1987 Firebird racecar build

D

dnuccio

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Hi all! First I'll intoduce myself. My name is Daniel, Im 16 and from Phoenix, az. in my auto shop class in high school, I am working on a 1987 firebird along with a few other guys and my teacher, Mr. Z. we are building it into a circle track racer. I will be using this thread mostly for documentation purposes, but also to share our build and possibly get some questions answered if need be. If this is in the wrong section of the forum, im sorry, im new here. please move it to the appropriate area if need be.
 
this is how the car sits right now, just a shell.


lately we have been working on the engine. it will be a 305 small block.
here is what we started with

it was a long block when we got it, and i bolted on the intake, water pump, and fuel pump.

here is all the parts for the engine.


setting up the carb. gasket blocked off a good portion of the intake holes, so i cut it a bit to help the flow




carb bolted on, needed a spacer so the butterflys wouldnt contact the intake


distributor installed, just set in there, timing is not set in this picture


water neck and thermostat installed. bolts we had were a little too long so we added some washers to take up some space


brand new fuel pump


valve lash set and covers bolted on


at this point, we were ready to transfer it to a test stand.

this motor was on one of our stands, so we had to move it


our engine swinging


bolted in to the test stand


end of day 1
 
day 2
went to the pick and pull and found us a transmission. its a th350 out of a 72 chevy truck. cab was already taken off, made it really easy. up she goes


bolted to a stand back at the shop


engine plumbed, wired and ready to run


running video here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA2TClj7cHY&feature=share&list=UUfxSofeIT-qx7Vuj-3MgKTw
you heard me talking about the head sealing. i noticed when we first started it that there was water coming out between the head and the block. i imeadiately suspected a bad head gasket. after running the engine for a while, the leak seems to have sealed itself, but we are going to re-torque the heads down, because i dont know if the person that assembled the long block did it right.

end of day 2
 
The reason you had to cut the carburetor gasket is because you were supplied with the wrong one. I am not familiar with the class rules you are dealing with for this race car but I would be surprised if they allowed a rubber fuel hose from the pump to the carburetor, at the very least it should be steel braided if not a solid steel line. Same goes for the glass fuel filter, should be solid metal. Did you remove the oil pan on the block inorder to check the condition of the rod and main bearings? You also may want to install a new oil pump when the pan is off. Keep us posted on your progress and good luck.
 
melsg5 said:
The reason you had to cut the carburetor gasket is because you were supplied with the wrong one. I am not familiar with the class rules you are dealing with for this race car but I would be surprised if they allowed a rubber fuel hose from the pump to the carburetor, at the very least it should be steel braided if not a solid steel line. Same goes for the glass fuel filter, should be solid metal. Did you remove the oil pan on the block inorder to check the condition of the rod and main bearings? You also may want to install a new oil pump when the pan is off. Keep us posted on your progress and good luck.
Click to expand...

the fuel lines will be changed out when we get the fuel system set up in the car.

we had the oil pan off and checked everything inside. we did install a new oil pump as well.
thanks for your input
 
got about half the steering assembled today. will post some pics in the morning
 
what organiztion is running the circle track events?
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