GTXVette said:worry about the stand not the mounts, lol
Amen! Most engine stands develop a severe droop with the weight of a big block. But yes 4 bell housing bolts will hold it.
GTXVette said:worry about the stand not the mounts, lol
Amen! Most engine stands develop a severe droop with the weight of a big block. But yes 4 bell housing bolts will hold it.
You'd be shocked at how much load a 1/4-20 bolt can take. Even a Grade 2 1/4-20 can withstand a clamp load of over 1000 lbs.
frenchyd said:
GTXVette said:worry about the stand not the mounts, lol.
Amen! Most engine stands develop a severe droop with the weight of a big block. But yes 4 bell housing bolts will hold it.
Also note, the puny bar most stands come with won't be enough to spin the engine round on the stand. You'll need a 3' long pipe or breaker bar.
A little grease on the spindle of the stand helps, too.
frenchyd said:GTXVette said:worry about the stand not the mounts, lol
Amen! Most engine stands develop a severe droop with the weight of a big block. But yes 4 bell housing bolts will hold it.
That’s why you scrape the paint away and weld it together. Can’t droop when there really isn’t any slop....
Knurled. said:In reply to Curtis :
286/286 at .050 on a 104 lobe center, because mismatched parts are fun!
YOU, Sir have a large cam, I thought the 262@50 with 110 Seperation was large. but then again it's from a boat. made for torque, I hope it gets off a corner like I want
If you are concerned about strength, attach the engine to the stand with ground straps. Everyone knows you can dang near lift the car off the ground via the ground strap you forgot to remove...
This engine is terrifying to me. Once I get it on the stand, the heads are coming off for sure. That'll be a ton of weight off of it.
Point of fact: I've never rebuilt any kind of piston engine. All of my know-how is in the rotary engine world. I'm very thankful that the Chevy V-8 is a well documented and well understood platform.
I ran ito a guy when buying a new, 2000 pound rated engine stand this weekend. He asked if I was going to keep it TBI or put a carb on it. I said TBI (for budget) and he advised me that getting a carb will probably be cheaper overall, unless I somehow found a TBI GMT400 with a 454 in the junkyard and could pull everything off of it.
Hehh... guess what else I know absolutely nothing about? Carburetors.
For the gmt400 platform, and a healthy big block, i would definitely go carb. The 454tbi unit itself goes for $200 usually, and then we add chup adapters and burni g, the 454 distributor, etc. Adds up quick.
We can discuss that at length if you want. Between me, pat, and knurled, theres probably not much we dont know about berkeleying with tbi. And ibd1 gm. And why its evil.
I think the 454 with be challenge appearance number two. Keeping the (supposedly) healthy and modified 350 that is in the truck already will be easy mode.
Hit the easy button.
Dusterbd13 said:For the gmt400 platform, and a healthy big block, i would definitely go carb. The 454tbi unit itself goes for $200 usually, and then we add chup adapters and burni g, the 454 distributor, etc. Adds up quick.
We can discuss that at length if you want. Between me, pat, and knurled, theres probably not much we dont know about berkeleying with tbi. And ibd1 gm. And why its evil.
I'm a little rusty, but I used to build engines (including a few BBCs) so we'll get you a good combo.
Curtis: i know jack about under the valve covers. Not an internal engine guy. But, ive owned and fixed FAR too many tbi and obd1 gm products. Even hopped up a few with bolt ons, one with heads and cam.
But, ill defer the actual engine rebuild to ANYONE else.
I know NUTHINGK..
Remember this
IT'S Easier to buy a good Deal, than to build one
I've put at least 4 BB Chevys on my engine stand, sometimes for months at a time. Never had any issues with the stand. Sure it drooped a bit under the weight, but always held. You can put a 2x4 under the front of the engine down to the stand, have it just long enough to push the engine up slightly.
I've mucked about with TBI, and carbs. If you have TBI, probably easiest to stick with TBI, but if starting from zero....Carburetors all the way. Modern carburetors are (finally) very good. I bought a Speed Demon and bolted it onto Mrs. VCH's camaro, and out of the box it ran like a scalded _and_ raped cross between a cat and an ape.
GTXVette said:I know NUTHINGK..
Remember this
IT'S Easier to buy a good Deal, than to build one
While that is true ( usually) nothing about buying gives you the same sense of achievement as building.
