^That's what I was thinking.

 

I redid the timing today. As far as I can tell I reset it back to the same spot

Still nothing, but I did get two blow-backs.

I even went and loosened the distributor and moved it left, then right. Nothing.

I'm at a loss of what to do. I know for a FACT the initial timing is set correct, I'm getting spark, I'm getting fuel and air. /Shrug

 

Over the weekend I had a friend come over who is a fantastic engine builder. We set the timing correctly, set it at 20 degrees before TDC and even 20 degrees after TDC, still nothing. I even went as far to starting jumping the number 1 posts around just to SEE if I could get SOMETHING.

We were able to get it to rumble a few times, but that was it. Spent a good 3 hours on it last night. So like I said, at a total loss. I'm trying to hunt down someone with a carb that I can borrow to try and eliminate that from the equation.

 

awesome build man, the engine looks amazing as does every thing else you have done, i hope you get things figured out, i know its got to be killing you not to hear your baby roar

 

I think I found my answer in this paragraph:

"The simple answer is yes, valve lash can be set too tight on vortec engines (and probably any other engine with hydraulic lifters.) I know from hard experience: I've just tortured myself the same way Crewdawgg has. I fought for a couple weeks thinking I had a problem with timing or fuel injectors. It turns out I had set the valve lash too tight. The result: the engine would crank, I had spark, I had fuel, but the engine would not fire, except for an occasional backfire, sometimes in the intake, sometimes in the exhaust."

While we were f*cking with the timing we noticed my rockers and zero side to side movement. This was my first time dealing with hydraulic lifters, so I did not know any better. I followed Comp Cams directions as best as I knew how, but its obvious now that I tightened the rockers down too tight.

Give me a few days......

 

I hope it didn't mess your cam up..

 

Shhhhhhh

 

during WW2 our fighter planes held 9 yard belts of ammo for those lovely browning 50 cals. 9 yards each .so the saying "i gave him the whole nine yards" comes from this

 

Nice build !!!! I remember buying a 1984 trans am brand new, it had the 305 h.o and fully optioned out. Was a fun car for what it was ...

 

It's alive!! It's a-live!!!!!!

Stupid me had the valve train on too tight. Fixed that and it fired right up!

At first we didn't get to run the car for long. We noticed the engine running hot so we looked down and the headers were cherrying. Needless to say we shut it down pretty quick. A quick adjustment of the distributor (and plugging in the distributor to the computer) fixed it.

Also got the carb adjusted well enough to run somewhat smoothly and w/o killing the engine. I guess I rebuilt the carb well enough to at least run

So I have 3 leaks.
1) Lower timing chain cover - shouldn't be a problem to fix
2) Tranny fluid coming from behind the shroud - crap. Not sure why that is happening...
3) Tranny fluid is POURING out of the tranny pan. Looks like being propped up for 7 months warped the pan. Oh well, I planned on dropping it anyways.

More to come!

 

wow sounds like you had a real camaro experience with your engine there

you had great expectations
things went wrong, like way wrong and you didn't know why
you found out why and fixed everything, uh sorta
other things went wrong just as you were feeling like you kinda won
eh so what still got a camaro

this is a camaro experience ^

 

Love those valve covers!

 

I agree, the dizzy is 180 out.

 

Ended up I did the timing just fine. I set the valve lash completely wrong (too tight) which didn't let the valves close all the way. Once that was remedied everything was fine.

I spent the weekend finishing up a few things. I've fixed most of the leaks, but the tranny is still leaking fluid. I've ordered a new pan from Summit that will be here tomorrow. While I had the pan off I modified the TV valve.

I'll get more pictures up as soon as I get some time.

 

Wow, just read the whole thread and this build is coming along really nicely. Great job man! Keep it comin!

 

updates, any work one on er? get that 305 running good again?

 

Yes I do have updates!

She purrs like a kitten now... a leaky one.... but she purrs!

I'm still having problems with the tranny pan leaking, even with my new aluminum one. I'm giving up on it and going to let someone else deal with that.

When I first got the engine going, it got hot very quick. A minute or 2 goes by and we look down and see the headers are glowing
I don't think the pictures show it, but here they are as soon as we shut down and I was able to get the phone's camera up and going



Right there ^^^^ Look right below the wire separator. Nice and cherry, which is probably why the headers have dulled significantly..... /tear

I ordered the Summit Brand aluminum transmission pan. I'm not too happy with it. For one, it's very heavy for an aluminum piece. Second, the 'cooling ribs' are hardly that. I would call them dimples in the pan. The one good thing about it is the drain hole.




While installing the pan I stripped 2 bolt threads while torquing them down to 8 ft lbs. My fault? Crappy bolts? 30 year old threads? Anywho, I ended up getting some grade 8 bolts and drill/tapped 2 new threads. I would have liked to have done ALL the threads this way, but let's not get carried away here

 

I've been tinkering with the carb a lot trying to get perfect idle but it isn't as easy as I thought it would be. I can get the car to idle at ~1200 but nothing less. I'm sure it has to do with some adjustment somewhere, but I don't know. I found a place here in Vegas that will tune the carb on the car so I may them mess it. They even have the dwell meter and all that stuff.

