My current hobby

[wildpikey]

My current hobby is my van, its an old 1986 chevy g20 day van, its got a 5.7 350 in it, it's been sat on the drive for the last 2 years and I've often looked at it and thought about doing some work on it but I've finally pulled my finger out and decided to rebuild the engine.



I have stripped the engine back to just block and crank and am replacing pistons, camshaft, followers etc, I'm upgrading the majority of it so it should pull quite well when done, parts are as follows:

Flat top pistons to increase compression
450/450 high lift camshaft
weiand performance intake
felpro 1094 thin head gaskets
full set of clevite bearings
hiflo headers
heads being ported and polished with back cut valves

I have just finished rebuilding the original qjet carb and I must say that wasn't fun being the first time I've had one apart, just waiting for a few bits to arrive from the USA and I can crack on and get it rebuilt, I'm going to give the block and ancillaries a nice coat of paint and once the engines finished I will prep and paint the body, it's been a long time since I've heard it run so I'm looking forward to firing her up and breaking the new cam in, 2000rpm minimum with short blasts for the first 20 minutes! I will post some more pics of the state the engine was/is in later, I'm really surprised it ran at all! I will also keep this thread updated as I go to show my progress for anyone who's interested.

 

[wildpikey]

As you can see by these pics from when I first started tearing it down, it was in a sorry state, there was carbon everywhere, it even managed to get down in the timing cover and build up around the chain etc, I bought it as a project and it did run rough but I had no idea how bad it was inside, the cylinder walls are like mirrors, the vacuum advance didn't work, the carb was in a sorry state, flooding and choke didn't work and had various vacuum leaks, I drove it around for 6 months like this and to be fair to it, it didnt miss a beat just run very lumpy. It must of been well down on power.

 

[wildpikey]

Pistons turned up last week so thought I'd get on and do a bit more, cleaned up a few bit n pieces and started painting various items ready to refit, just waiting on the camshaft kit to arrive from the USA and I can start building it back up.

 

[Mick]

Keep us updated, looks like a lovely project mate!

Well done!

Mick

 

[casuk]

Superb mate I'll bee keeping an eye on this one. I'd also like to hear the engine when its done if that's possible

 

[carlos]

Looks good mate . Would love to be capable do a project like that !

Keep us updated.

 

[joe516]

Well done mate Keep us updated

 

[wildpikey]

Thanks you lot, appreciate the good feedback, Will definitely keep you updated, this threads helping to keep me motivated at the moment lol, I've been putting this rebuild off for the last 2 years but I'm excited to hear it run now, should have a decent increase in power over stock form and most of the parts are overkill for what I need them for but the engine should outlast the van now if all goes to plan whilst breaking it in! once I've done the initial cam break in I'll post a video up of it running, hopefully in the next 2 weeks or so. The cam break in for these is the worst part, you can't let it idle at all for the first 20 minutes or so, has to be a minimum of 2000rpm varying up to 3000rpm, this is due to the cam only getting oil from splash off the crank and needing to harden the lobes, don't know why their not pre hardened? if any problems like leaks etc occur you have to shut it down and start again, its make or break time really, if it doesn't go bang I'll have a good'un lol

 

[Tamarc]

,Awesome thread m8,love the commitment to both the thread and the project,liking the pics,just a thought m8,a little more commentry on the pics would be nice,not a biggie though,many thanks for the time and effort and hope that all goes well

 

[wildpikey]

,Awesome thread m8,love the commitment to both the thread and the project,liking the pics,just a thought m8,a little more commentry on the pics would be nice,not a biggie though,many thanks for the time and effort and hope that all goes well

That's fair comment, It probably will make more sense if I gave a short explanation with certain pictures to explain whats going on/whats been done, will do that from now on and try to keep them in order of my progress, I noticed there's a pic in my last update from when I first pulled it apart lol.

 

[miggy]

I'm baller, what's my hobby?

You like Bobby Ball and you collect lots of memorabilia on him. Rock on Tommy

 

[D 8 RCS]

I'm baller, what's my hobby?

@allenfox you should have started a new thread for this really.
Anyhow, a Baller.............you're making up a huge ball from elastic bands ?

 

[wildpikey]

Not been able to post for a while but have been working on the van every chance I have had, here are some more progress pics,

In order of the pictures you can see so far that I have painted the weiand intake, de greased engine block, removed pistons and re honed cylinders, fitted new flat top pistons to conrods, started painting block, fitted pistons back in engine, fitted new high lift camshaft and lifters, valve springs and new pushrods, fitted heads, harmonic balancer, water pump and fan, intake and carburretor, distributor and plug leads etc, have a few final things to check and go over and hopefully next weekend I'll fill her up with break in oil, fresh petrol and run it up for the cam break in period, I was a little hasty as I'll have to pull distributor back out to prime engine with a priming tool to make sure oil is around the engine to eliminate a dry start, I will post video up of it running next weekend hopefully :banana: