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I like that you are doing a build thread AFTER the car has been completed. That’s a good idea. This way you can post an update every couple days. It’s like binge watching Netflix for me!
I’ve been working on my car for years and it’s months between update posts in my build thread.
I like that you are doing a build thread AFTER the car has been completed. That’s a good idea. This way you can post an update every couple days. It’s like binge watching Netflix for me!
I’ve been working on my car for years and it’s months between update posts in my build thread.
Yep, I love binge watching! If I had started from the beginning, it would be 40 pages by now with a lot of commercials.lol This way, you can just enjoy the highlights without all of the waiting or interruptions! My other 2 cars will be weeks or months between posts as I do things with them and of course there will be future plans and add ons for KITT, but for the most part, today, it's a fully-functioning completed car which we'll get to eventually!
A few weeks after paint, I had the windshield installed. I had a company come out to my house and install the windshield in my driveway along with the closest factory correct trim I could find. Now, you're probably thinking, well that's cool, but what's so special about the windshield? Well I'll tell you! While my car was in the paint shop, I decided I wanted something different to set my replica apart from most in the world. Several years ago, a good friend of mine tracked down the company that produced the windshields for the TV show Knight Rider and along with a couple of other guys, they bought all of the ones this company had left, which wasn't that many. These windshields are DOT safety laminate, have no tinting in the glass, no anti-glare and no tint strip across the top. They are crystal clear. In the TV show, you always see them on the car and they are primarily for front camera shots so the actor's head is not "shaded" and everything is in clear focus. After talking with my friend, he agreed to sell me one, so I drove 6 1/2 hours to his house and picked it up. It sat beside by sofa in the living room wrapped in foam and blankets until it was time to install it.
The glass has a neat effect, when it's super clean and no glare on it, it looks like there's no glass in the car! But what makes it special is that it was produced for the television show and had the show continued, this glass would have most likely been installed in a film car.
I would not recommend such a glass on a daily driver especially at night! There is no anti-glare, it's like looking through an older single pane house window!
There is some kind of symbol in the center bottom of the glass. I'll have to see if I can get a good pic of it as it's quite small and hard to read. Interestingly enough your Camaro is the only one I've ever seen with this type of windshield that came from the factory. I have seen a few other cars with clear side glass and hatch before, but never the windshield. For years, in the Knight Rider hobby, it was believed that these windshields were only custom made for film cars, but when I found your thread awhile back, I was convinced that at one time they must have been available from the factory, although not very common obviously. In fact, when the windshield installers saw mine, one of the guys was an older fellow and he claimed that they used to be able to get them as he remembered installing them. At any rate, they are extremely rare today! I wish my car also had clear side glass and hatch like yours as well as that's pretty cool!
That is why I ask if there is a stamp. You say they were manufactured specifically for movie cars without tint and an anti-glare. I believe mine to be a factory piece and wonder if there are different manufacturers.
That is why I ask if there is a stamp. You say they were manufactured specifically for movie cars without tint and an anti-glare. I believe mine to be a factory piece and wonder if there are different manufacturers.
Here is the windshield manufacturer stamp.
I did some quick research and the manufacturer is Viracon.
They do primarily architectural glass now for buildings and no longer manufacture car windshields. They apparently phased out auto glass several years ago.
Last edited by kentuckyKITT; 10-21-2018 at 05:51 PM.
Windshied Rear hatch Door glass
It appears that all of my glass is from the factory, it is not original to my car though. At night you would expect to feel the wind because the windshield is so clear and no glare. Very neat to see a different manufacturer with a specific purpose.
Pausing from the history build and doing a little present day stuff concerning the engine! We will return to the regularly scheduled program when the 327 is back to life!
