[napster]

That engine is impressive. If I could do my engine over for the '73 T/A, it would be with an IA2 block. At least 505CID.

[HWYSTR455]

Finally was able to do a startup on the 535, went smooth. Had a trans line fitting leak, should have that corrected tomorrow.

Need to work a little on idle, and the DBW settings, but should be good to go in a couple days for a test drive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3lk...ature=youtu.be

it was like around 120F or so when the trans line leak presented itself, so shut it down.

Getting there, once I get the leak fixed, will drive it up to have the exhaust welded.

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[HWYSTR455]

Finally got it on the road, whew. Still have a few things to do, front end alignment, exhaust welded up, AC charged, and some minor tuning stuff.

Have detail work to do too, as well as a couple scratch repairs that occurred during assembly. Uhg.

Running a little warm, in traffic, it got to almost 205, hotter than I like it to be, prefer the 190 range. May just be some timing needs to be pulled out, I will play with it.

Weird issue with the DBW too, sometimes from a stop, I hit the peddle, and nothing happens. If I let completely off, and try again, it works. Or if I keep depressing until it gets to like a 1/4 throttle, that works too, but it's spinning at that point.



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[flyingn]

looking good, Mike. I was on your FB thread..

[HWYSTR455]

Originally Posted by flyingn

looking good, Mike. I was on your FB thread..

Ah yes! Most I posted there was copies from here, but there is more detail here!

I should not drink and post though! Heheh!


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[flyingn]

Its a beauty, Mike

[HWYSTR455]

Sorry for not updating this thread, it's been a little crazy lately...

So the 461 I had refreshed by CVMS went to zero oil psi after about 3 min of run time, was not happy about that. It was a perfectly running engine, not sure how someone could screw that up, but here I am.

Luckily, I had the IA2 535 Spotts engine that was planning to install in my 'bird, and did a swap into the A-body. Currently in the process of reinstalling everything around it.

On a positive note, I had originally intended this engine to go into it from the start, but the build back-log was not going to work with my timeline. Guess it all works out in the end.

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[AG]

Really sorry to hear that, you would expect a refresh to be a slam dunk. That's the reason I started building my own motors years ago. Hopefully you can diagnose the root cause of the issue and easily fix it.

[HWYSTR455]

I used to do all my own engines, have well over 60 builds under my belt, not all Pontiacs either. My issue is there is no machine shops around here that are worth a crap, have had issues with all of them. Shipping parts back and forth is not cost efficient, and yes, many times machine shops need a second attempt to 'fix' stuff.

I've done ready to assemble stuff from Butler, and although they are not 'bad', there is still some 'variance' in tolerances that I would normally not accept.

If I had a good machine shop close to me, I would use them, and do all my own assemblies again. I have decent tools, need nothing to pick it back up again.


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[etd66ss]

Care to share the build cost up to this point? I'm seeing like ~$35k less the price of the car?

[HWYSTR455]

It's hard to add up, since I've owned the car since '91, and accumulated parts over time. Also, I was overcharged for body & paint, literally was ripped off.

I think if there were no 'loss' due to all factors, it could be done for 35k.


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[HWYSTR455]

A little more on the Spotts built IA2 535 :

IA2 gen 2 block, finished with 4.350 bore, deck cooling holes drilled
Eagle Forged crank, 4.50 stroke, 2.20 rod journals
Eagle H rods, 220k bolts
ICON pistons
Crank scraper and windage tray
Canton road race pan
Butler 315cfm E-heads, round port, with minor additional clean up
PAC springs & retainers
Crower Enduro 1.5 rockers
Main & Rod clearances - .0025
Melling Select 80 psi pump, checked/clearance

Cam - Comp Cams solid roller (custom)
Hi-Tech lobes
260/267 @.050, 112, .631 lift

This was originally going behind a manual car with 3.25 gears, so cam is a little smaller than I would have gone for this setup, but still should be fine. The heads are only 315-320cfm, so it will run out of steam with anything bigger and not have been able to take advantage of it.

