1963SS

Well, I've finally got the time to start a build for me. I've shipped out the last two customer's engines earlier this week. I just finished up the Impala engine and that was a few dollars and now it's time for the Vette. I'll be using parts that I had "left over", bought cheap, or just have no other use for. I know what I have and the challenge will be to match everything up to make it work well together.

This is not a max effort race car but is going to be a daily driver....weather permitting. I'm looking for enough torque and horsepower to make it interesting. Let's see how it goes.

First I needed to see what I'm working with. Although I'd rather have 210cc AFR's they're not in the budget. I'll just have to make do with these LT4 227 cc LE3 heads. I know the torque will be down some and while not ideal, the 3800 stall converter should make it fine for hot street use.

I wanted to be sure of the head size so I measured.......in the kitchen. She's still bitching.



Yep, they're almost 227cc.



I had some 12.2/1 flat tops that I don't want on my street engine. They're a bit too finicky about octane so I found an old set of -16cc dished Mahle pistons. Should be right at 11.0/1 compression and that's great for the street.

I got real lucky on the balance. The old JE flat tops (Sold and delivered to Bruno in Croatia.) and the Mahle's weighed the same so my balanced rotating ***'y will be just fine.

I mean exactly the same. What are the chances?




Since the block only had about 20,000 miles on it I decided to hone it myself with my old...old hone. First with 220 and then with 600 stones. I took out a half a thou doing this. Not too bad at all.



I had a used Eagle forged crank that was part of the old balanced ***'y. I polished the journals with some 2500 grit sandpaper and then some Mothers metal polish. Then a quick trip through the pressure washer to clean things up. Here's the polished journal. I do this to all engines after the machine shop gets done.



The old bearings looked great for 20,000 miles so I knew no crank work was required.


I assembled the "new" Mahle pistons onto the old balanced rods and weighed everything again to make sure


Here's the weight of pistons and rods with pins and locks. Close enough for government work.



Next it was time for some new file fit rings. I got to try out my new electric ring filer. Why did I ever wait so long to get one. It's the best thing since sliced white bread.





That's where I am now. Getting ready to install the pistons in the block and degree the new camshaft. It's my first time telling a cam maker what i wanted them to do. Hell, it may not even run.

96TransAmboosted

iTrader: (8)

looking good man

whytryz28

iTrader: (28)

Ditto.

Mystery Bird

iTrader: (7)

I wish I had those kind of used parts lying around.

1963SS

Phase 2 was some assembly. I took my handy dandy Dremel and did some chamfering to help the oil to the rods. Kinda like this.



Pistons installed .002 in the hole. I'll be using a Cometic .036 head gasket.



Then it was time for the cam. I did order a new cam with some pretty mild specs for reliability. 236/242, .625 intake and .640 exhaust lift on a 112. I'm hoping to get a pretty even mix of torque and horsepower. Hopefully both around 500 or so.



The timing chain was a used Cloyes double roller. It's as tight as a cats azz so I saw no reason to replace it.



Of course it wouldn't fit behind the timing cover so it was time for the handy dandy 4" grinder. The timing cover needs about 1/8" removed and you can taper down to almost no metal removal at the seal area because of the cam gear shape.



I'm going back with an old set of used lifters. These have 20,000 miles on them and I sent them to be reconditioned. They were returned and I was told they don't need it. They're perfect. So much for the old bunch of hogwash about solid rollers on the street.



That'll be about it for today. Tomorrow will be bolting on some heads and degreeing the camshaft.

96TransAmboosted

iTrader: (8)

This thing is going to scream.

Camaroking1996

That is a big cam for a daily driver.

1963SS

It's got some pretty mild lobe profiles so it should be easy on the valvetrain plus because it's a solid roller we can knock off a few degrees on the intake and exhaust and also about .016 off the lift. I don't think it will act too big but it's my first cam. Be gentle on me.

Mohammed

Hey buddy , glad to see you here

Nice build , may I ask why the pistons are numbered ? aren't all the same ?

1963SS

How you doing Mohammed? Is it winter in Saudi Arabia yet? Yep, they are all the same. Since the rods are chamfered and only fit on the crank one way, I number them when I assemble them so I'll not confuse me. The bearings are chamfered also so I'm just sure that they're good when assembled.

Camaroking1996

Great looking build.. What kind of power you looking for?

1963SS

Thanks, and as for the power......I don't know. I want a pretty wide power band because there's a lot of street/road trip driving in the future. I'd like to see about 475-500 Horsepower and about the same torque (475-500 ft/lbs) with decent power from 2800 or so up to 6500. I'll even take a bit more power with a little less torque or heck, I'll just take what I can get.

Camaroking1996

Is this motor going to have spray? And what exhaust are you going with?

1963SS

No, I'm not going to spray it. That's like cheating. Just a higher revving 383 for my Vette. The exhaust is going to be headers into a 2 3/4" exhaust. I've got a Magnaflow X-Pipe muffler for the center and a pair of Corsa's for the rear. Don't want too loud but still want free-flowing.

Kinda like this.

Camaroking1996

That should sound really nice and nitrous isnt cheating its just giving a slight edge

92camaroguy

iTrader: (1)

Yea send some my way too.

Mohammed

it is , but we don't hibernate our cars cuz it never snows lol. weather is perfect for top-off driving

Rob94hawk

iTrader: (1)

Looking forward to the dyno on this combo! good luck!

FAD2BLK93

Looks like u have a mighty fine build going on with used parts lying around...damn i wish i had that kinda luck. Good luck, i wanna see the dyno sheet when u get it done!!!!

1963SS

Well, another day and a bit more progress. More used parts installed but my supply of used stuff is getting low. The bottom end's done, oil pump installed and the heads bolted up, torqued and rockers installed. The day started by finally finding my lash caps.

The lash caps look like they're made for these Titanium retainers and locks. They sit in the groove in the lock perfectly. I like to use these on a higher RPM engine to take a little stress away from the valve tips.
A little surface rust on the springs. Most of it just wiped away.



Next was the assembly of the rockers. These have been laying around the garage for a while now. It's good to finally use them. These should keep my valvetrain rock solid during any anticipated high RPM blasts. Non-self aligning and no guideplates. Guideplates.....we dont need no stinking guideplates.:woohoo:



I flopped the engine over and installed my new oil pump and pickup. It's always a good idea to measure how far it will be off the floor of the oil pan. I had 6 5/8" from the rails to the bottom of the pickup.


I did treat the old Vette to a new oil pan. This one looks pretty cool and measured 7" from the rail to the bottom. Add the gasket in there and I'll have almost a half inch of clearance between the pickup and the bottom of the pan. That's just about perfect. The oil pan has built in crank scrapers and windage tray. Kinda cool really.


The oil pan also has three trap doors on it. They allow oil to flow into the sump but won't let it flow back out. It'll keep the oil around the pickup no matter how crazy I drive.





It appears to have plenty of holes for oil level, temp...whatever.


But, the most important thing that happened today was that i solved a mystery. When you buy headers you get these little bullet looking resonators. They have some Platinum in them. I'm sure it's not much, maybe just a grain of sand amount but because of that they can be called catalytic. I'm talking about these:



I know that they don't do much for emissions. That's pretty obvious from the design.



But the exhaust shop that does my work says that they can remove my cats and install these legally, kinda sorta as long as I say they're cats. So I guess they are really just a smokescreen and a way around the emissions laws, kinda.:thumbs: They're too small to do anything as far as I can tell.