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Planning a new 383 build that is now going to be a 400
- Thread starter busterrm
- Start date
busterrm
solid fixture here in the forum
I have another set of tall valve covers on the nova's engine right now, I am not sure which set I will use. This set is plane, but the other set has "Chevrolet" in Hugger Orange heat resistant vinyl letters. Not sure yet! I got the intake at a bargain price($189), the fella that had it used it on a show piece in his show room, and was wanting to show a tunnel ram. So I benefited on that one! The Wieand X-Celerator seemed promising, but I wanted to use something I know would work well on the street, there are several Air Gaps on engines in the Nova club, and all give good reviews.grumpyvette said:
I do have question about the MSD box, it is sealed and only has adjustments for the rev limiter, when setting up the ignition. Do I just wire it all up, set the idle timing? This is a new thing for me using this type of ignition set up, are there any pointers you can give me ahead of time?
busterrm said:
just install it per the instruction sheet and set the rev limiter to about 6300rpm , its basically just going to make the ignition spark a bit more consistent, and keep the plugs cleaner, so its an install and forget part in most applications as long as its installed where its not going to get wet or overly hot!
yes I know a dozen people
that installed on on the firewall in the engine compartment ,(my self included) but the better choice is usually high up on the inside pass side foot well with the wires routed thru a plastic grommet into the engine compartment, installed that way they rarely fail
http://www.msdignition.com/uploadedFile ... ctions.pdf
busterrm
solid fixture here in the forum
With this where should I start in initial timing, same as always 12 - 14 degrees advance, then chart it up to 3000 rpms to make sure it is advancing to 36 - 38 degrees total?grumpyvette said:busterrm said:
just install it per the instruction sheet and set the rev limiter to about 6300rpm , its basically just going to make the ignition spark a bit more consistent, and keep the plugs cleaner, so its an install and forget part in most applications as long as its installed where its not going to get wet or overly hot!
yes I know a dozen people
that installed on on the firewall in the engine compartment ,(my self included) but the better choice is usually high up on the inside pass side foot well with the wires routed thru a plastic grommet into the engine compartment, installed that way they rarely fail
http://www.msdignition.com/uploadedFile ... ctions.pdf
busterrm said:
thats a good start point, then of course you make adjustments as required, your engine , might as an example prefer 36 degrees but want it to come in a bit slower and not finish advancing until 3400rpm, the only way to find out is testing
busterrm
solid fixture here in the forum
Am looking ahead some, will I need a 3 or 4 core radiator to cool my 400? The current radiator is cooling the 375 alright, also I am planning on putting in a tranny cooler also. I will probably route it through the radiator first then through an additional small tranny cooler. Any suggestions?
a transmission cooler with an auxiliary electric fan ,if properly installed removes a good deal of the heat load from the radiator, as will a 7-8 quart baffled oil pan, and an oil cooler.
youll want to measure carefully and remember the location you select will need room for BOTH the trans cooler and routing the feed and return lines and fittings, Id suggest you select a trans cooler that has AN#6 line size but AN#8 is better still, lines and at least a 800-1000cfm rated fan
heres the one I run on my corvette...mounted where the spare tire holder used to be
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PRM-12318/
viewtopic.php?f=71&t=662&p=34937&hilit=trans+cooler#p34937
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=7704&p=26227&hilit=trans+cooler#p26227
viewtopic.php?f=57&t=176
youll want to measure carefully and remember the location you select will need room for BOTH the trans cooler and routing the feed and return lines and fittings, Id suggest you select a trans cooler that has AN#6 line size but AN#8 is better still, lines and at least a 800-1000cfm rated fan
heres the one I run on my corvette...mounted where the spare tire holder used to be
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PRM-12318/
viewtopic.php?f=71&t=662&p=34937&hilit=trans+cooler#p34937
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=7704&p=26227&hilit=trans+cooler#p26227
viewtopic.php?f=57&t=176
busterrm
solid fixture here in the forum
What about the radiator? Do I need a large 4 core, the one in the nova is a 3 core, but this is going to be probably about 100 more hp and torq. The tranny cooler I was going to run in front of the radiator, like the a/c evaporatar was(no longer there). Will that hurt my engine cooling?grumpyvette said:
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87vette81big
Guest
The modern premium aluminum radiators are a good choice to upgrade to
BE COOL or Griffin.
They are expensive Bob.
Griffin offers a budget line aluminum radiator.
Some fabrication required . Mounting brackets made .
Your an expert fabricator welder.
Save $400.
Get very good engine cooling with a $200 Griffin radiator.
Popular with drag racers on a tight budget.
Polish up to your liking.
American made Griffin.
Sure beats china cheap import radiators.
Check out Summit Racing Bob.
BE COOL or Griffin.
They are expensive Bob.
Griffin offers a budget line aluminum radiator.
Some fabrication required . Mounting brackets made .
Your an expert fabricator welder.
Save $400.
Get very good engine cooling with a $200 Griffin radiator.
Popular with drag racers on a tight budget.
Polish up to your liking.
American made Griffin.
Sure beats china cheap import radiators.
