Knocking the dust off

[daguse5853z]

Getting the beretta ready, here are some pics. The first thing that I did was replaced the radiator but nobody needs pics of that lol.

Lower intake gaskets


Mocking up the gauge pillar. I screwed the pods into a junkyard pillar cover I cut to fit. I didn't like the idea of long ass metal screws near the wiring plus I though it gave a better fit and finish.



I just deleted my abs motors and installed a prop valve for my rear brakes. My abs hasn't worked in years so don't flame me, if it did I would have kept it. I haven't had much test and tune with the prop valve though. Worked great yesterday and today in the nice weather but I had to turn it back a bit today in the rain. Downhill curve got a little hairy lol. The aluminum bracket on my trans mount is something I whipped up to clamp my MAF to.


Pretty much current underhood view. strut bar is installed (not in pic). I slightly polished the 3400 text on the intake while I had it apart for the lower intake gaskets. Installed the original plastic valve covers that were on my 3100. I want to shorten my intake a bit too. Notice all the room I have to play with on the drivers side of the engine bay? I got all the stuff to install my trick flow fpr the a few days ago so that's getting put on soon. I also replaced the ds ball joint, inner tie rod bushings, and upper trans mount.


Here is the outside view. Def needs some attention but thats not real important right now. I'd give the paint a C+. The rear filler needs attention. I was thinking about deleting the brake light in my gtu spoiler and moving it behind the beretta in the filler panel. The hood isn't permanent either but it covers up the hole lol.

[daguse5853z]

I got a great deal on this too

[daguse5853z]

Nice whip! you put a lot of work into your ride and it shows! LOL

[Money pit Beretta]

It is nice.

[daguse5853z]

thanks! I bitched up my rear filler the other day trying to refurb it lol

[Money pit Beretta]

Doing what? If you sanded it you can use mag wheel polish or rubbing compound to make it clear again.

[Rettax3]

Looks like some pretty nice work on that car. I like the stripes on the hood too . Too bad the color of it doesn't match the rest of the car. I am replacing the cranked-up hood on my Yellow Indy soon, I just need to take the time to repaint the hood I have to match (currently flat black), and I've been thinking of doing hood-stripes about like yours.

Why do you need an FPR? Are you planning a boost project here, or am I letting a cat out of the bag? That gauge-pod looks nice, too...

Glad to see you put the right gaskets in that engine, someone at GM should be strangled for that plastic $#!t they inflicted on us...

[3X00-Modified]

I use the OEM GM 3500 Plastic gaskets all the time. My engine is ported to them which are large than these. There is nothing wrong with them if they are not over torqued to the head, they seal just fine.

[Koots]

I like the progress, makes me realize how lazy I've been lately

I use the OEM GM 3500 Plastic gaskets all the time. My engine is ported to them which are large than these. There is nothing wrong with them if they are not over torqued to the head, they seal just fine.

I'm pretty sure GM redesigned the gaskets on their 60* and 90* engines, so buying the OEM gasket is completely safe, as they have all been redesigned. Just don't run out and buy NOS gaskets and you will be fine.

[Rettax3]

'Death-Cool' also helps cause problems around the gaskets, by etching the aluminum heads and weakening the support holding the gaskets in their oh-so-delicate must-be-exactly-THIS-torque position, and there has been research indicating that it brittlizes the plastic too (not sure if it was definitive though). Never the less, an over-heated engine will weaken the plastic of the gaskets, and an over-heated engine often has higher pressure in the cooling system, which can cause the gaskets to blow out. Not having had a problem with them does not mean the design is not flawed. I'm not saying every plastic gasket will fail, I'm saying they are more likely to fail than the metal ones. And there was no good reason to design them out of plastic, except to save a buck. Or more likely, a nickle. It is a weak-point in the system, and it didn't need to be weak.

