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The Silver Buick's 1969 Firebird OHC six project.

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  • squirrel
    replied
    or swiping them on his own!

    Looking good

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  • Beagle
    replied
    before we all know it, he'll be asking for the keys...

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  • TheSilverBuick
    replied
    After not being started up for a year while swapping the 8.5" rear axle back in, installing Competition Traction bars and changing out the fuel system a couple of the lash adjusters were collapsed and rattling. So I took the opportunity to pop the cam housing off to ensure the cam was okay and check the lash adjusters. Good news is the cam and followers were in perfect shape. Found two lash adjusters were soft and decided to change out the valve stem seals to see if the smoke out the tail pipe would be reduced.

    All clean and in good shape.

    No issues with the followers.


    I disassembled the two soft lash adjusters and cleared out some cooked oil gunk. All these lash adjusters were used when I originally put the engine together, and I didn't disassemble to clean any of them. Once put back together they firmed up.


    My home made spring compressor still works.


    And the getting bigger by the day guy loves the races cars.


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  • TheSilverBuick
    replied
    Started putting the new short block back together. I've been hung up on two oil issues. One is if I should make a crank scraper or not due to it being a deep skirt block and very shallow oil pan. The general advice has been to make a deeper oil pan, but the space is really limited between the stock oil pan and F-body cross-member. The other is I'm using an external oil pickup line, but the way I have the exhaust cross over to the turbo limits where I can mount the oil pickup outlet location. So I either need to deepen the sump a bit, or put it on the drivers side and have a longer pickup line to the pump. So I've paused working on it.

    Got the block cleaned up and painted.



    I've modified the accessory drive with a -12 oil pickup inlet on the outside, then will pump to an external oil filter then from the oil filter directly into the block's oil main galley. Then as it fills back into the accessory drive the two small brass outlets will feed the turbo and lash adjusters with steel line.


    Putting the short block together. Got forged Ross pistons with Scat rods and standard Total Seal rings. Much to my dismay the machine shop put the bearing clearances on the tight side so I tried different bearing manufactures, and found King bearings not only gave me just slightly more clearance, the oil holes line up perfectly with the block compared to Clevite and Sealed Power. Plus they are shinier

    King is the shiny one, Clevite the dull.



    Got the rings filed for moderate boost.


    Pistons in. Saw this ring compressor at the local O' Reily's. Nifty design. Could be a little more robust, but was way easier to use than the band style I've used in the past. Everything turns easy using heavy Lucas oil additive for assembly lube.




    Here is a mock up of possible crank scrapers using cardboard and duct tape. I know typically they are only on the upswing side, but looking at ones available for LS engines, which are also deep skirt blocks, the aftermarket ones have scrapers on both sides plus baffle. So I'm waffling between making scapers or just putting a screen in. Having the oil pick up tube removed makes the shape a lot easier. I have a plasma cutter and the metal to make the scrapers, just a matter of doing it?


    I could get to assembling the head in the meantime?

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  • Russell
    replied
    Glad to see you back look forward to seeing how the new engine does!
    ​​​​​

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  • langleylad
    replied
    Originally posted by TheSilverBuick View Post

    Haha, yes and yes I haven't watched any of his videos, I'll have to go and look.
    Hahahahahahaha I knew it was you ! that is funny ! Ry's videos are great , he also put some out under Bull City Speed on YouTube

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  • TheSilverBuick
    replied
    Originally posted by langleylad View Post
    Nice to have you back ! , Was that you that I saw in a Clap'd Out video from DW 19 with Ry in his Orange SN95 ? . You stuck your head out the passenger side window while you were waiting in line , you looked like you had been sleeping .
    Haha, yes and yes I haven't watched any of his videos, I'll have to go and look.

    Leave a comment:


  • 65RHDEER
    replied
    Thanks for your story of Drag Week 2018.

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  • langleylad
    replied
    Nice to have you back ! , Was that you that I saw in a Clap'd Out video from DW 19 with Ry in his Orange SN95 ? . You stuck your head out the passenger side window while you were waiting in line , you looked like you had been sleeping .

    Leave a comment:


  • TheSilverBuick
    replied
    In the next few days I'll get some photo's uploaded of the new engine slowly going together.

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  • TheSilverBuick
    replied
    More update.
    Originally posted by TheSilverBuick
    Day 5! Made it back to Atlanta Dragway!






    I put a catch bottle on the outlet of my crankcase vacuum pump and it would pick up a bit of oil after a pass. This is even after the oil catch before the vacuum pump.


