FairlyRandom Posted September 17 Share Posted September 17 I promised a build thread in my intro post, so here goes... I am new to the group but have had my 72 for about 2 years. She's been very reliable, but the stock 2 bolt 350 was already a slouch for power in this big ol gal, and mine has evidence of ring and valve problems. She smokes when cold, smokes when coming off the gas on the freeway, and power is way down. I'm not out drag racing, know she's a cruiser. But it would be nice to have enough power to not need to hammer the gas pedal on a medium grade. It's not fun being bullied by 19 year olds in turbo Hyundai's. And the last owner didn't help me much by adding a big honkin 4 barrel Holley 670 CRM carb that was waaaaay overkill. I had to play around with squirt nozzles and power valves just to get her to run without falling on her face every time I hit the gas. And even then she still had a propensity to backfire and stall at any given stop. So, I planned a swap. I have 2 buddies that have turned to Blueprint motors for a crate engine. After much googling and phone calls with Blueprint (Darian is a great guy, ask for him if you call with questions), I landed on a complete 383. It's based on a standard GM small block, but is a new Blueprint casting. It's a 4 bolt main with their proprietary aluminum heads and a mild cam. They Dyno each unit before it leaves their factory, and mine makes 436 hp and 466 ft/lbs torque. She landed on my doorstep about 3 weeks ago-ish To be continued... 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairlyRandom Posted September 17 Author Share Posted September 17 (edited) Now, my 72 was well cared for as far as family cars go. I can tell you it was still getting tagged and driven into the late 90s, as I have some of the inspection paperwork. Not sure how long she sat, but she didn't rust wherever she was. I think a combination of no salt and a layer of oily dirt covering everything from the firewall back protected the car from mother nature's ravages. The winter after I got her spent some time cleaning the engine bay and frame, and I got a good 10lbs of mucky Carolina clay out from under that car. The transmission leaked from just about every orifice, so when I tell you it was a gross mud muck, I mean it. So, I spent a weekend scraping and degreasing and wire wheeling and prepping and finally painting POR-15 onto the frame between the bumper and the firewall. I also did as much of the suspension as I could get a brush to. Eventually, I ended up with a pretty decent engine bay The transmission was also rebuilt, so no more Exon-Valdez on my garage floor. Now she shifts like a jackhammer! A big heavy Chevy needs to stop, so I swapped in some slotted rotors and cermic brake pads. New bearings were also added since I had the rotor off already The last major mechanical upgrade I did was swap out the leaking stock style radiator for a beefier aluminum unit. I guess I never took pics, but it's in there, under a new rad top cover in satin black. The only external update I made was filling the badge holes for the trunk lid keyhole cover. The car had been debadged before they painted it, so that keyhole badge was the only shield still on her. Looked out of place, so it had to go. With that backstory out of the way, we can get to the swap... Edited September 17 by FairlyRandom Grammar, spelling, and brake pics 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairlyRandom Posted September 17 Author Share Posted September 17 (edited) I began the swap by pulling everything off the front of the motor and disconnecting everything I could find. Lots of tagging wires and bagging bolts. Also snapped pictures of what was connected where. Eventually, the time came to pull the motor. But oh no! The boom on the engine hoist was too short...so I fabbed up an extension and prayed to the metallurgy gods that I wasn't cheating physics too badly. The extension gave me about 2" before the jack would hit the bumper, and put the hook juuuust past the end of the legs. You can see about 8" of lighter color steel at the very end of the boom. It was actually about 36" long and fit snuggly inside the original boom. Machining the slot in the end for the chain was an adventure... Haha success! The hoist made some unusual noises in protest, and my wife had to stand on the end to counterbalance all that cast iron, but an idea is only crazy if it doesn't work. Now I had (as my nephew put it) ripped her heart out Edited September 17 by FairlyRandom Spelling 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montemedic Posted September 17 Share Posted September 17 A nice engine for your Monte. It will be day and night from the tired stock motor. Keep the photos and progress notes coming. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairlyRandom Posted September 17 Author Share Posted September 17 The engine bay got a little more cleanup - with the stock 350 out, there were some deep corners and sections of firewall that got attention that I wasn't able to access before. The starter and the electric choke were swapped over to the 383, and new urethane mounts were bolted on. Placing the new engine was going well until we realized the fuel pump the 383 came with was larger than the stock unit. Blueprint builds around a mechanical flow rate of 130 gph, and the stock 350 only required 40. The pocket in the crossmember that the pump sits in was too small for the 130gph unit, so it had to come off the 383 to get it in place 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairlyRandom Posted September 17 Author Share Posted September 17 So, with the engine in, I was trying to figure out how to feed it. I looked closely at an electric Holley pump, but with a deadhead setup, I've heard heat can be a problem. I also heard they're pretty noisy. Not to mention I'd have to wire in a relay and tie in a harness to run everything, that option didn't seem like it was what I'd want. So I looked at a lot of mechanical pumps trying to find one that was similar in dimensions, but physics wasn't going to be so easily beaten...either a larger diaphragm or a deeper well is needed to move that kind of volume. The pocket was simply too small... So out came a BFH and an iron bar...and much smashing did commence. Eventually though, that 50 year old steel bent to my every whim, and I cold-forged the space I needed. Only took about 8 hours...hammer, test install, mark where it's too close, remove pump, hammer, repeat. I literally lost 3 lbs over the 2 days it took lol But, once I was happy with clearance, back out came the POR-15, and you'd never know I beat the hell out of this cars guts. I have about 1/4" all around the pump, and with the new urethane mounts (also will be installing a urethane transmission mount as well), I'm expecting engine lurch to be minimal when hitting the gas. And as I said, I'm not going out drag racing, so hard launches will be minimal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairlyRandom Posted September 17 Author Share Posted September 17 (edited) So since the pump fiasco, it's been much smoother sailing. Sanderson shorty headers are the option I chose - ceramic coating should help with heat management, and they're one of 4 manufactures who Blueprint has confirmed has their head measurements and that they will bolt up. The other 3 options were either not in stock (and wouldn't be until next spring) or were well into 4 digits cost and I don't have that kind of budget. I installed them with locking fasteners. I shortened the plug wires that came from Blueprint, and hooked up throttle and kickdown. Vacuum hoses were routed and installed, and the power steering and alternator went back on. Not pictured are the dastardly things I had to do to the shift linkage to bend it around the header collector and still catch the shift rod on the trans. AC doesn't work. The system was dry when we pulled it and the stock brackets are integrated into the stock manifolds, so for now, AC is not going back on. I might go so far as to pull the AC box off the firewall and go Vintage Air sometime down the road. If that happens, the condenser will also come out of the front. Heater core split a few months after I bought her, and I bypassed it as a "quick fix" until I could replace the core. I later learned later that the whole dash has to come apart to replace the core, so it never was done lol. As a result, heater plumbing is also not going on either... With the headers routing close to several items that aren't fans of heat, I'm needing to manage that exposure with shielding. I found a motorcycle exhaust wrap to protect ankles from hot pipes, and wrapped it around my steering boot. I also added heat boots to all 8 plug wires And that gets us to present. Due today from the FedEx man are a starter heat shield from DEI, some exhaust prebends and clamps to tie into the existing pipes. Still to do is: - I need to fab a longer ground wire so I can catch the block. I'm not sure how I feel about grounding to an alternator bracket on an aluminum head - does aluminum not ground as well as cast iron or steel? I've seen conflicting commentary online. - I need to get some more vacuum line to reroute the PCV. - I'll be plumbing in a fuel filter where the hard fuel line pops out through the crossmember, before the pump. - The underside of my hood was wearing that huge sheet of insulation that comes from the factory. I hated it. Not only was it ugly, but there were spots of gold over spray from where they didn't pull the hood to paint. So I pulled the hood and the insulation off, and flat painted the underside of the hood in 600 degree rattle can. Looks way better. I also ordered some DEI precut insulation to go in the webs. More to come... - I found some slick looking billet valve covers and a matching air cleaner that mimic the satin black/machined Ridler wheels she was wearing when I got her. I'm embracing the black and aluminum theme she has going on. Once she's running I'll swap those in. Edited September 17 by FairlyRandom Spelling 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cny first gen 71 Posted September 17 Share Posted September 17 I removed the insulation off hood completely haven't had a problem without it there, since I've installed a cowl hood scoop and cut part of the rear hood out to get the air flow. It seems to work well and looks good too. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairlyRandom Posted September 17 Author Share Posted September 17 Cowl hood looks great! 👍 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott S. Posted September 17 Share Posted September 17 2 hours ago, FairlyRandom said: So, with the engine in, I was trying to figure out how to feed it. I looked closely at an electric Holley pump, but with a deadhead setup, I've heard heat can be a problem. I also heard they're pretty noisy. Not to mention I'd have to wire in a relay and tie in a harness to run everything, that option didn't seem like it was what I'd want. So I looked at a lot of mechanical pumps trying to find one that was similar in dimensions, but physics wasn't going to be so easily beaten...either a larger diaphragm or a deeper well is needed to move that kind of volume. The pocket was simply too small... So out came a BFH and an iron bar...and much smashing did commence. Eventually though, that 50 year old steel bent to my every whim, and I cold-forged the space I needed. Only took about 8 hours...hammer, test install, mark where it's too close, remove pump, hammer, repeat. I literally lost 3 lbs over the 2 days it took lol But, once I was happy with clearance, back out came the POR-15, and you'd never know I beat the hell out of this cars guts. I have about 1/4" all around the pump, and with the new urethane mounts (also will be installing a urethane transmission mount as well), I'm expecting engine lurch to be minimal when hitting the gas. And as I said, I'm not going out drag racing, so hard launches will be minimal. Jonh D. would be proud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott S. Posted September 17 Share Posted September 17 1 hour ago, FairlyRandom said: So since the pump fiasco, it's been much smoother sailing. Sanderson shorty headers are the option I chose - ceramic coating should help with heat management, and they're one of 4 manufactures who Blueprint has confirmed has their head measurements and that they will bolt up. The other 3 options were either not in stock (and wouldn't be until next spring) or were well into 4 digits cost and I don't have that kind of budget. I installed them with locking fasteners. I shortened the plug wires that came from Blueprint, and hooked up throttle and kickdown. Vacuum hoses were routed and installed, and the power steering and alternator went back on. Not pictured are the dastardly things I had to do to the shift linkage to bend it around the header collector and still catch the shift rod on the trans. AC doesn't work. The system was dry when we pulled it and the stock brackets are integrated into the stock manifolds, so for now, AC is not going back on. I might go so far as to pull the AC box off the firewall and go Vintage Air sometime down the road. If that happens, the condenser will also come out of the front. Heater core split a few months after I bought her, and I bypassed it as a "quick fix" until I could replace the core. I later learned later that the whole dash has to come apart to replace the core, so it never was done lol. As a result, heater plumbing is also not going on either... With the headers routing close to several items that aren't fans of heat, I'm needing to manage that exposure with shielding. I found a motorcycle exhaust wrap to protect ankles from hot pipes, and wrapped it around my steering boot. I also added heat boots to all 8 plug wires And that gets us to present. Due today from the FedEx man are a starter heat shield from DEI, some exhaust prebends and clamps to tie into the existing pipes. Still to do is: - I need to fab a longer ground wire so I can catch the block. I'm not sure how I feel about grounding to an alternator bracket on an aluminum head - does aluminum not ground as well as cast iron or steel? I've seen conflicting commentary online. - I need to get some more vacuum line to reroute the PCV. - I'll be plumbing in a fuel filter where the hard fuel line pops out through the crossmember, before the pump. - The underside of my hood was wearing that huge sheet of insulation that comes from the factory. I hated it. Not only was it ugly, but there were spots of gold over spray from where they didn't pull the hood to paint. So I pulled the hood and the insulation off, and flat painted the underside of the hood in 600 degree rattle can. Looks way better. I also ordered some DEI precut insulation to go in the webs. More to come... - I found some slick looking billet valve covers and a matching air cleaner that mimic the satin black/machined Ridler wheels she was wearing when I got her. I'm embracing the black and aluminum theme she has going on. Once she's running I'll swap those in. Andrew.. Years ago they used aluminum wiring in houses, but found that after years of usage, it degraded and lost flexibility. The use of it was eventually discontinued due to fire hazards in wood structures..... Not saying it will go that far under the hood, but a good, solid ground is the way to go. Scott. