Well, got the old trans back in with a new Hughes 2500 stall and had the old driveshaft rebuilt and car drives like a champ. I now see why these cars came with power assist, lol. Even with the beefy corvette master cylinder getting this big boat stopped with manual brakes is NOT easy. Still a few things I need to do after driving it. -add breather to passenger side valve cover -figure out how to keep the trans modulator hose on -shim the starter -reinstall the stock master and booster / new pads and rotors -finish the exhaust (HOLY CRAP this thing is loud)
Yeah, i dont think the convertor was fully seated. When i installed the convertor into the 400, I had a good gap i had to shim to be within the air gap specs. With the 200r4, there was NO gap. After the 200r4 was out I trie dto fully seat the convertor and I saw the difference when it went in that last click. ou: But, now, as you rotate the tc, theres a hold up at the same point as you rotate it that takes some force to get through so I'm sure the pump is fried. Expensive lesson indeed. At least I proved to myself that I can remove and install trans by myself with the car on stands in just one day.
For a while there I was able to pull the engine and transmission of my Buick in under an hour. People were starting to say I had the car assembled with wing nuts and velcro ou: 4 bolts remove hood. Drain radiator. Remove shift lever in car. 4 Header flange bolts. 2 motor mount bolts 1 drive shaft removed. Remove speedo cable. Remove clutch linkage. 2 bolts and 2 wires for the starter. 4 bolts for trans cross member, support trans with jack. Drain coolant from block via drain plugs Disconnect fuel line to pump. Disconnect fuel line to fuel rail. Remove fan clutch. Remove radiator with hoses attached. Unbolt power steering bracket/pump from engine. Unhook EFI wiring via 2 plugs. Disconnect alternator and oil pressure switch wiring and lay OE wiring harness to side. Remove throttle body and install engine pulling plate. PULL! p
It;s interesting driving around with a higher stall convertor...since i've never had one before I want to run some thing sby you guys for some input: At ilde, from a stop, it seems like it take some throttle to get the car moving. Once I've gotten the car to about 2500rpms or higher and let of the gas to coast the rpms dont drop down, they pretty much stay at 2500rpms (thats the advertised stall) until i go to brake at which point the car idles down to around 1000rpm. Are these normal? Also, what does it mean having a loose vs tight stall convertor?
It should always idle down on it's own after lifting the throttle. Something is up there. What if you click it into neutral after lifting on the throttle and before applying the brake? The take off thing sounds normal. Following guys on Drag Week with 5,000+rpm converters, especially towing trailers, its interesting to hear them wind up from a stop before going.
Next to over camming an engine, selecting the wrong torque converter is probably the most common mistake people make. With the current state of converter technology, you can have your cake and eat it too, but you probably won't get that with an off the shelf converter. The right way to do it is to have a converter built for your combination. If you have a dyno sheet, and the specs for your car, any good converter company should be able to build you the perfect converter. It will feel very near normal on take off, until you mash it. There is no such converter that will stall the same in any car. It will stall in a range depending on the engine power in front of it, the car weight, and gearing. Driving around with a converter that is too loose gets old REAL FAST. You have to spend more money, but cheaping out on a converter will cost you more in the long run.
I plan on having a convertor built for me whenever I go back to the 200-r4...this one was just a quick fix so i could drive the car without spending a bunch of money.
Replaced my front brakes last night. All new rotors, pads, calipers, bearing and lines...well one line anyway. I couldn't get the passenger side hard line disconnected from the stupid hose. But, I cut the old drivers side one and i didnt see any evidence of swelling or cracks so I should be fine. Now I just have to install the new booster and m/c, bleed the brakes and see if she'll stop.
Finally, got the brakes all set back to stock with new components. Stops MUCH better. May need to invest in a vacuum pump at some point but they're working great. Also, the mini-starter I bought sucks! It's been grinding ever since I got it and nothing i did would help it. Finally, tonight it got to the point where it sheared enough of the flywheel teeth (a very small amount) that it would just spin. The issue is the whole starter needs to move over about 1/8" so the gears actually mesh. With no way to slot the whole mounting block, I'm at a loss for what to do. So, i installed the stock starter and what would you know...worked perfectly. So nice hearing the engine turn over without a bunch pf metal on metal scraping.
Next up is suspension. I forgot how loose this car is when going around turns...I'm so used to my GTO but it is fun trying to counter steer this boat when doing a rolling burnout. My plan is to box the rear control arms, replace all the bushings and install a sway bar. I'd like to replace all the body mounts as well but I'm not looking forward to that.
Well, about to go on vacation so the project will be on hold for a bit. I did finish the drivers side exhaust and holy crap what a pain making that axle hump section. Ended up having to use mating flanges in two places cause the 3" tube was simply to large to allow me to snake it through all in one piece. It'll be interesting to finish it up and see how the resonators change the overall tone. Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone and more to follow soon.
