My car is alive again!!!

stangboy

Founding Member
Aug 31, 1999
3,932
473
194
New Orleans, LA
Well, I finially got her started last night. :banana: It was 11:30 when we finished so I haven't put a timing light on it or anything but she's running. So far I have a vacuum leak and I'm pretty sure I have a an exhaust leak on both sides because 2 header bolts on each side refused to go in straight so I left them out for now just so I could finished putting the rest of the stuff back together. The reason why I said "I'm pretty sure" is because I have open headers until this evening when I get my x-pipe made.

The car is still at my friend's shop because I didn't want to wake up my neighborhood last night with the open headers. :D So I'm gonna go pick it up right after work and shoot over to the exhaust shop to get the exhaust done.

I'm proud of myself. This was my first engine build-up. I had never put a motor together before. I'd seen it done many times but I never did it myself until now. Its a really good feeling. Once I work out all the bugs I'll feel even better about it. Of course i didn't do all this alone. I had the help of my good friends. Thanks Brad, James, Brach, Jared, Darryl, Sherman and you too Mitch for moral support. lol Sorry I don't have any pic of the build process but I didn't have access to a camera. So when I get access to a camera I'll take a pic of under the hood.
 
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Killercanary said:
Good to hear! What did you do about the PTV clearance issue?

My master mechanic friend came and helped me notch the pistons. They came out pretty nice too....I was surprised. We triple checked before and after. Everything turned out good. So I finished assembly.

WhiteDevil - My x-pipe is being customized. I bought the x crossover part on ebay about a month ago for $40 and my friend that works at the muffler shop said he'd do the rest of my exhaust for $50....AND he's welding in my subframe connectors...no extra charge.
 
stangboy said:
My master mechanic friend came and helped me notch the pistons. They came out pretty nice too....I was surprised. We triple checked before and after. Everything turned out good. So I finished assembly.

WhiteDevil - My x-pipe is being customized. I bought the x crossover part on ebay about a month ago for $40 and my friend that works at the muffler shop said he'd do the rest of my exhaust for $50....AND he's welding in my subframe connectors...no extra charge.
Ok cool i cant wait to hear some dyno numbers.
 
mytight95 said:
if you notched the valve reliefs at home etc. did you have them rebalanced or do it yourself with a scale or what. I know if not your gonna have vibration problems.


jason

No, i didn't rebalance the pistons but the motor runs smoother than it did when it was stock. That Powerforce balancer is niiiiiiice. My motor has NEVER run this smooth.

BTW, I got my exhaust done. Damn that x-pipe sounds good!!! The only exhaust problem I have is the major exhaust leak in the front where the headers meet the heads on both sides. I'm gonna fight to get those other header bolts in this evening.

Now here's the other problem I'm having. I THINK my ignition switch went out last night. Either the ignition switch or the starter. The car doesn't start using the key. I have to push-start it. :notnice: I'm leaning more towards the ignition switch because when you turn the key back for the accessories none of the accessories or the clock works but they work in the forward("ON") position. But the car does nothing when you try to turn the key to start it. With the key in the ON position all the dummy lights come on but when you turn the key to start the car everything on the dash goes dead.

I know I probably should have started another post for this issue but I'll see how many responses I get here.