The Official Hot Rod Thread - Part 4: Burnouts for Distance

[Biggredchev]

Idk if any of you are old nascar fans but this was cool as hell.

 

[jeffsqartan]

Wow, sounds like an awesome time.

As for parts, my best connection is always friends that are into cars. If that doesn't work then ebay actually works out pretty good. I don't do FB, but sometimes buddies send me links to stuff on there.

Noted. I'll start checking out eBay more. I really like finding local deals and not shipping things like engines or heads lol.

 

[jeffsqartan]

Love my Volvo wagon! 325k miles on the chassis with a fresh engine running a Holset HX30 turbo, very dependable daily driver.....best car I've ever owned. It's been totaled twice and I was paid $2500 each time. I do paint and body work so I just keep putting it back together.

We are trying to talk him into a V8 swap. According to them, all of the parts for this engine are insanely hard to find and even worse, stupid expensive. I think it would be rad if it made angry tractor noises, but I think the V8 swap makes more sense. It already has all... uh, um, "custom" wiring. I sold him a MegaSquirt 2 last year and that's what is currently controlling the I4. Should make it even easier to put in a turbo, but oh whale.

 

[Longhair]

^ Parts aren't to hard to find and not to expensive, not sure if his 84 is using K-Jet fuel injection but it can be a problem I've heard, and the wiring also degrades. Have him join https://forums.turbobricks.com for parts and help.

I only buy 93/94 cars for the updated wiring and factory locking rear diff. 95 is the last year for RWD cars sold in the U.S.

Here's the engine that's in my car running 9.8 compression pistons from a non turbo car with a 4:10 rear diff, it spools up quick and is a fun car around town and right at home on the 1/8 th mile at Brown County.

 

[churchmouse]

CM,
What was the car that you put the most effort into that was a turd?

Good question. We flipped so many that if a project gave me grief it was put in rotation.
64 Nova. 283 SS 3 peddle car. 1st car I owned I wanted to keep OEM.
Issues from day 1. Carb over flowed and we had a fire. Not bad but bad enough.
fixed all of that and found wiring issues under the dash. Car was 7 years old.
then the. Clutch. When we had it apart I looked in the box and metal bits everywhere.
rebuilt it for my OEM goal.
wife was driving it and #1 left the building. Nice window in the block.
screw it. 327 in the hole abs out the door.
it was a damned nice looking car.

 

[Jaybird1980]

Noted. I'll start checking out eBay more. I really like finding local deals and not shipping things like engines or heads lol.

Yeah, shipping sucks on those things, sometimes you can find stuff close enough to do a local pickup but it may take a couple hours driving. I still run across some stuff on Craigslist also. Picked up a carb, intake, air cleaner/filter and distributor not to long ago for $300. And it was a brand new quick fuel 650 carb.

A lot of the salvage yards in my area list on car-part.com also. A buddy picked up a couple of engines using that website.

 

[jeffsqartan]

^ Parts aren't to hard to find and not to expensive, not sure if his 84 is using K-Jet fuel injection but it can be a problem I've heard, and the wiring also degrades. Have him join https://forums.turbobricks.com for parts and help.

I only buy 93/94 cars for the updated wiring and factory locking rear diff. 95 is the last year for RWD cars sold in the U.S.

Here's the engine that's in my car running 9.8 compression pistons from a non turbo car with a 4:10 rear diff, it spools up quick and is a fun car around town and right at home on the 1/8 th mile at Brown County.

What are you using for engine management?

 

[jeffsqartan]

Yeah, shipping sucks on those things, sometimes you can find stuff close enough to do a local pickup but it may take a couple hours driving. I still run across some stuff on Craigslist also. Picked up a carb, intake, air cleaner/filter and distributor not to long ago for $300. And it was a brand new quick fuel 650 carb.

A lot of the salvage yards in my area list on car-part.com also. A buddy picked up a couple of engines using that website.

Ooooo I keep forgetting about car-part.com.
I don't mind driving a few hours for parts. I've done wayyyy worse lol. "Hey this part is $50 off retail! Let's go drive 4 hours one way to pick it up!"

 

[femurphy77]

Love my Volvo wagon! 325k miles on the chassis with a fresh engine running a Holset HX30 turbo, very dependable daily driver.....best car I've ever owned. It's been totaled twice and I was paid $2500 each time. I do paint and body work so I just keep putting it back together.

I've thought a couple of times about buying one of these and doing a 5 liter 5 spd conversion but alas no spare 5 liters or 5 speeds.


Although I do have a spare 393 stroker (351 based) and an extra C4 laying around. (Insert even villain laugh here)

 

[femurphy77]

I watched that car crash in person yesterday. Very, very sad moment. Happy and amazed that the driver made it out OK.

Speaking of which, chased Drag Week with my buddies from Wednesday to last night. Got home around 3am.
One of the guys had a 1984 Volvo 245 (real similar to the one that was running low 7's all week long). He had just completed Power Tour in it and thought everything was kosher, so we took that on this trip. Well he showed up to the track in Michigan Monday morning and it was smoking horrendously. He limped it all the way to Ohio and then back to my place at Indy. He had put head gasket fix in it in Ohio, but it was smoking again Wednesday morning.
Long story short, we threw K-seal in it, clogged the radiator, fixed some wiring, blew the radiator back out, and then got on with the trip. Crazy times, guys. We had a great time.

Does anyone have a better place to look for car parts than FB Marketplace? I'm trying to find some SBF heads and it seriously just keeps feeding me worthless junk, or SBC heads. I freaking HATE it.

There's a guy here in mooresville with a set of aluminum sbf heads for sale. $1700 asking. If you're interested pm me and I'll send you his info.

 

[jeffsqartan]

There's a guy here in mooresville with a set of aluminum sbf heads for sale. $1700 asking. If you're interested pm me and I'll send you his info.

I appreciate it, but that's wayyyy over my budget.

 

[Longhair]

What are you using for engine management?

I'm using the stock engine management Bosch LH 2.4, my car was turbo charged from the factory. I just added the bigger turbo, bigger intercooler, injectors, 3" exhaust. It's no beast by all means but fun and dependable.

If your friend wants to add a turbo I have almost everything he would need for his 245 in my garage.

 

[jeffsqartan]

I'm using the stock engine management Bosch LH 2.4, my car was turbo charged from the factory. I just added the bigger turbo, bigger intercooler, injectors, 3" exhaust. It's no beast by all means but fun and dependable.

If your friend wants to add a turbo I have almost everything he would need for his 245 in my garage.

Noted! I am asking what he wants to do. We aren't sure if the head gasket is bad or if the head is cracked. It's drinking coolant, for sure. Had to add about a gallon every 2-3 hours of steady driving at 70mph+. It finally stopped ruining the #2 plug, though. Really hoping it's only a head gasket. I'm sure heads aren't cheap for this thing. Or easy to find.

 

[Longhair]

Noted! I am asking what he wants to do. We aren't sure if the head gasket is bad or if the head is cracked. It's drinking coolant, for sure. Had to add about a gallon every 2-3 hours of steady driving at 70mph+. It finally stopped ruining the #2 plug, though. Really hoping it's only a head gasket. I'm sure heads aren't cheap for this thing. Or easy to find.

If his engine is a B23/B230 I have two heads here cheap. 40 miles south of Indy.

 

[femurphy77]

Been playing with the old Gal a little since it's "drivable", working on tuning it a little better beyond it's current "just get it running" tune. I'm concentrating on carburetion right now. Remember this isn't a fire breathing monster just a mildly modded 50+ year old engine; carb, headers, intake and ignition. It probably has a little more carb than this basically stock 390 needs but it's a 750 vac secondary Holley. I don't know what it originally had in it but the jets were 71 and over the weekend I've dropped them down to 68. The power valve wasn't marked that I saw so don't know what it is but with the engine idling at almost 20" I'm confident it isn't opening prematurely.

I'm going to see how small I can go on the jetting and once that's squared away I'll start playing with the timing. It's currently set to factory spec but I'm sure a little extra initial advance won't hurt it at all. Once that's dialed in I'm pretty much done with it until winter. I've got a bunch of stuff at the powder coater right now including the factory bucket seat frames. I need to get the upholstery kits ordered so I can put the seats together and get them in.

I've also got two rearends in for powder coating, one for the Gal and one for the racecar. The Gal will get all new rubber in the rear suspension and may get a set of Cal Tracs as well. The jury's still out on the Cal Tracs because I've seen something in the installation instructions I don't like but more on that later.

Racecar hopes to be movable under it's own power by spring, the convertible needs the full Cobra suspension put under it, the Galaxie needs. . . . . . . I don't know if winter is going to be long enough!

 

[ChristianPatriot]

Doug from Motion Raceworks had a nasty crash on Rocky Mountain Race Week. Engine puked it’s guts out after the 1/8th mile and got oil under his tires. He was probably going 160+. Lucky he didn’t turn completely sideways and barrel roll.

 

[jeffsqartan]

Doug from Motion Raceworks had a nasty crash on Rocky Mountain Race Week. Engine puked it’s guts out after the 1/8th mile and got oil under his tires. He was probably going 160+. Lucky he didn’t turn completely sideways and barrel roll.

Yeah, like the Javelin... Such a bummer.
I saw an update post from Doug - apparently the ball valve that they used for the fuel tank was jacked.
Here's a copy/pasta of his FB post:

"We knew there was a fuel starvation issue and we knew we had good new filters on the car. So we hypothesized on our drive that maybe one of the ball valves had something lodged in it.
What we found when we took the ball valves apart is a $200 under engineered pile of ******* **** put out by Peterson… their valves lose the clocking under normal operation, and it cost me an engine and a car. I can’t imagine why a ball valve shouldn’t just operate on off without any question."

 

[Jaybird1980]

That sucks, the Nova looks like a sweet ride.
Sounds like they will be making ball valves in the future.

 

[jeffsqartan]

If his engine is a B23/B230 I have two heads here cheap. 40 miles south of Indy.

PM sent.

 

[ChristianPatriot]

PM sent.

Gotta love INGO