So I figured I would try a weekends mostly thread. It will update it as I go along with some thoughts and any direction changes that occur. Quick history, I got this car 6 years ago, October of 2015. It was a bone stock 327 L79. It had a 72 LT1 350 in it and I had to track down the original block and eventually rebuilt it to 430Hp solid roller then lost a roller which lunched the motor. Currently its sitting under the shelf waiting for a rebuild whil I play with big blocks. It has a 396 in it while I get a 69 427 block machined. Its getting a 4.290 bore and decking if needed, polishing the crank which is already .010/.020 but will be speced for oil clearance, new rods and new Icon -38 cc domed forged pistons. Im shopping for some Brodix race rite oval port 119cc heads to match the Oval port tripower intake I have. I have a set of holleys getting factory rebuilt and speced so I have a good base for any future tuning needs. It was running on a set of carbs last year but they were a hodge podge of parts and I want to start fresh. Hopefully they will be ready by the end of the month. The compression should be about 10.5 to 10.8:1 and with the CompCams solid flat tappet it should be right about 500hp/530ftlbs which is the goal. Too much more and it will start eating my drive train.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cca-11-106-3

My latest issue is parts availability for a spring build. The Brodix heads keep getting the delivery date moved back, not that I have the cash for them at the moment but buying them and getting them should coincide. These are what Im building around, but I may end up with AFRs which would bump up the compression unless I add more quench to bring it down. Im hoping I dont as that would have to be a big quench area. At that point I wouuld adjust to get 11:1 and use an octane booster
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/bro-2061000
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/afr-3610-1

For anyone not familiar with the car its this one





one of the reasons the 327 didnt last



the 396 block when it go t rebuilt last winter






THis is where we sat as of last fall. THere was a minor mishap while the driveway was being plowed last mointh with the plow truck bouncing off the wall due to brake failure which knocked a lot of things off the shelfs and off the nose of the car. A few dings and some scratching but no one was hurt so we are moving on form that unfortunate event. I got worse scrpas at a car show last year which actually did **** me off.




This is where we sit as of last night. THe seats are out, the carbs are at Holley and I have a small list opf things we need to do.

I removed the tin from below the antennae last year and added ground directly to the power antennae that was installed. Seems the tin is needed to reflect the radio waves back to the antennae to help with weak strations. HI go that info from one of the engineers at my job. Good to know.
SO Im going to cut and bend a new one.

The rebuild of the 5 speed netted a improper size drive gear so I cant get the speedo to work so I bought a GPS to mechanical drive adapter/ convertor from Jegs. THatt needs wiring and install

I broke 3 or 4 tach drive cables last year so we are converting to electronic and ditchhing the tach drive. I may just plug the MSD tach drive or buy a new on tacjh drive dizzy. I saw one used in NH so that may come my way.

obviously the carbs need to be reinstalled but that is going to wait until we have a definitive resolution on when the 427 is going to getr rebuilt and installed. Another temporary solution is getting a valve job on a set of cast iron heads for the 396 and employing that for the spring and then doing the swap once the 427 is build and broken in. That is a wait and see.

Im needing new rubber so I may go back to a set of 15 inch turbines to see what they look like. I have those and they need polish paint and clear coat. If I dont like them I will be getting a chrome set of 17 or 18 inch wheels eventually but I hate these polished aluminum ones, Just way to much work with brake dust and keeping them shiny







semi open combustion chamber at 110 cc. I have closed chambers in there now. The pistons in there are a very small dome so these should fit and keep the compression in the 10:1 area still

 

The wrap, the side pipes, the roll bar, the engines, this is one of my favorite cars on the forum. You simply can not post enough pictures. Do you have a theory on why one of the rollers let go?

 

Thanks but I Dont really know. Maybe just a bad bearing that seized a finally ripped it apart. It was a solid roller on a hydraulic cam.
The lifters are obviously THE most important part in that whole setup as that destroyed everything except the block, pistons and connecting rods. Everything else got eaten buy either the lifter or the contamination in the oil.

On my project the good news is i still had the tin plate in under antenna, bad news is my reception still sucked so im putting in a bigger piece and improving the grounds

 

Are you running Drag Radials front and rear? If so how does it take a turn?

 

It's a good thing I was prepared to be amazed

 

LOL.....no drag radials but the rears have lost their tread. They are 235/55/17 Firestone Indy Firewhawks. Great in the turns but no so much for hooking up at the drag races. They spin pretty easy when I get on it but they dont bark or howl which takes all the fun out of it. If I go to 15 inch tires it will be about a 26 inch diameter front and a 28 diameter rear. Thats a bit further down the road at this point. If those stay on th ecar a little longer I will have to rotate the front rubber to the rear rims and put new rubber on the front. The guys at Town Fair Tire in Nashua NH measured the run out and determined they are all a little out and put the worst rim in the passenger rear and worked forward towards the drivers front. I cant feel anything so it worked

 

Roger is pretty demented, but he, alone, showed up for the Plastic Pig's 50th birthday party icecream cruise, so I cut him lots of slack.

