what was your first project?
10-18-2013, 02:19 PM
#24
On The Tree
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Drifting in a kayak
Posts: 162
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Found this thread by accident, and it needs to come back.
My first project was a 1978 Z/28 Camaro that I picked up for a grand. It was about the ugliest damn thing you ever saw with black and silver primer all over thanks to being tagged by some thugs, and rust holes throughout, but I loved it.
It had a GM Goodwrench crate 350 sb when I bought it, I think the specs were something like 190 hp, and 230 ft lbs, but to me it was a 10 second G-machine.
I knew almost nothing about cars, let alone making them fast. I bought an Edelbrock dual plane intake and a 1407 Carb to net another 100hp (in my mind), as well as a set of long tubes that I just bolted a pair of incredibly long cherry bomb glass packs right to the collectors, and using that 2.5" flexible exhaust pipe I know you've all seen at autozone to direct the exhaust out on each side (thank god they were not visible lol). It had a TH350 trans with the factory Z/28 floor shifter that you could to slam into all three gears manually. To this day it is still the the funnest car I have ever driven, and probably always will be.
Unfortunately, hard times forced me to get rid of that ugly dream machine, but here's my favorite story I like to tell about it. They came with a bolt on tear drop hood scoop that was non functional from the factory. One day I decided to take a dremel and cut out the scoop, then sat it back into the holes on the hood without bolting it back down. A few days later I decided to drive to work not realizing I never secured it to the hood and on a typical windy Colorado day, driving home from work at 60 mph on a busy four lane road, the front of the scoop lifted and before I could hit the brakes it was airborn. God only knows how far it flew because I was never able to find it lol.
I cant find any pictures at the moment but I'll try later. I even have the original factory build sheet and owners manual that came with it.
Sorry this is so long winded, I'm just reminiscing.
My first project was a 1978 Z/28 Camaro that I picked up for a grand. It was about the ugliest damn thing you ever saw with black and silver primer all over thanks to being tagged by some thugs, and rust holes throughout, but I loved it.
It had a GM Goodwrench crate 350 sb when I bought it, I think the specs were something like 190 hp, and 230 ft lbs, but to me it was a 10 second G-machine.
I knew almost nothing about cars, let alone making them fast. I bought an Edelbrock dual plane intake and a 1407 Carb to net another 100hp (in my mind), as well as a set of long tubes that I just bolted a pair of incredibly long cherry bomb glass packs right to the collectors, and using that 2.5" flexible exhaust pipe I know you've all seen at autozone to direct the exhaust out on each side (thank god they were not visible lol). It had a TH350 trans with the factory Z/28 floor shifter that you could to slam into all three gears manually. To this day it is still the the funnest car I have ever driven, and probably always will be.
Unfortunately, hard times forced me to get rid of that ugly dream machine, but here's my favorite story I like to tell about it. They came with a bolt on tear drop hood scoop that was non functional from the factory. One day I decided to take a dremel and cut out the scoop, then sat it back into the holes on the hood without bolting it back down. A few days later I decided to drive to work not realizing I never secured it to the hood and on a typical windy Colorado day, driving home from work at 60 mph on a busy four lane road, the front of the scoop lifted and before I could hit the brakes it was airborn. God only knows how far it flew because I was never able to find it lol.
I cant find any pictures at the moment but I'll try later. I even have the original factory build sheet and owners manual that came with it.
Sorry this is so long winded, I'm just reminiscing.
Had it more than half my life now... wow
10-18-2013, 03:51 PM
#26
Ok, since this one is back I will put up a post. Back in 2000 I bought a "new" Factory Five Cobra replica, freshly built with a stock 5.0 Ford V8 in it. I went through all the bolt on mods making it faster and faster - think 7.80s on drag radials. Then one day a friend says " I know a guy that builds turbos and I think he could build a couple to mount under the hood of this Cobra to give it a little boost".