So, as I mentioned in the Tech/General Engine Thread, one of my heads on the 327 cracked under the the seat. The car had been steaming antifreeze slightly all summer that progressively got worse and I quit driving the car and was trailering it the rest of the season. I decided to tear into it about a month ago and after pressure testing the coolant, we removed the #2 spark plug (the one that was oil fouling on me constantly) and cranked the motor over and antifreeze shot out of the hole fiercely. So, I pulled it all apart and removed the one head:
I sent the head to the machine shop and received the bad news a few days later that the head was cracked and non-repairable. The guy at the shop also said my driver's side head was probably not too far behind. I mean these 461 heads are over 50 years old! At first I was contemplating pulling the engine and just buying a crate 350, but the machine shop told me they could get me a good set of aluminum heads for less than a grand that would out perform the camel humps and bring the 327 alive again and gain a little more horsepower. So, after a couple of weeks of mulling on it, I decided to go ahead and do it. I also decided it was time for the Edelbrock Torker single plane intake to go as it is over 40 years old and never was very good on the street with the high RPM band. I picked up an Edelbrock Performer EPS dual plane and mocked everything up yesterday to see what all I'd have to change to accommodate the new heads and intake:
To my surprise, I don't have to change much at all! The alternator bracket from the 327 bolts right back onto the water neck bolt as before, which meant nothing on the front of the engine has to change. My heater hose fitting goes almost back in the same place, only at a slight angle on this intake, but will work just fine! The only real change will be the loss of my streamlined valve covers since they will not fit over the full roller rockers I ordered, so it's on to taller valve covers. Also, this intake has no oil fill tube, so I will be getting baffled valve covers so that I can install a breather/filler and PCV in. I'll do away with the PCV in the back of the block. The only other change will be the temperature sensor. I was running a larger sensor in the old intake and while it will thread in this one in a couple of spots, there's no clearance. These heads have temperature holes in them unlike the camel humps, so I will go back to the factory temperature sensor on the driver's side head.
Got my adjustable push rod the other day so I can figure out my geometry since the valves are taller and I'm using full roller rockers. Just waiting on the rockers to come in and then I can get started. The weather is good tomorrow, so I'll probably go ahead and stick the heads.
The cool part! Even though this intake is slightly taller than the Torker, the hood still closes with the factory style air cleaner and cowl induction set up. I never thought it would close after seeing how tall that air cleaner sits up there, so I can keep that as is! I thought for sure I was going to have to ditch the cowl induction set up, but it appears it's going to work without any gaskets anyway! Guess we'll see when I get all of the gaskets in.
Last edited by kentuckyKITT; 11-22-2018 at 05:51 PM.
I am having a hard time believing that your hood will still close. What carb are you using again?
I loved this build from 8 years ago, and I planned to do nearly the same to mine. Sorry your head cracked.
But I'm glad you are keeping the 327.
Anti-seize and stainless hardware is your friend here. Now is your chance to prevent stuck/galled hardware in the future.
And use studs in the aluminum wherever you can.
I am having a hard time believing that your hood will still close. What carb are you using again?
I loved this build from 8 years ago, and I planned to do nearly the same to mine. Sorry your head cracked.
But I'm glad you are keeping the 327.
Anti-seize and stainless hardware is your friend here. Now is your chance to prevent stuck/galled hardware in the future.
And use studs in the aluminum wherever you can.
Yes, I was having a hard time believing the hood would close too, but I moved everything out of the way, dropped it down and with light pressure, it latched. I could tell, it was tighter, but it didn't pop it up in the back, so unless the gaskets really raise me up, I think I'll be okay! I run an Edelbrock 1405 carb. My air cleaner base is modified a tad to clear the banjo fitting and sit level on it using the air cleaner to carb gasket.
I ordered all new stainless steel hardware including bolts and pipe plugs last night. Still have to get a new carb stud kit, gasket, a shorter heater hose barb fitting and few other odds and ends.
Since I now have heads with accessory holes, I think I'll go to a serpentine set up after I get it running good, maybe next spring. Not ready to throw down the cash on that until I know it's going to run good again. Fingers crossed, hoping my roller rockers show up today or tomorrow!
Saturday, I got the heads torqued on. The passenger side was easy, had all kinds of strength and I'm right handed! Driver's side? Not so much. I ended up climbing into the engine bay to torque the driver's side head using my right hand after failing miserably with my left hand, but I got it done!! I did it in three steps, 30, 50, and final 70 with a double check of each bolt. The roller rockers were on the Fedex truck for delivery Friday and Saturday, but did they show up so I could take advantage of the 50 degree weather? NOPE. I got them today and now it's 20 degrees.lol
I really liked the design of these. They are Assault Racing Products and are not top of the line nor are they bottom of the barrel. I spent a few weeks looking at roller rockers and there are so many. One major thing I like about these is that the small roller pins are not cheaply pressed in, they actually are pins with retainer clips. Even some of the high end roller rockers I looked at had cheap pressed in pins. Even though my engine will never see the race track or climb to high rpms, I can be rest assured the pins won't walk out on me.
