holy ground clearance issues... did you mistakenly tell them you owned this vette?

 

Of course those headers I bought were marketed as c3 corvette headers...oh ebay, you always keep me on my toes.

Does anyone have a specific part number they can shoot me for reasonably priced headers?
I really dont want to order others and end up with the same result. Preferably ceramic coated.

Has anyone run the midlength Patriot headers before?

Patriot Exhaust H8025-1 - Patriot Tri-5 Headers

 

I have almost everything assembled for the first fire up, so I tested the clearance on the air cleaner to the hood.
Just a reminder, I do have a 1972, so it has the lower hood than later years.
There is definitely clearance issues.
Despite reading about others using the performer intake with just a drop base air cleaner, it didn't work for me.
I have a 1.35 inch drop base air cleaner with 3" filter, but had pretty obvious issues.
When i remove the air cleaner, the quadrajet carb stud still doesn't allow the hood to be closed.
If i remove the carb stud the hood can be closed.
Ugh.
I'll try a 2" filter to see if that helps, but if the carb stud is still contacting, seems like i need a new lid too and shorten the stud a bit. Seems like a 2" filter and lower lid would choke the engine down a bit. I saw that engine masters when they tested all the different filter options; even the drop base looses power with a 3" filter...damn.

Has anyone run one of these carb hat things?
https://www.uniqueautodepot.com/Spec...q4ZRoCwbjw_wcB

My windshield sprayer doesn't currently work, so maybe I could remove the wiper fluid bottle and pipe this to over there near the side vents. Maybe even make a shield to better pull the air from outside. Seems like that could be an improvement while sitting in traffic anyway compared to the open filter element.

 

Check out Sanderson Headers https://www.sandersonheaders.com/
They offer a full line of headers for C3 Corvettes.
I feel they are the best quality headers on the market.
3/8" flanges, 16ga steel, ceramic coated inside and outside, 3" collectors and excellent welds.
Their flanges are so perfect they advertise header gaskets aren't needed.
I've been purchasing from them since the early 70's.
Talk to Donna.
She is the expert and has been with Sanderson since their beginning.

 

Are you running a spacer between the carb and manifold?
Send us some photos with and without your air cleaner.

 

This place is actually very close to where I live. If those original headers worked, I was going to have them coat them for me.
I went by yesterday in person, but the guy there said they don't make and long tube headers for c3 corvettes, only shorties for roughly $475.
He really tried to talk me into shorties.
For shorties, I'm of the opinion there isn't as much precision as far as clearance, and I could probably order some that would work for much less.
Funny, because I remember them having some LT on their site before.

 

No carb spacer other than the paper one between the carb and intake.

Here are some pics

 

If you can't afford a new high rise hood you could always cut yours and install a scoop when you see fit. But really cold air is much better for performance than using air from the engine compartment. You will leave a bunch of HP on the table using engine compartment air. Every late model muscle car can be found with hood vents for a reason. And the right scoop makes that old stingray look menacing. I kinda like the C5 hood that has a bulge that tapers down on all sides. Give it a killer whale look. Looks extremely good on a C5 for some reason.

Or even a small cut to clearance that carb bolt can always be repaired later. Hey it's only fiberglass. Cut a small hole and put one of those tiny snorkel scoops dragsters use to vent the fuel system. You'll have someone ask you about it every time you gas up.

 

Well, I ordered a k&n 2.5" filter element, and it looks like that solved the hood clearance problem. phew!
I also ordered that cold air intake thing I was hoping to pipe over to the passenger side vent, but at 2.5", it was too tall as well.

I read this article to give a rough estimate what size filter is needed for an engine:
https://www.onallcylinders.com/2013/...r-size-engine/

I doesn't have a way to factor in a drop base air cleaner, but it makes me feel better about not having a 3" filter. According to the calculation, a 355" motor that peaks at 4900 rpm needs less than a 14x2" filter.

When I bought the car, it didnt come with the original air cleaner; how tall is an original air filter? 3"?

 

By the way, I bought flowtech headers, BIG-31106FLT, but havent put them on yet to check for clearance issues.
I have read about the coating not being as good as jethot, and it could degrade at a lower temperature, thus they don't recommend breaking in an engine with them on. I hope this doesn't cause any issues, and they last reasonably long, being that I live in CA.
So I am planning on breaking in the new engine with the original stainless headers (no investment in coating or wrap on the stainless ones). I'll try to just tuck all wires and everything back as much as possible during break in, and will attach my new dynomax super turbos, WLK-17733, directly to the header collector so my neighbors don't complain.

I bought those mufflers because I wanted "the quietest loud," lol. They are the shorter size of the super turbos, so hopefully I will still have some bark to it.

By the end of the break in procedure I am hoping to adjust the timing and carb so the exhuast gas won't be too hot for the flowtech headers, although I won't be hooking up my air/fuel ratio gauge until the new headers on on. Didn't see the point in doing a final carb tune without the flowtech headers and full exhuast system anyway.