If you haven't had a problem with the plastic gaskets, consider yourself fortunate. But that doesn't mean you won't have problems eventually. Or of course, they may be fine forever. But these gaskets are known to have issues, and I don't believe ALL those cases are due to over-torquing. I've worked on and seen many of these gaskets blown-out, and of the five 3x00 engines I've personally owned and actually run in cars, three of them had completely failed LIMG gaskets (all bought that way though), causing coolant to dump into the oil-pan. That is a very high 60% failure rate. One of these failed twice (I had loaned one of these cars to a family member who, guess what, over-heated the car and caused the gaskets to weaken and seep). Even one of the other two was showing signs of gasket weakening and imminent failure, but that engine had a lot of other problems too, so the LIMGs may have had a good excuse to fail. I haven't cracked-open the fifth engine, and it does seem fine, despite having been over-heated a couple of times itself. But it has less than 70k miles on it, and had the Death-Cool drained out of it when I got it. A family member has a J-code 3100, is still running Death-Cool , and has had no problems at all. So, counting that, that gives a 'mere' 50-50 to fail or not failed yet. Wow.

[3X00-Modified]

Worked with a 3500 yet? If not then we are not comparing apples and apples... Gaskets are completely different. And I run Peak Global Lifetime coolant only. No green, No Dex-Cool.

[Rettax3]

Ahh, no. I've had M-Code 3100s, a J-Code 3100, and E-Code 3400s (one of each of these had failed LIMGs). Less relevant, I've also had a VIN-X 3.4 DOHC, W-Code 2.8, S-Code 2.8, T-Code 3.1, VIN-V 3.1 Turbo, VIN-K 3800 and VIN-1 3800 SC, but no 3500. Of these, the VIN-K 3800 had cracket gaskets that would have failed eventually, but my 3800 SC (VIN-1) also uses plastic gaskets, and I haven't had a problem with them either (yet), but I still feel that plastic is inappropriate as an internal water-jacket gasketing material because of the internal engine-damage failure causes, and the history of the VIN M, J, and E -Code 3x00s lends credible evidence towards that view. The older MPFI 2.8s and 3.1s never had the LIMG problems that the 3100s and 3400s were prone to because they didn't use the plastic/silicone gaskets. So far as your engine and other 3500s are concerned though, I don't recall notable LIMG issues directly pertaining to them, so I will back-peddle so far as to say that I may be wrong regarding reliability of the LIMGs on the 3500s specifically. Still, if I were pulling the manifold off of any of my SFI cars again, plastic would NOT be going back in, especially now that the metal gaskets have come down so far in price (maybe not Fel-Pro, but Dorman makes a very good set -I've used them and I liked them ). I've seen lots of bottom-end damage done to these engines because of LIMG failure leaking coolant into the oil supply. I check my oil on my cars regularly, if not religiously, and that has saved at least one of my engines from disaster.

[daguse5853z]

Check out the replacement lower filler. My old one I kept the heat gun in one spot too long and warped it. I was using the gun to get the adhesive soft on the tape, worked for about 3/4 of it lol. I rattle canned the GTU spoiler quick getting it ready for a car show. Nice cracked tail light cover too.

Interior shot. Covering up the maroon is easier on the eyes lol.

Halfway detailed the engine bay after I got the fpr installed. It's a trickflow regulator. I used -6 steel braided, black fittings, and covered the stainless with black convoluted. I had to massage the throttle body flange on the intake until I was comfortable that the fitting wasn't going to rub on it. I knocked some ridges off the lower intake that were rub hazards for the tubing too. I routed the fuel lines in the stock location. I'm planning on doing something with my intake since it looks like kind of phallic since I cleared out some space. I have a bunch of accumulated cai tubing in a box somewhere.

Outside shot about a week after I waxed it (today).

Day before the show and I'm using bondo lol. Spoiler had some hairline cracks filler primer wasn't handling so I dremeled the cracks and used lightweight filler to fill those in. Worked great.

Bellefonte Cruise last weekend

The only pictures of the cruise that weren't of my car lol
'49 Merc

Meshersmidt? spelling?

[Money pit Beretta]

Wow, what kind of wax are you using?
Messerschmitt.

[berettaboy]

Bellefonte Cruise last weekend

You're from PA?

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