mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

Ideally, they will keep up with the supply of oil to the heads, thus when you lift, there isn't enough oil in the heads to justify front drains, since at idle this problem isn't there at all.

AlkyIROC

Shagwell mentioned about installing some on the front. I haven't decided yet. If I can get most of the oil back into the sump during a run, there should be enough behind the trap door to keep the pickup covered.

I've never had a lack of oil issue in the shutdown unless I'm really hard on the brakes trying to make the first turn off. If I run it out to the end of the track, the oil doesn't get pushed to the front as much plus I still have an accumulator to keep the pressure high enough for a short period of time.

AlkyIROC

Firewall update

Here's what I started with. I previously did some modifications years ago for a little more access but now need even more.





Cut out what I want to modify





Weld in some sides to take it back. The driver's side needs to move back a lot more than the passenger side. I used the midplate as a guide.





Fabricate a recessed back out of aluminum and rivet it in. It will all be painted black later before the engine goes in. There's now lots of room to access the bellhousing bolts and I could install a flat plate flexplate shield in the future when the CSR shield expires. There's also a lot more room for the dipstick tube. It was always difficult to install because one of the bellhousing bolts needed to hold it in place and the tube was tight against the firewall.





As for the transmission tunnel, I'm going to weld in some steel on the sides then make a smaller removable top section out of aluminum instead of trying to fabricate a complete removable tunnel that would somehow need to match up to the uneven factory floor. If the floor was flat like in a tube chassis car, it would be much easier.

PhoenixFirebird

iTrader: (2)

Never enough room back there is there? Reminds me of when we swapped in a glide in my dad's Vega. Damn near impossible to bolt it up and have the dipstick tube playing nice at the same time. Out of 5 people, I was the only one to get the bolts in, solely because I have small hands lol.

Shagwell

That should get the job done.


If it weren't for out class racing/rules my entire firewall would be gone & replaced with a flat piece of .060 aluminum 3-4" behind the windshield, sealing up under the dash. - For your car, that does open up the proverbial "can of worms" though, then I'd be cutting out the stock floors, etc,etc,etc.

1gary

After some thought,I'm going to bring up the drain-backs at the next partnership meeting.While we're apart for the winter,might not be a bad idea.Have to see what the other haft thinks.I afraid what their thinking is a blower update and if that is the case,might be a good time for me to retire.

1gary

Alky-Sorry for the off topic post.Firewall looks like it is coming alone nicely.Sure is a help a ton when you can get to the mid plate.Did you say your going to build a removal-able tunnel???. That helps when inside the car you can just slide the trans off and on the longer guide pins.

AlkyIROC

Trans will always be removed out the bottom. I just got lazy this time and pulled the engine with the trans sitting on those blocks. With no tranny crossmember, there's nothing else holding it up except the driveshaft on the loop crossmember. I lifted the trans up slightly and put in a couple of bellhousing bolts just to check clearances for the new firewall.

The removable tunnel is mainly for accessing the bellhousing bolts, the cooler lines and installing the shield. I also want a better access hole to do the band adjustment.

Shagwell

Just a thought with the front section being removable; you could inx-nay the dip-stick tube all together & switch to one of the flip-lock dipstick plugs that goes directly into the case w/o a tube. - That's what I run, makes for one less thing in the way when you're working on stuff.

AlkyIROC

If I now have a removable tunnel, that would be much easier. Basically a dragster system with a stubby dipstick. Wouldn't take much to cut this one down either. I'm not sure how well a flip lock plug would work around that CSR shield. Not a lot of room. I'll take a better look the next time I'm out in the garage. A cheap flip lock (locking) transmission dipstick can be found in any auto wrecker. Just not sure if the top part of the tube is the same size as the hole in the case.

This week has been a bust. I broke my laptop at work early in the week and have been busy looking for a new one to replace it. I got one tonight so most of the weekend will probably be spent reinstalling a whole bunch of truck diagnostic software plus all the other programs I normally use so I can start using the new laptop on Monday morning.

Technically, making the tranny tunnel right now isn't a big priority. Now that the firewall is how I want it, I can go ahead and drop the engine in. The tunnel can be made with the engine in the car.The goal was to have it running before the end of the year. Perhaps during the holiday breaks, I can spend a lot more time on the car.

1gary

Hell no-I didn't mean it to sound like we are taking the tranny out of the car from the top.It still come out of it from the bottom,but we have enough room to guide it on the pins.The cross member has quick pins instead of bolts and are spring clipped to hold them in place.Glide comes out of our door slammer in 1/2 hr at most.

Yeah,just keep cutting at those floor boards and then 2 x 3 frame rails...............Just kidding.LOL.

Shagwell

^ Seems a lot of the 'glide guys have quick release cross members, QC cooler lines, carry handles on the back of the case, and know how long it takes to drop it out.................I'll stick with my 400, lol.

AlkyIROC

Finally got around to dropping the engine in this weekend. Got a lot hooked up but still have a long way to go before I'm ready to fire it up.

The black paint makes it a little hard to see but there's lots of room for the drain fittings now.

1gary

Dry sump??.$$$$$$$$???.Naw-way too much money.But a decent read giving advantages and disadvantages.

http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Arti...g_systems.aspx

Hummm-maybe a good used sysem.

AlkyIROC

I've been tinkering away at it for a while now. Other than the throttle linkage isn't hooked up yet and there's no fuel in the cell, I could fire it up the way it currently sits. I was hoping to have it running before the end of the year (today) but didn't want to go through the trouble of draining the winter storage oil out of the fuel pump just to fire it up. I figured I'd take a few more pictures just to show progress. My ToDo list is getting smaller.

AlkyIROC

The new Dart Big M casting doesn't have a large gallery port beside the oil filter any more. I wanted a port at the start of the galleries instead of the large port on the bellhousing which I think is at the end of the galleries. It might not be but I decided to install a remote oil filter mount and tee'd in the accumulator on the remote's outlet. I made a plate that attaches to the motor mount bolt holes and the remote filter mount attaches to the plate. There's lots of room to remove the filter and the center link doesn't touch it.

It was easier to mount it beside the engine than it was to bring it out and mount it on the motor plate.

Shagwell

looking good.

skinny z

That's always a good thing.