aVenger, re my 442

[eddieh]

Avenger, thought it was more appropriate to chat about my 442 here, anyway been working on and off on it for about 7 years, I had to take a hiatus cause I spent 5 years overseas, anyway I have managed to lift the body off the frame, I completely stripped the frame, and as I didn't want to sandblast it in my garage, I wired wheeled the entire frame down to shiny metal, then I used this stuff called POR 15 made right here in Jersey, IT is the best stuff I have ever seen, it actually get's harder with moisture, thought about coating my motors in it LOL, anyway the only thing that breaks it down is UV light, so while it was still tacky I sprayed the chasis with GM restoration Black, it comes from YEAR one already thinned, Pretty cool, the front end was completely rebuilt using all new parts from Just suspensions, talking springs, bushings the works, I have all new fuel/brake lines from classic tube went with stainless steel, now I am going to replace the rear quarter panels, I have two fist size holes that have been repaired but there is some bondo in there that kinda makes me feel grungy, if you know anything about Oldsmobiles the motor is a stout 455, with the good crank lot's of nickel in it, looking for an early 70's oil pan from a tornado as this will give me an extra qt of oil, I have the factory cast Iron headers, these have been glass beaded and painted with a paint that becomes a ceramic coating, the 455 is in really good shape, but aftre all this I decided to have it rebuilt my a company here in jersey (musclecar engines) I'd like to switch to forged pistons, and get the valvetrain switched to adjustable rollers, I was planning on using the stock intake, but I might go with an edelbrock, the savings in weight would be about 75 lbs, I just found all the chrome trim which is as rare as hen's teeth for a 69 convertible, I picked it up for a couple of hundred in Connecticut, currently in jersey perfect pieces run anywhere from 5 to 800 usd,,, anyway slowly but surely, if I can drag myself away from the boats for about 3 months I could finish it,,,, (with about 3 years worth of allowance LOL) anyway I'll post a pic when I get back to work on it,,, cheers eddie

[Avenger]

i have a 1970 torino GT, me and my dad bought it for a project car, i am not doing a complete frame off resto on the car, just the drive-train, engine, and body and interior work, i am about 3/4 of the way done w/ it i just have pretty much the interior left, and all the body work was repaired w/ metal! there is only about a quater size sopt of bondo on the entire car! the original motor was a 302 (small engine for a big car) plus that motor was seized up, so me and my dad found a old 429 CJ (cobra jet) engine w/ the cold air intake (shaker hood!) for $500, but that needed a re-build so we went all out, balenced & blue print, forged pistons & crank, headers, edelbrock intake, 750cfm holly, bigger valves, huge cam, roller lifters, roller rockers, and we are thinking of getting some boss 429 heads (reproduction not original!) for the eingne. the trany was re-built about 5,000mi ago until the engine died and the guy we bought it from left it sit for like 6 months! i put a detroit locker w/ 3.73 gears, 31 spline axles and got a disk brake conversion for the rear-end! once i get the interior done i will be ready to smoke some ricers! and to top it all off we put on an awsome borla exaust system! 3" all the way back(dual) -Jeff

[Avenger]

here is a pic of the motor!

[eddieh]

Jeff not so sure the boss 429 heads will fit, I believe it is a different block and style, if I remember right the boss 429 was more like a semi hemi, (you can't put hemi heads on a 426 wedge motor either, ) if it's a legit cobrajet, the heads are plenty good already, if you took a boss 302, they used to suck on the street, because of the big valves, didn't really start workin till you got over 5000 rpm, anyway I dig torinos, especially the ones with the hideaway headlights, I got the olds after I couldn't find a replacement GTO, I had a 69 ragtop with 4 speed, it was this silver blue colour, with a navy blue interior and top, wasn't a ramair, but plenty stout, I had a 64, a 65, a 67 and that 69 goat, i had a 67 camaro rs which I dropped a 396 in it, 68 firebird 350, swapped in a 455 ran a poormans lenco, (powerglide with a vega converter LOL) I also had an old 62 ford econoline pickup, that I put a 327 in the bed what a frankenstein,,,, anyway my dream is a deuce coup,,,, or a 33 willys hoo boy now were talkin<<<<

