389 replies to this topic

[hawk]

When I purchased the car and drove it home the car was all over the road and felt like the rack was buggered so decided to replace everything.

The cable ties are what came with the new boots and the metal clips were rusty.

[jpxu1]

Brad Merrick does repros if they are the same as LC/J.

 

JPXU1

[hawk]

Finally a bit more progress.

After the issues with the rack, I pulled the rack ends out of my spare rack. They were pretty rough but after a clean up, did the trick.

So finally have steering.

Picked up the front tyres, new wheel nuts and more cotter pins today.

Pretty happy with how its looking.

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[Zook]

Is that your front yard? Very nice if so. Or if not then very nice just the same.

[hawk]

Yeah that's my front yard haha.

progress has slowed a lot lately although still going. A lot of little things not worth posting about.

I'm about to start building the motor and have stripped it down to a bare block. It has a .040 over bore with flat tops. The bores arnt horrible so they will get a hone and the pistons will be reused.

the bottom end bearings were far from the worst I've seen although need doing.

To start off I plan on having the block tanked and possibly decked with new cam bearings and a hone.

The crank will need to be polished and refitted with new bearings. then re use the pistons as before.

I plan on reusing the heads with a minor rebuild and standard rocker gear.

The cam, lifters, timing chain, push rods and harmonic balancer all need to be replaced.

I've been told that the biggest cam I should run is 200 @ 050 while in the little league article they ran 237.

Realistically what is the biggest cam I can run in it?

Plan is to run an edelbrock dual plane manifold with 4 barrel. the holley pictured is supposed to be a 600. Should I downsize to 400ish?

Anyway a few pics below.



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Edited by hawk, 31 May 2021 - 12:23 PM.

[toryman76]

Do yourself a favour and piss off the standard rocker gear. It will be old and worn and will only cause grief if you are uping the lift/spring pressures. Good set of non adjustable will be more than sufficient for your build and shouldn't cost too much.

[rodomo]

It's a 253 isn't it?

[hawk]

Thanks Toryman, I'll keep an eye out for some.

Rodomo, its a 253.

[yel327]

I wouldn’t waste money on another Holley, it’s a vacuum secondary so will run on the 4.2 but is really the wrong carb. What you really want is a Quadrajet off and XT5 4.2. Will bolt up to your intake and you could even get the auto choke working. Those early red 5.0L intakes are real dogs though, the only real difference between a HJ 5.0L and a HX 5.0L was the intake and the engine dropped from 250hp to 216hp, both SAE gross. The manifold will work OK on a 4.2 though, just is the worst of the factory intakes. Once you get it running and driving keep an eye out at swap meets for a CXL Quadrajet, get one as complete as possible. Will cost about $350 to rebuild. It will feel like a different engine. Any Holden 308/5.0L air cleaner will fit it. Keep your eyes open for a 4.2 HEI dizzy and coil too.

[rodomo]

 It will feel like a different engine. 

Shave heads and deck block to get the comp up on it

[yel327]

Looks likeithas been rebuilt with flat tops at some stage which should be around 9:1. From memory the ADR27A 4.2 were 9.4:1 courtesy of dome top pistons.

[Cook]

Hi Steve.  Any progress is good progress.  I notice those engine mounts are, I'm pretty sure, from H series holdens.  If you intend on using them check your clearances, particularly steering knuckle against extractors, as I had issues with the same mounts.  I used them in the hope of getting the motor a fraction lower but had to ditch them for Torana mounts.  Cheers Ron 

[hawk]

Thanks guys, I've dropped it off at the engine builders to get measurements taken and give me a verdict on what's usable.

I'll see what they come back with. if it's going to be 5k or more I'll have to throw the 6 back in for now and build the 8 over the next year or so.

Anyway build pans are similar to the image below.

As for clearance, I have done the double knuckle mod to help although haven't checked extractor clearance yet.

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[yel327]

You don't really need VN V8 rods, any from mid VK onwards will do if you want stronger rods, IIRC the VK rods are the same as L34. Otherwise use the ones you have with new bolts.

 

You won't be able to run a HQ/HJ intake with those heads, need to change to HT-HJ heads to run the early intake.

 

Not sure I'd bother putting 305 SBC intake valves in it, the standard size should be fine for a 253. The bore is really too small for that size valve, although at 60 thou over might be close to OK.

 

Keep compression below 10:1 if you can so you can happily run on 98 and even 95 if you have to.

 

And I still stand by the XT5 4.2 Quadrajet, just get it setup right.

[rexy]

Don’t spend too much on it.

if you are up for a fair bit to do it then you might as well find a 308. The extra capacity will be the cheapest HP you can get.

Im betting that at 38 degrees timing that guy got to replace a lot of head gaskets.
 

Stick with a hydraulic cam and standard style rocker gear if you can.

[hawk]

Based on what I was up for, I sourced a cheap 202 to go in. I'll build the 8 the the next year or two.

couple of questions though.
Are aussie 3 and aussie 4 speed bellhousings the same?
is the clutch for the same for floor shift and column shift?

Probably going to get a dellow hydraulic clutch kit to avoid having to source a cable clutch setup.

This motor will get a degrease, and maybe a couple of gaskets and then just drive it.

Saw it running before purchase, it came out of a low mile Hq.

The plan is to get it running in the car and set up this weekend if I find time then pull it out for a clean and to attach a 4 speed.

Pretty sure I'll need to change the thermostat housing and drill the water pump for the heater lines.

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[Zook]

Now you're talking Steve. How good does that 202 look in there? If I had a spare set of triple SUs and 5 spoke dragways I'd give them to you just to see another perfect car on the road.

[hawk]

Haha I dunno, pretty set on the hotwires. Tripples would be nice.

I'll get it on the road then worry about modifying it. Really cutting it close time wise now.

[Zook]

What's your deadline, Yr12 formal?

[hawk]

Na, Dads selling his house in a couple of months. When that happens I need the car on the road as most rentals don't appreciate cars being worked on.

[Zook]

Hmm, tough predicament. Just move to where he goes. Easy peasy.

[hawk]

He's moving from Melbourne to Queensland... I can't leave because I have a good job, uni and my son here.

Anyway chipped away at it tonight and got it to start.

It won't idle, seems to be a fuel issue. It starts if I give the carb a few shirts, pump is working.

I blanked all the vacuum ports but it still sounds like a vacuum issue. There is 2 ports on the manifold. One for the brake booster and one that goes to the rocker cover. and one on the carb for the dizzy.

Carb is leaking a bit so could be the issue? although it idled when bought.

Only have choke hooked up as accelerator cable bracket is different.

Excuse the tape and temporary wiring haha.

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[rodomo]

Try it again in the morning. The needle and seat might have gummed up due to sitting. (this would explain the fuel leak due to flooding and also why you have to give it a big gulp of air to keep it running) Now that it has fresh fuel flowing it might dissolve the gum.

[hawk]

I'll give it and the pump a knock in the morning.

It wasn't sitting as it was running in the car it came out of a few days ago.

[Potta]

I told you not to sell the old one but good to see you are back in the game.

 

I think sometimes not having one reignites the flame...

 

That's what did it for me too.