Heckeng

I hope I can get her a little closer to your quarter mile time Al, that would be amazing. I honestly have no idea what to expect though. In Bill's Monte, he dipped into the 11's with a stock 502 I think but he has 4.11 gears where I have 3.55's. I'll have more stall, cam, and head though so that will help me out with the lack of gears. If I get in the 11's at all, I will be pretty excited. A dragstrip in St. Louis just re-opened so I will hopefully be able to see what she will do this year yet.

Bad pressure spring in the oil pump, gas in the oil, plugged oil pump screen. I'm sure there will be some other people with more ideas too.

It will stay black. I am hoping that black valve covers and a black air cleaner will look good and not cheesey too. I saw the new (I would assume) oil passage in front of the intake too, not sure what the deal is with that.

Some pics:

Hey Mike, it depends on what kind of cam you were looking at and what kind of blank he is building it on--cast or billet. HR cams at Summit range from just under $300 up to $500, so while we didn't discuss it this time, I have talked to him in the past and what he told me earlier (a year or two ago) was in this range.

I was surprised that he actually answered the phone--last time it was his assistant. Dave, I know you and he have a good relationship going but I hate abusing that by having you tell him to call me back or harass him about some little bitty cruiser cam but I appreciate the offer. Luckily he was there today.

Straub cam will be here in 12-15 days. I have no idea what it will be spec-wise but he is putting it together for me. I am pretty excited about it! He said he would shoot for 600-625 lbft and keep it pretty tame. . .

Lifters are Morel Sportsmans, I got the good ones last year when I changed heads luckily. My head gaskets are Felpro standard ones for a Gen VI 502. I just found out my cam is on back order, so I'm not sure what I want to do now. I may try calling Chris again and see what he says.

It is one of the new blocks with the mechanical fuel pump provision. I didn't want to have to run an electric again--didn't like the noise. I will be reusing my AFR 265 heads and I think they will be nice and torquey on the engine. It is hard to believe they will be large enough for the engine but I have to keep reminding myself that they flow more than my old iron rect. port GM heads that they replaced, even though they were much larger. Sammy, I know, I am wussing out on the cam but I really want to keep my power brakes and keep it nice and streetable. We will see how the cam is in the engine and how the new stall is with the engine and I may need to do some tweaking of the combo but I'm going to see how it all feels together before I change anything.

Hey Bill, this spring has been the busiest I have ever been in the housing industry. I have high hopes that the huge interest in housing in our area (Mid Missouri) is an indicator that the rest of the economy may be about to make a turn for the better in the next 6 months or so. I sure hope so anyway. Dave, your engine has inspired me a little with this build. I too want a lower rpm engine that runs well. I was going to go with a bigger cam until I saw how mild your new cam was. I hope your stock 502 wasn't in too bad of condition when you rebuilt it. I know you said you were surprised at some of the things GM did from the factory. I hope I don't have any issues! I haven't looked at the new HP's but will have to give it some time. I had debated upsizing carbs anyway but have held off so far. Spending too much money elsewhere on the engine. I had called Chris Straub to have him make me a cam but he never returned my call so I just went ahead and ordered this Lunati. It ought to be an ok cam. The engine is not a max effort deal anyway--I just want a good performer.

Hey all, it has been a very busy past 12 months for me and I have been absent from much of my forum hopping unfortunately. sorry about that, but I have still been stalking the site when I can. I am excited to say that I am replacing my 454 which was asking for a rebuild with a new 502 short block assy. It is already in my garage on an engine stand, partially disassembled. I am waiting on my new cam to come in (Lunati 60622, 231/239 and .6"/.6"). I am also going to be trying Quarterbooty's (Nick) old Edge Racing Converter which should stall around 3800 rpm instead of my current ATI converter. All I need is the cam, and some time to actually work on things but hopefully sometime in the next month it will be running again. I'll post some pics when I get some time!

Holy cow Dave! I hadn't seen that you were running 9's yet, that is AMAZING! 10's are freakin' awesome, and very impressive in such a heavy car, but 9's, with a motor that is done by 6k is just unbelievable. You have a fantastic combo there. I like that new cam!

Mike, that is awesome. Also, you appear to have your suspension working quite well, that is a pretty even lift on those front tires! Nice job!

