My Chevelle build and spot to Rant

87vette81big said:
I have young kids too John.
So I have to save up for what I want.
Grumpy has Preached keep it practicle.
My Favorite Highschool Teacher Said Daily....
KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID !
A True Race Car is hard to Enjoy.
In the past lesser guys would Travel as a Group cruising.
A Diversion for the Real Race Cars to come out & play.
They had no headlights or taillights or wundshield wipers.
Have multiple driving infractions taking place over 20 square miles.
Harley Guys woyld help too.
Real race action took place after 2Am.

Hockiss Suspensions parts.
Stilleto Rack & Pinion Steering. Worthy of NASCAR.
DO IT.
DRIVE & ENJOY.
I enjoy the designing and building the car more than driving it to be honest with you and when it's done and everyone is pretty impressed you grab some seat time in it, grab some performance numbers. Either sell it or start a new build. Would like to keep it only because it has history with me and my dad and hopefully a future between me and my son. After running bikes cars don't seem fast any more. It's allot cheaper to do a quick quarter mile on 2 wheels not talking extreme quick times talking 10 sec and above. Been 200mph on the freeway(good friend had ZX1400) took turns with my knee dragging came over hills so fast the front tire floats up. Not a safe practice is why I don't own one any more and even when I did I realized the track is the place for that. No interest in building a miata spec car or a track only machine I know I can not have my cake and eat it to so the track side will suffer and so won't the street side.
 
Ok it's been a little time now since I have had time to drop in well been here there and here but work is crazy I work for DOT and spring is upon us. I am finishing up a custom paint job on my fathers Harley and will be sharing some pics soon with you it is a patriotic theme. Well I need to order some parts this week to get the transmission bolted in and the chevelle driving down the road. I am thinking about a derale transmission pan it already has the spot for the temp sensor and some extra cooling http://derale.com/products/transmission ... ing-detail . I did not notice any signs of needing a different filter on there site or any where else on the web. I also will need fluid which I am interested in your opinions on which fluid to run. I will be ordering new lines as I cut one when I removed the trans and there is hose on the other line so I will have new hard lines. Any ideas on a good way to flush the transcooler in the radiator? When I burnt the ban up the fluid was black so I'm sure it's pretty scuzzy in there.
 
The best way to clean the radiator trans cooler is to Hot Solvent backflush clean it.
A radiator shop can do it for you.

As far as Transmission oils go all have thier own opinions what's best.
I use Royal Purple Max ATF.
Or Casterole GTX Trans Max Dextron/Mericon blend.
 
The Original Ford Type F Dino grade ATF Worked best in GM Turbo 400, TH350, 700R4.
Its almost unobtainable today.
Multi grade applications only made today.
Nothing worked as good as Ford Type F I recall still today.
 
Well back around and stopping in to say Hello, got the old mans bike done will post some pics tonight after I get them resized for the forum. The transmission is in the Chevelle and running very well. I have installed a quicksilver shifter and a derale pan with a trans temp gauge along with a trans pressure gauge. The numbers are holding good and right where they should be. I will make center console for my car and have been mocking one up with cardboard to hold my new gauges and some cup holders for that morning coffee and dollar mc donalds frappes. I wired up the lock up and have the 2nd and third gear lock up on a switch right now works good as I have found some new info out on my car. Rear end info is in I pulled the numbers off it LK B141 1 on the tube the front of the diff case has the numbers 1235197 the letters CFD and a huge A. So after some searching and deep investigation I have narrowed it down to an 8.5 10 bolt Buick 28 spline rear with a 2.56 gearing and after using my phones gps speedo app to check speedo accuracy I believe it. I do have some bigger problems right now to diagnose before I can put that cam in and replace the rear gearing. I am suffering from my engine losing power and sputtering and pretty much saying I give up at 3000 rpm got it to 4500 the other day in first though but was not healthy. Under normal cruise conditions it is fine drives nicely has a little sputter and back fire around 1600 rpm I had gotten rid of before by disconnecting the vacuum advance. So it is trouble shooting time along with some minor upgrades along the way. I am on a tight budget so everything takes me 10x longer to do than I would like and labor is always my own. Any ideas where to start would be great.