    So then I got the idea to skip the vacuum pump altogether and open up the vent on the oil fill cap and see if the engine would do better with the crankcase fully vented to atmosphere versus just the 3/8th vacuum port, and it put a bit of oil out the vent into the catch bottle. This was not un-expected because my lash adjuster oil pressure regulator returns to the oil fill tube, so any gases going up the tube have a direct shot of oil entering the air stream.


    It did okay, but oil pressure was a little wobbly at the end, so I thought I'd add a 1/2 quart of oil and then really wind up the rpms to see if I could crack into the 14's. But it wasn't meant to be. It nosed over very hard at the top end of 2nd, then a bunch of smoke coming out from under the hood, though oil pressure was still good. Turns out it nearly filled the oil catch bottle, then proceeded to oil down the engine bay. Called it the day and week. I finished Drag Week 2018 and the car still ran.





    Then a friend of mine in Montana was rolling home with an empty trailer, so we loaded the car up on his trailer so I could fly home with my family.


    Then in October I flew up to Montana and picked up the car to finish it's drive home.






    Made it home!!



    Now, I want to put the rear axle back in my Skylark and put the 8.5" back in. I've decided to buy some upgraded moser axles for the 8.5" and put in the 4.56 gears I have on the shelf. I figure the gears are good until I run about 108mph in the 1/4, depending how well the new engine and head breath. At which point I can decide if I want to go back to the 3.42 gears or buy a 9" rear end with a different ratio. At some point over the winter I'll get the other engine together.

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  • TheSilverBuick
    replied
    More update.
    Originally posted by TheSilverBuick
    Then it scenery started turning greener and wetter.



    Eventually stopped for dinner and wait for the rain to ease up.


    The rain wasn't good for the card board box of my awning, but otherwise no real issues. Stocking up on another gallon of oil.


    Then Friday driving out it blew the exhaust gasket on #1. So I did the responsible thing, pushed that piece back in place and put more muffler weld on it and waited about 30 minutes and hit the road trying to stay out of boost for a bit. The night before it had popped the previous patch, which I then re-patched.


    Then Saturday around noon arrived in Commerce, GA! Registration was the next day so I figured now is a good time to changed out the intake/exhaust gasket. I had brought two spares.


    I needed to trim the Clifford sourced gasket to the port match, as well as add the holes for the intake dowel pins. I brought a punch and chisel for this exact work. So lesson learned is this gasket material likely wants to be re-torqued a few times, something I had not done at all. So I spent the next three days re-torquing all the bolts each morning, after getting to the track in the morning, and again at night. The bolts I used were locking so they won't back out. So far it still appears to be holding.


    Registration Day, waiting for registration to open.



    Passed tech!


    Day 1, in line!



    And then I made a most comical mistake. Used to driving my Skylark with a 5-speed, I foot braked the car up on the line, let off the brake but muscle memory kept my foot hovering over the brake and when it was time to shift to 2nd gear I jammed on the brake like a clutch pedal as I grabbed 2nd gear! Eventually realizing my error finished the run dismally, though now I had the data I was looking for on shift rpm.


    Afternoon rains came before I could make a second run. This was the only day that got rained out at the end.


    So off on the road I went when the rain lightened up. First check point. For most the week I followed along Doc McIntire and the SeeRed Camaro. The weather slowed everyone down and he was running a half second off the pace he was hoping, but still won the pro-street NA class.


    A lot more trees back east.


    Now the days all start to blurr together.


    My parents live in North Carolina so my wife and son flew out to stay with them and came to visit at Zmax, as well as a open house party at a local shop for the drag week group.






    This may have been my best run of the week. Still could not get the 60ft down. I tried using a 2-step making 3psi, just foot braking, leaving from idle, leaving from a high idle, nothing was getting me there.


    Pat Musi's shop was a check point.


    By now I was trying some rebuild's in a can along with VR1 oil.






    Lots of people complained about the hills of Tennesse, they clearly haven't been out west, lol. Beautiful scenery.






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  • TheSilverBuick
    replied
    Hmm, I'm surprised I didn't update this after Drag Week 2018. IIRC there were forum software issues around then and wasn't interested in battling them. Anyways, I'll copy over my 2018 Drag Week update. The car has been on jack stands for just over a year getting the rear axle changed back to the 8.5" with a set of 4.56 gears again, upgraded to rear disc brakes, competition engineering caltrac bars and re-did the fuel system. I just got if fired back up a few weeks ago and this week moved it for the first time in over a year. Hoping to get driving it again soon. The old engine is still in it and down on compression and I have a new short block with forged parts mostly assembled.

