Patrick's Twin Turbo 350 Build Thread

Discussion in 'Small Block Tech' started by patwhac, Apr 8, 2019.

  1. patwhac

    patwhac Well-Known Member

    The engine bay color I choose is '52 - '53 Chevrolet 6 Cylinder Gray, this paint was from Bill Hirsch. I wanted something a little more interesting than the standard black, and I wasn't about to try and match my body color with a spray can. I'm actually really happy with how it came out, I was afraid it would be too dark. I didn't realize until a few days later that it really reminds me of something you'd see on the interior of a battleship! I think it will make the Buick Red engine pop nicely. I did the frame first in Eastwood 2k Chassis Black.

    Masking the car before painting the frame:

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    Pictures from firewall painting night, a day after shooting the frame:

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    Some close-ups of the welded/painted frame:

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    The main rails after painting the new plates:

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    Picture from the day after with some sun:

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    And finally I got to start putting parts back on! Naturally, the first thing I mocked up doesn't fit:

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    It seems the dual diaphragm 8" booster and Wilwood MC are much longer than my original setup. I've seen this issue is pretty common online and the solutions seem to be:

    A. Buy reduced angle booster brackets

    B. Modify the existing booster brackets

    C. Get a shorter booster/MC combo

    For now I'm going to try option A. I bought a pair of reduced angle booster mounting brackets from DSE. The only pitfall is that it may force me to use the upper, non-power brake hole in my brake pedal instead of the correct lower hole meant for power brakes. As I understand it there is a ratio difference, IIRC it's 4:1 for lower power hole and 6:1 for upper power hole (someone correct me if I'm wrong). I'm hoping since I chose a larger 1.125" bore MC that the upper hole with actually be ok, but we'll see. Right now I'm planning on running a single piston front disc setup and stock rear drums. Eventually I'll do Wilwood 6 piston front and 4 piston rear, assuming I can get 15" wheels to clear. I really don't want 17" or 18" wheels on this car.

    Well that's it for now! I'm currently working on:

    -Touching up some of the painted areas

    -Swapping poly bushings and new ball joints into some used Chevelle control arms, then installing

    -Reinstalling steering box and linkage

    Not sure yet if I'm going to stick my old springs back in, or run some lowering springs temporarily until I buy coilovers.
     
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  2. Schurkey

    Schurkey Silver Level contributor

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    I see lots of big holes for leaves, sand, dirt, pine-cones, mice, and other debris, along with rain/road-splash to enter the frame rail channel, and not enough cleanout holes for the debris to exit.

    You get a layer of crap built-up in there, if it stays wet, you'll rust-out that framerail.

    Consider stainless-steel screen over the big holes; and cut some exit points for water and debris to flow out.

    You may still need to pressure-wash the frame occasionally to keep the buildup at bay.
     
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  3. Reidk

    Reidk Well-Known Member

    Incredible!
     
  4. Dano

    Dano Platinum Level Contributor

    Looking good. Big adjustable wrenches are great for that type stuff. Writing probably corresponds to paint codes on the data tag. Painted top car?
     
  5. patwhac

    patwhac Well-Known Member

    That's a good point! Do you think using Eastwood's inner frame painting kit would solve this issue?

    https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-internal-frame-coating-14oz-aerosol.html

    Or would the mesh be a better way to go? I don't mind cleaning the frame occasionally. Maybe both?

    Interesting! This car had a vinyl top, and then when the previous owner had it painted they did it as a hard top. I'm pretty sure the car was originally brown. You can actually see a picture of my build sheet here, not sure if there's info on it corresponding to the writing:

    https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?t...heet-1970-skylark-custom.304962/#post-2531811
     
    Dano likes this.
  6. Lane in Mt.Hermon

    Lane in Mt.Hermon Well-Known Member

    Thanks for the pictures and good work for sure.
     
    patwhac likes this.
  7. Mark Demko

    Mark Demko Well-Known Member

    Your really gettin' down and dirty with this, I like it:cool:
    Keep going your doing awesome!
     
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  8. Dano

    Dano Platinum Level Contributor

    Hard to tell what's above the line. Usually if it's orig. a painted top they'd write the 2 color codes w/a line bet. so thought the "58" might've been the top color.
     
    patwhac likes this.
  9. patwhac

    patwhac Well-Known Member

    Small update. The DSE brackets did the trick, though I won't be certain until I reinstall my hood. Can anyone confirm this is below hood level by my pictures?

