476 replies to this topic

[Struggler]

nice photos of the port jobs on the heads pretty much looks the same as how i port my heads awesome build cant wait to see it all up and running

With the price of aftermarket heads these days I am kicking myself for spending so much time and money on '80's technology ! I have owned these heads for years and never used them, they would be just about worthless second hand so I had no option but to use them myself !

Heads are now on the engine and I need to get the sump on before fitting oily lifters and pushrods (I don't need all the excess oil dribbling all over my feet and the floor !). Unfortunately the oil pump pickup (that was supplied with the sump) was over 3/4" from the floor of the sump. This is far too much for my liking so I contacted the manufacturer who graciously volunteered to make me another that will rectify the problem. I hope this will arrive next week so I can keep moving along.

[Struggler]

great read...will be pinching the solder trick thanks

No problem, I pinched it off someone else years ago and its so simple yet so effective. I do always check first with the playdoh to make sure the solder is in the ballpark.

Absolutely love the work you do mate, everytime I read over the rear end work it makes me want to get my grinder and welder out, just can't be bothered with a street car and engineering :(

Thanks ! I figured that the whole street car and engineering thing was far too much trouble. You can't register an ANDRA spec cage in my home state anyway and I wanted to ultimately run in the tens so I figured I would just do what I wanted to do and not make any concessions to safety.


Just a quick update on the oil pump pickup.... the supplier took a day or two to knock it up then missed the freight company before the long weekend. It then sat in a freight depot for a few days as the regular delivery driver took the week off and no-one took over his run for him ! He ended up dropping it off on Saturday afternoon. I went out to the garage today and pressed and locktighted it into the pump, fitted it all up and discovered to my dismay it was exactly the same height as the one I sent back, just moved over a bit. Ten days I've waited for this pickup and I've gone backwards. Covered the whole thing up and walked inside to watch TV. The manufacturer is a nice enough guy and the product is of good quality but it just isn't right. Before I sent back the old one I gave him numerous measurements and details of what I required. Anyway enough whinging, I'm going to have to sort it out in the morning.

[Struggler]

OK, I have calmed down a bit now. I ended up buying a Moroso oil pump pickup and it was a perfect fit for the sump depth wise however it required me to cut one of the baffles out as it sat right back against the rear of the sump. Not a real problem as the rear of the sump acts as a baffle anyway. I bolted the sump on and rolled the engine over, then discovered the next problem, the dipstick was caught between a main cap and the sump. Oh well, dipsticks are over rated anyway ! I yanked it out and removed the actual dipstick part and shoved the handle into the hole to block it off.

In went the roller lifters, pushrods and roller rockers. I then discovered the next problem. I measured up for pushrod length when I did the dummy assembly. Unfortunately I didn't use a head gasket and consequently my pushrods are about 0.040" too short ! The pattern across the top of the valve isn't perfect but it will do. If it was too much of a concern I could have used some lash caps to correct the geometry. Anyway I'm happy enough to run with it as is. Next problem was the intake manifold. It fit OK but the runners were so high at the head face the valve covers wouldn't fit. I had to sand down the offending area of the runner and the corresponding part of the valve cover to clear. I wouldn't have this issue with aftermarket heads as they have a raised valve cover rail. Here is a pic of the area of concern.

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You can see I also had to trim the intake gasket to suit. Sharp eyes will also notice the rockers are Yella Terra shaft mounts as opposed to the usual stud mounted items. Here are a couple of pics of the intake plenum and runners from the inside. The manifold on the engine is a Edelbrock Victor E, I also have a Chev Bowtie intake to try when the engine is running.

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The Bowtie intake.

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The dizzy is a IC&E converted Holden HEI with Bosch module and this time around I have locked the timing in it. Bronze gear to suit the roller cam.

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And as it sits now.

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It is starting to look like an engine now, not long to go !

[Struggler]

A big day today. I packed up the engine and all its ancillaries and headed off to Westend Performance in Campbelltown. Sam bolted the little warrior onto his engine dyno and fired it into life. After a warmup and ring bedding-in period of about 20 min (no need to run in a roller cam) we gave it a bit of a run to 6000rpm with only 28 degrees of timing. We were rewarded with 540Hp and 500ftlb of torque. I was quite surprised at this as I only really expected about 550 to 560HP out of it at the end of the day.

After changing oil and filter and checking the valve lash we set upon it with a flurry of activity (did a total of 24 runs). I was prepared to change intakes but never got around to it. Instead we messed with the jetting and added timing before swapping spacers and even tried a Pro Systems 950HP. All runs were done with BP Ultimate 98.

The engine loved more timing and ran its best at 35 degrees.

No real difference was seen between a 2" open spacer and 2" super sucker style spacer.

The 950HP Pro Systems carb had a more stable AFR but made no more or less horsepower or torque !

By mid afternoon we had it pretty much sorted at 590HP at 6850rpm and 519ftlb at 4750rpm (the lowest point of testing !).

