The heart of the Beast beats again!

[purpleRac3r]

Well, many thanks to all who offered advice a while back on my engine problem. I now have a shiny new 290hp GM crate motor under the hood. Wow, what a difference! I apparently had the 1974 RPO WUS engine originally. Losing three cylinders was probably the best thing that coud have happened! An extra 100hp really makes it presence felt on the autocross course - I chewed up a pair of nearly new tires in one weekend. I believe some suspension upgrades are now in order. This project was really something. I've proven one person can swap a motor in a Shark in a tiny one-car garage without mishap. It just takes patience, and a bigger checkbook balance than originally anticipated (thank you broken torque converter bolt!). Attached should be a photo of the new motor in place sans hood. Once I get new tires and a brake caliper (also failed while autocrossing) I'll clean the Beast up and post some fresh photos. If the motor photo doesn't show up, could someone let me know? I do seem to have some trouble with them. Thanks! Save the Wave!

 

[Eddie 70]

Looks like you got it figured out to me. A fresh motor sounds like it is pretty healthy too. Have fun with it.

 

[Bill75]

Hi Vince,

Makes you want to leave the hood off it looks so good doesn't it! Nice job, I hope to be doing a similar thing this winter, hope mine comes out as well as yours.

What did you do to clean, prep, paint the firewall, and what product did you use. It looks excellent.

Bill

 

[slyone1000]

Now we want to see some photos of you Driving it.

 

[purpleRac3r]

Bill75, sorry I didn't get back right away - my local club met Thursday, Friday my best friend and I road-tripped to Bowling Green to tour the assembly plant and National Corvette Museum (that was fun!!), yesterday I slept, today I drove a C6 in the St. Louis GM Auto Show in Motion. Anyway, to answer your question, I used Simple Green cleaner & a scrub brush to remove as much grime and loose paint as I could without completely disassembling the front of the car, and rinsed it with a lot of water. Then hit everything I could see and reach with, believe it or not, Krylon BBQ Grill paint. I wasn't too concerned with NCRS sheen matching on the semigloss, and figured grill paint would be about as heat resistant as couild be. I was pleased with the result, and you can't beat the price. I did mask off everthing I could that I wasn't painting. I also used a little Mother's Back-to-Black cleaner on all the hoses and vacuum lines to shine them up.

 

[fine69]

Vince,

Absolutely beautiful! One other question... what did you use to cover all of your wires (on the firewall)? You've really tidied-up nicely.

 

[purpleRac3r]

That's just some of that inexpensive split-type plastic wirelooming, readily available at a number of auto parts stores. You can get them in several colors, too. I got several sizes to fit over different size bundles, then cut them to length. Be generous and add a few extra inches - you can always trim the last little bits off if needed. To hold them in place and tidy up the ends I used some black zip-ties, and cut off the excess with some side cutters. I even loomed the headlight harness and starter harness (just don't get too close to the exhaust - it melts easily). Since the wire harness is non-original (a Painless kit) it routes a little different, and some of the factory mounting clips wouldn't work, especially over the heater box. I took a short stainless steel hex bolt and acorn nut and drilled a hole cross-wise throught the nut just big enough for a wire tie, and trimmed the bolt to just miss the wire tie when the nut was attached, and ran it through the fire wall and used a zip tie to hold the loom to the acorn nut. It's the cleanest wire hold-down I've ever seen! It won't rust and is virtually invisible. I plan to make several more for other locations.

 

[Bill75]

Bill75, sorry I didn't get back right away - my local club met Thursday, Friday my best friend and I road-tripped to Bowling Green to tour the assembly plant and National Corvette Museum (that was fun!!), yesterday I slept, today I drove a C6 in the St. Louis GM Auto Show in Motion. Anyway, to answer your question, I used Simple Green cleaner & a scrub brush to remove as much grime and loose paint as I could without completely disassembling the front of the car, and rinsed it with a lot of water. Then hit everything I could see and reach with, believe it or not, Krylon BBQ Grill paint. I wasn't too concerned with NCRS sheen matching on the semigloss, and figured grill paint would be about as heat resistant as couild be. I was pleased with the result, and you can't beat the price. I did mask off everthing I could that I wasn't painting. I also used a little Mother's Back-to-Black cleaner on all the hoses and vacuum lines to shine them up.

Thanks for the tips. It looks really great!!