nocooler's firechicken thread

[nocooler]

Steve - It's got roughly 0.160 in shims so I've got room to move the converter toward the flexplate. I'm thinking it had about a 0.250 air gap but I'll need to double-check. In my research, I realized I might have missed a critical step - the LS rear engine cover bolts may interfere with the SBC SFI bellhousing.
I'm glad that jack worked for you that had to be nerve-racking lowering that wagon down! Having the wife and kids around definitely slows down progress. Tell him you'll do the wiring but you can't promise the 4 ways won't turn on when he trying to run the wipers!
When you have limited time that your body will cooperate and let you work, you figure out how to get stuff done efficiently.

[Steve Wood]

Yeah, I was worried about getting that thing down without punching a jackstand thru the floor pan or screwing up the suspension.  It was a piece of cake and came down a lot easier than it went up.

I have lost about 25 lbs and my body is protesting less than it did when I was 210. I get up off the floor a lot easier LOL  Keeping my mind focused on the current project rather than 15 other projects is my biggest problem.

The old Mopars have a problem with the flexplate to crankshaft bolts hitting the converter if you don't use the right type of bolt heads.  When you start mixing and matching parts from various things.

It would have been cheaper to have bought a new stroker small block and stuck it in the wagon than do a swap for a big block and buy all the stuff it takes to do the swap.  Used stuff is the same price or higher than new stuff.

[Scoobum]

With the diabetes I can't work on something for more than 2 hours full bore cuz my blood sugar burns down and I'm done. Something that took me a day now takes several days.

[nocooler]

It was the rear cover bolts. The bell housing has some nice witness marks in it so I know which ones to change lol.
The torque converter is still really tight in the pump so hopefully it’s good.

[nocooler]

Steve I think the big block is perfect for the wagon. It’ll be worth it when it’s done, but we all know they are never really done.
Brad over the last decade I’ve had to learn how to do many things differently. I get about 2 hours generally, after that I know I need to stop or it’ll be rough next couple days. The shitty thing is I can push through the pain if I’m busy, and when I stop I’m fucked.

[Steve Wood]

I agree, Jeremy.  It needs a new suspension to match the weight and improve the handling and the old stuff was more than tired to begin with.  Rear springs have no arch left in them and the torsion bars need to be changed for something larger.

My son marches to his own drummer and he is planning on a Dr. Gas Boom Tube exhaust on it among other things and when we installed the CVF pulleys, we added an AC compressor so he can install a modern AC on the car.  I wish they made a custom instrument panel for it but they have rally gauges set up for other models but not the 72 and ups. Not yet anyway.

[nocooler]

Boom tubes on a wagon might resonate a little
Flexplate showed up today - so I was able to reinstall the transmission

[Steve Wood]

You are most likely correct!

[Steve Wood]

And that was a quick turn around on the flex plate and install

[nocooler]

It helps when Amazon comes through. It'll be running early next week, just waiting on the pushrods then I can start plugging stuff back in, add oil and touch it off.

[Steve Wood]

Don't know if it will run better, but it will surely run longer!

[nocooler]

The turbo cam should make a bunch more power under the curve, but we will see.

[nocooler]

https://youtu.be/CCU3AL8By7g

Turbo cam doesn't chop nearly as much, I miss the lope!

[Steve Wood]

But you will fool the heck out of any one that dares to try you!

[nocooler]

I put 25 miles on the car today. I'm very impressed with the Holley EFI. I spent 30 minutes dialing in the cold start/idle - with HPT it was never that easy. Closed-loop fueling and the fuel learn function work amazing. The cam made a huge difference, it is way happier and makes an assload of midrange torque.
We also put about 10 miles on the go-kart today - I'm gonna be feeling it tomorrow. I was surprised my wife even took it for a ride and had a blast.