Roadracer's #997 build

[Mastertech5]

Bummer dude! Glad no personal injury. Can you look at the footage frame by frame to see what it might have been?

[RoadRacer]

Some people have tried.. seems most likely it’s a big tire fragment from the Semi that’s parked a 1/4mile down the road..

[Just 1 More]

Some people have tried.. seems most likely it’s a big tire fragment from the Semi that’s parked a 1/4mile down the road..

That's exactly what it looks like to me.. we call them Road Gators

[RoadRacer]

Ok, I'm baaaaaack!

After my recent "adventure" I was lucky enough to score a complete Deluxe setup (aka "32" grill and radiator) from Frank, who was so on the ball that I swear he was already at the UPS store the next day when I said "hell yeah". Kudos to "Just 1 more" for helping me out.

My smashed radiator was a stock FFR 33 setup with an Ebay radiator and some aluminum bracketry I made to fit, so I knew there was going to be some fabrication required, even though this was a deluxe kit. I have a Gen 1 first of all (the deluxe wasn't an option) so I assume the brackets are different nowadays. Secondly, more importantly, I have my radiator tipped back at 19º to match the side panel body line and make it more swoopy.

I got the package from UPS on Wednesday and had some shopping to do. First, there's only one bung in the bottom of the radiator (my old one had 3!) so I have to use that for temp sensor.. but it was smaller 1/4npt so I had to order that. Second, there's NO RADIATOR CAP! wth? So I ordered an inline Moroso one to put in the top hose for now (you'll see why).

In the meantime I started mocking it all up. Didn't take much to modify the brackets to fit, chopped some off, laid them over a bit. Mocked up the 19º slope and it all started to look pretty nice.. and then I noticed that because the radiator is like a foot shorter than the old one, the bottom hose goes straight into the chassis. At least where I have it placed, and sloped, the hose goes RIGHT where the horns are bolted to the chassis plate that joins the rear of the LCA bolts.

Right here:

cut-here.jpg

Moving the horns was easy, I moved them to the front of the chassis, below the radiator, but still behind the shell. But the chassis wasn't going anywhere, so.. I cut it out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The plate is welded all around the main chassis, so I figured that part was superfluous so I waved it goodbye. The radiator hose fit nicely through the gap left there.

Here we are, all better.

all-better.jpg

This is the only part I don't like.. for obvious reasons. Looks like a** and annoying that you can't effectively bleed it. So next month when I'm installing my new motor I'll get a cap welded to the top of the radiator. But surprisingly, this works well enough.

temp-cap.jpg

I removed the temp sensor from the block, then filled the radiator until the motor was full, then put the sensor back in. Then filled rad as much as I could and threw the hose on. There's going to be air in there but I've run it through 4 full heat cycles (thermostat open, hot enough for fan to come on, etc) and a "spirited drive" that this will be good enough for the race next weekend.

Oh.. I did find more damage from the semi-tire. It had hit the front lower bodywork just in front of the door. Nothing visible but I noticed the door sounded different today. Just more rattly. When I looked, all these rivets were sheared! They look normal, but none were attached to chassis.

sheared.png

For some strength, I replaced them with a strip of aluminum.

better.jpg

[RoadRacer]

So far all I know: built to rev higher than stock, don’t remember what was said though.. but likely 6500 vs 5500.

The heads are AFR 210. Runs pump gas (9.5 to 1). Hydraulic roller cam 555 lift. Wisco pistons and steel crank and rods.

Btw, I talked more with the guy who built this motor - he said that the cam runs out at 6800, but the motor is built to 7500. LOL

[RoadRacer]

My fastest run today - everything was working great. Could always do with one more run of course - but today we were cut to 4 instead of 5 without warning!

My gopro 12 quality is incredible if you compare to my dashcam that I normally use. duh! The image stabilization and 4k quality is amazing.

[Just 1 More]

That's awesome James, looked like a tight course

[Just 1 More]

James, Have you been playing with the QA1 compression and rebound settings? Curious where you've settled at?

[RoadRacer]

James, Have you been laying with the QA1 compression and rebound settings? Curious where you've settled at?

I haven’t yet. I did some initial setting up and then we had a winter break with no racing. Then the accident and now only two weeks until the new engine and the next race only a week after that! I suspect I’m not going to be focused on them for a while.

Having said that, I’m very happy with the setup right now.

Here are my current settings though:
Front: c2 r4
Rear: c3 r5

[RoadRacer]

Now I'm back and recovered from my marathon motor swap trip, it's time to post about it here!

We left Austin on Tuesday with the car on a rented trailer, for a 16hr drive to Atlanta. It was a long day, we left at 3:30am!

