bence13_33

Yes you read the title correctly :). Friday was the target day so I worked all Thursday preparing for Friday. I had two of my buddies there while I tried firing it up.

I tried cranking it over, and over, and over but I just couldn't get any fuel to the carburetor. We checked the fuel lines and they were going to the correct in and out ports. But when I compared it to Chris's fuel pump lines (he has the same Holley pump on his 327) they were incorrect. We switched them to that configuration and voila....fuel :). Jeg's screwed me over on the fuel pump. I think someone returned that fuel pump. I got two fittings and a plug with it and the ports are incorrectly labeled (I think someone turned the bottom of the fuel pump). Anyway, we were finally getting fuel to the Holley.

Of course it wasn't long before more people showed up to see what was going on. I believe there were probably about 8 people not including myself there. It seemed like when someone would leave another person would take their place :).

I fired it up and man...those open headers are ungodly. I looked down at my oil pressure...no oil pressure. Shut her down. Checked the sending unit connections (electrical) and fired her back up but still no oil pressure. We looked down in the valve covers and could see fresh oil. I didn't want to start it up again without knowing how much oil pressure I had. My uncle ran back to his house to see what he could find. He brought me back a brand new mechanical oil pressure gauge. We hooked it up and it told the true tale. On a cold start I was pulling 70-80psi of oil pressure.

I shut her back down because my uncle saw oil dripping like crazy out of the block. There's a plug that goes into the block where you could possibly put an oil sending unit, I screwed the threads up on it but was hoping it wasn't going to leak....it did. That was enough for Friday night we pushed it up on ramps so I could work on it. After the crowd left there was no way I could sleep knowing that I was so close to firing it up again so I went to work. I had to pull the driver's side header and clutch z-bar. I then drilled the hole out slightly larger and tapped. I put grease on the drill bit and the tap to catch any metal shavings. To be sure I didn't get any shavings in my oil I pulled the coil wire and cranked it over for about three seconds and shot some oil out of the hole. I then taped up the plug, slapped her in there and crossed my fingers. Put the headers and everything back on and it was 4:00AM.

I called up Chris Saturday morning to get him to come over so I could break the cam in. I fired it up while still on ramps for a couple seconds and shut her off to see if there were any leaks from the plug. I looked under to see a puddle of oil. I was like man I have to pull that header again :(. I got under and was inspecting the plug but it was dry the entire way around. I looked up and noticed my rubber valve cover gasket was leaking :).

Needless to say we broke the cam in on Saturday. To do so I held the engine between 2000-2500 RPMs for around 15-20 minutes. The temperature stayed under control pretty well. Sitting in my garage with the hood off, on a 75* day, with Chris standing in front holding a box fan over the engine she climbed up in between 200-210 degrees. I'm going to invest in dual electric fans real soon.

After the cam break-in we had to button up a few small oil leaks here and there. After pulling it in and out of the garage five seperate times to fix a leak we thought we had solved I was ready to go for a spin :D :reddevil. The Holley carburetor is running like a dream (thanks for the carburetor Steve). The timing is still a little off and the idle needs to be a little more consistant but I am VERY close.

I know, I know you want to hear how it ran :). I had Chris follow behind me in his S10 in case I broke down. We went on a nice 5 mile drive where the engine was pulling a constant 65psi of oil pressure and was running at 160-170*. I was pulling out of town in first gear and was taching about 2000RPMs. I tapped the gas to about 1/4 throttle and let off and holy man! First off, she threw me back in the seat and snapped my head back then the front end lifted way up (you'd have thought I pulled the front end off :) ). We pulled into my old high school parking lot. I told Chris to hop in and we went for a spin around the lot. Chris didn't know what hit him :). I was only driving about 50mph. Gas mileage....let's not talk about that :). Between firing it up, breaking the cam in and driving approximately 12 miles, I started off with 3/4 of a tank and I am now below half a tank. For good measure I also threw some octane boost in the tank.

This thing is crazy! I want to feel the wide open throttle so badly....or even half throttle for that matter but I have too much time invested in the motor to blow it up doing something stupid. I'll give her 500 miles for break-in.

I'm getting JCL Spiral Baffles for the side pipes. Not because I don't like the open headers (I love 'em) but it's way too loud to be coming into my town at 1:00AM after a night of crusing. She still has a minor oil leak that I need to track down. All in all everyone seems really impressed that I was able to piece this engine together from scratch and have it even running....let alone running like it is. The timing is really close, I think it needs advanced a little more. Chris is going to bring over a timing light within the next day or so and we are gonna see where we are at. Chris was really surprised that he didn't see any blue smoke. Words cannot describe how I feel right now, I feel like a proud father :).

Thanks for all of your help guys and girls, I couldn't have done this without you :cheers:

C3Vettesrock

congrats bence! :cheers:

Pete79L82

Big round of applause! Clap Clap Clap!
Everyone stand up! Standing ovation! Clap Clap Clap!

Great Job! :cheers: :cool:

MassVette

Now you have the Real Deal........you're gonna LOVE it!

Flareside

Nice job Shane. Good luck with it!

MIKER

Well written, I could almost smell the exhaust fumes. Enjoy the beast.
:cheers:

GROSSPOLLUTER60

:cool: :cheers: :cool: :cheers: :cool: :cheers: :cool: :cheers: :cool: :cheers: :cool: :cheers: :cool: :cheers: :cool: :cheers: :cool: :cheers: :cheers: :cool:

GOOD JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rolling Thunder

Great job! You'll be grinning for months. :D :D :D

Dave

yellow 72

:cheers:

bence13_33

Joe, I know this post won't receive your seal of approval without some pictures :) Here ya go:

Stingy74

Flareside

Yep, gotta have the pictures :)

I don't know what it is about Chevy Orange valve covers, but they always look GREAT on a modified big block.

The detailing is what separates a quality engine compartment from something that looks "thrown together". Great job!

Which radiator did you go with?

-Joe

Alwyn678

That is awesome!! congrats :cheers:

bence13_33

Joe:
I went with the Be Cool Aluminum Radiator. It is a direct copper/brass replacement. It's a really nice radiator and seems to keep the temperature pretty well under control.

Eddie 70

AND THE CROWD GOES WILD
:flag
Good job. I just finished up my small block and can`t wait on that either. Your story makes me want to go big block one of these days.

Scott78

Must feel great to be done with all the major stuff just some tweaking and your done, Congrats

Scott

Stingy74

LS-5 71

:cheers: :cool: :cheers:

Congrats!!!!!!!! Another proud big block owner!!!!!!!!!!

Chuck Harmon

Bence,

Happy Father's Day! A job well done. That engine sure looks like she belongs there. :cheers:

Chuck

70 LS1

Congratulations. Just in time for summer.