Fubar,

Your headers are on the way!!!!!! Mailed them today...

Tony

 

awesome deal. thanks man!

 

Great thread! I just decided to do this same thing with a 454 in my 87. This is gonna be fun!

 

fun?

nah, this isn't fun, it's really a PITA, but a relatively small one if proper precautions are taken.

i took the liberty of making a 2 day weekend a 4 day weekend this week, so i'm off till friday...guess what daves gonna be doing? that's right...first test fit is this week

 

also...quick question...i'm assuming the motor plates should be used in sets correct? if so, the rear plate is gonna need some heavy modification to fit. i might just use stock mounts for now to get the project a head start. i can always pull it back apart later. getting it in the first time is the hardest...after that it'll be cake

 

Guess what have did today...test fit number one! that's right...she fits with room to spare. 2 mods needed. first, HVAC will need to be swapped to ZR1 cover or modified to clear. 2nd involves notching the crosmember for OIL PAN clearence. since i have an internally balanced BBC with a 6.75" balancer, it fits real slick up front. if i use a single groove crank pulley i actually do not even need to move the steering rack forward at all. motor drops right in with heads & covers attached slick as the SBC came out. no firewall mods or other frame clearancing needed. it's really a straight-forward swap if you go carb.



and this is the room you have down the top of motor at firewall (minus wiper motor)

 

takin this back up...hoping ski sees it...i have a few questions for him just incase i don't remember to fire off a PM...they mostly concern the shifter & the cage...

Also, is there a gasket or just RTV between the tailshaft housing and the transmission? i gotta remove the stock housing, transfer it to my new 700R4 and install a new seal and get it ready to go

i know i had a copy of that vette magazine article but if anyone has that can they hook me back up with it? thanks!

 

Wow Fubar!
That is freakin' great news!!!!!!!
I have been following your installation thread here since the start.
That test fit was a huge step forward. Awesome!
I'm looking forward to the day you post and tell us it's running and on the road.

Looks like the ditributor will be a tight fit. ???
Notching the crossmember.....can ya notch the oilpan instead?
HVAC box mod........small price to pay for a BBC.
Are you going to use solid motor mounts or a torque strap?

 

the distributor should clear with no issues, if not, it's not anything a small cap dissy can't fix real fast...especially since i'll be outfitting the car with all MSD anyways.

notching the crossmember is the preferred way. this way you do not have to raise the mounts or go through other methods to obtain clearance. and i'd rather not notch my 120 dollar chrome racing pan...lol...besides, all it's gonna take is a wheel and a welder and a couple hours of time to make it look "almost" factory.

i bought the motor plates from earlier in the thread and have them here but in a totally stock chassis C4 the front plates would fall right in the middle of the crosmember where the A-Arms mount up front, and the rear plate is a minimum 6-9" too short on each side...nto to mention the firewall would need to be modified for it to clear the driver's side. for this install i've decided to fore-go the use of the motor plates. current plans are to either find a solid motor mount that will fit a C4 corvette or simply get a poly insert for the stock mount. i've seen them available. if none of these options work, i'll use stock...

plans are to have the motor strapped in for the first time by end of week. intake will be on and i'll start the routing of wires & such and get it all tacked up and out of the way. i'd likely remove the motor to double check everything...do final mods & minor re-assembly of some components, then drop it into it's final home and start to button it up!

all in all it's going really well...and is easy compared to most swaps so far!

 

slight update. crossmemberis notched, doing test fit # 2 and will have pics later

 

alright...time for a major pictorial update! - i clearanced the crossmember today and went for test fit # 2 and fully sank the motor into the mounts for the first time. the block still had the mechanical clutch knuckle on it from the chevelle so that was removed due to interference. my 6.5 quart pan which is over 8" deep fits with no issues now whatsoever. a single groove crank pulley will keep me from moving the rack, but after 5 dollars worth of castrol super clean and a hose, i can see the welds for the rack mounts. not hard to move at all. on with the black mountain precision cog drive!

crossmember notch



crossmember to pan & balancer clearence



the day she was born apparently



The motor itself on the stand...car in the background

 

AWESOME!

Will you be reinforcing the cross-member with some kind of plate welded on or something?

Are the heads aluminum?

Not sure who makes it, but I have seen a harmonic damper with the belt groove actually made into it itself.....no need for another pulley.
(in case ya ever need a last resort)

Good job man! Woo Hoo!

