Build Thread The Hoopty Build

Thanks! I was really suprised at how easily it all went in. But then again, there is nothing in the car now. I got the 14-150 springs for the 408. Curious to see how it rides with the 302 in it until the 408 is done.

I will probably be going offshore this week so it will be a while before I get any more work done.

aar0s said:

looks good! when you get done with yours ill send ya mine and you can smooth the bay in it!

Click to expand...

HAH! Anything can be done for the right price I guess. Being my first try at that, the second time would go alot better. I learned alot from the first go-round.

Well I got a little done today. I put all the wiring harnesses back where they go on the firewall and ran the headlight harness behind the fender. Nothing really worth taking pictures of.

I am headed offshore for a few days and will be back for the weekend. Hoping to have the car back on the road next week with the 302 back in it.

Haven't heard from the machine shop, so I dont know how the 408 is coming as of now. Should have the shortblock soon though.

-Collin

Yes, I am required to pass emissions as well. I am going to rely on my buddies who work at inspection shops to get it to "pass". If not, I still have all of my smog stuff, so I'll just put it all back on, no worries.

I was more concerned with the car running right with the smog stuff off. I did some reading on another site and learned what I needed to know. I bought an egr delete plug to plug into the harness to keep the check engine light off. I am hoping to have the 302 back in by the weekend. So tired of not being able to drive it anymore!

I got a cheap B cam and some long tubes to put on the 302 to keep the car driving until the 408 is done. Still need to replace the freeze plugs and rod/main bearings tomorrow.

Will update soon...

FML!!!

Hi everyone,

Its been a little while since I posted any progress. Here's the story. I put new bearings in the 302, it was needed. I also put new freeze plugs in the block since they were corroded and leaking horribly. I have since assembled the engine and painted the valve covers and intake. The engine is in the car as of last Wednesday. But that is when the fun started...

Since I hid all of my wires behind the inner fenders, I had to re-route alot of them. When I tried to start the car for the first time, I couldn't get power to the fuel pump. After a frustrating day, I realized I had a wire as a ground that should have been on the starter relay hot side.

So then we had the fuel problem sorted. Then the car wouldn't start. No problem, the distributor was off 180*....... and then a tooth one way or the other. Then it fired. Hooray! it wouldn't run, but it was starting, which was progress, although frustrating none the less.

Also, I deleted the smog and A/C. After 8 TRIPS to O'reilly, I got the right belt. Luckily, its within walking distance of where the car is. But, where the belt goes from the alt to the p/s pump, it rubs on the top of the water pump, so I need to put in an idler pulley somewhere. S**T!!!

I decided to fill the cooling system with water at that point to keep things moving. At that point I realized that one of the gaskets wasn't where it was supposed to be since there was a serious stream of water dripping from the back of the pump. F**K!!! I threw in the towel as it was Saturday night at this point and I was pissed/tired/hungry/etc.

Yesterday, I took the water pump back off, swapped the gaskets and re-installed all of the associated parts I took off. Guess what? Still leaks. AAANND - the freeze plug in the pass. side head is bad too. What the hell?!?!? (yes, I know, I should have changed ALL of the plugs)

So now, I have a car that fires, but doesn't run. Wont hold water, and a serpentine belt that rubs itself b/c of the way it is routed. I had to take a break from the thing for a while. Luckily, I got called offshore for a while so I can re-motivate myself to keep working on this terd.

Sorry for the long report, but i needed to vent frustrations, and my girlfriend doesn't understand, hahaha. I only have on pic of all the work, but I'll try and post it up from out here tomorrow but the 'net sucks out here.

Oh, almost forgot, I should have my 408 shortblock back from the machine shop in a couple of weeks

Alrighty. Here is the engine bay:



Excuse the extra wires laying around. I've done some more cleaning up and tidying since then, its coming together. I did some light polishing on the p/s pump and EGR housing, took off the a/c and smog wires you see, and wiped off some greeeezy hand prints in the paint.

I'll be offshore for 10-14 days, so nothing will get done for a while... Will probably get the UPR A/C delete for $49 and another belt for $30 to fix the rubbing issue when I get back though.

Now how can I say no to that?!?

Good news! I drove the car for the first time the other day in 3 months. I had no brakes and the front suspension was waaaay too low, but I managed to get it around the neighborhood to stretch its legs.There was some oil left on the headers, so it was smoking really bad for a while until it burned off (got some strange looks, haha). Seemed to be in good shape otherwise. We'll see how it runs once I bleed the brakes, tighten up the coilovers, and make a couple of other small tweaks.

Also got the UPR A/C delete and the stupid little $12 wrench to adjust the coilovers, but I haven't been able to work on it much lately. I just bought a house and have been moving. I am offshore right now, but will try and get some finished pics up as well as the large new garage its in. but first, I gotta stay on the boat for a while to make up for all of the house spending I've been doing.