Check out Summit Racing Bob.
busterrm said:
why not try the current radiator BEFORE you start buying new parts (radiator), as to the trans cooler location, it will add heat and reduce the radiators capacity to reduce coolant temps if its mounted in front of the radiator but IT MAY NOT BE ENOUGH OF A REDUCTION IN THE SYSTEMS HEAT TRANSFER EFFICIENCY TO CAUSE ANY ISSUES.
if you have the room there that might be a good option, but remember the size and air flow rates have a huge effect on how effective the trans fluid or oil cooler will be and just (HAVING ONE) doesn,t cure the heat issue, its got to be large enough to effectively transfer the heat to the air flow and be effective at reducing heat, once both the engine and transmission temps are up to operational range, and in many cases that takes a fairly large cooler with an effective fan.
as an example I helped a guy I know ANDY who has a 67 chevy pick-up truck with a 496 BBC engine and TH400 transmission and a 3.54:1 rear gears, too, get his oil cooler working correctly.
because his trucks basically a weekend toy used mostly as a semi race, drag car,and local street hero, that runs mid 11 seconds in the 1/4 when its not breaking drive train components. he found he needed a trans cooler.
He only admitted that,after he burned up his th400 trans clutches , so he installed this oil cooler, at first it barely helped
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/prm-1310/overview/
not wanting to waste that oil coolers capacity ANDY, bought this cooler and plumbed it in serious , both were mounted under the pick-up truck bed , and together they dropped the trans fluid temps during normal operation to about 190F which was easily 25 degrees lower than the previous fluid temps
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/prm-1311/overview/
never one to give up,ANDY finally, pulled one of those two coolers and replaced the smaller one with a larger cooler with a fan,and left the larger non-fan equipped cooler plumbed in series under the truck bed, and wired the fan on the new larger cooler to work as soon as the ignition was powered up, this proved to be effective and last time I saw the truck he stated it cured his trans fluid over heating issues.
not wanting to waste the smaller cooler he moved that to the frame area and plumbed it to use as an engine oil cooler, he stated it helped drop oil temps at least 15F so he was pleased with both upgrades
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/prm-13182
as an example I helped a guy I know ANDY who has a 67 chevy pick-up truck with a 496 BBC engine and TH400 transmission and a 3.54:1 rear gears, too, get his oil cooler working correctly.
because his trucks basically a weekend toy used mostly as a semi race, drag car,and local street hero, that runs mid 11 seconds in the 1/4 when its not breaking drive train components. he found he needed a trans cooler.
He only admitted that,after he burned up his th400 trans clutches , so he installed this oil cooler, at first it barely helped
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/prm-1310/overview/
not wanting to waste that oil coolers capacity ANDY, bought this cooler and plumbed it in serious , both were mounted under the pick-up truck bed , and together they dropped the trans fluid temps during normal operation to about 190F which was easily 25 degrees lower than the previous fluid temps
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/prm-1311/overview/
never one to give up,ANDY finally, pulled one of those two coolers and replaced the smaller one with a larger cooler with a fan,and left the larger non-fan equipped cooler plumbed in series under the truck bed, and wired the fan on the new larger cooler to work as soon as the ignition was powered up, this proved to be effective and last time I saw the truck he stated it cured his trans fluid over heating issues.
not wanting to waste the smaller cooler he moved that to the frame area and plumbed it to use as an engine oil cooler, he stated it helped drop oil temps at least 15F so he was pleased with both upgrades
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/prm-13182
busterrm
solid fixture here in the forum
I am glad your telling me this, I am no where near that stage yet, but I have it in this thread to look back on when I get to that stage of the game. I guess I am like Indycars, I have a lot of moolaw invested in this car and I want it to be a lasting deal. It may not be a fancy hot classic streed rod like most guys with vettes, camaros, chevelles, mustangs, but its my hotrod and I want to be proud of it when I put the finishing touches on it at least 2-3 years down the road. I have lots of plans, cowl hood(fiberglass 3 inch cowl), spoiler mounted on decklid, racing buckets, etc etc.
8
87vette81big
Guest
I have seen the Multi small diameter hole pattern steel sheetmetal stock that Rick used at my Local Rural King store recent Bob. I will check again Friday night after work. Probably buy a sheet of it. About $15-20 bucks I recall for a 2'X4' Sheet.
Also maybe Tractor Supply store has similar in stock.
Also maybe Tractor Supply store has similar in stock.
busterrm said:
I didn't use stainless steel, it's aluminum from Lowe's. Grumpy did express some concern about it being too restrictive, so Lowes may not have what you need in stainless. But they did have something with larger holes in aluminum, that might work.
To see how I installed it, use the link below.
viewtopic.php?f=69&t=3814&p=16905&hilit=+ball+peen+hammer+#p16905
You try looking at the Grilling section of Lowe's or a restaurant supply for something like below. Should be cheaper and provide enough material for what you need. The basket below is $24.39 and free shipping if you spend another $0.61.
http://www.amazon.com/Charcoal-Companio ... +wire+mesh
Attachments
http://www.amazon.com/Outset-QS71-Stain ... d_sbs_lg_6
THATS a GREAT IDEA!
heres another source for materials that might be faster and cheaper, depending obviously on what your trying to build,
THATS a GREAT IDEA!
heres another source for materials that might be faster and cheaper, depending obviously on what your trying to build,