Sandrocks master plan

[HotRodPC]

Then I wanna see them back up sensors on your next truck!

I can't imagine that could be to hard.

 

[Old77]

I can't imagine that could be to hard.

Just not sure where you'd place them and how you'd keep them outta the weather enough to not get "gunked" up.....

 

[sandrock]

Alright...update time.

New pistons and old Vortec rods are at the machine shop getting married...decided to use the Vortec rods since they are powdered metal, and the fact they are beefier than the rods that came with the ebay pistons I got.

Traded off a 750 Holley carb that I rebuilt for a set of "double hump" Chevy heads. Unfortunately, they don't come with accessory holes, so I am hoping they can be machined in. If not, I'll fully restore them and resell them. Backup plan is to reuse the TBI heads with a good porting job and stamped steel roller rockers (either head set will get that anyway).

Refinished the valve covers that came with the donor motor...decided to go with a black wrinkle finish. Each cover got about 4 coats of VHT Wrinkle, each coat getting a shock treatment with the heat gun to accelerate the wrinling process. Once the paint is fully cured, I'll snap a few pics.

Finally...decided to drop the Vortec stuff once and for all and go with....L98 top end. Pulled the trigger on an almost complete topend (minus the TB) for the princely sum of 180 shipped. I'll have the upper intake machined to accept the new-style MAP sensor...will probably go with the same setup the 96-up Camaro/Firebird L36 uses (since I have those housings anyway). I'll post pics of that too.

 

[Irishman999]

Thanks for the update, you sound busy as hell. I am very curious to see your wrinkle finish paint, I have a set of old school M/T valve covers i wanted to restore and I think thats just the stuff!

 

[sandrock]

VHT makes it in both red and black. Just like painting anything else, prep work is key. But unlike painting with regular paint, heat is a huge factor. It needs heat to wrinkle properly, and how much heat applied in the various stages creates a different finish. Spraying it by itself with no heat will produce a small wrinkle. Preheating the metal, then painting will produce a medium wrinkle, preheat plus baking after each layer will produce a very noticeable finish. I used a heat gun and preheated the covers, then sprayed AND used the heat gun at the same time, which produced not a wrinkle but a speckled finish...very textured and closely mimics the 60's finish.

I plan to also paint much of the L98 upper in the same fashion.

 

[sandrock]

Short block is done!!

Finished it up this morning, last thing being done is the painting of the oil pan and mounting it.

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I did make one small mistake...overtorqued one of the rear main housing bolts. Before putting it on, I used a small thin coat of silicone on the gasket, so I should still be ok.

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Here you can see my oil temp sender mod. 5/8s hole is perfect, and a liberal amount of JB Weld seals it up just fine.

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There was something weird about this block. It had NO dipstick hole....just the boss. Did my best to drill it out, so here's hoping the tube mounts in just fine.

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And...those valve covers

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Next step are the heads and intake....stay tuned.

 

[Old77]

valve covers look really nice man!

 

[sandrock]

Thanks! I plan on doing the same thing to the upper intake on the L98 setup, or paint it the same color I painted the oil pan.

Since I posted the pics, I pulled one of the heads off the old busted non-sexy block. Looks usable, but wont know for sure until I drop them off at the machine shop.

 

[sandrock]

Wow...3.66/gal for squirrel pee. This does not bode well.

I'm actually considering making this rig CNG. Here in Oklahoma, there are tons of CNG stations, with the one in Mustang offering 88 cents/gallon equivalent. That makes the conversion almost a no-brainer.

 

[HotRodPC]

Wow...3.66/gal for squirrel pee. This does not bode well.

I'm actually considering making this rig CNG. Here in Oklahoma, there are tons of CNG stations, with the one in Mustang offering 88 cents/gallon equivalent. That makes the conversion almost a no-brainer.

You keep me posted on that Sand. I'm on board with you doing that. I don't know how close you are to any of them CNG stations, but the shuttles at the Airport used to run CNG, then they went to Diesel. Last I heard, they were opening up the CNG station again and thinking of going back to CNG. They used to fill right there on TerminalDr /Meridian just after the last light before you enter the airport Arriving/Departure ramps. That wouldn't be far from you at all. I'd love to go CNG. Plenty of it here in OKC metro.

 

[sandrock]

The ONG on 152 has a filliing station. That's roughly 3 miles from my home, with other stations well within easy reach. Since I'm building this to be little more than a local runner, it's easier for me to justify making it solely CNG instead of dual-fuel. The only issue would be the CNG tank...it would effectively take half of the storage space inside the cabin, which would make the truck nowhere near as useful.

 

[HotRodPC]

The ONG on 152 has a filliing station. That's roughly 3 miles from my home, with other stations well within easy reach. Since I'm building this to be little more than a local runner, it's easier for me to justify making it solely CNG instead of dual-fuel. The only issue would be the CNG tank...it would effectively take half of the storage space inside the cabin, which would make the truck nowhere near as useful.

I could much careless if the tank took up the whole damn bed at these gas prices. I'd love to get the hell away from gas. Are you saying .88 cents a gallon equivelant? And what kind of mpg??? I'd also expect a bit of a power loss. I don't care about that either. Maybe if I can get something cheap enough to drive daily and the have to miles, then maybe I can afford to drive the toys on a recrational basis.

 

[sandrock]

Yeah, that's equivalent price. Still, that's a hella good deal considering. TBI would be the easiest and cheapest way to implement, but I've already gone so far into the TPI and PCM mods that there is no turning back. MPG would be roughly 20% lower, which would equal the same MPG I would get had I kept TBI and the water pump fan. Power loss would be noticeable, but not a deal breaker (Power loss wouldn't be noticed anyways if it's a single fuel source...no way to reference what gasoline power would feel like!)

Speaking of which...the PCM can be tuned/flashed to *properly* run CNG IF you know what numbers to change. That's a whole new area for me to explore (I do have an HP Tuner and I know how to rewrite calibrations, I just don't know what numbers to aim for with CNG). The injectors would have to be custom mounted in some way too. Considering the amount of work involved, this will probably add 3-6 months on the build vs. sticking with gas.

The other option (a lot less involved) would be e85, but those stations are few and far between.

 

[HotRodPC]

I don't think e85 is near that cheap though. I don't anything about CNG conversion. I had even considered propane but I think it went up in price too. Probably something I could research and get the details though. I'd do it in a heartbeat. The last time I considered a propane convesion long ago, it was near $600 for the conversion and that incuded a bed tank. Was also not electronic and was dual fuel.

 

[HotRodPC]

Thinking of this, I wonder if it would pay off to find out what shcool districts ran CNG buses. I know some were some CNG that ran big block 366 motors. I've bought school busses before for $700 and seem them sell for $600-$800. Might be an idea to hit up a shcool auction, buy a CNG bus for $800, get the tank, motor and CNG apparatus, then scrap the bus. At todays prices, you'd get your $800 back in scrap metal and have a CNG 366 tall big block motor.