Ken's Engine Project...

[Ken]

Oh, I'll be callin' alright Lou! Just what I'll call you is another story. :L

And yes Chris, I'll be loaded with tools as well. :eyerole

_ken

 

[89ZZ4]

Ken: We all feel your pain and frustration. Older cars - even beloved Vettes have things that take a crap in the night. Three weeks ago I had driven the vette to work for three days in a row and I'm thinking all I need now is to get it tuned right (ie right chip) and I'm on easy street. NO WAY - soft cluch pedal and I just barely made it home. Clutch slave is shot. Sit's two weeks until I can get another one. The quick job isn't quick cause the flare fittings won't budge. Take whole line off from master so we can work on it. Wow - is old fluid crappy but at 11 at night it becomes a quick and dirty job with vise grips and all. It went back together but clutch engage point isn't right so it took a couple of partial on/offs til it felt right after bleeding. It's UGLY but it works!

It will all come together just don't give up!

Phil (aka 89ZZ4)

 

[Ken]

Well my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

The truck is waiting, outside my door...

The trailer is loaded and just waiting for me to hitch it up in the morning and I'm gone... I'm gone... "Living after midnight... Rockin' to the dawn... Lovin' till the morning... Then I'm gone, I'm gone."

:eek Wait! Those lyrics aren't going to get me sued are they? And if I do commit suicide, it won't be due to listening to Judas Priest. :L

"I'll be seeing you... in all the old familiar places...

_ken [size=-3](Music lyrics must be running through this tired old mind tonight. )[/size]

 

[RalleyRed]

Ken,

Have a safe trip.

Hopefully with some of the hardcore wrenchs at BG you'll get the bugs worked out of the beast.

See ya there,

Rick

 

[Ken]

I'm counting on...

...some of the hardcore wrenches at BG

Can't drive it, may as well post pictures, eh?

Click 'em to grow 'em.








Yeah, it's pretty, but does it run?

_ken

 

[Ken]

The saga continues...

...here ...and ...here ...and ...here.

_ken

 

[maxrevs85]

Ken I noticed that your car sets quite low. How did you accomplish this? How much drop?.....Is it the suspension mods you've done ? What size wheels and tires do you have. It looks sweet.
I picked up a set of used ETOILE wheels 17"/10.5....pretty nice wheel. Ever heard of them?

 

[Ken]

...car sets quite low.

You're not the first to bring that up Dave, but I can't detect any form of lowering done previous to my ownership. I have however, gone completely through and upgraded the suspension with Guldstrand and we detected no wedges or any other changes. From all indications, it appears that the car is sitting at factory ride height, the side exhaust must add to the lowered look.

_ken

BTW, thank you both for the compliments.

 

[maxrevs85]

hmmm, I'll be danged, looks lowered. I take it you have never heard of the wheels I mentioned....ETOILE...made in France . They are an older style.

 

[Ken]

The Etoile looks just like the Gotti's, right? Etoile took over the Gotti design. Gotti Wheels, a high end expensive wheel that came in many finishes and details, originally sold for $800-1000 per rim, without customization. They are no longer available.

I ran 16 x 9.5 Gottis for a few years. My Borbets are 17 x 9.5.

_ken

 

[maxrevs85]

Ken , amazing. That is the exact wheel. They are an older style and not as fashionable as todays wheel . But for some reason look right at home on my Vette. And They are in excellant condition. I put the Mothers to one of them last nite and it came out perfect. They are 17's by 10.5 . The best part is ,I gave $200 for the set (4). I got them from Holt Auto Sales where I bought the car. They were cleaning out the Tire barn
Thanks for the info . Is that one of your old wheels in the picture?
I need to find the cerntercaps with the name on them. They have the plain cap.

 

[Ken]

I feel much more comfortable now...

... knowing that the 2-bolt 400 block is as hefty as the 4-bolt 350. This excerpt came from Chevy High Performance magazine's Performance Q&A by Kevin McClelland[/i]

The 400 small-blocks are a different animal. They have larger main journals (2.65 versus 2.45 inches), and the main caps are the same width in both the four-bolts and two-bolts. The important things here are a good align-hone job and quality fasteners. (Note: I have both.) The difference between the two- and four-bolts is in the main webs of the block. The two-bolt blocks actually have a stronger main web area than the four-bolts do. If you plan to build a nasty 400, start with a two-bolt block and install aftermarket splayed four-bolt caps. A properly prepared two-bolt block will hold up to 500 hp.

Now, about those splayed caps... :eyerole

_ken

 

[maxrevs85]

Ken, seeing that the stock L-98 block was a 2bolt I went with the splayed 4 bolt billet caps from Oliver with the front steel cap also..Little piece of mind I guess and it sounds neat too when you do a run down of your engine parts....

 

[Ken]

Remember this?

Well, it's in that condition again. Next step will be a real roll bar.

_ken

 

[69MyWay]

Its NAKED!

 

[maxrevs85]

GO KEEEEN :dance GO KEEEEN :dance

 

[Ken]

This is getting weird...

:L I can't believe I'm gettin' itchy to get it in Will's shop so I can start pulling the engine again! I keep feeling that I'm running out of time and I want to get this thing running the way it should. (read: E.T.s in the low 11s, or maybe even somewhere in the 10s )

By the way, anybody have experience wiith installing a driveshaft loop on a C4? I'm gonna need to address that issue too. :eyerole

_ken

 

[Ken]

Chris...

...or anybody else "in the know." Tell me what's involved again when I remove my a/c? I think I have access to a block-off plate for the firewall already, it's in Scott's shop, but you said something about the doors Chris? I know I want heat and defrost capability.

What about the effect on the fan? Isn't that somehow tied in with the air? I'm not even sure how it was affected by the installation of the later-model computer, or if it is at all.

By the way, mine is a manual set-up, not the electronic stuff.

_ken [size=-3]"The Mad Stripper"[/size] :J

 

[69MyWay]

You may end up having to rewire or build some kind of heat/defrost box, as the air blower motor and fan blade housing is part of the big box on the firewall. Maybe you can check out JC Whitney and others for stand alone defrost/heat, and put that in the dash after you remove the stock stuff.

 

[Ken]

Ha! And you made it sound so easy when this first came up. :L

_ken