Yeah. I dont plan on making any adjustments until its in, running, and the wideband can give me the data (specifically, give me the date so I can verify what I need to do..if anything). I left it plugged in strictly for when the engine gets installed to make sure we're where we should be.

As far as Im concerned..theres no sense in him going through and make sure its right then have me come behind and change things.

 

What Hydraulic Roller Camshaft did you end up with?

 

To be honest, I don't remember what he told me. I want to say it was a bit more than what I had (228/235) but I could be wrong.

 

Much more than that in a G-block and I'd expect to run into the law of diminishing returns!

 

Well, the back half of last week was eventful. The distributor that was selected for this evidently is running into some QC issues, so we jumped over to a Progression Distributor. That was Thursday, on Friday he made a pull and it got 410hp..which puts it at 1 hp per cubic inch, and it still had some changes left in the carburetor. Saturday, the same valve stuck open again.

Its almost as if this thing just doesn't want to be right, ha!

In all seriousness though, I just wanted to pass the update along, but also throw out there once more how much I appreciate Mark for putting in the extra work that neither of us had anticipated this to need. Its hard to find people/businesses anymore that will do what they can to make sure things are right when they leave..regardless of how much extra time it may end up taking. My biggest regret at this point is not having just sent it down there the first time..but every moment is a teachable moment..and this is no different.

Heres the clip of it running at least.

 

Thanks for the update, strange that the same valve is having issues. If the valve guide is right, maybe something is wrong with that particular valve stem itself.

 

Yeah, Im pretty curious as well. Mark brought up a good point though when we talked the other day about it..that with as much rust as was in the engine when I got it..its possible the head just needs replaced. (Im paraphrasing a lot, so excuse my ignorance on it if it comes across that way).

 

Rust is a none issue with the valves. All of the critical parts can be (and should have) been replaced. Hard to get a new valve to stick in a new bronze guide...

 

Valves were replaced, guide was honed out larger. Ran it again, and it shrunk, only one of 16. I think it’s pretty safe to say that there’s a problem with that guide.

 

that's fair, i didn't get replacing the whole head as suggested by the OP.. no dig intended or implied.

 

That was thrown out as the worst case scenario..in case something had been compromised because of how much rust with in the engine when I got it.

Sorry, I could have been more clear.

 

Well, I know Mark can speak better to all of this than I can..but the short story..its about ready to be crated up and sent back home. There are a couple of small things still needing done, but for the most part we're ready to go. With the pull yesterday, it made 423hp, and 455tq..well exceeding my expectations.

 

..and, its home. Time to start the fun part. Im still waiting on a couple things, but we can address those with the engine in the car.

 

Well, it sure looks good!

 

Good luck with it. Mark's the guy, for sure. Did he leave that Progression Ignition distributor in it? Looks like it from the picture. Please provide updates on this as you dial it in. I've heard some good things about those distributors and am curious about your experience.
Also, I think that car has a Turbo 400? Did you change your convertor? What are you running for that?

 

You should post the before picture as well😉

 

Oh, like these? 😅

 

Yes, it has the Progression ignition distributor in it, and Im pretty excited to see how it works as well. Granted, I probably wont mess around too much with it because I know Mark has it dialed in. Im planning on wiring it up tomorrow..gotta figure out which factory wires I no longer need, but I did manage to get the 12v source already taken care of, ha!

Yes, I have the Turbo 400, with a Coan converter-I believe around 2600-2800 stall.

Im pretty disappointed in how long it took us to install the engine today, but Im hoping a solid day tomorrow should have us close to firing it up. Im still waiting on a couple things to come in..the big ones being dipstick tube/oil fill tube/head bolt with stud for alternator..but those shouldnt prevent me from at least hearing it fire up..

 

I meant assembled. I have some pictures of your frugal use of RTV if you’d like me to post those?
😉

 

Haha..share away friend. You can speak much more on it than I can at this point.

We're a starter and power steering pump away from having it back on the ground (until oil)..but the dipstick and oil fill tubes went in smoother than I expected.

 

Well, after dragging our feet on it, Pops realized he'd made his own plug wires before for mowers, so figured he could use the same principles and make the wires for this thing. He finished that up last night, and I think we had it all back together in about 3 hours this morning. Unfortunately, when I got in to start it, thats when we found out the starter took a crap on us. So, a new one will be in tomorrow morning, at which point we'll swap em out and hopefully be able to fire it up without any issues. I need to get a bracket made up for the fuel pressure regulator, but beyond that, there are just a couple little things (and the hood) and it's done.

 

Looks good! But remember, I had to trim the baffles in the valve covers, so using the PCV MAY result in oil consumption. Keep an eye on that.

 

Looks nice and failing but like it should have been. What headers are those? Mark, did you test the engine with those headers?

 

Yes.

 

Nice, even more impressive then. Are those Thornton shorties? I will send you those free Sanderson headers eventually to test on something. The welds are better on that set.

 

Yeah, they're the Thornton shorties.

Not really much to report..we have spent 2 days on starters trying to get the shims in the right combination to not be a pain. The original starter worked when the engine was previously in the car, but when we hooked it back up Wednesday, it wouldn't work. A quick trip to the 'Zone, and they said it was bad. I went ahead and just grabbed a remanned unit, which came in yesterday, and proceeded to fight us for about 6 hours. After resetting this morning, Pops wondered if it was bad so we took it in, and sure enough it tested bad. So, we ended up getting a new one..which we messed with for a couple hours and are in the same boat we were last night with the noises.

The concensus (hope) is that the area that the bolts go through to mount has been milled down, so we just need a ton of shims. I know we're both exhausted from trying to get it just to fire up long enough to check for leaks.. let alone finally be able to enjoy it.

