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I'm doing a cylinder leak-down test to determine the health of this motor. The verdict? Leaky exhaust valves on cylinders 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. What's THAT all about? Piston rings are Total Seal with Zero-Gap second rings and they're still PERFECT! |
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Nothing much to talk about here except the dirt... Incidentally, this motor was originally painted black as it came from the factory in the car . I painted it red because-- I just liked it that way! |
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Notice the plate bolted on the left side of engine block (right side of pic)? That's the mounting bracket for the Powerdyne supercharger. A supercharged 383 in a Trans-Am is nothing but FUN! Whoooo Hooooooo....... |
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I removed the Melling HV oil pump and pick-up after removing the oil pan and windage tray. |
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That's a Callies 'Stealth' forged 383 rotating assembly. Notice the stock main bearing cap bolts? I'll use a main cap stud kit this time around. The three 'funky' looking bolts are special bolts used to support the windage tray. |
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There's nothing wrong with the colors in the pic. The pistons really were that color when I removed them from the motor... an artifact from burning oil. Look closely at the Pic on the left and you can see the Zero-Gap second compression ring. Pic to the right is of the same piston with the rings removed. |
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I'm using a piston to square-up a ring in the cylinder bore so I can measure the ring end gap with a feeler-gauge. I checked all 16 rings in this manner and - amazingly - all 16 were still gapped EXACTLY where I set them over 50,000 miles ago... .023 inch! |
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Here are some pics of the new MAC headers on the left vs. the old Borla headers on the right. Both of these headers are known as 'mid-length' headers. This is the header for the right side of the engine. Notice the chrome-like finish on the MAC. It's not chrome... It's an aerospace coating applied by a company called Jet-Hot Coatings. The inside is coated too! |
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The Jet-Hot coating prevents the header from corroding and also helps keep under-hood temperatures down. It's so effective that you can put your hand on the header 10 min. after shutdown without getting burned! Notice the MAC header has provisions for an EGR connection (square pad) where the Borla does not. |
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Here's the header for the left (drivers) side. The #1 cylinder tube on the MACs is a slip fit to allow for an easier installation. |
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Here's other side of the left header. The 'D' shaped opening on the MACs matches the 'D' ports of the LT-1 heads. Borla ports are round. |
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This illustrates the issue I had with the Borla headers: Notice how close the primary tubes run to the header flange? On a stock motor, that's where the ignition wires are routed. I had to reroute the wires over the valve covers -- a pain -- to keep the wires from burning.
Compare them to the MACs on the left which have PLENTY of room under the header flange for wires. Notice also on the MACs: the O2 sensor bung is positioned upstream from the Y-pipe flair fitting... where it should be! |
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The pic on the right REALLY illustrates the inadequate clearance under the Borla header flange for ignition wires. There's virtually NO space there. Check out the room under the flange of the MACs.
I'm gonna miss building my own ignition wires all the time... NOT!
Don't let the ragged looks of the Borlas fool ya: They were expensive. They're stainless steel. They perform well. About 30 min. in a media blaster and they'd look GREAT too! |
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On to Page 4 |
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