I am looking forward to seeing your engine with the alum X factor and the twins! I am going with the same on my car... Marks looks so mean with the alum X Factor and twins!!
Yes Marks car is cool. I like the hand built look under the bonnet. How far off do you think you are from installing everything? Will you post pictures of the progress? Hope So.
We are not too far away from the turbo install however lots to be done still. Mark has been working on the body work and roll cage.... He swapped the front clip, aligned everything, removed the windows ect. There will not be any progress pics posted however when it is all ready then it will be shown. The car has a part in the book I am writing about SBB performance. You will be able to read all about it in the book, and yes some teaser pics will be posted on here.
Turbos and gauges installed. Ran great for four days the ultimate power gain I have to say. 0 - 60 in a few seconds The tune was great to start out with but then I burnt a spark plug wire and things went weird from then on. Passenger side turbo leaked oil thru the seal into the intake manifold and detonation started, I changed to colder plugs, tried to redo the timing but it was too late. The AFR gauge was flickering 7 to 35 and the tune would only work with an idle AFR of 7. Full throttle was 11 to 12 flickering to 35. It has the worst case of blow by I've ever seen, Oil everywhere out of the valve covers, It looks like pure exhaust gas comming out the covers. So I thought what the hell and drove to the track anyway I ran a 14.2 with 0.8 reaction time the blow by was so smokey at the bonnet the offical told me I couldn't take another pass. Looks like the car will sit for a while now untill I can work out what to do. I wasn't sure if the motor was 40,000 miles or 140,000 miles I guess it was the later. Anyone have any ideas on rebuilding these blocks. Say I ordered a kit now before the machinest took it apart, what would be a good starting point for boring the cylinders, say 0.30? How about the crank? say 0.20? Anyway it just goes to show how even on a clapped out engine these turbos are worth the fun. No doubt the local mechanics will be saying I should have put a chev in her. Idiots. No sense of adventure.
I just bought .030 over pistons, but I already had the engine apart and knew it had stock pistons and I got them for about $50.. I waited till the machine shop ground the crank before I bought the bearings (long story there- Measure everything) Don't assume what they stamped on the crank is correct. I used off the shelf moly rings. I have no noticeable blow by and it might drip a drop of oil every month. I don't even check the oil anymore.. Get some 73-up connecting rods if you can find them, but I'm running the old style rods without issuse so far (not turning past 5200).. You can basically buy everything except the bearings before hand.. Get someone to grind you a good turbo cam if you can... And port the heads a little. At least smooth things out and some..
Thanks Jay, When I ported the heads I checked the pistons, they were stock as were the rockers. Do you think it would be safe to buy the .30 over pistons now and wait on the crank bearings? Crank bearings I can buy here in Australia, Although pistons I can't. You were pretty happy with your cam grind as I remember, would you mind passing on the specs to me. Pretty good fun the turbos, But damn what a job to change plugs my neighbors called the cops because of my cursing.
I don't have anything to really compare the cam grind to. No before/ after kind of thing, but I guess it seems to worh well.It's kinda funky when you look at it. I called Crower Cams and they designed it. The carb stays clean so I guess there is no reversion. If it were me I would feel comfortable just buying a set of .030 over low comp pistons. I'm running Hypers, but they say I would be better off with cast if you can't afford the 900 dollar price for a custom forged set. The hyper are light though. I do have in my possesion one of the remaining sets of forged pistons from the old days, but they are not currently for sale. Here is the cam card. Hope you can make it out.
Thanks Jay, I'm thinking the 0.30 pistons over will be no problem. I will contact crower for the cam and get it sent to the shop. The Engine/car will be in the shop next week. I bet the labor will be high. I just hope the rebuild lasts or my better half is going to be pissed.
you can also take off about .100 off the crank and use honda 6.3 rods for 369/370 cubes lol (3.95 stroke!) or go custom forged hershe rods/piston combo
The only thing I can think of is the oil seal leak in the passenger side turbo. It must of put a fair bit of oil into the intake mixing with fuel and air. My AFR gauge didn't show anything weird or lean but then I heard the detonation on the old pistons. It didn't take long for the blow by to start after that, About a day or so. I had a good four days of severe torque and acceleration though, The steering wheel was shuddering on take off and so was the whole dash board, Holy crap it had some power it was scary, totally lit up the mickey thompson semi slicks when they were cold. The old engine did alright as a mule now I have to be sure it gets build to last. When I had the boost gauge plugged into the carb hat it showed 8 psi, when I plugged it in lower into the intake manifold it showed 6 psi. Not too severve but 6 psi and detonating did the rings or pistons in.
Jay, I called crower and they reckon your grind is the way to go. I did have reversion with my stock cam, the carb was pretty black before the turbo leaked oil. I wonder if the stock cam also caused blow by? Flatlander racing have got buick 350 engine rebuild kits with custom forged pistons for $989 dollars (No cam) but has cam bearings. They reckon you tell them what compression ratio you want. How low is too low and how highis too high? Thanks for the cam card.
Good to know that cam is still what they recommend.. Wow.. Are you sure thet will sell you an engine kit with CUSTOM forged pistons all for $989.. That's a friggin steal.. What all is included in the kit??
The part number is 1098-HP there is a kit for the 455 as well at $999. www.flatlanderracing.com I just bought the cam and lifters from crower. I can't help but think the exhaust duration of this grind is going to improve this alot 284 intake and 276 Exhaust. I had those log manifolds off and on three times heat cycling and still blowing out new exhaust gaskets. The pressure in those log manifolds is immense. I'll fit this cam and see where things stand afterthat.
Only problem I've had with the manifolds is that the bolts loosened on the driver's front and started pecking.. I tightened the bolts and all is well..
