Rebuilding a Chevy 350 Small Block For A '69 Camaro - Engine Power S7, E13

I'm Pat Toppalinski, thanks for watching, we know you never want to miss an episode of Engine Power, so hit the subscribe button and voila, there's the big subscribe button right there. This 69 Camaro is a beauty, but it needs a more

power

ful

power

plant. Everyone welcome to Engine Power today we're getting a delivery from the guys at Detroit Muscle now they've been working on a project for a giveaway that one of you can win and Mike and I have been given the task of making this better. power plant to make it the ultimate cruiser, friends, we brought you all a gem.

This makes me very happy to see something like this in this complete state. Why does it make them so happy? Because we can rarely say that we have run anything. just as it came out of a car, with ram horns, that dealer was excited to see what it will make in terms of power, just as it came out of the car, how did it feel to drive the car? Could have used the tune up which kind of deal other than that it just drove like a stock 350. I needed a driver mod, I can tell you that well the biggest issue was the squeaking sound on the passenger side, oh man it had a lot of power though I want to say it will hold up. yeah, you're going to run it with the carburetor and the air filter, yeah, you know, run it the way it is now because it ran on the chassis dyno.

It'll be interesting to see the loss of the

engine

off to a dyno chassis you know you can do that uh we didn't leave the fan on heck yeah okay I mean why wouldn't a guy do it you know I mean for For security reasons, we won't be standing in the room, so, uh, I. I think it'll be fine, what kind of power numbers do you think this thing will put out? Oh man, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know what they did as standard and started the

engine

s because they are very easy to change in these cars, I don't know if this is the original engine, it may or may not be the original engine of the car, I want I mean, a lot of times someone said, you know this is a 350 and it's a 305, you know things like that all the time so um, I mean, if it was made in the 200s, I'd be impressed, okay, so let's talk about Where are we going, we're talking dynamite as it is, but what about the changes you guys are making?

To do it right, we've got a top end, we've got some fancy heads, a better electronic intake injection system, I think we're just going to modernize the car, make it run a little more consistently, better and easier to drive this giveaway car. So, you know, these people expect to cruise until the wheels fall off because that's what it's designed to do. Yeah, perfect, we weren't looking for some kind of big specialist, we just wanted something a little more cheerful and reliable. you know something that sounds a little better a little camp a little cut is there any way you guys can reuse the factory air filter just because it's so nice in the end or do you think it may not be big enough?

I may not be big enough, obviously, that's your air hole right there, not that this isn't, we'll streamline it, you know, see what it does, it'll fit what we're going to put in it. That's fine, but the problem is that if it consumes too much power, you're defeating the purpose of putting all these cool pieces in regardless of the fact that we're going to run it as is before tearing it apart. Great thanks. Guys, I love this casting number right here, it's clean 393 23.88. I looked at it's only a 69 so it's very possible this is the original bare motor or at least they were smart enough to find a suitable one for it, this car is a real rss so who knows the history of this , we want to monitor the air-fuel ratio, so we drill a hole in the exhaust pipe and put a Holley O2 sensor in it ready for this light, it's good to get out of there, these rich ones is all.

Salt, yes, very tasty, no, it would have nothing to do with that air filter that looks the size of a quarter in the intake, well, it is about the size of a quarter. I wouldn't even buy it silver. dollar status uh well I mean because of how nice it was and how it ran on the dyno it turns off the air filter a little choppy yeah a little but it's still much better and three more points three points and a half more in your fuel. uh 243 with power, 311 lb ft 3 400. It doesn't seem to be running as well as when they brought it in, you notice they went and put out the fire after they put the dynode on the chassis, I think they did. but um and it's already taken a little bit of a hit because it did some clean pulls on the uh on the dyno 227 chassis at I think two thirds.

I can't remember what was wrong, yeah, somewhere in there, let's do another hit. do another same setup in the same step it's definitely a lot thinner yeah maybe it had some dirt spots or something cleaned there we go 247 and 311. Like that number 311 yeah no it's scaring 250 power , 311 in torque. it has oil pressure it has great oil pressure it has a little bit of knock so we'll have to look at that 65 pounds of oil pressure at 5000. well I mean that's a starting point oh wow absolutely as big as you can get I know people buy projects like this, it wasn't really a project, it came from a running car.

I think there is a lot of potential and we will definitely improve it with the pieces that we are going to put in. Now we talk about not going. to the low end, but with that hit I think we did it, yeah, yeah, we may have to improve it, but we have the tools and we have the right technology and the pieces and the pieces below, this tool tells you the truth , even when you don't want to know it, plus big horsepower improvements on the dyno, is using racing oil in your daily use. A good idea, let's find out in today's tech tip that not everything made for racing is good for street use, since street engines, even high-performance engines, rarely exceed part throttle.