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dtret Posted September 17 Share Posted September 17 Great work Andrew. Thanks for the detailed post and great pics. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairlyRandom Posted September 17 Author Share Posted September 17 2 hours ago, Scott S. said: Andrew.. Years ago they used aluminum wiring in houses....The use of it was eventually discontinued due to fire hazards in wood structures..... Scott. That's something similar to the advice I was given, but without the structure fire analogy 😉 My plan is to run one ground between the alternator bracket and an unused lug in the block, and from that lug up to the negative terminal on the battery. The rest of the grounds in the harness should all be intact otherwise. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragCat Posted September 17 Share Posted September 17 Great post and lots of info and pictures 🤘 I have OCD with grounds 🤣 but I add stuff like electric fans and stuff. 2 gremlins that will have you chasing your tail are grounds and vacuum 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dtret Posted September 17 Share Posted September 17 A very wise and very missed man once said, add the tri-fecta. Body to engine, engine to frame and frame to body. You can’t have too many grounds. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cny first gen 71 Posted September 17 Share Posted September 17 Yea ground your grounds too 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairlyRandom Posted September 18 Author Share Posted September 18 Did more things: Old transmission mount was showing it's age...either from just being over 50 years old, or from the gallons of transmission fluid and engine oil that had been leaking onto it over the decades, it came out out in stages. New one went in with minimal fuss Top of the starter where the solenoid and associated wiring sits got a heat shield. This DEI unit was way too small for the stock starter, but some zip ties made it work and looked clean enough. I'm hoping that being this far from the heat source will mean the ties wont fail immediately. Also, will probably install a clockable mini starter over the winter, which will allow me to get all that stuff outtathe danger zone. This tomfoolery should just be temporary Fabbed up a new ground setup. I have a short run going from the alternator bracket to the block. And another from that point on the block to the battery. Will probably figure out a swanky way to keep the longer ground pulled up against the frame rail and out of the way of the steering bits Also, shroud and fan went back on...just same old parts, nothing new or fancy. Hoping tonight to be able to get the coolant hoses on, coolant and oil inside the engine where they belong, and exhaust cobbled together. Maybe first start...maybe 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott S. Posted September 18 Share Posted September 18 Hey Andrew... I found these clips work well for holding all sorts of things. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairlyRandom Posted September 20 Author Share Posted September 20 (edited) She runs...video to follow Edited September 20 by FairlyRandom 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairlyRandom Posted September 20 Author Share Posted September 20 1stStartLong.mp4 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marks71 Posted September 20 Share Posted September 20 She sure sounds healthy. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairlyRandom Posted September 20 Author Share Posted September 20 Yeah...the rumble is very satisfying after several weeks of nonstop work! I need to get the hood insulation tucked up into the hood webbing, and then get it bolted on. Then a quick shine up and she's ready to show! New valve covers are sitting in a box waiting to go on, but they can wait. I need a break lol. Still unsure if her torque converter needs to have the stall speed raised, and she desperately needs new exhaust...what's there is a cobbled together mess made up of the existing exhaust from the firewall back, but with about a dozen couplers and prebends to tie it to the headers. The video doesn't show how leaky it sounds in reality. But all in all I'm pretty satisfied. A stroker motor swap was something that a few years ago seemed like a pipe dream. Now it's something I can check off the bucket list. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragCat Posted September 20 Share Posted September 20 Sounds and looks great 🤘The middle of the video whited out for me 😲 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cny first gen 71 Posted September 20 Share Posted September 20 1 hour ago, DragCat said: Sounds and looks great 🤘The middle of the video whited out for me 😲 Yea it did on mine too, I just figured that's where the bikini model was and it was blocked 🤣 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairlyRandom Posted September 20 Author Share Posted September 20 Thanks guys. It really does sound rowdy. The white square was intentional. I did that as a quick and dirty way to block my license plate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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