[1972 Formula 400]

Looks great, should have went with a Pontiac power plant though

[andrewb70]

Originally Posted by 1972 Formula 400

Looks great, should have went with a Pontiac power plant though

Yea yea....LOL

Today I dropped off the big block at its new home and picked up an L92 truck engine. The big ugly truck intake will need to go, as will the water pump and balancer. I also picked up a take out LS7 cam, LS7 valve springs with retainers. I will post pictures of the new engine tomorrow.

Andrew

[wrenchmen]

improve serviceability through the use of as many OEM parts as possible, improve overall dependability

Considering the quality of your GTO and your choice of components, that is a very interesting statement....especialy to someone like me who is currently in the begining stages of a restification.
With all the aftermarket components avalable, particuarily suspension and brake and from someone who has "been there, done that" is there any words of advice or thoughts you can give based on your experience?

[andrewb70]

Originally Posted by wrenchmen

Considering the quality of your GTO and your choice of components, that is a very interesting statement....especialy to someone like me who is currently in the begining stages of a restification.
With all the aftermarket components avalable, particuarily suspension and brake and from someone who has "been there, done that" is there any words of advice or thoughts you can give based on your experience?

When starting a project I think it is very important to have a goal in mind of what you envision your final build to be. How often will it be driven? Will it be raced? Drag? Road race? How often? All those things play an important role in determining what product to use on the car.

Take for instance the brakes. In retrospect I went way overboard. I wasn't realistic with myself about the use of the car and I made the brakes more complicated and more expensive than necessary. When I built the car it was very common to upgrade to the b-body spindles and custom upper control arms. This addressed the suspension geometry issues and allowed the use of some large OEM brakes. The b-body swap also has a bit of a dark side, with increased bump steer and a reduced turning radius due to the longer steering arm . In the last few years the ATS spindle has emerged as the best of both world solutions. It fixes the geometry issues without inducing other negative effects, and it allows the use of the c5/c6 brakes, that are relatively inexpensive and very well engineered. With the introduction of the C6 ZO6, you can now get an OEM quality 6 piston caliper with a 14" rotor. That is the way to go in my opinion if the car seem mostly street driving with an occasional romp on the road course or auto cross.

There are other systems, such as aftermarket EFI in comparison to the latest OEM hardware and software that GM uses to run their modern engines. The amount of effort that the OEMs spend on IDLE would easily surpass the combined engineering efforts of many, if not all aftermarket EFI companies, combined.

Andrew

[andrewb70]

Here is a picture of the starting point for the engine. It is a L92 that is used in various GM SUVs. 6.2L in displacement.

Andrew

[Silver Judge]

Wow, a GM truck engine ?
I guess it is too late to suggest a Pontiac power plant ? Either way, this will be interesting !

[Z Code 400]

Originally Posted by andrewb70

When starting a project I think it is very important to have a goal in mind of what you envision your final build to be. How often will it be driven? Will it be raced? Drag? Road race? How often? All those things play an important role in determining what product to use on the car....Andrew

I am a caveman by modern standards. One of my very first memories of a 'Hot Rod' was a 1964-1/2 Ford Galaxie lightweight. My buddy in high school had a 1966 Fairlaine 390 GT with manual steering, 4 speed and no A/C and these were the cars I ran around in growing up....Later in life, I played around with some exoctics....Porsche 911's...Lamborghini Miuras....These too were spartan without accessories....Hot Rods...

To me....a true hot rod is 100% business....No accessories...stick shift and rather primitive in nature...Spartan if you will....and I drive mine in 100° weather, because it just seems natural to me that hot rods are like that....But I freeze to death at anything under 70° outside.

They are 'tough guys' cars....:-)

I do enjoy taking the family out in the MBZ with the A/C on high and I love to see the work that Andrew is doing because he is showing the true spirit of the hot rodder. When people take him to task for swapping engines, I think back to how people reacted to my Dad's use of the Cadillac OHV V8 in 34 Fords back in the 1950's....but no one could beat him either.

I am probably too tight to invest in the kind of project that Andrew is doing, because we always had a really tight budget, but I certainly admire his workmanship and the way he blends the old and new technology in such a fluid fashion.

Keep the photos coming, Andrew.....:-)