-Collin

Well looks like the UPS man was in the area this morning. This should be the first of 5 boxes coming in. Also waiting on a manual rack, strange 10 way adj shocks for the rear, and I am expecting to win an eBay auction for a 3G alternator and an electric fan controller.

Still have the A/C delete pulley and C/C plates to install also

Now I just need to get off this boat to start putting them on.

Scott,

This pretty much sums it up:
Urban Dictionary: hoopty

If you've never been to that site before, its a good way to waste time and laugh til you pee a little.

Thanks for the compliment though. It has come a long way in the 5 months I've owned it. Hope to have it on the street with some high quality images taken before I get back on the boat late this week!

Stay tuned, folks. More to come.

Recent pictures

Well its been a hot minute since I've posted any progress. Since the last update, Ive really only installed a 3G alternator in preparation for and electric fan.

I did have a chance to go on a local cruise in the short time I havent been offshore. Here are some pics... The haze is a smudge on the lens of the camera, didnt realize it until after the event...


By hoopty50 at 2011-08-10


By hoopty50 at 2011-08-10

View attachment 177926
By hoopty50 at 2011-08-10


By hoopty50 at 2011-08-10


By hoopty50 at 2011-08-10

The 408 is still being built, just taking my time since funds are short at the moment. I'll get some pics of the shortblock when I get back onshore.

Alas! Pictures. I found my camera cord yesterday. Im on my way to Alaska for work until mid December, so Im uploading this on my wonderful 5 hour layover in Salt Lake City. Here's some stuff I found that is quasi relevent to the build.

A few months ago, I installed an 8" I beam in my garage with a trolley to pull motors with and such. Here's the ongoing of events for that night and why alcohol and Krylon don't mix.

Bolted the chain hoist to the roof beams and began lifting the beam. It wasn't light, I'd put it at about 400 lbs

By hoopty50 at 2011-10-24

Here's the beam up flush to the rafters with the 4x6 posts holding it up

By hoopty50 at 2011-10-24

This is the almost finished product with the trolley ($60 from Harbor Freight) and how it looks in the garage.

By hoopty50 at 2011-10-24

At this point, the adult beverages were flowing and my buddy Blaine and I got too looking at the big gouge/scratch on my hood and decided that the center section of the hood needed to be flat black. Hindsight, a bad idea. But the midnight run to Wal-Mart for beer and Krylon was a real hoot Here we are taping it off and scuffing before we get to sprayin'


By hoopty50 at 2011-10-24

"This is a bad idea, but whatever you want, Dear." Always the voice of reason.
View attachment 167284
By hoopty50 at 2011-10-24

This is the only picture of the finished "product" Had to put something pretty in there too.
View attachment 167285
By hoopty50 at 2011-10-24

For all you engineers who are freaking out because there is no bracing in the pictures, relax. It been installed since these were taken.

I also had the chance to install some electric fans. I got this set from my buddy who does LS swaps into old cars. The fans are a dual 10" setup from a trans-am I think. We weren't sure how they would fit, but when we set the fans on the radiator, it was like they were made for each other.

Here's the fans:

By hoopty50 at 2011-10-24

Drivers side edge:

By hoopty50 at 2011-10-24

Passenger side edge:

By hoopty50 at 2011-10-24

Heres the whole thing. I made some brackets at the bottom out of 3/4" aluminum flat bar and the top lined up so that I could run a couple 1/4" bolts through the shroud and the tabs at the top of the radiator. Thats the fan controller at the top, I ended up moving it to the bottom out of the way.

By hoopty50 at 2011-10-24

Here they are installed.

By hoopty50 at 2011-10-24

The controller is a Derale unit off of eBay. For $25 and how easy the installation was, I'd recommend it so far. Its also adjustable.

So as it standsat this point, I have the TKO and new ram clutch in. I bought and installed the Flaming River steering shaft to go with the manual rack. I made a few other adjustments here and there and am ready to go drive the car. Well, an hour into running errands around town in the car, I notice my water temp is about 250 degrees. So after yelling "SHEET SHEET SHEET!!!" and pulling over, I pop the hood to investigate. Steam and coolant are shooting from the back of the engine on the driver side.

At this point, I cannot tell you how mad I am. My car has been riding jack stands for months and I only got to drive it ~20 miles before something else lets loose. I want to blow it up. Anyway, wednesday of last week, I did some investigating and found the culprit:

By hoopty50 at 2011-10-24

Yep, thats a hole. So I had to pull the head to replace a $.10 piece that I should have replaced in February when I did all the gaskets and freeze plugs on the block. Ahh well. Its all fixed and I drove the car over the weekend. The TKO took some getting used to as did the manual steering, but the overall consensus is I love it the way it drives. The manual steering is great. Yes, it takes some effort, but its not bad at all.

I should be home December 15th or so. My engine builder is ordering the custom cam from Bullet and I'll be buying the AFR heads as soon as I get home. Hoping to have the long block done by very early January so I can take it to have it broken in on a dyno and then dyno'd to see what it makes. Im really hoping for about 550 hp at the flywheel.