I finally got my heads back from being ported last Friday. The shortblock has been together for a couple of months waiting. I spent Saturday degreeing in cam and checking everything like P/V clearance (new cam, milling etc), piston to head clearance, rocker arm geometry etc. Got everything together late Saturday night.
Spent Sunday finishing up porting the new intake to match heads. I had it mainly done already,but had to wait on heads to finish it. That took most of Sunday!

Finally got it all installed on test stand (pretty crude, but it works!) and fired it up about 10:30 PM last night. I bet the neighbors loved me! I did have the full undercar exhaust system attached to the headers though. Looked kind of funny stretching out of the garage door!

Anyway, I only ran it about 10 minutes or so considering the time, but it did sound healthy! It acts like it will idle pretty decent, but I may have to do a little accelerator pump work. I think the new cavernous intake is going to need a little more pump shot.

I'll run it again this evening and make sure I don't have any leaks etc and run the valves.

My only problem is that my machine shop has their dyno tied up literally for the next two weeks. I won't be able to get on and make any pulls there. But they have called another shop for me and I'm going to try to get it to them if I can.


Here's the new combo:


540 "

Merlin II block
4.500 x 4.250
Eagle Crank
SCAT 6.385 rods
JE/SRP pistons
11.0 compression (*)
Brodix 2xtra heads. Seriously ported (*)
2.300/1.88 valves
K-motion springs (*)
Titanium retainers (*)
Engle Custom solid roller (*)
273/278@.050 .731/.731 on 110 LSA
Edelbrock Super Victor Intake-ported (*)
Holley 1050 Dominator

(*) Denotes new stuff

So far this winter has seen the car get:

The Dana 60 IRS setup w/ 3.5" halfshafts and 1480 u-joints
Custom rear strut rods
Frame reinforcing/welding fully
New fuel system. Aeromotive A1000 pump with 2 x -10 lines feeding from fuel tank sump to pump, and -10 to regulator with -8 return line to tank.
Battery moved behind passenger in storage compartment
Line lock
New carpet
Restored console etc ( I swear this stuff takes longer than anything)
New polished TTII's 15x8 and 15x7's 215/6R15's and 275/60R15's
New mufflers to come.


I'm ready to drive...this is going to be fun!!


JIM

 

Man that thing sounds cool! :cool:

 

Roller cams are sweet, no break in time so you can fire it up for a few minutes and shut er down. If that combo is too hot let me know, I'll take it off your hands for a small fee. :lol:

Have fun! :cheers:

 

Raising the bar again, eh Jim? Can't wait to hear how it run for you, that's a serious cam! You're car must be unbelievable, hope I get to see it in person some day.

I remember last time when you said that if it didn't make 700 hp you'd take it back apart until it did. What's the goal this time, 800+? Is your wife still driving it... :lol:

 

Yeah...looking for 800 this time around. That shouldn't be too hard right?

Just gotta find a dyno I can get on this week. I'm ready to go riding. If not, I guess I can do the chassis dyno thing. I guess 690-700 RWHP will get me over 800.

The wife says it always has to be driveable for her, so I have to work really hard on the tune! So far it acts like it will idle pretty decent.


JIM

 

Wow! That is gonna be an awesome ride. My wife doesn't drive mine with what little HP I got. I am sure she would be really blown away with something like you have built. I like it. Very Cool. :cool:

 

Jim - That's a pretty wild ride you've got there. What part of Houston are you in? Do you ever get together with any other vette or muscle car groups? I'd like to meet up with you sometime and see your vette.

 

I been on hiatus for the last year. I haven't attended any shows or cruise-ins to speak of since the car's been apart. I figured I needed to spend Saturday nights at home working on it rather than getting depressed looking at everyone elses!

I live up around Tomball/Magnolia. I used to hit the ones in the Woodlands area and also I go down by NASA on 518 on the Friday night cruise they have down there. When it's running I'm out every weekend somewhere in town. Looking forward to driving it again!


Look forward to meeting you soon!


JIM

 

Man that is one SWEEEEET setup :yesnod: . I can't imagine driving something with that much power :crazy: . :cheers:

 

Holy crap-ola Jim. 0.73 lift!! :eek: You better get eye ball retainers when you drop the hammer on that one. :lol:

I feel so inadequate now, my poor little 454 sitting in the garage. :cry


[Modified by 1970 Stingray, 9:26 PM 6/23/2003]

 

Jim:
Excellent! That's a serious motor. I can't wait to hear the new best 1/4 mile times with this motor. So when are you going to start side-stepping the clutch? :)

 

Awesome setup Jim, looking forward to seeing numbers and times. :thumbs:

 

Jim, Your going to have to change your name:)

I know that you got to take a ride in ML67's 540 ci. Is your buildup simular? I feel sorry for your rear tires! :sad:

 

Nice camshaft there Jim,I like a guy thats not afraid to cam a motor up ;)

Curious as to what the new muffler choice will be ? Are you still deciding or do you have a couple picked out ?

 

Jim

Sounds good.

:cool:

 

Jim, sounds great. Can't wait to hear about it in the car. Now I see why you called my cam a weenie cam. :lol:

 

Thanks guys!

What is it they say? No such thing as too much cam...just not enough motor?

I went fairly conservative on the first version of this motor to test the waters. It was really awful mild even with the 262/273@.050 .675/.678 on 112 LSA cam.

I ran it on stand some more last night and tuned carb a little. After changing PV once and setting throttle plates / idle screws it really started to come around as far as throttle response etc. I'm sure there will be more after I get it on the road, but it's in the ballpark now. It really acts like it is going to idle down pretty well.

I'm still working on gettin it on a dyno this week. Should know for sure today.


Let's see....sidestep about 4500 rpm and pull gears at 6800-7000 or so.....that ought to be just about right huh??? :eek:


JIM

 

Mountainmotor....

I haven't firmly decided on mufflers yet. I just know that I gotta get something better than the Flowmasters I have on there now. I think I reached the limit of those particular ones. They were losing 50 RWHP last time I had it on the chassis dyno. Now that's with 3" pipes, so that may be some off the issue too. I think 3.5's would be better.

I like Borla's, but I hate to spend that much on a muffler! Also looking at the Dynomax bullets, the Magnaflows and several others.

Any recommendations? I gotta keep it sorta reasonable on noise...afterall, it is a convertible to cruise around in!


JIM

 

:cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool:

 

:thumbs: :cheers: