New 418 coming together.

[Super73]

Well I started working on the 347ci LS1 replacement. Not that there is anything wrong with it, it makes awesome power (449rwhp NA) and I know there was a tenth or two left NA, not to mention actually spraying it with the 300 hit it was set up for. But, I got an offer on my other LS1 that had been sitting in my 73 Camaro chasis for 4 years. They are almost the same motor minus the piston (Camaro motor was low compression for a turbo application). Since the Camaro still needs the firewall finished and is going to be a while before I can really do anything with it, Figured I'd build a new shortblock for the truck and stuff this one in the Camaro for now.

Here are the details:

LS3 block out to 4.082
Callies 4.0" crank
Callies 6.125 rods
Wiseco -4cc pistons (rings gaped to .027/.029)
Hyd 245/260 .643/.629 (was going to go in the 347, still might change it later)
CTS-V lifters
LS2 timing set
.045 Cometic Gaskets
72cc chamber AFR225's that I had sitting on the turbo motor
Super Victor intake
NX 2 stage plate system
Dominator TB

Hoping to go 10.60-10.70 on motor and things are left loose enough for a total of a 500hp N20 hit if I am ever brave enough to hit it with all of it. Most likely it will get run on a 250-300.

I'll post pics as I put it together. Should be starting on it in the next couple nights (picking the block up today).

[85burb]

All i can say is WOW.......

[68GMCCustom]

Nice setup. You know the drill....lots of pics!

[Super73]

Ok, got the block back from machine shop number 2 today. When the block first came in, the bores were set to tight. I had to take it to another machine shop to have them fix it. They are now set up .005 for every hole. Even the pistons had some variance with them 4.0765-4.0770. Sure it's not much and maybe I'm being overly anal, but hey, I'm glad I did ask the block to come unassembled. Good thing I did, the bore wasn't the only issue. Rings were not perfectly gapped either. They were gapped for a NA set up when the original shop was advised this would see a pretty big hit of N20. They were at .018 top and .022 bottom. Wiseco advised they should be at .026 - .027 for the top and .028 - .030 bottom. I resized all the rings tonight (just got done).

The AFR heads also needed a little massaging on the entry for the ports. The Super Victor has a rather large runner which yeilds a slight lip on the transition to the head. I started working on that last night. The material is removed just need to clean up the rough sanding job with a higher grit on the dremel (Didn't have 120+ rolls last night).

Here are some pics.

[Super73]

Ok.. Got a little more done tonight.. I did not take a picture after I put the ARP main and head studs in, but you get the point. Tomorrow and friday night I can't work on it, but Sat I'm hoping to torque the mains, rods, set the cam in it with timing set. At that point I need to pull the 347 and steal the lifters out of it as well as the oil pump and windage tray. I'm hoping no more than 2 weeks to have this bad boy turn key and on the dyno..

Oh yeah, can't forget the helper..

[68GMCCustom]

great theft deterrent!

[Jim_PA]

Do you sit on the couch when you work? I'm kinda jealous.

[Super73]

No if I sat on the couch my wife would pick the motor up and through it out the window and I'd be sleeping where the dog was.. But nice thought though..

[mac72]

Man,that Callies stuff is gorgeous you could really hang it as wall art!Somethings not right about covering it up w/ the pan

[cableguy0]

Looking good. The dyno sheet will reward you for the extra time and care spend making everything just right.

[Super73]

Didn't take any new pics as it would look almost the same, but, torqued the rods and mains tonight. Slid the cam in and put the timing chain on. Then I spent 2 hours playing with the cam figuring things out with a degree wheel.

The cam I am going to be running uses solid roler lobe profiles but I am going to be running a hyd roller lifter with it. What took time was actually seeing where the .006 numbers were. While I was at it, I double checked .050 and .200 as well as intake centerline and exhaust centerline. This is going to determine true intake/exhaust valve opening and closing point since comp measures that at .020 for a solid roller cam. The reason they do this is they assume you will have .020 lash set up in it and the valve won't start or stop moving till it hits that point. Since a hyd lifter does not have lash set in to it, I need the .006 number to determine dynamic compression.

This cam would be best if the heads were milled to 65cc's but I plan on using them on a different motor some point in my life. So I will have to live with the 8.06 dynamic compression I am getting with this set up. This build sort of presented it self out of the blue and I am trying not to spend a ton of money (sold some parts ect which funded the shortblock..) I might at some point just decide this is a race motor not a pump gas motor (which it is at 8.06 dcr) and stick some 62 cc heads with .035 gaskets on it. That'll move things to race gas only at 9.24 dcr, or 10.32 dcr with a solid roller and lash at .020..

The next phase is to actually pull the motor out of the truck, get the heads off it for the lifters (wish GM would have left that like the Gen 1 motors) and rob that motor of the oil pump, pick up tube and a couple covers.

[Super73]

Sorry for the bad cell pics, but hey, that's what I had on me. Old is out, new is 95% done, will probaly be going in next week..

I know, you can tell the old jealous motor as it sits on a tire..

[Juiced06GTO]

Lookin good!!

[Super73]

Very excited.. Should be turning the key today (well I did that a bunch yesterday with plugs out, coils and injectors disconnected to get oil pressure).. Only things I need to do it put bolts in the verter, put the crank pulley on and hook up the injectors/coil packs.

[Super73]

She runs: http://73-ls1.com/63truck/fire_up_exsmall.wmv


I thought more cube were suposed to tame cam shafts down?? Well it's not the exact same cam but sort of close in size:

Old cam in the 347 = 243/250
New cam in the 418 = 245/260

Oh wait, the valve events are way different

[mac72]

Sounds RANK! amazing that it idles that low,gotta luv efi. We need a first pass vid!

[Super73]

It might not sound like it but it's actually idling around 900-1000rpm. But it sure is chunky..

[68GMCCustom]

thats what I was guessing and was going to ask about...