I've got most of my parts already together, just waiting on the machine shop to be finished with the block and balance the rotating assembly. If anyone can see where I have picked something wrong or has a better idea please let me know. I am open to any and all suggestions. This engine should make somewhere between 510 and 540hp.

GM performance parts new 2 piece rear seal block.
Eagle forged rotating assembly 10.74:1 compression with Mahle forged pistons and 6.000" rods.
Lunati 20120713LK Retrofit Hydraulic roller kit Duration@.050(Int/Exh):243/251
Gross Valve Lift (Int/Exh): .560/.565.
RHS 200CC intake 64CC chamber aluminum heads #12055.
Cometic 4.030 .030 thick head gaskets.
Weiand Dual plane intake.
Holley 750CFM street/race carb.
Crane full roller rocker arms.
MSD pro billet distributor and 6A box.
Summit full roller billet timing set.
Moroso 7qt oil pan with high pressure/high volume oil pump and pickup.


I have all of the covers, gaskets, and small items needed including APR bolts and studs everywhere. Wires, plugs, and coil. Going with a 700R4 tranny and a Moser 4.11 rear end. Will also be installing a UMI kit to strengthen things up underneath the car. Aslo looking at the possibility of a Be-Cool kit if needed, but $1500.00 seems kind of steep for what it is. The car has been in storage since 1998, so it will have to have a new fuel tank also. I will post some pics to this thread when I get the stuff back from the machine shop and start working on it.

Does anyone think this will run on 93 octane ethanol free @ 34-36 total timing, or will I need to add some race gas to the mix?

 

The cam powerband maxes out at 6400 RPM, and the best dual plane intakes max out at 6500 RPM (even though they claim higher). Not sure which Weiand dual plane you're getting, hopefully the Speed Warrior. But, assuming sufficient stall to get the engine into the powerband at the hit, a single plane would probably produce more power (we're talking 4000+ stall). Since you're running a TH700R-4, I assume it will be street driven. The rest of your combo seems to be track-oriented, though. I've run a single plane on a street-driven, track-primary car, and it really didn't drive much differently than the same combo with a dual plane intake (at the time, I had a 3200 stall converter, so the dual plane was actually quicker at the track - I later had 4000 stall, but had sold the single plane, so was never able to do a back-to-back comparison).

If I was building that engine for a track-primary, street-driven car, I'd get a 4000 stall converter and run a Victor Jr. intake. The 200cc runners of your heads are going to require some RPMs to start working, anyway.

Not sure which Holley 750 carb you're talking about, but if you're willing to live without a choke, the HP line, p/n 0-82751 for a 750, is really nice (wish they were available back when I was running carbs).

You shouldn't have any trouble running pump gas with 10.7:1 CR, assuming your quench distance is in the .040" range (piston-to-deck height plus gasket compressed thickness). BTW, was that 10.74:1 ratio calculated by you based on your combo, or what was advertised by Eagle? CR is a combination of cylinder displacement, piston-to-deck height, piston crown volume, head gasket volume, and head chamber volume. A small change in any of them will make the ".x4" part moot pretty quickly.

I'd take Comp Ultra Pro full roller rockers over aluminum. Never heard of a failure with them, can't say the same for Crane.

You mentioned changing the fuel tank. Are you planning on an in-tank electric pump? What are your plans there?

What are you plans for exhaust? It's going to take a good-flowing system to support 500 HP.

Sounds like an interesting build. Keep us up to date.

 

Thanks for the reply kid.

I will try to address each item you noted.

I did get the speed warrior intake. Weiand claims good up to 6800 RPM (We'll see about that.)

The car will be mostly street driven, but see the track every now and then.

Looking at 3300-3500 stall on a TCI 700R4 with a Moser 4.11 ford 9" rear end. This should put me just under 70 MPH with 275/40/17's out back at 2600 RPM in overdrive

I am going with the 0-82751 carb. And, I know quite a bit about tuning this model. This will be my fourth one of these on different engines.

CR was calculate using compression height(9"), deck height(9.025) and engine bore size(4.030). Gasket thickness(0.030) and bore size(4.060). Piston CC(-5CC) for the flat top with valve reliefs. and of course chamber size(64CC)

I am using the Crane wide body Gold race full roller rockers. Got a deal on them with an exchange from Crane from some junk ones if found at a swap meet. They gave me $200 of a new set just for sending the old ones to them so that they could scrap them.

Putting a new Holley 12-914 pump in the new tank using the strainer recommended for it by Holley. Also, A Holley 12-845 regulator up near the carb.

Exhaust - I have a good local shop for custom exhaust. Either going with a 3" single, or 2.25" duals if they will fit (this might be difficult due to the UMI sub-frame connectors and torque arm I will be installing)

My machine shop guy is notoriously slow, but he is VERY good at what he does. Hoping for balance and block work to be done in a couple weeks. I will start putting up some pictures when I pick up the block and rotating assembly.

Anything else you can think of, please let me know. I appreciate your input.

 

You might want to go with a .015" thick head gasket, or have the block decked down to 9.010". Would help suppress detonation. But, with only 10.7:1 and a pretty good sized cam, you might be okay, anyway.

Fuel pump, regulator, and carb all sound good.

