Progress Thread Tannerc91gt’s Build(s) Thread

tannerc91gt · Sep 19, 2016

Catch can setup and valvetrain stuff will be here tomorrow. Scored a New starter for $50 on Amazon too.
Got my cam specs today so that's ready to be cut, not sure how long that typically takes.

Moved on to sorting out the fuel system. I think a 4303 Magnafuel pump will support the power I'm after. But I'd like to use a 044 pump or similar as a constant and bring the big pump in as needed. The Holley system is able to control this pretty easily, I think for a street driven car it might prolong the life of my pump.
Anyone with a similar setup feel free to guide me here.

tannerc91gt · Sep 20, 2016

Cam ordered. Hopefully here next week.
226/239 .605/.610 114+5

Got my valvetrain stuff today, as well as the catch can setup. Which I've realized I went way overkill on -10AN for the feed lines.

Sat down and rebuilt/upgraded the rocker arms today. I realize I'm not really catering to my audience here but I took some pictures along the way. I'll be doing the same when I upgrade the valve springs this evening if anyone is interested in the process. I'm sure most have done the job.

Old rockers, the kit and some trusty snap ring pliers

Handy summit bench vice tool. Pressing the old trunions out

End up with this mess. The factory Gm rockers are an awesome piece. Super stable, reliable up to 4 digit horsepower and really hard to beat. Their only downfall being the bearings can implode if the valvetrain Is setup incorrectly or receives any kind of trauma. Which you can imagine what happens when all those little needle bastards end up loose in the cylinder head.

Empty rocker bodies

Upgraded trunion bearing design. Pressing in the new bearings. Drop the trunion in from the other side and press the other bearing on.

Apply some snap rings and there you have it.

Repeat 15 more times. Not a bad upgrade including the ARP bolts for under $140.

CarMichael Angelo · Sep 20, 2016

tannerc91gt said:
Cam ordered. Hopefully here next week.
226/239 .605/.610 114+5

Got my valvetrain stuff today, as well as the catch can setup. Which I've realized I went way overkill on -10AN for the feed lines.

Sat down and rebuilt/upgraded the rocker arms today. I realize I'm not really catering to my audience here but I took some pictures along the way. I'll be doing the same when I upgrade the valve springs this evening if anyone is interested in the process. I'm sure most have done the job.

Old rockers, the kit and some trusty snap ring pliers

Handy summit bench vice tool. Pressing the old trunions out

End up with this mess. The factory Gm rockers are an awesome piece. Super stable, reliable up to 4 digit horsepower and really hard to beat. Their only downfall being the bearings can implode if the valvetrain Is setup incorrectly or receives any kind of trauma. Which you can imagine what happens when all those little needle bastards end up loose in the cylinder head.

Empty rocker bodies

Upgraded trunion bearing design. Pressing in the new bearings. Drop the trunion in from the other side and press the other bearing on.

Apply some snap rings and there you have it.

Repeat 15 more times. Not a bad upgrade including the ARP bolts for under $140.

That was a damn good update. Regardless of what those rockers fit.

that is all.

A5literMan · Sep 20, 2016

Who is grinding the cam? My Bullet took about 2 weeks

And btw post away on the pics! I always enjoy seeing the mechanicals of builds. Don't care if they're an LS,302,or a straight six. Always fun and interesting to me. I think most enjoy them. I have always enjoyed that aspect of magazine articles(when I used to subscribe). I live vicariously through these builds anymore.

Davedacarpainter · Sep 20, 2016

madmike1157 said:
That was a damn good update. Regardless of what those rockers fit.

that is all.

You should've liked it.

Boosted92LX · Sep 20, 2016

I just want to know if the cam grinder was given the cfm of the carburetor???

Boosted92LX · Sep 20, 2016

tannerc91gt · Sep 20, 2016

A5literMan said:
Who is grinding the cam? My Bullet took about 2 weeks

And btw post away on the pics! I always enjoy seeing the mechanicals of builds. Don't care if they're an LS,302,or a straight six. Always fun and interesting to me. I think most enjoy them. I have always enjoyed that aspect of magazine articles(when I used to subscribe). I live vicariously through these builds anymore.

Comp cams is doing the cam, spec'd by Lil John Motorsports. If it's not here by next week it'll be 3-4 weeks before I can get to it so no big deal to me. I'm outrunning my wallet anyways so I'm going to use my backlog of work to keep me occupied

tannerc91gt · Sep 20, 2016

Tonight, cylinder heads were overhauled.
New springs, seats, seals, locks and retainers courtesy of BTR.

Tools. I don't like switching sockets so I enlist multiple wrenches. I lost my magnet stick, so large hunk-o-magnet will have to do.
The hammer is how you can tell it's a delicate procedure.

Comp cam spring tool. Bolts to the rocker arm rail, I cut up a small section of rocker rail to use with the tool.

Collapse the springs and remove the locks.
Now the springs can come out.

OE valve seals. These have to be replaced as the new springs are dual.
The inner spring contacts and can bind with the valve seal.

Old seal/seat left, new valve seat and seal on right. The hammer is used with a 12pt socket around the seal to knock it down into position. This sounds a little rough but it's actually the recommended method. 1/8" gap between the seat and the seal is what we're after. I made a little quick checker to check that gap as well as installed height. It's not super duper accurate but it gets the job done.
Same process on the installation. I use a little dilectic grease to hold the locks in place. It can be a real PITA, and if you do it quick enough you can catch a lock between the eyes....

New springs with new rockers

Thought a video might be cool, so I gave it a shot. I struggled with the last set of locks on the right side and to prevent hurling it all across the shop I took a small break. so I cut the video a little short.

Tomorrow I go to battle with head studs

A5literMan · Sep 20, 2016

tannerc91gt said:
Tonight, cylinder heads were overhauled.
New springs, seats, seals, locks and retainers courtesy of BTR.

Tools. I don't like switching sockets so I enlist multiple wrenches. I lost my magnet stick, so large hunk-o-magnet will have to do.
The hammer is how you can tell it's a delicate procedure.

Comp cam spring tool. Bolts to the rocker arm rail, I cut up a small section of rocker rail to use with the tool.

Collapse the springs and remove the locks.
Now the springs can come out.

OE valve seals. These have to be replaced as the new springs are dual.
The inner spring contacts and can bind with the valve seal.

Old seal/seat left, new valve seat and seal on right. The hammer is used with a 12pt socket around the seal to knock it down into position. This sounds a little rough but it's actually the recommended method. 1/8" gap between the seat and the seal is what we're after. I made a little quick checker to check that gap as well as installed height. It's not super duper accurate but it gets the job done.
Same process on the installation. I use a little dilectic grease to hold the locks in place. It can be a real PITA, and if you do it quick enough you can catch a lock between the eyes....

New springs with new rockers

Thought a video might be cool, so I gave it a shot. I struggled with the last set of locks on the right side and to prevent hurling it all across the shop I took a small break. so I cut the video a little short.

Tomorrow I go to battle with head studs

Damn Tanner....you fast!
Awesome. And to steal a line that upsets Mike "keep up the good work"

TOOLOW91 · Sep 20, 2016

love the progress man

Bossed · Sep 21, 2016

A5literMan said:
Who is grinding the cam? My Bullet took about 2 weeks

And btw post away on the pics! I always enjoy seeing the mechanicals of builds. Don't care if they're an LS,302,or a straight six. Always fun and interesting to me. I think most enjoy them. I have always enjoyed that aspect of magazine articles(when I used to subscribe). I live vicariously through these builds anymore.

Boosted92LX · Sep 21, 2016

Looks good mang!

tannerc91gt · Sep 22, 2016

Tonight was an emotional roller coaster.
I laughed, I cried, I said the F word a handful of times.

Pulled the motor back out again to tackle the head studs. Doesn't seem like a big deal but this is the 3rd? Salvage yard block I've put studs in and it never fails to be a pain in the ass. Brakleen, wd40, air compressor, everything I could find to clean the threads out. ARP wants like $60 for their thread chaser. It's an M11 bolt so I guess they're special. That's $55 more than I'm willing to pay so I made one.
Old head stud + grinder=

Worked like a charm once I cleaned it up a bit.

Got the heads on, ready to be torqued down.
Then the unthinkable happened........

I dropped 5 washers. 5 super special fancy (by my math like $10ea ) washers.
I drop literally everything. If it's important, I'll probably drop it. I fear for my first child.

Luckily I found 4 right off the bat, and after sliding around on the garage floor on my creeper like some sort of crab I found it....

Of course, the magnet stick is still MIA so my crowning achievement of the evening was this creation.

Successful extraction

Tommorow we torque to spec all the things

A5literMan · Sep 22, 2016

tannerc91gt · Sep 22, 2016

When you peel the summit sticker off the balancer, it seems pretty fancy.

tannerc91gt · Sep 22, 2016

So I'm torquing head studs this evening. Passenger side head goes perfectly. Drivers head, 2 bolts in the center row torqued to 30 then 50 and then on the 80ftlb pass they never did "click" and while they didn't spin freely they did seem to stop tightening.
Now with a head stud, that should just be the nut spinning on the washer, correct? As the stud is actually being pulled out of the block and not twisted down into it.

So my question is, do I back these off and make another pass at it? Or let it ride? Or push the whole thing into the woods?

TOOLOW91 · Sep 22, 2016

tannerc91gt said:
So I'm torquing head studs this evening. Passenger side head goes perfectly. Drivers head, 2 bolts in the center row torqued to 30 then 50 and then on the 80ftlb pass they never did "click" and while they didn't spin freely they did seem to stop tightening.
Now with a head stud, that should just be the nut spinning on the washer, correct? As the stud is actually being pulled out of the block and not twisted down into it.

So my question is, do I back these off and make another pass at it? Or let it ride? Or push the whole thing into the woods?

Try again .

Loosen the whole thing up . Bottom the stud out by hand . Run the nut down by hand then try re torquing . If it were me

Sent from my iPhone using my fingers while my auto correct makes me seem illiterate

tannerc91gt · Sep 22, 2016

Broke them all loose. Hand tightened them back down. Torqued through to 50.
Started my 80lb pass. And....

Davedacarpainter · Sep 23, 2016

tannerc91gt said:
Broke them all loose. Hand tightened them back down. Torqued through to 50.
Started my 80lb pass. And....

What the hell?!

Progress Thread Tannerc91gt’s Build(s) Thread

This last 25% is foreign territory at this point

This last 25% is foreign territory at this point

my rearend will smell so minty fresh,

At least it is lumpy...

Chicks can make things hard if they’re inspired...

It's only an inch or two. What's the big deal?

It's only an inch or two. What's the big deal?

This last 25% is foreign territory at this point

This last 25% is foreign territory at this point

At least it is lumpy...

If you're the village idiot what's that make me?

Well-Known Member

It's only an inch or two. What's the big deal?

This last 25% is foreign territory at this point

At least it is lumpy...

This last 25% is foreign territory at this point

This last 25% is foreign territory at this point

If you're the village idiot what's that make me?

This last 25% is foreign territory at this point

Chicks can make things hard if they’re inspired...

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