I'd like to send a thanks out to everyone who helped me out along the way getting my 383 up and running. If it weren't for all of you, I don't think I would have ever tried to swap an engine, let alone sorting out the countless issues that came up along the way.

Last night I was finally able to fire up the 383 and break in the cam.The major issues I needed to overcome were:

1) As Travis pointed out to me, it takes a LONG time to prime the fuel system. The first day where I couldn't get it to start, the fuel system was still not primed. I probably ran down most of my battery and then my starter had the solenoid crap out...

2) Had wood in my float bowl from shipping. I don't think it was plugging anything, but I was paranoid about it and always thinking in the back of my head that it may be at fault, so I was hesitant... I kept thinking that the fuel system must have been primed as I could see fuel in my clear filter. It wasn't as I finally got fuel to the carb, just in time to decide to take the float bowl off and clean it out. Looked like my float level was fine as well, thanks for the pointers there!

3) Bad starters and improper starter wiring, both. I did wire them improperly, but they also didn't work properly and overheated way easily... I ended up getting a mini starter, but haven't stressed it as bad as the old ones, so who knows if it is better for sure...

4) Not having the throttle linkage connected up. As it turns out, both my dad and I had a hard time using the linkage by hand, especially with the occasional fireball... It just doesn't seem as natural to have one person start the car and another actuate the throttle.

5) As noted by the fireballs, the timing was too far retarted not too far advanced... Oops! No wonder I kept getting more and more fireballs :rolleyes:

Once solved, on day 3 (started Sunday, but skipped Tuesday), we fired her up on the *FIRST* try with less than 2 seconds of cranking! Sounded great, now I just need to find some header gaskets that will work for my Dynomax headers as they are winning the leaky-header battle I'm afraid... Oh yeah, gotta put brakes on the car as I currently have no calipers, but that shouldn't take *TOO* long I hope. I want to drive!!!

 

:party: :party: :party:

My advice on headers is that the bolts used are more important than the gaskets. When I installed my Hedman headers, they said to use the stock paper gaskets. Their procedure was to use stock gaskets, torque to 30 lbs, run the car 1/2 hour then let sit overnight. Next day re-torque the bolts to 30 lbs and then lock them in. That is where the Stage 8 locking bolts come in.

Common header problems occur because bolts back out, and then people torque them down again. Each time the gasket gets crushed more so you have to torque more to seal the header flange. After a while the header flange gets warped and the gasket is shot.

Get Stage 8 bolts and you will not have that problem.

Congrats on getting the motor to run - have fun with it.

 

Congrats :cheers:

 

I would agree with this procedure, but I like good gaskets too. I got Earl's from Summit. They're aluminum with replaceable inserts made of graphite. Like the Summit guy told me.... "If these don't seal it, it's time for new headers." They solved my header leak.

 

Got the Stage 8 bolts... Always blow out the paper gaskets on the passenger side... I think the header flange maybe is warped or not flat enough. I can feel and see a fairly significant bump in one place on the flange. I have copper gaskets now, but I couldn't find ones that are oval like the Dynomax headers flange. So I got round and they block a bit of the head ports and do not seem be be sealing all the way. Not sure what to do about the ports on the headers not being perfectly flat. These are coated headers and I got them a couple years ago from Jegs. I never noticed the roughness on install and really don't know if it's a big deal as that isn't where they seem to blow out with the paper gaskets which do seem to seal for a time.

Thanks!

 

:iagree: Those are very nice and stopped my leaks even with bent flanges.

 

Yeeehaaaaaaaa!!!

Brett :thumbs:

 

Earl's offers their gaskets with untrimmed graphite inserts so that you can cut them out to match your ports. Then you're not giving up any flow by having oval ports and a round gasket!!

 

Congrats on the engine.
Everyone has their preferences for gaskets, so I'll throw the ones we've always used and been happy with in the loop:
Percy's Aluminum, for both the head and the collector. http://www.percyshp.com/sealgas.html

 

:hurray: congrats :hurray: glad you can fire it up easily now....I can't wait to hear it!!!!

 

Man..... you're no fun! I wanted some fireball videos. :lol:

Congradulations! :party:

 

Barry: Fireball videos will be coming, not to worry :D

Nick: Like always, feel free to gimme a call and/or drop in.

Vettastic, Scooter, Fevre, & BSeery: Thanks for the gasket advice. I think I may give the Earl's a try since I should be able to cut them to fit my headers/ports better. Hopefully between that and the Stage 8 bolts I will fix up all the leaks. I may try the
Percy's for the collectors, but I do not think they'll work for my headers as the crazy Dynomax folks use such an odd shape...

stpman & Brett: Thanks!

 

:cool: Can't wait to hear how she runs after you get brakes, etc. I'd like to hear your impressions of the new engine once she's broke in. :hurray: :hurray: :hurray:

 

Sounds like its going to be a blast to drive, but a tip from a guy who's been there:

Comp cams with flat tappet lifters are very prone to failure by wearing down the cam lobes. It happened to me last year on 4 exhaust lobes and the engine lasted 9 thousand miles. It turns out that to get the cam broken in properly you cannot crank the engine over and over without it starting. Cranking like this goes through the engine prelube quickly and oil pressure isn't sufficient at these rpms. Look for little metal flakes in your oil early, or even pull your intake after 1500 miles and make sure your flat tappets are wearing properly on the cam. You may be just fine, but excessive cranking on a new engine frequently causes premature flat tappet cam/lifter failure with cams with aggressive ramp up rates. Once they start wearing poorly, its only a matter of time before they wear down the lobes/lifters completely and fill your oil with glitter.

Hate to **** on your parade, but I wish somebody had told me earlier.

 

Dude, I'd much rather you **** on my parade than have some mystery problem later. I thought the whole point of priming the oil system was to get the oil up top before any cranking to help out with early oiling? Cranking the engine should also push more oil up top once the system has been primed shouldn't it? Also, I have hydraulic lifters, is this a problem with hydraulic, or just the solid?

 

It happened to me with hydraulic lifters. I was told that you need high oil pressure basically from the beginning that the flat tappet is riding on the cam under full spring pressure. I think the high rpms they tell you to break the cam in also splash alot of oil around whereas cranking doesn't. Maybe somebody else will chime in here. My cam was a comp XE 274H, and after it happened I searched and found many many people with the same problems, mostly with comp XE series cams. I'll cross my fingers for you! :)