I have had a 454 on the mid range HF stand for well over a year. I’ve yet to go out to the garage and find it on the floor. I don’t dare spin it though, it’s fine where it is and i’ll change the oil pan with it like that(I really just need to change the pan and bolt the mounts on and drop it in the car)
tbi isn’t scary until you start changing the engine under it, and you can only band aid so much with an adjustable fuel pressure regulator and timing. This is a case where i’d go carb for easy button then aftermarket efi eventually. Not that tuning a carb is easy, but making a gm tbi system function properly when the engine needs more air and fuel is a dying art.
So true, Frenchy at 67 y o just shaving some corners, turning a good deal into Awesome, I NEVER HAVE BOUGHT A CAR THAT DIDN'T NEED WORK. AT LEAST NOT THE LAST 30 years
GTXVette said:I know NUTHINGK..
Remember this
IT'S Easier to buy a good Deal, than to build one
Nah. It's fun and easy. I will spend $800 on machining and parts and build one on a weekend and it's a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a reman. Plus, the rewards are so awesome.
volvoclearinghouse said:I've mucked about with TBI, and carbs. If you have TBI, probably easiest to stick with TBI, but if starting from zero....Carburetors all the way. Modern carburetors are (finally) very good. I bought a Speed Demon and bolted it onto Mrs. VCH's camaro, and out of the box it ran like a scalded _and_ raped cross between a cat and an ape.
TBIs just kinda suck for anything but a stock TBI configuration. I'm a hardcore Qjet guy. I swapped a Qjet onto an 88 TBI and picked up power and MPG. I'm getting rusty these days, but I used to custom modify Qjets with adjustable primaries, added vacuum ports in the throats to fine tune an ignition curve, custom accelerator pump mods... once you get to know them, they are amazing fuel delivery systems.
I fish with the guy who developed the TBI for Rochester/Delphi. He apologizes profusely for what he created. It was a hastily developed band aid fix for emissions reasons but even he knows it was a far cry from the Qjet.... which was also one of his babies. He developed the Electronic Qjet used in later years.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Item's such as the BBC I mentioned. the FIERO I want to bring to the challenge, are only recent purchase's,believe me when I say they have been apart and rebuilt. but a whole RACE car for a grand, just rebuild the top end
A BBC from a boat FOR 400 I would be stupid not to.
IN THE 54 YEARS I have been playing with cars, I was Grassroots before they called it that. Back then you were just Broke ass white trash, I have made junk go fast for a very long time, been involved in over 100 stock car Wins and won the championship/ my car me driving/ race at my home track with junk yard crap ( I HAVE THE PICTURE ) I have had much pleasure in my Day, taking a break.
In reply to Curtis :
and that 800 would take most folks out of the Challenge, if that is a price marker.
Brett_Murphy - you are clearly in good hands as i read through the commentary. At this point i would say check the crank to see if its Steel. ive got some experience with BBC's, and i have 2 times pulled a steel crank from a 2 bolt block. Cast cranks have a single thin cast line on the counter weights. forged cranks have a wide forge line... As has been mentioned, the 2 bolt blocks are great, an ARP stud kit is nice to have, but requires a line hone. If you look under the flat face the main caps bolt down to, and look under that mounting face about 2 inches away from the existing bolt holes (block side), there you will see the casting bosses to accept 4 bolt main caps. i have with only 1 exception converted all my 2 bolt motors to 4 bolt because the factory had already made them that way.
the true hi perf blocks can be identified externally by having a look at the oil filter areas. Just above the oil filter mounting there will be 2 bosses right on the side, those are for plumbing an external oil cooler, those are tapped and plugged in 9 out of 10 "heavy duty" passenger blocks.
049 and 781 heads are identical. both will deliver very good hp with 2.08/1.72 valves and no porting. i will suggest replacing the OEM valves with 1 pc SS like Manley. You will want 3/8" pushrods. Check the con rods, there are good 3/8" con rods and better 3/8" con rods. post a pick if you can.
best of luck.
I feel as though I am in good hands.
I've got the hardware to mount it on the stand, and I'll be taking pictures.
I was going to do this tonight, but getting the kids ready for their Halloween activities and then walking the girl-spawn around took longer than expected.
I got it on the stand and when I released tension on the hoist, it immediately flipped head down. I summarily bent every piece of metal I have trying to turn it on the stand.
The easy way to do this may be to just use the engine hoist to try to spin it right side up after I remove the heads. Of course, my brain started working only after I had bent all of the metal.
From what little I was able to glean so far, this engine may actually be kind of thrashed. I thought it hadn't been run, but it had just been sitting so long that the oil had all disappeared and it only appeared dry. I'll be posting photos.
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