77K5. The IronMaiden...9/2 headed for Blazer Bash 20!

[76zimmer]

my opinion and i havent even run my doubler yet is triple stick it now.

the stock 205 shifter is a pain in the but. my bench test of the triple stick is much much better. thay move like butter.

and if you didnt check the detent feel on the range box. if its real light do the rounded off nut trick like i did in my build as a spacer on the spring in the plug on the bottom of the range box shifter area.

the nut made the spring tighter and 95% match to the way the 205 front and rear shift feeling the same on all 3 levers.

I caved in today and decided to call ORD. I talked with Stephen, and he's allowing me to send back the twin stick setup, and exchange it, with $$ for the triple stick setup. That will be cheaper than buying the required parts to upgrade to a triple from the twin.
I just don't want to have to mess with this thing again, once its in there for good, and I don't want to fight with it either.
He also wants my long 205 input gear, so that will help offset the cost of the triple stick.

 

[sweetk30]

did you do modifyed shift rails also ?

 

[gmac95]

That thing is gonna be a beast!

 

[76zimmer]

Sweetk30:
Yep, I don't feel like farkin' around with mine, and I justified it by sending the 205 long input to him, it'll take care of most of the cost of the shift rails....

GMAC95:
Thats what I'm hoping for! I want it to be stout. I think my weak link right now is the front outer shafts, and thats ok, when I break em, I'll upgrade to 35's and drive flanges.

I've been waiting to do this for about 7 years now....I'm glad I'm going forth, even thought the budget has gone way over....I'll have to buckle down and concentrate on getting the debt paid off from this.

 

[76zimmer]

Got these new parts yesterday, and done some cleanup and painting of parts for the engine today....


New Jet Carb, this is their 36003 model, 800cfm, stage 2 mods, and made for Big Block applications:

These are Comp Cams valve covers that came raw aluminum...they got a coat of etching primer, with 3 coats of Chevrolet orange....

 

[warwgn]

now that looks very nice!! Cant wait to get mine all figured out!

 

[rdn2blazer]

I caved in today and decided to call ORD. I talked with Stephen, and he's allowing me to send back the twin stick setup, and exchange it, with $$ for the triple stick setup. That will be cheaper than buying the required parts to upgrade to a triple from the twin.
I just don't want to have to mess with this thing again, once its in there for good, and I don't want to fight with it either.
He also wants my long 205 input gear, so that will help offset the cost of the triple stick.

Smart decision, do it once and be done with it. You will be glad you did. awesome build man, keep that progress up.

 

[76zimmer]

Smart decision, do it once and be done with it. You will be glad you did. awesome build man, keep that progress up.

Thanks for the reassurance, and your right, I will be glad; its costing me more than I want right now, but I shouldn't have to redo the stuff I'm doing right now.
I'm glad to see progress with it, it all looks the same after a while, and I try to put some time in it just about everyday. Probably putting in about 15-20 hours a week on it. Thats a lot for me right now. I'm working average 48-52 hour weeks, taking Physical therapy twice a week, and trying to get a little done on the Vette project every now and then too.
Man I gotta get that thing going, its driving season already.

 

[crawdaddy]

Motor is looking sweet. It sounds like you have a good combo of stuff going in there. Can't wait to hear how it turns out.

Do you have any recent pics of the vette for us to drool over?

 

[76zimmer]

My machinist, and my head guy both discussed the engine components between them, and coached me through buying some parts...like intake, heads, and valves, but they purchased everything else for the parts list. I'm confident in their work, as they have pretty good credentials around here.

I have been working on this truck when I have some spare time, so literally everything else is getting left to sit....and its starting to eat at me, that my Vette isn't even ready to go, and I should have taken it for a drive by now. I got a fresh engine in it, I havn't fired yet, and a fresh T400, that I already want to take back out and make a couple upgrades to it. And the new 10/12bolt rear is still sitting on the floor waiting for me to get to it....This working really cuts into the project time ya know.