Before we took it off the dyno I was keen to see how good or bad my second-hand fenderwell style pipes were so we ripped them off and replaced them with some off-the-shelf Pacemaker HQ 1 3/4" pipes Sam uses to test with. With absolutely no other changes the Pacemakers picked it up to 603HP and 528ftlb at the same rpms ! That was enough for me, we unbolted it and came home.

Wow, a 600HP old school, iron headed, pump fuel SBC. I'm happy

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[lxsstorana]

Congratulations.

[Struggler]

Thanks everyone, yeah, I'm really happy with the outcome.

Just to set the record straight this seems to be a bit of a freaky combo. The heads don't flow anywhere near 600 hp and the cam shouldn't make peak torque that early, its just that the end result is greater than the sum of its parts. I honestly expected it to top out at about 560 so the extra 40 is a real bonus. I am also really happy with the truck loads of torque this thing has.

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[myss427]

you have a knack of getting lots of power with modest budgets, that will certainly wake up the UC (looking for low 9's maybe)?

[Struggler]

you have a knack of getting lots of power with modest budgets, that will certainly wake up the UC (looking for low 9's maybe)?

Wow Andrew I'm loving your project mate. 600+ hp, I think you'll be close to skipping past the 10 sec barrier! I'm assuming your building it to super sedan specs?

Cheers
Marty

Sam the Dyno Man was confident that the power was enough to get me and my Sunbird to over 130mph in the quarter. This would equate to a mid ten or maybe a bit better. I really don't have enough power to run into the 9's and I would be more than happy with a 10.50. This gives me room to play with stuff and see what works in the car and what doesn't.

The car was originally built to run in the tens, thats why I put the cage in it early. Running in Super Sedan was the objective of this new combo and I reckon I'm there.

I now have to pay a bit of attention to the pipes to see if I can improve them to get the 10 hp and 12 odd ftlbs back the Pacemakers gave me. More on this in a couple of days.

Thanks again for all the positive comments guys, really appreciated.

[Struggler]

I have been getting sick of tripping over this thing so got a couple of spare hours today and fit the engine and gearbox to the car. Don't get too excited, its just sitting in there at the moment until I can spare some more time to hook it all up.

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The gearbox is the same one that was in it when the engine died, a full manual Powerglide. My old converter didn't really suit the new combo soI have lashed out on a converter. I purchased a second hand TCE unit off another racer and sent it off to Dwayne at TCE to adjust to suit my engine. It should end up with about 5000rpm of stall. Its an 8" unit with all the gear.

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Now to the exhaust..... As I said before the extractors I had cost me a few HP compared to the HQ Pacemakers. Have a look at the scallops the original fabricator put in them to clear the crossmember.

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Even though this modification was really well done the scallop reduces the internal area of the tube to about 60% of the rest of the collector. Basically this means it is the same as using a 2 1/4" pipe at this point ! It really is quite surprising that this only cost 10-12 HP and FtLb. I will cut this part off the collector and remake it to retain the full 3" tube. That is the reason I went with the engine plate, I can't afford any engine movement relative to the body so I can squeeze the exhaust in without fear of it bumping off anything. I'll let you know how it goes !

[TempesT]

very very cool Andrew..... you should have enough grunt in that donk to get the sunbugie up the hill. I bet its a little cold to be working on the car in the mornings down there lol

[Struggler]

.....I bet its a little cold to be working on the car in the mornings down there lol

Its not just the mornings, its been very cold and windy for a few weeks now, makes getting motivated really hard !

[TerrA LX]

I feel your pain with the cold, especially when you slip off a ring spanner.

[TempesT]

not wrong, the coldest I have ever been was out the back of yass one winter

[Struggler]

OK, its been a while but I'm slowly finding time to sort a few things out.

First order was getting the pipes fixed up. I had a bit of a play with it but ended up taking it to a friend who is seriously better at constructing pipes than I am.

Pipemax (a computer exhaust simulator) dictated I needed 32" to 34" primaries (mine are between 24" and 27") but I wasn't keen on messing with them so decided to just fix up the collectors. Pipemax suggested 16.7" collectors but this put them halfway past the wheel and putting a flange there was impractical. We ended up putting the flange just after the pipe rounded the floor, about 25" long or halfway between the desired measurements. To compensate I had to lengthen them with bolt on collector extensions of about 8". This took me to exactly 2x the perfect collector length (33.4"). Happy with that the rest of the exhaust (for driving events and getting the car on and off the trailer ) ended up at 2x that again or 67". I'm not going to tell you I understand the physics behind it all but it works on the length of soundwaves and avoiding reversion. Thats why the perfect length for the exhaust is in multiples of the shortest length.

Enough science. Previously the collectors threaded through the chassis and K frame to end up in the original position beside the gearbox. I decided to do away with this to give me more room around the gearbox and remove the heat source from starter motors and wiring etc. They now go down behind the front wheel and under the sill before finishing just under the B pillar. To get the front wheels to clear under full lock required a bit of creativity but it all came together nicely and interference free.

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Pipes are all out now and I have welded in a bung for the O2 sensor. Hope to get them to the sandblaster next week and then spray them with some BBQ/stove paint to make them a bit presentable.

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Also next week I hope to get the windscreen fitter around and get the screens in. That should be interesting !!