Lewspike69

Thanks guy : )

Jk_Under

Great build man, keep it up, i know you're confident in this build, i can tell

Lewspike69

Wow didn't think of mag cleaner haha. I'm going to try that before I end up clear coating it. Thanks a lot. I am hope it's a scoot-er lol.

I don't understand how people spend all these money on engines that will see street use with all of theses new engine parts and stuff in a very out dated hydraulic flat tappet lift train. For only a few hundred bucks more you can't spend your money much better.

I definitely cannot wait to see how these AFRs perform.

Thanks for all of the kind words!

Lewspike69

Haha. Very confidant!

Thanks man. Will keep it coming!

kevinnivek73

Thanks Lewspike69, im ordering them today, i love this site, your car looks damn nice. Thanks again man. Kevin 73

Lewspike69

No problem. Happy that I can help.

This site is awesome. There are so many users with so much knowledge about these cars and auto in general it's outstanding.
I learned so much from here and continue to.
Good luck

Lewspike69

Okay wow I fell off on updating this build. Well at least the reason is that I have been to busy wrenching !

soo where did I leave off....

Okay so I ended up not painting the intake. So happy with that decision. I only painted the water neck and throttle cable/ TV cable bracket. Looks great in my opinion.


I had a small issue with the oil pressure sending unit conflicting with the manifold.


I later corrected this with simple brass hardware (will try to get pic)

Lewspike69

Around this time I received my torque converter. It is an Edge 2800 stall with lock up.


I also got my carb from SMI INDUCTION (talk about transformation from what I sent in...)

Lewspike69

I pulled the 305 out and quickly sold it.







Soon after I cleaned/stripped the engine bay with loads of gunk and my power washer. I got it as clean as possible. The only rust was on the battery tray. I used a wire wheel and some rustoleum performer on that. here are before and after pics of the bay.





That's right after the clear coat so the color isn't exactly true. I figured that looked much better than before.

** you can see the original brown color of the car in the before pic

Lewspike69

the engine was finally ready to go in the car!



The motor was not going in with the headers.... I removed them and i got it in







It was finally in there....

Lewspike69

Somewhere near this time I picked up this bute...



It is out of a '92 camaro. It has an aftermarket (obv) Torsen Dif, 3.73s, aluminum dif cover, and came with Spohn adjustable control arms.
Fresh Rebuild 500 miles ago (supposedly)

This is after a little paint.



This was the best that I could find. I would of preferred disk brakes however I couldn't pass this one up.

Lewspike69

I a little issue I encountered was the block I have was only machined for the skewed (truck) type starter and not the straight (car) type. Easily fixed with a different stater but I feel that it is worth noting.




It was a tight fit to get the headers back on the engine with the fuel lines and brake lines. The brake lines were easily manipulated. The fuel not so much. However I managed to re-route them under the ac/heater box along the extreme outside of the "frame" rail. I now feel comfortable running gas through them haha.

Another annoying delay was the breakage of a torque converter bolt in the flywheel... wow that sucks to get out ha. I eventually was able to remove it with a right angle drill and an easy out... not easy at all

Lewspike69

I absolutely wanted to conserve TCC Lockup in my car so i began doing research on how to wire it in myself.


The wiring in my 700r4 turned out to be odd and most of it unusable in conventional lock up methods. This was mostly because of the switch being normally closed and the solenoid being a single wire, self grounded type. I bit the bullet and bought the TCI kit and a new solenoid. I rigged up a toggle switch too for lock up in 2 and 3 also.



All in all the kit was good. I wired it in with the stock brake switch so it unlocks when the break pedal is pressed.

Lewspike69

After witnessing the flimsiness of the stock Torque Arm, I bought a spohn adjustable one from the guy I got the rear from. I figured the crossmember mounted setup was so much better than relying on the tranny mount. One little note here is I had to use a transmission mount correct for a 60s chevelle to fit. I did not want to use poly for this after all of the negative feedback I read. I got a rubber one and will see how that holds up.


With that in hand, I was ready to swap the rears.

Lewspike69

ANYONE WITH AN '82 or '83 car beware that you have unique customary brake fittings and they will not fit the metric ones that where used on '84? and after cars. To circumnavigate this swap problem, I reused the lines on my old rear as well as the wheel cylinders. (well I got new one with that were customary) I did the brakes when I was in there too (new shoes and drums were included with rear).

I put KYB gas-a-justs in the rear. My old ones were like the front struts, not functioning haha.