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[PontiacMatt72]

Awesome build. I skimmed thru it from the beginning and I may have missed it but what is “DBW”? I’m guessing drive by wire?

I’m considering a similar build, and just found this one. Mine is a 70 GTO my dad and I rebuilt, that he has lost interest in. It’s a “finished” car, but he’s decided to pass it on to me as he doesn’t get to enjoy it much anymore. It’s a fairly original setup (not numbers matching and nowhere near concours, just basic 70 GTO stuff). I’m considering stuffing my IA2 motor in with a different cam (currently setup as a race motor), along with fuel injection, and air conditioning (vintage air). May drop the stance down an inch or two and stuff some nice 17” or 18” wheels under it.

Anyway, you’ve already figured a lot of this stuff out so I may be filling up your PM’s in the future. Need to sell the race car first.

Nice work

[HWYSTR455]

Yes, Drive by Wire, used a CTS-V throttle body and pedal. A little bit of a learning curve, but luckily Andrew70 is helping with the tune.

As an update, I got the exhaust welded, and have put about 200 miles on it so far. Still doing some fine tuning, but it's very close.

During the front end alignment, it was determined I can't get the settings I was hoping, so going to switch to offset upper A-arm shafts. That will allow me to add even more caster, which is roughly 4.75 now. If I try to go more, I can't keep the camber in check. Offset shafts will allow me to go to like 5.5-6 degrees of caster, looking forward to that.

I'm using a 2010 vette fan controller, and found out it only supports about 32amp load, so I'm in the process of adding another, and will run each fan on it's own controller.

I have the Billet Specialties billet alt, and, on a drive last week, it quit charging. Did all the typical tests, and it certainly has stopped charging. Luckily, the alt is built by PowerMaster for Billet Specialties, and a quick call has me sending it to them. They say they can turn it around in a day, so by next weekend I should be back on the road.

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[vertigto]

Which A-arms are/were you using?

[HWYSTR455]

I have the global West CTA-42A, and need the same ones with the offset shafts. I recall before I was only able to get about 4.5 or so caster, and forgot during the rebuild, or I would have replaced them.

I can swap the shafts on them, but its not a simple task with the del-a-lum bushings.

Here's the vid on YT from Global West on how to install the offset cross shaft in the GW upper arms:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEkj340Zt7g

I will call tomorrow and see if they offer the arms with the offset shafts already installed, if so, will buy them, and sell this pair which has new ball joints and del-a-lum sleeves.

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[AG]

4.5° of caster is good, you will have a strong centering response with that.

[HWYSTR455]

It's good, I drove it like that for years, but the steering wheel wouldn't return coming out of a turn. With the 670 box in there now, it's even a little worse. And the 670 box with a type 2 pump takes more muscle too. I can live with it though.

Pretty sure I can get around 5.5, maybe even 6 with the offset shafts. Not sure I will like that, but I will see.

I did get the second fan controller mounted, it's on the core support and the batt and batt tray hide it all.

Need to pull the rad to split the wires for the fan feeds, that will take me a couple hours, prob do that tomorrow after work.

I should have the alt back Thurs or Fri, and am upgrading/consolidating a few grounds. Going to run a dedicated 2g from batt to frame, up from a 4g, and going to go 4g from frame to block. (up from a 6g). Going to run a 6g from the block to the back of the case of the alt, too.

Pic of the controller add...


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[HWYSTR455]

If anyone is curious, here is a good wire gauge/amp/feet length volt drop calculator:

https://www.wirebarn.com/Wire-Calculator-_ep_41.html

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[Oldsboy20]

I just found your build thread, I had a question. Do you use Dupli-Color Ceramic Ford Semi-Gloss Black Engine Paint? And do you use a dupli color primer before applying the black paint? Thanks