I will plan on making some video also....yehaw.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Don't complain about working cutting into your project time. Some of us don't work enough to be able to afford projects.

 

[BGKYK5]

And some of us work all the time and still can't afford projects.

 

[76zimmer]

Don't complain about working cutting into your project time. Some of us don't work enough to be able to afford projects.

AJ, and BGKYK5....I dont mean to sound complaining...I know I'm blessed with a good steady job....we've had our ups and downs, I've been moved around to different areas on the site, but its still steady employment, and good pay. I know what its like to be out of work (was out for 7 months, and unemployment ran out on me) I've worked about a dozen low paying, get ya by jobs through the 70's and 80's, and have had about 4 really good ones:
Eaton/Fuller truck transmission plant, Checker motors, American Cyanamid (now Cytec), and now this job with Pfizer (for 24 years now, started out as the Upjohn company). The other 3 good jobs are all closed down now. Not much left for good pay/steady employment in the Kalamazoo area anymore.

 

[76zimmer]

Today I checked out the valvetrain geometry, and the valve to piston clearance.

single cylinder assembled valvetrain, with only a single valve spring (just for cam break-in)

The resulting compression of the clay on the top of the piston

The clay sliced open at the thinnest part revealing a clearance of .190 intake and .185 exhaust. More than enough for a BBC.

And a little paint marker on top of the valve stem to see where the rocker rolls on the valve tip.

The resulting bare spot shows the valve/rocker contact pattern. It looks good for pushrod length, but may have to move the pushrod guideplates a bit to center the roller tip on the valve stem:

 

[warwgn]

coming along real nice!! Gonna start mine in a couple weeks, and you are making me jealous!!!!!

 

[76zimmer]

Don't be jealous....It took me a long time to get to this point.

So I called the local Chevy dealer today to get a timing pointer for my BBC engine, 1983 model....he didn't know what it was...I said it goes on the timing chain cover to check the timing with a timing light, he put me on hold........................................................................................
..............................................................................Sir can you tell me what vehicle this is for? I said lets call it a 1983 K30. What was that engine again. I said it would be a 454. Hold on....................................
....................................................................................
Sir I'm not finding that vehicle in my parts books....OK I'll call somebody that knows what a Chevy truck used to be like.


WTF....

 

[sweetk30]

i would take a die grinder to the water coolent jackets and nock out that casting flashing if you built that motor that far.

your pic with the cross section of the pudy for checking valve clearence shows the water jackets full of crap.

 

[76zimmer]

meaning the casting flash? Yeah that would probably help coolant flow wouldn't it.

Its hard to believe such sloppy work would come from the general back in the 70's isn't it?

I'll have to tape up the ports, put the valve covers on, and wail away at them.

 

[folkenheath]

Hey Dave if you have any trouble getting the rockers centered on the valve tip those Dart adjustable guideplates work AWESOME! They work with factory heads too. I tried tweaking my factory guideplates to get both rockers lined up (sometimes you could only get one or the other) with tiny bends and it worked but then there was tiny cracks in them, might of only been in the surface hardening, but it was scary, don't want that in a new engine. So I bought the dart ones and it was well worth it, got them lined up perfect! Then just snug the little center bolt after you tighten the rocker studs. By the way, very nice rockers!

Also, you can get an aftermarket pointer for about $6, even adjustable. Then you can find true TDC and adjust the mark or cut a deeper V in the pointer. My pointer was 2 degrees off from true TDC (with a piston stop). By the way, I think a true piston stop is better for finding TDC than an indicator, because with an indicator the piston can wobble a little and also the TOP has a few degrees or more of movement where the piston is at TDC. And the piston stop makes the piston stop in EXACTLY the same spot both times, then go right dead in the center of that.

By the way, you're doing a great job, taking your time and doing it right, you'll be happy.

 

[BGKYK5]

X2 on the aftermarket pointer and piston stop.