I also need to put a timing light on the car and dial in the timing. It's running great right now, but the timing was done by ear.

Monday I'm going to get the SLP LM2 exhaust put one. I'm stupid excited about that.

Tomorrow is the moment of truth though - does the hood fit? As of now it's a toss up; it's going to be very very close.

As soon as I figure out how to embed a youtube video I'll post up the first start.

 

should be in the video menu, (embed code) from there copy it and paste it if it works............hmmm i'll try

 

I FINALLY figure out how to do this. It's a long video, but skip to about 3:40 for the actual startup. Enjoy!

And about 8:30 is when we found glowing headers, hehe

 

how? i was just messing with it lol

 

The phrase didnt enter common usage until the 60s, 20 years after World War II. The earliest known usage is in 1962. Furthermore the actual explanation about ammo belts on World War II fighters didnt start turning up until the 1990s, 30 years after the phrase was common. That's not to say it cant be true, but it's one of those phrases that's really hard to nail down the origins due to different explanations not really adding up properly.

 

Great thread IROCtheRoad!!

You've done a whole lotta work to it. It really reminds me of when I tore my
'83 down and I've been to all the places and had some of the same issues you've had during your build.

Thanks for posting up the pics of the Dyno Dons headers installed on your ride. I'm actually going to install the same set on my car, and it gave me a clue on how they'll fit mine. Only diffence in my car is that I'm not running the stock oil pan since I have a 400 - dipstick's on the opposite side. I'm really concerned how close the Y-pipe is going to come to my oil pan. I had to modify the Edelcrock Y-pipe with the TES headers I have on it now.

As far as your headers glowing red, it's a classic sign of too retarded on the timing, or extremly lean....I'd opt for the timing being way off. Hopefully your computer will play nice with the XE268 cam you have in it, but I'll admit I'm skeptical on that one.

When I built my original HO to play with the 'puter, I opted for a Crane Comp-U-Cam 2040 and it ran great. I still have it on a stand when I swapped it out in favor of the 400 I have in it now...it only had less than 3K on it when I pulled it. It was totally rebuilt too. No idea what I'm going to do with it. No one wants a 305 - even one with great power like mine had.

Anyways, great build! I'm sure you'll work these bugs out and it'll be a nice ride for sure.

 

The headers themselves dropped in almost perfect. I had to oh-so-lightly move the brake lines and I also didn't have the AC system on which helped a lot. Since the exhaust logs are no longer on you have to get creative with finding a way to secure the dipstick. There is plenty of room between the y-pipe and oil pan.

I agree with the engine running too lean. Once we shut it off we advanced the timing a little and I plugged the distibutor back into the computer. So far the computer is taking care of the timing for now.

I ended up sending back the XE268 for the XE262. I figured since I am now running the stock heads (instead of the Trick Flows) I should tame the cam down a little. The cam doesn't sound too lopey, but we'll see. I don't really plan to keep the computer in there for too much longer anyways. The system works perfectly fine, but my engine plans will require that it disappear soon.

 

i was looking at jegs headers, wondering how they'd fit in, planning on doing them and deleting all the emissions bs form the car at the same time this summer

 

I honestly couldn't tell you. I went with Don's because of how well everyone was reviewing them.

I got the exhaust put on today! It sound freakin amazing. Video to come.

 

Here's some pictures from the exhaust shop:







Overall I'm very happy with the LM2 setup as far as quality goes. We had to modify the driver side exit a bit, but no biggie.

 

 

This picture makes me sad. We had to make a 45 degree bend, and it's obviously not mandrel....

Knowing me I'll prolly end up buying a 45 degree mandrel pipe and have welded up in it's place. I really can't stand having the kink in there.

The exhaust was put on my 6651 Customs here in Las Vegas. A big thumbs up for them
They do custom exhaust and body/lighting/sound modifications. Very high quality work and they usually have high end cars in their shop that they are doing some cool stuff to.

One more thing I forgot to mention. THE HOOD DOESN'T FIT! I knew it would be a close call, but there is no way you can close the hood with the factory air cleaner. I couldn't even get the hood to get to the first 'latch.' So my options are as follows:
1) Find an extreme drop base (old Corvette style), but this would ruin the use of the factory air cleaner and chose the carb
2) Replace the RPM with Edelbrock's regular intake. I'm afraid that would kill the top end that I'm going for
3) Cervini hood. I think I'm going to go this route once I can dig up $650 bucks - aka not soon. This will allow me to use a roots supercharger when I put the other engine in that I'm slowly building or to use a higher intake manifold.

 

 

Sounds a little louder and raspier than the Hooker catback I have on mine, but it sounds real healthy! I have the quad tips on my car also...people either love them or hate 'em.

