TireSmoke.org

You DO have the title for this, yes? Transferred to you?
I don't think a cage is necessary either.

Humm, a 455 in an F body.

The title is good and clear. I'm hoping to have a lot of fun with it.

-BP

Today, the Chevelle and all it's contents were hand delivered by ttamrettus to a secured location in Camaro Bob's place of employment. While there, the 455 Olds was promptly removed and loaded into the s10 and delivered to 32V's garage where the T/A is residing.

The rain was coming down like crazy this morning, but did not dampen the occasion. We were lucky to be able to complete our mission deep inside the compound where old Camaros are born again.

So far so good. Here's some pics:








-BP

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way...
What fun it is to browse and watch a project see the light of day.
Merry Christmas to all my knuckle busting friends.
With all my best wishes for a blessed Christmas with your families.
-Walt

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good light. er night.

Drag racers have the spirit of Christmas all year long. Where else can you find a Christmas tree in June?

Degreased and pressure washed. Judging by these pictures, BP and I are heading for a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Out of the Garage ............................................Cleaned but empty..............................Olds 461 Ready to fill


All the TV Project cars have a deadline to meet, maybe we could have our first time slips by Memorial Day?!

So now the 301 from the Trans Am is residing in Geneva in a 68 Firebird. Camaro Bob's boss traded me a brand new set of competition engineering traction bars for it. Seeing as how a 301 with a bad cam doesn't have a ton of resale value, I figured it was a fair trade. That, and the fact that I'll need to get all that torque to the ground anyway...

Also, now all the engine compartment has a new coat of black paint to cover up the unsightly surface rust as seen in the previous picture. We'll get a couple pictures up after the next wrenching session...

-BP

The a/c box has been emptied and trimmed. The front sway bar removed also. The motor and frame mounts should be ordered this week to allow the 455 to bolt in correctly.
The transmission crack will hopefully be repaired in the next week or so, so we can begin putting all this into the car before the end of the month.

-BP

What diameter is that sway bar? If 1.25". that makes a nice upgrade for a Chevelle.

It's pretty huge. Without measuring it, I'm pretty sure it's that big around. It was pretty heavy too. If I decide to get rid of it, I'll let you know.

-BP

With the 403 Olds motor mounts now in my posession, we were able to get the motor and trans set into place for test purposes. Happily there seems to be plenty of room on either side for the 455. It even looks like I'll be able to change the passenger rear spark plug without too much trouble.
Next week we hope to test fit the headers, get the transmission cross member in place, and try to get the alternator and pulleys in place.

Here's a couple shots of today's activities:











-BP

The motor has been removed and reinstalled again. We've test fit the headers and found the A/C box will need to be "adjusted" some more. There's also a spot on the firewall on the driver's side that will need some "modifications". By doing this though, it appears the headers will fit without having to be dented or bent.
The headers are nice large primaries with equal length tubes and a three inch collectors.

The fuel lines have been moved to the opposite side of the car to get to the fuel pump on the Olds motor. The motor mounts have been replaced on the frame. The last thing 32v and I did this past Saturday was to make a bypass for the lines on the steering box. I don't plan to run a P/S pump, so we made a line to run between the two, and bled out any air. It will be a little tough in a parking lot, but normal driving should be fine.

We hope to have most of the messing around done by the end of the month and hear it start.

Now I think we're done pulling the motor in and out. The transmission crossmember and the motor mounts are bolted in. The headers have been test fit. To make the passenger's side header work, the A/C box needed a complete reconstruction, and one of the header pipes needed a slight "adjustment" to clear the lower control arm bolt, but otherwise fits great.
The driver's side header required no adjustment, only a slight rearrangement of the firewall.
The fuel line is now insulated near the header too. New spark plugs are installed.
Next session will see the headers mounted for good and hopefully all the undercar items, like the starter, linkage, dipsticks, etc...

I also applied for my historical plates today.

-BP

Even though I had to work yesterday, I still got a few things done on the T/A this weekend. The headers are (hopefully) bolted in for good and seem to fit great with perfect height underneath the car too. The tranny lines are hooked to the transmission, the driveshaft is in, the shift linkage is hooked up and the inspection cover is on.
The speedo cable broke while installing it, so I'll have to fix that eventually. The engine and transmission dipsticks are also now in place.

Next on the list will be the starter, the front pulley assembly, a distributor, and the carburetor. This should be enough to be able to start the car and hear the motor run. Then on to radiator (w/ extra electric fan), and battery mounting.

More to come next weekend.

-BP

Yesterday we finished putting all the pieces together and were finally able to get the old Olds running again. But there were some obsticles. First of all when we thought we were ready and cranking, we figured out there was no spark. This required us to pull the distributor, replace the control module and try it again... now there was spark.
With spark it still wouldn't fire over making us check the fuel delivery, and there was none. With the fuel pump as old as it was, we checked it and it was not functioning, so we tried manually feeding the carburetor, and it leaked ALL over the place. At that point we pulled the top of the carb off to try to free up some internals to no avail.
A trip to AutoZone for a new fuel pump fixed our feeding woes, and a trip to the shelf for the Quadrajet off the Caddy, and we were ready to try again. A couple turns of the motor and a couple twists of the distributor, and the old monster came to life. How awesome does a bad ass 455 sound with open headers?? I wish I had a camera that takes video...

The timing is set at about 15 degrees, the transmission (still a question mark) at least goes in and out of gear so far, and there didn't appear to be any unwelcome smoke at this point. Things are looking good!

There are a few issues to attend to next weekend:
-passenger's side valve cover leaking
-old fuel line going from pump to carb has a small leak
-new oil pressure gauge needs to be installed (long story)
-need to look at speedometer cable which was broken previously

With some cooperation from the weather, we'll at least try to take it around the development to make sure the trans does what it's supposed to before I start buying exhaust components and put insurance on it.







-BP