It's finally on the road again....well almost!

fxbill · #1 (**permalink**) 05-23-2005, 02:03 PM

I finally got the new motor in and running... It was the dart iron eagle block 446 cu in that I recently purchased on eBay. What a job! I didn't think it was going to be a big deal, but had decided to change the tranny to a TKO600, the rear gears to 3.27 and then realized every step of the way that there was a hitch here and there. The Trick Flow "R" heads needed special header flanges. Don was nice enough to help me out with the headers. I had also decided to install power steering, tubular upper and lower A arms from Pole Position, electric water pump that came on the engine, electric fuel pump.... too many changes at once! Anyway... I let the power steering go for a bit and the A arms until everything else was done.
I got it running several days ago... What a difference! The last stroker was over 500 HP and ran great, but was tuned to more high RPM. This time I went with torque and higher gears. It's a neck snapper now.
It was running hot for the first time since I've owned it so I spent the day last weekend installing a bigger fan and shroud. It was working great and then I went to shut the hood to take it for a road test.......... mistake..., big mistake... I'd forgotten about the hood hinge closing so close to the radiator and pushed the fan right into the radiator.... So..... after repairing the hole in the radiator I looked inside the hose connectors to check it out.... almost half the capillary tubes were blocked with "stones". Rather than pay $90 to rod it out I went ahead and ordered an aluminum 19x26 and a set of dual Spal 11" fans. I expect them here this week.
I was measuring the opening for fitment and reading past posts about installation. I notice that you guys were cutting the bottom half of the support hoop off and fastening the supports directly to the frame. My supports are only 1/4" higher than the frame anyway. Does the 1/4" make that much of a difference when installing the radiator?
Anyway....we'll see how it goes this week....I'm going to go ahead and install the power steering rack while I'm waiting. It'll be one less thing to do to complete everything.
Cheers to you guys!
Bill

Tongue Pirate · #2 (**permalink**) 05-23-2005, 03:07 PM

Sounds like you've been a buzy boy! Awsome!

fxbill · #3 (**permalink**) 05-23-2005, 03:46 PM

Ah yes.... One more thing.... I also installed the polymer distributor gear that we were talking about in a past thread. I'd been chewing up distributor gears left and right. Anyway... I did drill a #60 hole in the galley plug in front of the gear as another member suggested and got a chance before my radiator mishap to put about 100 miles on the car. I pulled the distributor and cleaned the "plastic" gear off. You cannot see any wear whatsoever! It looks like it's never been in contact with anything at all......... I'm impressed..

petek · #4 (**permalink**) 05-24-2005, 08:47 PM

Bill,

1/4" make any difference? Sure, if you are needing 1/8" for the thing to fit, 1/4" gives you some "wiggle" room!

Try fitting the radiator without cutting anything; if it fits, then you don't need to trim off the lower part of the mount. (I did end up cutting up the mount ... and bending some of the aluminum on the lower part of the radiator flashing to get everything to fit.)

fxbill · #5 (**permalink**) 06-01-2005, 11:14 PM

Yup.... It needed the 1/4"! It's in now along with dual 11" Spals. It was over 90 degrees here today and the car never saw 180!
The temp on this must have dropped at least 30 degrees. Sitting at an idle it'll creep up towards 180 when the fans turn on and then you can watch it drop almost immediately. With the car at anything more than about 10 miles per hour the temp drops right back to 165 where the thermostat is set. I'm impressed!