Concerns and suspicions
Fuel system is not up to par needs fuel cell, new lines, electric pump, and proper filters- right now factory tank, mechanical pump, to site glass filter then carb
Ignition issue my curve needs to be changed different springs added
Carburetor I am running is 600cfm edelbrock needs to be tuned also have a 750 cfm could run and tune-need to make decision and tune one of them
Need taller air filter along with the one on it needs to be cleaned
Ignition wires need heat protector boots have melted a few will check them tonight.
 
The Main Fuel Line is sucking in air somewhere John.
A Hairline crack &/ or Degraded Rubber hoses.
The Fuel Tank Pickup Fuel Sock is plugged up or missing.
The Mechanical Fuel pump is dieing or weak.
Yes Troubleshoot time.
 
I have taken off my air cleaner to clean it in my troubleshooting and have evidence of allot of back firing through the carb. I cleaned the fuel filter out and pulled a spark plug also. All looked good but only had a chance to check one plug. I really need to get some time to take the valve covers off and check my lift on all valves with a dial indicator. I have a sneaking suspicion that the cam has some flat lobes. It also has popping around 1500 rpm. This happened with three different carbs my old heads and my new ones. Even when I put new wires on it played with different timing to no avail. I visually inspected the fuel line looks good. Most of it is 1/2" aluminum not a fan and will be up graded soon.

On a good note I won a Pantera 882c efi ecu the start of my fuel injection system and maybe a turbo down the road. Don't want to get ahead of myself. From what research I have done so far Lance Nist designed it and is an awesome unit for ls engines as 882 stands 8 coil drivers, 8 injection drivers, and 2 gpo drivers. Link I found http://www.lola332.com/ecu882page3.html . I have contacted Lance Nist and spoke with him on the phone and seems he will help with my build. And assured me that I have options to use it and can switch to coil pick setup also.
 
Pics of spark plug I pulled open to opinions

l
 

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also promised pics of my fathers bike I painted
 

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on the art work! DARN IMPRESSIVE !


ON THE PLUGS
I wish the pictures were clearer and lighting was better ,but it appears that both your ignition advance is slightly retarded and the fuel/air mix slightly rich, and your plug gaps a bit more than .042-.045 which is about the ideal gap that it looks as thou you exceeded
 
I will try to get better pics next time and thank you guys on the compliments. I will also try to post some pics tomorrow of a center console/ gauge holder I have been working on to go around the new shifter. I need to start painting car portraits for parts. I am realizing the can of worms I have recently opened with the new ecu. I have a funny feeling it's still going to end up expensive. I should receive the ecu tomorrow usps then I can contact Lance again and have a better idea what I got. I hope I can recoup some cash selling off current parts but I really don't like to sell parts. They are always handy to have around.
 
Strictly Attitude said:
Is a $130 a good price for cleaning and magnaflux?


IF YOUR TALKING ABOUT CLEANING CHECKING A BLOCK, yeah!
thats about the average price I see quoted
sometimes you can talk the machine shop into mag testing the crank in a package deal for not much more

ID be very clear that you want new cam bearings installed and BRASS FREEZE PLUGS and all the oil passages brushed out, sometimes the cost is included on the freeze plugs with the block cleaning but generally they try to hit you for the new cam bearings, if they don,t even mention removing and replacing the cam bearings , oil passage plugs,AND freeze plugs find a better machine shop FAST
 
I was planning on having this done before the start of grinding away on this block and working on the oil control over the winter it is sitting on an engine stand. So should I wait for the cam bearings till after I am done with the prep maybe have them removed for now? I am mainly just making sure the block is going to be worth my labor I know Dart SHP block is the better option but I am low $$ build reusing allot of parts but will do what I can to make it a good block.
 
You might want to pre clean the block yourself 1st John.
Gunk Engine degreaser & a late night trip to the car wash.
Inspect real close.
Then have tge machine shop Magnaflux block.
If OK bring it home & grind away.
$$$ Is tight I know.
Lots of stick block race cars still around. Key is finding a good core.
Pontiac & Olds V8 hold up nice.
Never found a cracked used Poncho block yet.
 
it's still a virgin this block came in the chevelle had standard bore had a rod knock but ran strong when I pulled it.
 
Strictly Attitude said:
it's still a virgin this block came in the chevelle had standard bore had a rod knock but ran strong when I pulled it.
I would still have it checked out. Magnaflux best.
Be Hell to spend a week on detailing the block & then find a crack in the main web or cylinder deck.
All thick castings were done to Big Block Chevy. Pontiac & Olds V8.
SBC Stock block so so. Millions made but at times you find a bad one.
 
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