All I have to do now is figure my push rod length and then I can order push rods. One step closer.
I usually can't ever sit long enough to follow build threads, but finally took the time to look through this one. Knight Rider isn't my cup of tea, but I can really respect the effort and results of all the work you've put into it. It looks great!
I usually can't ever sit long enough to follow build threads, but finally took the time to look through this one. Knight Rider isn't my cup of tea, but I can really respect the effort and results of all the work you've put into it. It looks great!
Hey thanks! Once I get the engine running again, I'll get back to the history build. There's still final assembly after paint, front suspension rebuild, and dash electronics install.
This past Saturday, with the help of my friend, we figured out the push rod geometry and installed all of the roller rockers. We were fighting condensation the whole time because it was cool and drizzling. It turned out the standard length push rods I already had were about right. At about 9pm after we were done and he already left, I realized we didn't put the engine back to top dead center. This is a pain for me, because I have to turn the engine over using the flywheel under the car, so I can't see. I don't have a harmonic balancer bolt to turn the engine over with since it is pressed on and I don't trust the bolts holding the pulley. At any rate, my friend called me Sunday morning because he wasn't convinced that the push rod length was right and wanted to double check and reminded me we didn't top dead center the engine. So, on Sunday, we did it again and after about 2 hours, determined that the stock rods would work. We even colored the tips of several of the valves and rolled it over several times to check and low and behold, the roller was riding in the center, so we finally decided it was good to go and put it to top dead center.
What's interesting to me, is the original valve covers actually clear. However, since I don't have oil fill tube with the new intake, I had already ordered taller baffled valve covers with 3 holes. On the driver's side, forward hole is a twist in oil cap, the other I will use for a breather. I will turn the passenger side, so the hole is aft and modify the stock air cleaner tube to fit that hole like it used to be. I will retain the PCV in the rear of the block since the new intake clears the separator can in the valley and the PCV has always worked perfectly there. Since this engine will never look like it did, I decided for 2.0 to change it up a bit and ordered black valve covers, black oil cap, breather and black water neck.
Later on Sunday, I repainted the water pump silver with VHT paint since the POR 15 primer has turned gold over the years. It took me longer to mask then it did to paint, but it turned out great. I'll snap a pic of that next time.
I have the intake gaskets as of today, so I'm ready to assemble, but now it's freezing cold, so hoping for a warm day.
Continuing 327 2.0, I have just about everything now to put it together. I still have to get a new stud for the power steering bracket and a few other odds and ends, but have most everything. Got the black valve covers with breather and oil cap, black water neck, a ton of stainless hardware showed up and the carb and intake gaskets. I once again mocked up the intake/valve covers, mainly so I could check clearance and my heater hose connection. Here's the mock up. Also, you can see how much better the water pump looks from repainting it last weekend.
I'm really digging the blacked out look! After doing this mockup, I realized that the stainless steel Swagelok elbow I've used for years is a bad idea for this intake, reason being? It cannot be unscrewed, because it hits the head when rotated. This means that if that fitting ever leaks, I would have to remove the entire intake just to get that fitting off. That's poor design thinking on my part! So, I will not be using the elbow and instead I will put the straight fitting in and use a 3/4" heater hose with a molded 90 degree in it. Already ordered it yesterday.
I also ordered a new 2-core aluminum radiator, something I've been wanting to do for awhile and now's the time while everything is apart. That is supposed to be here by the 14th.
Got a small heater for my garage and will try to stick the intake today, then I can press on.
I got the intake stuck last Saturday. The radiator showed up 2 days ago. Frostbite FB188 2-core. It was 48 degrees last night, so I started on it. Overall, fits pretty good, but I've got some modification to do.
Looks like my condenser rubber mounts are in the way. I may lose the condenser since the car no longer has A/C and hasn't for years. I like having the condenser for a little extra protection for the radiator though. I may try to trim the rubber mounts to let it lean forward some more. Bottom shroud fits perfect, no issues there. 3 of the bolt holes on the top shroud will line up, but it is raised up 1/2". I took the rubber mounts out of the top shroud which dropped me down some, but still not enough. This radiator has some fat tanks on it! Going to carve the ends of the shroud tonight to hopefully allow it sit down. The lower rubber mounts hold it up pretty good as well, but I really don't want to lose those, unless I can replace with some wide foam on each side.
