[Gandalf80]

Ok. for those of you who have been reading my other posts about my 454 that I was building for my '71, I have some good news and some bad. For starters, the good news, IT'S RUNNING

I am so happy it's unreal. This is my first engine that I built by myself. I've done other engines before, but none where I did all the work and it feels great. I thought the day would never come, but today I got her fired up. Started alright but wouldn't idle, got someone else to adjust timing for me and now it is purring. Runs awsome. Now for the bad part. Apparently when I was drilling a couple holes in the tin shielding on the top and bottom of the radiator so I could mount my electric fan on it, I dinged the core a little and now my nice brand new condensed 4 core rad is leaking

Bummer, it leaks more than is acceptable for driving. SOOOOO, off the radiator has to come, take it to the city tomorrow to get fixed, finish off the next week of school and come home this friday to put it back on. Stupid school is interfeering with my chevelle too much

Well, at least it runs. So I am still happy. Now I just have to put the hood back on and hope that the air cleaner isn't to tall. I'll put up some pics of the engine once it's done, it looks REALLY awsome.



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Chris Dagenais
Saskatchewan, Canada
CST Kelsey
'71 Malibu soon to be 454!
member.xoom.com/Gandalf80/Chris'sPage

 

[TH]

Congrats, man! And I actually though our car was the last one on this site to get running before bad weather hit! Silly me.
Yeah, sucks the rad leaks, but at least your camshaft didn't get lunched. Yours are the kind of problems I love: easy to see, easy to get to, easy (and not too expensive) to fix. Flat tires are some of my favorite problems, along with running out of gas, burnt fuses, and low coolant level.

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Tom H.
Member #259
Indianapolis,IN www.iquest.net/~bharold/chevelle/

 

[374767]

Congrats - I know the feeling - built a 350 a few years ago - got it all back in fired it up - I'm buzzzin and then I notice the water pump which didn't leak to start with is flowing like a fountain... seems they dry up if just laying on a bench for a while... live and learn... now be cool and do the correct breakin - it's tough to do but in the long run it's worth it.. everyone wants to go out and hammer it right away .. I always use this rule of thumb. The car has to be full temp and back to cold at least ten times before I push it any.. break in is no steady throttle - vary the speed - no high raps - no luggin - you can push it a little after the first few trips but don't hammer it or twist it up. I always get strong running engines with this method.. give it time to break in -

 

[Joe454]

It never fails. You think you got all the bases covered then something throws a wrench in the works. At least it was a minor problem. Good luck with the rat.

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.....Joe
"67 Malibu 454/TH400"
~Northeast, Pa.~

 

[Partel Roos]

Hehe, congrats man!

Can´t you skip that school thing for a week? Can´t study anyway, trust me! Been there, done that... you gotta do what is on your mind, man!

Watch that oil press... hope you have the pickup welded and the driveshaft is ok..

Get some wavs and mpegs asap!

Partel.


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Partel Roos
Tallinn, Estonia, Europe
Law Student, Tartu University (a.d. 1632)
GSM cell ph: +37 250 93828