Finally got the radiator back. if FITS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got it installed tonight and got everything back together (no small feat). I got the motor to run and idle down and did not see any leaks whatsoever (besides a small valve cover leak which I will easily fix tomorrow). Anyway, this is the first time I actually had the blower ducts hooked up with the motor running. It sounds mean as heck, I don't remember the blower whining so much.... TJ was right.. there will most likely not be any sneaking up on anyone in a stealthy manner unless they are asleep at the switch.. I am hesitant to say this... but if the planets line up just right I may have this thing on the road shortly.. I have to get license plates for it and have the entire suspension aligned. Wish me luck!!!!

 

Oh man I want to know which gear is it going to take till the tires stop spinning. Good luck

 

7

 

Not a problem for me and my cat-like reflexes... Mental note to self.. "learn to pedal..." You guys must have taken your silly pills today...

 

Sounds Great Tony!!

If you ever hit any local shows or IRP, let me know....I would love to check out your ride! It will give something to dream about

 

If you had my car you wouldn't be having dreams... you'd be having nightmares. Unless of course you love working on cars more than driving them (it gets real old after a couple of years)...

 

I hear ya!! Sometimes I wish I had just left it alone. But someday I will be glad I didn't.

It's good to hear that some of these projects are actually making headway. Congrats on getting it to run. That has to be some great incentive. If your blower whine is anything like TJ's, you won't be able to sneak up on anything. I think I may have heard you start it the other night!

 

Tonight for the first time I let it just sit in the garage and idle.... After 10 or 15 minutes it heated up to about 195 degrees with my fans kicking on at 170 degrees which did not bring the temp down. The other problem I am having at the moment is my FAST ECU is not making any wideband O2 adjustments in closed loop. I've been in contact with FAST and others trying to solve this problem.... One thing that may be contributing to my heating problem is that I am not running a thermostat... but I thought that always made the engine run real cool. Also, my A/F ratio is around 14.1 at idle.. so perhaps that a bit lean which could also cause some heat... Who knows, I'll probably have to put on a larger electric water pump....I didn't know Meziere made a 55gpm pump when I bought mine... See. nightmares... Speaking of hearing me start it, one my neighbors came over and said he could hear my car inside his house across the street a couple of houses down. Whoops...

On the plus side I goosed the motor pretty good today in the garage and I'm telling you... you can actually "feel" the power of that motor... Honest to god I am scared of it already. This thing will absolutely be a death trap. I'm not so sure I'm in a hurry to get it on the road...


[Modified by TONYDEE64, 3:54 PM 7/1/2004]

 

OH man, I can't wait to see some videos of the ride! I am scared just reading your post!

I am glad things are moving along.

 

I was thinking, do you still have the water circulation to the Heater? Maybe that should be enough to give just enough extra volume to help it cool down? Just a thought.

Other then that, does your car shake side to side when you press the throttle in park? I did that when my timming was off I think after I swapped in ported Sportsman 2 heads and it shakes the car really good side to side even though it has the stiff suspension. And Im not making even half the power you are with that insane Big block + Supercharger, I couldnt imagine how it would be in a loose suspension car going WOT from idle. Good thing its in a Corvette.


[Modified by Light84vette, 12:43 AM 7/1/2004]

 

Yep, my heater is still hooked up....

My car really doesn't shake side to side...but when I blipped the throtle the engine torqued over maybe a .25-.5" (I need to strap it down) and it sounded absolutely as serious as a heart attack (without boost). I can't even imagine this thing with boost. When I was younger I had a 1971 Cuda with a high compression solid roller 440 which ran pretty good... I don't remember it scaring me like this.. Of course I was young and fearless then.

 

I will absolutely do that. A buddy and I were thinking about going to IRP in a week or two... but I doubt I'll have my car sorted out by then...we'll see...


[Modified by TONYDEE64, 9:08 AM 7/1/2004]

 

Tonight I was tuning my car via laptop in hopes of getting it on the road tomorrow... when all of a sudden it stopped dead.....After much troubleshooting I found out that I obviously have a problem with my gear drive on the cam...I knew I have should have used a regular old double roller timing chain. The cam is not moving when I bump the motor so I figure it just let go... I am running a solid roller so who knows I probably have a few bent valves (it happened at idle).... Oh well.... I may use this opportunity to put a larger electric water pump. If I have some bent valves I guess the motor will come back out... This would also be a good time to send the rear and trans to Jeb for Cryo treatment. I'll take a compression check tomorrow to see what kind of damage was done.....I should probably just pull the motor and get it over with....Oh well, that's life....no biggeee....


