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Hey everyone, some of you may remember me from forever ago. Anyway my car is 82-0053-R. I bought it out of California in 2004 (yes, I've owned it for almost 20 years). It had a few bruises and sun baked paint but only 67,000 original miles. I cleaned it up and repainted it within a few months and it looked real good........FIRST PIC.
Fast forward to around 2011......the Penzoil sticker under the hood reared it's ugly face.....camshaft lost a couple lobes. Around 78,000 miles on it now. I did NOT have a shop at the time and a buddy let me tear into it at his shop. Everything looked pretty good except the cam, and the heads were needing a bit of work as well. Was planning on cleaning up the engine bay and refreshing the engine. I brought the car back home but tucked my engine and other engine bay parts in a corner of said buddy's shop. THEN.......LIFE......I was doing a lot of side work wrenching on jet skis. And then I started building my shop......it became a 5 year build using cash that I was making on the side, Finished up my shop and my wife told me about a half dozen times to go get all my Trans Am parts. I really didn't want it in my way while built shelves and workbenches, plus, my buddy insisted it was NOT in his way at all......................and then............his SHOP BURNED DOWN! He lost pretty much everything in it. He didn't have enough insurance coverage to replace the building, let alone anything in it. My wife and I spent a couple hard days sifting through charcoal and piles of burnt roofing to save what we could of his (he was so upset he couldn't stand to be around it) and find all my engine stuff.....which was all ruined of course. End of story, not a sore subject for me, we're still friends.
Fast forward to NOW! I've been happily self-employed for the last 5 years paying off almost all debt and can finally start in on projects! I've procured a correct, early 80's 305 that needs refreshed, and whatever else I need I'll watch Ebay or check with forum members on here. So, here are the pics of it freshly drug out from under the trees where it's been for the last 10+ years!!! This might take a while as I seem to always have a dozen things going on at once. But bear with me and I'll update as things happen.
I finally had a chance to clean up the MSE today WOOT WOOT!!
It actually cleaned up better than I anticipated. It kind of has that " I'm a survivor" look to it LOL!
I got that 305 mostly torn down and everything looks good.....BUT, stamping on front shows it's for crossfire inj!! Ok, now what? Talked to machine shop about my original block and heads, and they said it's probably still ok. So I decided to dip it myself to get it cleaned up BEFORE I drop it off because otherwise they're gonna charge me $$$ to extract the cam and lifters which are rusted in place. Here is the original rusty lump of metal. I dunked it with some "super washing powder" and hooked up an old battery charger. 8 hours later, electrolysis had removed almost all the surface rust and left some nasty muck in the drum.
Well......I got the cam out........in pieces lol!! But before I sterted that I actually found a crack in my original block. Great, time to try welding cast iron I guess. So I cleaned everything and ground out the crack. Then I decided the brake cleaner makes a good torch! Then I welded it up, it got too dark out for a decent pic but I'll get some tomorrow. I also took that clean hardware and stuck it in my tumbler with some 'black beauty". Results were quite good.
Oh.......IT didn't.......I did! After soaking with Liquid Wrench I got the cam to move some back and forth. Problem was the lifters that were also stuck in place. And with the cam in the way there is no way to pound the lifters out! I took a piece of steel rod and a mini sledge and a few whacks will bust the cam. Then you can pull out a small piece at a time and finally access the lifters and pound em out.
Pic of the braze-weld I made, I did both sides. I finished clearancing around the lifter bores and drilled and tapped a few holes down the center...........yep, I'm converting this to a roller cam. The block, crank, and heads are all at the machine shop for baking and shot blasting.
Very impressive the extent you are going thru to revive your MSE. You're going to love it when your back in the driver's seat. I enjoy the heck out of mine every time I fire it up and take it for spin around the block & especially on our monthly autocross event! These cars are the best!
I got a box today!! A complete overhaul kit for my Th200c. There was nothing wrong with it last time I drove the car.........but you know how that goes.
Actually, I'm pretty sure it was probably like this when I first pulled 10+ years ago. If you look at the first closeup pic, you can see the whole cam still in the block. After washing I actually noticed this BEFORE ever hammering on the cam.
I probably would use another block.
be nice to get back in the seat of it again!
