Project: Lady Vette

[Majend]

went up to RW this morning to check out the progress and things are soooooo close, and like everything else in the build we ran into a problem...

but first the good stuff, the motor is basically together. the primary reason i went up this morning was to drop off the distributor so they could do the valve adjustment.


Untitled by Majend, on Flickr


Untitled by Majend, on Flickr


Untitled by Majend, on Flickr

i also brought my header down to make sure it fit with the new intake manifolds and we found that the intake manifolds need to be trimmed down, not a huge deal. at least the header fits


Untitled by Majend, on Flickr

:drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool:: drool::drool::drool::drool:


Untitled by Majend, on Flickr

the problem we ran into is with the valve cover. because of the roller rockers sitting so much higher in the new head neither of my valve covers fit. there was a spacer on the old head and basically i have to make a thicker spacer for the new head. at least i have a the old one as a template.

if you have access to a water jet please let me know so i can get this cut.

also brought my remote oil filter housing down with the old lines for RW to make up new ones with black fittings so everything will match.

thats it for now!

[Majend]

my old corrado (i sold it to buy the opel)





and my BMW







me like low

[P78]

yeah the lowest one from OGTS, it was funny when i ordered it because they said it was going to be too low for me. i emailed them photos of my bmw and and my corrado while i was on the phone and they got very quite when they got them. they then told me it wasn't going to be low enough

pics of said rado?

and

[Kochiro]

The guys there are pretty cool.

[Majend]

Yeah, I understand that, been wanting to get my GT going for a few years now, I've been in Sweden for 4 years and I've thought about driving it every week or so.

Thanks for the info, whose spring did you go with? OGTS?

yeah the lowest one from OGTS, it was funny when i ordered it because they said it was going to be too low for me. i emailed them photos of my bmw and and my corrado while i was on the phone and they got very quite when they got them. they then told me it wasn't going to be low enough

[Kochiro]

Kochiro: i am going with the stock configuration for now with a new, lower leaf spring in the front. i hope to get the coils in this winter but that motor is the priority and i just want to drive the damn thing.

Yeah, I understand that, been wanting to get my GT going for a few years now, I've been in Sweden for 4 years and I've thought about driving it every week or so.

Thanks for the info, whose spring did you go with? OGTS?

[Majend]

Man, you have one heck of an engine builder!

http://www.ravenworksllc.com/

Steve and the guys over there are top notch. everything has been checked and measured and they have been keeping track of all of it so i have a nice spec sheet (more like a packet hehe) to go with the car.

kasey is thinking about doing a 2.1L in his 337 and we are going to have RW build the motor. Assuming my motor doesn't blow up right away i don't think i will ever use anyone else for motor building

[244Brick]

Man, you have one heck of an engine builder!

[Majend]

update time!

sorry for the lack of progress, due to a lot of reasons we decided not to renew our lease on the shop we had down in Hastings so i moved the car into my buddy Kasey's garage. He has a corn fed franken turbo 337 i have been helping with a lot (we are building a sweet set of wheels for it right now) and he was nice enough to let me keep the opel over there. I got the car rolling again to get it moving but i think i am going to pull the from suspension out again and go over it one more time before final assembly.


Untitled by Majend, on Flickr

Kochiro: i am going with the stock configuration for now with a new, lower leaf spring in the front. i hope to get the coils in this winter but that motor is the priority and i just want to drive the damn thing.

alright time for the good stuff! the motor has been taking longer then we had hoped due to a number of stupid issues. first the rings that venolia sent me were too small so i had RW just order a new set for me since i didn't want to wait for venolia to get off their butts. we went with total seal since that is what RW has been using on their salt flat cars and if it is good enough for them it is good enough for me. next we had an issue with odd freeze plug sizes which took some time to sort out but it the end we were able to get something to work.

I went over to the shop today because Steve said he had a surprise for me and this is what i found:

the bottom end is assembled!


Untitled by Majend, on Flickr


Untitled by Majend, on Flickr


Untitled by Majend, on Flickr

the head is assembled (old picture)


Untitled by Majend, on Flickr

and steve had restored a number of parts so they look brand new


Untitled by Majend, on Flickr

next up is getting the head gasket made and then on to final assembly. I'll take new pics of the car itself in its new home this weekend (or rather i'll have kasey or his gf, kelsey, to take some with their nice camera) so stay tuned!

[Kochiro]

Any updates? I really want to see how the new front suspension works out as I have been thinking about doing the same thing with my 73 GT for a long time.

[Majend]

I've never actually seen one of these and I have to say, I would definitely mistake it for a vette from a casual glance. But really, this is an awesome car and it's pretty cool that a previous owner did some work to it. Only problem with that is now you have the fun job of discovering everything he modified, for better or worse, and that will probably screw with you at every turn

i know what you mean, that is why i have gone over and basally replaced EVERYTHING the PO did lol

[kboers]

I've never actually seen one of these and I have to say, I would definitely mistake it for a vette from a casual glance. But really, this is an awesome car and it's pretty cool that a previous owner did some work to it. Only problem with that is now you have the fun job of discovering everything he modified, for better or worse, and that will probably screw with you at every turn

[Majend]

holy shit an update!

not much of one though... my alternator FINALLY got here from germany. didn't really want to wait for it to get rebuilt since it was so cheap and i can use it to get all the wiring set up. Then if it needs a rebuild i can ship it back to OGTS and get a rebuilt one. the difference with this one over the one that was on the car is that this one is internally regulated so that is going to clean up the engine bay a bit not having that giant regulator in there.

it was dirty as hell though and i couldn't have that so i spent a while today cleaning it up.



it is amazing what a little degreaser, some shop towels, a red scotch bright pad, and a little elbow grease can do





was going to pull it all apart but we don't have a pulley puller so i couldn't get the pulley off. maybe if i have time later before the car is running and i get my hands on a puller i'll pull it apart and paint it.

[Majend]

my buddy who works are ravenworks chimed in on my local forum to explain what the issue with the motor is.

Bore diameter is the issue on the head gasket .. The cylinders were taken out so far that the stock head gasket probably won't on the web of cylinders two and three .. Which means either have a custom one made or o ring either the block or the head

From my understanding your crank isn't the problem it's the mains in the block .. The mains bores are slightly oval shaped .. Common in a seasoned block .. The solution is to cut the main caps down and either make up the difference with different bearings or turn the crank journals down ... Please call the shop if you have some questions

i knew i wasn't explaining the issues properly so it was nice to have some clarity

[Majend]

parts came, they sent the wrong freeze plugs, does;t really matter since they weren't going in till the crack and head gasket were sorted anyway. also got a set of poly balljoint and tie rod caps, a new front leaf spring, and some steering rack boots (one was torn). the main event though is the new ceramic coated header



it came with another flange attached to some tube so that will help with exhaust costs and the welds look like they had a lot of penetration. I love the way it looks but i am going to wrap it and probably make a heat shield so you won't be able to see it much... i can't wait to hear what it sounds like!!!!