Turbos were not very common back in 2000 in aftermarket applications and it was difficult to get early EFIs tuned right with such a setup. Needless to say, I took the bait and a local shop built all the piping and intercooler for the setup. Running the stock Ford heads, ported and polished of course, and a stock bottom end it made around 400rwhp and 450 ft.lbs - in a 2200 pound car. BUT I put 7 sets of head gaskets on the thing in one year. The stock heads were lifting, tried locwire gaskets, etc to no avail. Accurate tuning was not really common back then and the only dyno was 4.5 hours away.
Then I came across a Ford R-block (4 bolt main) 331 stroker motor and put it in the car with big Canfield heads and the Holley SysteMax intake, etc, etc. At 10 psi the car made around 550rwhp and did I mention that it only weighed 2200 lbs? Finally they came out with a way to tune the Ford computers - the Tweecer - and I was able to get the car tuned so it ran good and was on a safe tune.
I kept it a few more years after that. I could drive it to the track, run a couple 11.0x passes @ 135mph and then drive it home. It would have run a better ET but all I had on the rear were 275 Nitto DR and it would not hook in 1st or 2nd. My best 60' time was a 1.90, if that tells you anything.
I sold it a few years later because it scared me a few too many times as I got older. Plus it had no roof, no a/c, I couldn't lock it and it was so low and small, people were always trying to run over me and everybody wanted to see if they were faster......none succeeded. I sold it in 2005 because I was sure that it would kill me if I kept it any longer.
I have had several different vehicles since then, but none as unique.
Turbos were not very common back in 2000 in aftermarket applications and it was difficult to get early EFIs tuned right with such a setup. Needless to say, I took the bait and a local shop built all the piping and intercooler for the setup. Running the stock Ford heads, ported and polished of course, and a stock bottom end it made around 400rwhp and 450 ft.lbs - in a 2200 pound car. BUT I put 7 sets of head gaskets on the thing in one year. The stock heads were lifting, tried locwire gaskets, etc to no avail. Accurate tuning was not really common back then and the only dyno was 4.5 hours away.
Then I came across a Ford R-block (4 bolt main) 331 stroker motor and put it in the car with big Canfield heads and the Holley SysteMax intake, etc, etc. At 10 psi the car made around 550rwhp and did I mention that it only weighed 2200 lbs? Finally they came out with a way to tune the Ford computers - the Tweecer - and I was able to get the car tuned so it ran good and was on a safe tune.
I kept it a few more years after that. I could drive it to the track, run a couple 11.0x passes @ 135mph and then drive it home. It would have run a better ET but all I had on the rear were 275 Nitto DR and it would not hook in 1st or 2nd. My best 60' time was a 1.90, if that tells you anything.
I sold it a few years later because it scared me a few too many times as I got older. Plus it had no roof, no a/c, I couldn't lock it and it was so low and small, people were always trying to run over me and everybody wanted to see if they were faster......none succeeded. I sold it in 2005 because I was sure that it would kill me if I kept it any longer.
I have had several different vehicles since then, but none as unique.
Last edited by Bluecobra; 10-18-2013 at 04:28 PM.
10-19-2013, 10:37 AM
#27
Launching!
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Arizona
Posts: 286
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My first project. In high school I inherited my grandfathers '69 C10 longbed. 396ci/TH400. It was ugly, started out life seafoam green and somewhere over the years turned rustoleum green. The passenger side bed was caved in and all the fender & door corners rotted out. I loved it.
I swapped the tired 396 out for a freshly re-built '77 454ci with an "RV cam". From there it progressed into a newbies wannabe pro-street complete with tunnel ram and hood scoop. I easily and quickly got in over my head and sold the truck in pieces. If I only knew then what I do now.
I swapped the tired 396 out for a freshly re-built '77 454ci with an "RV cam". From there it progressed into a newbies wannabe pro-street complete with tunnel ram and hood scoop. I easily and quickly got in over my head and sold the truck in pieces. If I only knew then what I do now.
12-31-2015, 12:11 PM
#30
Nice!!! An LS swap should be fun. We just did an LS3 In a 67 Camaro. It's nice to have it start up and run smooth, not to mention over drive... Unfortunately I signed a Nondisclosure so I won't be able to share anything until after it's delivered.