El Camino project car

[GoCougs]

Perhaps just as much now, but the racing programmes were the test beds for production upgrades; at least until they stopped building proper cars in the '70s.  As for engines, yes it was because of their motors for the most part.  Although the CSB was the choice of hot-rodders, the Windsor was the choice of most manufacturers who wanted an American V8 to stick inside of their Sports cars...even koenigsegg chose Ford's modular V8 as the basis for their first and subsequent exotics...fastest car in the world for a time.

Anyways, enough of disturbing this thread with posturing...but any poke deserves at least one rebuttal.

Oh, I see, the good ole poke-n-rebuttal .

There's not a Ford fanboy in the world that would claim the 427FE as a match for the 426 Hemi - on the street, on the strip or in NASCAR - yet, despite being less powerful Ford won plenty of races and titles with the 427FE, as there is a lot more that goes on than just motors - primarily, drivers and funding.

The Windsor has always played second fiddle to the small block Chevy and Mopars. In fact, as I'm sure you're well aware, the first thing serious Ford 'rodders do to their Windsor motors is install Chevy 2.02/1.60 valves and 5.7" con rods.

To this day, some 50 years hence and all sorts of cams and valves, Ford still can't best Chevy's ancient pooprod small block, and the new LT7 is going to set Ford back another 5-10 years.

[FoMoJo]

Took the transmission apart for the second time in 2 years. Last time I used paper gaskets for the tail-housing and side cover, which leaked a lot. So this time it's gonna get gooey gasket maker. I also need to get a new speedo gear housing - currently it leaks gear oil into the speedo cable so the inner seal must be worn out. It's like $10 to fix so whatevs.

Good news is that the innards still look fresh as the day it rolled off the assembly line.

Original?

[CaminoRacer]

Nah, the car was originally a 6 cylinder automatic. It probably came out of a late 70s Camaro. Earlier Saginaws have a thinner reverse gear. I've actually got one sitting in the garage.

[280Z Turbo]

Make sure it's not leaking out of the shift fork shaft O-rings. Our T-10 does that.

[CaminoRacer]

Make sure it's not leaking out of the shift fork shaft O-rings. Our T-10 does that.

Too late... It's already bolted back together and isn't going to want to come apart once the gasket dries.

[CaminoRacer]

A crate with a piece of paper in it was delivered today.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

Wow, she's a real revver.

[CaminoRacer]

Wow, she's a real revver.

TORK

[CaminoRacer]

I talked with the Flotek guy about my heads. Apparently they needed longer pushrods than stock, so the geometry was off and it caused the valve to rub against the guide and break off. I can't remember who said to use stock length pushrods with those heads, but they can go jump off a cliff

But in other news, my new Edelbrock Performer RPM intake and Hedman headers came in the mail, along with a new driveshaft for the Camaro.

[CaminoRacer]

http://www.maperformance.com/products/aem-wideband-uego-air-fuel-ratio-gauge-30-4110?utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=cse&gclid=CjwKEAjwp-S6BRDj4Z7z2IWUhG8SJAAbqbF32pG_V5T6082XB4SSjhiHEJjwelPPPRLrM4rwj106xxoCRyHw_wcB

I'm really tempted to order one of these. Could probably get it to work on both the car and motorcycle - would just need wiring disconnects and a sensor bung plug to swap it out.

Hedman has reducers/adapters with a bung already in place, so I wouldn't have to weld on my nice new ceramic coated headers.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hed-21134

[CaminoRacer]

Both engines are in.

My engine got a new rear main seal (1 piece), oil pan gasket, and timing cover gasket. Also got a new Performer RPM manifold. Didn't go for the air-gap because I was worried it wouldn't warm up enough during the winter. I'll lose 1-2 hp during the summer, but who cares. I'll be keeping the 600 cfm carb, which should still work just fine. Quick calculations show that a high performance street engine uses ~570 cfm at 6500 rpm. Seems like lots of people over-carb and over-cam their engines.

The Hedman headers look like they'll fit great and have lots of spark plug clearance. They have nice thick flanges and overall I'm very impressed. The ceramic coating could be a bit thicker, but it's still miles better than the rusty painted ones I had before.

This week I'll have to get the transmission back into place and get all the accessories bolted up, but it should be smooth sailing.

[CaminoRacer]

I have to wait another day to get the transmission installed - had to order a throwout bearing from Summit. I also ordered different header collector adapters so I won't have to change my exhaust except for chop a few inches off and weld those on.

So while I wait, I decided to richen up the carb a bit. Here's a handy-dandy chart that I found today that'll make this a breeze.



I was at #6 and the valves were a little white, so it needs more jet or less metering rod. Running just a little rich is pretty much ideal, so I'll pick #9 and see how it goes. I already have the .100" jet installed, so it just needs to swap the rod from 7052 to 6842. For the secondaries, I bumped the jets from .095" to .098" which is 1 stage richer. I also have a new accelerator pump that I've been meaning to install.

