captjim

A word about converters. A quality unit will be very tight under part throttle driving. The cheap ones will "slip" a lot more. Also, the more TQ and engine makes, the higher it will flash, so a stout BBO with a 2200 converter will probably flash higher, 2500 +/- Once you experience the joy of a GOOD converter, there is no going back. I always say do not skimp on cam or converter, both are difficult to replace, will destroy the engine/trans if it fails, and have a huge effect on how much you enjoy driving the car.

Scott Hamel

i know a big block will stall about 500rpm higher thats why i'm going with a little milder converter. 2400/2800 and i think ACC are good converters? that do you thinks the best? TCI, B&M, Hughes? Rebel Performance out of FL.. there a **** load of no name ones on ebay.. i would never spend a dime on one. Although years ago i bought a ACC boss hogg converter on ebay.. it was for a 700r4 and about 8 years later i see summit is selling them.. and the price shot up A lot!

VORTECPRO

In your dyno test what kind of lifters were you running, and what was the valve spring pressure?

z11375ss

While I owned this Speed Shop we usually went with 20% drag from the drivetrain, hence my calculation. Could be off. The rear wheel numbers are what they are. What do you think of them? Good or not so much? The line is squiggly from the tire not hooking. If you watch the vid I have posted elsewhere in The Clubhouse you can hear the tires break loose during the first run. The car is in 4th gear btw during the dyno run. We got a good laugh from that. Didn't expect it. Thanks again to Nick McGrath at Straightline Performance.

cutlassefi

Erson hyd roller lifters. Spring pressure is approx 130 on the seat and 325 open.

joesw31

I would say your drivetrain power loss would be between 10 and 15 percent as your dyno run was done in 4th gear which done thru the main shaft of the trans.

Scott Hamel

ok i ordered the cam lifters, valve spring set and new timing chain. Also ordered a Edelbrock air gap intake.. i was going to go with the procomp for half the price but.. i don't like the fact it uses less bolts to hold it down.. olds put bolt holes there for a reson..lol And if i'm going to do it i'm going to do it right the first time. now i need to let my pockets fill back up and i'm going to order the comp roller rocker kit and my converter. Wee doggie

ah64pilot

Awesome! Glad to see you are on your way Have fun with it!

Scott Hamel

What name brand converter are you automatic guys using?

captjim

Coan

VORTECPRO

This is excellent advice! I cant stand a 8 inch Coan, the worst POS Ive come across, BUT there 11 (Coan) inch approx 2400 stall converter is the best street converter Ive come across, bar none.

VORTECPRO

You are exactly right!

Scott Hamel

[QUOTE=VORTECPRO;, BUT there 11 (Coan) inch approx 2400 stall converter is the best street converter Ive come across, bar none.[/QUOTE]

is it the pro Street 11" it says its about 2600/2800 stall my cam is only asking for 2400 plus its going behind a big block so i will be stalling a little higher i believe? i don't want to go to much converter.

VORTECPRO

If you call Coan, ask for Walker, ask him for the 11 inch converter Mark Jones (Vortecpro) in Colorado runs, he can fix you up. I cant remember what they call it, but its very very streetable, and by the way it ran 11.80s in my customers 4800 pound Delta 88 convertible.

380 Racer

For my application an 8" Coan works perfect. It stalls 5400 just like I wanted.

VORTECPRO

Normally I had allways used Munsinger, but when he went nuts and closed his shop I put 4 customers into 8 inch Coans without testing them myself first, big mistake. I noticed these 4 cars really were not performing, middle of the road 60 foots, a lot of slip. A local customer had me do an upgrade to his engine, I asked him to bring in his converter so I could take a look at it, it was one of the 4 from Coan, immeadiatly I knew from looking at it I had a problem, first it was built out of the wrong core, very heavy, not the case you would want use for a foot brake car. I ended up buying all 4 Coan 8 inch converters back, all four cars now are now extremely hard leavin cars, infact one of these cars went from 11.30s to 10.30s without ever even touching the engine, converter change and working on the car. The cars I work with are usually 3600-3900 pounds, high HP, and they put special demands on the converter. Im not very happy with Walker, I have 3 of his Xtra light trans, they work fine. Im glad it worked out good for you Nick.

