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

[BBR]

Rockers adjusted and it's all ready for the intake!

I ended up with 8.80" intake pushrods and 9.25" on the exhaust.

Adapters are cut!

Next is installing the adapters and the intake.

Oh and if you are wondering, no I am not putting a stud girdle on this engine. I just liked how the taller adjustment nuts worked with the taller rocker studs.

[BBR]

Heads on and torqued. (140 lb.ft.!)

Rocker studs swapped, pushrods dropped in and rockers set in place. This is the part I like!

And a pic to document that I installed the head gaskets correctly!

[BBR]

This thing is gonna be snappy. 200psi cranking. The original 545 I built for this car was 185ish. That motor went low 10.40's n/a all day long. This combo is going to be very similar. More head but a little less camshaft.

[BBR]

Popped the new timing chain on, degreed the cam using the intake centerline method and it is spot on.

After that, I put some clay on the No.1 piston and checked piston to valve clearance. The valves didn't even touch the clay! I added more clay, and they still didn't touch, so we are good to go.

[CTX-SLPR]

Don't forget the stress relief slices!

[BBR]

Good afternoon in the shop. I blended the BBF side of the header adapters. That took a while because I kept having to wait for the air compressor to catch up.

Poked the new cam back in, cleaned the block decks and mocked up the adapters with the SCJ heads. I thought I might need to trim the BBC header flanges a little for spark plug clearance, but the SCJ plugs are more centered, so they will work great as is. New timing set and pushrods will be here Tuesday.

I also started re-routing the fuel line from the back of the engine bay up to the front.

[Captain]

As Said Before......
These are Not Mistakes !!
They ARE Experiments!!
DATA has been Retrieved from Every One of Them.
Just try not to Reinstate Bad DATA expecting Better Results...(Oh, Jesus Peanuts, I just DID THAT AGAIN!!)

[BBR]

Header adapters are looking good.

[DanStokes]

Not stupid. This IS the world of hot rodding and often things are not either as they should be or as advertised. We try stuff and make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes work out and sometimes - not so much. We live and we learn. So mistakes - sure. Stupid - not!

[BBR]

This thing is weird, or I am stupid. I think it may be the latter.

Just for grins, I put the previous camshaft (Lunati Barebones) back in and checked to see what it would degree out to. IF I put it back in like it was in, which I have no reason to think I did not (see edit below), it was waaaaay advanced. Like 13 degrees advanced. I reset everything and checked again. Same thing. I reset everything and checked the exhaust opening point.13 degrees. I reset again and still, 13 degrees.

I am going to fiddle with it a little this evening and make sure I just didn't get it in wrong this time. If the timing set *is* that weird, or I am stupid (likely) , this would 100% explain why I had piston to valve issues back in 2014 when I killed the original 545.

In my period of disbelief, I did notice that the cam bolt, cam pin, and dot on the UPPER sprocket DO NOT line up. On a "normal" set, the cam bolt, cam pin, upper dot, lower dot and crank keyway should be in a line. This is not the case with this set and I have never noticed it.

I degreed the Herbert roller cam I put in this engine back when I built it with this timing set. It came out to +4 deg advanced. I *should* have determined that the +4 keyway was actually +4. I did not. I assumed the cam was ground +4. I was looking at the keyway, lower dot and upper dot, completely ignoring where the cam pin was pointing. If true, that would mean the cam that killed the 545 (a Lunati solid roller) was advanced 8 degrees instead of the ground-in 4 degrees. Again, I'm stupid.

It really does not make a whole lot of difference now because I have a new timing set ordered. The new cam will go it EXACTLY where is should.


EDIT:
Well, I was sorta stupid. I had the top sprocket off by one tooth this time. So instead of it being advanced 13 degrees, it was actually retarded 4 degrees. Instead of the intake valve opening 5 degrees before TDC, it was only opening 1 degree before.

[BBR]

I popped the degree wheel and piston stop on, found TDC and then checked the cam position. I put the cam specs into two cam event calculators and both said the intake opening at 0.050" should be 12 degrees BTDC.

I checked it twice and both times it came up 10 degrees BTDC. So the cam as installed is retarded 2°. The lower gear is actually in the "4 deg advanced" position so I am going to have to get a set with more keyways in order to sort this out. That is ok seeing that I have been running this timing set since 2009 or so. Haha.

I put the "4 deg advanced" in quotes because if you know anything about BBF's you know you have to pay close attention to the timing sets. On some sets, "4 advanced" is really "0". It's a long story but that's BBF life. Previous builds have shown this "4 advanced" to really be "0" or straight up.

[BBR]

Slathered up the cam and poked it in. Then I put clay on the piston to check p2v clearance.

I have a hyd lifter that I made solid for this task. I put an old head gasket on, and snugged down the head bolts.

I started with the intake. I spun the motor over twice, then did the exhaust side the same. I popped the head off and was surprised at what I saw.

The intake didn't touch the clay at all. The exhaust did though, and it barely touched the edge of the dish in the piston. Boo.

This is surprising enough that I am going recheck p2v and degree the cam to make sure everything is happening like the cam card says. This cam is supposed to be ground 2 deg advanced, but the cam card does not seem reflect this. With the exhaust being that close, it make me think the cam is retarded a bit.

[BBR]

Big block stuff is big. Pics don't convey the scale very well.

Front plate turned out nice after shaping.

I'm ready to stab the new cam and check p2v clearance. The old cam and lifters looked perfect.

I pulled out the lifters I bought some time ago and was happy to see I bought the better ones that have a snap ring. I was thinking I bought the one's with the little wire retainer.

[BBR]

I swapped the converter, finished the steering shaft, added a couple of gussets and finish welded the engine mount, shaped the aluminum engine plate, drained the block, and pulled all the injectors and inspected them.

I got lucky with with the steering shaft because I welded part of it before I checked how it should be clocked. By sheer luck I got it right.

Also, if you don't have a portaband, you need one. Best tool I have bought lately.

[BBR]

I set a head on with no gasket and just started roughly looking at rocker geometry and P2V clearance.

These SCJ heads have different valve locations than a standard BBF head. Usually this requires a dedicated piston. However, the pistons I have in this thing have a pretty decent dish. I rotated the engine over checking to see if there was valve travel about evey 15 degrees. With the cam that is still in it and no head gasket, there is still tons of P2V clearance. I will check it with clay after the new cam is installed, but it seems like no fly cutting will be needed. This is a big relief.

I am going to have to get some different pushrods. The one's I have (from previous projects) look to be a little short.