65 GTO

[Thumpin455]

Got the 350 working, stuffed it in with what I thought was a B&M 3000 stall, turns out its a B&M 3600 that likes to kill transmissions if you drive it very far, it slips A LOT behind a 455. Might work good behind a 350 though.. it will probably find its way behind a 400 in something I don't intend to drive more than a half mile at a time. So I found the 3000 I had, it was hiding in the '01 Trailblazer with the 10 pt cage for Old Ugly, swapped the 3k into the 68 LeMans and took the 2400 I had in it and put it in the GTO. Then I put the FiTech back on it, and took it for a test drive to town, that 455 is unfond of 3.42 gears at 70mph, turning 3200rpm isn't gonna get it. So it will get either the 3.08 posi from the 68 or the 2.93 I have holding up the other 65 that was under the 70 for a decade or two.

Well I romped on it at the first light on the highway, and it freakin scared me. It seems the 700R4 was losing lots of power somewhere, because holy smokes that Th350 and 2400 makes that car go nuts in 1st and 2nd. It didn't spin the 255s, didn't hop either, it pulled the front up and went. Not the tires off the ground or anything, but it was like driving Ugly back in the 90s, but faster.

This year I got the 79 Formula (Ugly) running very good. The 68 is running great and ready to make the lights and stuff work, maybe throw a VFN nose and hood at it, its kinda scary too.. the 65 is no longer a road trip machine, its a very fun toy I will probably get tickets in, and the 76 C10 is well on its way to having a hot little LS in it. It seems as though I got the building and working bug again after so many years focused on the shop, house, and keeping beaters running. I'm taking today off in the shop because the knees are kicking my ass, the left one is swelled up and stiff. Sucks getting old but I still build and drive cars I wanted to have when I was 16.

Have to do house stuff soon, insulation, build some actual exterior walls, block air from under the place, things like that.. and siding..Man that GTO freakin rips now, just like it should with the heads and intake that ran 11s in the heavier Formula. I hurt but I am happyish...

[Thumpin455]

Im fighting the Th350 I had in it behind the 400 before the current 455. Intermediate clutch pack has a quarter inch of clearance.. that just will not do. Been trying to figure this thing out for the last two hours. Taking it apart, putting it back, its kinda nuts as Th350s are super easy.

[Thumpin455]

Considering I live about where the arrow is, and Detroit as at least ten hours driving time, Green Bay is 3 hours, anything down state is going to be farther than I want to go for something I can do in Wisconsin. Its already getting cold here. I am annoyed.

[DanStokes]

How far is it down to Ferris from you? Or maybe they don't even have T&I (Trade and Industrial) classes anymore. Just a thought.

Dan

[Thumpin455]

I had the shaft made locally for Mutt and it was fairly cheap - about $200 IIRC. That included the tube and parts and labor. I thought that was a decent price and he put extra effort into the balance when I told him what it was for. It's a shop that usually does shafts for trucks, etc. I don't know if you have anyone up your way who does that but it's worth looking into.

Dan

Closest to me is 3 hours away in Green Bay. We don't even have a machinist around here to do engines. Good thing I have a bunch of fresh blocks sitting here I can throw cranks in. I plan to move, hopefully within the next two years. I am sick of the people here and the lack of anything to do with my hotrods. No reason to make them legal to drive or race, I am the only one out with it at any given time.

[DanStokes]

I had the shaft made locally for Mutt and it was fairly cheap - about $200 IIRC. That included the tube and parts and labor. I thought that was a decent price and he put extra effort into the balance when I told him what it was for. It's a shop that usually does shafts for trucks, etc. I don't know if you have anyone up your way who does that but it's worth looking into.