[CaminoRacer]

Today's fun event was trying to shove the transmission onto the back of the engine before a big thunderstorm rolled in. We didn't get it in time and ended up soaked to the bone, had to leave the tranny on the jack because it wouldn't go in the final 1/2". After the rain died down an hour or two later, we went back out to investigate and decided that the clutch must have misaligned itself at some point. I quickly hooked up the linkage and disengaged it while my dad wiggled the trans and got it to slip into place. Stupid clutch.

[CaminoRacer]

Had to pound on my pretty new headers today. The #1 cyl tube rubbed against the engine crossmember so I had to flatten it out for some clearance. Not too bad really, certainly less of a negative effect on air flow than the dings some headers need for spark plug clearance.

The Camaro should be fired up for the first time tomorrow, while this car could be tomorrow or Saturday.

[Laconian]

I wouldn't have the guts to mutilate new part$.

[MX793]

There goes your ceramic coating.  Ceramics don't bend.

[CaminoRacer]

I wouldn't have the guts to mutilate new part$.

They were only $450.

They're probably the nicest part on the car now. Almost too clean and pretty for the rest of it.

There goes your ceramic coating.  Ceramics don't bend.

The coating held up a lot better than I thought it would. It's obviously worn down a bit, but I don't really care since it's facing the crossmember and isn't visible.

[CaminoRacer]

Small setback today - the rotor in my distributor is pretty burnt. It's just a Duralast part, probably can't handle the MSD ignition box. Will want to replace that before putting it back together.

The Camaro engine is running, but poorly. Backfires a lot unless you advance the timing a ton. Practically no intake vacuum. Best guess is that the valves are too tight.

[shp4man]

Wow, sounds like you've  researched the carb jetting and stuff pretty well. Getting tranny's in is traditionally a pain in the ass, so no worries.

[CaminoRacer]

I think I know what my distributor issue is. Stock HEI rotor bushings are too high resistance for the MSD coil and external module. MSD sells a low resistance bushing to resolve the heat issue.

https://www.amazon.com/MSD-8412-Low-Resistance-HEI-Bushing/dp/B00029JLDG

[CaminoRacer]

The Camaro engine is finally running well. It was backfiring like a bitch, which improved slightly when we figured out that we chalked the balancer in a different timing position than we thought. That helped it idle well, but it was still backfiring with any throttle movement - almost like the timing advance wasn't working. I have no idea how it fixed itself, all of the sudden it just started working well after we kept scratching our heads and fiddling with stuff. It sounds pretty gnarly now, gonna be a fun engine.

The dyno charts I posted last week are actually a bit lower than what the engine will be making now. They didn't use an airgap intake, had a less powerful ignition system, and possibly a smaller carb. The current setup should increase peak HP and move the torque curve a bit further up in the rev range, but considering that it makes 400+ lb-ft right off idle, that's nothing to worry about.

[CaminoRacer]

My engine lives! No problems starting up for me, timing was just about perfect and got the carb idle tuned nicely. The open headers sound amazing. It's too bad the won't appreciate it much.

[CaminoRacer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXgKdMPt2f4

I apologize for the vertical video - it's from snapchat. This thing is SO loud. Like, deafening. Needs the mufflers hooked up ASAP. It drives well, will probably be a bit quicker once the exhaust is hooked up and allow for a bit more scavenging (H-pipe). The powerband is a little higher than the old engine - 1500 to 6500 is where it likes to live instead of idle to 5500. Probably a good thing for traction purposes.

[CaminoRacer]

I have to wait another day to get the transmission installed - had to order a throwout bearing from Summit. I also ordered different header collector adapters so I won't have to change my exhaust except for chop a few inches off and weld those on.

So while I wait, I decided to richen up the carb a bit. Here's a handy-dandy chart that I found today that'll make this a breeze.



I was at #6 and the valves were a little white, so it needs more jet or less metering rod. Running just a little rich is pretty much ideal, so I'll pick #9 and see how it goes. I already have the .100" jet installed, so it just needs to swap the rod from 7052 to 6842. For the secondaries, I bumped the jets from .095" to .098" which is 1 stage richer. I also have a new accelerator pump that I've been meaning to install.

After driving it yesterday, the spark plugs were a little white. I went ahead and richened the mixture by moving to spot #15 and increasing the secondary jet one size. I assume that the open headers are partially to blame for the lean condition, so I'll wait until the exhaust is fully hooked up to check the new setup.

[CaminoRacer]

I think the main tuning is good to go. I have a mild mid-throttle bog as well as a mild full-throttle bog that occurs when I open the secondaries. A stronger step-up spring on the primary metering rods might cure the part throttle hesitation while loosening the secondary spring screw might help the secondaries open quicker and eliminate the full throttle hesitation. Neither is really an issue on the street - in order to even open the secondaries in 2nd or 3rd, I have to commit to 80+ mph. This thing FLIES, and it's effortless. I would have gotten a million speeding tickets if I had this engine when I was a teenager.

[Rupert]

What's the power difference?

[CaminoRacer]

~75 HP

Since I had tuned the carb for fuel economy on the old engine and never even touched the secondary jets, I think it could have been faster. But it's dead and I'll never know for sure.

[Rupert]

Not bad.

What's your fuel economy now?

[CaminoRacer]

Not bad.

What's your fuel economy now?

3 city blocks.

[Rupert]

Sounds about right...