Here is a pic comparing the stock control arms with the SPOHNs





Random pic of my professional painting of my driveshaft


I want to use an aluminum piece eventually... Any feed back on that would be great!


After a little headache with the brakes, the rear was in and I finally had posi limited slip !

Lewspike69

I was about here at the time with my engine... all new hoses and fittings and such. It was almost there.



I ordered a MSD Street Fire Distributor, got AFR recommended plugs, and I was practically ready to fire her up

Lewspike69

Well Judgement day was last Thursday and she started right up

I took the maiden journey down the road and the car is a completely a different machine - from the new found chassis stiffness, the upgraded suspension, the posi, the higher gear ratio ( 3.08 --> 3.73), the stall converter, to all of the more power this engine is dishing out. It was difficult to believe it was the same car.

When doing modifications to this magnitude all at one time, It is nearly impossible to pinpoint every mod and evaluate the performance gain. So far however I think I did pretty well.

The motor wasn't running perfect, it needs a good tune timing and carb wise. This is where I am now. This weekend I am having the very best man dial it in. However not even close to its 100%, this thing is an animal ; )

I suspect (and was confirmed by my expert) that my valves need adjustment. You can hear the un-smoothness of the compression when you crank it over. I believe this is why I was experiencing irregular behavior when it was up to temp and the amount of smoking it did. (amateur engine build prob lol) Any input would be nice.

Anyways, this weekend I will have the valves set by him as well as get the timing and carb on the money. I really cannot wait.

All of this hard work is paying off.

Here is how the car sits now

Lewspike69

SO Here is where I would like comments on, my plans for the future...

I am planning on going with an aluminum radiator/ auxiliary trans cooler along with a single electric fan... good direction?

Eventually I would like to lower the front of the car, maybe a little in the rear to level it out. The new struts really raised it too high to my likings. I believe new springs are in my future.

I'd like to put a trans temp gauge in it.

When this transmission dies (I know it will haha), I am a little torn on the replacement. Its either another 700R4 from Pro-Built Automatics or a T-56 swap... thoughts? With the torque im putting down will my T tops car handle the abuse of a manual?

I still need to find/make a headliner to finish my interior

Id like an aftermarket panhead bar as thats the only stock thing left

I need to attach the sway bar on my new rear to my car as it was not originally equipped with one. Will 4th gen end links work?

Aluminum drive shaft?

new tires clue less in what kind

maybe an amp and some subs

Any other suggestions would be awesome! Remember this car is a product of this site

cosmick

Certainly made the engine bay worth looking at.

Lewspike69

Haha. Yeah it's a little more easier on the eyes than the stock 305 configuration. Lol

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

Aluminum rad is a good idea IF you're running on the hot side. A Griffin 31x19 will barely fit.

If you go single fan, make sure it has a shroud that covers the whole core section. Don't bother with the cheap one that zip ties through the core....ask me how I know...lol

I found out about the brake line fittings when I installed my Moser 9". So I used standard fittings, no biggie. Watch out if you ever buy nice billet brackets for your PS pump...did you know there's a metric pump? I do now.

Trans cooler is always a great idea. Watch out when lowering the car...it will place your nice torque arm further into the tunnel....you e brake cable will suddenly gouge a groove in the top of your torque arm and on every big bump you hit, your rear brakes will try to apply....ask me how I know....lol. I made another bracket for my cable...don't go real low and avoid the issue all together.

I have a 4th gen DS because I had a vib issue NO ONE could figure out....had my stock one balanced twice and still vibrated.....aluminum one fixed it! These stock ones are JUNK IMO....

My T-top car is handling a supercharged 400 sbc just fine....I have SFC's though.

Your car looks sharp....now just get the bugs out!

Lewspike69

Haha don't you got to love how some of these things you have to learn the hard way? I'm just coming to appreciate it with this build lol.

I really don't know how hot I'm running now since I only put about 10 miles on it. I'm thinking I want to be running at no more than 195* when the motors all broken in. Is this correct?

I don't want to lower it too much, just give it a better stance ; lower the front some . I really don't like these cars slammed.

Thanks for sharing you experiences with me.
By the way your '83 looks awesome. Means alot coming from you.

Confuzed1

iTrader: (4)

First off - Thanks!

How hot it's going to run depends on quite a few variables...how you have your timing set, carb settings, t-stat...etc. So there's no real "broken in" temp it should run at. 195 is great if that's where you can keep it at. I'm happy if I can keep mine at 220 or below on a warm day in stop-and-go traffic. Anything above that is dicey...and 230 or over, you'd better start worrying.