2024-03-11 18.02.37.jpg

Wednesday morning we headed out to the shop. First job was to remove the motor from the 55 chevy it has been in since the early nineties. They've modified the intakes over the years, even with a blower at one point, but the motor hasn't been out of the car for 30 years. The motor bottom end was properly built with steel crank, pink rods, AFR heads - no need to touch any of that. Cam runs out at 6800, but engine can rev to 7500. (I later set my shift light at 6400, but no rev limiter)

It took us all day to disconnect and remove the motor - slower than we expected! But by end of the first day it was on the engine stand.

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We took a trip to the local Summit Racing that evening and bought a bunch of parts. We reused my intake and carb, but had to buy a new oil pan, noisy gear drive (something I've always wanted) and a new 3.73 gear set (changed from my stock 3.27). Plus gaskets and some misc. Total was ~$1,000.

2024-03-13 17.58.19.jpg

[RoadRacer]

Day 2..

My first job was to remove my motor, while my friend worked on the new one, removing oil pan, swapping gear drive, cleaning up.

2024-03-14 07.24.20.jpg

You can see the original builder's name written on the crank from 30 years ago - the current owner's brother Alex. Also the "pink" rods.

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This second day was just as long and hard - we thought removing from my car would be easier with all the access, but it wasn't! We removed with the transmission attached and the tight tunnel made it tricky. But we got there!

End of day two we had the new motor buttoned up with my intake, carb, new oil pan and transmission attached. The clutch showed virtually no wear btw. This pic is the closest I have to end of day 2:

2024-03-14 13.24.23.jpg

[RoadRacer]

Day 3, the last day.

We had an assembled motor, so put it into the car. This part was easy.. by then we'd learned how best to do it, took under an hour to get it back in.

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Then it was adding radiator back, re-plumbing everything, timing, headers, etc etc. I experimented with a few alternator brackets but ended up with the factory header setup.. rock solid and easy. Got a 15555 belt, but have a 15557 on order for some extra wiggle.

Filled with PennGrade 10w40 green oil, added NGK R5671A-7 plugs at 50". Fired right up! Noisy as hell.. perfect! I've never had a SBC that can rev to 7500, let me tell you it is quite something. Changes the way you drive, and that gear drive whine.. wow.

The motor is a beast. I don't know what you guys with 500+ hp think, but this 400-430hp motor built to rev like this is kinda insane.

2024-03-15 16.04.49.jpg

There were two problems though.

1. I melted the electric fan.. literally. I tie-wrapped a wire to the fan cover, and although I spin-tested it, somehow the tie wrap moved to a position where the fan stopped. We smelled "something bad," but it took a minute to track it down. The fan and wiring were (literally) toast by then. Put in a new one!
2. This next one took longer and wasn't fixed until I got home after another 16hr drive on Saturday. The passenger side of the motor was covered in a fine mist of oil. Dripping from everywhere. Even the windshield had so much oil on it I couldn't see through it. Easy, right? Nope. I could not find the leak. Even the SHOCK was covered in oil.. how? That's a foot in front of the motor! In hindsight it makes sense, but took us a while. A racing friend from the local autocross club suggested something that made no sense to me. "Put a bolt in the top mounting hole on front of the engine". That was a blank hole for the 55 engine mount, now not used. But guess what.. the motor was issuing a very fine high-pressure mist from that "blank hole" above 4000 rpm. You'd never see it. Added a bolt, and DONE!

[RoadRacer]

So with the rear ratio of 3.73 and the more hp (probably up from 250-270 to 400-430, pretty significant jump) AND revs up from 5200 to ~7000 - it's a very different car. At idle (now at ~1050rpm) it sounds evil.

When driving, it feels like the difference between a 9mm and a 12 gauge slug.

I can't wait to race it on Saturday - my next autocross.

[Jim1855]

James,
Glad it's working out and coming together. Should be great fun.
Yup, there's just something special about 7,000. I shouldn't but...
Jim

[RoadRacer]

[Just 1 More]

Seems we have very similar setups, i'm 401hp with a 3:73 gears. Except mines a 700R4 w/3500 stall. I'm looking forward to see how the new horses work with your driving skills.
Congrats on the upgrade, this sure is a fun hobby

[33fromSD]

Great story Jim, 3 day marathon is right, all exciting but I'm sure tiring too.

I'm sure it will be a blast to drive but squirely too, so obviously be careful

Jim

[RoadRacer]

[Just 1 More]

SO how's the new engine feeling?

[Jim1855]

Nice run, looked smooth & fast.
How's the new motor? Meeting expectations?
Jim

[RoadRacer]

The new motor is fast! Ironically I was quite slow at the race as I had no idea how the car would run so was quite tentative and only running about 70%.