no green

The lower radiator hose on this is pretty strait forward, I'm just recycling the lower hose from the SBC. The two -12 an hoses for the upper hoses make things a little more complex...



After looking at manifolds, and costs, I found the most cost effective and cleanest solution would be to modify my radiator to accept two -12 hoses. So, last night I took the radiator to my Dad's shop and chopped off the upper hose nipple, and fabbed a plate for two bungs.



chopped off the nipple, and outlined where we wanted to put the plate.



made a plate from some scraps.



mocked up the summit -12 bungs.



Then my brother came over and tigged the parts together.

no green

Here's a bargain hunter's tip: chances are your car friends or relitives that have more money than you will have alot of leftovers from their builds, and this time of year, they will probably be going off somwhere warm while you're stuck in the cold. So, I took advantage of that, and raided the attic in dad's shop whiles he's in florida, and got a bunch of wiring and plumbing supplies, which probalby saved me about $300 if I had to buy all this stuff. Just the red 4 gauge alternator wire was over $60!! Those -8 90 degree fittings are $15 each...



among the swiped supplies, I found what was left of this weatherpack kit my brother used on one of his projects, and he had a tool, too.



When I returned all the intake manifold hardware to McMaster, I picked up some braided nylon wire loom and some spiral loom, too. I was surprised how inexpensive this was. 10' was only like $3.

no green

So, since I found all the fittings I need, I decided to move my fuel pressure regulators to the engine, to clean up things a bit.

They were up here by the core support.




I fabbed up a bracket out of scraps of aluminium I had, that mounts to the same holes that mount the puke tank, and moved the regulators here. You can also see the spiral loom for the fuel pressure sensor, and the braided loom and weatherpack I made for the water pump.





I also got the wiring on the passenger side of the engine pretty well done. I put the braided loom over everything, and made weather pack connections, and tucked it all in with the coil packs.



Then hid all the hard work under the coil cover...

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

looking great! almost time to fire it up!

no green

Thanks Matt! Getting closer. I'm taking my time to make it nice with the limited stuff and funds I have to work with.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

tell me about it. my winter updates have me working like crazy to get funds together, and of course sweat equity is what builds my car too, so lots of work.

no green

I'm keeping an eye on your cage install, 8.50 cert is probably next winters up grade for me.

84LsxZ28

Sweet build man, that engine is looking sexy! Makes me want to pull mine out to clean it all up and paint it, lol.

Excited to see it running

no green

Thanks!! It's amazing what $20 in spray paint and some effort will get you.

no green

Since I got the radiator back, I rewired the fans for a weather pack connection.



Then installed the radiator and made the upper radiator hoses. Note the upper radiator cover, I had skippy make that 2 years ago... it's no coincidence the profile matches my coil covers I just now had him make me

no green

And as promised, while I was under the car figuring out my transmission lines and wiring, I took some snapshots of the pan/crossmember situation.

There's probably 3"+ between the back of the crossmember and the front of the pan.




there's just over 1" between the crossmember and the bottom of the pan.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Ah, interesting build so far. I may be stealing an idea or two from here. Looking forward to hearing it make noise.

no green

I spent the weekend wiring and plumbing. Using the used fittings and hoses was a bitch, because they were miss-matched brands, and sizes didn't quite match up, but I worked through it, and fingers are crossed there's no leaks. The only bit of plumbing I have left is the nitrous purge line, I found some fittings and braided hose to make servicing easier.

I spent alot of time under the dash pulling wire and making some other changes, all of the work that takes up 80% of the time, yet no one notices...

I pretty much finished wiring the engine, I'm just left with some grounds and the starter to do. I did too good a job hiding wires, so I couldn't get good pix, but everything on the engine is weather packed and covered in the nylon braided loom. I still have to finish wiring in the smart spark and soldering the stupid diodes.

no green

I took some nearly finished shots of the engine compartment. I think Ineed some more hoses

84LsxZ28

Why'd you decide to run without a thermostat on that water pump setup?

no green

don't need it, never had one in the sbc with an electric pump.

no green

Made some progress, mostly been waiting on parts and messing with my new garage entertainment center.

I've been wanting to change my purge line from a hard line to a braided, to make servicing easier. I found a -4 hose in dad's attic, and some fittings kicking around, and modded my old hard line for my purge, it comes out the old windshield washer hole.