I have a bunch of good and bad experiences with my car at least....a lot of both!

Your engine is barely broken in at 10 miles. You'll still need to do some minor tweaking on it, but it should have plenty of power once you dial it in! A lot of it is trial and error really.

Lewspike69

I look forward to the good experiences with this car for sure. Maybe not so much the reverse... Haha

Monday for sure I will have my valves re adjusted and ensure my timing is on point. I know however "perfection" won't come that easy lol.

Lewspike69

Well just a little update on the car...

I got the valve adjustments right; One was far too tight. It was also running pig rich and it turned out the motor didn't like the vacuum advance. So I'm running just the mechanical. Now that I have the timing and carb right, this car doesn't skip a beat. Absolutely no hesitation anywhere, no hiccups. My initial timing is a little high something like 22*. My total is at 36* i believe.

This car is an animal though. I'm about to put a slightly better aluminum radiator in, a trans cooler, and an electric fan in maybe this weekend. I'm going to use the electric on the front of the rad and still use the clutch one and see where my temps are at. Right now around town they are consistently right below 220*. Id like too see that at 200*.

well 200 miles on the odometer in counting (probable closer to 180 due to the gear change). First oil change is about to happen as well!

I hear a lot of sound from the SPOHN torque arm though. I read that is alot of people's experience.

A six speed is probably in my future. I must admit this car would be so much more fun standard. Right now I'm afraid of tearing up the slushbox haha

Lewspike69

UPDATE

I have been just enjoying this car, driving it to work every other day. It is just too much fun yet is absolutely reliable and tame enough for everyday driving. I really met my goals with this one - to be a street machine yet to retain the manners to be driven as a daily semi-comfortably.

Well I have seriously re-amped the cooling system.

>

My CC951B all aluminum 3 core Champion Radiator

This really was almost a direct fit mod. I shaved the bottom rubber mounts to barely nothing & hacked around the edgems of my fan shrowd and this thing sat right in there.



My trans cooler (unknown brand). This has to be the best improvement. Alone before i put in the radiatior or fan this brought my average temps down probably about 20 degrees. I did this to ensure my transmission lasts me for as long as I can have it with the higher stall. I routed the trans oil tranny > trans cooler > radiator > trans. After research on this site I felt this was the best route. It will get really cooled with the auxiliary, however never be too cool with it going though the radiator last.

(Front the outside)





Then my auxiliary pusher fan....




I wanted a fan on a toggle swtich that i could throw whem my clutch fan just wasn't cutting it in stop and go city traffic. It is a Mr. Gasket 12inch cooling fan. I positioned it right in betweens the radiator and trans cooler to let it cool both. The fan is obviously only cooling half of the radiator but it is only an aux fan. I defianlitly wouldn't mind a second one however. I wired it from a switched by ignition source on the fuse box > inline fuse > fan > ground.
Works great! I love the LED light haha.






These upgrades all together have brought my average temps, both stop and go and free way, down greatly. The trouble is have the stupid stock coolant temp gauge that reads of equal incraments of space yet terribly unproportional numbers, 100-220 (halfway point - 260. If I had to guess I'm never over 210 without the aux fan yet almost always at around 195. I'm borrowing a very accurate a infrared thermometer to see exactly were I'm at. As always, ill post an update after I know what numbers I'm getting.

FYI I have a 180* thermostat in there.

Lewspike69

So I got the temp gun and investigated how hot everything was running and got to verify my temp gauge.

Well first off, I finally figured out that my gauge is logarithmic! Is is spot on too.

Well I have done a little more free way driving than usual and got to observe two important aspects of my cooling system. First off, at stop and go traffic, the kind it takes 15 minutes to move about 1/2 a mile, my temps were steady right at 180*, WITHOUT THE AUXILARY FAN! Keep in mind this was in 100* weather too.

The next thing I noticed is that while cruising on the highway my temps gradually rise and rise and rise. It will never get at 220* however, just be right under. Needles to say, I just bought an Air Dam to fix that problem haha. It really goes to show how much work that piece of plastic puts in. You can have the best cooling set up, but without it, you're running hot!

Lewspike69

This one amazed me! Trans coolers really do work as well! This is right after a highway run. It's a good thing I have this before the radiator !

I really think my transmission shifts better now. Everything about is smoother now that it is cooler .

Lewspike69

There wasn't an Air Dam on there so I got one for $30 and bolted it on. I will know soon how much of a difference it makes.

Lewspike69

oh and here's a little hood propped open pic I took

something light ; )

I want to get this to the track soon and see what it runs.!