The weather is warm this weekend with a little rain and I have everything now, so my plan is to have the engine ready to start by Sunday afternoon.
I like the black dress up parts on the engine, gives it a subdued look. Almost makes me wonder what the radiator would look like with the tanks blacked out.
Are the little rubber nipples on the condenser snubbers snapped all the way into the radiator support?
Easy way to protect the rad without the condenser would be to install an intercooler... You know, for the TurboBoost.
I've never removed a condenser before, but after slightly tugging, it appeared it would just come right out, like it's just wedged in there with the rubber. No exposed bolts or fasteners at the top. At any rate, after trimming the sides of the those rubber bushings, that allowed the radiator to tilt forward more which was just enough. Also after trimming the underside of the upper shroud ends, I was able to install it perfectly! Worked out well and looks good too.
Got a lot done yesterday with radiator, hoses, distributor in, carb on. Sat the air cleaner on for the full effect and to see how my air tube would line up. Still have to trim and run 3/4 heater core hose, hang headers, run fuel hose/filter back to carb, tighten belts, lengthen temp sensor wire to reach driver's side head, pop on the distributor cap, insert plugs, run plug wires, fill system with anti-freeze and then start it! Hopefully this afternoon! I will start it with the valve covers off using my 13 cent cardboard oil splash shields so I can monitor the rockers and adjust if needed.
Will the hood close? Don't know, haven't tried. It did before without gaskets, but now we have gaskets raising us up some. It looks iffy in the pics, but I'll find out later today.
IT LIVES AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy!!!! 327 Version 2.0 is better than ever. Got everything done at 3pm and called my buddy to come out and watch things and man the fire extinguisher just in case. I did my final checks of wiring and hoses, hooked the battery up and once I got fuel pumped back into the carb, she fired right up! We had to richen the carb a little and adjust the timing and it runs better than it ever has, idle is so smooth, it doesn't shake back and forth (side to side) like it used to all those years, it's amazing what new heads and intake can do!! I didn't even have to adjust the rockers, not a single one was tapping, just operating as smooth as can be. I'm now convinced that running the 50+ year old iron heads and 40+ year old racing intake was a mistake from the very beginning, but that's how you learn I suppose.
I've got a little clean up to do and I have to re-figure my spark plug wires since they will not reach over the taller valve covers, but that's easy stuff. Once I get that done and get a warm day, I'll drive it and see how it does. At this point though, I think it's good to go by the way it idles and revs.
One little irk that completely sucks is that with the design of the headers and the heads requiring 3/4" reach plugs, I have to pull the header to get the #5 spark plug in the hole and it's so close, I cannot use a boot and have to use the fire sleeve over the clip instead, but it doesn't touch. It was like this before, but with the shorter reach, I could thread the plug in without removing the header, but not with these plugs. The new NGK plugs I'm using are actually shorter from the "nut" to the tip than the old NGK plugs with 3/8" reach threads, but that #5 tube is just too close on these headers. I think it's time for a new set of headers in the spring. I need to find a set that clear every plug and boot and fit the car.
Congrats! Gotta love when a 'new' engine comes to life.
What headers are you using?
Yes indeed!! Thanks!
On the headers, they are FlowTech stainless (which I can't even find anymore). It's the ones that have the passenger side tube that crosses over to clear the A/C box. On page 1 there is a picture of them hanging on the engine on the stand. I'll repost below for reference. The passenger side is great really, but that driver's side at #5 is a real pain and kind of ridiculous to not only remove the header but not be able to use a boot. Also number 3 touches the header as it threads in a few threads (kind wedges) which I also don't like, but it's not too bad. It starts in good until it gets to a certain point then it touches the tube, then goes on past it with plenty of room for a boot, although the boot is close on that one. #1 and #7 are just fine.
Pictures of headers: (they don't look this shiny anymore)
You can kind of see how that #5 tube should really be curved out more, but it's not!
Last edited by kentuckyKITT; 12-16-2018 at 07:21 PM.
Hmm, Flowtechs. The scourge of thirdgen exhaust everywhere...
No room to tap a lil' relief clearance in the tube?
