May 1st, 2006
Don next started on the motor... here is what it looked like at the start.
Don tore it down so it could be sent out to be bored and cleaned. The cylinders were bored .030 of an inch and the engine was dipped to remove all dirt and previous paint.
After a week or so the engine came back from the machine shop and Don started to reassemble it. In the mean time he had purchased many new parts for the engine to again make it like new. The block is now painted orange. That is the final color and was the original color of the engine when it was new.
Here is the Edelbrock Performer-Plus #2102 cam that is going in. Designed for optimum torque from the low-end to the mid-range, camshafts match with Performer manifolds for vehicles operating from off-idle to 5500 rpm. They are smooth idling cams for daily driving.
As you can see above he has also started to add some chrome to the engine. He had a chrome oil pan on it but it did not clear the suspension so he returned it. I have to admit it was frivolous because you would have only been able to see it if you got on a creeper and rolled under the car. :-)
Here is the engine loosely attached to the frame. It will have to come off a few more times to finish the project.
Aug 20th, 2006
Don pulled the headers we had on the engine and traded them to a guy for factory manifolds. Don was concerned that the added heat, difficulty in changing the oil filter etc was just not worth the extra 10 HP. I have to take his advice on this stuff. I also have to be able to do the service on the car when I get it.
We also had a long talk about paint. My wife has been going with me to the local classic car nights and has questions about the durability of the acrylic versus the new clear coat over base systems. My wife stated this project with GREAT trepidation and made me promise to keep the budget reasonable. Now she is asking questions that will drive up the cost :-). The net result is we are sticking with the acrylic, it was the original paint on the car and will more faithfully reproduce the original look. The new paints have a wet look.
We also bought a battery and Don is starting to wire the engine. Some internal wiring in the car was also done. Don is also doing small clean up items in areas that will never be seen. The new exhaust manifolds will arrive in a few day. Don will sand blast them and paint them and install them.
Sept 1st, 2006
Don installed the rest of the new parts on the engine this morning. Front now on seeing this area will get progressively harder. Once the radiator is in and the front end in place you will only see this from the top.
September 13th, 2006
Today Don got the newly sandblasted and painted exhaust manifold installed. It is looking very nice now. He couldn't resist and started and ran the engine for about 15 seconds! He said it started on the first crank and sounded great!. :-)
September 15th, 2006 The A/C arrived today and Don installed the compressor on the left front of the engine. The rest of the A/C installation is shown on the A/C specific page.
September 16th, 2006 Done found a set of exhaust pipes for the car at a local dealer. Even though it was not done we will paint these with the manifold paint we have been using.
September 21st,2006 Here are photos of the chrome flywheel cover and the chrome water and fuel pump. These will be relatively hard to see once the front of the car is in place. We will be putting a electric fan in to increase cooling efficiency and it will not obstruct the view as much when you look in the engine compartment.
September 29th, 2006 Don installed the new Zoops valve covers and breathers we bought to replace the cheap tin chrome ones we had. These are cast aluminum, CNC milled and chrome plated. We also bought Zoops chrome wire looms ( these are the things that hold the sparkplug wires in place) and Don will install these soon. The new looms will require Don make custom sparkplug wires.
October 8th, 2006 Here are the new wire looms installed, they are the machined metal pieces that hold the spark plug wires. The originals were plastic clips. Don also blasted and painted the upper grill support and the brackets. He has the door hinge rebuild kit ready for install. The engine exhaust is hooked up. The new knobs and hinge covers for the seats came in and Don will take them to the upholster on Monday.
This shot is looking down into the engine compartment showing the newly installed wire braid stainless steel power steering hoses.
November 16th, 2006 I ordered and Don has begun to assemble a new Edlebrock dual four barrel carburetor and intake manifold. It is the dual 500 cfm model. This kit is designed to provide everything needed to convert from a single carburetor intake to a dual-quad intake for small-block Chevys. Kit includes the new RPM Dual Quad Air-Gap intake with ENDURASHINE CHROME finish, two 500 cfm Thunder Series AVS carburetors with ENDURASHINE CHROME finish (one manual choke, one electric choke), high-tech progressive throttle linkage and fuel line. We purchased this from http://www.southernrods.com.
November 29th, 2006 The new air cleaner came in today. This is an Edlebrock cleaner than matches the carburetor. December 4th 2006 It has been cold and or raining in South Carolina. While the car is in a locked building it is unheated and the weather can slow work. Today it warmed up and Don made some progress. We replaced the stock radiator fan with an electric one that is show below. As you might expect it is chrome.