They generally do not raise the oil temperature enough to remove wear-causing contaminants. That's why street motor oil contains detergents and other additives to remove and suspend contaminants. Racing oils are designed to be changed. every few races, so they don't need detergents to remove contaminants, just remember that if you use racing oil in your daily use and follow the 3,000 mile change interval that can cause harmful buildup, taking down a

small

block

Chevy is as simple as things. Get a v8, this one leaked and looks like it should have come out of an off road truck not a restored muscle car, here we go, we fixed this long sitting engine, yes that happens when you set it up, have it. sitting without coolant and then you put coolant in it you know sometimes it will loosen all that stuff and yeah damn it crunchy oh god wow they didn't leak that's good the rest of the parts didn't show any damage but they had normal wear.

This engine has been on the road for a long time. I'm telling you it's not horrible for your

block

, it already has 40 more. Yeah, now what's safe in these 60 60 overboard? There you have it, we found a pleasant surprise. although it's nice oh my gosh look at the skirts look at that guy it worked fine after a quick wash job and before this block goes to the machine shop we want to check it with our Goodson crack detector before machining a used block. This procedure is A semi-clean block is a must, well, it's clean enough to do what we're doing, uh, is your wallet out?

All your questions, this will generate so much gauss that initially now I don't think we have to use this because I think we already see a giant problem before we start, there's a decent lump right here there's a lump, look at this, how did that not leak into the test bench? Well I can tell you why when I drained the antifreeze before putting it on the dyno, when I pulled these two plugs out they were solid and full of blocks and block sealant, it's not unusual on these because half the time the radiators are clogged or whatever, they're leaking and they want to plug them up so it throws all that stuff out and this was completely covered in oil, this one in particular because it didn't leak, it could probably be fixed, but we're not going to mess with everything around it, around the drain plug , look at that up there. one up there too, when one bites the dust, we literally pull another one out of hiding.

This is a later model block that has been converted to accept a two piece rear main seal, just like the cracked one. This is a four bolt main block. It has been machined and since we already have the rotating assembly with pistons, all you need is to enlarge the holes by 30 thousand to enlarge the holes we will use our sol and sv15 at home, a torque plate will be used to imitate the torque of the cylinder head . to the block, this will eliminate bore distortion so the cylinder remains round and firm during final assembly. Upcoming engine upgrades and free-flow heads will breathe new life into the 350.

With the cylinder polished finish, the block was washed so we could begin assembly. During the process we check all the bearing clearances, file the rings to achieve a gap between the ends of 27 thousandths and check the clearance between the piston and the wall. Half of the two piece rear main seal has been installed and now the cast crank is ready to run on the Icon, the forged pistons are attached. up to scat 5140 I-beam rods and secured with spiral locks, installing the full seal gapless ring set is a little more complicated than a standard ring set. Be sure to follow the instructions for ring orientation and keep the spaces separated from each other with lubricant. on rings, piston skirts and bearings, the assemblies can go into the bores.

Here's a look at all the specs. If you like this build sheet and want it, log on to powernation tv.com, go to engine power and it will be available to download now. The camshaft can be installed. It's a hydraulic offset cam roller straight from the top racing rack. Shelf life is 50,000. Slip is 242 degrees on the intake and 248 degrees on the exhaust. Lobe separation is 110 degrees and lift is 540k on the intake and 562k on the. The hot side joining the crankshaft and camshaft is a double row trick flow timing assembly. Each cam that is installed here is graduated.

This is installed at six degrees of advance. We had a Chloe quick-button two-piece timing cover on the shelf, so it's being used. It has a built-in roller knob that is adjustable, next is an 8-inch summit racing harmonic balancer. Be sure to apply permatex anti-seize inside your bore before pressing it onto an arp balancer bolt that is torqued to 80 foot-pounds to set the msd timing corner. on a true tdc it is a must, this was made specifically for an 8 inch balancer, a high volume oil pump is being mounted that melts into the truck, it is for a pen we had on the shelf from a different engine, we checked the distance between the truck and the plate and It's good, it will fit the Camaro chassis very well and the harp bolts secure everything after soaking it in oil for a while.