[Avenger]

do you happen to know what the difference was in the CJ and the SuperCJ? i know that the difference was like 5hp but y? and the SCJ didnt come w/ AC (my car doent have AC!)

and yeah the thing w/ the boss heads is that they are a semi-hemi, but all the rest of the set up is the same, some people have put boss 302 heads on like 289's and stock 302's, and putting hemi heads on a max wedge would not work out to hot cuz that is a full hemi and the valves are mounted on the "side" not the top so you need to have a wide valve train!

and the boss 302's were really good hi-rpm motors, as you said 5000rpm was like the peak HP & torque, but the sucky thing is that ford put on a rev. limiter @ 6500, when from the factory this eingnes red line was up there around 7500-8000! so you hit you power the had to shift!

the cam that i put in is good for all rpm's but it is best at about 3500rpm! (that is the middle of its powerband!)

i could talk about cars and boats all day long! for my ultimate car i would want a 1970 charger R/T w/ a 528 hemi engine (and yes that is a real engine!!!) yeah and it will have to run 10's in the 1/4

[vicman]

Hemi bolt pattern is different, sealing surface is different, physically wont fit without major machine work. Your cobra heads are the best way to go. Get a multi angle valve job, mild port/polish, match intake and head ports/ head and exh manifold ports, if your running mainly on the street keep with a hydraulic valve trane. Being the weight of the car is not light you may want to stick with a mild street or dual purpose camshaft or suffer with it bogging out of the hole, maybe in the 272 to 284 intake duration going to 292 at max with probably a 474 to 480 lift. Converter should be in the 2500 to 3200 rpm range to start. Too much converter will just burn gas and make noise with no motion.

Check out your local book sellers for muscle cars (mustangs etc.) that have that engine and how to hop it up some, or check with your local speed shop with some numbers to narrow it down more than this. Dont forget to take tire size into cosideration when doing the math to get the right combo, also make sure you have good driveshaft balance and ujoints/alignmet to prevent future headaches.

vicman

[vicman]

Avenger,
The 528 hemi was never a production engine offered for sale in any mopar line. it is a bored and stroked casting made spcifically for racing and had to be built to order. The closest thing to it was the 426 race hemi that was only offered in superstock production cars of the late 60's and early 70's. These cars were not produced to go on the street and only came in primer or white with no carpet, seats (except driver), basically a stripped car with monster muscle under the hood. The SS DART is prime example (69). Check with MOPAR PERFORMANCE on the background of this and other non-streetable cars that were offered by them. They had some amazing things out in the day. Fortunately growing up around Don Garlits, Dick Landey and the like, I had a unique opportunity to see some of these cars and they are awesome.

vicman

[Avenger]

yeah, i know that it was never offered as a stock engine, but it is a crate engine that hemi sells! but i would only put that in like a non-numbers matching car! if it had like a 426 wedge or hemi or likw a 440 6-pack, i would not touch the thing! but say if i found a kinda beat up charger w/ like a 318! and i had the $$$$($18,500) to drop that engine in i surely would!

and i dont need a stall converter cuz it is a stick!