    These are with the original string line that went across the tops of the fenders:

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    This string line is run from the top of the boxy part of the fenders, where the color changes from Blue to Gray. Not sure what the official name for that part is:

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    Also decided to clean up and paint the windshield washer pump and motor before I put it back on:

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  10. Sebambam

    Sebambam Well-Known Member

    You increasingly value on paint can at a time :)
    Paint it black take it to the track !
     
    patwhac likes this.
  11. sean Buick 76

    sean Buick 76 Buick Nut

    Looking good! I’m sure that the hood will clear.
     
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  12. sean Buick 76

    sean Buick 76 Buick Nut

    I’ve been thinking about your frame boxing and I wouldn’t be to concerned. Simply use compressed air to blow out moisture and debris when needed.
     
  13. patwhac

    patwhac Well-Known Member

    Good to know! Well I actually 3D printed some prototype "dimple die hole caps" at work that will snap in. Of course I put a Buick logo on the front, will post some pictures of them soon, not sure if they are worthwhile but they should look cool if nothing else haha.
     
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  14. patwhac

    patwhac Well-Known Member

    More small updates! Still working on the seemingly endless task of painting and reinstalling things.

    I painted the OPGI non-AC conversion plastic heater box. I stupidly bought a stock sheet metal Non-AC box thinking it would do the same thing, but the hole in the firewall of AC cars are a completely different size. Live and learn! Got 3M Strip Caulking installed on the heater box, and installed rivnuts on the fan holes. No idea how they intended one to attach the fan otherwise?

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    Heater box installed!

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    Fan tested, blade installed (with loctite), and more strip caulking applied:

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    Inner fenders during paint prep. On the right is my OEM piece that has been cleaned up and rubbed lovingly with scotchbrite to get it ready to spray. On the left is a reproduction piece from Year One as delivered. It's a pretty nice part! Going to scotchbrite that one too:

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    Inner fenders after first light coat:

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    A second heavy coat. I know it seems odd that I'm doing one inside and one outside, but they will both be painted in and out. I ran out of paint and had to order more in the middle!

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    And yes, I have no idea how I'm going to reinstall them without scratching all of the lovely paint right back off. But that's why I decided on paint instead of powder coat, easy to touch up!

    Steering box (quick ratio from Hector/CarHex) installed:

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    Motor pads installed! Getting close now . . .

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  15. sean Buick 76

    sean Buick 76 Buick Nut

    Great work!
     
    patwhac likes this.
  16. patwhac

    patwhac Well-Known Member

    It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update, happy new year to all!

    Front Suspension

    I’ve got most of the front suspension back in. I’m running the following combo for now until I can afford tubular arms and coilovers:

    -Set of used first gen upper/lower Chevelle control arms, came with poly bushings installed.
    -BMR 2” Lowering Springs
    -Proforged 0.9” taller upper and 0.5” taller lower ball joints
    -Chevelle 1.25” front and 1” rear sway bars

    The BMR springs are so short that I didn’t even need a spring compressor to install them! The above combo should technically be a 2.5” drop from stock, but I won’t really know until I put the engine in and get it off jack stands. I want to go as low as reasonably possible, but not be dragging the oil pan or exhaust!

    I scored the sway bars from an old job, I never measured them but was delighted to find that they are a good size for this car. They’ll be put in with poly bushings and links as well. I can’t wait to have at least the front of the car on wheels again!

    F#$%ing Brake Lines

    I’ve actually been spending most of my time on the car flaring, bending, and then throwing away hardline tubing! I didn’t realize the learning curve for bending custom lines was so steep! I’m a perfectionist so I’ve been trying to get them all perfectly lined up next to each other, but compound bends are a real pain in the a$$. I’ve taken to using bailing wire to make a template, and then (poorly) replicating it. I’ve found that zip tying the template to the line you’re bending helps keep things roughly aligned, but I still mess it up a lot. I keep redoing the lines once I mangle them enough. Even though nicopp is easy to bend, it’s still impossible to get it straight once you bend it 2 or 3 times in different places, even with my tubing straightener. I’m glad nicopp is cheap! I’m so glad I decided against stainless, that would have been a nightmare! If I’m having this much trouble with the 3/16”, I can’t imagine how hard building the 1/2" stuff for the fuel system is going to be :eek:

