Tag: ROYAL PURPLE

PONTIAC 455, PART 3

PONTIAC 455, PART 3

 Ross Racing Engines’ Tony Lombardi cut the valve reliefs using an end mill and his adjustable piston vise.   Build, text and photos by Mike Mavrigian     The Pontiac bigblock build (starting with a 455 block and boring/stroking to 501 CID) is progressing. I apologize for the time delay, but this build has been [...]

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PROJECT PONTIAC 455, PART 2

PROJECT PONTIAC 455, PART 2

  Build, text and photos by Mike Mavrigian   .     I realize it’s been a while since my last posting of this project’s Part 1 article, but I’ve been tied up with multiple projects at the same time. Since the Part 1 article, I’ve obtained the crankshaft, had the heads finish-machined and assembled [...]

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LS RETRO BUILD, PART 3

LS RETRO BUILD, PART 3

WE COMPLETE THE SHORT BLOCK   Build, text and photos by Mike Mavrigian   In this build installment, I’ll cover camshaft, timing, oil pump, windage tray, oil pickup, front and rear engine covers, oil pan installation and more. Due to the length of this article, I’ll save cylinder head details and installation in the next part of this build [...]

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PROJECT PONTIAC 455, PART 1

PROJECT PONTIAC 455, PART 1

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 [...]

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RETRO LS BUILD, PART 1

RETRO LS BUILD, PART 1

WE BUILD AN LS ENGINE ON A BUDGET AND TRANSFORM THE MODERN ENGINE INTO A RETRO MOTOR THAT HARKS BACK TO THE GOOD OLD DAYS IN THE PROCESS. BASICALLY, WE’RE BUILDING A CARBURETED 327 CID LS ENGINE, WITH CUSTOM TOUCHES THAT REMIND US OF AN EARLY 1960′S SMALLBLOCK CHEVY       We started with an [...]

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PROJECT FLATHEAD, PART 6

PROJECT FLATHEAD, PART 6

The twin water pumps have been chromed and the Tuff Stuff alternator is in it’s final home. .   THE ALTERNATOR SETUP Build, text and photos by Mike Mavrigian One of the final additions to this build concerns the alternator and the belt drive. The original engine featured a large generator that was mounted to [...]

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PROJECT FLATHEAD, PART 5

PROJECT FLATHEAD, PART 5

 Build, text and photos by Mike Mavrigian   It’s time to talk about the fuel system on our little 8BA. I chose a triple-deuce setup, using three Barry Grant Demon 98 2-bbl carbs. The center-mounted carb serves as the primary carburetor (P/N 9801), and the front and rear carbs serve as secondaries (P/N 9802). The [...]

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PROJECT 427W, PART 6 THE DYNO RUN

PROJECT 427W, PART 6     THE DYNO RUN

THE DYNO RUN   Build, text and photos by Mike Mavrigian   . Well, we finally ran this engine on dyno. The dyno location was Platinum Engine Designs in Norwich, Ohio, a clean-as-a-whistle top-notch race engine shop in southeast Ohio, equipped with a late-model SuperFlow engine dyno.

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PROJECT FLATHEAD, PART 4

PROJECT FLATHEAD, PART 4

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 [...]

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PROJECT FLATHEAD, PART 2

PROJECT FLATHEAD, PART 2

She’s done. In this article, we’ll cover crankshaft balancing, valvetrain and crankshaft assembly. How do you like the plug wire routing? I’ll cover this in a later article installment. I’m considering having the water pump pulleys polished and chrome plated. By the way, the water pump/alternator belt pulley alignment is perfect. If the belt looks [...]

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