Guest Perry Posted May 27, 2003 Share Posted May 27, 2003 Hi yall, well after almost 3 years now I drove it Saturday. It was only from my old garage to the new garage, about 3 blocks away. It was the first time she's moved that I wasn't pushing since I tore it apart long ago. I don't have time to type the whole story again so here's what I emailed my buddies. The Dukes of hazard hat has some project car history with us. I will comment that the turbo I had in the car before can't touch the tire shredding torque of this 350. I'm gonna really like this car. "picked up the driveshaft friday night, $124. Once he found out what it was for, the guy built the strongest driveshaft he could for me (special U-joints, heavier wall tube etc..) and balanced it to the highest speed his machine would go. Saturday morning I went over and installed driveshaft, exhaust, clutch slave (which I ended up basically making myself on a milling machine),finish welded the trans mount in place, shifter, tightened up stuff, bled the brakes and clutch, air in the tires, water in the radiator, primed the fuel system, fluid in the trans, cleaned all the junk off the roof, etc... After a while I dropped it off the jack stands and decided to give it a shot. Patty was standing there watching. It fired right up and idled smooth. sounds great through the 3" flowmaster. I stabbed it a few times to hear it, fumes were getting thick so I pushed in the clutch for the first move under it's own power.... it stalls. start it up again, running good, push in clutch, strange sound and stalls again. sit there contimplating what could be wrong... and I realize the throwout bearing is still in it's box on the workbench!!! sit there in disbelief for a minute then grab the jack and get back to work. 45 minutes later it is back together and sitting on the floor ready to run again. yes I said 45 minutes, I've had that trans out a few times by now, and I was way ready to get this thing driving. wait around for Patty to get back with the camcorder. Found the plastic Dukes of Hazzard hat in the garage so I put it on for good luck (I think this will be a tradition for first fire ups from now on). Patty arrives and my father-in-law wanders over with his wife, I fire it up and drive it out of the garage!!!! No problems so far (well, there were no brakes but the drivetrain worked). bleed the brakes again... more radiator water etc... a few back and forth drives down the driveway to test the brakes. by this time more family was around. Patty throws on the flashers in the van and leads the way towards the new garage. With my nephew, sister-in-law, and Patty's parents standing around watching me leave, I couldn't just rumble slowly into the distance, so I give the van some room and as soon as I get level off the driveway I stab about 1/2 throttle in first gear. I think "did it pop out of gear?", and back out of it, then look in the mirror and all I see is black stripes leading to a plume of tire smoke. In the alley I try the same in second gear with a little more throttle, same result. I haven't had it out of second yet, but my couple of test runs down the alley have shown that at least first and probably second gear will spin them until you back out of it. I can still feel the adrenaline now. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike kZ Posted May 27, 2003 Share Posted May 27, 2003 Way to go!!! It's great the first time isn't it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Shasteen Posted May 27, 2003 Share Posted May 27, 2003 Congrats 8) ...I always like the sound of a perf.engine's first start up: even better in a Z. I probably dont have to bother telling ya how jealous I am, do I? Kevin, (Yea,Still an Inliner) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted May 27, 2003 Share Posted May 27, 2003 That sounds cool. You're right about the turbos not having the tire-shredding torque, at least how you describe "popping out of gear" - wow. With my new 3" exhaust, it seems my turbo comes on smoother, and my tires break loose with more reluctance. I kind of like having traction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 27, 2003 Share Posted May 27, 2003 Congratulations! I really like the part about the throwout bearing, DUH!.....LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QWKDTSN Posted May 28, 2003 Share Posted May 28, 2003 Congrats on the first drive!!! You're really lucky that your motor doesn't require breakin procedures, or carburetor tuning. Best of luck that you don't have to deal with cooling problems either!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Perry Posted May 28, 2003 Share Posted May 28, 2003 I've had the engine started before for a short break-in, but with a roller cam there's not much to it. I tend to break them in rough, I don't expect or care if the motor lasts 100,000 miles. I'm sure there will be lots of carb & timing tuning to do later, but it does run well out of the box. I've put a few of these together though. Perry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peej410 Posted June 1, 2003 Share Posted June 1, 2003 perry once i get my car on the road im gonna come pay you a visit.... im from connecticut and nothing pleases me more than road trips and v8Z's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl327 Posted June 1, 2003 Share Posted June 1, 2003 good job. the tire shredding has to be the thing i miss the most about my v8z i mean, this traction thing i got going is nice, but man i miss sidestepping the clutch and watching everything in back of you dissappear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Im about a week away from my debut drive. A little nervous seeing the car has been off the road for 2 years. Cant wait though.. Graeme Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peej410 Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 i only wish i had the funds to put all the cool stuff i want in it now while its all apart. im maybe a month away cash permitting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80LS1T Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 I've had the engine started before for a short break-in' date=' but with a roller cam there's not much to it. I tend to break them in rough, I don't expect or care if the motor lasts 100,000 miles. I'm sure there will be lots of carb & timing tuning to do later, but it does run well out of the box. I've put a few of these together though. Perry[/quote'] Why dont you have to break your engine in? Just because you have a roller cam you dont have to break it in? Do you still have to "seat" the cam? Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Perry Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 you don't have to do the usual 20 minute cam break in with a roller cam. I set the idle a little high for a while to keep oil pressure up and change the oil at about 2 hours run time then 500 miles then normal once a year or about 5000 miles. I avoid running steady speeds at low ouput for a while, but other than that I drive it normal. Actually, I'm told that aircraft engines are broken in at higher power settings so the rings will seat (who knows if it's true), and I know that factory cars don't get much break in before being hammered off the end of the manufacturing line (take a plant tour and you'll see what I'm talking about). I will drive it a lot but it's an extra car for me so if it breaks I'll park it until I feel like fixing it and drive my normal daily driver. And I don't expect this motor to stay in it's current form in the car for more than a few years. But reguardless of all that stuff, how can I resist hammering on it? I built it strong and powerful so I can drive it hard, real hard. It's probably only seen a mile or two of driving now, and almost all of it is burn outs in the alley until I can get it inspected. I do have a few SBC's running around in friends cars that we built, broke in the cam for 20 minutes, then hammered on relentlessly from that moment forward. The oldest one has almost 3 years as a daily driver now with a lot of highway miles back and forth from pittsburgh to Philladelphia. It's always been driven rough and is supposedly about a 375 horse at the crank (copied a magazine engine setup), and uses no oil, runs good no problems. Sure it may not go 100K miles, but it's doing fine so far, and we've got our money's worth in smiles out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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