69 mach 408w build

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

bad news today from the speed shop. they are estimating the crankshaft from Scat is going to take about four weeks to arrive. they had warned me that scat had retooled to achieve better balance on the cranks but had some serious delays, so i'm not surprised.

 

the good news is they have been working on it and have the bronze guides installed in the heads. they also have the rods and pistons so with the exception of the pushrods, they should have all the parts to complete the motor. they were preparing to start boring the cylinders.

 

it has been 2.5 weeks and i was concerned that it would sit in the corner waiting until they finished up some of the other motors they were building.

 

i have been telling myself 3 months to have the motor built. the speed shop estimated 7 weeks assuming they could get the parts.

 

i believe it will be a 4" stroke motor. we weren't sure if it would go 4.1" and it all depended on what they could get.

[Angel 24]

Im surprised you're not building the engine yourself. If your build is a reflexion of your skill and attention to detail, why wouldn't you tackle the engine too?

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

i don't own a machine shop, so i can't do all the machining and balancing anyways.

 

the shop is going charge on the order of $500 to assemble the motor. a tiny fraction of the parts costs. it seemed like an easy way to get something built properly.

 

in addition, they wouldn't put a motor on their dyno they don't build themselves.

 

having the shop dyno the motor gives me the confidence that things are good before i detail it and install it.

 

plus it will get the tune far closer than what i could ever dream of doing myself.

 

there is no way i can build a motor and believe that i have the tune anywhere near optimized. i will drag the car about 2 times a year for fun. i won't have any consistency thus very little ability to tune the motor that way.

 

however, the downside is i'm giving up the ability to balloon any power figures from this build...

 

the shop did find it interesting that i basically had all the parts. i didn't get the crank, rods and pistons because i didn't know what piston to go with because of the deck height issue with machining. i didn't want to pigeon hole them on that. i didn't order the pushrods for obvious reasons.

 

this will be one of the very few things that i won't be doing.

 

alignment is about the only other item i will eventually farm out.

[Angel 24]

$500 does sound like good insurance. How much is the shop going to charge you for machining and prepping the block? I got a quote for $650. Is that about right?

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

on the phone they indicated about $375 for assembly and about $750 for machine/balancing.

 

for budget reasons, i had allocated $1500 for assembly and machine work.

 

i won't be surprised if machining costs go up. it just depends on what they find.

 

i had also allocated $750 for dyno time. Years ago they quoted $250 for setup and $75/hr after that. I'm not wanting to squeeze every bit of hp i can, but a reasonable tune and confidence the motor is solid. i don't want to have to pull the motor and/or tear it down after everything is painted. that just creates a big mess.

 

hopefully i have enough margin to cover unexpected costs that i'm expecting will happen.

 

assembly costs seem very reasonable for having a qualified people ensure the valvetrain is configured properly and that all short block tolerances are correct. i've assembled two motors before and those were more stock type builds. beyond that, i'm only an internet expert.

Edited October 8, 2010 by BuckeyeDemon

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

picture of the springs that were on the car. as i had mentioned, i'm not sure they were original or not. the part number indicated they were from a 69 428 car.

 

i couldn't make out what colors the original stripes were.

 

 

finished putting the bands on the springs. it's probably a good thing i didn't try to paint the bands because i don't think it would have survived.

 

 

original front springs. orange and yellow are the stripes for my app.

 

 

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

finally sprayed the next two coats of K36.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Legion 10]

Looks great and the gaps on the doors look phenomenal!

[stangme428 33]

wow .... smoooth!!! i agree with legion... very nice..:tongue_smilie:

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

i've got the spindles setup and ready to install on the car.

 

this is just the basic kit from CSRP. it seems to be very complete and simple.

 

i decided to disassemble the calipers so i could media blast and spray a cast high temp enamel paint. i also did the same for the brackets. they appear to have a zinc coating topped by something green (not sure what it is).

 

the original drum spindles were blasted, epoxied and sprayed with a phosphate paint then misted with a charcoal metallic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

i also finished up the lakewood scattershield. you may recall in the TKO swap that i wished i had gotten the short input shaft version so i wouldn't have had to use this spacer plate (other reasons too). i'm running an 11" clutch (164 tooth flywheel) so this seemed to be my only option (i.e. need a spacer plate).

 

my concern has been the alignment. the spacer measures .005" small in diamter as compared to the bellhousing hole. the TKO bearing measures .005" smaller than than the spacer plate.

