I will make this

look something like this.  I have to thank Ban One for the pic.  It is an old one but it's the only clean pic I have of a done engine

 

 

 

Here is the baffle for the oil pan I created. I looked at some aftermarket pans and thought, "that's allot of money for what it is". So I came up with this. I made it out of 14 ga galvanized steel (galvanized was all I had). The curved section fits nicely at the front where the pan drops to the sump.

 

Here's the pan completed. Now, no one laugh at my welds, I was worried with it burning through the pan so I turned the MIG way down to where it doesn't like to run. It was an industrial mig I used, I wish I had a 110V mig, it would be perfect for this.

 

Here's the block all painted and shiny. Dupont #277 is such a nice colour!!!

You can see my shop here, no it's not trick camera stuff, it is my dining room.  Hey, I rent, so it's ok, and I eat at the computer or in front of the TV.  Sometimes when we have company, we'll breakout the plywood and place it over the block and throw an old sheet over it and voila, instant dining room table. "no, Johnny, don't stick your gum under the table, pleeeaaasssee!!!"   A buddy gave me crap because I didn't have shop towels in the paper towel dispenser, he called it a disgrace, what I said was a disgrace would be my girlfriend using the said shop towels to clean up spilled juice or wiping food off her face, now that would be a disgrace.

 

 

 

I have just received my Summit shipment.  Ya hooo.  But, looks like my block has to go back to the machine shop to get re-resized.  The instructions with ARP bolts say that because of the more clamping force, they distort the bores a little and all rods and main should be sized with the bolts you are using at the proper torque you will be using.  Why can't they tell you that before you buy them, then I would have waited to get everything resized.

  These parts include;

 

Here's the intake.  It's just a Performer that I got off ebay.  Have Ported it and polished it the best that you can get into the small runners.  I have removed the water xover for two reasons,  the first, to eliminate any heat transfer that will occur between the water and the incoming air charge, the second, is I plan on getting a Torquer II and having another carb (I got lots) set up for power and using this one for commuting.  There will only be 8 bolts in the way of a complete swap this way.  It was really easy to do, I used a jigsaw and a grinder for the preliminary work, then, I used the polishing kit to smooth it out a little.  Was going to do the entire intake, but that's too much work right now, I need to get it together and drive it SOON.

 

 

Here it is at the mock up stage.  I am still waiting on Valve springs and retainers, then the heads are going into the shop for final machining.

 

 

Just finished puttin the slugs in the hole's

 

 

The bottom end's all buttoned up,  just waiting for the pan

 

 

 

One head's valve train all adjusted,  just waiting on another pushrod.  Seems I had 16 once upon a time, but when we go to assemble,  there's only 15.  Oh,  and O know I said I was going Harlan sharp roller rockers,  and I will, I just have a set of 1.5 and 1.65's off a buddy of mine in Toronto and I am going to experiment with ratio mixing before I buy a set of rollers.

 

 

The old powerplant coming out,  this is after 3 can's of degreaser.  Guess that's what you get when you buy a TA that has a thin bead of silicone for valve cover gasket's

 

 

Pretty ugly huh?

 

 

What I have now.  Took another 4 can's of degreaser,  scraping, a hand wash with a scrub brush and a cleaning concoction of my own design.  Plus, 3 can's of satin black epoxy.

That was all for the first year.  The fall of 2004 I had a run in with a retaining wall @30MPH.  Tweaked the sub frame a little.  Enough to warrant replacing. 

 

Here's some more part's I put on the engine this year.  From WWW.SpottsPerformance.com 

They include

The shocks were actually ordered locally through the parts store. 

Also, I replaced the Total seal Piston rings this year with a Moly set.  I was having oil consumption issues and allot of people have bad thing's to say about Total Seal's ring's in relation to oil consumption.  Apparently they can flutter more than regular ring's, allowing oil blow by.  I replaced them, only to find out that the machine shop that cut my valve seat's screwed up the valve guides somehow.  All 8 intake valves suck oil in.  Needless to say, I'm not impressed.  Now, I have to send my heads down to www.SDPerformance.com this winter for new guides and such.  And, I never really needed to tear down and replace the ring's. 

 I have a temporary fix for the oil consumption though.  Since leaky valve guides suck the most through when manifold vacuum is highest, I restricted the valve cover breather by plugging it with JB weld and drilling a 1/16" hole.  This, with a PCV valve created negative pressure in the crankcase.  It helps combat the suction that pulls the oil past the valve seal's.  The only drawback is at high RPM, with a restricted breather, the crankcase builds up pressure and blows out wherever it can.  Recently, it found a home with my timing cover gasket.  Nothing major, only happens at prolonged periods of 120+MPH running  LOL  A true crankcases vacuum pump would be better, and give a little more HP, but there expensive.  To expensive to justify right now.  Best to get the heads fixed first.

 

Here's a pic of the new sub and all the detailing work.  Everything was repainted and the Sub and rad support were painted using POR-15.

Another

 

Final look in installed in the TA.

 

Here's a pic of my Rodney Red Aluminum Rad with dual fan's from a 2001 Trans Am.  It fit's and works awesome

 

From the front

Here's the preliminary Dyno2000 on the engine.  I wish I had a flow bench near buy so I could get he flows of the head.  I feel and have been told that the numbers are more than likely a little low, because of the cam/lifters but I am happy with them where they are and if there higher, that's a plus

sound/Vid 1.mpg

 Here  is a link to a vid of my TA on the highway.  It's 8.7megs in size.  Just stuck my camera on the dash while was doing 60MPH when I went to pass a car.  Nothing special, but you can hear the engine sing nicely

 

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