As far as the hood not shutting...I ran a Weiand Action Plus intake on mine along with the stock dual snorkle air cleaner with no issues. It even has provisions for an EGR - or a blank off plate you can install. Probably not as good an intake for all-out performance, but a good comprimise. I still have my old composite hood and my dual snorkle in the garage taking up much needed space. But I'm holding on to all my HO stuff.

Don't mean to clog up your great build post...feel free to PM me if you want to know what NOT to do! lol

 

The exhaust is not raspy what so ever. I believe the iPhone's mic quality may be to blame for the supposed 'rasp.'

Aside from that I did some research last night. I'm going to try and use a 1.25 inch drop base first. If that still isn't enough the old L-88 Corvette drop bases will clear, but the MCS on the E4ME may be in the way. Nothing a little massaging can't fix. Seems like my only option is to try and see if it clears the linkages.

I hate running an open air element, but it may have to work for the mean time. Eventually I'll track down a lathe around here and have the dual snorkel welded (very very nicely mind you) to the drop base assembly. Seems very trick to me and would look as stock as possible.

 

Was going thru your thread and saw what you were planning on doing with the gauge faces and remembered I saw these.. thought they were pretty cool and thought I'd share the idea with you... what do you think..? Stone

 

^those are for the 90-92 though, aren't they?

 

Yes, but the idea is the same.. I believe he did it on his computer and printed it out. The same procedure could be had for our (85-89) cars don't you think..?.. stone

 

his is an 84, and i don't think, you can see where (intimidatorZ iirc) has tabs on his printout to actually mount that to his gauges, where as with the completely rounded gauges in the 84 have no such thing, they'd have to be printed on like a sticker paper or as decals and overlayed. then again i could be totally wrong though so feel free to correct me anyone

 

Yes, sticker is how it would work.. I have an extra gauge cluster from an 87 that I'm going to try it on with it printed on a stcker backed paper.. I like the matt finish.. and modern font and a chance to put an IROC or Z28 emblem.. Stone

 

idk if its original or someone did it but i have a z28 logo on my 140 mph speedo, never seen another original one like that, and it was swapped by the dealer in 84 love that car 33k on her now, switching over to synthetic tomorrow

 

The speedo you are talking about was an aftermarket speedo that could be bought back in the 80s. I saw an old add somewhere on the interwebs about it. It was the only way to get a 140 mph speedo before the factory came out with them.

As far as overlays for the round gauges, yeah, don't think that would work out too well.

 

I think it could look pretty good. There are some nice overlays on ebay that are pretty cheap, but it would be cool to be able to say you made your own

 

Actually, I have the same one...it says "Z28" on the bottom of the speedo. I bought it off a board member on here several years back. I just had to get rid of that crappy mph/kmh daul needle speedo it came with.

I've seen a few members on here buy nice aftermarket gage sets....there's a vendor that sells the panals with gages and everything installed, but they are PRICEY!!

There's yet others that made nice ones by themselves.

 

cool, atleast now i know its original

 

If it's original, you're right...it's a Dealer installed item.

 

invoice for te swap is in a file i have on the car, every receipt for it (except gas) is in there, tires, oil changes, brake pads, belts, everything

 

A little update:

I bought a 1.5 inch drop base air cleaner. It doesn't work due to the TPS sensor on the carb.

Also, while putting the hood back on SOMEHOW the backing plate for one of the bolts busted, aka free spinning bolt. I had to drill a hole in the bracing to get to it. I'm kinda back at square one. I don't want to replace the carb or the intake, so it looks like a Cervini hood is going to be ordered soon.

I also found a good deal on a 1LE setup that I plan on getting. I just have to find a way to pay for these 2 things. Looks like it's time for an instrument to get posted on Craigslist.

Transmission pan is STILL leaking pretty good. I used Permatex Grey in place of a physical gasket, so we'll see how that turns out.

 

Note: Don't EVER use Permatex Grey transmission gasket. This **** got into the fluid and didn't seal worth crap.

As I was removing the bolts from the pan it caused many of the threads to strip out

I'm back to square one, except this time I removed the transmission crossmemeber and drill/tapped all 16 pan bolts and rethreaded them to 3/8 x 16. I ordered another gasket, bought all the hardware so I should be good to go.... again....

I'm replacing the transmission mount since I have it all apart. FML

 

its worth the piece of mind to know its done right, right?

 

Man you are just having all kinds of issues aren't you? lol

 

Yep. Tranny is coming out as I type this (dinner break). My re-re-re-do with a different gasket didn't work. Much less fluid coming out, but still bad.

We figure there is a crack in the housing.... FML

By the way, engine purrs perfectly. Lot's of power!!!! Carb still needs to be tuned (difficult to start cold), but straight from the rebuild everything seems great.

 

oh my, a cracked housing would be bad, did it leak before the new pan?