Motor is Finally back in the Firebird
 

Got the 535 in the car finally. Still have to do some work to get it running.
* Hook up fuel system and carburetor
* run the oil line to the new pick up location at the front of the block
*hook up cooling system
*Finish the new exhaust. I spent today making adjustments to the headers to get them closer to the floor and create a little more ground clearance. Also finished the exhaust from the collector to the X crossover. I had it on and off many times adding pie cuts to tighten up clearance. The 3.5" exhaust will be about 1/2" higher than the 3" when I'm done.

Looking really good.

Sweet, Get everything ironed out and lay down some numbers.
Good luck with her.

Nice!

Oh Boy :)

Work is crazy for the next 2 weeks, coming up on inventory...hoping I can find a few hours here and there to try and get it started next week. Then I will finish the exhaust and the new rear shock cross member.

Scott will it see the track yet this year?

I sure hope so. I worked on it a few hours Monday morning, wouldnt start. Checking for spark and there was none. Checked the MSD box, appears fine. I have a replacement crank trigger now, hoping thats the issue. My biggest problem is finding time to work on it.

What did u end up doing for a conv then?

Im going to stay with my TranSpecialties 9" for now. Try it and see where this motor pushes the converter to. It flashed to 4400-4500 ish behind my 474, that will give me a starting point. Then if im not happy with the slip % or how it acts I think I will call T/S for a recommendation. They were pretty good at spec'ing my current one.

Why did it come back out?

Looks good in there.

I spun a bearing in my 474 last December. At the time I thought the 535 was really close to just dropping in the car. But there turned out to be a lot of little things i wasnt thinking about. And I decided I wanted to dyno it first. That took a couple months to actually happen. Then I Hurt a couple rocker arms while on the dyno. That took a couole months to get the repalcement parts. Now its in, started it this morning ( my issue with no spark was related to the start regard controller ) So now I'm moving on to try and finish the exhaust and re uild the rear shock crossmember. I imagine if I could have devoted more time to working on it I could have trimmed 2 months off the timeframe.

Got the exhaust done up to the mufflers. I started it up, its loud..lol..

please splain me......

Finish the new exhaust. I spent today making adjustments to the headers to get them closer to the floor and create a little more ground clearance.

????
cutting/welding the tubes? or some "other" ways? It would be nice to tighten my Hustlers up to the floor a bit

[QUOTE=67Fbird;6293141]please splain me......

Finish the new exhaust. I spent today making adjustments to the headers to get them closer to the floor and create a little more ground clearance.

????
cutting/welding the tubes? or some "other" ways? It would be nice to tighten my Hustlers up to the floor a bit[/QUOT

From the manufacturer the collectors were made to angle / aim downward. I made a couple pie cuts and rewelded the collectors to angle them back up. Had to do both collectors but not exactly the same, the passenger side was lower than the drivers side as they came from manufacturer. All the work only gained me about 1/2" ground clearance. But thats at the collector, and it has scrubbed the ground before on speed bumps and poorly angled driveway/entrance ramps.

Exhaust looks great! What trans loop is that?

Thanks, I'm pretty happy with the way the exhaust looks so far. I angled it and added short bends in a few places VS. my old 3" to gain ground clearance. Its about 1/2" higher and its 3.5". The damn mufflera didnt come with offset inlet so they are at an angle but I should be able to make the tailpipes turn and exit where I want.
The driveshaft loop is similar to this one by Lakewood.
Lakewood 18000 - Lakewood Universal Driveshaft Safety Loops
I dont know specifically who made this one. Ive had it forever.

ahh....just wondering if there was a tweek method (other than cut/weld) that i was unaware of...

looks good!

My cousin put a long/large dia pipe in the header collector and bent it upward.

Did he have to use any heat or just applied pressure.? Also remember if using this method, you will have to bend past where you actually want it to be. Metal will flex or spring back a small amount.

He did not mention heat and I did not ask him, this was a few years ago.
Your car should be whole lot of fun!

Thanks, I cant wait to get it completed

What were the dyno numbers?

GT

794 HP @ 6700 rpm
697 LB-FT @ 5100 rpm

WOW Impressive Thanks.

GT

AWSOME SCOTT!!!!!:Peace:

Thanks Jeff, still using the 1050 you built for me. I picked up a 1250 Pro Systems, but I'm holding off putting it on until i have it running and driving smooth. Then I'll switch over

Very impressive numbers!!! Have fun and good luck it.

I've been tempted to put high quality flex couplers on my exhaust to raise up just behind the collectors. Yours looks great!

The high end flex couplers will probably work, I've seen them used in turbo applications. And Heavy trucks. ( Semi-truck) . You will just need to add exhaust hangers to ensure the flex coupling hold the pipes in the place you need them to be in. As it stands now I have only 2 hangers installed 1 at the rear of the muffler and 1 near the rear of the tail pipe It looks like my plan to make it to the track before the end of the year has fizzled out. I ran into several unexpected repairs and they have dragged out. The new split Mono leaf springs and adjustable shocks were not planned or really in the short term budget...lol.. and now rebuilding the steering column due to completely worn out bushings and steering coupler.

Very impressive Scott, can't wait to see it run!

Made it back to the track last night ( Showtime Dragstrip, formerly known as Sunshine Dragstrip) I only got 2 passes. 1st pass was only meant to be a "blow the cobwebs out" pass. I wasn't sure it would hook as the track has a questionable reputation. Left at 1900 and shifted at 6500.
60' - 1.442
330' - 4.037
660' - 6.245
MPH- 111.25
Second pass I couldn't do a proper burn out as there was no water in the burn out box, It blew the tires off when I left. Pulling a 60' of 1.70. it rolled the alternator belt on that pass so I didn't make anymore.

Scott,did you put a deep grove pulley on the alt?They are pretty EZ to find.Tom

I will be switching the pulley this week. I have a larger pulley with a deep grove. I assume by the way it has happened it has happened everytime I have turned it past 6700. So slowing down the belt speed could help too

I found on the IA/Camaro with a large alternator pulley and electric fans ti would not keep the battery up enough on my car so I used a deep small pulley.

I took the larger pulley off a long time ago because the alternator didn't start charging till about 1800 rpm. But, thinking about it now it doesn't really stay at that rpm unless idling like at a light or something so I should be ok. But while on the subject. Where did you get a deep groove smaller pulley?

I think RARE has an aluminum one.I want to think I had a rebuilt alt that had a deep one I took off also.

try this.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/19310393853...AAAOSwH1VaqrEc

Thanks Tom. I'll try that one

Nice, when u going back Scott? U didn’t run it out the back? Or only 1/8 mile track?

It's an 1/8 mile track. I'm gonna change the pulley and get a new belt. I'll make a blast across the bridge to see if it rolls the belt again before I go back to the track. Hopefully 2 weeks. I work late next Wednesday so next week is out

Nice job looks good!

Made it back to the track. 2 weeks ago, But this time the transmission gave up when I hit 2nd gear. Took the transmission out today to take to get freshened up. Hopefully this doesn't take more than a couple weeks. I wish I had a better idea of what the converter was doing so I could make the decision to have it loosened up or not.

Scott have a data logger? Driveshaft RPM and comparing to Engine rpm can help on that. A replay tach can get flash rpm.

No, nothing like that. I currently don't even have my O2s in the exhaust. I have an older air fuel meter that has 2 data points. 1 for each collector. But have to have the bungs welded in to hook it up. I have only made 3 hits on it with this motor, 1 of them spun really bad so I got no information on that run. The other 2 I think the converter flashes to 4500-4600 rpm. That's about 500 rpm under the peak torque rpm.