I have been know to make a trip or two down the 1320. Here is the address to my YouTube channel. It has a few passes in a couple different cars on it: http://www.youtube.com/user/speedtigger
The 3 inch exhaust is in. Here are the tones: <iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FXg2b5egVmc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Why? I love my car dearly. I think it's the sexiest riviera body style but it will always live in the shadows of the 63-65. I'm also not trying to build some show car that gets driven ever 2 months for 4 miles at a time. I want to enjoy it everyday. I MIGHT keep the 425 but I love the power potential and usability of modern fuel injection. I was even thinking of a viper engine but my ultimate dream would be a merc v12 bi-turbo :bla:
While the car is not fully assembled, shortly after I got my car running, these mysterious marks showed up in the parking lot: :laugh:
Looks like you have a traction issueo No: . Looks like you just found the next thing to work on :laugh:
After a year of planning and nearly 2 months of wrenching evenings and weekends, the car will be pretty much done today. I have to swap out the UMI rear control arm braces for the Edelbrock units and do a little welding on the tailpipes and then I can drive her home. I am excited and a little nervous.
Congratulations Steven, looks and sounds great. I think you did a great job, you are one of my heros now. Best luck, Mike
I drove the car home from the shop today. It is absolutely awesome. I have never driven a car this fast that was this tight. Since the car was completely refurbished and upgraded mechanically in every aspect, the experience is kind of like combination new car, muscle car and racecar. From the tight steering to the excellent handling, all of this control and positive feedback make this level of horsepower very manageable. The engine has power everywhere. When I rolled on the throttle, the car pulls harder and harder until it hits the MSD's factory preset 5500 RPM rev limit which is very conservative for an LS engine. The TH200R4 transmission from Extreme Automatics works excellent. The shifts are predictable and very firm. The Circle D stall converter drives extremely tight at part throttle. So, tight I would not even know it has a stall converter until I flash it at which time the car springs forward. The only two issues to be address are noisy valve train and a poor idle quality. The valve train issue should be resolved by increasing the lifter preload. I am hoping the carburetor just needs some adjustments to cure the erratic idle. I am going to have a great time with this one if I can just avoid trouble with Johny Law. :laugh:
If I recall you're using an LQ motor. Those are known for being a bit on the noisy side. You can deffinetly quite them down, but don't expect it to ever be whisper quiet. And be glad you didn't get one of the knockers. A great many of them had piston slap issues from the factory, but they passed emissions and still lasted over 100k miles so Chevy never bothered to do anything about them. It was just a bit of a bother more than anything serious. Every gen2 motor I've had has terrible valvetrain noise when it's cold. It usually goes away as the oil works its way up. I've heard the gen3 has a similar condition. Nothing to be overly concerned with though.
Great I am glad you got your car going. I grew up in the back seat of a 65 Skylark, with a 300 in it. I am a nay sayer to engine swaps from other brands, but after getting the chance to look at a LS/LQ bottom end. I think this series of motors are more Buick than Small Block Chevy. They look like an extra 2 cylinders where added to a Buick V-6. SO STOMP THE HELL out it.:3gears:
Congrats, I'm a fan of the LS stuff - what a great combo with the 65 Skylark body! Sweeeeeeet. :beer:beer
I created a custom timing curve adjusted the carb and bumped the rev limiter up to 6500. All I can say is thank goodness for rev limiters :shock: This thing is a monster and is the fastest street car I have ever owned. Here is a pic of the finished product:
Nice!!! :TU: :TU: Glad to hear it's finished already. Some projects get started and never get done, others take a lot longer than originally planned. I hope I get to see it someday.
Well, it turns out that the LS1 and TH200R4 set up is actually heavier than the old Buick 300 and ST300 combo. The car now weighs 3510 as opposed to the old weight of 3370. It is important to note that this new motor and trans set up required an electric fuel system, additional fuel line, trans cooler and an electric cooling fan and controller. Be all this as it may, it is also important to note that you had to throw sand under the tires to enable the old set up to spin the tires. The new set up will get sideways from a 40 MPH roll. Yeah, it is a fair trade. :3gears:
Damn Steve. I can't wait to see it in person again. You should head on over to the HR Power Tour in Cocoa Beach in two weeks.
