Something I built actually WORKS

I have to share a joy with you all. The 454 project has come together. Its in, it runs, and I'm loving life.

For those of you who don't know, this was my first. I had done head swaps before, and intakes and cams, but never have I started with a bare block and assembled an engine from scratch. Every single piece I had to assemble, from every bearing and seal, to every nut and bolt. The one exception was the piston pins. They were press fit, so I let the boys with the right tools do that. Boy it feels good. I gapped every ring, I installed every seal, torqued every main, rod, and head bolt, and I even spec'd out exactly what I wanted the machine shop to do. I told them my desired bore clearances, which brand parts to use, and what clearances for the oil I wanted to use.

I'm very proud of myself right now because earlier today I went downstairs, cleaned up some last minute things, turned the key and bam, off she went. It was serendipity because I quickly went out and hit it with the timing light and it was darn close to perfect. I guessed good. :)

I went back in to check the oil pressure and at cold fast idle it was making 65 psi. After it warmed up it was making 40 at about 1000 rpms. Tomorrow is tune up (although I SUCK at tune ups) and I have to put in the new tranny mount so I can drive it.

Although I'm tooting my own horn and patting myself on the back, this couldn't have been done without the help of several people, including several of you here. Thanks so much for making my first time so special :D :D

Take a look at it; http://www.curtisandkim.com/impalawagon.htm It will be updated later with a couple more pictures.

Congratulations, Curtis! I can imagine how good a feeling this is. Do you have children? ;)

Nope, no kids... unless you count the six cars. The sad thing is that now I'm looking for a split bumper camaro to house my extra 454, I have a freebie 50's crown school bus waiting for me, and a very supportive wife :) The supportive wife is great, except that I need someone to say, "don't spend that money."

Congrats Curtis! I'm glad to hear everything worked out. Evening the timming was close to the money! Nice. I think I can speak for everybody to say that we all appreciate you being on these forums to.

But hey, at least the money is going torwards somthing that makes you happy. :smile:

Congrats curtis! Can't wait for the pics!

Congratulations. Getting the timming really close, thats pretty cool for a first time build. I would like to second the thanks to you for the help you have given to everyone here.

Brings back memories of an old friends car...'68 Biscayne Wagon with factory 427(425), 4 speed, etc. Car was special order for the owner of Raceway Park(Englishtown, NJ). Don't remember how my buddy wound up with it. What a great sleeper.

Congrats on the successful build and good luck with her.

Excellent! We can't give birth...that's why God made engines! It's a great feeling of accomplishment. Congrats!

You're all so kind. Thanks, and look out for the 400-hp wagon in your neighborhood. Tomorrow I start the froo-froo stuff like buffing and polishing.

I had a chance today to actually open it up. Although the vacuum advance still needs some fine tuning, it got a little loose in the back end in second gear on the way down the street. It felt good to be half sideways without posi :)

Wait, wait, wait. You can build a fucking engine from a BARE BLOCK and have the timing close to perfect...but you suck at tune-ups??? WTF??? :)

Oh, yeah, and congrats!

Wait, wait, wait. You can build a fucking engine from a BARE BLOCK and have the timing close to perfect...but you suck at tune-ups??? WTF??? :)

Oh, yeah, and congrats!

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

Believe it or not, I DO suck at tune ups. I'm the worst tune up guy on the planet. I thought I had my last tune up right until I couldn't get my vacuum over 12 inches. Turns out I had the timing so retarded that I had to crank the idle screw up so high I couldn't get much vacuum.

Now on this one, I can't find a ported vacuum source and I fear I've done the same thing. All of the ports give me manifold vacuum at about 13 inches, so my guess is that I've done the same bonehead thing again.

... and the build up and timing was because I could follow directions in a book, and I got lucky with the ignition :lol2:

Congradulations....it's always a nice feeling to bolt together a series of seemingly unconnected parts and have it work right....the first time.

I rebuilt about 10 engines before I ran into a problem....I rebuilt a motorcycle engine....which wouldn't start afterwards (until I tow-started it at 15 mph) and had little compression. Turns out I had the compression rings installed upside down.

