new engine in.....WOW!

Discussion in 'Street/strip 400/430/455' started by whamo, Jul 9, 2006.

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  1. John Eberly

    John Eberly Well-Known Member

    Next time -

    Let me break it in for you. I think you got into it way too soon. 138 miles is about 362 miles too soon to be hammering it....

    Yeah, that's it - let ME have your car for what, say maybe a year or so... I'll guarantee no bearing problems when I bring it back.. :laugh:
     
  2. whamo

    whamo 454 71 skylark custom


    Thanks for the offer John. Does that mean I cant even turn a tire for 500 miles :boring: I challenge anyone to exercize that kind of restraint.


    The stage 1 pump is going out. Im upgrading to 1/2 fuel line from the tank and an electric pump. Fuel pressure dropped to 2 psi on mild acceleration. Im also upgrading ignition to either MSD 6AL or the mallory version. I hear that the mallory box has a variable rev limiter. No chips required.
     
  3. paul c

    paul c Well-Known Member

    also don't forget that with the bearing clearance set up correctly and not burning up that alone will give you more oil pressure than you had since the bearings were gone and the clearances were even greater. the clearances is what will give you oil pressure. with the crank done propperly you shouldn't have an issue at all. also was that hei's mechanical advance set up correctly throughout the rpm range? if it has the stock adavance set up with different springs and no limiter bushing your timing will be way off. the electric pump will be a great addition also. just remember to set up your entire system correctly. take your time. good luck.
     
  4. whamo

    whamo 454 71 skylark custom

    dyno

    The owner of the machine shop has a chassis dyno. He suggested that we tune the car and verify all the vitals are corrrect on that. Of course I agreed. I would love to see what its putting out for power. Is there a formula for calculating flywheel hp from rwhp?
     
  5. DaWildcat

    DaWildcat Platinum Level Contributor

    There are some online calcualators out there, but they seem too simple to me, not asking for enough input about the variables. I would imagine manual vs auto trans would be a big one right there.

    Gale Banks Engineering states the following:

    "The difference between flywheel horsepower and rear-wheel horsepower will vary from vehicle to vehicle, depending on many factors, but we find that rear-wheel horsepower is usually between 18 percent and 25 percent less than flywheel horsepower."

    Devon
     
  6. bobc455

    bobc455 Well-Known Member

    Yeah, what Devon said. RWHP * 1.2 = flywheel HP APPROXIMATELY.

    (depends on efficiency of rearend, transmission, etc.- you get the idea)

    -Bob Cunningham
     
  7. whamo

    whamo 454 71 skylark custom

    Its back in now

    Just got the engine back in the car tonight.... hopefully it will stay there alittle longer this time.
     
  8. cjp69

    cjp69 Gold Level Contributor

    It can be done Steve! When Rick Henderson rebuilt my motor, part of his "excellent customer service" included properly breaking in the motor. He put about 500 miles on that thing over a couple of days of driving and tuning it, and I don't think he broke the tires once (now Dave K. might have, but that is a different story). Seriously though, it was quite an interesting ride (I was with him for the first part of the break in), up to 50 mph, back down again, up again, down again, etc. Must have been a long 500 miles for Rick at varying speeds!

    I did notice he still had a smile on his face after he was done driving it though, and I had to pry the keys out of his hand. :laugh:
     
  9. whamo

    whamo 454 71 skylark custom

    break in street strip motor

    Thanks for the words of encouragement. The breakin routine of running the engine at varying speeds for the first 500 miles is to seat the rings. I have been told that basically you just dont want to set the cruise control at 60 and drive 500 miles and you also dont want to spend the first 500 miles mostly at idle. I dont belive the breakin period is for engine bearings. Most drag racing cars are built and then run hard 1/4 mile at a time. I never drove my supercomp dragster 500 miles. Of course I didnt expect to drive it a total of 500 miles ever. Many people that I respect tell me to drive the car the way your planning on driving it. My problem wasnt the result of not breaking it in, it was caused by to tight rod clearance and to low oil pressure. If anyone has input on breaking in rod bearings please let me know. I broke in the cam and lifters according to instructions and had about 140 miles at varing loads/cylinder pressure when this problem arose.
     