I tried that several years ago. Took the header off and tried to beat a dent in it. It was like trying to beat a dent in the Liberty Bell. They are ridiculously strong. Other than that #5 tube, they are great headers with one of the thickest flanges I've ever seen, they flow well and I can change plugs with the same angle box-end wrench from the top on all 8 very easily. Someone just needed to take the driver's side header to the designer's cubicle and lay it down on their desk and say: "hey bud, you see this tube right here? Yea, all you have to do is just curve this out about 1/2" inch more as there is plenty of room. Thanks pal."
It's too late now though!
It's all fine right now until I go to change plugs in the future.
As far as adding a spacer, I would have to rebuild the Y-Pipe since they won't line up anymore and if I have to do all of that, I may as well get better headers! The research is on!
Started buttoning a few things up today. Got the valve covers installed. I ended up putting the two hole on the passenger side for simple oil cap access. It was under the air cleaner snout on the driver's side so I switched that up. Put a black push in breather rear driver's side and modified the stock air cleaner tube by cutting 1 inch off the valve cover side and used a 3/4" grommet that fit it nice and tight. Still working on the spark plug wires. I ended up buying another set of the same wires so I could have 4 longer ones which is what I need. Going to finish that up tomorrow, change the oil and filter and hopefully go for a spin.
I'll have to sand and paint the surface rusted air cleaner tube, but have to wait for warmer weather to paint. I'll probably paint it black.
Done and running in the pics! Drove it a few miles to clear out all of the left over antifreeze in the exhaust/muffler and cleared that right up. I'm running cheap oil with some ZDDP additive to clear out any remaining antifreeze. Going to drain it again and put the good oil back in after Christmas. Not really any bugs to work out except for one so far. #5 is intermittently misfiring (shocker). Got to do something about that header clearance. Otherwise, it's good to go!!
Took a few pics of the #5 header tube at the spark plug. You can see how close it is. Removed the header today and dropped it off at the race car shop. Guy said he can cut that tube out and rebuild it with new stainless tubing even with the #3 tube which should give me the clearance I need and be able to use a boot again which will stop the annoying intermittent misfiring of #5 and allow installation of the plug without removing the header.
Last edited by kentuckyKITT; 12-27-2018 at 04:34 PM.
Accel 576S header plugs are the shortest I have seen.
While the header is out, move your brake lines over to the other side of the steering shaft to lessen the cooking of that fluid.
Got my header back! The guy at the race car shop did a great job. He completely removed the #5 tube and rebuilt a new tube farther out. Now I have plenty of clearance to not only change the spark plug, but put a boot on it! Cost me 140.00 including the stainless tubing, and worth every penny. Got it installed today, changed the oil, fired it up and smooth as can be. No more intermittent misfire! This is the way that header should have been built to begin with.
Going to tidy up my fire sleeve a little by putting longer pieces that extend into the dividers for a cleaner look and do a little general cleaning, but otherwise, it's good to go!
Now that the 327 is squared away, we'll get back to the history of the car build next week.
I've been trying to update this, but I can no longer post pictures. The tool bar that shows text editing, picture upload has disappeared on me and I can't get it back. This is true whether I click on the REPLY button, use quick reply or even start a NEW THREAD. I can still host images from my car forum that I'm admin of, but it's a real hassle. I've hosted a screen cap of what I see when I post below as you can see, the tool bar that normally appears between the Title: and the Post box is just gone, vanished:
I tried posting in the problem section twice, but my post won't show up in there. Sent a PM to JT, but no response. He's probably super busy. Anyone else know what's going on?
I had a problem last week where I would try to add a photo, and the scan would only go to 50% and then disappear. But it is working now.
Try using internet explorer if you aren't already.
Finally getting around to updating this again with "past" progress now that I can upload pictures again. Anyway, after it returned from paint, it took me about 3 months to put it back together and I replaced every plastic clip I encountered in the interior. Also, while the car was in the paint shop, I completely redid all of the tan plastic for the car with custom mixed SEM paint matched to the back of my driver's side kick panel. I didn't take any pictures of the "after paint" assembly progress, really don't know why, was just too focused on getting it done I guess.
Here are a few pictures: Still not done yet, but we're getting close to present day!
Next up was suspension and brake work on a freshly painted car. Nice right? I did that backwards. I just love doing ball joints, it's so much fun!
Table full of parts:
Couple of pics I took while replacing things and since I'm on gravel, there are 4 jack stands under the car sitting on concrete pavers and the front wheels are under the body for added protection. The floor jack is also there for fun.
Build new assembly same as old and drive to alignment shop no problem.
10-06-2018, 08:28 AM