I cut the exhaust pipe to test fit the headers, but I am planning on leaving the rest of the system in place to make it easier for the guys at the exhaust shop to make new 2.5" pipes. I also bought one of the those flex tubes to connect the headers to the existing exhaust, but it just didn't flex enough and the number of size conversions seemed a bit ridiculous, so I am hoping to attach my new mufflers directly to the flowtech header collectors for the ride over to the exhaust shop as well. Not sure how much ground clearance i will have for the ride to the shop.
Has anyone ever done this?

 

I used to have some "Hush Thrush" Turbo style header mufflers on my '69 Camaro. They had header flanges on the inlet and would just bolt right up to the header collectors. They had enough length to make it back to just in front of the rear axle. Made quite a nice low earth moving rumble when you were driving. Have not seen any of those for years. Cyclone had something called "Purple Hornies" that were the same thing but they were just straight thru glass packs with a turn out on the end.

You could just make your own and weld up a set of header flanges to a turbo muffler and drive that way for a bit.

 

So I did a break in procedure this weekend, but had a few problems along the way.
It turned on great and cranked right up and went immediately to 2200 rpm. There was a ticking noise that got louder and louder, until it sounded like an issue, so after about 5-7 minutes I turned it off. I know, not supposed to do that, but was hoping since it is a hydralic roller cam, there is some wiggle room.
Opened up the valve cover to find 2 off the rockers had came off their studs! Holy crap!
I used roller rockers with poly locks, and I guess I didn't tighten the Allen bolt in there tight enough. Luckily for me those pushrods weren't broken or the rocker, or the rocker stud. I'm glad I was using those crap ebay stainless headers, because they blued quite a bit.
After seeing this I adjusted the valve lash on all valves and tightened the Allens screw real tight.

When I finished about 25 minutes at 2200- 2600 rpm, I turned it off and drained the oil. Some would say this break-in procedure is overkill with it being a roller cam, but I wanted to play it safe.
When I looked at my oil, it looks different from normal. I'm not sure if I would say it's milky or not.
Could this be from the assembly lube and particles of the rings from breaking in? (I hope so)
What do you think?

After i blew at the oil

5 minutes after being drained

 

I noticed another thing during break-in.
The headers got really hot, and glowed red, but not on all cylinders. I should have moved the timing light over to the plug wire for cylinder #6 to verify it was getting spark, but I was stupid and didn't do that.
There was another cylinder on the drivers side that also didn't glow red.


They glowed red especially when I was setting the timing. With the heads being vortecs, I wanted about 30-32 degrees at 2800 rpm without vacuum advance, and targeted 44 degrees with vacuum advance. (Does this sound about right?)
Once I got it set and vacuum advance connected, they still glowed red quite a bit.

Before I did the break in procedure, I did go from a size 40 primary rod with 72 jet size, to a larger jet, at 76. I was hoping this would largely take care of any super lean conditions that could cause this.
Since the crappy headers from eBay were on the engine for break-in, I figured it would be best to allow for the full 20-25 minutes rather than stop.

I just ran straight water during break-in, and thought it would be good to do one last flush before adding coolant. I didn't see any overheating on the gauge, with the sender on the head. It probably got to about 190 degrees.

 

I really hope I didn't crack the head during break in, and thus why I'm seeing the cold cylinders and weird oil.
The "milky" oil I've seen online looks more goopy and white-ish grey compared to mine, but I don't know after such a short time running

Please let know what you think.

 

Did you use white lithium grease as an assembly lube?

Red pipes often means retarded ignition timing ...
... Are you using a damper with a scale of timing marks?....
... or a dial-back timing light?

 

Water in the oil. Not good.

Cold pipes could be cylinder not firing.

Not that I have much experience with them, but I believe poly locks work better with a locking technique It is not just tighten down the set screw. The lash is adjusted where it needs to be first and then the nut is backed off a partial turn then the set screw and nut are both tightened together at the same time back to the original set point. Probably a U-Tube video out there for it. If you just tighten the set screw by itself, it can back off.

Also - the tops of your rocker studs must be milled flat for use with poly locks.

 

I did use white lithium assembly lube. I've read a bit about some people noticing some weird things with the oil when white lithium assembly lube is used, but haven't seen any pictures from others. I've also never seen first hand the oil when water gets into it, but I hope the assembly lube is what I am seeing. I replaced the oil last night, so I'll probably fire it up again and see that "fixes" anything.

Red pipes...
I would have thought with about 30 degrees mechanical advance I wouldnt be having this problem.
I am using a damper with timing scale on it and a basic timing light, but I'll get the piston stop tool out again tonight and see if it is off.
The car still needs to go to the exhaust shop to make the exhaust system, so it is just running straight out the header to muffler. I tried to richen it up from 72 to 76 size jets, but could the red pipes be from a really lean condition?
Does anyone have any similar experience with re-jetting and how many sizes they had to go up?

 

Thanks for the tip on poly locks.
I'll fire it up tonight to see if those wires are getting spark by connecting the timing light to those wires.
Not sure why else these would not be firing.

 

Pull the plugs. You will likely see the issue.

 

#6 plug after 25 minute break-in.
Looks like a bit of oil is on the tip. I can't tell