NC road trip to pick up my pickup

[woody90gtz]

By this weekend I should have the drivetrain out and the engine down to the short block I'm hoping. I might test-fit the Camaro headers before I yank the engine though just to see if they will fit, and if they do I'll buy a new set for the Camaro. At first look last night there seems to be enough room to clear the front axle.

I'll be doing a stock LT1 Camaro roller cam too as long as the block is roller-ready, I can get a free one from a bud on NastyZ28. If not, I'll have to go with a Comp Cams flat tappet.

[3X00-Modified]

So really you bought this truck for the frame, and axles... and beat up body since your pretty much replacing the whole driveline.

[99GaGT3X00]

i thought this was suppose to be a beater/winter vehicle of some sort.

[woody90gtz]

Yeah, well I can't leave anything alone. The trans is being rebuilt, but I'm going to leave the bottom end of the engine alone. The ebay ad said it was rebuilt 22k before my purchase, and the compression test seems to agree with that considering it would be 230k without it. If the heads look good I'll probably reuse them. Some of my research has shown that while the swirl-ports suck for a performance car like the TBI Camaros, they actually work pretty well for low end torque in a truck. I have thought about swapping the rear axle for a 6-lug 14-bolt though. haha

[99GaGT3X00]

Yeah, well I can't leave anything alone.

well yeah i figured that would happen anyway it was just a matter of time. i get like that too, most of the time i can't leave things alone.

can't really give you crap about the transmission since it was taking a crap anyway.

[3X00-Modified]

I'm only doing a full 3" catless exhaust from the HEAD back on my legacy (Headers, Up pipe, Down pipe, Intermediate pipe, Y pipe, Mufflers)... I know how to leave DD's alone...



Just looking at the cat pipe I was like HOLY HELL this puts the pink car's exhaust to shame!

[woody90gtz]

I look at it this way though...all the cars I have were bought cheap, so it leaves money to mod them the way you want vs shelling out money for a car payment. Even currently modded none of my cars are even close to Tiffany's Subaru with payments & interest.

[Chad91GTZ]

It's nice to be able to do your own work. I live the same way, fixing up and even modding cars house bike whatever, still cheaper than buying new, even if its a headache sometimes.

And I USUALLY enjoy myself! Need to get that nitro meth powered snowblower finished this summer...

[woody90gtz]

Got the drivetrain out this weekend and power washed. That trans fluid smelled BURNT! haha Need to buy a power steering pulley puller before I can start the engine teardown, but the ebay ad must have been right, there's a remanufactured tag on the block.

[woody90gtz]

No wonder it's a goddam slug! Turns out I don't have #193 heads, whoever built the engine used #187 305 swirlies with tiny valves. The pistons also have a huge dish...they're H580P .040s, which according to google are 22cc dish. That puts my compression at maybe 9:1 even with the 58cc 305 heads and jack for quench.

The good news is the block is roller ready, and the cylinder bores look good and there's no sludge or anything. It's only a 2-bolt main, but that's fine for my usage. I did double check the block once I saw the heads and it is a 350.

So I'm thinking...LT1 roller cam, some much smaller dish pistons and Vortecs since I need heads anyway. That also means a new intake, so it should turn out to be a nice upgrade.





Here's the scrap metal pile!

[3X00-Modified]

All the more reason why I hate reman companies... they just slap crap together.

Too bad its .040 over, we have some flat top CP pistons from the race car...

[woody90gtz]

Summit has 6cc flat tops for $95. haha I love SBC's. That would put me at 10.3:1 with good quench though, which is a little steep for a truck, especially with a mild cam that won't bleed off that much cylinder pressure. The Vortec chamber is good for detonation resistance, but I think that's too high. 10cc would get me 9.9:1, and that's $128 for a set. Still might be a hair more than ideal, but the 12cc'ers that would give me a just about perfect 9.7:1 are $400. I can just be a little conservative with the spark timing and be good I think. The Vortec combustion chamber is very efficient.

[woody90gtz]

My new cam & intake are on the way, and I'll be ordering the pistons probably tonight once I double-check the deck clearance. Compression will be 9.86:1 (up from the 8.9 it was) and the choketastic 305 swirlies are being replaced by Vortecs. Cam gets about 10* more duration and .065" more lift, stock manifolds, 2" y-pipe and 2.75" cat are being replaced by long-tube headers and 2.5" mandrel Y in to 3" high-flow cat. I'm estimating about 275-300hp and 400tq way down low in the RPMs.

[woody90gtz]

Used the Beretta to haul the trans...would be nice if I had damn truck! I special ordered the 12cc Keith Black pistons for a perfect 9.7:1 with the perfect D-dish to match up with the Vortec heads for awesome quench. 87 should be no problem. They should be here Thursday, but the rest of my Summit order already came in. Cam & intake from a friend on NastyZ should be here today. Still don't have the rod-knock Vortec block from my bro-in-law yet, so this weekend I cleaned up the engine bay and Raptor-lined it. I also played with the TBI doing the "ultimate" mods. I rushed it last time with just a cut-off wheel at my dad's garage, so this time I took some extra care and it's much better.

DesktopDyno2000 shows 298hp/428tq for the combo. Peak torque at 2000rpm and peak hp at 4500. I had someone on NastyZ28 run it on DesktopDyno5 and it came out to 307hp/419tq, but DD5 also showed 435hp/475tq for the Camaro, which I think is a little optimistic...

[woody90gtz]

NV4500 5spd swap time! Trans shop is dicking me around and is up to $2100 for a built 4L60E when they quoted me 1000-1500 max, and the parts list approval they sent doesnt even have the billet servos or a good converter, etc. So I grabbed this 94 1-ton last night for a steal at $800. I'm taking the 5spd and all required parts, the tcase, calipers, hydroboost and the wiper arms. The 350 runs good, so I'll keep that too. It should be a 4-bolt main roller-cam-ready block.

I figure I should be able to sell the rear and maybe front axles, new leaf springs and a few body parts to recoup some cash. All in all with a new clutch and surfaced flywheel it'll probably be under $1000 total. The current clutch seems fine, but I'd probably be better off with a BBC clutch or a Hays "Super Truck".