And a bargain hunter tip: Rock Auto has the cheapest price for plugs I can find anywhere. My local NAPA promised they will meet Rock Auto's prices, so maybe check into that at your favorite place.

no green

This is something I've been waiting on a long time, the single most expensive part in this project, and at $515 I think it was worth it, since I plan to run the LS and this oil pan for a long time to come, even if a 408 finds its way into the car

It was worth spending the money on the custom version, because this thing went on like cake, it took me longer to root around and find bolts to mount it than anything.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

i'm not familiar with that plug number...are those some sort of non-projected tip?

watching too much MMTV to get anything done eh?

no green

The plug is an experiment... I chose it based on the heat range and test fit it in the head before assembly. Its a gasketed plug I'm already used to running on e85 in another engine. It might not work, but I think it will.

New flat screen & sound bar with a roku, and watching March meet on livestream

no green

I ordered a custom set of Firecores for these headers and my round coil packs. They came in this week, and are officially the last part I need for my rebuild!!

no green

Here's the cliff notes how to for a smart spark install. I found the instructions more confusing then anything, it's quite easy to install the unit. I have no experience with tuning a car with a laptop, but it went pretty smoothly.

The harness is pretty much plug and play except for a couple of wires. The pink wire is +12V ignition switch, and the white wire is for the tach output. I simply wired it into the old leads I had left over from my MSD digital box.



You have to solder in diodes for GPI1 & GPI2 inputs. GPI3 didnt even have a lead for it. I wired GPI1 into my nitrous relay, and GPI2 into my transbrake circuit.




After those 4 connections are made, I assume you can hit the key and start the car. However in my case, with E85 and no MAP sensor, I chose to write my own tune before starting the car.



I put the included CD in the computer, and the first thing it did was pull up internet explorer. I think you'll need internet connection to install the program into the computer. I have wifi in my garage, but if you dont, I would think you can install the program in the house, then take it out to the garage and tune away.

Make sure to scroll down on the web page the cd opens up. I mistakenly installed the wrong programs, but caught it before moving forward.



Dont plug the USB cord into the computer until the smartspark pc link and data logger are installed.



After the programs are installed, plug the interface usb cable into the computer. I dont think you need internet for this. After plugging it in, agree to whatever stuff and let it do it's thing. It took about 5-10 minutes for it to get acquainted.





to make it all talk to each other, follow this in the instructions to set up the COM port. mine was COM3





once everything was talking to each other, this screen popped up. this is the edit module perimeters window, to set up the max RPM and other features.

no green

the edit drop down menu is where you choose the different tuning aspects.



after module perameters are setup, do the GPI setup. GPI was was setup to pull 5 degrees when active, and GPI2 was setup to 3300 rpm launch RPM when the transbrake is active.



after i set all the peramiters, including my timing map, i saved my program to a folder, then uploaded it into the car and closed the pc link.



then i opened the log, and turned the ignition on. I used the computer screen to make sure the GPI inputs were functioning before starting the car.

no green

And in no time flat, this happened (click for vid): http://vid961.photobucket.com/albums...psns7xhehm.mp4

i monitored it all on the computer screen. and my in car gauges showed my new junkyard motor had 80 psi oil pressure, the volts matched the computer screen at 14, and the water temp was nice and stable at idle. a successfull fire up!!





I have some more loose ends to tie up, then i'll be ready to hit the track. That wont happen until april, and the weather cooperates, though.

rb85TA

Congratulations!
I hope that the move to the Ls platform works as well for you as it has for others
I'm stuck building old school sbc... for now anyways

no green

Since I had time to spare, I decided to add battery charger connections to my back bumper, something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I took Moroso up on their offer of a big discount to make up for the oil pan fiasco, and ordered a new double pole cut off switch and this quick connect kit.



