project RECOVERY ONE

[7d9_z28]

yes kyle, i learned this: MORE CHAINS   

[Kyle]

yes kyle, i learned this: MORE CHAINS   

[Kyle]

well i got the top end of the new 400 taken off. cant say if its good news or its bad news. its clean, really clean. had some 882 casting heads on it. but it turns out the block was already bored .040 over!!!  theres still a little cross hatching left on it so it hasnt had too many miles on it since the rebuild. as far as i can tell theyre just some cheap dished pistons, nothin fancy bout em. i checked out one of the main bearings and the crank wasnt ground from what i found

[OHEARN.2012]

build a 383 like me save the money sucks people have to lie to sell suin

[Kyle]

build a 383 like me save the money sucks people have to lie to sell suin

i dont think the guy had really lied to me, he prolly just didnt know. he really didnt know a whole lot about 400s in general and he just said it ran and it came out of a mid 80s truck(that casting was only made between 70 and 80).... and i dont wanna go 383 because that would involve buyin ANOTHER motor. im gonna have the machine shop mic up this block and see what they have to say about it. theres a chance i may still be able to use it

[jaredw]

I just finally took the time to read this whole thread, not just parts of it.   Good job man I didn't realize my truck is going to be so similar.

When mine is all done I'm planning on heading up to the dunes, I will have to give you a heads up

Good luck with the engine stuff.  I'm hoping mine makes me though the rest of the year, and I have this to play with.

Its just a newer crate motor that came out of mexico, haven't tore into it yet but it runs smoooooth

[Kyle]

I just finally took the time to read this whole thread, not just parts of it.    Good job man I didn't realize my truck is going to be so similar.

When mine is all done I'm planning on heading up to the dunes, I will have to give you a heads up

Good luck with the engine stuff.  I'm hoping mine makes me though the rest of the year, and I have this to play with.

Its just a newer crate motor that came out of mexico, haven't tore into it yet but it runs smoooooth

thanks for takin the time to read the whole thing and thanks agin! definately give me a heads up when ya go! i always like headin up to silver lake!

what kind of motor is that? just a 350? and a running motor is so much easier to work with. everything on the inside isnt usually cruddy and a mess. itd be a good cantidate for a 383 stroker!

[jwang203]

That has always kind of been my idea. I love the torque of a 383. I have the casting numbers somewhere but its just a 250 hp base crate replacement. PO of the 79 said the put it in truck and was hardly driven.. Under the valve covers look new but that's all I looked at. Btw I love your cold air intake. I've only seen it one other time on a camaro and wanted one ever since

[Kyle]

That has always kind of been my idea. I love the torque of a 383. I have the casting numbers somewhere but its just a 250 hp base crate replacement. PO of the 79 said the put it in truck and was hardly driven.. Under the valve covers look new but that's all I looked at. Btw I love your cold air intake. I've only seen it one other time on a camaro and wanted one ever since

for only 250 hp its prolly just a 350. but everything being clean and looking new under the valve covers is a good sign that everything is in good shape.

and thanks! i was able to make that myself

[jaredw]

ha, i mustve logged in under a old username for that last one....  yeah its a 350, sorry I thought I wrote that in there.

[Kyle]

well dropped off the 400 at the machine shop yesterday. the guy says it should be just fine with a hone and reringed.... but then he was also talkin to me about different ideas to make it better and more reliale.... so it looks like my buget just doubled in the machining department... the ideas he brought up to help me out were: 5.7 forged rods, surface deck it to 9.000", balance the rotating assembly, line hone, and upgrade to a roller cam

[jaredw]

If you do the extra work that would be awesome.  Do you think its necessary for what you want though? Not much of a budget if it just doubled haha

[Kyle]

If you do the extra work that would be awesome.  Do you think its necessary for what you want though? Not much of a budget if it just doubled haha

no it wasnt really much of a budget to begin with. originally i just wanted to do bare minumums as for the bottom end, but as ive accumulated better top end parts than originally planned i might as well build it right. as for necessary....eh. i drive this thing every day for work and tow with it and beat on it, i want it to be able to hold up under all the abuse. and because its not just a straight tear down and rebuild, and i have iron eagle heads and a performance top end i should prolly spend a little more to have a bottom end properly suited to help in the long run....

Cheap...Reliable....High horsepower....you can only pick 2

[Kyle]

specs for my heads:

http://www.dartheads.com/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2010/08/180-Iron-Eagle-Small-Block-Head.pdf

[Kyle]

well during my spare time i made a receiver mount for my cheap winch that i had gotten for christmas. its better than nothin when im in a bind wheelin on my own! i still gotta finish makin the fairlead and wire it all with a custom relay box that im workin on

[rangerwheelinmike]

whats that for to pull out your lawnmower?

[Kyle]

whats that for to pull out your lawnmower?

why not? it was free, i had it laying around so i might as well use it... i call it my JEEP extractor! ya mean you dont try to bog your lawnmover?

[rangerwheelinmike]

whats that for to pull out your lawnmower?

why not? it was free, i had it laying around so i might as well use it... i call it my JEEP extractor! ya mean you dont try to bog your lawnmover?

the jeep extractor i like it

[Kyle]

well i got the fairlead finished painted and all mounted, mouned a relay box and wired everything up for the winch. only problem is with one set of relays, it wount unspool by switch. i can still freespool it by unhooking the bail and pullin it out by hand and it does retract by switch so far. im thinkin i bought some relays that were too big and required too much voltage for them to activate cuz it says 14VDC on the top while i have one older one that only says 12V on the top. im hoping thats what it is, otherwise ill just rip that half out and just run it one direction by switch

[Kyle]

update over the summer:

well got the winch working properly with all the relays and such, didnt have to buy any new relays. went up to drummond island and wheeled some trails up there for a while, camera died so theres no pics but i did hit some tight ass trails and some good rock hill climbs. did manage to get up to silver lake one more time too and didnt break anything! got it all waxed and shined up and just did the cars for cancer car show last weekend. ill put some pics of that up at least

everything has been working just fine on it for the most part which kinda worries me too... hopefully the motor holds out for the winter... its startin to really show its tired, 247k and its been pushed pretty hard the last couple years