Dan

[Thumpin455]

Driveshaft dilemmas. The shaft for the GTO with a Th350 is one inch too long for a GTO with a Th400. The shaft for a 72 Cutlass with a Th350 is the right length for a 65 GTO with a 700R4. I am trying to put a fresh Th400 I have had sitting around for years in this thing.. because it keeps breaking 700R4s. I have a kit to rebuild a Th350, but it won't live long behind the 455 either. Nobody sells a 58" driveshaft in a once piece.. except for Nissan pickups and who knows what yoke those things have. Speedway sells then up to 50" unless I go carbon fiber for $600+. Carbon fiber is a bit much for a daily driver with only about 550hp. I don't want to cut any of my steel shafts because they are the right length for other vehicles. Except for maybe the 84 F150 4x4.. if that one is too long I could cut it, but knowing my luck it will be too short.

Doesn't anyone race 64-67 Chevelles with a Th400 in them?

[Thumpin455]

Thumpin is our ethanol guru! Brews his own, at least sometimes from cat tails (I don't know how many tail-less cats he has these days ). If I wasn't so lazy I'd follow his lead.

Dan

I've switched to tree sap since I now have over 300 maples that are big enough to tap. Since the house has taken up the last 4 years and the shop the three before that, I don't have it all going again since the move. Plans are to get a larger boiler, more fermentation capacity, and a bigger still this year so I can do it all next year. With the cost of gas being so low right now, E85 makes it real easy, the problem is driving two hours to fill barrels.

[DanStokes]

Thumpin is our ethanol guru! Brews his own, at least sometimes from cat tails (I don't know how many tail-less cats he has these days ). If I wasn't so lazy I'd follow his lead.

Dan

[Captain]

Thank You,
I love Facts,
so its the additives in pump gas that has messed up my outboard, and didn't know it had a problem mixing with 2 cycle oil......
I will look at a Honda 4 stroke now

[Thumpin455]

I run E85 and straight ethanol in a generator, chainsaws, and lawnmowers. There is no problem with it whatsoever. With two strokes on 85%-100% you need to mix castor oil or vegetable oil with it, because two stroke oil doesn't mix with ethanol. The yellow waxy stuff that clogs carbs is an additive intended to keep it from absorbing water, which is not an issue unless you drive through a river or lake and water gets in the tank... lots of water. The little bit it gets from condensation and humidity isn't going to be enough to cause any problems.

All of the corrosion issues attributed to ethanol are NOT caused by ethanol, they are all due to other chemicals put in the fuel by the oil companies. I can;t get pump gas to last more than a handful of weeks, and I have ten year old ethanol that runs great. Its not like 12 year old scotch has gone bad, now is it?

[Thumpin455]

Thank You.
yes I religiously use Stabil or Seafoam and we can get non ethanol gas here.
ONLY the Daily Driver get 10% ethanol pump gas as it is usually used up in a week to 10 days.
But there was a couple of years here you could only get 10% ethanol pump gas. Non Ethanol was available like Racing Fuel, at the distributors tank farm.

I don't use any of that. No need to at all. The additives are what causes problems, not ethanol.

https://www.onallcylinders.com/2018/05/25/ask-away-jeff-smith-e85-pump-gas-additives-not-ethanol-cause-corrosion/

Ethanol is simply vodka, the exact same stuff you drink in a screwdriver. Beer, wine, whiskey, those fruity things the ladies like so much... all of it is ethanol.
Methanol is highly corrosive to aluminum, rubber and non stainless steel. It is also highly toxic and as little as a tenth of a CC will kill you.

Most people confuse or conflate ethanol with methanol and they have no idea what the difference is. They assume alcohol is all the same, but isopropyl, and beeswax are also alcohol. If there was a problem with ethanol that Qjet I posted the pic of would definitely have it. This pic shows the chemical difference between methanol and ethanol. Almost everything you've heard or read about ethanol that is negative is either wrong, misinformation, or blown massively out of proportion.