  10. DaWildcat

    DaWildcat Platinum Level Contributor

    Steve, sounds like you're doing everything right. FYI, there is no "break-in" for bearings...by design there is no metal-to-metal contact taking place when there's proper tolerancing, journal taper and oil delivery.

    Devon
     
  11. whamo

    whamo 454 71 skylark custom

    bearing break in

    Thanks Devon, thats a sweet looking cat you have. do you have any larger photos???
     
  12. DaWildcat

    DaWildcat Platinum Level Contributor

  13. Leviathan

    Leviathan Inmate of the Month

    Just read through your post here Steve, I'd say you did pretty well to catch everything in time, and then get it turned around in a month. Lots of worse stories on here. I caugt mine before anything really bad and I still lost the whole season... *might* see it by December.

    I agree with the daignosis - too tight on the clerarances. As for RWHP ot pretty ad-hoc. What transmission and gears are you running?
     
  14. Snowbound

    Snowbound Well-Known Member

    Don't mean to hijack this, but Clint, who is doing your engine work? Is there a reputable guy in Calgary? Graham's engine is a work of art and the shop is close for me, but looking for more options.

    Thanks,
    Brian
     
  15. Leviathan

    Leviathan Inmate of the Month

    PM'd you Brian...
     
  16. whamo

    whamo 454 71 skylark custom

    drive train

    Im running a turbo 400 switch pitch with a 4000 hi stall converter and a 9 inch with 3.50 gears.
     
  17. Leviathan

    Leviathan Inmate of the Month

    A few losses there in terms of RWHP. I think the TH-400 takes about 40-45 ponies to turn. The 9" rear requires about 7-10 IIRC. Figure another 10 for U-joints, Alternator, Fan etc. So 57-65 figuring REALLY consercvatively. Thing is, a Buick is a really torquey engine and it makes the apparent drivetrain loss a lot easier to handle.

    Expressed as a percentage, I've heard about 20% for Buicks.

    Check out this article I found about Dyno -vs- RWHP numbers, Ford -vs- BUick the Buick comes out ahead.

    http://www.superstang.com/horsepower.htm
     
  18. whamo

    whamo 454 71 skylark custom

    back together again

    Well the engine is back in. The hood is on and the stage2 scoop is mounted. Im just waiting for the custom valley pan to make it here on tuesday to finish up it. I primed the oil pump to check the oil pressure. I adjusted the regulator until I got 95 lbs on the gage. Is this too high? Also, I plan on installing an electric pump. Can I use the stock fuel lines or do I need to upgrade the entire fuel system to 1/2" lines and a sump in the tank? I planned on supplementing the stage 1 mechanical pump with an electric pump and regulator. I know that I dont have nearly enough fuel pressure at full throttle with just the mechanical pump. Also, what temp thermostat should I use? I have a 180 and a 195.
     
  19. buicksstage1

    buicksstage1 Well-Known Member

    Good Luck

    95psi at what rpm?
    Upgrade to 1/2" lines with a sump and you can get away with a holly 150 pump
    You should use a 160 thermostat, good luck this go around. Good to see you got it back in the car...Chris
     
  20. whamo

    whamo 454 71 skylark custom

    engine in

    I havent bought the monster tach for my 1/2" electric drill yet chris :laugh: I am assuming that its spinning the pump fast enough to hit the oil pressure regulator, so I would guess that it will have a maximum of 95 psi. When I put the adjustable regulator in the car last time I used the stock spring and left the regulator adjustment alone per TA's instructions for initial set up. I got 50 psi on the drill that time and never saw it any higher. This time I used the next stiffer spring per your advice and I still had only 45 lbs on the gage. Then I started to turn in the screw on the regulator and I went a little too far. I saw what was probably 140 psi momentarily so I backed it down about 1.5 turns to 95.
    We talked about sumping my fuel tank for 1/2" fuel lines. Id really rather not do it but if its nessesary I will. Is there any way to increase the size of the stock pick up tube to 1/2"? I assume that Ill need to mount a fuel filter and the pump in the rear of the car. Should I just bag the mechnical pump? Where do I mount the regulator? Questions, questions , questions.............
     

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