realcanuk

Worked out perfect using the comp measuring tool once I actually decided to trust what it was telling me. Once I did that she runs great and the valvetrain is quieter than it has ever been.

CI GS

I’m sure I have at least a couple of measuring pushrods in the toolbox in my race car trailer. I need to go and take a look. I just don’t know if they can adjust to the length I need (~7.4”) because I bought them to use on the big block in my boat and those pushrods are way longer.

rajahhindi

No drill holes or anything in my blower sent half way across the world.
Must be you look shady..

CI GS

Bah, try sending it the other way and see what happens!

CI GS

Look at what the nice UPS man brought me today!
An entire coilover suspension in a box, from the nice folks at Viking.
Got it through my fellow countryman Dion at Vapor Performance in Tampa. It was such a good deal that I don’t know if I’m allowed to say.

CI GS

I also finally ordered the replacement pedestal for my rockers, as well as some 7.375” long, 11/32 dia., .120” wall Manton pushrods. After dicking around trying to get hold of Comp, after finding out from an online query that they had the pedestal in stock, and after placing an order and then getting 4 extensions of possible delivery dates from Summit (the last of which was the 28 January), I cancelled their order and called Hinson. I spoke to Brian Hinson himself. What a pleasure it is to deal with a competent, straightforward, no BS vendor, who knows what customer service is all about. This is the second time I’ve ordered from them and I can tell you it won’t be the last.
So, the old Vette won’t be ready to run this weekend, but I’m hoping to have it back on the road very soon.

rajahhindi

HaHA

schpenxel

All them sketchy folks getting packages drilled

CI GS

Haha! I dunno, i never had that problem before, so it might’ve been the consignee that was the problem...

CI GS

Finally got a chance to drop the blower back on last night. Test fitted the camaro lid and it clears, but is a little too close to the cowl IMV, so I may take a couple of washers off the Hinson engine mounts to give myself a little more clearance. Thought of ordering the LPE 1/4” frame spacers that Jody mentioned, but can’t find anywhere with them in stock. If needs be, I’ll order them anyhow.
Was pleasantly surprised at how well the intake ports on the CNC heads lined up with the blower ports. You would swear they were port-matched (the pictures don’t really do justice).
The new rocker pedestal and the 11/32” dia. 7.375” Manton pushrods should (finally) arrive today. Hope to get it bottoned up over the weekend.

old motorhead

Attaboy Sammy!

So, since we can't guess the power increase from those bad a$$ed heads (BTW, you need to buy a dyno for occasions like this), maybe a guess the boost DECREASE would be in order right about now. My guess is that your boost will go down about 3/4 of a #. Power should go up, but we'll never know.....because ...

CI GS

Bah, who needs a dyno reading anyway!
Hopefully, in a couple of months, I’ll have a time slip to post up. Maybe, just maybe...
I’m just hoping that the boost will stabilize, even if it’s only around 11-12psi or so. I’m even tempted to throw some ARH 2” headers on it just for ***** and giggles. But I’ve pretty much blown out my budget already.
BTW: Tried to collect my parts from UPS this afternoon, but Customs wouldn’t release them because the invoice from Hinson included two freight charges, both of which indicated that they weren’t “final charges” which confused the dunce of a customs officer that I spoke to. So much for getting the valvetrain finished this weekend.
I guess customs officers are the same whether they’re here or in NC...

old motorhead

So, if the engine is eating more air, isn't it making more powaaaa? Can that be quantified?

And "BUDGET"....seriously?

CI GS

Well, I suppose I could compare the MAF reading to previous datalogs as an indicator.
Of course I have a budget. I’ve just never been able to stick by it. Cause they keep making upgraded parts for these cars...

CI GS

Made a bit of progress with the car last night. After toying with the idea of ordering a set of 2” ARH headers for the last few days, I decided to leave that for another time and bolted the Pfadts back on. That was the easy part...
Then I bolted the Camaro lid on. What an absolute PITA it was to get those two rear bolts tightened. It took me more than twice as long to get those bolts in and tightened as it did to do all the rest. After trying with every kind of wrench I could find, and after accomplishing nothing other than ripping a bit of skin off my forearms, I finally figured out a way to run a bunch of 3/8” and 1/4” extensions (about 2 1/2’ of them) with two universals (which I duct taped around to keep them from flopping around) and, with some able help from my brother, who fortuitously dropped by, I was able to insert the extensions and feed them up through from underneath the car next to the driver’s side header and guide them from up top unto the two rear bolts, and then my brother was able to tighten them from underneath. The location of the oil pressure sensor does NOT help, as it is right in the way of access to the driver’s side rear, inverted lid bolt.
BTW: In retrospect, I should’ve left the driver’s side header off the car, because that header can bolt right in without lifting the engine in the cradle. That would most likely have made it way easier.
But Magnuson really dropped the ball with these two rear bolts, since there’s absolutely no reason that the lid needs to extend under the cowl in the middle and they could’ve just notched the back of the lid like GM did with the LS9 blower, with enables the rear lid bolts to be screwed in from the top. The other problem is that they don’t machine sufficient space around the bolt holes for you to get a ratchet wrench on the two damn rear bolts, so that added to the frustration.
But, after a lot of cussing and ranting, we got the lid tightened down, using a circular, stepped tightening sequence (except for the two rear bolts, which were done last). I torqued all of the bolts I could access with a socket to the the Magnuson recommended 106 in. lbs. Of course, there’s no way to access the four rear bolts with a torque wrench.
Here’s the end result. It’s a tight fit, with only about 1/4” of space between the lid and the cowl (see pics below). I don’t think it will hit, especially with the stiffer Hinson mounts, but I will most likely order the LPE subframe spacer kit, just in case.
It looks even bigger in real life, trust me!

CI GS

After I was done with the blower install, I did a very rudimentary “pressure test” of the blower assembly, which proved to be interesting.
I blocked off all of the hose nipples, etc, which could leak air and connected a vacuum/pressure gauge to the Hobbs switch nipple and used my compressor to blow air into the blower, post rotors. The idea was to check to see that the intake gaskets were sealing, since I installed the blower by myself and had to slide it around a little bit to get it to line up. I just wanted to be sure that I hadn’t scored one of the o-rings or something. What I discovered surprised me.
It was immediately evident that there was massive air leakage from the blower assembly, into the engine itself, which I quickly figured out was coming from the rocker bolt holes! It seems that on the CNC heads, by opening up the intake ports, they must’ve cut into the rocker bolt holes. This I know happens a lot when heads are ported. I didn't really notice this when I inspected the heads, but I wasn’t really looking for it, either. What this tells me is that I will need to use some thread sealant on the rocker bolts, to prevent the possibility of air leaking around the bolts, although I can only imagine the amount of air that would bypass the bolts when they’re tightened would probably be negligible. But I will use sealant on them regardless, the last thing I want to think about is whether I’m getting “blow by” from my rings or from the blower itself pumping some extra air into the valve cover area.

realcanuk

Always put sealant. They will seep oil into the cylinder.

CI GS

Thanks Jody. I will. What do you use? I picked up a tube of Permatex Teflon thread sealant today. That’s what I intend to use.

realcanuk

That works fine.

schpenxel

Never forget the sealant. Or lube, depends on the situation I suppose