Mikelly Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 Well I got a call from the machine shop yesterday... Heads are done, so I'll pick them up this week and start assembling the top end of the motor... The heads are the Dart Conquest Aluminum units with 215CC runners 76CC chambers and 205/160 valves. I now have the proper valve springs in it for the Isky Hydraulic ROller cam I'm running. I need a 5 speed trans and I need to pick up a tremec TKO2 trans from somewhere... (Yes I know about the other option...$$$) I also need to pick up the headgaskets (.018-23 for quinch) a distributor, and some headers. Then I'll be installing the motor and trans after painting the engine bay and getting the body finished... I think I'm gonna move forward on this project without a cage for the moment... I can install one later after I sort out the tubing bender issues... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nic-Rebel450CA Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 Sounds like fun! Sounds like a great package too. I forgot what you are building, are you building a 383? What does the CR come out to with 76cc chambers? (OMG, I cant believe I am starting to understand this stuff) I cant wait until I get some money and get to start building my waste-of-money of an engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted January 17, 2004 Author Share Posted January 17, 2004 383 Stroker with internal balanced crank/ 6 inch Forged H-beam Rods/ Forged Wiseco pistons all in a Bowtie Block. Compression should be right at 10.2:1. This was balanced with the SFI Fluidamper and a SFI Cat flywheel... All the parts are held together with ARP bolts and studs. The block has been screened just incase something catastrophic were to happen... It will have my Cutler intake, 42# Injectors, 1000CFM TB on it, and the Holley COmmander 900 Programable ECU... Anticipated HP of the motor is 530HP and 495 Ft# of torque... Should be fun once we get it all put together... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 What's this one going into Mike? You have more builds going on than I can keep track of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted January 17, 2004 Author Share Posted January 17, 2004 THis is going into the Zcar I bought from Chris when he decided to get out of Zs... It is a 76 and is pretty darned straight. Clean chassis, no rust, Pete's frame rail design, my suspension and brakes... Should be a sweet ride. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Oh yeah I remember Chris's car. Cool. I had thought you were selling off the fleet... I guess I missed a few posts! Sounds like it'll be a sweet car though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zfan Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Very nice build Mike! Boy is it going to haul butt! high 10's, low 11's. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted January 18, 2004 Author Share Posted January 18, 2004 Richard, I am in an interesting position on that very subject. I have someone who needs pretty much everything I have on my rolling chassis, and I could make a cool $5000 off it, and keep my motor, wiring harness and computer/ harnesses... However, Completely getting out of Zs just to play with my Vette and bikes is a tough decision... One I lost sleep over... And some of the guys who say "Some guy with lots of Money can buy a vette..." is not really accurate with many of them. These guys modify their Vettes big time, and I will be doing the same. We're already planning either a forced induction (Now we're looking into twin turbo setups!) or all motor build for the vette. There are guys out there with highly modified C5s that are absolutley eating up the competition... 3200# with great aero numbers and the ability to make 500+hp for reasonabe money (Less than $5000) is hard to beat...Especially when you throw in the bells and whistles, excellent brakes and suspension, and the seats and interior... All the stuff we generally want to improve on the Zcar... But I digress... Bottom line is not having a Z is something that I didn't think would bother me so much... But I've still got it, and I'm honestly glad I didn't take the offer. The size of the Zcar is something I considered. It is much smaller in feel than the Vette is. The Vette is a VERY large car from the inside. The Z feels nimble and quick. Also, I've got pretty much everything I need to make this car go and handle as well as any, and it would just be plain FUN to have it back together. So, Tomorrow I'll pay the $405 for the heads I had work done to, and this coming week I'll start buying parts and reassembling the top end of the motor. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1 Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Mike- If you're going to use this car for street with some track use, I would reccomend a TKO instead of the TKOII. 5th is closer than I anticipated in my TKOII; there's only about a 500 rpm drop from 4th to 5th. This is pretty much a track split, if I were driving the car on the street much I would much rather have the .70 5th instead of the .83. I'm gonna put this trans in your 260 when it gets ready for it, and put one with a higher 5th in my 73 for street use. I know what you mean about the feel of a Z car. I'm a fan of vette's and have owned 9 over the years. They're nice cars, but none of then have the knife edge response and predictability of a Z. They can be very fast, but are bigger and heavier enough to lose the crispness of a Z. The first nice car I owned was a 76 280; I loved it except for a lack of power. I leaned towards vettes, then discovered V8 Z's. The best of both worlds; right now it's 3 Z's and 0 vettes! John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 Mike, What about this scenario: limit the Vette to bolt-on-type mods, which don't take it off the road for longer than one weekend at a time. Keep it as the luxury daily driver. Build one of your Z's for "svelte and fun" daily driver duty, with the objective of getting it on the road soon, rather than building the ultimate Z. Once that one is out of the garage and proudly in the driveway, plug away at the track Z. Perhaps this "divide and conquer" approach would be more effective than trying to tackle 3 projects at once (or was that 6 projects at once, counting your Mustang and your kids' cars?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted January 19, 2004 Author Share Posted January 19, 2004 Michael, John (JT1) Bought the white Z with the whale tail and flares... Made room for the Vette... I'll be doing as much as possible to the Vette, while keeping it 100% daily driver and clean. The Zcar will NOT have the luxuries once planned, and will be more track oriented... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted January 20, 2004 Author Share Posted January 20, 2004 So Yesterday I finally picked them up. They have been shaved .004th to true them flat, so now I need to dig out the specs to make sure I get the right head gaskets... We were looking at one in the .021-023 range, but this is gonna impact that. I also need to order some head studs before I bolt it all together. Otherwise they did a verynice job on them... For replacing the springs, checking the seat presure, bead blasting, decking and cleaning up the valves... They told me that beyond the wrong valve springs, the umbrella seals that were used weren't sealing any oil out at all, which was the reason my rings would NEVER seat. And the whole time I thought it was the carb being too rich... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted January 28, 2004 Share Posted January 28, 2004 Mike, .004" off the heads will be a minor increase in compression. Not enough to warrant a thicker (.040") head gasket. I'd go with the .025" composition gasket or the copper one the grumpyvette talked about in another post. Just don't do anything that will take the piston-head clearance beyond .040". As I remember, your pistons were .007-.017" down in the block when I measured. A .040" gasket would mean too much quench height - probably making the engine less detonation resistant than using the .025" gasket, or even the .021" SCE copper one. Maybe .025" + .007" = .032" (tightest piston-head clearance) would be better. Or get a custom .030" SCE copper gasket. But .032" to .042" piston to head quench height sounds good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted January 28, 2004 Author Share Posted January 28, 2004 Pete, Dave talked me out of the thinner gasket... I went with the .040 to error on the side of caution... I'd hate to be out in the middle of nowhere'sville with an option for 87 or 89 octane and be worried about detonation... I won't be able to put the power I'm making to the ground as it is, so I'm not gonna sweat a couple thousandths gasket clearance.... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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