 

Speaking of which , the covid dementia is over, we need to plan a good ride for ice cream this summer!!! Im going to save up now for a couple of tanks of gas for this summer or get a personal loan

 

OMG, ain't it the truth! I'm lucky all my other obsessions are gas free (bicycle, sailing, canoeing)

 

That is a bummer. I avoided the roller route on my 300 HP (I hope) build just because I wasn't comfortable with doing it right. I got a lot of grief from my buddies who would do nothing but rollers. If you had to do it again would you go flat tappet?

 

The 396 and this 427 are flat tappet. If the flat tappets quality goes down hill or the high ZDDP go away I guess I will have too. ITs just so expensive for really good rollers. The upside is if the dont explode they are reusable.

So yesterday I cut the tin for the antenna reflector, then I got the seats out, the steering wheel out, and the passenger dash pad. Today I got the center gauges out and started to get that rats nest sorted out. When I was swapping the EFI in then out again I had to remove some of the old wiring and just never "purtied it up". IT starting to look a lot more presentable.



the tin I had for the antenna



after copying the tin over to card board, test fitting, trimming to fit and using as much of the tin as possible



punching the hole for the antenna


added the silicone to keep it from rattling, square tab is to attach the ground, still wasnt dry, when it does I will add some rust prevention and install

 

after getting the passenger pad off and seeing that rats nest

cleaning it up, more to do after work this week. Getting better slowly

 

Looks like its coming along nicely!

Will you be at the season opener at the Deerfield fairgrounds? I saw your car their last year. Very cool!

 

THanks! i dont know about Deerfield ..Im not sure I want to support NH Musclecars any more. Seems theres a lot of cash going through that organization and the presenter keeps growing his stable. I will probably go to the show at the NE dragway since he isnt the one in charge of that. He used to charge $25 a head to be judged plus tgeh fee to race. THis years thats changed so thats the only one Im really interested in. Too bad really

 

Rescue, looking forward to seeing the car while out in my ‘69 L71. Curious, who does your machine work?

 

Im having Golens in Hudson NH do it. Hes confident it will clean up at ,010. He said the last guy did a horrible job ans it looked egg shaped. Im hoping to have the block and rotating assembly back in April. Then i can start the build

 

That sucks. I'm not a part of their group, but it seems to have grown awfully big. It's the only show I attend that they run.

I was checking out the machine shop you use. Looks like they build some sweet stuff. I've been looking for a shop to build a 455 I have laying around. I'll look into them!

 

You might also check with Aubrey Schwartz in Marlborough. Very low key. 508.481.5071

 

Winter upgrades looking good Scott! The cleanup work is good too! Waiting for the next video ride with the 427!

 

weekend update
saturday morning. So I took apart one of the remaining solid roller lifters and they use a tiny retiner ring to hold the axle in . The wheel uses needle bearings. My theory is the retainer failed an dthe pin walked out releasing the bearings to get chewed up as well as the lifter itself disintegrating. Just a bad design. THey were mad to be rebuilt and that is the flaw. THey should be a press fir and use bushings.


this is one of the survivingg roller lifters with the retainer removed and i knocked the pin out a bit, that is one of the needle bearings I found in the pan


the lifter disassembled


Back to the car, so after work each night I tried to get a few minutes in cleaning up my wiring under the dash this week. not any pics of that yet. I will grab some when I got out there this morning. But I did get the center carb inthe mail and took it apart for inspection and gasket up grades......



my new baby...pristine shape and beautiful



the gaskets put up an incredible fight, they would have never leaked but then I wouldnt be able to get to the jets or the power valve



THis gasket was a long fight. I have the non stick blue ones to replace these so I can tune the carb


the fuel holes are tiny but there is 4. Different design then the new stuff


never saw a gasket in here before

I wanted to replace the accelerator pump as well to be sure its alcohol proof. I have some newer pumps but I may just put in my 50 cc pump from my frankencarb to improve the squirt to eliminate any bog with my driving habits. Its too bad they didnt include pumps on the outer carbs


THe old school check valve




Just one of the end carbs disassembled to check them out. I wont change anything in these just yet. I believe the cork will be fine with ethanol and there isnt much more to these carbs.


If I do end up being lean at WOT I have the AED plates tp replace these that utilize jets






I will finish cleaning my intake and mock these up to oogle them. I just love staring at these when they are set up. My weekend goal is to get the wiring cleaned up, I need to make a bigger plate to hold the electronics or make a second one for the GPS and pull th etach and put in the electronic conversion....updates to follow