 

the bell contained 8 total threaded holes with the four outer holes used for the TKO. i decided to transfer the inner holes to the spacer plate and drill/countersink for a couple of fasteners. i will then dial in the bellhousing and spacer as one unit.

 

the original bellhousing was cast so i've tried to duplicate that look. i media blasted it, epoxied then used seymour's cast blast paint. the stuff looks just dull gray so i misted it again with the dark charcoal metallic and followed that with some very light satin clear.

 

[Angel 24]

Everything looks great as usual. What exactly are your plans for the car once its complete? Its obviously not going to be a daily driver lol.

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

i'll probably only average less than 1000 miles a year driving it to work on nice days and some local car shows. it will probably get trailored for long distance trips. i only live about 6 miles from work so it's not going to get many miles.

 

i'll probably drag it non-competitively up to two times per year.

 

detailing a lot of these parts doesn't take that much extra time in the big picture. of course it adds up.

 

thanks for the positive comments everyone. i appreciate it.

[maxum96 32]

Looking good. I have the spacer in my TKO too. Make sure to check the runout on the scattershield when it's bolted to the block. Mine was a bit off center and I had to get the special offset dowel pins. Not a big deal to install them and get the runout within spec.

 

Edited October 21, 2010 by maxum96

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

i drilled and countersunk the spacer so i could dial in the bell + spacer as a unit.

[maxum96 32]

i drilled and countersunk the spacer so i could dial in the bell + spacer as a unit.

 

 

That's the way I did mine. I did mine either right before or right after that picture was taken in my last post.

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

are you using a solid or roller bushing? i bought a solid bushing because i was scared the spacer would have more potential slop than a non-spacer setup. based on measurements i made, i'm thinking it won't be any worse if i dial in the spacer and bell as a unit.

[maxum96 32]

Mine has the solid bushing. I thought about the roller bearing, but bushings have been used since day one without problems. And roller bearings are know to fail sometimes. And mine already had a new bushing in it when I got the motor.

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

i spent last week prepping and painting a hood and fender for a BMW. so that was a lost week..

 

but i have been hitting the primer trying to get the panels flat and any imperfections worked out. it's looking like i will be able to prime one more time and wetsand.

 

i use 3M dry guide coat on the panels.

 

[craig429 10]

I am curious on what tools did you use to cut, bend right angles, and form the sheet metal patchs you made? Do you have a shear and a brake?

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

i unfortunately have neither.

 

most patches were relatively small. i have a lot of heavy gauge scrap metal, that i would use to clamp a piece of steel. i would then use body hammers to fold to the desired angle.

 

i do have a set of milwaukee hand shears that work great for 18 awg and thinner and help alot when cutting into the middle of a piece of metal. i use a combination of right and left handed aviation snips to make perfect edges. also a small body saw and cutoff disks are used a lot.

 

each app seemed to be different.

 

i have a cheap combo shrinker/stretcher that helped a lot for those curved pieces.

 

i tried to make a 48" brake out of 1/4" angle and u-channel. it flexed to much in the middle to make nice sharp bends.

 

hope this helps.

[craig429 10]

Thank you for your list of tools. I haven't had to bend metal yet for my projects, but my next one (70 Mach), I will need to. I also use cutoff disks to cut my metal and was wondering if others mainly do the same.

 

I will keep following your project, it is making me want to get started on my 70 Mach (I have been in the parts buying mode for the past year).

[sportsroof69 13]

I finally got time to sit down and read this whole thread. Very nice work.

 

You're really making me want to put a shaker on my 351W/Victor Jr build that I'm doing now. You definitely have a skill that most don't. I wish I could fabricate half that well.

 

 

You will be very happy that you went with Caltracs. They made my car totally different, in a good way.

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

craig do you use roloc discs?

 

i couldn't live without this thing. i use a 3", 2" and 1" roloc pad. i buy 36 grit, 3" roloc discs by the box. i trim the edge and use them on the smaller pads. this really allows me a lot of control when grinding welds flush.

 

and of course the angle works well in some cases when needing a cutoff wheel.

 

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

sportsroof,

 

good luck on the shaker! i had 15 years to think about how i was going to fit that thing in this car with the victor. i was amazed at how many people stay away from using a good manifold when they have a shaker car. i've seen some fit a shaker with some different manifolds but they never looked very good when the hood was open.

 

i hope you're right about the traction device. i almost went with the slide a links. and honestly went with the caltracs based purely on aesthetics.

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

finished up the latch and hood hinges. i used the same zinc phosphate solution followed by oil. i think i'm going to try a test panel and see how long it takes to rust in the weather.

 

hopefully it takes more than a day in the rain...