BOING!!!!!:biggthumpup:

Good luck sleeping tonight... :grin:

Going to need some bigger stickier tires!!

He should be looking for drag radials, not bias ply's...:biggthumpup:

Avons do the trick, when I put them on my Cobra and took of the other tires, it pulled like crazy.

Once everything is back in place, the Polyglass's will help keep the guts of my original rear end where they belong. I believe it was Doug Perry's suggestion to another member, about upgrading the axles at a minimum before the sticky's. Perhaps after that, a set of M&H's would be in order. Again, just like it's the early 70's

Much of the build is old school. Certainly with different cylinder heads and camshaft, I could probably tack another 100hp onto the combination. In the name of authenticity, old school is in order.........just like the owner:grin:

Once the engine was broke in, the preliminary pulls yielded 530hp @ 5500 RPM (and climbing) with the shop Braswell Holley and 36 degrees of timing. On Wednesday, we bolted on Eric's carb with a plan to spin it to 7000 RPM. We did struggle with the ignition a bit (point bounce in the Roto-Faze distributor) and that limited our pulls to 6000 RPM.

Regardless........with 40 degrees of timing, the engine yielded a peak of 575hp @ 6000. The average HP from 4100 to 6000 is just under 500. Better yet, the average torque from 4100 to 6000 is almost 520 lb.ft. I think it's fair to assume once the ignition is up to par, the better part of 600hp is realistic.

Considering how outdated the camshaft and cylinder heads are, I am quite pleased with the outcome. Certainly, more modern heads and camshaft would produce some notable improvements. In the spirit of the car and the build, I am glad I went this route.

While this is not a "stock" L88, it is pretty close. There are a few concessions in the build that deviate from a spec L88.
-the 842 heads did have 2.30 intake valves installed by a previous owner. There was some blending in the bowls to accommodate that change. Otherwise, they are relatively unported.
-Roller rocker arms
-ZL1 camshaft that was reused
-Eric Jackson's Holley 850 that he built specifically for this.

Really, just an old school 12.5:1 427

I'll take he opportunity to give a shout out to Eric Jackson. He was tremendously helpful on not only the build of the carb, but also the overall package. Steve from AMS was impressed with how spot on the carb is and how the fuel curve looks under power. While not pictured, the EGT's were spot on.

I also have to give props to Steve and Chris from AMS. I have dealt with Steve for about 20 years now. The work is fantastic, he is fair in his charges, and always make these projects a joy.

Very nice.

So bad azz!! That is music to my ears! Bravo Tim!

That is a sweet sounding motor.

Congrats great numbers.

I'd at least pull the axles and check them but for what they cost new, I'd seriously consider getting a fresh set.

Great numbers, Tim. It sounds good.

Miles of smiles coming, even if they are short miles!!!

Old school is cool Tim!! :headbang: Brings back memories, 50 some years ago the second design L88 in my 'ol red Chevelle would pull hard from 3,500 to 7,500, also using a 4781 Holley DP! Get that ign fixed and buzz it up!

Last month I had one of my L79s on the dyno for break in and several pulls letting that little small block sing up to the 6K redline (with a fresh Eric carb)!! Didn't want to shut it off.

Love this build! - Bill W

That's so cool Tim, a sweet sound indeed! Which points are you running? I installed Blue Streak DR-2371XP points and DR-70X condenser in a Delco distributor, not sure if those will fit a Roto Faze. Granted, I'm not spinning 7,000rpm with my 496 but my buddy has good success with them on many high rpm applications.

Gotta love the old school cams with a lot of overlap. They may leave hp on the table, but they just SOUND mean. The 280H in my 496 has an attitude too.

It looks as though the Roto-Faze is using points from a Y block Ford. Originally, it uses 2 sets. 1 of them was removed and the remaining is utilized to trigger the MSD box. That is exactly what was done on the dyno (and they bounced). I am contemplating what I am going to do moving forward. The Roto-Faze is a locked distributor. In other words, no advance curve.

Certainly, I can change to something else and have and advance curve. I can utilize the stock L78 distributor and trigger the MSD with an M&H hall effect switch.....that's an option. I kinda dig the Roto-Faze. It's a good conversation piece to someone who notices it.

I have a Corvette in the shop that I need to get finished up for a customer, as well as another Corvette to finish and get up for sale, before I get back on the Camaro. I'll get the Camaro running and see how the starter likes 38-40 degrees of timing advance and then make some decisions. I never checked the timing before I took the car apart. Honestly, Paul had it running so good......I never thought to fiddle with it. My bad.

I'm really struggling to not work on the car.......

Another point worth noting, engine vacuum.

When the car was together before, the engine made 4" of vacuum. Not really knowing items such as ring seal, camshaft timing, and how much porting the original heads had received, is one of the reasons I elected to freshen the engine when switching to the aluminum heads. Another point worth making, is both the aluminum 842's and the iron 840's, each were converted to a 2.30 intake valve. Steve at AMS was impressed with the porting work on the iron 840's and noted that they were not all hogged out. I know when Jim Y. (A Stock) was in the engine 20 some years ago, he spent some good money on those heads (I have the receipt).

The rings and cylinders looked really good. All AMS did was hone and rering. The cam was checked for any wear, measured for lift and duration, and reinstalled at 106 degrees (as it had been previously) with a new timing chain and gear set.

