When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Depends on how fast you want to go and how reliable you want to make it. For me, it started with a wiped cam and now I'm approaching $5000. I think I have all the parts purchased and machining done. Only have to assemble in the next few months. I am doing the assembling so no cost there. Mine is base rebuild. I reused the block, crank and heads. All those were reconditioned. All other internal parts are new. The machinist custom fit everything so tolerances are much tighter than GM specs. I only raised the compression to 9.5.
You really have to do as many have suggested. See what you need and decide how reliable you want to make it. You are going to be running into a lot of tough decisions. The first is put a cam in it and run it or rebuild it. The ones I wasn't expecting is recondition or replace. An example. is the connecting rods. It was going to cost as much to recondition as it was to replace with H beams. I had one with an oversized wrist pin that was copper coated from the factory. I chose the H beams. Heads are going to be the same Al or recondition.
Good luck I'll leave you know what I did, why I did it and what I would do differently if you are interested.
What started off and still is what should be about 25-30 posts to a low buck fix ... now at 10 times that many posts... still don't know what OP's budget for this cluster is.
Is this a fix it right but only that ?? ... or all the bells & whistles ??? Budget? hard number?
Today I got the radiator support out, alternator, Power steering out of the way and removed water pump.
I'll be pulling the harmonic balancer off tomorrow
I found pulling the whole support along with the radiator is very easy
In the good old days You needed to talk to somebody who really knew Cams to get a good suggestion on what to use. And every Cam Grinder kept there timing a secret. This was the era of the 1/4 Race Cam 1/2 Race Cam etc. In todays computer world there are no secrets. Most every Cam Grinder is going to have a Cam Calculator along with people who don't grind them. I would punch the numbers into a couple of calculators and get an idea of what You want, and then probably talk to there sales team to see if a human agrees with the computer.
This kit looks interesting, like the fact components are all included, but I don't know if I should purchase it when I don't know what the compression ratio is.
Can I still use this?, I am thinking changing the heads back to the original head 3931063 if the current heads are going to be reworked anyway.
Any thought on this. I know the compression would go up to 10 to 1
The one thing with those 2 kits is they are double springs. The inner spring ID is smaller than the OD of the umbrella seals. So unless reworking the guides for seals that press on the guides, a single spring will be needed. Here is a bit more conservative cam. https://www.ebay.com/itm/HOWARDS-BBC...YAAOSw1S9Wc3Xs
Last edited by derekderek; Mar 24, 2019 at 01:03 AM.
Or you could cheat the "system" and call one of the guys that make good horsepower with a BBC. Chris Straub or Mike Jones. Get their recommendations. Tell them what you have for heads and compression for starters and they can tell you their opinion on the best cam for what you want to do with the car.
Vortecpro and jebby would be others to consult. BUT everything is SWAG without knowing the pistons and how far in the hole they are. Your engine code and vin are still in front of right head? We need that code. But it implies engine was not decked so pistons are probably .020 down in stock config. For all we know, there are 40cc domes on the pistons and the current chambers are too small. Or it could be dished piston 78 454 and 100cc chambers not small enough. Do the date codes on the 063 heads work with engine build date, and is it numbers-matching orig block? And what is the engine code? Could also be rectangle port engine originally and you really want rectangle heads.
ALL the part selections are dependent on the compression ratio and application. Once the heads are off and the OP is satisfied with the bottom end, the measurements need to be taken. Then it is time to play with options and budgets.
Since the car is so original looking my 2 cents would be to stay pretty close to the original application. Not my car so I cant choose how to build it.
Pull all the lifters out then thread a bolt into the cam pull it (the cam) and gently work it out trying not to get the cam lobes hung up on the bearings
The cam is trashed.
I have everything torn down except the heads,
I have exhaust manifolds off, drained oil.
Really there's not much more to do to pull the engine.
It's ridiculous to me to go this far and not pull the engine and rebuild it at this point
I would hate to put in a new cam, lifters, push rods, springs, have the heads reworked and to find out the bottom end needs work. The metal the cam and lifters must had to be pumped through the engine.
I'm pulling the friggin engine.
By the way, I had to remove the fuel pump to get the cam out.?