Interesting Dave. I always figured that those types of cutters would squish the rubber part of the hose too much and ruin it. I have a smaller version of them but have been afraid to try them--actually figured the stainless would ruin the cutting edge too! I may have to try them. I've always used the tape and dremel cutoff wheel option myself.

Sam hit the nail on the head. At cruise, you are usually operating significantly on the idle feed port and the idle transfer slot which are both restricted (or jetted) by the idle feed restrictor. The idle fuel port is the hole in the base plate right below each throttle plate. The idle fuel port adjusts the idle fuel mixture as I'm sure you know. The idle transfer slot starts to flow under part throttle cruise situations before there is enough flow to get the boosters (main jets) to work efficiently. If you can adjust your idle feed restrictors which are usually in the metering block you should put in some larger restrictors. You will need to readjust your idle mixture screws to set the idle, but after that, the larger restrictors will let more fuel go to the transfer slot and get rid of that lean hesitation you are getting. If you wan to try and fix it easier and don't mind a rich idle, open up both of your idle mixture screws an extra 1/4 to 1/2 turn and see if that helps out.

Your posi should be the Eaton like mentioned--very solid units, and you can upgrade them with stiffer springs if wanted too. I think they are generally good until you start drag racing with 600-700 hp or so, then the clutches start giving in. On the street it may last 50 years! If I were doing it all over again though, I would get the tru-trac like David mentioned. They are really slick. No chatter, just smooth and strong axle lockups.

Mark knows his stuff, and you see that distributor being used a LOT (including me). My only recommendation would be to take it apart when you first get it, and tape off the bearings etc, and clear coat the aluminum that will be inside the cap, and also paint the 8 spoke mag pickup wheel. If you leave them as they come from the factory, they will corrode supposedly due to the high voltage in the cap area.

I disagree, that is probably exactly what I would do if I raced Dave! After he passes me, I'll probably just try and slow him down by shaking and throwing sticks at him! What else can a person do

That is pretty good Dave, but I know you have more in her. I would think you have another 10th coming off of the line, then I would bet you pick up a little more through the 1/4 just because you started at a better launch rpm.

Good do hear Dave. I didn't realize you also added a Trutrac, that is very interesting. I've been drooling over them for a while but just can't justify it since my eaton is still doing well. I have read great results about them from some high hp cars.

X2

Going cheap is unfortunately what probably got you into rebuilding the motor in the first place. You could have probably spent $500 more on a better set of heads that came with better components and not dropped a valve. The valvetrane is probably the most likely place for mishaps to occur, and lifters are the most notorious for breaking, especially under the spring pressures that are going to be needed for an aggressive cam with 600+ lift. I would get some Morel lifters, and am sorry to say they will run you $600.

Looks good to me too. Is that stock length that you checked?

That's awesome Dave. It is amazing how quickly the time flies by when they are down and you are working on them isn't it? I lost a whole year waiting on heads and honestly, the time just seemed to go by and there I was, one year later! I still feel like yours was only out of commission for 6 months or so, guess your time flies by for me too!

Getting a good converter won't be as hard as you think. The good manufacturers can hook you up with a "tight" converter with whatever stall speed you want. I would guess you will want something around 3000 rpm or so. When you hear people talk about "tight" and "loose" it doesn't just mean how high the converter slips. For example, on my Monte, I have only had 2 torque converters, the first was a B&M Holeshot 2400, and honestly was a great converter all in all. It was a loose converter for me though. Behind my engine it would actually stall to around 3000 rpm which was great, but the loose part means that it would allow the engine to rev more freely up to near the 3000 stall speed before it would apply the torque to the transmission. This can get annoying in town and cause heat to build up. When I ordered my ATI, I gave them my engine specs and told them that I wanted it to have around a 3000 stall, or slightly higher, but I wanted it tight so I wouldn't cook my transmission. That is exactly what they put together for me. My ATI converter doesn't feel much different from stock just driving around town. It is "tight" enough that it does send torque to the transmission below the stall speed, but if you apply full throttle, it will jump up to their projected stall speed and it stalls to around 3000-3200 rpm. The B&M did great for an off the shelf converter. I figured it may be on borrowed time though as I ran it for probably 6-8 years. I sold it to a guy with a decent little 450 horse 350 and it blew up within the year. I got lucky by getting rid of it when I did!