[Modified by TONYDEE64, 12:27 AM 7/4/2004]

 

Tony
sorry to hear that. You are so close to have your ride on the street. I hope nothing really major.


Bruce

 

Bummer! But the good thing is that it happened while the engine was idling and not when you were winging it to 5k or there abouts. I would think that there isn't any damage or if it is it will be minimal. Fix the timing mechanism and take a compression check. That will be the tell tale that will let you know if anything else is hurt. I would also take the valve covers off and roll the motor over to see if any of the push rods were bent.

Good luck!

 

Thanks TJ, I'll find out more tomorrow when I tear into it.. BTW, I just happened to notice that the botom o-ring on my distributor keeps tearing... could this happen from cam walk? My guess is I only have a few slightly bent valves and pushrods.. Life could be a whole lot worse.. gotta keep it all in perspective.. I did hear a slight "ting" when the motor quit.. If I had to guess it was #3 piston hitting one of the valves. I don't know if you remember, but when I first started the engine the oil pump shaft was not engaging. This was due to using the computer HEI dist. with a raised deck block. Everyone at MSD and Holley said it would work... they were wrong and I had to modify the dist. by machining it down and making a slip collar. The motor probably only ran for 5 or 6 times for 20 seconds or so each time... and I did pull the pan off and there were no shaving at the bottom of the oil pan or in the oil filter (I ALWAYS use Mobil 1).. but I'm thinking this may be good time to go back through the motor just to make sure everything is in perfect condition (knowing how hard I'm going to beat on it!!). This is by no means a critical blow to me, and only strengthens my resolve!!!!

"I'll be back!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

Tony I doubt that the O Ring is tearing because of cam walk. My guess is that its tearing when the distributor is inserted into the block. I have had the same problem with MSD Billet distributors in the past with the O Rings tearing or becoming missing all together when I take the distributor out. I usually remove the O rings and insert the distributor without them. I know that MSD says that it provides a better seal but GM has never used them and there has never been any problems with them. I would tend to worry more about what happens to the peices of the O Rings when they get into the pan or a complete O ring getting chewed up inthe distributor gear.

When I did that 572 engine, GM had a special built intake made for that tall deck block that accepted a standard MSD billet HEI distributor. The owner got the wise idea to use a dual plane manifold because he read an article in HOT ROD magazine where they did a test on the 572 by installing a 502 440Hp cam into the engine and it made some crazy torque numbers with that cam and dual plane. Well I tried to do it for him, and while he didn't want to pay for a fancy slip fit distributor hold down ring, the only other alternative was to weld up the manifold and machine it to fit which was another can of worms. I ended up using the 572 intake and it runs like a champ So sometimes its not what they say things are or can be

 

Good luck buddy - I hope she isn't crippled too badly - I'm living vicariously through you - I can just feel the ground shaking from your posts!!!

 

Round 1......

I spent most of today doing the BIG DISCONNECT. Can you say hot and humid?

I did a leak down test on the motor and cylinders 1, 2, and 7 are slightly hurt. I did not find any bent pushrods. I will get the motor out this week and hopefully to the machine shop by Friday. I did not get the timing chain cover off yet but I was able to reach through the front of the block and the top sprocket is REAL loose. So, this means I either forgot to put lock-tite on it (I had it on and off a millions times while degreeing the cam with the gear drive). Or, the cam bolt has sheared off. Anyway, I'm going back to a regular double roller and this time you can bet your last $ that I will put a locking mechanism on it if there is not one on it already (I thought I put one on it!!!!!). I had to pry one set of roller lifters from the block....hmmm... maybe the cam lobe got stuck on the roller and sheared the cam bolts. Has anyone ever heard of this?

The hardest part is just getting started... This time I will install my missing head bolts (from the lifter valley), have oil pressure from the very beginning as I got bad advice from both MSD and Holley on my distributor before, and it didn't reach the oil pump, re-polish everything, install my bellhouse blanket, install a larger electric water pump, and do some general detail work in the engine compartment.







[Modified by TONYDEE64, 8:33 PM 7/5/2004]

 

What do you mean by slightly hurt? There should be only about a 10-20% differentiation in cylinder and compressor pressure.

Personally, I would not put too much weight in a leak down test just yet. You need to get a couple thousand miles on the motor first. You're going to see some blow by until then, especially on an F/I motor with a radical cam.


That's my $.02