The hydraulic roller tie rod lifters for the offset cams go on the blocks. Lifting boards. We have cometic gaskets with 27 thousandths. compressed thickness resting on the platforms the cylinder heads are trick flow super 23 with a 195 cc intake runner the exhaust runner volume is 75 cc and has a d shaped port the combustion chamber is 72 cc and It has a 202 intake and a 1600 valve exhaust, they come cast but the extra thick decks and walls give you enough material to do extensive porting if you want with the intake gaskets in place, we are putting this super sweet pearl of silicone on porcelain rails, it is the right thing to do in permatex. one minute black gasket manufacturer and works excellent the intake manifold for this build is a trick flow dual plane street burner has an operating range of 1 500 to 6 500 rpm and is an open air design has exhaust outlets rear water and two distributor clamp locations harp bolts tighten in a cross pattern to lock it in an electric water pump is our choice for the dyno, not only for power but also for safety cams, pushrods which have a wall thickness of 80 mils and are 7 100 long they have a 5 16 ball on each end also from comp our 1.6 roller rockers these are from their ultra pro magnum line and are a complete roller with a non chromoly body can we get enough of the holley efi components this is the sniper stealth system 4150 it looks like a carburetor and we ordered this one with a gold finish it has four 100 pound per hour injectors and is capable of supporting 650 horsepowernaturally aspirated or 600 with forced induction is self taught super simple to install and even easier to set up a blocked MSD distributor will send a spark to the spark plugs.

Arp has a new tool they developed called the bolt installation tool. It is now designed to be used when the actual head gasket and cylinder head are placed on the surface of the engine deck. Developed to prevent uprights from coming off the thread and contacting the top of the deck when lightly loaded, causing the upright to sit crooked or at an angle. The original solution was to back off the strut about a half turn now the tool also helps the struts not to install when the cylinder head is fitted. There are no aluminum chips that can fall into the bore or other areas of the motor.

This tool works on all types of bolts, not just the cylinder head. Now it is essential to install them correctly to achieve the proper result. Torque Loads ARP is always coming up with ways for engine builders and DIYers to improve assembly and results. Here's a quick look at how it works. Accepts a conventional socket for the nut size you are dealing with. T-handle slides through the center. the handle to engage the bolt, depending on the design of the bolt, will either bottom out or after bottoming out reverse one turn then just put some preload on the nut and you are ready to tighten log in to arp dash Bolts dot com to find out.

AboveNext we add the numbers in the dinosaur cell, oh look at that graph, now we have some torque, we have some power, okay, my favorite time of the day, dinosaur day, here comes the fuel miter, There is always one question on everyone's mind when an engine starts. up on the test bench, what do you think it will make you know conservatively? I think this will make low to medium speeds relatively easy. We're not trying to hit the fence for power on this thing. This car has to be able to drive. I'd be happy if it was four or something if it was something you know, we've already doubled the power yeah, oh yeah, the efi system comes with a portable monitor where you enter all the engine parameters and make all the adjustments.

It couldn't be simpler, it will ask you to start the engine and then let it warm up to 160 degrees. At this point, the system begins to learn and adjust to achieve the target air-fuel ratio. 30 degrees of timing right now, this is the 25 to 55 to 600 per second just to see where we are, this is the research run, here we go man, I'm not a bad person, yeah, I'm still learning a little bit. 396 in horsepower 388 on tour okay almost 400 yeah okay torque peaked at 4800 oh that sounds good super clean oh look at that graph now we got some torque we got some 434 power with 437 power on the tour uh that torque is flat yeah peak torque was 4300 and it held 437 for about 400 rpm nice Okay now I'm going to put some time into it um this thing with flat top nine to one, uh, I'm going to pitch like three degrees, sounds good, should go up quite a bit. kind of sounded good, of course, they all sound good 442 439 okay, not now, we haven't messed with the fuel, although we have a target air fuel of like 12 8 or something, right, no, you know, shave that up to the degree of umph just because they're more advantageous when you tune them on the street oh yeah because you know this thing we're doing like very specific ranges on the street you can tune your cruise uh the air fuel is wide open and it's idle , so, well, I mean, we're on a good path right here, you can see it on the chart right now. uh I mean a big flat top camera like this one, which we can try.

I'm going to put, I'm going to stab a stabber to 36. Okay and I know that's a big gas pump jump nine nine to one. You know we have 93 octane. That'll tell you if we went too far, you know what I'm saying? Beautiful, we'll hit peak torque or not, we could increase it one degree at a time, but on something like this they're, I want to see that change, you know what I want? What I'm saying is that with these engines I feel a lot more confident doing it, yeah, so if it was a 15 to 1 gas race, you know, operation like that, so let me adjust the timing, I think it sped up a little, but we choose. 442 442 that's a nice round number to stop at tenth 442.3 442.3 like that's cool that's sweet what is that sounds like a lucky number to stop right there, yeah, 5800 at full power and 4500 on tour, okay look, right there, 1300 rpm between peaks, which makes it a very nice street engine, the more you can distribute the maximum torque to the maximum power, the better the engine will perform above average, yeah.

Well, for more information on any of the parts you've seen, log on to powernationtv.com.