jbeech Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 Oh boy, today is the day my new motor arrives! 408 Aluminum Rodek block, Brodix -11 heads, Cola knife edge steel crank, Carrillo rods, gear drive, mechanical roller, etc. I'm having it delivered straight to the engine shop for assembly. Unfortunately, the pistons and cam have numbers more suited for a sprint car (figure 700 HP and a 1500 pound car) which is too radical for me with a 2500 pound car which is streetable. But with the pistons and cam suggested by Grumpy (mechanical roller also), plus my quad Weber 48IDA intake setup, my GTO will be sweet in the 400 HP range. FWIW, I've built too much horsepower into a Z-car hybrid before so I'm keeping it tame-ish this time again - but it's nice to know the motor can take it if I want more! The plan is to swap out the existing 350 SBC/TH350 for the new engine plus the T-56 6-speed. Surf to http://www.modelsport.com/gto for a peek at my baby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 John, I have seen pics of your car in the past and I still think it is a model of perfection. I love the low stance and the amount of detail you put into the motor--almost looks Italian!!! Was this Mark's (Z-Dreamer) motor? It'll be killer in your car. Man, what a weight savings. Blows me away. You'll have to change springs for sure, but what a small price to pay for the ultimate engine. Nice score! Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedRacer Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 Hey John - I think you have a few pictures of my car mixed in there! http://www.cardomain.com/member_pages/view_page.pl?page_id=236622 What gives as I thought you were selling it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbeech Posted March 25, 2004 Author Share Posted March 25, 2004 Drats! No joy on the delivery. Maybe tomorrow. Richard, long time no speak! Saw your post about heater hoses and started to write but I haven't really had time recently to share the latest news as I've been busy expanding my business. Selling the GTO? Yes, I briefly toyed with the idea, but I've pretty much changed my mind on that now - winter time blues. By the way, I hadn't realized we had an error in the web page, thanks for pointing it out. Full credit for your car's images 'is' there (now that we fixed the page), sorry about that. Finally, you may recall I hooked up on a nifty Weber intake and carbs setup last year - as well as a T-56 6-speed. Well, now I've hooked up on a nice motor too. Davy's right, it was Mark's. But as we all know, life occasionally throws curve balls at us and Mark currently has his hands full. Hence, his misfortune is my good fortune! I'm sure once he gets his new house in order he'll be back in the market for a motor and these deals aren't 'that' hard to come across. Take a look at the new pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbeech Posted March 31, 2004 Author Share Posted March 31, 2004 All is well in the world! The engine arrived and was pretty much as Mark Christenson said it would be. His friend, Bob Johnson, of Bob Johnson Racing served as an intermediary between us (since the engine had sat at Bob's shop for 2-1/2 years, he was the natural choice) . Bob graciously held my certified check until I received the engine and my engine builder gave it his blessing. I can vouch for Mark if anybody else goes to buy something from him. Anyhow, the cam choice is looking like a Crower 00423, a 277/285 duration (245/254 at .050") solid roller cam http://www.crower.com/misc/cam_spec/cam_finder.php?part_num=00423&prn=0 per Grumpy's suggestion. I've no idea yet on the pistons, but Grumpy is collaborating with us on them also and we're leaning towards forged 10:1-11:1 compression from JE, Ross Mahle, Arias, whomever. Ignition will likely be MSD-6AL and the distributor might well be MSD's Chevy V8 Crab Cap Distributors (for use with a crank trigger). http://www.msdignition.com/ I'm wide open to suggestions or shared experiences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted April 1, 2004 Share Posted April 1, 2004 Your choice in piston mfgs sound right--you don't want to skimp on this motor! I doubt you'll go wrong with a Grumpy recommendation. You'll post pics???? Please say yes Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbeech Posted April 1, 2004 Author Share Posted April 1, 2004 Pictures? Sure, they're already posted at http://www.modelsport.com/gto The motor is sweet folks . . . nearly as sweet as the car itself. Next I have to get a McLeod bellhousing/adapter to mate the T-56 tranny and it'll be time to install it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavy Z Posted April 1, 2004 Share Posted April 1, 2004 You are going to have yourself one very, very fast car soon. Props to you for such extreme choice of engines, it will be worth every dime. I can't wait to see how you do at the track once it's all together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-Dreamer Posted April 1, 2004 Share Posted April 1, 2004 Congratulations John I knew you'd like the motor, I sure did when I bought it! I will miss it, but not to worry as I've already got some idea's as to what I'll get next. Bob Johnson is trying to get me to come over to the 'Dark Side' that is a Ford small block motor. He does build some nasty stuff! Who knows maybe I'll build a blown four-banger! Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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