It handles high compression easily. 13:1 and driving around daily on the street is my reality, and when gasoline was $3.40 here, E85 was $2.25 two hours away at the closest station that sells it. Compare that to C16 race gas, which is what you need for over 13:1 with one of my Pontiacs and the price difference is massive. Also the 455 in my GTO right now likes 42-45 degrees of advance on E85, on VP red and Sunoco 110 octane race gas those same heads on another 455 liked 52 total, at 11.5:1 compression. It would rattle itself to death in a few minutes on pump gas, and when we backed the timing down to 32-38, it lost an entire second in the quarter mile, and 5mph..

It makes more power than gasoline. Even on a low compression smog era engine. They can't test it very well, but it makes even more off idle under 3000rpm.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/hppp-1109-testing-different-fuel/

Rockett Brand Base Fuel
QFT carburetor, 69/79 jets, 32 degrees BTDC
Average power from 3,500 to 5,000 rpm is 399.78 hp and 496.29 lb-ft of torque
RPM	TQ	HP	BSFC
3,000	528.5	301.9	0.51
3,100	527.7	311.5	0.48
3,200	527.1	321.1	0.47
3,300	525.2	330.0	0.46
3,400	524.1	339.3	0.47
3,500	523.6	349.0	0.47
3,600	519.7	356.2	0.47
3,700	517.8	364.8	0.47
3,800	515.3	372.8	0.46
3,900	515.6	382.8	0.46
4,000	511.5	389.6	0.47
4,100	509.9	398.0	0.46
4,200	505.6	404.4	0.46
4,300	498.1	407.8	0.47
4,400	491.7	411.9	0.47
4,500	486.3	416.7	0.47
4,600	480.9	421.1	0.47
4,700	475.8	425.8	0.47
4,800	470.0	429.6	0.48
4,900	462.0	431.1	0.48
5,000	456.8	434.8	0.48
5,100	449.1	436.1	0.49
5,200	442.2	437.8	0.49
5,300	433.6	437.6	0.50

Rockett Brand E85
QFT E85 carburetor, 78/88 jets, 32 degrees BTDC
Average power from 3,500 to 5,000 rpm is 408.38 hp and 507.07 lb-ft of torque.
RPM	TQ	HP	BSFC
3,000	547.4	312.7	0.68
3,100	548.6	323.8	0.66
3,200	547.1	333.4	0.65
3,300	544.3	342.0	0.66
3,400	540.0	349.5	0.66
3,500	537.0	357.8	0.66
3,600	532.7	365.1	0.66
3,700	529.6	373.1	0.66
3,800	527.5	381.7	0.66
3,900	526.8	391.2	0.66
4,000	525.2	400.0	0.65
4,100	521.2	406.9	0.66
4,200	515.3	412.1	0.67
4,300	508.8	416.6	0.67
4,400	503.1	421.5	0.67
4,500	496.4	425.3	0.67
4,600	490.0	429.2	0.67
4,700	483.7	432.9	0.68
4,800	478.0	436.9	0.69
4,900	472.6	440.9	0.69
5,000	465.1	442.8	0.69
5,100	457.8	444.6	0.69
5,200	448.7	444.2	0.69

[Captain]

Thank You.
yes I religiously use Stabil or Seafoam and we can get non ethanol gas here.
ONLY the Daily Driver get 10% ethanol pump gas as it is usually used up in a week to 10 days.
But there was a couple of years here you could only get 10% ethanol pump gas. Non Ethanol was available like Racing Fuel, at the distributors tank farm.

[Deaf Bob]

Captain, put Sta-bil in your gas for small engines with ethanol and gas.. I use non ethanol for all my small engines (chain saws, mowers etc) and Sta-bil and have no more carb problems..

[Captain]

Just asking,
Ethanol, or Methanol.
Methanol is used as a Racing Fuel Here.
Both are referred as Alcohol.

As for Ethanol in pump gas has NOT worked out well for me. Ruined a Outboard motor, had to replace carbs on my riding garden tractors, mowers, etc. The small engine dealer will not sell you a rebuild kit only if you insist. Has 2 - 5 gallon buckets full of carbs by the door, FREE FOR THE TAKING !!

my 2 bits (from experience)