Stopped by Michaels yesterday morn to drop off the order form for Auto Tec pistons, since he will know all the answers to their tech questions. Mike suggested no more than 10.25 compression for pump gas with aluminum heads. He already studded the mains. He said any other machine work will be done once pistons are in hand, such as deck cutting. He suggested thin rings also for the pistons. I asked about the dyno after I assemble, he HIGHLY suggested it, as Foxes Den alluded to! Mike said as soon as oil pressure is established, and timing verified, he puts a load to the engine, he said its the only way to properly and positively seat the rings, its next to impossible to do it in the car. As long as they know the type of ring material, they can machine the cylinder walls to the proper finish. We also talked of friends and family passing away TOO SOON! One of his close friends was Paul Pirnat (not sure on the spelling) I believe there was a post on here of Pauls passing, Mike built Pauls 455 with the block girdle, lifter girdle, block fill, that engine dyno'd at 900 H.P., Mike has a big framed picture of Pauls car, and smaller pics he was showing me. I told Mike I'm gonna do this 350 as best I can afford to before I'm too old or die first, HAHA, YA NEVER KNOW!
Yes, I was sad to hear of Paul's passing. He had a 600 hp motor done there when I had my motor built over 20 years ago, great guy. I told you to have Mike dyno the engine, it will be the best thing you ever did. At that moment you know where everything needs to be set at and NO guesswork or that seat of the pants crap you get from the street. When you do this it is next to perfect, you just have to make the small adjustments like pump shot and small jet changes for the weather at the track for the day, If you want to. The timing is what made the big difference in getting the Hp up. With carb jetting being just as important. You can do this all at the track but if you are having any kind of trouble with your pump shot off the line it makes it harder to make changes to see which way you are going on the power. The dyno fixes the timing and the carb and all you have to do is work on the pump shot and the springs in the distributor or the advance stop unless you already did this on the dyno run. Run 11.0 on comp and add some race gas to the mix. He still sells it I think.
This is the original '71 block that's going back in. The block that came out is the one that's been decked and such, that block is a '78
I hear yah bud, fortunately this machine shop w/dyno is only a few miles from me, even tho after I assemble and load the engine up then take it to the machine shop is going to be some labor on my part, I'm willing to do it, as I've never done it before and its going to be VERY interesting and cool to see MY engine on a dyno and what kind of numbers it makes and all the other parameters involved, I'm going to learn I even gave it a passing thought of swapping intakes and carbs (SP3/ AED, Stage 1/Q-Jet) I'm sure that's going to involve more time which equals more money
That statement about the only way to seat new rings is on the dyno is full on BS and leads me to wonder about that shop!! New rings these days are lapped by the manufacturer before they are packaged up, and if you combine that with a freshly honed cylinder that had then been plateau honed then the rings seat in within 5 minutes even when running a synthetic oil!
uuummmm.... NO.. Too broad a statement.. I have not worked on the dyno extensively with 1.5MM or .043 compression rings, built a few race motors with them, but not enough experience to develop a reliable conclusion on break in time. So I won't say that statement is completely untrue. I have done extensive dyno work with both 5/64 and 1/16 compression rings, and I can assure you, they take at least 2 pulls under full load, to seat the rings. 10 to 20 HP gains are commonplace, with no other changes, just from ring seal. All my engines are honed with a CV 616 with the latest tooling and techiniques, with a pair of deck plates installed. I use name brand, first quality plasma moly coated top rings, with plain cast iron second rings. JW
maybe the rings can get set on the street but I bet it will be faster on the dyno since the fuel curve will be corrected by the 2nd run. I would put that SP3 on there right off the bat along with that new carb you have and don't look back. If you are spinning to 6500 you might as well use the SP3.
Also to add from what Guy said, ditch the hydraulic roller lifters and go with a set of solid rollers! Should be able to set the lash @ .010" hot with a hydraulic grind using solids. That way you can spin the thing to 7,000 + when the new heads are installed!(if they ever get released?) You can run solids on a hyd. roller but not the other way around I don't think so anyway, unless some one that has done can correct me?(I never tried it)
My method for ring break-in was always to run the car like I stole it on some back roads. I'd say 2 pulls under full load was extensively covered. lol
The SP3 and AED are for sure going on it and they'll stay there I'm sure, as the SP3 doesn't seem to give up much in low end. and I'm sure I haven't experienced its upper rpm capabilities either.
you can run close to 12.1 compression with aluminum heads on pumpgas its all in the cam. im running 10.5:1 right now with iron heads with no issues.
I settled on 11 to 1 compression. I picked up the piston tech form from Michaels this morn, he filled out all the specs, and I mailed it off today.
Now that we have all that settled who on here is going to make it to the track first to show their new digs. Demko?
I'm HOPING next season SOMETIME to make it back to the track, IF the heads are done by the first of the year I'm forging ahead with the shortblock..HAHAHA that was funny! I missed not driving my GS this year, and I HATE parts sitting on my bench, and on the shelves, I wanna run this thing! Speaking of running, hows your SP3 doing for you Guy?