Yes, most people would I assume. I mean, it's just a 305 right...........BUT, it's the correct, dated, matching 305 for my MSE. That's why I'm hoping to re-use it.
Check this out......I dipped my cRusty oil pan in an acid bath. Don't worry, I did the other side too.......squeaky clean!
My exhaust manifolds has some black.....SOMETHING melted onto them. I don't know if it was shingles from my buddies shop fire or what. It would just plug up the grinding wheel, the flap disc wouldn't even touch it. I ended up using a carbide burr to get it knocked off. Then I decided I might just smooth up the manifolds. That's 3.5 hours worth right there folks.
Maybe jumping the gun since I still haven't heard from the machine shop.........but I got some of the parts in that I ordered. Doesn't really matter how the engine situation goes, I'll need this stuff anyway.
Those shocks are a huge mistake my friend. The MSE's came with konis. Id definitely invest in some koni yellows. Those will make the car handle horribly
My Koni reds on the car are actually in decent shape. I just don't have the 'want' to ride stiffly and knock my kidneys about my midsection on the way to a cruise-in lol! Just want to ride comfy with the a/c on!
KYBs are kinda a stiff ride though. At least all the sets i had back in the day. Even the gas-adjust on the soft setting rode kinda hard. Didn't bother me back then, but now...not so much.
My son has a Mazda Protege'5 show car. It's got -1 tein springs and excel Gs and I think it rides fine. It still gives a nice road 'feel', without being overly harsh. I figured the T/a will feel about the same.
My son has a Mazda Protege'5 show car. It's got -1 tein springs and excel Gs and I think it rides fine. It still gives a nice road 'feel', without being overly harsh. I figured the T/a will feel about the same.
I have the gas-adjust and excel g's and I think they ride just fine - not overly harsh.
Thanks, that's good to know. Sounds just like what I'm after.
The konis are nice as you can get any ride quality you like with the turn of a ****. From super soft to harsh. I can go over train tracks in my lowered to the floor 86 TA at 40 MPH with the konis no issues. However a slightly better upgrade than what you have would be the KYB AGX shocks which are not as good However offer slightly more ease of use with the adjustment **** at the back. Being able to be adjusted while they are on the car. Unlike the rear Konis.
According to Dennis (second hand from a friend) the closest you can get to what MSE used for springs would be the Hotchkiss 1in drop springs which make a big difference as well. Furthermore the alignment settings MSE used will eat the inside of the tire as they are pretty aggressive. Further pushing these shocks to their limit.
My Koni reds on the car are actually in decent shape. I just don't have the 'want' to ride stiffly and knock my kidneys about my midsection on the way to a cruise-in lol! Just want to ride comfy with the a/c on!
If you contact koni they will rebuild the koni Reds for you to be the most correct. Pricey though. I have 2 sets of mse konis I have yet to send out
At some point, I may send mine in.........or maybe I'll take them apart. I've revalved shocks on atv's through the years, these can't be that different.
Finally........6 weeks later, machine shop said my heads need too much work. Makes more sense to just buy a reman pair. I ordered them today. Also finally got my block back so I can clean up my welded area on the saddle so it won't destroy the line hone stones. Apparently they can't line BORE, and also don't have a knee mill to set the block on and quickly clean up that saddle??????? SOoooooo, I reckon I'll do that on my mill and then send it back. Supposedly they are grinding my crank still..............6 weeks later!
I got a solid 6 hours of work done today. Removed and threw away the rotten coolant and washer tanks. Removed a/c stuff, HUGE mouse nest in the heater a/c box. Removed other misc stuff, AND got the trans pulled out. I just hate when some dip$h!t rounds the nuts on the trans cooler lines off!!! Jeez, ever heard of a 'line' wrench?? Also removed the steering box and started the tedious task or scraping all the dried sludgy, greasy, muck off of everything.
Do you guys know how hard it's getting to find gen1 Chevy smallblock stuff these days? I didn't realize. Nobody has the 416 or 601 heads in stock. They can order them in but it's looking like about $350 each remanufactured PLUS.....I really don't have good cores! Anyway, I found a whole 305 pulled from an '83 van that turns over by hand for $300 and drove 60 miles this evening and picked it up. My hopes are for a decent set of heads and good rods since I have neither.
