past. Then I pulled the trigger and ordered the SP350/357 Deluxe crate engine package. This motor uses the ZZ4 bottom end but with improved heads and intake.
Hopefully, this motor with the WCT5 will prove to be a thoroughly enjoyable combination. The popularity and track record of the ZZ4 is confidence-inspiring, at least. We'll see soon enough.
We're preparing to install the T5 and crate motor today and tomorrow. Does anyone know if the transmission tunnel needs to be cut to accommodate the T5 shifter base?
We're preparing to install the T5 and crate motor today and tomorrow. Does anyone know if the transmission tunnel needs to be cut to accommodate the T5 shifter base?
Hi Bill, Replied to your PM. Not a big deal for clearance.
Edit: If I remember correctly on my 68 I gave it the needed room, (not much) and just glassed over it to make it pretty.
All hidden by the insulation, carpet, and console.
We're preparing to install the T5 and crate motor today and tomorrow. Does anyone know if the transmission tunnel needs to be cut to accommodate the T5 shifter base?
Should fit without cutting. At least that was how it was when my '80 had a T5 in it.
it will fit without cutting. trans is going in upright, correct? not on a factory 88 camaro bellhousing? what you doing for rear trans mount? mark where on the tunnell the shift handle is lined up before disassembly.
It turns out that there is cutting required to accommodate the Hurst Ford shifter base. There is a picture of John_65's cutout in this thread (post #23). We'll need to do the same thing.
The transmission is upright using the original bell housing. The new Vette Products frame has a removable cross-member so we didn't need to cut anything to get the transmission in.
In other developments, we realized that the HEI distributor that came with the engine package is incompatible with the mechanical tach in the '69, so I'm swapping in a '75 tach instead. I looked at the conversion kit sold by some of the Corvette vendors but there is only a $30 difference to buy a brand-new reproduction '75 tach. That seems cleaner than a conversion kit.
Since we have to go under the dash for that, I decided it's a good time to eliminate the oil pressure line for the gauge and switch over to the '74-style electrical setup as well. I never have liked that oil pressure line coming into the cabin.
Finally, it became clear that there was some jury-rigging done with brackets, fuel line routing, and fuel filter placement to accommodate the 400 so we're fixing all that to make everything look the way it should for a 350.
OK, here's another question. For those who've done this conversion, how much spacing do you have between the tail housing of the T5 and the crossmember. Here's a photo of our installation in progress; if anyone has a photo of a completed installation at that point, it would help us quite a bit.
So the crate engine install is turning into a bit of an engineering project, which I suppose is to be expected. We discovered that the Flowmaster headers from the 400 don't leave enough room for the spark plug boots on the 350 crate motor. Fortunately a friend had a set of original Corvette rams horn exhaust manifolds that leave plenty of room to avoid melting the plug boots. We'll just have to modify the exhaust pipe to work with a donut and then bolt it up. Of course, we'll have to find a gasket set for that manifold.
Put T5 next to the muncie-borg you took out. Measure length to the end of pilot shafts and to the front of clutch splines. Then pilot shaft diameter. I think pilot dia is bigger, but not 100% sure. I think spline and shaft depth is doable. With a Ford trans you need all kinds of adapters.