On the dyno, idling at 1200 (where it had been idling previously) it now pulls 8" of vacuum. In short, that's how restrictive the stock exhaust system is on these cars. Over the summer, I finally had met John Karvonen (302mo) in person and saw his beautiful 67 L78 car. At the time, John just had header mufflers. Later on, John had gotten his Gardner system installed, and it changed the personality of the engine considerably. Mind you, that is in no disrespect to Gardner exhaust at all, it's just how inefficient the original design is. In hindsight, I probably should have changed the exhaust before diving in. I suspect the Camaro would have been silly.

On the last note, I have the original 396 short block at AMS as well. Steve is checking that over. Depending what is found, I may freshen that up. A while back, Eric Jackson had Bullet Cams grind up a duplicate of the stock 143 cam to some exacting specs. I had gotten one of them for the original motor, thinking I'd freshen it up one day in the future.

We'll see what happens.......it seems like I have been heaving money all over the place lately.

Just my opinion, but I would convert the Roto Faze to the M&H hall effect and eliminate the issue with points. You will be happier with an advance on the street too. That starter is not going to like 40* at start up, especially once at running temp.

And yes, you have too many toys to play with all at the same time..:laugh: What a problem to have, eh ?

When I was running my distributor locked I had a separate switch under the dash that cut power to the coil. Once I had the engine spinning I would flip the switch and it would start without putting a huge load on the starter.

Tim;


Thanks for the kind words and for the opportunity to be a part of this project with you, it's sincerely appreciated. :beers:



Eric

The ball just keeps rolling. I got a call from Steve at AMS today and he got the original 396 apart.

Great news!!!!

Everything in the short block was brand new! Bearings, rings, bores, crank journals, etc........ Venolia 11:1 pistons @ .060. There were 2 head bolts holes that needed repair, but that is really it.

The bores were heavily greased (which was more like tar now) so that took a bit to clean out. Steve just wants to drag the monkey balls through the cylinders, clean, and reassemble. I may have mentioned, the original heads look great as well. The valves and seats will get touched up and reassembled.

Looking back, it was 1 month on the 12th of January I took everything down to AMS. While the work involved with both the 396 and the 427 was not invasive whatsoever, I still feel it's killer service.

Engine looks great and strong numbers.

Today, I tore into the Roto-Faze dizzy. Pretty interesting mechanism inside to manage to advance curve. Even more interesting yet, I had found a phone number through some internet sleuthing. On a long shot, I called this afternoon. Low and behold........someone answered!!

I spoke to John (the diseased owners nephew). He was VERY helpful. He asked for the serial number of the dizzy. From that he can tell me how it was set up originally. From that, he is going to get me the clearance spec for the weight adjustments (to set the overall advance) and will be sending me springs to manage the curve.

What a pleasant surprise......had to share!

Amazing that someone was there to support this ancient distributor. You must have some good karma….

----WOW! How cool is that! There are good people out there. Sometimes you have to search a bit, but it's worth it!.....Bill S

NO KIDDING !! The word "amazing" got worn out in my vocabulary 10 years ago after watching a few Bachelor shows, but it certainly fits with this topic.
Tim, a number of the brass towers for the springs appear to be cut off. Are they still long enough to function properly ?

Are you going to keep points or go electronic ?

If points did he have any suggestion for high rpm use in there ?

Yeah, I know, too damn many questions....I'll shut up and wait...:blush:

I'm going to wait for John to get back to me. I have ordered a set of HD Ford Y block points for the time being. After reading up on a few different retrofit dist pick up's, not all of them will fire an MSD box. I bought this car for the first time back in 2013. Having said that, it's safe to say the points are at least 10 years old. In my GM distributors, I have had luck with a fresh set of points taking 7000 RPM.

On a different note (and to give credit to John at Roto-Faze), I could send the distributor back into them to have it worked over. They have a distributor machine that will turn 9000 RPM (so 4500 dist RPM) to ensure I wouldn't struggle with point bounce. BUT, they are in need of a part for it, so it's out service right now. I'll keep that idea in my back pocket.

I have the same observations about the towers for the advance springs. I'll chat with John when he gets back to me with the dist specs.

Tim

That's great, Tim. You are way above my pay grade on this one, I'm still working on gapping some original Corvette plugs I bought at a garage sale.

:haha::haha::haha::haha::haha::haha:

Will you be running this car at nostalgia events, I think there are some at GLD.

Have already suggested he bring it to SCR this year. It would be right at home there.

I saw the announcement for SCR on Facebook. I am giving that some thought.:wink:

A little progress yesterday.........

I received this data sheet from Roto-Faze yesterday. They are sending me some parts to return the dizzy to a mechanical advance. I also got what one of my friends referred to as........."the music box is back in place"

Super cool !!! :worship:


That leveler is very interesting. I haven't seen one like that before yours. Have you tried using it for a complete engine/trans install ? I use the traditional long one with a chain on both ends to get enough angle. I had to use Don Yenko's method of raising the back of my '62 Impala to get the 409/TH350 in it and that works too.

Yes I have. It works pretty good. Most of the time, I am installing the trans separately though.

That looks great, Tim. I remember that being a Tonawanda stamped block, too.

Very cool Tim!!

Thumpty, thump, thump real soon!