Finally getting around to the "winter" projects

[five7kid]

I actually turned a wrench on the 396 tonight! Got up to 73 degrees here today. I ended the season in October with an oil leak at the front of the engine, didn't know if it was the front seal or the oil pan. I had swapped cams last spring, and installed a new SFI damper, so either one leaking was a possibility. The damper gave me a lot of grief going on, so it wouldn't have surprised me if the seal was the one leaking.

The damper came off with a little fuss, but not excessive. And, of course, the seal was bone dry. It's the front of the pan gasket leaking. So, this time I'm going with a one-piece pan gasket.

Still a lot to go. The headers are coming off, too, for some leak repair and smashed tube replacement. New mufflers as well. And trying a Holley Strip Dominator single-plane intake in place of the RPM Air Gap to see what that does. Other than that, normal maintenance stuff like fluid and plug changes.

[Firebirdjones]

Wow winter projects now? Winter is about over here, been in the 70's last couple days. I got most of my winter projects done before christmas. All that was left was simple oil changes for spring after the long sitting time over winter. I've ready and itching to go racing for a while now :thumbsup:

[Firebirdjones]

I just caught something in you post mentioning going with a 1 piece oil pan gasket. I run one on my 454 chevelle and it's a dream, really nice and seals up tight. Your cam change reminded me of something. Since you did yours with a 4 piece oil pan gasket.
I had to do a cam change in my motor just before christmas this past year and thought the 1 piece oil pan would be nice to deal with, when pulling the timing cover off. It came apart easily but the real pain in the rear was trying to put that timing cover back on,,,sheeesh they make that 1 piece gasket so thick it's almost impossible to get the timing cover back onto the dowl pins. It was a fight. You never notice this problem of course when the motor is out of the car and the timing cover goes on first, then the oil pan bolts right on no problems.
Just a heads up if you do another cam change while the motor is in the car and a 1 piece oil pan gasket.

One thing I tried to do while I was doing the camshaft change was switch to an aluminum timing cover with an adjustable cam button for my roller cam. NO WAY that thick aluminum cover was going on there with that 1 piece oil pan gasket,,,the pan would have had to come of first.
I ended up sending that back and reinstalling the stock steel cover,,,but even that was a fight.

Are the tracks open where you are? Ours opened about 2 weeks ago. Larry.

[five7kid]

Any future cam change the pan will at least be loosened.

The track opens up next month. First T&T is April 14th. First race is April 27th.

We had a snow-out in May a couple of years ago.

The parts are supposed to be here Friday. I'm starting the exhaust work to keep me busy until then. I decided to bite the bullet and get a 2-step rev limiter in the form of an MSD Digital 6 unit. RT's have just been too inconsistent (cost me in the semifinals of the Div 5 finals last year), too much variation trying to watch the tach while staging.

[Firebirdjones]

Ya loosening the pan would help, unfortunately I didn't have that luxury,,,I can't get to enough of the pan bolts when the engine is in the car.
I understand, we get snow sometimes in Late March/early April,,,but our tracks open in Feb anyway, they always post (weather permitting) so as long as there is no snow it's open,,,but might be rather cold,,,lol.
Sounds like you have a long list of parts to change,,,sounds like christmas in March at your place ;) Larry.

[five7kid]

That's just the '57.

I drive the Camaro during the week, but my son races it on Friday nights (it's still "my" car). We've had a disk rear for it in the garage since this time last year. It had been fire sawed out of the car it was in, including brake cables, so I had to get all new; that's been a hassle, ordered all 3 at the same time, they were shipped separately then they cancelled the order for one of them for some reason - that was during the big snow storm we had this winter and deliveries were delayed so I just now figured out what happened and the third one is finally on the way. The car the rear came out of was a snow belt car, lots of rust, so the brakes have to be completely rebuilt. I've got LCA relocation brackets for it, poly bushings for the LCAs and I want to box them while I'm at it. And the line lock button shorted out a few weeks ago so we need to rewire it. Then there's the Holley 6210 we want to put on to replace the q-jet, and it needs new slicks. . .

Oh, yeah, also need to rim screw the beads for the '57 slicks.

Yes, a bunch of stuff to do.

[five7kid]

The parts arrived yesterday (a day earlier than promised). I spent most of the evening messing with leaking header tubes. What a pain! Helps to have the proper equipment (I don't).

We'll see what I can get done this weekend. Actually have a horse-free Saturday - very rare.

[snakeoilperformance]

well he man i have just got to my winter projects in the last few weeks. but had to take today off!! it snowed like all night last night snow and sleet here.

thinkin i was workin in a t shirt all day thursday

[five7kid]

It got up to 75 degrees here today. Man, what a beautiful day to have the garage door open! I even took a walk with the wife and dogs, just couldn't pass it up.

I decided to tackle another long-delayed winter project - cleaning the garage a little. I've had some leftover engine blocks and transmissions taking up space where I'm trying to work. Loaded them up in the pickup and hauled them to the scrap metal yard - even got paid for them. The extra space made the rest of the work a lot more pleasant.

The only thing I've managed so far is repair work on the headers - leaking flanges from port matching a couple of years ago. Sure would be nice to have some means of grinding the port welds down flat and even. Oh, well, we'll see how they do. I tried to take the one with the smashed primary tube to a shop to see if they could replace that piece, but they were "gone racing" yesterday. :angry:

[five7kid]

Since starting this thread, I've finished exactly one piece of the job - the oil pan gasket. Upon closer inspection, the front seal needs to be replaced, too - probably the real source of the leak, but the new pan gasket should be much better than the old 4-piece.

In my defense, I've been out of town for 2 weeks - mother-in-law passed away in Montana. So, a lot to finish up before the first T&T opportunity this Saturday.

Hopefully it will go more quickly now, but we all know how that goes.

[five7kid]

Well, finally finished up the "required" stuff. I stayed up until 4 a.m. Thursday night screwing the beads - I had other things to do Friday and couldn't work on it before T&T Saturday. The MSD gave me a little trouble, but mostly because I can't read English sometimes. The mufflers are just as loud as the ones I took out - pretty much a waste of time, but at least I fixed the header leaks.

I didn't get out to T&T until noon Saturday (again because of other duties). I managed 3 runs, and it basically was a disaster. First run, my first time with a 2-step, I forgot to let go of the button and had a 2.3 60' - but the RT was .056, not bad for a 2500 RPMs launch. 2nd run I had started to rejet when they called us back in, I tightened the bowl screws back up (never got either bowl off), headed for the staging lanes when I realized I hadn't rehooked up the fuel line to the secondary bowl - Oops! Pumped about a quart of fuel into the intake valley, spent my time waiting in the staging lanes sopping it out of there. This time I remembered the button, but the car just wouldn't pull - great RT (.006), but ET was about 4 tenths off. The plugs had been looking rich, although I didn't do a "proper" power read, so I tried jetting down - lost another 4 tenths. Then the track closed.

Sunday I jetted it back up 2 more than the first run, took it out for a test drive, it pulled something fierce. So, next chance to find out how it's running at the track is Friday at time trials (2 runs only) for the first points race of the season.

At least it's running.