Great looking motor! Wish mine was that far along. I'm having to go slow for the standard reasons; time and money.
Luckily, i started with low milage rebuild motor. I shouldve left the heads alone amd just chamged sprimg simce i was starting with the big port 430 heads. Shorty headers mext time too or gonna jump straight to stage 2 heads for ease of header install. Other than thay i did splurge in the timing cover but only because i didnt wamt to tear the.engi.e down to do the oiling mods. We'll see how it holds wjen i start hitting that 6200 rev limiter.
YEE FREAKING HAW! I finally took her out a for a proper cruise yesterday for about an hour and a half. On the way back on the highway decided to let her breath and boy let me tell you, that thing pegged the speedo at 125 really quick and i still had a good 1000 rpm to go before redline. The 2-3 shift was extremely lazy and slow though. Still having the high rpm in park issue but im going to power time the engine and set the idle properly. Other than that, the exhaust sounds nice now that ive added the glass-packs ate the end of the system. Only read 79-80 decibels inside the car with the windows up but outside its pretty nasty.
Well, no tmuch to update. I've been working on tuning the carb when the weather permits. So far I had to drill 1/16" holes in the primary throttle blades to allow me to set the blades properly. I also jetted down the primaries from 80 to 74, drilled the primary PVCR's to 5/64's and put a piece of speaker wire in the idle feed restrictions to lean down the idle mixture. Seems to idle much better but I've had a off idle stumble since I've had it so next up is the primary pump nozzle. It has a 31 nozzle on the now with a 30cc pump and the pinkish cam. I'm going to increase the size to 34 and go from there in .01 increments until the stumble is gone then mess with the cams. Eventually, when funds are available, I'll get an O2 sensor to FINE tune everything. So far, all the mods have given positive returns in the from of much crisper throttle response and better idle. However, I think i need to readjust the float level as the car seems to want to die when i come to a stop. I also recently found out I will be moving to San Diego for my next duty station sometime in the fall...now I'm considering taking the supercharged LS2 and 6 speed out of my GTO and putting it in the Riv. As much as I love this 430...even if I put an overdrive on her I dont think the gas mileage is going to permit me to drive her very often out there. We will see, once I've got the carb tuned I'll do some MPG runs and see what I get.
Finally, got my mini-drill bit set and drilled my primary nozzle from 31 to 35 and the off idle stumble is much improved but still there. I'll step it up to 37 and see how she does. Also, I decided to hook the vacuum advance up to manifold vacuum to see if it made a difference and nothing. I have yet to measure my vacuum but I suspect its way too low to activate the vacuum advance. So now, im thinking of getting a programmable ignition box so I can make a custom curve for better low-part throttle drive ability and better gas mileage that having vac advance would typically provide. Looking for suggestions.
Ok, you asked for suggestions.. 1. Get rid of that cam. For not much more than the cost of the ignition box your talking about, you could put the proper size Hyd roller cam in, make as much or more power, and solve several issues at once. The problems you will fix: 1. Brakes... plenty of vacuum with the right camshaft. 2, Idle quality- should not have to work that hard to make a Holley idle. 3. Converter- your running around with a way too loose off the shelf converter now. Something built for a 3400 lbs car probably. Get the right cam in it, and you can put an inexpensive stock type 12" converter back in it, or go with a 13" converter and really tighten it up for maximum mileage. When you get the pump back in your 200R4, you will be just fine with the stock type GN converter. If you keep that cam, you will need a 10" lockup to make it all work, and those start at $800.. 4. Mileage- While the converter issues above are a big factor, the lack of vacuum also makes things like the vacc advance not work correctly. You would have to have an adjustable canister, don't know if the pertronix unit you have on there has that. Speaking of that distrib.. that's the reason the hold down clamp had to be modified, the base is not thick enough on that distrib body. The timing cover stand is fine. Speaking of timing cover... not sure who convinced you that all you had to do was put a TA timing cover on it to cure the BBB oiling ills.. That helps for sure, but especially with a 430, if it has the 1/2 suction hole and tube still on it, there is far more to it than that. But even the later 455's with the big hole benefit from internal mods. Do yourself a favor and don't get anywhere near 6200 rpm, it's not making any power there anyway. I understand, big, tight lobe center cams sound cool, but you have heard it now, and are fighting and struggling with it, because of that cam. Is it really worth it? Wouldn't your rather just enjoy the car, and be able to cruise in it more, with better fuel economy? And you keep saying.. "I'm gonna by this, that and the other thing", and in reality, all you need to do is put the correct cam in it.. if you don't want to spend the $$ for the hyd roller, then at least put the right size flat tappet in it. JW