As for tune ups....a good tune up guy thoroughly understands the interaction of all the variables...timing, mixture, throttle opening etc. and I know you do. The rest is just some experience and experimentation.
Many times I have pissed off my neighbours at 1 am as I try out a new tuning set-up with a stopwatch and some zero to 60 times.

I had a look at your site....hmmmm..........no kids, 6 cars and an understanding wife.....sounds like my situation, except I am freezing my nuts off whenever I have to work on something in the winter.

Your Q-Jet problem with no ported vacuum.......I have encountered this before.
Chances are the donor van was a 3/4 or 1 ton van. Some of these (not all) were set up to use only manifold vacuum for the advance and a ported source was not available
(Lord knows why....it costs power and economy, I suspect it was to control emissions or combustion chamber heat since these engines were intended for full throttle loads for extended periods of time.)

I suspect you could swap in a different Q-jet top, (and retain your 800 cfm body) or locate one and compare it to yours (underneath) and see where the castings differ, as a guide for modification.

Curtis, How elaborate are you getting with the vacuum system? Is there a reason you don't want manifold vacuum to the vac. advance?

Later GM vacuum advance systems (about 1968 and later) use ported vacuum for the ignition. Its more efficient, gets better power and mileage, and allows more accurate curves based on load.

With the light springs used in the post-68 vacuum canisters, they would have full advance at all the wrong times if you gave it manifold vacuum.

You can tell the difference with your mouth sucking on the canister. Late ones only require a tiny sucking to get them to move, but early ones are all but impossible to move with your mouth.

If you're using a stock vac. advance you may run into knock due to early pull-in, but if you use an aftermarket replacement (at least the major brands such as Echlin, in my experience) you can adjust the starting pull-in point easily. The only requirement is that it have a straight nipple. I'll describe if you're unfamiliar/interested.

I would absolutely love to hear. I have heard so much contradictory information about ignitions in my life that anything at this point would be gold. :)

I understand vacuum, ignition curve requirements, and how they relate to engines, but how to actually set an engine up for proper operation... I am clueless.

Here's what I know. I want to get about 36* total advance. The mechanical advance in the Mallory distributor provides 22*, so (mechanically speaking) I need about 14 initial. I had planned this based on the fact that the Mallory was set up for ported vacuum; adding advance during part throttle and during throttle tip-in. That all makes sense to me.

I have come to trust your advice, so anything you can advise would be appreciated.

Sweet project man, hopefully my gf is as supportive as your wife :)

If you're using a stock vac. advance you may run into knock due to early pull-in, but if you use an aftermarket replacement (at least the major brands such as Echlin, in my experience) you can adjust the starting pull-in point easily. The only requirement is that it have a straight nipple. I'll describe if you're unfamiliar/interested.

Oh, I see what you're talking about now... the adjustable canister that you use an allen wrench to adjust. Yes, this has one. I'm pretty sure this one you turn in to delay advance.

So you're saying that with that adjustable canister I can use it to more closely approximate a ported vacuum curve?

Pretty much. Actually, just set it so that it takes 4" or more to start pulling in. Should work fine and increase your idle vacuum and idle quality.

I found today (upon removing the TB that there is in fact no ported source on this carb. It would be easy to add one with an .059" drill. Judging by what you've said, you feel that a manifold source is better. Is that the case?

I agree that the extra advance at idle will help my idle quality, the advance is full at idle and drops off as load increases... which makes sense. The more load you have, the less advance you should have.

After the ported orifice is uncovered, does manifold vacuum = ported vacuum? If that's the case then I understand completely. The only difference would be idle advance which will be better with manifold vacuum. At all other throttle points the curve would be identical regardless of which signal you use... Am I on the right track?

I may still add a ported source for my charcoal canister purge. If I do add a ported source, in your opinion do you think I should keep the ign advance on manifold? Or since I'm going to the trouble of adding the ported source, should I switch?

If you add ported vacuum, you can use either for the advance. Once the ported hole is fully uncovered it will be nearly equal. There may be a slight difference, but the advance won't notice it. I really don't have a preference, except to say that manifold vacuum on an engine with a larger than stock cam can make a more tolerable idle, and makes a more stable idle. You've got the right idea of it all.

Excellent... Thank you. You are very good at explaining in words that I understand.