[GOAT WHORE]

We have been using a little of both. They are very similar. One sets a little faster then the other and both sand about the same. Still have a few more days to finish the bumper. By days I mean weekends! Sure wish I had more time to work on it!

[NYGTO]

I'm very much enjoying this thread. So nice having this car stay in the family and your grandmothers specific GTO choice was so fun and cool. She had to be a great lady all around.

[gtofreek]

Well, guess it's been a while since I posted anything, so here goes. Got the crank balanced today. Being new, it had never been balanced for anything. Initially, it was off 150.3 grams in the front, and 33.3 grams in the rear. It was a lot closer in the rear because they are normally balanced with a counterweighted flexplate/flywheel. This one will be neutral balanced without the flywheel. I will neutral balance the flywheel and dial in the balancer also.

After I finished, the final balance was .3 grams front, and .3 grams rear. I was able to get it balanced with only one hole in the front counterweight, and one in the rear. My camera batteries died, so I will get a couple more pics when I can.

Now it's off to the other room so I can polish it and clean it for final assembly. It's getting close. Just been pre-occupied with a 475 inch Pontiac blower engine I'm also trying to finish. For those interested, it's featured here;
http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...=711959&page=8

[gtofreek]

Forgot to mention, I was able to neutral balance because the rods and pistons were lighter than stock. This bobweight came out at 2250.1 grams. Stock is around 2450. The reciprocating weight was really lightened up as the reciprocating factor was only 999.7 grams. By comparison, a stock 327 Chevy reciprocating factor is around 1040 grams. This should rev pretty quickly. Stock 400 Pontiac would be over 1100 grams.

[gtofreek]

Here are some pics of the rods being checked for size and setup up for correct piston pin clearance. The housing bore is on the small end of the limits[2.3247"]. I will torque a bearing up in it to see where I am for clearance. If I have too much clearance, I will have to hone the big end bore a little bigger. I know this doesn't make sense[honing the big end bigger to loose bearing clearance], but when the housing bore is small, the rod complies more so to the bearing shells and becomes more egg-shaped. By making the bore size a little larger, The rod doesn't comply as much to the bearings, and the hole stays rounder and smaller.

Also, checking the stretch on the rod bolts. Eagle spelled out 63 lbs. ft. of torque, but that was with the old ARP Moly lube, which they don't use anymore. I checked them at 63 lbs. ft. torque with the new ARP Ultra lube, but they only stretched about .0045". The Ultra lube usually needs at least 5 lbs. ft. of torque more to accomplish the same values as the old Moly lube. 68 Lbs. still didn't get me quite where I wanted to be so I found I had to go to 70 Lbs. Ft. of torque to get .0056" Stretch. They were all pretty consistent at this so I left them there.

The pin bushings only had about .0003"-.0004" clearance[typical], so I opened them up to the needed .0008" clearance. Pin bushing clearance is dependent on several things.

1. The thickness of the piston pin wall. The thinner the wall thickness is, the more clearance is needed as the pin will flex more.

2. The power level of the engine. The more power it makes, the more the pin flexes, so the more clearance it needs.

3. The length of the pin. The longer the pin is, the more it can flex. Short, stubby pins don't need as much clearance as long pins.

4. The intended usage. Street engines for the most part[there are always exceptions] are expected to run for a long time, so this has to be taken into consideration also as to not have noisy piston pins in a quiet street car.

Not enough clearance in any application will cause the pin to try to dig into and gall the piston when it flexes under power. This can be evidenced by black spots in the pin bore of the piston.

Pistons had .0008" clearance already, so I didn't need to do anything to them.

[gtofreek]

More pics.

Remember, each increment on this gauge is .0001". That's one tenth of one thousandth of an inch. Or one ten thousandth of an inch. That's about 1/30'th the thickness of one strand of human hair. Very precision gauge.

[GOAT WHORE]

Well I think we finally got the nose done and I am going to put in in SPI epoxy primer tomorrow.
Thanks again Paul for all the attention to detail you putting into my engine, can't wait to get it.

[gtofreek]

Your welcome!

[Greg Reid]

Endura fits nice.

[GOAT WHORE]

Thanks Greg, here is a shot of the primed bumper. Need to sand and fix any little flaws then a few more coats of SPI epoxy.

[charles bledsoe]

Is SPI epoxy key to reducing the cracking of paint on the endura nose? Not sure when my 69 was repainted, but there are cracks in the paint on the bumper and I would like to have it refinished. The rest of the cars paint is fine. Paint on the nose has not chipped off, It just has a few fine lines mostly around center area of the bumper. Your car is looking good! Thanks for posting your progress.

[charles bledsoe]

Originally Posted by Ron Landis

car is sans GTO dash emblem and quarter panel chrome trim...as per later cars. Get ready for the "experts" to tell you how "wrong" that is. LOL Neat and rare opportunity for you and your family...good luck! BTW...I have the factory bulletin somewhere with the dates that these items were discontinued...just sayin'.

Could you post these dates once you find the bulletin?
Thanks!!

[GOAT WHORE]

Charles, here is the document you asked for. As far as the primer it is my understanding that any epoxy primer is ok but the SPI sands much better than most. We will find out soon. Can tell you this, it sprays out way better than PPG dp epoxy.

[charles bledsoe]

I will have to check the data plate when I get home to see when mine was built. I do have the lower rear quarter molding but not the parking brake pedal trim or the name plate. Did the name plate come on cars without A/C? Mine has A/C and is an automatic if that makes a difference.
Thanks!!

[GOAT WHORE]

Ac cars would not have got the nameplate. Another thing that was different was early cars had padded "A" pillers and later cars had the metal "A" pillers.

[demonic68]

Man that is a pretty awesome story love the build

[AngryBird]

Fantastic build! Gives me even more motivation to get mine done. Great work!!!!

[hobi]

Originally Posted by GOAT WHORE

Well I think we finally got the nose done and I am going to put in in SPI epoxy primer tomorrow.
Thanks again Paul for all the attention to detail you putting into my engine, can't wait to get it.

Fit on endure looks great

[GTO JOHN]

Agree with hobi the endura fit seems almost too good to be true. Nice job so far!

[charles bledsoe]

Have to agree that is one nice fit on your endura!!