[eddieh]

jeff, for one the boss 302/ is nothing like the boss 429, Boss was just a selling tool, whereas the boss 302, was basically the stock 302 with really good heads (for racing) they did poop on the street, same with the hemi, as they were a bear to maintain, (originally) I think the 440's really cleaned up on the street, my cousin had a 69 roadrunner with your basic 383, and an automatic it was very tough to beat on the street, his friend had a gtx with a 440 and you couldn't touch it, I think you would be much better off to find a newer 5.o, and having that rebuilt instead of paying the big bucks ofr an original boss 302, as for the 429, well these came in lincoln mkIII's and some of the funky suicide doored thunderbirds, gobs of torque, which means you could run dead gears 3.08's and still have plenty of top end, now the boss 429 was a different story, rare breed built to combat the hemi's but the hole shebang came to a close ,,,, Oldsmobile was coming out with a 455 with Hemi heads, But for me Pontiac, I love em, I mean have you ever seen a superduty 61-62 catalina, You know when I was much younger there were stock manifolds for a 62 421 for turbo!!! this was from the factory!! olds did the same for I think it was a 215 small v-8 with turbo and water injection,,, anyway I love cars too, and I live 10 minutes from englishtown drag strip, and I have a decent pond within walking distance ,,,I am a lucky man or what LOL,,, cheers eddie

[vicman]

Eddieh,
You are a man after my own heart. Seems the STREET HEMI has been forgotten in conversation, or was this tthe hemi you are talking about? Had a 73 road runner 426Hemi 8bbl, NASTY machine, also a 73 sattelite 440 4bbl wedge. The Hemi was definately more ballsy than the 440 but, like you said, VERY EXPENSIVE. The 440 was my choice for street legal racing at the track. Everyone THOUGH they could beat a tank with a big block. Everyone also had too much fear for the Hemi to line up with it. My 71 r/t charger 383 six pack was no slug either, being an early 71 tagged as a LIGHT BODY (rare) weighed in 400lbs less than the late 71 383 4bbl. I kinda liked the funky scoops on the doors. My dream car (sigh) the plymouth SUPERBIRD HEMI SIX PACK. Been in one and wished to own it every since. Keep in mind that none of these cars were too quick out of the hole, even though the 440 did wheel stands regularly, they all were hard to beat to the other line. All three were in the 12's at the track in street trim and tires. As for the rest of my hot rods, a 68 Barracuda 318 4bbl, 89 dodge daytona ES TURBO, 76 and 79 buick Skylarks 231 4bbl(76), 231 turbo injected (79), and lots of freinds who wanted hot rods but didnt know how to do it themselves. Aint life grand! Well, if I dont get off this subject now my boats are going to suffer, know what I mean?

vicman

[eddieh]

Vicman, I know what ya mean, but very few guys new how to tune the street hemi when it came out, and after the mid sixties it was harder to find a guy to tune multi carbs, with that funky vacuum synchronizer, anyway the 440's were tough and TUFF LOL, but some of those small block sleepers, My dad had an early barracuda, (it was really a fastback valiant) i think it was 64-65, anyway he had a 278 and a 4 speed!!! anyway he got tired of shifting and traded it in for a fury 3 wagon, (it would of made a great fe hauler) I have been spending a lot of time with the boats and my car has suffered LOL, but I;ll get to it, I figure i do one major project a summer on it, and it will be ready by the time my daughter will turn 18,,, man can't wait to see her drive that thing, she is paying her dues, and is in there handing me tools, and scraping this and that,,, no freebees, good reminescing with you guys, cheers eddie

[Avenger]

is it true that the 426 max-wedge motor could beat the hemi(426) up to 100mph? so if this is true they were about even in the 1/4mi?

[eddieh]

Jeff, the Max wedges were big up until about 1967,(check out sox and martin on the net) I believe these later became the basis for the 440,(not sure) they did come out of the old 413's which were killer, the hemi in 67 was not great on the street, solid lifters, big carbs etc, it did well on the track. but as I was saying to vicman, if they weren't tuned properly they were doggy, remember very few real races on the street are 1/4 mile, more like an 1/8th mile, a lot of guys think that you had to have the big motor, to be fast on the street, I had a 67 box nova ss, with a 350, and another poorman lenco, and I tell you I could walk all over a big block chevelle, it was only 2650 pounds,,, with a 350/350 this was a killer street car,,, anyway gotta scoot, great chatting, cheers eddie