TSP Level 2A-R Prototype Specs and testing (Larry's motor)

Some pics and specifics on the build.

Started off where they all start... with a freshly machined block, cleaned and ready to go. This was in fact the block featured in the oil mod sticky in this section.




Because Larry had a set of Gessler Level 2 STG 1 SE heads (TA's) that were cut to better work with his previous combination, we did a custom dish on his pistons, shown here are his 30cc one's, next to the standard 470 piston that has a 25cc dish.



Our 470 combo uses a Eagle 6.8" Rod, and the pistons are designed to accept the .990 pin, and our stock crankshafts are custom ground for the application.



Short Block parts prepped and ready for assembly














Larry opted to step up with the cylinder head airflow, so we did a fair amount of shaping work to the ports and chambers.











I then selected a properly sized valve spring locator to ensure spring stability at rpm. And also to protect the alum heads.





Hugs the id of the inner spring tightly to insure all valvetrain motion is controlled, and in the proper plane.

Because we were going to run a hydraulic roller cam also, the proper HP hardened shims were obtained.





As always with any BBB, heads are the key, these flowed very well, I will fill in the numbers later for you.

The finished shortblock

 

The heads were then set in place to establish the correct valvetrain parts needed for both the Lunati flat tappet cam, as well as the TA Hyd Roller cam.









Ideal geometry is maintained with both the flat tappet and roller cams. The roller cam required 8.675 length pushrods, a considerable variation from the standard Buick stuff. WE like short pushrods!



To give every opportunity to the fast ramp Lunati cam to function, I ponied up for a set of expensive Comp cam Pro Magnum lifters. Too bad I couldn't take a better picture of them..





and maintained ideal rocker geometry.



Valve springs were 125 seat/310 open for the flat tappet cams, 155 seat/360 open for the hydraulic roller. Over .100 was maintained from coil bind.







Below you can see the special provisions made for this prototype engine. Because the timing cover was going to be coming off multiple times, the gasket was adhered to the block, and then coated with moly lube on the cover side. It worked very well, and the motor did not leak a drop during the entire testing session. This tatic was also employed on the intake manfiold gaskets.



During the build I cut up and old timing cover, to check the fit of my Billet fuel pump, with the larger eccentric of the roller cam. Since my pump has only light contact with the cast cam of a stocker at minimum stroke, and has extended stroke capablity, it fits perfectly with the bigger eccentric. Even with the wear arm in place. Here you can see I still have stoke available, even at full lift of the cam.





if you have ever wondered where the timing chain is close to the pump arm, here's the pic..






We rounded out the build with a nice fresh TA timing cover, AMP splash sheild, and Larry had picked up a SRE oil pan from a board member here. Unfortunatly I had failed to check to see that this was actually one of Steve's short front pans, used for fitting a block gridle in a stock chassis.. found that out the hard way.. as the pictures will show, the night before the session. It ended up wearing a TA 1511A deep steel pan, and we will resolve the SRE pan issues here before it get's shipped out east.

Always have to have a little drama I guess..

Anyway, here's those pics.





That rod..



And the bottom of the pan were too cozy..




The TA SP-1 intake only required a port match, and mild blending in the plenum.






The roller cam is postively located by a trust bearing and washer setup.. we maintained .005 end play.



The prototype was then rounded out with Larry's Ignitionman mag pickup distributor, and a set of borrowed TA valve covers. This motor will have a stealthy set of STG 1 covers on it when it leaves, and the plug wires will be routed as stock. Shown here with a 1" spacer under the carb, only because that is when I remembered to take the picture.. we tried the spacer, it didn't seem to care about it, and was only used on the very last pull. All the better, they cause too many hood/air cleaner toubles in a GS.



ON to the testing (what, you think I didn't have video?).. :laugh:

 

Nice write up Jim. Love the cut out front cover to allow you to inspect.

 

I see why Larry has been loving the snovertime.:shock:

 

:TU:

THIS should be the next episode of HorsePower TV

 

The engine looks fantastic! i wish I had the kind of money to get you guys to build me such a motor. One question though: I though it was gospel to brace the lifter valley when using a roller cam in these engines, why did you decide to not use one? Keep up the awesome work.

