72 LS5

I never venture in the Auto Body section but the Midnight Bronze caught my eye - that's my original color too. Joseph, can you send me some pix of yours? I'm debating on going with the original color next time around but I'm still leaning toward the blue.

My $.02: I love the in-car vid !!!

Dave - what did you do for a speedo gear? Do you have a OEM type shifter?

I looked into this a little recently, and concluded that a built 400 and GV would make the most sense for my needs. Sure, the 700 and 200 can handle the power if built correctly, but handle it for how long? The 4L80 and 4L85 are serious transmissions that could handle the power repeatedly, but you also need to spend a ton of money on the electronic control module for it. (I just read Jake's Transmission link - sounds like a great option, and his controlers are way cheaper than GMs) The 400 has the strength, they are cheap to build, you can add the GV later if you wish, and that overdrive can handle over 1000 hp. You can have fun splitting gears too. The GV site has a ton of install articles and test reviews on it.

Good read. Not familiar with Friends magazine, but the article was missing all the car-guy meat: specs, performance, tech stuff. But then again, Friends readers could probably care less. Thanks for sharing! And I'm going to bring back the saying "sawbuck"............

From the vids, here's what I concluded Flowmasters = NASCAR: mean, aggressive, edgey Magnaflows = Motorboat: mellower, streetable, non-boy racer For your needs, you probably made the right choice. So are you happy with the Mags. Are they a baffled or chambered muffler?

Great news!

Sounds like your warranty papers must go up the entire chain at Government Motors. They're probably sitting on a desk in the Oval Office awaiting a signature, but that office has been vacant all year. Seriously, I hope and pray you get a resolution soon!!!

I've been reading a lot about this GV and I do believe I'm sold on it. The 4L80 or 4L85 is a ton of money and the control box is like another grand on top of that - forget it. Couple questions - some are saying to modify the crossmenber on the 400. I believe they make a cross member for like $100. Has anybody used that one? Can somebody explain how you would "split gears" down the 1/4 mile? I can understand that you would wind out 1st, then 1st-over, but do you have to hit the button and move the shifter to 2nd for the next split? My 400 isn't instantaneous so if I hit the button as I'm shifting to 2nd, do I run the risk of hitting 1st-over for an instant before it hits 2nd? Is there some kind of electronics to knock it out of "over" when manually shifting to the next higher gear? (am I making sense here?)

Is there any upgrade out there for a more powerful blower motor, while we are on the subject?

I had pulled a stud on my 350 years ago, and it wiped out the cam too. If yours is a flat tappet, you really need to check the lobes for any damage.

Thank God - that's great news!

My prayers go out as well!

I have heard of this issue with the crate motors on the Chevelle board - teeth worn on big block crate motors. I stumbled on some posts when I was researching which gear to use on my HEI with the 502. Even with the failures, I still went with the GM melonized gear as their documents say its the mandatory gear to use. Try a search on teamchevelle.com about it.

Scott - looks great!! I like the black lid and covers - its different and clean. That torque is addicting, eh??? Here's how we got my 502 in with my buddy's big ol' cherry picker...from the side:

Pony cars are for women - that's why I drive a Challenger. It's the supersized Big and Tall guys car. Nothing pony about this puppy - it dwarfs the Big Blue in the garage......height and girth anyways... You've been doing the same toilet reading about supercharging SSs as I have. (July Hot Rod?) 200 ponies. Big Blue has not moved from the garage in two weeks. The heat and rain ARE keeping me away from the track. And a tranny that was rebuilt in '95. I don't know Mike with 70 Z. Is he the one with the Straub cam?

Looks awesome! You are ready for NASCAR with those gears...

Your Monte looks serious - I like it!

So the push rods are the same for a Chevy roller lifter and aftermarket? I drove by your shop yesterday on my way back from Dodge and really wanted to stop by and see the SS and Monte, but I had to get back to work. Got a pic of your new sled?

I checked the holes of the galley plugs and here's what I found: Old 502 plugs: Approx 1/16 or .0625" Old 454 plugs: Approx .030" New GM plugs (11609914): .030" Not sayin that changing the plugs would solve anything, just noting you are on the larger size. If they were too big, I would suspect all the rockers would be low on oil.

I can't speak for your lack of oil, but I can tell you that my 454 had the holes in the oil galley plugs - and that was rebuilt back in 1988. My 502 had them, and my builder friend took them out thinking they were drilled out by somebody. After some reading, the drilled plugs keep the back of the cam sprocket lubed, so it doesn't eventually eat into the block. I had to take my 502 apart and reinstall the correct galley plugs (PN 11609914 Front Oil Galley Plug, .0300" squirter hole to lubricate the timing chain - per GM). That said, 1/16 sounds on the large side (.0625"). I remember the new ones I mentioned above being a smaller size than the originals. I have them sitting on a shelf in the garage - I can measure them with a drill bit at lunch if that helps.

Ah, the sarcasm cuts deep! Ok, so I took like a year to get Big Blue back on the road.........a little longer than 2 days. If I had a lift and engine stand next to my desk at work, I may have gotten it built in half a year. Looking forward to hearing how she runs. Care to share the specs?

496? Man, you go through engines like I go through underwear! Is that a GS chin spoiler I see?

Did you get a chance to turn it over by hand and see if it binds? The crack sound has some concerns. I'm thinking either a lifter plunger issue or maybe even the rocker ball. There is an outside chance the rocker ball did not break in correctly and wore out, but you probably would have noticed it when you removed the rocker.

Man, what a let down! I'll try to chime in although I have never had a collapsed lifter, it sure sounds like it. Did you prime the motor before you started it until you got oil at every rocker? Did you soak the lifters in oil before installation? After that crack sound, have you tried to rotate the motor by hand to see if there is any binding? I'm curious about what you mean by breaking in the cam. The rollers don't need a traditional break-in, although I ran mine off idle for a while to get sufficient oil at start up.