I pulled the back bumper off to install it:





modded the bumper pad to install them, there's a steel backer bar I made to support the switch and plugs:



nearly finished product:










got the hood back on, too.



but have been spending most the time hooking my new headers to the old exhaust. It's a tight fit under the car, and I will be running v band clamps, so for clearance, I need to weld turn downs to the headers, the pass side I had to shorten the collector 1"-2" to make it all work. I tacked it with my mig, my brother is tigging it all together this weekend, then I can get rolling with the rest of the exhaust.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

much further along than mine! you'll be ready by next weekend it looks

no green

Thanks matt, but your build makes me want to gut the thing and put a new cage in...

no green

Knocked out another bucket list project last night. I had my MSD 6 box mounted here where the glove pocket thing used to be. Since I mounted the smartspark under the dash, i was left with a hideous area full of holes.



so, i had skippy cut me a rectangle out of the same aluminum from the coil covers. I radiused the corners, and drilled the holes, and glued it in place.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

that really cleaned that up. i would worry about the glare a bit though

no green

I finished the last project in the swap yesterday. Now, I just need an oil change and nut and bolt the car, and it's ready to hit the track.

The headers came out in a weird place, and i wanted to run V band clamps, but they were too close to the shifter cable on the driver side, and the frame on the passenger side to do anything with.

drivers



pass



I had a piece of 304 u bend, so i made a couple of turn downs and tacked them together with the borrowed HF welder (it was out of gas, which is why the tacks look funky.) I got the V bands from Ebay. I had to shorten the pass collector 1.5" to make it work right.

My brother tig welded the headers, so it didn't look like butt.





Then i used some more scrap steel U bends to tie the headers into my existing exhaust pipes. and painted the pipes with some BBQ paint I had. (sorry for the not so good picture, i didnt stop and take any progress ones....)

rb85TA

How's the ground clearance?

no green

Not as bad as it was with the hookers. the lowest part is the dip around the crossmember... The oil pan tucks up nice.

rb85TA

AWESOME!
It looks pretty clean, maybe not as well as you were hoping. ... but it's a lot nicer than some others that I have seen.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

a job well done sir! can't wait to start the reassembly process on mine.

no green

went out for the first test session yesterday. the car went 12.39@109 off the trailer. But i lost oil pressure 20' from the trailer. After some helpful advice, I made a suicide run to the parts store for a new oil filter. The Purilator filter i had was collapsing, and clogging things up. With the new filter, I had rock solid 50 psi of oil pressure at idle.

The next pass picked up a little, 12.32@109, with great oil pressure (90# at wot).

I was feeling brave, so with a little spray on the timer, the car ran a 11.46, so i should be good for my 11.50 index. that was with a 100 horsepower shot and the timer set for the starting line to 3 seconds in, then hitting the button from the 1000' block on.

I rushed for the last call of the day, with about 5 seconds on the nitrous timer, i closed out the day out with a 11.11@115.

The diaper was a casualty, though, it got sucked into the flexplate. I need to send it back to DRE for repair and some upgrades. I also need to shim the starter, it gets caught between teeth or something, and wont engage the flexplate every time.

no green

A little update, I've been out the last couple weekends. The filter definitely fixed it, and the humble little 5.3 seems to be right at home on the track, it loves the hose. It rely likes the big block water pump, it takes forever to warm up, but it'll cool down real fast, and I can hot lap all day, and not even go over 180.

One nagging issue is the starter engagement, I shimmed it, but it still catches every once and a while, and is real annoying.

I've been working my 11.50 tuneup, and so far the 11.50 index I run has been good! Made it to the semis Saturday, but a .005 R/T and 11.52 just wasn't a tight enough package. I was out on him the whole way, but just gave him back too much stripe at the last second. Next points race in is two weeks. Looking at the schedule, i'll have to keep a leash on it to run the 11.50, but it defiantly wants to be in the 10's!!

no green

I finally had a chance to let this off the chain a little bit. On my "11.50" tune (100 shot), the car ran a 10.97 3 passes in a row.

I put a set of 150 pills in it, and pulled some more timing, and it went 10.77, and 10.83 back to back, then the track closed.




I'm looking forward to pilling it up even more...

rb85TA

That's awesome! Little more aggressive tune & a 250 shot.... looking for 10.20's.

no green

Went a lot of rounds in a bracket race last Sunday (4/3). Saturday I tried some different things, and the car didn't respond at all, or actually went slower. So, for Sunday I put everything back to my "jackstand" tuneup, and made it to 6 cars from 400, I made 20 passes this weekend, and mostly hot lapping, and the junkyard dog didn't miss a beat.

I had enough of the starter, though, so i broke down Saturday night and made a suicide run to summit for a tuff stuff, and it works flawlessly, now. I am going to take the original one back to the local shop to have them go through it again.

on my '11.50' tuneup loaded in the smart spark, 63/63 pills set for 2 seconds on he timer, the car was consistent, with driver error to blame for going home.

