The Hellcat Blazer

[ABH Customs]

AT LONG LAST!

I've been extremely busy at work, and hammering the K5 after work till ~10pm. No time to post. First start Thursday went great. Friday was an 11pm pull at work, so nothing got done. Just ran the truck a few minutes at a time Thurs and Fri.

I locked tf in today. Made some fan mounts for the Windstar fans, got the radiator and heat exchanger installed. Got the fenders on, routed and re-connected all the wiring. Lots of little stuff, a solid 9-8 day working. Some moderate throttle blips and a short drive, then the first oil change. Drove it to the shop to put the new wheels and tires on. I LOVE them! Slightly wider offset than the others, but not crazy. 10/10 imo. Now I have my 3-500mi breakin, then we can let her eat!




View attachment Snapchat-330797296.mp4

I forgot how awesome my sound system is in this thing. And the best part? I can actually have days off again! Lol. No more second job after work every day, and every weekend. Just some hours cleaning and re-organizing the wiring, and I want to make a custom cold air box for the blower. I may even upgrade to a modern hydroboost, if I snag a good enough deal on one. Then to weld on the new rockers and start cleaning up the bodywork for paint. But all that is at my leisure, and none of it has a timeline or a deadline. My only task I NEED to complete by the end of summer is to paint the Nova, which is only a few hours of sanding away from being ready to spray. Then the Vette 5 speed swap/rewire/engine reseal is the winter project.

 

[centexk5]

That’s awesome!

 

[ABH Customs]

That’s awesome!

Thank you! I have some cool ideas for what to do with the airbox, so I'll post up if I get anything going. I gotta play around with some Cardboard Aided Design. Can't believe I have over 200 posts on here, this went way further than I ever expected. I tried to document every little thing in the event someone comes looking for help. Things will definitely slow down though

 

[folkenheath]

Don't baby it, don't go to redline, but don't baby it, over half throttle for many short bursts while keeping the RPM around 4500 or less are best for ring break in, they need cylinder pressure to force the rings out into the cylinder wall and seat in, if you just baby it or idle around everywhere, they may not seat in. Good job changing the oil right away.

 

[Babaganoosh]

Don't baby it, don't go to redline, but don't baby it, over half throttle for many short bursts while keeping the RPM around 4500 or less are best for ring break in, they need cylinder pressure to force the rings out into the cylinder wall and seat in, if you just baby it or idle around everywhere, they may not seat in. Good job changing the oil right away.

I did my first full pull with 100% tps within a mile of swapping in the crate engine 10 years ago.

Other then the cam bearings showing a little wear it looked amazing inside when I pulled the heads.

 

[ABH Customs]

I did my first full pull with 100% tps within a mile of swapping in the crate engine 10 years ago.

Other then the cam bearings showing a little wear it looked amazing inside when I pulled the heads.

There is a huge divide in the performance community between "proper breakin is critical" and "break it in how you drive it". I'm typically a "proper breakin" guy until I turn the key for the first start, then I quickly become the "what's max boost feel like" guy. I've been limiting myself to 50% throttle, and I've only seen as high as 5psi once. We'll see how long that lasts! Lol.

 

[folkenheath]

I did my first full pull with 100% tps within a mile of swapping in the crate engine 10 years ago.

Other then the cam bearings showing a little wear it looked amazing inside when I pulled the heads.

I do say for breakin if you asked floor it or baby it and nothing in between I would pick floor it every time.

 

[Babaganoosh]

I do say for breakin if you asked floor it or baby it and nothing in between I would pick floor it every time.

I saw a buddy, he was the one that said I couldn’t do the swap in a weekend. Had to, I drove it normal for a few weeks then the shenanigans started.

There is a huge divide in the performance community between "proper breakin is critical" and "break it in how you drive it". I'm typically a "proper breakin" guy until I turn the key for the first start, then I quickly become the "what's max boost feel like" guy. I've been limiting myself to 50% throttle, and I've only seen as high as 5psi once. We'll see how long that lasts! Lol.

Oh so true!

 

[folkenheath]

There is a huge divide in the performance community between "proper breakin is critical" and "break it in how you drive it". I'm typically a "proper breakin" guy until I turn the key for the first start, then I quickly become the "what's max boost feel like" guy. I've been limiting myself to 50% throttle, and I've only seen as high as 5psi once. We'll see how long that lasts! Lol.

There has been this debate for decades, however, with modern material science, cylinder finish measurement advancements, oil anaylsis, and actual testing, the data and evidence is showing that you want plenty of cylinder pressure to breakin the rings, without the increased risk of immediate high RPM stuff. You also want to change the oil almost immediately, then 500 miles, then 1500 miles, then normal oil change intervals. Babying it around is not good for breakin, and the data shows it now. But at the same time, it's a little safer to not rev the piss out of it until everything is bedded in and you know its good to go.

If you notice a lot of the latest videos of the new ZR1, Chevy limits the power and RPM until 500 miles. Then it's wide open and full redline. But that doesn't mean to baby it, I get on new engines, even WOT, for short low RPM bursts. Which when you have decent power, that means very short bursts.

 

[Babaganoosh]

There has been this debate for decades, however, with modern material science, cylinder finish measurement advancements, oil anaylsis, and actual testing, the data and evidence is showing that you want plenty of cylinder pressure to breakin the rings, without the increased risk of immediate high RPM stuff. You also want to change the oil almost immediately, then 500 miles, then 1500 miles, then normal oil change intervals. Babying it around is not good for breakin, and the data shows it now. But at the same time, it's a little safer to not rev the piss out of it until everything is bedded in and you know its good to go.

If you notice a lot of the latest videos of the new ZR1, Chevy limits the power and RPM until 500 miles. Then it's wide open and full redline. But that doesn't mean to baby it, I get on new engines, even WOT, for short low RPM bursts. Which when you have decent power, that means very short bursts.

I did an oil change at 500,1000, 1500 and then 3 thousand. But it gets an oil change once a year now which I would be surprised if it gets 500 a year. When I really drove it a “lot” I think I got close to a thousand. The Holley has been on for 5 years and I’m at about 3800 on it.