    Originally posted by TheSilverBuick
    Its been a long while since I did a real update. The short version is, the car/engine survived the drive out east, made it through Drag Week 2018, and the car is still under it's own power. All in right at 4500 miles since I left the house right after Labor Day to the second week of October when I got it home. I couldn't get it to 60ft worth a dang and would only spool up 5psi in 3rd gear giving me a dismal 15.1x at 93mph. With the 4.56 gears it had 1.8x 60ft's, with the 3.89 gears the best I could muster was 2.2x, even leaving at 2200rpm and 3psi of boost. I should have been able to crack into the 14's if I could get it to launch decently.

    The long update.

    The machine shop finally finished their work and I've brought it all home a couple weeks ago, but have not yet done anything with it.

    I've been driving it every now and again. Took it to a Cars and Coffee last week when the weather was nice. It was still pretty cold out in the morning but not to bad by noon.


    Just a bit cold in the morning.


    So the oil consumption and tail pipe smoking has gone up quite a bit so I did a compression test and it wasn't pretty. Last time I did a compression test a few years ago it was about 130psi across the board, and now it looks like 4 cylinders are low with one of them being very low. I ran out of time to re-test all the cylinders or try oil in the cylinders to see if it goes up.


    With the Megasquirt I did a vacuum versus crank degree plot to see if anything obvious would pop up, like a few cylinders pulling less vacuum, but nothing definitive really showed up. The plot reads backwards, so right to left with the red line being crank degrees from 0 to 720, so each vacuum peak is a cylinder, from right side is 1-5-3-6-2-4, with the right side of the peaks being as the valve opens.


    While I was there I checked my injector timing versus manifold vacuum. I had set injector timing based on a spreadsheet calculation I did, and it looks like it was pretty spot on at peak vacuum. This only really helps at idle and low rpm. My goal was to inject fuel at highest vacuum after the exhaust valve closes. This was based on PipeMax plots and cam timing.


    So after doing this I started thinking about the oil consumption, and it seemed I was adding significant amounts of oil prior to even leaning on it with the turbo, aka it shouldn't have been the turbo that hurt it. Maybe the rings got stuck while it sat for a chunk of summer? So I put a bunch of Marvel Mystery oil in the cylinders the other day and need to crank the engine over with the plugs out and run it a bit to see if the rings free up. This assumes it's stuck rings AND that if they've been stuck for 4,000 miles it hasn't hurt the cylinder walls even worse. Either way, it's still getting a new engine.


    So a bit of a Drag Week re-cap. I've already mentioned it's soft launching, only making 5 psi in top gear for 93 mph, or approximately 240HP at race weight. Though that 240HP is 65HP more than the 175HP it was making the last time I was at the track, or a 37% increase (it's definitely noticable!). I will likely need to get a different turbo, which is not unexpected, but will wait until the new engine and cam are in to see how it acts.

    Now this will be kind of a photo dump of the drive out and week.

    Ready for the highway.


    Crossed a huge part of the country at 80-85mph.


    First stop of the trip, Elko, NV.


    It had been running hot, which it shouldn't have been because the new radiator, but the big intercooler apparently was killing air flow through the radiator. So I made a stop at a parts store and raided their cardboard pile to make some baffles to force the air back through the radiator. It helped out quite a bit. So at some point I'll make tin versions.


    Lots of open road. I didn't take any pictures of it, but leaving Elko my turbo oil feed line blew apart due to me accidently kinking it at some point. I used a nylon fuel like patch kit to fix it until I got to a friend's house in Nebraska to swap a new line on (that he happen to have). But this work put my schedule about a half day behind.



    Then it blew the gasket on exhaust port #2 to create a nice torch mark and singe some wire harness wrap. I actually at the end of the day just took some muffler repair putty and jammed it in the hole to sit over night and it held a few days.


    In Wyoming met up with another Drag Week'er to caravan out (yes the Honda).


    Cruising along at 2,800rpm at 80-85, pulling the trailer. Driving out I kept the engine on the rich side as a pre-caution. By the end of the week I had it leaned out quite a bit.

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  • 65RHDEER
    replied
    So what happened with the Buick?

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  • Deaf Bob
    replied
    I'm with Dan on Water Wetter.. Makes a heck of a difference in our derby motors!

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