 

This is like being there when Michelangelo did the Sistine Chapel. :shock:

Just sayin'.

 

I concur.

 

Very informative great post. Question is that a 70 block? The oil pickup hole looked smaller in the first picture before the block was painted. Modification
or different block?

Bob H.

 

WOW looks great!!keep up the good work Jim!!

PS what head gaskets are you using?

 

Yes, it's a 70 Block.. and I have mulitiple 70 blocks that look all alike for a number of different project going on right now, so it's very possible I just snapped a pick of whatever block was there at the moment.

George,

Head gaskets are Fel Pro High Performance.

JW

 

Any particular reason to use those rather than the TA Orange crush?just curious.

Thanks

 

That's only with the really aggressive, high lift solid rollers... those typically have 800+ lbs of valve spring pressure, and that's what breaks the lifter valley.

This hyd roller has nothing more that typical solid lifter valve spring pressure.

JW

 

Not really George, just the way we went on this one.

 

ok thanks Jim,again she`s looking great!!

 

Looks good Jim. I can't wait to see the numbers. Would the cam be the same in my application or would you go a different route.

Thanks Clu

 

Ok, here we go..

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And then to the first startup..

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After startup and quick checks, I simply had to take the idle screws out about half a turn on all 4 corners to richen up the A/F ratio at cam break in speed. Only a Holley works like this. I am looking at a Lambda sensor readout up on the ceiling, while adjusting the carb.


Next video is of the Luanti cam at idle. I tried to get a video of the vacuum levels and idle quality of all three cams, at similar rpm and conditions.. but I see this one is a bit decieving, as it's at lower rpm, and the motor is not quite as warm as when I took the same video with the other cams. I didn't notice this until I was reviewing these today..

But it does give an idea of idle quality, I would say that if you really fooled with it, you might get 10-10.5 inches out of this cam, at 850-900 rpm.

The distributor was modified to allow 19* of initial advance, and is the same on all 3 cams.

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Next up we have one of the power pulls on the Luanti cam. Listen carefully at the very end of the pull, you will hear motor loose control of the valvetrain.

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Here are the results of that pull.


We made 3 pulls, all pretty much exactly the same. At this point in time, I considered swapping in solid lifters or doing other adjustments to the setup, but it was a choice between putting in the 413 cam, and spending time working on this deal further, and I didn't want to waste half the session here, with the possiblity of getting nowhere.. I figured it would be best to do this another time.

So we swapped in the 413 cam

Now we have the TA 413 idle quality video

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And then the 413 power pull..

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And the results of that pull.




The 413 setup was an afterthough, I almost didn't even bring the cam.. as such, it's rocker geometry was not what it could have been. It did shows signs of lifter trouble way up high, just right before the pull ends. I attribute this to the rocker geometry mainly, but I also probably would run the limited travel type hydraulic lifter, such as the comp cams ones, if your regularly going to rev this thing to 5800 and beyond. You will see this later in the comparision graphs I will show.

3 pulls were made, all of them very similar, then we went to the roller cam.




The roller cam idle.. unfortunatly I forgot to take this video until we put the 1" spacer under the carb.. that actually hurt the idle quality.. I noted 12+ inches of vacuum at 800 rpm previously. In the cell, this cam definately idled the quietest, and the smoothest, althought that is kind of tough to see in these videos. The impact in person was far greater.

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Next up, the 1st power pull on the roller cam..

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And the results of that pull.



Since I had been worried about the engine's ability to rpm with this cam for about a year, it came as a great relief when it did pull cleanly to 5800.. at first, I didn't even notice the 600 HP.. I was just glad it worked! Hydraulic roller cams in all makes of engines are notorious for being rpm limited. This particular one shows no signs of that.

We let the engine normalize a second, pushed the rpm a little bit and then hit it again..




And then one more video of the final pull, with a carb spacer.

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And the results, really doesn't care for the spacer. Which I like, because then we don't have to worry about running them, with the hood clearance issues.




JW