Scott Hamel

thanks A lot i'll call him monday tell him what i have.. 11.80s not bad for a 4800 pound car!

380 Racer

Mark, you are the first person I have talked to that hates Coan. They have been very good to me, in fact I am planning on having them change low gear set in the trans I got from them. Gonna try a different gear. Most guys are very pleased.

VORTECPRO

Nick, Im not sure hates the word but, how would you feel if you had to buy back 4 torque converters? Ive been good to them, 3 7000.00 trans, and about 15 torque converters.

Scott Hamel

thanks a boat load of money.. holy crap!

VORTECPRO

Their 11 inch street converter works very good.

380 Racer

Sorry, but IMO that's a load of crap. Coan doesn't put out junk like that.

ah64pilot

Just a thought, but it could be that you (Vortec) put an 8" racing converter in a street car. In that case, it would run like crap and have a lot of slip...but that doesn't mean that it's a piece of crap. You just put too high of a stall into a street car maybe?

VORTECPRO

Having run cars of the same body, same gear ratio, same tire, same trans, same weight with data loggers you get a clear picture of how the converter should act, the 8 inch Coans that were sold to my customers were not tested by myself before being sold, the last thing I would ever want is a converter I put a customer in making my engine look bad, making the responsibility mine to deal with. The converter is so very important to a cars performance, then followed by the rest of the drivetrain, theres much more to it than stall speed, weight, torque multiplication, slip all factor into it. I have no problem driving 350 miles to a track, racing all weekend and driving back 350 miles, at full weight with a 8 inch converter, infact Ive done it with several cars Ive owned over the years. The 8 inch Coans were junk.

Scott Hamel

hi there guys

been a little bit since i posted.. i now have all the parts to put the 455 together ( one part at a time ) i am going to be posting picks before and after.. should only take me a few days to install all the goodies.. stay tuned.

chris83

be aware that the comp cam magnum roller tip rocker kit dosent work well with big cams.i was dropping lifters and when i pulled rockers out they where a lil blueish from getting to hot.so what the spring pressure i run the comp cam extreme energy 284 cam and now the new full roller aluminum rockers by comp cams and havent had any issues so.comp cams is a really great company once i spoke to a manager and described my setup he said i should have never been sold the magnum kit and corrected the issue by sending me the new rockers,pushrods,lifters,the bigger studs and guide plates,and etc all free.only thing that sucked is i had to pay out of my pocket to have the heads machined for the bigger studs but still awsome company.well good luck and keep up the good work and if you wanna hear what my cam sounds like.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgNQa...detailpage.and before anyone ask the car was warm before i started reving it up and been driven all day lol.

Scott Hamel

ok guys the time has come, lol all my cam, roller rockers new chian intake carb etc etc is in stalled ONE small problem i cant get the motor to fire up? at first i was 180 out on the new HEI DUI i installed.. it was firing MEGA blast out the tail pipes! i fixed that.. not its turning over and popping through the cab seems like no matter where i Advance or retard timing? i did use the zero lash turn push rod till it has resistance and do a 1/2 turn. i could see with the valley cover off i was on the base circle of the cam. but i read that most people over tighten them this way? could that be the reason its just popping
? maybe the valves are hanging open? i did go with the Adjustable valve train. comp cams roller tip rockers. it ran fine before i installed the new valve train? could i have messed up the firing order i read that what ever prong on the cap is pointing { i did number one cyl } made that number one and went counter clockwise with my firing order..

i'd like to hear her run! any any help would be GREAT!

cutlassefi

I never do it that way. Try wiggling the pushrod up and down, when it won't go up and down anymore then tighten it 1/2 turn.

Double check your firing order. You might want to put a timing light on it during cranking to see if you're close as well.

Scott Hamel

well i got it to fire up.. i re set the distributer and re did the firing order. i could only let it run a few seconds because its late and the people next door will not be happy with a 20 min cam break in..lol hopefully i can get it turned and running good by noon tomorrow! then i need to drop the transmission to install my new 2500 stall i bought from summit. made by Hughes. should give it a better kick.