 

Nothing else to really update here. We're up to about 5 days on the starter debacle. Ive had 3 working starters in the car (the original evidently went bad while sitting) and they all have the same alignment issue (specifically, an alignment issue that I can't figure out). I have tried the 1/8" drill bit method, the paperclip method, both of which being go-to's on other GM forums regarding dealing with shims. Everything measures correctly from what I can tell, yet every time I turn the key, it sounds like the teeth are either slipping, or jamming in (I can't tell which at this point, its all running together). I have measured against multiple points on the flywheel, and each is consistent so I dont believe the flywheel is hurt.

So, with vacation coming up, and having already spent way more than anticipated..its going to sit until I can scrape up enough to send it off. Even after 5 days, Im not above continuing to try but Im not about to chew up my flywheel and create a bigger mess. Between taking way too long to install, the curve ball about making our own wires (not a big deal once we did it, but it wasn't on the bingo card), and now this..pretty much all of the excitement and motivation to finish this has gone out the window unfortunately.

I have never in my life been so befuddled at why a simple 2+2 will not equal 4.

 

What starter and flywheel did Mark use on the dyno? Weird that multiple starters have alignment issues. You have the real luck of the Irish, nothing but sadness.

 

The same flywheel as what is on it now, but as far as starter..what he has on his dyno.

I went out again last night, and took everything out to reset (meaning, all shims). It is still registering pretty dang close to being within the tolerance, based on what all of my digging has concluded. For grins and giggles, I turned it over. Initially, the noise was barely there..but the more I turned it over, the more it made the noise.

I did look back at a video taken Friday night, with the new starter and (I believe) no shims..you can see the flywheel give a bit when the gear comes out, meaning it's not meshing easily immediately.

The only other thing that popped into my mind, though the video pretty much shoots that down-Pops put a spade connection in on the Starter wire (purple?) to allow it to be easier if we needed to remove it. Obviously, the starter is getting power enough to push the gear and spin, and I don't see any inconsistent rotation in the video, but could that be creating a voltage drop/issue that could be creating some sort of hesitation?

Again, just throwing at the dart board.

 

I would redo that connection and put the proper eyelet connector back on. Thats a heavy gauge wire, and a bad connection there will throw the bendix slow. That's likely your issue.

 

I had thought about that. Though, for clarity-not the main power wire..but the wire going from the "S" terminal to the coil. The yellow wire from the "R" terminal has been removed due to the Progression Ignition.

I had taken a video Friday night, and slowed it down last night (why I didn't think to do this earlier is unclear) and you can see the starter gear hit the flexplate and the flexplate give a bit before turning. Im 93% sure that was taken without any shims, and before thinking about the video, I had already taken all of the shims out and remeasured-everything still seems to be where it should be.

Heres the video:

 

I know which wire you are talking about, the purple wire. Its still a 10 or 12 gauge wire. There is alot of draw to throw the solenoid and push the gear up. That connection needs to be good. Put it back the way it was with a real solder connection and your issue will probably go away.

 

Ironically, someone else brought that up too this morning.

If I get home in time, Ill climb under there and make the change and see what happens. Ive got a cordless soldering kit, so I can solder it and heat shrink it. Whether that solves it or not, itll be protected better. Hopefully that is the issue though..my back and shoulders are killing me..ha!

 

Well, I cut the connectors out, and wired the two ends together and wrapped them with heat shrink. In theory, that should have made enough difference to at least tell if that was the culprit..and it did not change anything.

I do plan on running a new wire at some point, just to clean it up..but Im at my limit with this freaking thing. Currently, Im waiting on an answer from my buddy who has a shop to see what he'll charge to pick it up and sort it out. I never thought Id get to the point where Im farming out an issue with a starter, but Im at a loss. Maybe all the years of Mopars, upgrading to the denso starters, never even hearing about shims really has me spoiled..ha!

 

Yeah, the old Dodge starters suck. I am glad my Dakota has the newer mini starter. I haven't had a full size starter on an Olds V8 for years. Even the sbc ones bolt right on and works on Olds V8's.

 

Alright, I got up under it again this afternoon and unbolted the converter from the flexplate. Once unbolted, I noticed as I spun the converter around that it was hitting the weights on the flexplate, so I grabbed the Coan installation sheet and sure enough, its too close.

I guess that means the converter didnt engage the 2nd time after all, so now Im trying to figure out how to lock that in without having to pull the engine/transmission out. I know, its probably not doable, but thatd be great if I could make it happen.

 

Wtf man.

You should be able to get the converter to seat while installed. It won't be easy to keep it square while applying pressure to seat it.

And that should effect your starter engagement. I doubt that the flexplate was distorted/pushed forward enough to cause an issue, especially if you're free spinning the converter

 

Im not sure how it would have effected the starter either, but in troubleshooting multiple times..thinking of the basics of what is different between when it was sent out, when it ran on a dyno with no issues, etc. Easiest would be starters, but 3 of them (including an original) all made the same noise regardless of shims..so it has to be something else. If the flexplate is true, the noise happens with multiple starters, the wiring is good..then the other variable is the converter/transmission.

Like I said, if I try to turn the converter when bolts are out, it does bottom out on the weights..so it is too close.

 

Well, it is scheduled to go in on the 9th to sort the converter mess out. The guy that did the original rebuild on the transmission will be doing the work for this one as well. Hopefully I have it back in time before we go on vacation, but ultimately as long as its right, that's all I want.

 

That sucks and makes sense. I usually end up with a gap I need to take up with spacers if anything with an aftermarket converter fully seated. The last click can be tricky and takes a few spins. At least it wasn't ran long like that, you should be good, once fully seated.