Teds Excellent 69 Dart GTS Adventure
Hey Ted, I live in New York, land of taxes, your gas is still cheaper.
Uhm, negative! PA has the most expensive gas tax in the nation..LOL! $.13/gal higher than NY. I don't know if you lived here when this happened but they jacked the gas tax and said it would lower property taxes. It didn't. Then they sold the turnpike so it would lower property taxes. It didn't. Then they legalized gambling to lower property taxes. It didn't. Now, they're going to legalize recreational pot. It won't lower the property taxes either but they're counting on us being too stoned to care!!
Anyway, back to the build. Cam was spot on at TDC/.050 lift at the intake valve. Timing was WWWAAAYY off. Like 6 deg initial. I put it at 13deg and the the difference was night and day. Advance is a bit early but I can adjust that later. Adjust carb, set idle. Temperature runs around 200 at it's highest ambient to date which was about 95deg. Pinging at high load/max temp is gone. Had a bit more lifter/rocker noise than I'm used to with my cars. Except my solid lifter BMW. So off came the valve covers and I did notice the rocker arms have a LOT of side by side play so I ordered spacer kits. I'm going to check push rod length next...make sure I have the proper preload on the lifters. This big block sure retains heat!!
So tonight, I'm actually going to wash the car and post some pictures to follow along. But I have made some decisions;
I will be returning the car to it's original color, Y2 Sunfire Yellow and I will be keeping the big block. I'd love to be around 600hp after my stroker build. I will be doing a mini tub...which is why I picked 600hp. I don't know if the widest tires on mini tubs can transfer much more than that to the street? So my first task will be researching headers. That seems to be the issue with the Dart and big blocks. I have a nice set of Schumakers now but I'm reading they really don't have the greatest flow at higher hp. I just don't see the sense of losing 50hp with this build. So, my header research begins. Remember, my car had fender well headers at some point in it's "career". So I already have the cut-outs.
Any header suggestions, don't be afraid to preach!! I can modify them as well...for example, with fender well headers the collector seems to point down too much. I can fix that. Tube in the way or needs bent? I can fix that too.
Film at 11 along with the new objectives!!
