The Bullet Build starts

We finally got all the parts back from the machine shop and the build has started on the replacement bullet for the wife's 96 Caprice wagon. My wife says that since it's her car, she wants to bend the wrenches. Works for me. The spare LT1 that I had in the garage was in really good shape and needed very little machine work. The heads got new Comp Cams beehive springs, locks and keepers. Shaved .002 to true them up and ported with a 3 angle valve job. The intake and exhaust ports were port matched to the intake and headers. The block only needed a hone and I had the crank bore and connecting rods line bored. The block was decked .003 to true it up. Stock pistons and connecting rods with new rings. Polish the crank and chamfered the oil holes. Comp Cams 501 roller cam. LT4 Extreme Duty timing chain and gears. Clear Image Gen 2 Tri-Y headers, high flow cats. We went with a Mezeire electric water pump and dual electric Impala fans. Melling high pressure pump and beefed up pump driveshaft. Bryan Herter PCM program.
Here's a few pics of the days activities.




Getting Started

The Babe and the Bumpstick. She likes the way the cam lube makes her hands soft.

Torquing the main caps. What a woman. And she likes Beer to.

Installing connecting rod bearings and checking ring gap offset.

The fact that she's wearing a Summit Racing shirt says it all!

Cool!

sherlock9c1 wrote:

The fact that she's wearing a Summit Racing shirt says it all!

I was thinking the same thing.

Nice!! She aint no slouch!

Awesome, we all should be so lucky to have a woman like that

Sweet man! Congrats! That's awesome.

(And good luck on the motor, too... )

Here you go guys. Pics from the Day 2 activities.

More day 2.

Almost done. Tomorrow the greasy part starts.


She adjusts valves better than I do.


I had to test fit Dans GEN 2 Tri-ys. #5 plug is going to be close but it can be done.


Now that is orange!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks great, nice to see a small block the correct color.

Out with the old. This thing was leaking from almost every seal.

In with the new. We'll drop it in on Sunday. God I hope I remember where all the connectors go.

sstripes96 wrote:

Out with the old. This thing was leaking from almost every seal.

Your "old, leaking from every seal" engine is cleaner than my "ain't leaking from anywhere I can find" engine.

Krzdimond wrote:

Your "old, leaking from every seal" engine is cleaner than my "ain't leaking from anywhere I can find" engine.

My thoughts exactly, that's one of the cleaner engines I've seen in quiet awhile

IT IS DONE.
Dropped it in on Monday and worked all week long trying to get the wiring back into place. The hardest part was keeping any wires away from the headers. It cranked right away. Took it for a ride tonight after working out some bugs and this thing pulls HARD and strong. I love it.

Got a problem tho. I had the car running more or less for 4 hours today and the radiator hose from the thermostat to the radiator NEVER got hot. You could tell that the thermostat was opening by watching the temp gauge. Ive got a 180 thermostat and Bryan did the programming. The fans come on when they are supposed to. I burped the system probably 10 times. The car did not ever come close to overheating. The heater is blowing hot air. Is it a big air bubble some where?

Congrats!! You got that done fast

Man...you might still have a bubble in there...that is kinda odd Or your cooling system is extremely efficient...

When I first got my wagon it had that same cool hose issue with no overheating. Turned out to be a plugged radiator in my case.

That's not the problem. New radiator, new water pump, new hoses, new block, new thermostat. Its got me stumped. You can squeeze the radiator hose and it doesn't feel like any antifreeze is in it. If the thermostat was stuck shut this thing would overheat in a heartbeat. If it was stuck open, I would think that the hose would at least be warm.

I know everything is clean under the hood now, but I would at least confirm the possibility there is no coolant running through the upper hose by pulling it off the rad. side. Did you happen to remember how many gallons of coolant you put in?

Hey, I was looking for this thread because I met you guys at SSHS9. It was indeed a pleasure to meet the folks who put this nice wagon together. I wish my wife had been with me so she could meet your wife!

Thanks Firewood. It was great to see everyone again and the parking lot party is always the best. The wagon is still running great. My private engine builder keeps up with it.

JTurkey,
Dont know what the problem was. I yanked the hoses back off, flushed the rad and block (which is sooooo easy with an electric water pump) and refilled everything. Its fixed itself and everything is running great. 2 Gallons of water and 2 gallons of antifreeze