Friday Jan 19th, 2007 Today we ordered a set of Hooker Competition Headers. Here are the specs. 1-5/8"x30"Primary Tubes 3"Collector Metallic Ceramic Coating Incl Air Fittings Hooker part number 520-02451-1 - purchased from Jegs High Performance
Friday Jan 26th, 2007 We have ordered new high performance aluminum heads. They are coming from White Performance, they have been in the business for more than 40 years and racing engines are their specialty. See my supplier list for more info on how to contact them. As you can see these are top quality heads. They are Super Pro Series Patriot 195CC heads. They have a 5 angle competition valve job and have are computer numerically controlled (CNC) bowl blended. Patriot Performance is well known for building the best CNC ported Chevy heads on the market. The heads have heart shaped combustion chambers that increase flow.
These heads come fully assembled with premium parts. They use 1.46 inch oversize springs. Most others use a 1.25 inch spring. They also come with screw in studs, guide plates, retainers, Viton seals, spring cups, valve locks, and a premium set of one piece stainless steel undercut, swirl finished valves. This setup allows up to 5.50 lift non roller cams. If you use roller cams you will need a spring upgrade.
Their sales and tech support are great and they can help you get what you need the first time. My friend Don who is doning this project says these guys are straight shooters. Real by the numbers people who know what they are doing.
Here are the flow numbers as tested on their Super Flow Bench.
Intake: 400L/233 500L/252 600L/263 700L/270 750L/272
Exhaust: 400L/170 500L/183 600L/184 650L/185
These flow numbers are guaranteed to be 99.9% accurate. They have been tested by White Performance, and the manufacturer.
Another improvement is these head have a 5 angle valve job. This makes for a decent HP gain, and a smoother running engine. When the valve closes, they shut much faster.
The ramp design on these heads is another reason for the high flow numbers. When the heads were flow tested they out flowed previous models by up to 10%. In the picture below you can see the CNC bowl blending also involves the combustion chamber.
Here is the new one designed by TCI. We purchased this from Summit Racing. These are designed for the weekend bracket racer who also drives on the street. These TCI StreetFighter converters are completely remanufactured with furnace-brazed fins, needle bearings, and a flame-hardened hub. StreetFighter converters will give you about a 3,000 to 3,500 rpm stall speed and competition-style launches. They're recommended for use on high-compression street/strip engines and higher performance cars, and are used on some of the fastest street machines the world over.
Here is the engine on the stand in Dons shop in preparation for the new heads.
These are the old cast iron heads, notice the weight. Forty eight pounds.
Here are the new performance aluminum heads weighing in at twenty pounds.
The heads are now installed. Don found an interference between the rocker arms and heads. We have ordered new aluminum roller rockers. By doing that the great Zoop's valve covers we have no longer fit... so we had to order a new set of high valve covers to accommodate the new rocker arms. A nice set of Zoop's Nostalgic model SB Chevy covers will soon be on E-bay.
Feb 21st, 2007 The performance torque converter, a new battery courtesy of EnerSys Corporation, and the MSD high energy ignition are now in hand.
March 9th, 2007 We received the new aluminum roller rockers and the new valve covers today. The following pictures show the engine going back together for the last time.
March 14th,2007 Don reinstalled the engine in the car yesterday. When he tried to attached the headers he realized the sparkplugs would not screw in because we had the wrong headers.. The plugs angle down rather than straight out. This morning he called Jegg's and they have a set of header that will work with the angled plugs. We will return the wrong ones for credit and get the new ones. Don also pulled the car back to the painter for final assembly.
We got the new headers and installed them... what a BITCH. Think long and hard about headers in a non stock setup. The headers hit almost everything in the engine compartment or so it seamed. We finally got them in, had a beer and realized one of the sparkplugs couldn't be inserted. This probably wouldn't have been an issue if we had put the aluminum head on with the angled surfaces. So we ordered short plugs, they went in now but you couldn't tighten one of them. Don then proceeded to make a custom spark plug wrench for the car! All is well now. November 3rd, 2008 No it isnt, the headers are burning the spark plug wires off! I put boots on it but it didnt fix the problem. I have been fighting this for months. I have replaced the headers with a set of exhaust manifolds from a later model Camero. They fit the slanted heads and allow clearance for the plug boots and wires. The manifolds were powder coated with high temperature silver paint.