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Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Posted: Wed May 29, 2019 1:35 pm
by Rettax3
Starting with the thick rubber-and-metal intake manifold gaskets for the Vortec heads (better seal and the thickness will push the intake manifold up -besides, plastic gaskets don't belong in an iron-head V-8 any more than a 3x00), a slight porting job on the lower TPI intake and a 1/8 inch aluminum plate either epoxied or siliconed to the TPI base, it looks like it will cover the ports pretty well and give a slight blend from the smaller TPI ports to the taller Vortec runners. Compared to the S-D TPI base, it will suck, but compared to the swirl-port heads or even stock TPI casts, it will be far better. There are a lot of opinions regarding drilling and tapping the heads, but using the rubber gaskets for the Vortec heads allows for a good reliable seal with a relatively low clamping force, so I think it is doable. A big complaint about this is trying to make the center four bolts on the older SBC intakes work on the thin area of the Vortec heads, but to me the point is the Vortec doesn't use those bolts at all, and the aluminum plates will cover the holes in the TPI base completely.

Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Posted: Wed May 29, 2019 7:06 pm
by woody90gtz
Yeah, I run those exact gaskets. They rock. I actually found two loose intake bolts on one corner and still didn't have a coolant leak.

Your idea sounds...interesting. Haha. I'm all for #fabricobbled stuff, but I don't know. Yeah, a spacer would lift it up a bit to match the raised runner heads better. I could easily cut a 1/8 spacer out of phenolic to see how it fits. I did that with the Beretta upper, but there's no coolant through it. I suppose it could at least be a pattern to test before aluminum.

If only I knew someone with a TPI base kicking around... I do have a spare block and vortec heads. haha

Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Posted: Thu May 30, 2019 12:56 am
by Rettax3
I wouldn't use phenolic -too slick, nothing seems to like to stick to it. MAYBE if it was scuffed-up enough... I had planned on dremeling a groove around the coolant ports between the TPI base and aluminum spacer, to give a place for RTV to bite and not get pushed out, although the newer grey stuff would work fantastic -rigid to rigid clamped...

No it isn't an ideal solution, but I want to keep the 'stock look' TPI intake, but want to increase the engine's compression ratio (76cc chambers on the L83 still produced 9:1, so the 64cc Vortec chambers provide a healthy result) and get some better breathing out of it too -compared to stock, even a lightly modded TPI manifold and Vortec heads should work better than pretty much any other heads I am likely to get -more importantly, I have everything except for the Vortec gaskets here already. I was looking into getting some older 305 TPI heads, open them up a little, and enjoy the absolute lack of valve-shrouding with those itty-bitty 305 valves poking into a 350's bore, but everyone selling a decent pair seemed to know someone actually wanted them... Still, 305 chambers on an L83 yields a really nice CR... :twisted:

Edit: Oh and fabricobbled? Ouch. :cry:

Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2019 4:00 am
by Rettax3
Took the Yellow Indy out for a good drive today. It finally toasted the old 'salvaged' yellow-top Optima I had in it, so my battery no longer matches my car, :D but it starts good! Almost every other light or stop-sign if I gave the car more than 1/3 throttle it chirped a tire, one intersection that I expedited through as the light started changing on my left turn, the car flat-out lit up without trying :good:. Running healthy Potenzas on the car too, so it is getting decent grip. Not bad for a stock 3.1 MPFI and TH125C... I do enjoy driving the car despite the auto, I'm sure I'll like driving it even more with a 5-speed under the hood... Someday, someday. :roll: Everything is here, except the time.

Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2019 10:35 am
by ifixalot
96-Z26, Hit the keyfob to open the doors, lights blinked but doors stayed locked. OMG I had to use the key to unlock the door.
Once inside, I found the power windows don't work either. Drove the car to do what had to be done. Once back, checked fuses
but they are all good and locks and windows are not on same fuse. I suspected a bad ground so I consult the service manual and
it shows a ground lug below and next to the driver seat. I pull the carpet up and sure enough there is rust and corrosion in the area
and the lug is broken. Drill a new hole in the rocker, put on a new lug and bolt it in and all is well again for now.

Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2019 3:27 pm
by Cam2363
Replaced injectors and o2 sensor, car doesn't start as easily as it used to. Kind of upset about this lol

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Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2019 10:45 am
by Mkweaver1958
Need to put the rear view mirror back up on the windshield again, it keeps dropping off in the FL heat.
So far none of the commercially available adhesives lasts more than a few months. GRRR

Re: RE: Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2019 12:03 pm
by Cam2363
Mkweaver1958 wrote:Need to put the rear view mirror back up on the windshield again, it keeps dropping off in the FL heat.
So far none of the commercially available adhesives lasts more than a few months. GRRR
I forget exactly what it was, but I saw a guy used some sort of 2 part epoxy to stick the mirror back up, but he also sanded the glass and the plate before hand to get a strong bond. Maybe try that

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Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2019 5:07 pm
by Rettax3
Mkweaver1958 wrote:Need to put the rear view mirror back up on the windshield again, it keeps dropping off in the FL heat.
So far none of the commercially available adhesives lasts more than a few months. GRRR
I've got two vehicles that keep losing their mirrors -the Permatex that has worked so well on everything else in the past won't last quite a year on either of these windshields. A co-worker of mine swore that if you clean the windshield with acetone first, the Permatex mirror adhesive works like it should. I've never gotten around to trying it, but it may be worth a shot for you.

Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2019 9:14 am
by Cam2363
Put in a cutlass supreme shift handle (one of my favorite mods ever) and installed a z24 strut bar

Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 11:09 pm
by woody90gtz
Took my driver door apart, lubricated the window guides and decided I just need to replace the window motor. It's super slow to roll back up and I don't trust it. Changed all the interior lighting to LEDs while I was there too. Lots of time on this truck lately!

Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2019 8:08 pm
by sspaulding
physically, not much but got some plans to do the lower intake this weekend.

but I did order some electrical parts to complete my bluetooth ALDL reader, which hopefully will be in by tomorrow night to get that completed.

Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 2:31 am
by Rettax3
Finally got around to completely replacing the trans mount I had made for the DOHC V-6 Z-26. I could have sworn I made the 'saddle' part that broke out of an engine mount I had at least two of here, but couldn't match it up to anything I had. So, back to the drawing-board, I did away with the replaceable aluminum 'saddle' that pinned the square-tube part to the sub-frame, and just welded the damn tube straight on, with a hefty steel plate helping to hold the primary attachment bolt welded (instead of bolted, as was the original plan) to the outside of the sub-frame. I then got really into it, and added another bolt below and in front of the primary bolt, with a spacing-and-support tube welded to the inside of the sub-frame to keep the new bolt from sagging. Overall, probably the beefiest tranny-mount I've made to date, but I think this one also holds more weight than any of the other ones I have, because there is nothing supporting the left rear corner of the engine, like my GTU's 3800 and V-8 Quad-Cam Indy have. The LQ1 in this car has an intake manifold that folds back over the rear cylinder-head and blocks any access to support the head at the rear, and I didn't want to use the cast aluminum intake itself as a stressed member. :no:

I have a few other things on the car's punch-list to catch up on, and I should be able to start driving it more aggressively again. I still need to properly tune the ECM before getting too nuts with it though, and I'm wondering how long the clutch will last once I really get on it...

Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Posted: Wed Sep 18, 2019 8:38 am
by Mkweaver1958
Rettax3 wrote:
Mkweaver1958 wrote:Need to put the rear view mirror back up on the windshield again, it keeps dropping off in the FL heat.
So far none of the commercially available adhesives lasts more than a few months. GRRR
I've got two vehicles that keep losing their mirrors -the Permatex that has worked so well on everything else in the past won't last quite a year on either of these windshields. A co-worker of mine swore that if you clean the windshield with acetone first, the Permatex mirror adhesive works like it should. I've never gotten around to trying it, but it may be worth a shot for you.
I went with 2 part epoxy to put the mirror back up AGAIN!
This time I scored the back of the mount and cleaned the glass with alcohol and acetone then scribed hatch marks into the glass for grip.
Then let everything cure 24 hrs before mounting the mirror.
Maybe I'll get more than a few weeks of rear view mirror life this time.

Fingers crossed!

Oh, I replaced 2 tail light bulbs too ( one out on each side diagonally )

Re: what did you do to your ride today?

Posted: Wed Sep 18, 2019 9:39 am
by Cam2363
Got my engine out Monday and stripped it yesterday. Just gotta get a new engine now!

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