EightballZ

WHAT???

there are like....13(!) 1969 GT's that still exist....and he pulled the engine???

don't want to know what happend to the car...

Scott Hamel

it was a rot box but had super low miles. the car was brought to the crusher.

Scott Hamel

Well here is a BIG update. i put the motor together and the Lunati cam Failed! within 10 miles... i sent the cam and lifters back to them and they Gave me a new one.. i sold it on Ebay.. SO now the motor is out and at the machine shop getting cleaned up. { tons of metal } now i'm doing a TOTALY diff build. i bought heads off Bernard Mondello , i'm going to run a Comp cams Big mother thumper. it a roller.. no more cam fails lol the crank was polished and block is being punched to a 468 with forged speed pro pistons. should be a honest 10-1 motor with the 77cc heads. i also bought comp Gold roller rockers. sold the roller tip set up and my C heads on Ebay. i'm still using the RPM air gap intake and i changed to a Quick fuel carb. Anyway i was super bummed out i had to pull the motor and do this but thanks to chinese cam cores and crappy oil. And i even used good oil with the recommended additive and 4 lobes still went flat.. And i pulled the new inner springs for break in... i should have a nice clean start with a nice roller 468 with Aluminum heads to play with by Jan 2014... Because i'm not made of money..lol it's the small stuff that kills you i bought a ARP main stud kit ARP head bolts and rod bolts. And i'm having it all balanced at my local machine shop. R&R in Rhode Island, i Also updated the oiling system with a mildon 7 Qt pan and Melling HV oil pump. like i said its the small stuff the machine work and bal alone is over a grand!

well i will post some pics of my new toys i've been buying for it.. keep you guys posted!

cutlassefi

Why a ***** Thumpr? Those cams are for sound not performance. Plus they don't have enough lift to really take advantage of the better heads.
Man Comp has people brainwashed.

Lunati cores aren't Chinese, they're bought from CMC, an American company.
I sell a bunch of custom stuff and no problems. Something was wrong from the start.
Make sure you change the springs in the heads for the roller. And I hope your having the main saddles and rods checked if you're now putting ARP studs/bolts in it.
And why the Speed Pros? What size Quick Fuel? Sorry for all the questions.

Thanks.

TripDeuces

Where is R&R in Rhode Island? I live in RI.

Scott Hamel

The cam I picked is about .552 lift how much more lift should I have for a street car?

TRW/speed pro makes a good forged piston. I was going to use probe but I don't really want 11/1 compression on a street car.

And I my heads are set up for the roller cam straight from Bernard Mondello

And the machine shop is in Warwick trip.

Scott Hamel

The cam I bought is

http://www.cnc-motorsports.com/comp-...camshafts.html

If anyone wants to see specs

cutlassefi

Scott Hamel

If I had a cam with 580 to 590 lift with less Duration would I have to change my converter? What cam would you suggest? I'm running a Hughes 2800 converter right now.

Wisco was my second choice for pistons they seem to have bigger valve reliefs. But there full floating pins. I'd have to buy a set of eagle rods. The guy at the machine shop said he can't bush my stock rods safely? I guess the small end would be to thin?

cutlassefi

Actually imo that 2800 stall isn't enough for the cam you picked. You would be better with a 234 or so at .050 on a 110 lobe sep. It would make more vacuum than that Comp would.

And I think you need a new machinist. The Speed Pros are floaters too. You don't need to bush the rod unless you're going to float the pins. The pins would press fit into the rods just like your Speed pros. They float in the piston not the rod unless he bushes the rod, no matter what piston you use.

Go find a new machinist, he's an idiot. He may be a part of your previous problems.

Scott Hamel

Well like I said in the Beginning this is my first olds build. Well now second with the same motor. Comp Suggested that I use the converter I bought? Are they wrong also?

A far a my machine shop, he asked me what piston I was going to run so when he punched out the block 0.60 he wanted the pistons to size them for the final hone. I was not sure if I had to bush my rods to run a piston like that. I thought the rod needed to be bushed. I guess if the pin is the same size as stock it can be pressed. I guess I have to rethink my build. That's why I ask for advise here.

Thanks