Progress Thread BluePrint 347 long block engine swap
- Thread starter Sparky714
- Start date
Believe it or not, the first time I pulled the tranny on this thing, those were on the front wheels(I used what I had), and jackstands on the rear. I had more time the second time, so I built the ones on the front now. The old ones are plenty strong, just not as pretty as the new ones. And the rear isn't as heavy, so they got repurposed.......Hey, I was an electrician for 42 years, not a carpenter, give me a break
I was sitting there admiring the front cribs….. zooming in, saying to myself what a good idea using the 4x4…….. then I zoomed over to the rear and…… “whoa”….. that scares me just looking at them. lol
More than enough insurance. They're a hell of a lot better than my Harbor freight jack stands......
Do me a favor and add another brace on the inside but the opposite way of the ones on the outside. It will cross brace it and make it a lot safer.
There's a reason I don't do wood work... Metal you can all ways glue back together with enough heat... Wood yeah I don't trust elmersBelieve it or not, the first time I pulled the tranny on this thing, those were on the front wheels(I used what I had), and jackstands on the rear. I had more time the second time, so I built the ones on the front now. The old ones are plenty strong, just not as pretty as the new ones. And the rear isn't as heavy, so they got repurposed.......Hey, I was an electrician for 42 years, not a carpenter, give me a break
So I was flipping the pages as I wait for laundry and in between domestic duties and see this:
I thought for a minute that those were my cribs. You know what they say about great minds.... 
Yeah, I'll vouch for the 4x4 cribs. Mine are pretty stout, even when it's just one layer. My only regret is that I wish I would've made them an inch or 2 longer.
Making progress. New engine is setting in the car. Back up on blocks so transmission, exhaust and fuel system can all be finished underneath. Found a guy to do my powder coat so should have valve covers and intake back in a week or so. I think I have all the parts I need. It's 50 degrees here in North Dakota today, so I want to have this thing back together if we get an unusually early spring. Hopefully that groundhog was wrong.
I thought for a minute that those were my cribs.
You know what they say about great minds.... While work wasn't necessarily done on the vert, work was done for the vert! Spent most of my off-time the past 2 weeks working on cleaning my new garage and organizing my toolboxes. Decided to change gears tonight and finally built some wheel cribs. Now I should have an easier time working on stuff after I climb under the cars.
Yeah, I'll vouch for the 4x4 cribs. Mine are pretty stout, even when it's just one layer. My only regret is that I wish I would've made them an inch or 2 longer.
Wow! I'd never have guessed my crappy looking wood stands would get so much attention ! I do appreciate everyone's concern for my safety. 
I can assure you they are plenty strong and plenty stable, they just look like 
. I may throw another brace on the inside just so @AeroCoupe doesn't lose any sleep worrying about me. Thanks guys 
! I do appreciate everyone's concern for my safety. I can assure you they are plenty strong and plenty stable, they just look like . I may throw another brace on the inside just so @AeroCoupe doesn't lose any sleep worrying about me. Thanks guys
Now, now we are just making sure your around to enjoy all that money spent none of use are getting any younger and half of us are still snowed in lol.. Hell I'm at the point if I don't have a lift, it can sit, cribs or not going to take a lot of motivation forme to crawl under a car on cold concrete any more....Wow! I'd never have guessed my crappy looking wood stands would get so much attention
I appreciate the concern. I wish my shop was tall enough for a lift, but I opted for only 9' sidewalls and a second story instead. I do have a nice mancave and lots of storage upstairs though. It's all insulated and heated, with wifi, tv's upstairs and down, good lighting. It's a nice place to tinker during the North Dakota winters.
When I wanted my wheel cribs it was either covid or after a hurricane ( florida) and it was more money to buy the lumber than buying race ramps..
Finally got everything done under the car (without my crappy wooden stands collapsing ) and got it back on the ground. Fuel system primed and checked for leaks, valve covers on and starting to clean up wiring. Hopefully on the home stretch to having this thing ready to fire up. Weather is getting really nice here, so the pressure is on.
) and got it back on the ground. Fuel system primed and checked for leaks, valve covers on and starting to clean up wiring. Hopefully on the home stretch to having this thing ready to fire up. Weather is getting really nice here, so the pressure is on.Attachments
Break in oil recommendations? BluePrint says in their paperwork that all that's necessary for roller cam engines is a good quality 10W30 conventional oil. Zinc additive can be added, but not required for roller cam. They do require prelubing engine before startup because engine was ran on a dyno and oil drained, so any assembly lube is already gone. So what do you guys suggest? Just follow their instructions and I'm good? Or is their any other first time startup precautions you would take? This is a first for me, so lets hear your opinions.
Regular ole' Dino 10w30, an electric drill, and the oil pump shaft tool.
If you have converters do not run oil with zinc. I would do as the builder recommends and send it.
It's alive!!! Sort of. So the weather has gotten really nice here, so I've been working to get this thing running. Did a bunch of checks, primed the hell out of the oil system(58psi with a 850rpm drill) dumped the tune in it and it fired right up .Set the timing, adjusted fuel pressure with vacuum line off, and it sat and purred like a kitten. Let it run for about 15 minutes and shut it down to check for leaks. So far so good............Then I restarted it to adjust some things in the tune and something wasn't quite right. Noticed it was lean at idle and it had a slight shudder. Shut it down and tried again, kept getting worse. Noticed the gauge on my Aeromotive regulator quickly dropped to almost zero as soon as I shut it down. When I primed the system before I started it, it held pressure for quite a while. Jumped out the fuel pump and let it circulate and tried to set pressure, but it was weird, it wouldn't move, then take big jumps and just acted weird. Now I started looking at the instructions for this regulator, and it is adjustable from 40-75psi. The data on my Ford 80lb injectors give the values at 39psi, so that's what I set it to at the first start(guess I should have read the instructions first). So did I screw up this regulator by backing it out too far to get to 39psi? It adjusted to it while it was running, but it did seem I had to back it out quite a ways to get there.
.Set the timing, adjusted fuel pressure with vacuum line off, and it sat and purred like a kitten. Let it run for about 15 minutes and shut it down to check for leaks. So far so good............Then I restarted it to adjust some things in the tune and something wasn't quite right. Noticed it was lean at idle and it had a slight shudder. Shut it down and tried again, kept getting worse. Noticed the gauge on my Aeromotive regulator quickly dropped to almost zero as soon as I shut it down. When I primed the system before I started it, it held pressure for quite a while. Jumped out the fuel pump and let it circulate and tried to set pressure, but it was weird, it wouldn't move, then take big jumps and just acted weird. Now I started looking at the instructions for this regulator, and it is adjustable from 40-75psi. The data on my Ford 80lb injectors give the values at 39psi, so that's what I set it to at the first start(guess I should have read the instructions first). So did I screw up this regulator by backing it out too far to get to 39psi? It adjusted to it while it was running, but it did seem I had to back it out quite a ways to get there.Attachments
Well, after a long winter it's finally done and ready for some summer fun. Just got it back from the tuner. It made 613hp and 573ft/lbs torque on 8lbs of boost. Way more than I thought it would. And it was still making horsepower at 6000rpm. Ignore that dip in the torque curve. That's where the table switching comes on when the water/meth starts spraying. He fixed that with a couple more pulls, this was just max hp. He said I could easily repully it and make a little more boost without any problems. We backed it down to about 560hp so it's fun and reliable on the street. He said I can always put a degree or two of timing back in it at the track if I want to without a problem. I'm stoked!
Attachments
Similar threads