    Finally, after many hours of bending, cursing, and crawling around under the car and inside the the engine bay, I’ve got them good enough for me to stop driving myself insane:

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    Firewall Adapter Plate

    One upside to bending all custom lines is that I can place the FPR and Fuel Filter anywhere I want! I thought it would be cool to mount them right on the firewall so that I have a short, straight flexline run to the throttle body. The Holley Sniper has 4 possible fuel inlets/outlets, I’m going to run straight to both rears. Most normal people would mark and drill the required holes, mount the stuff and be done with it, but noooo I had to spend hours CAD-ing a fancy adapter plate that bolts to existing holes because I couldn’t bare the thought of drilling into my firewall (even though I’m going to have to drill holes in the frame to secure the brake lines :rolleyes:).

    I’m using the laser cutter at work (thanks work!) to make mock up pieces out of 4.5mm acrylic. The final version will be an aluminum plate. After 5 or 6 tries I finally got it looking pretty perfect! Of course, I have no idea if everything plus the lines will clear the transmission, I might ask someone to take a couple of measurements for me in a non gutted car.

    One of the challenges of this plate was finding a way to make the back mount flush to the firewall. This was especially odd because the fancy Holley fuel filter bracket uses counterbores to mount. After thinking through several ideas, I stumbled across these sweet “Counterbore Nuts” on McMaster-Carr. They are sized to fit in a counterbore of the given thread size, and can be turned with a hex key! Definitely a sweet engineering solution I had no idea existed. Now I have a nice smooth backside :D

    Unfortunately the laser cutter at work isn’t powerful enough to cut sheet metal, so I’ll have to farm out the final version. However, I can still use the acrylic piece to start the fuel line plumbing.

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    Misc

    I’m pretty sure I bought the very last Scarebird rear disc conversion that uses a drum-in-hat parking brake, as they are sadly going out of business in 2023 and they took the listing down for that item right after my order was processed! I got the kit that’s shown in this thread:

    https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/scarebird-rear-disc-brakes-ace-skylark.352193/

    I’m waiting on the other brake parts to show up, but will document the install.

    I also decided to change to a GM Type 2 power steering pump using the awesome bracket from this thread:

    https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?t...5-231-340-350-power-steering-brackets.383051/

    I’ll post pictures and document that install too. I’ll try and see if it fits the extra 455 I have in the garage so I can confirm if it’ll work for BBB applications too.

    Well that’s all for now folks, slowly but surely . . .
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2023
    Reidk, Mark Demko, Dano and 2 others like this.
  17. Mark Demko

    Mark Demko Well-Known Member

    DAMN:cool:
    You’re going full throttle on this project, awesome!!
    Nice work:cool::cool:
     
  18. Mark Demko

    Mark Demko Well-Known Member

    That’s too bad about that company going out of business, did they give a reason?
     
  19. patwhac

    patwhac Well-Known Member

    Thanks Mark! Honestly I feel like I would have been driving this damn thing already if not for my tendency to be a perfectionist. :rolleyes: Also this is my first time going this deep on a car, so I'm learning along the way!

    From their website:

    "Due to latent supply constraints from Covid-19, we have decided to shut down operation effective end of 2022. Items still listed are available - those not listed will not be replenished."

    They do still have this kit in stock (for 14" wheels, not drum-in-hat e brake), but who knows how many so if you're thinking about upgrading might be time to buy before they're gone!

    https://scarebird.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=146
     
    Mark Demko likes this.
  20. Schurkey

    Schurkey Silver Level contributor

    1. I bought some NiCopp, used the 3/16 to make rear brake tubes for a '97 K2500. Tubing bends easily enough, I had a terrible time getting decent flares. I can flare double-wall seamless steel tubing with no problem, but the NiCopp did not cooperate. I did get the system sealed, but more through brute-force than with adequate flares.

    2. Approximately the last thing I'd want is major fuel system pieces directly in-line with an exploding flywheel/flexplate. You couldn't pay me to mount fuel pressure regulators or fuel filters on the firewall.
     

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