WE BEGIN THE BUILD OF A BORED STROKED PONTIAC 455 TO OBTAIN 501 CID AND ABOUT 600 PONIES. THE GOAL:TO CREATE AN IDEAL “INDIAN” POWERPLANT FOR STREET, STRIP AND STREET RODDER APPLICATIONS Prior to block machining, the block exterior was smoothed and detailed. Not only will this ressurected Pontiac provide some ground-pounding thump, but it’ll [...]
The final product is a bit more enhanced than the in-progress photo shown here. I’ll discuss our chrome water pump upgrade, the final custom alternator setup and the complete fuel system setup in the next article. ….. This installment of our Ford Flathead series discusses the timing cover/distributor housing, setup and installation of the MSD [...]
STROKIN’ THE DART WINDSOR Our current engine project begins with a 351W block and increasing displacement to a whopping 427 CID. Text & photos by Mike Mavrigian The Dart 351W iron-alloy block is available in either a 9.200” (standard Cleveland) or 9.500” deck height. We opted for the 9.5” deck. This project [...]
Our injectors are from Bosch (P/N 0280 156 127). These are the taller LS1 style at about 2.917″ tall. An intake manifold that is designed for LS2 injectors features a larger diameter injector port as compared to an LS1 manifold, so if you plan to run LS1 style injectors in an LS2 manifold, you’ll need [...]
Here’s our LS with our carburetor setup and coilpacks. This setup will utilize the MSD timing controller for ignition control/adjustment. No ECU is required for this approach, which makes it ideal for application in any street rod, muscle car, race car, etc. that is not wired for computer control. For our coilpack versions (for either [...]
Our coilpacks (to be used either with an EFI or distributorless carburetor setups) are MSD No. 8245 coils. Eight coils are used, with one coil dedicated to each spark plug. The MSD coils deliver up to three times the spark energy of the stock coils, as well as delivering multiple sparks. Maximum voltage is 44,000 [...]
CARB WITH DISTRIBUTOR, NO COILPACKS The next carb-type setup involves the same intake manifold and carburetor, but with a twist-get rid of the eight individual coilpacks and mount a distributor at the front of the engine. GM Performance offers a distributor adapter kit (P/N 88958679) that includes a cast aluminum LS front distributor drive cover [...]
The Victor water pump mounting gaskets are alloy bases with elastomeric seals. These appear to be very re-useable. Our Edelbrock water pump mounted to the block. Fit and hole alignment were superb. Here’s the upper left timing cover bolt that we mentioned. It’s close, but it does clear the pump body. The Edelbrock water pump [...]
The camshaft was checked with a degree wheel. Crane did one heck of a nice job grinding this bumpstick. Lift and timing moments were dead-on to the cam card. With our crank snout pinned for the damper, the timing cover was installed using ARP’s front cover kit (12-point stainless). The front coolant balance tube assembly [...]
ROCKER COVERS AND COIL BRACKETS Instead of using a pair of boring OE rocker covers, we opted for a pair of Moroso welded aluminum cuties. These beautifully tig-welded covers accept the OE type formed gasket seal (each cover features a CNCed groove on the mating surface). Each cover is secured to the head using OE-type [...]
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