Got her running....Transplant Time

[Nexus]

I have nicknamed my build "The Project" as I have been working on her for about 20 years now. My parts car I nicknamed "Black Betty" as she is a true 1980 black on black Trans Am.

I have had Black Betty in the garage, the last month, trying to get her to run so that I can make some sort of assessment, to determine if I strip the block down and rebuild or just clean up the grime and install new gaskets. We re-did the timing several times but still not sure if it's correct.

The goal is to get The Project back together and driving as cheaply and quickly as I can manage but If I do have to rebuild the block then TTA gave me the formula that I will follow if and when I get it rebuilt.

Eventually this will get an EFI setup but not right away. I picked up an Atomic setup for a steal so look for that in the future.

I think I know what I'm going to do but I want the opinions of others before I do anything

I've included a little vid, snippet so let me know you're opinions....just click on the photo and let me know if it doesn't work

20201215_202638_1 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

We also did a compression check after it warmed up and got the following numbers

1 = 155      2 = 155
3 = 158      4 = 158
5 = 155      6 = 150
7 = 158      8 = 140

Black Betty hasn't run and idled in probably 12 years so there is clearly some issues in that regard but I am hopeful I can just clean it up and run it this way for now with the intent to rebuild her in the future at some point.

To get it to run this smoothly, I advanced the timing to the point that it is just off (bellow) the timing marks.

The question is, am I still a tooth out on the distributor or is this normal for these engines?

I'm sure with a proper tune up I can get this to run even better but this is just a quick assessment. I didn't hear any knocking, pinging, or otherwise catastrophic issues which I feel is a good sign.

[rkellerjr]

Awesome sauce!

[Jack]

A good tune up will go a long way, equally run it for a while slowly without stressing the motor and change all fluids few times.

[Nexus]

Since there is very little on 301's on this site, I will be updating my build thread as well as this one while I do the engine work and the transplant.

As a review, I wanted to use the 301 out of my car as it has just around 100,000 kms on it but when I opened it up, this is what I discovered:



20191126_154255 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

20191126_155139 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

20191126_153616 by Charles Marson, on Flickr



Considering this is a super low budget build, making use of this block, at this time is not feasible for me.


Roll in Black Betty, get the engine running, and voila, I now have something to work with.

Just before the Christmas break, we were able to get it pulled and sitting on the engine stand.



20201223_103518 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

20201223_103456 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

20201224_171221 by Charles Marson, on Flickr



The local Napa store has the proper GM blue paint, that I will pick up over the weekend and next week I will start the process of cleaning and painting!!

At some point in the future, this will get a newly acquired EFI system that I scored right before Chrsitmas, but unfortunately that will have to wait for a bit. I couldn't pass on the &150.00 Canadian price tag!!

[Jack]

Congrats, that's a big step.

[Nexus]

Thanks

[Nexus]

Started taking the engine apart and I was nervous about finding hidden issues but I was pleasantly surprised that it was in decent shape inside and from the top view, didn't appear badly worn or anything.

Casting # 1008192...not sure why but it's hard to see but the 9 is actually a 9 and not an 8

2021-01-13_11-14-49 by Charles Marson, on Flickr


One question abut cam location in relationship to lifters and push rods. The cam looks like it is not centered to the lifters or the pushrods...is that OK?

2021-01-13_11-15-01 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

2021-01-13_11-15-13 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

2021-01-13_11-15-24 by Charles Marson, on Flickr


At this point, it looks like the engine will just need a good cleaning, re-paint, re-gasket, and put back together but I have yet to remove the oil pan.

I will be removing the heads and I'm going to clean them up but not doing anything crazy. I'm also going to clean up some of the casting marks on the block and notch the top of the cylinder as TTA from 301 Garage suggested to do for better flow into the valves.