Project: Lady Vette

[Majend]

update time!!!

had some time off i had saved from last year that i needed to use so i took the day and went up to Ravenworks to make a payment for the work done so far. First i want to again thank the guys over at Ravenworks for for their customer service. If anyone here wants to have motor work done you have to check these guys out.

alright with that out of the way here is the status of the motor. Block has been bored out!!!



they ended up taking a lot out for the pistons to fit, i have to redo my displacement calculations later today hehe. we did run into a few problems. First the head gasket is too small now and i am going to have to have a custom one made. luckily Ravenworks has worked with a shop here in town so that shouldn't be too much of an issue. second one of the pistons was two grams heavier than the rest... ugh... i am waiting to hear back from Venolia to see where it is safe to have material taken away. With the piston speeds this thing with reach it is critical to have the whole rotating assembly balanced. But this is why i had Ravenworks build the motor since they are much better suited to deal with these problems than i would be. thats pretty much it for the block at this point

the head in the other hand it basically done!

we ended up having to do a bunch of extra work to the head so the springs all sit level. these motors originally used a single valve spring and so since i went with duals the area where the springs sit needed to be modified so everything would fit. the ports look amazing and HUGE and i can't wait to see how this thing performs!!!



also brought my valve cover down to see what it is going to look like on the head



yeah i think that will do hehe

i can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. if i didn;t have to get a new head gasket the motor would be done by the end of the week but we have to see what the turn around time is going to be. i'm out of town next weekend (cousin's bachelor party in canada) so hopefully it will be done when i get back.

[Night Colors]

sick build

[Majend]

why thank you

i just ordered some more parts: a ceramic coated 4-to-1 header, more poly bushings, new boots for my steering rack, a bunch of random stuff and, a new front leaf spring since i just want to drive the car. maybe if i can find a spare front subframe i'll work on it over the summer otherwise it will be a nice project for the winter

[Majend]

i can see the light at the end of the tunnel

[Majend]

Just got off the phone with steve from Ravenworks and there apparently a problem with my main bearing. i gave him the number for OGTS and told him to do what he needed to. worst case i am going to have to get the block and caps bored out and order another set of bearings...

here is hoping this doesn't push things too far back

[robb1887]

lame sauce...

thumbs up for building it right the first time though

[Majend]

bought myself a quick release hub at the swap meet today (thanks paul) and couldn't wait to put it on so i went down to the shop and installed it. the wheel is really close to me now which i like.

[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!!!!

[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]

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.

[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]

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

[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]

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!

[244Brick]

Man, you have one heck of an engine builder!