Post by spencerforhire on Apr 9, 2014 7:08:24 GMT -4
I am shocked and appalled at having not made a post on this forum for months; just too much going on in my life. After a long, long, long snowy winter, spring is finally here and I no longer have to spend precious "free" time on snow removal.
Lots of changes to the Vega under way; new 383 in the works with many upgrades as compared to the "old" 385.
A well seasoned but never touched 3970010 GM 4-bolt block(out of a 73 C-10 pickup that's been in the family since new) is at the machine shop where it's been rough bored and fitted with ARP main studs then line-honed. The Eagle rotating assembly(12.25:1 Mahle light weight forged pistons, 6" H-beam Eagle rods with ARP 2000 bolts and internally balanced 4340 crank) is at present being fitted and measured so the block can be decked and then finish honed with the torque plates. Should be ready for me to assemble the short block next week . Then it's time to go through the AFR 227 spread port heads to get them ready. Just found out yesterday I might have to replace all the valves; some of them appear to be stretched and/or out of round. Also going with a Crane solid roller cam, Howard's lifters, Comp springs, Harland Sharp rockers and Manley billet timing set. Pushrods will be ordered after the valvetrain geometry is checked. All topped off with a Holley 950 HP carb on a Super Victor intake.
The desktop dyno predicts somewhere in the 620-640hp range; an increase of 120+ over what I had before. Should result in some low 9's at 150+.
Nothing really wrong with the old motor, just time to step up. The old 385 was not much more than a street motor; 11:1 flat top hyperutectic pistons, stock rods and a flat tappet cam. The old mill will be freshened and wait it's turn to go back in if there's a catastrophic failure.
A second Powerglide is under construction with a large pile of TCI internal parts; basically an exact copy of what's in the Vega now. It will go in with a Hughes 8" converter; 5000rpm stall up from 4300. Nothing wrong with the old trans either, but after 180 passes it would need to be freshened anyway, so when that happens it will become a spare. There's a bunch of back-to-back weekends with points races, so a spare trans is pretty well a necessity.
To deal with the newfound power are a couple of other improvements; wheelie bars and a parachute. Looks like I'll need a throttle stop as well to run the 9.90 index Super Rod heads-up class I like so much; still weighing my options there.
I have gathered the pieces to replace the fugly fiberglass front end; I've got it mocked together and have discovered as an added bonus it's going to end up about 20 lbs lighter; a huge difference on such a light car. Not sure if there will be time for fancy paint after all the mechanicals are done.