CarGuyDennis

No Green, this car and you have walked a very similar path...now that the SBC (2nd one) is ready for it's grave - I'm sitting here soaking up this build.

Great hot rodding know how and fabs, hope you don't mind if I take a page or two from your playbook.

Dennis

no green

Thanks, no problem!

no green

since this, i've went a 10.73 on the same tune. It's been running my 11.50 class great, and I've been going some rounds, but I need some more seat time to be real competitive in my series. so far i have about 70 passes on this combo.

I have 2 more points days, then I'm trying some bigger pills, and try to break into the 10.50 class for next year.

no green

I thought I'd throw this idea out for everyone, too.

I installed these quick connect tweco couplings from moroso. Instead of cutting up the cords on my charger, i removed the inserts from the handles, and messed with them on the alligator clips. My clips had a hole in them that lined up perfectly with tapped hole on the insert. I rummaged around and found some screws that fit and put it all together. Works mint, and if I need the charger for something else, i can just pull the screws!

no green

I tried out some 73 jets (175-200 horsepower depending on what chart you look at) and had no luck going any faster

I think my fuel pump is the culprit... i'm simply maxing out the black pump i'm using. I did go 10.63 at 125, but it should have been a better MPH. my 60' was good for the conditions (1.41), but by the 330' she was struggling.

I'm getting a new/used pump from Nova Tom tonight and going to try it out.

I'm going to Shakedown at the Summit in two weeks, so keep an eye out on the live feed!!

izcain

What was the jetting you used?

no green

i ended up at 73/73, but it didn't go any faster than the 63/63. I realized i had NEVER been over 125 on this car. I did some math, and with my existing pump maxed out, and the weight of the car, the fastest I could go with the power that pump could support would be... 125.

I pulled the plugs last night, and they're barely showing heat (because i'm not running any timing) and very lean (obviously). I pumped the motor, and had about 180 psi across the board, with the two lowest cylinders at 160, but for a stock as a stone truck motor with almost 100 nitrous passes on it, i'm calling it good

I picked up this old monster last night, and got it mostly installed, just need some more fittings. I have a feeling this is the issue.

no green

The new/used fuel pump didnt seem to help much. The track conditions sucked, though, near 100% humidity and 90* temps, because of a storm moving in.

I went back to my old 63/63 for a baseline, and could only do a 10.96 at 119... a tune i often go 10.7x with...

I tired a 71/73 combo, and had a massive traction issue (track was going away and my slicks are toast). so i set the timer to leave on motor and turn on the spray .3 seconds into the run, i ran a measly 1.50 60' but a promising 10.71 at 123. So... i'm hoping for fall air to actually show up to see where i am at.

no green

I had a real good showing at the Shakedown at the Summit. As promised, I turned it up. My best qualifying pass was on Sunday 10.41, a personal best to that point, which I ran with a 73/73 jet combo. However, being an open comp index, my dial was now set at 10.31 for the weekend.

So i put in a set of 78/78 jets and pulled a few degrees of timing, and ran a 10.33 at 128.89. I made it down to 5 cars from almost two hundred, and on the last pass the car couldn't cover the number, but the mph was good, so I'm thinking i missed a shift point due to a terrible death wobble that cropped up because i'm doing a bigger wheel stand than i'm used to.

I ran my car across the scales, and much to my surprise, it's a pig... 3600# with me in it. according to the Wallace calculator, the little 5.3 is pushing about 593 horsepower!! Also, I 104 passes on the engine to this point.







Between me and dad, we killed 10 bottles.



and replaced my 10 year old front runners during the rain in my trailer. This pulled 14# off the front end.

no green

10.10 new pb with 83/83 jets and new front end limiters. I tried some 85/85's but the track went away, I picked up 3 mph but couldnt get it to 60'. I ended up 10.12 at 133 on the last pass of the day. 7 passes, slowest pass was 10.17.

I'm defiantly out of gear now, though... i'm in third before the 330' block and crossing the stripe at over 7200 rpm. I need to do a little thinking this winter if i'm going to back it down to run 10.50 as-is, or spend some money on the rear gears and converter and go for the gusto... what do you guys think i should do??