Dejablu311
Jan 26th, 10, 3:12 PM
Well I finally got around to doing a much needed overhaul of the engine bay in my pro touring 69 SS. Years of engine swaps, parts swapping and general laziness had turned the once glorious engine bay looking....well ratty (no pun intended). Here are a couple pics to show you guys how it was. The pics do not really do justice to how bad it really was. I had already removed a great deal of the mess in these "before" pics.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/4307322380_fd0fec3d56_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/4306579341_cbb3b78f0f_b.jpg
The inspiration for the transformation was the acquisition of a Magnaflow 3" exhaust and my MSD ignition finally failing. Since I was going to be changing some of the wiring for the new 6AL and since i was going to have the headers re-coated before the exhaust went on i figured i might as well just change everything. After removing everything that would be re polished or replaced it was time to start the rebuild. The headers went to Calico Coating over in Denver NC. They did the original coating on these headers 10 years ago and since the old coating was starting to come apart they were nice enough to discount me a little on the price. Turn around was only a weak and they came out great. I decided to go with black to match the new theme.
I already had a blue top Optima in the engine bay but i figured since I was completely re-wiring the car I might as well move it to the trunk. I picked up a billet battery holder and relocation kit from Jegs. A little whole saw action and a great little grommet from CV Products and I was good to go.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2700/4306617305_3ac62fa5df_b.jpg
After removing the intake I realized that the intake was never designed for these heads. It was a leftover from the old 396 which had the tall ports. So the next order to jegs came with a new intake as well as new GMPP black valve covers. I always wanted a set of these. I ran to to Autozone and picked up a pair of Specter breathers and then drilled out he holes for the valve covers. Once on there, there was only about 1/8" clearance between the valve cover and the brake booster. So, an order went in for a 9" booster. At first i didn't like the color of the new booster and seriously considered painting it but once it was in the car it seemed to actually blend in nicely. As for the intake, my friend David Simms broke out his grinders and port matched it up for me.
Once all the clearance problems were figured out it was time to start rewiring and rerouting everything. The fuel system was already adequate with a Holly Blue pump but the fuel lines were not up to my standards. A full set of -8 stainless lines were used with with a stainless -4 return. For the Heater hoses i decided to go with a black Aeroquip -10 pushlock hose. I ran the hoses through the passenger side fender. You barely even notice them now. All of these items were purchased through CV Products. Thanks go to Lil Bill Meehan for all the help there.
From there I went down to NPD (I love living in concord) and picked up a black radiator cover and a new gas tank cap. From there it was back to Mooresville to Scott Performance Wires to pick up a set of his beautiful under the header spark plug wires. Thanks Brian for putting up with all my questions.
I decided to mount the new MSD box and new Blaster under the dash just to keep the engine compartment as clean as possible. With all of that mounted it was time to start the wiring. When the car was restored 8 years ago a Painless kit went in it and there were basically two main sets of wires. One set ran along the top of the firewall (ugly) and the second set ran on top of the driver side fender well (ugly). What I did with the help of my brother in law John Earl was run all wires through the driver side fender. every wire was individually wrapped in heat shrink and then the bundle wrapped in a protective mesh. The only visible wire now is the water temp wire on the front of the intake. After everything was installed I took some more pics. Enjoy.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2718/4307341192_beaf0f9c5c_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4307336268_d38a63834f_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4031/4306584937_6b2c75fdde_b.jpg
Since this wasn't only done to make it pretty I immediately put it on the dyno to see how much all this work helped. With the old choked up setup it made a truly sad 351 whp. With the new exhaust and intake it picked up 45 whp making the grand total a much more respectable 396 whp. Here is the graph.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4064/4307451934_3f7c8217a6_o.jpg
Thanks again to Dave, John, Brian, Bill, and everyone else who helped turn a wrench.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/4307322380_fd0fec3d56_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/4306579341_cbb3b78f0f_b.jpg
The inspiration for the transformation was the acquisition of a Magnaflow 3" exhaust and my MSD ignition finally failing. Since I was going to be changing some of the wiring for the new 6AL and since i was going to have the headers re-coated before the exhaust went on i figured i might as well just change everything. After removing everything that would be re polished or replaced it was time to start the rebuild. The headers went to Calico Coating over in Denver NC. They did the original coating on these headers 10 years ago and since the old coating was starting to come apart they were nice enough to discount me a little on the price. Turn around was only a weak and they came out great. I decided to go with black to match the new theme.
I already had a blue top Optima in the engine bay but i figured since I was completely re-wiring the car I might as well move it to the trunk. I picked up a billet battery holder and relocation kit from Jegs. A little whole saw action and a great little grommet from CV Products and I was good to go.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2700/4306617305_3ac62fa5df_b.jpg
After removing the intake I realized that the intake was never designed for these heads. It was a leftover from the old 396 which had the tall ports. So the next order to jegs came with a new intake as well as new GMPP black valve covers. I always wanted a set of these. I ran to to Autozone and picked up a pair of Specter breathers and then drilled out he holes for the valve covers. Once on there, there was only about 1/8" clearance between the valve cover and the brake booster. So, an order went in for a 9" booster. At first i didn't like the color of the new booster and seriously considered painting it but once it was in the car it seemed to actually blend in nicely. As for the intake, my friend David Simms broke out his grinders and port matched it up for me.
Once all the clearance problems were figured out it was time to start rewiring and rerouting everything. The fuel system was already adequate with a Holly Blue pump but the fuel lines were not up to my standards. A full set of -8 stainless lines were used with with a stainless -4 return. For the Heater hoses i decided to go with a black Aeroquip -10 pushlock hose. I ran the hoses through the passenger side fender. You barely even notice them now. All of these items were purchased through CV Products. Thanks go to Lil Bill Meehan for all the help there.
From there I went down to NPD (I love living in concord) and picked up a black radiator cover and a new gas tank cap. From there it was back to Mooresville to Scott Performance Wires to pick up a set of his beautiful under the header spark plug wires. Thanks Brian for putting up with all my questions.
I decided to mount the new MSD box and new Blaster under the dash just to keep the engine compartment as clean as possible. With all of that mounted it was time to start the wiring. When the car was restored 8 years ago a Painless kit went in it and there were basically two main sets of wires. One set ran along the top of the firewall (ugly) and the second set ran on top of the driver side fender well (ugly). What I did with the help of my brother in law John Earl was run all wires through the driver side fender. every wire was individually wrapped in heat shrink and then the bundle wrapped in a protective mesh. The only visible wire now is the water temp wire on the front of the intake. After everything was installed I took some more pics. Enjoy.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2718/4307341192_beaf0f9c5c_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4307336268_d38a63834f_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4031/4306584937_6b2c75fdde_b.jpg
Since this wasn't only done to make it pretty I immediately put it on the dyno to see how much all this work helped. With the old choked up setup it made a truly sad 351 whp. With the new exhaust and intake it picked up 45 whp making the grand total a much more respectable 396 whp. Here is the graph.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4064/4307451934_3f7c8217a6_o.jpg
Thanks again to Dave, John, Brian, Bill, and everyone else who helped turn a wrench.