What headers are you planning on running? 1-3/4" primaries at least are in order. Holley (Hooker) is producing a 2.5" dual system for 3rd gen LS swaps: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/ltx-...roduce-lt.html You need a "double-hump" transmission cross member to make that work, but that can be fabricated (the only ones available I know of are for LS transmissions). Might talk to your exhaust fabricator about all that.

 

Is this exhaust for the LS1/4L60E only? I was looking at Hooker 2210-3HKR's (1-3/4") for headers. I need an exhaust that is good for the TH700R4 and the UMI 2217-R torque arm and transmission crossmember.

 

Stopped by the machine shop today. He has just gotten started on the balancing. The block has made it to the boring machine where it will be bored to 4.030. This guy does the best work in West Tennessee and is probably in the top 10 in the U.S. for a small shop. Remind myself: "Don't get in a hurry if you want a quality job done right" It's hard not to get ants in your pants though, when building a monster small block.

 

If i have detonation issues, I will just get a 55 gallon drum of race or aviation gas and mix it in 1:2 ratio.

 

The exhaust is designed to work with their LS swap system (headers, engine/trans mounts/exhaust). I was just saying that it should be possible to adapt the dual exhaust system to your SBC headers, if a double-hump trans crossmember was fabricated. Or, fabricate a similar system.

 

Ok, I see. I think I will take the installation instructions for the Dual exhaust I saw on Summit Racing and show them to my exhaust guys and see if they can come up with something. They are pretty crafty, shouldn't be to hard for them. Also will see if I can get some pics of the system you mentioned and take them along also. Heading back to the machine shop on the 22nd. Hoping everything will be done by then. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

A modified trans crossmember is key for good ground clearance. If you try to route it under a factory crossmember, the tubes will be really low. If you try to route it over a factory crossmember, you'll have heat and body clearance issues.

Looking like a nice project. Keep us up to date.

 

Hawks is producing double hump crossmembers for the 700R4. I requested this about a month ago and they are producing them. Should be done soon, but reach out to them. They'd love to hear the interest in this product.

The dual exhaust is to work for LS, but you could modify or get the Mufflex 4" system. This should be plenty enough to flow your set up.

 

Well, after two MONTHS in the machine shop, I got the block and rotating assembly back. Happy Days!! I had to wait for a day the weather was nice and warmer than it has been to make the block look nice. Here is what it looked like when I got it back from the machine shop.

 

Taped up ready for primer.

 

After a few light coats of primer....

 

The final product. Now the block is suitable for a seriously red Bird. I will start essembling the short block tomorrow. Quick question for anyone who reads this. The block has provisions for dipsticks on both sides. What should I use to block off the dipstick hole on the passenger side? Or do I even have to block it off at all?

 

By the way, the guy in the machine shop picture is Don Buckley. He does great work in Lexington, Tennessee

 

OK, so I got the block looking pretty. Now it's time to get to real work. Time to start assembly. Had to get rid of the stock bolts. APR studs are my favorite. Anyone want a brand new set of GM Performance main bolts? I listed them on Ebay


Now it's time for a crankshaft and some ARP studs.




Looking good, huh? Almost looks like someone is building and engine.

 

Now it's time to get to work on the heads. These are RHS 12055's 200cc intake 64cc chamber castings. I bought the heads un-assembled because I like to give the valves a light lapping before installing them

, and it saves some $$$


I will work on these tonight.

 

Heads are assembled now. Everything looks good. Now, I just have to get them ready to install on a red engine.

 

One cylinder head taped off and ready for primer and paint. I covered the RHS logo on each end to provide some contrast to the paint scheme. We'll see how it looks later today if the rain holds off.

 

Here is the first head after primer and paint.

 

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Looking good!

 

When you get it done, we will have to have a Tennessee roll call and go cruise!

 

Ran into a bit of a delay. Turns out the machine work from the shop was not done properly. Everything I heard about the guy in Lexington seems to need some scrutiny. I dropped the stuff off at another shop. Should hear something next week.

 

It looks like all of the great referrals I have heard about Buckley's machine in Lexington were somewhat misplaced. Apparently, the information I was getting was"dated". The original owner was "THE GUY" to go to. His brother now runs the shop, and he is not "THE GUY". Reports I am getting after dropping off the short block to the new machine shop are that some of the work was done improperly, and some of the work was not done at all. I hope this will all be straightened out in the next couple of weeks. I need to have this project 90% completed by the 1st of May.

 

I put the new wheels and tires on the Bird. They look great, but as I suspected, the front springs that were put on back in 1989 have the ride height too high in the front. I've just received a set of Hotchkis springs that will take the ride height to 1" lower than original stock, and lower the front by about 3.5" from where it is now. The wheels are Hawks 17 X 9 GTA reproductions and the tires are BF Goodrich G-Force Sport Comp 2 275/40-ZR17's

 

Nice looking Bird. Too bad about the machine work, hopefully not too much of a delay.

 

The rear end finally came in on Friday. Maybe will have the time and some help to install it, the gas tank, the new suspension components, and disc

brakes this coming weekend.

Hawks 8.8" with Moser axles, Yukon Duralock Pro, 1350 yoke, and disc brake kit.