 

the heads are heavily ported GM rectangle ports with 2.19/1.88 valves.

i am going to take the piece i cut out of the crossmember, modify it, and re-weld it back into the crossmember and button up the loose ends.

the thing is this motor has a history of throwing belts at high RPM's. i'm not convinced a V-groove would hold it all together. serpentine would be a step up but is top dollar. the cog drive kit from black mountain precision is just under 300 bucks for all 3 pulleys an the cog belt. all are billet aluminum also and polished so they look trick. they also have alternator & PS brackets for short water pump configuration. they will definitely be getting my business.

and thanks...it wasn't really a hard day, just long because my compressor can't keep up with my cutting...tomorrow i fully anticipate removal of the steering rack and the mounts to be off as well...god i'm lovin this 4 day weekend thing...

time for chinese food and a beer...who's in?

 

fubar, keep the pics coming,
i'm goin slower than you ...found a set of gm c.i. exh manifolds (casting numbers are hard to read but if anybody cares) that will fit, just finished cutting distrib 1'' lower so no crossmember chop...now the belt scene...

i've seen a harmonic balancer with grooves cut on it for serpent belt--cant see that it will line up with water pump, worried that rim might ''slip'' under load...not thrilled about driving everything with one v-belt, maybe a h.d. belt like my riding lawnmower would handle it...maybe a chain drive like a sock ford (stop laughing i'm serious)

wish they'd left just a bit more room

 

look up sanderson block huggers. they will clear. tony hooked me up with his...or i'm gonna trythe hedmans because they have 2 1/8th primaries into a 3" collector block hugger style.

there is plenty of room to work with...
moving the rack isn't a bad nor tough job if you can or have access to a friend with a welder. even a small mig will do the trick. my rack is coming off and going forward tomorrow. that cog drive is my weapon of choice...no slips and plenty strong.

you cut the distributor to be 1" lower? details please! lol...

 

FUBAR,

Here is a picture of my '86 with a 502. You are coming right along on yours. A big block fits like it was meant to be there. lots of room as well. I had no problems with a small cap distributor, since it is in the same location as a small block side to side and fore/aft just a little higher. I used Hedman headers from an earlier model Vette, but I can't remember what year, if I dug around a little I could probably find a receipt (this project was completed back in 1995).



Keep up the good work!

 

fubar:
i thought i read that tony had to hammer on the blockhuggers to get the right side on--or am i dui (again)...i've got a new set of c3 headers from long ago, i think they're headman--right side fits perfect, left side fouls the steering column/brake plumbing--a week of cutting/welding might make it fit.
i've got a miller cricket mig, but the steel that the crossmember is made from is apparently not common low carbon like most other frames...i'm leery of welding on it..i hate it when the front suspension self-destructs while i'm driving.
i've put timing belt acces drives on a couple of circle trackers, belts keep breaking, maybe running on dirt is the prob.
lowered distrib started with an 84? caddy unit cause it was layin there and has same cap attach screws as vette, should be same as vette top end tho...hacksawed caddy off about 1'' above clamping collar...took an old chevy hei housing and hacked it off just above clamping collar...squared both chunks off in lathe and bored chevy lower with 41/64'' drill x 1.25''deep--caddy upper also gets square end as cast turned to round for hold down clamp clearance (don't take too much off or its scrap--look before you turn it down) ...old chevy upper shaft bushing is all bronze, it becomes new upper bushing--old caddy upper bushing is steel/ bronze lined, press it into newly machined upper end of chevy piece with 1/4'' protruding--this goes into caddy upper for alignment...tig weld joint and clean up weld as reqd... install upper bushing (check extended bushing length) and slide distrib shaft thru, use drive gear to locate roll pin hole and drill a.r., measure shaft length reqd below pin hole, cut shaft and grind flats for oil pump drive.
ok. i lied, it only about 7/8'' shorter than stock, but i figured i only need about 1/2'' so i took what i could get.

fatvette: where did reverse rotation water pump come from ?

 

It is a Edelbrock short style, reverse rotation, p.n. 8854 (I think?)

 

and all that just for the distributor to clear? ouch...lol...i guess i'll findout more when i go to drop mine back in...

i'm kinda waiting for a reply from black mountain precision about the size of thier crank pulley. i'd rather not move the rack too far if i don't have to...but i think i can get away with a double groove crank pulley. we'll have to see. i'd need someone to take a measurement of one of those for me.

 

FUBAR,

The very first BB C4 I built used a single V groove crank, the other accessories ran off of the water pump which had three groves. It worked pretty well. A double V groove crank would not fit. The third time I built one I moved the steering rack and put in a March serpintine crank pulley and modified the small block accessory brackets and attached them, it worked very nicely.