BBR's 83GT - 552 BBF version 3.0 (at least)

[Scott Liggett]

Yup, already starting shelf duties.

One week in storage. Already has boxes piled on it.

[Beagle]

Well, I've seen the paint on this car, and I've been in Amarillo during Thanksgiving before... a couple of boxes are nothing compared to being outside. While I don't think a box is gonna destroy the mirror glaze finish, I'm sure the car is thankful. Then there is the MrsBBR contingency who is no doubt doing a happy dance, but I wouldn't let her get too used to it. Put some primer on the truck quick!!

Do you guys think you'll be in your house long enough to justify a shop?

I just looked at that picture again, and for those of you who don't know, James is a pretty tall guy. I'm wondering if one of the BBRkids got promoted to car parker? More to the point, if there is video of James coming out the passenger side, over the bar? That'd be classic.

[DanStokes]

I'm thinking floor jack and a sideways slide.

Dan

[BBR]

Yeah, we plan to be here a long time. We love this house and neighborhood. There is a little space beside it. I had to squeeze in next to it yesterday to turn off a breaker. Wasn't easy when I got to the rear view mirror though. Glad I am tall. I began tearing down the motor yesterday. Took a few pics I'll post later. So far everything looks good, no surprises. I emailed Probe and it looks like the weight difference between a 30 over piston and a 60 over is probably not enough to warrant a rebalance. Hope that holds true when I have a piston in hand.

[Beagle]

Yeah, we plan to be here a long time. We love this house and neighborhood. There is a little space beside it. I had to squeeze in next to it yesterday to turn off a breaker. Wasn't easy when I got to the rear view mirror though. Glad I am tall. I began tearing down the motor yesterday. Took a few pics I'll post later. So far everything looks good, no surprises. I emailed Probe and it looks like the weight difference between a 30 over piston and a 60 over is probably not enough to warrant a rebalance. Hope that holds true when I have a piston in hand.

I'm sure you've taken a look at how they "balance" pistons on some of the high end junk ... pretty crude really. Harbor Freight scale for 20.00 and drill some off the balance pad until they are the same... doesn't matter if the scale is really accurate, but it does matter if it is really repeatable, right?

http://www.harborfreight.com/digital-scale-95364.html

fwiw, their cheap car skates work pretty good on a Mustang shelf. I have an ongoing battle with the black version of the "Dammit, this is not a shelf!"

[BBR]

I have a digital scale and that's how I weight matched the replacement piston for the Ranger, many many moons ago. Pulled the pistons and rods out today. All the rod bearings look awesome as far as wear goes. A couple look as if they picked up a small piece of trash at one point, but they really were not damaged much at all. The crank, timing set and cam are still in it and you can spin the crank easily with your hand. The rod journals look brand new. Very very pleased with how this stuff looks after all these years.

[squirrel]

How many miles on it? less than 5k?

[BBR]

Idk. I'd probably guess more than that, but the odometer does not work. There have been a lot of quarter mile passes on this thing since I first bolted it together in 2010. lol

Pics of tear down.


This is where the valve stem tried to "Probe" through the top of the piston!


#8 where the valve chunk killed the cylinder wall.

[milner351]

OUCH - glad the bearings and the rest look good.

[BBR]

Me too. Mark O'Neal with Probe told me the 60 over version of my pistons are 5-6 grams heavier than my 30 overs. This is good because that is not enough to warrant a trip to the machine shop for a crank rebalance.

[Russell]

If you already have a scale why not remove 5-6 grams from the 60 overs?

[BBR]

Because 5 grams of aluminum is roughly 2 cubic centimeters. That would be a bunch of metal to remove from a piston!

According to Randy Malik, the factory balance for a 460 is plus or minus 42 grams on the bobweight!

[Admirall2]

Because 5 grams of aluminum is roughly 2 cubic centimeters. That would be a bunch of metal to remove from a piston!

Means Valve Reliefs for increased stroke to make up for the lost material. or something like that.

[Scott Liggett]

Because 5 grams of aluminum is roughly 2 cubic centimeters. That would be a bunch of metal to remove from a piston!

According to Randy Malik, the factory balance for a 460 is plus or minus 42 grams on the bobweight!

GM's was around 40 grams for V8's. A good machine shop can get the balance down to less than two grams.

[BBR]

Pulled the main caps off yesterday. Crank and bearings look fantastic. I'm very happy to not have any surprises in the bottom end.