My first muscle car build thread (lots of pics)

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just an update. I have had a hell of a time finding any job. My parents are also forcing me to go back to college for my masters degree. I am doing a tiny bit of work for a friend and fellow A body lover/guru. He is just giving me mechanical jobs he does not want to do. first I had to tune up a astrovan then last week I had to change an intake manifold gasket on a vortec v8 conversion van. Then he is having me regasket a tbi 350 and I think he wants me to drop the trans on and swing it into a cab and chassis truck.

so long story short I've had a few bucks! yay! The only bad thing is it is not a constant paycheck.

Anyway I ordered a orange box and lightweight distributor springs. that should be a nice upgrade to the car.

I also had an issue the other day where only one front brake was working. I still need to look into it better though. That might be tomorrows project.

And I had the car doing the best burnout I have ever done in my entire life. all of first gear at 6000 rpm for a good 10 car lengths. I was so surprised the car did that with this combo! My friend said it was the longest burnout he has seen in his entire life. It was so awesome! 318 laying down some black lines!:finga:
 
Put the lightweight springs in and orange box. Haven't had a chance to really get on it much. seems to work good.
 
Haven't posted any thing in a while. This thing goes real good now for a 318 of unknown mileage! I also get thumbs up all the time in this car! its not even that nice looking either! It gets walked by a bit at the car show but when I start her up everyone turns their head. gotta love headers with glasspack header mufflers.

I was on the way to the car show and this infinity pulled up next to me, thought nothing of it cruised away from the light then he got on it. I wasn't expecting a race so by the time i romped on the throttle he was just ahead of me. He tucked in front of me but we both stayed in it for a bit, I was coming up hard on his bumper and lifted at about 4k rpm (1st gear) due to traffic. he then got in the right lane and drove slow, looked embarrassed and turned off shortly after.

I don't think those cars are too slow, some of them run 14 flat i think. Maybe one day ill get to english town and see what this thing does.

The other reason i haven't posted much is because I have been helping my friend with his daily driver toyota pickup. We have done a lot of cool stuff to it. I made a build thread on one toyota forum if anyone is interested. http://www.celica-gts.com/forums/index.php?topic=22489.0
 
SirDan said:
After I got the headers in I drove a bit then stopped to check my oil and adjust my timing. The car would not start. Checked all the charging system and today I figured out it was the voltage regulator. 20 bucks at autozone and I was back in business! much cheaper than a new alternator. the back of my old voltage regulator looked like a piece of melted cheese. anyway can't wait to drive it and dial in the timing!
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Yep, my problem back when I first started driving it again was the VR. After a new alt, fuses (got the dash lights working too), and VR, the car charges just fine now.
 
Haven't had any money or time lately due to school. I am off for winter break now and for christmas i got a pypes exhaust with an X pipe and thrush welded mufflers. started the install on christmas, man this exhaust was a PITA to put in! if they would have made the X pipe 2 inches more spread apart in the back it would fit a hell of a lot better! anyway a good 8 hours were spent cursing and sweating putting this on. sounds pretty good and most importantly exhaust fumes don't come through the holes in the floor anymore! picked up a bit of power on the low end too. now from a stop if you romp on the throttle it spins the tires for 15-20 feet with the stock converter. before it would just chirp the tires.

I took a few pictures but they all came out like crap! ill get some more when its not as cold and windy out. i suppose if you have seen one A body exhaust you've seen them all anyway.

tips, which you cant really see.... pypes copy of stock abody ones.
IMG_1657.jpg


tight side of the tailpipes
IMG_1658.jpg


Xpipe and ground clearance
IMG_1659.jpg


I really really realllllllyyyyyy want to swap in the OD 4 speed sometime over this winter break i have. I think all i need is the magnum pilot bearing for the non drilled crank, fluids for the od trans and the flywheel resurfaced. I think thats only about 80 bucks worth of stuff needed then its just time i need to invest. it would be nice if i had a warm dry place to do it too!
 
I know your pain we bought a pypes exhaust for my sons 05 mustang it too was a PITA i swore i would never buy another exhaust from them, looks good tho.
 
Thanks! I wish I could update every week but funds are very low. I am going for my masters degree now and have no job. i make a few bucks here and there but its not much.

I have been saving all my money for the past 3 or 4 months and I only have about 400-500 bucks. I am saving the money so i can get a megasquirt computer for my toyota. I plan on doing megasquirt on my toyota and turbocharging it to learn everything about megasquirt and turbo charging. Then I would like to eventually build a twin turbo motor for the dart and run it on megasquirt! that probably won't happen for a while but if I keep at it one day I will be there!
 
SirDan said:
I am saving the money so i can get a megasquirt computer for my toyota. I plan on doing megasquirt on my toyota and turbocharging it to learn everything about megasquirt and turbo charging. Then I would like to eventually build a twin turbo motor for the dart and run it on megasquirt! that probably won't happen for a while but if I keep at it one day I will be there!
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Sounds cool. What model Toyota are you building?
 
Its an 85 celica. I got it originally as a beater car then ended up falling in love with it. It is a rear wheel drive and 5 speed. Tons of fun and handles great it just needs more power as its only putting maybe 100 hp at the wheels. Its a bit slow even with some of the stuff i have done to the engine. rite now its about high 16-low 17 quarter mile times.

I am hoping with the turbo to be somewhere around 150-200 hp at the wheels.

For the dart i am thinking of doing a 318 bottom end with 360 heads to get pretty low compression, then add the twin turbos and see how much boost i can throw at it reliably and run 91 octane.

anyway hopefully i get a part time job soon so this can become a reality faster!
 
SirDan said:
Its an 85 celica. I got it originally as a beater car then ended up falling in love with it. It is a rear wheel drive and 5 speed. Tons of fun and handles great it just needs more power as its only putting maybe 100 hp at the wheels. Its a bit slow even with some of the stuff i have done to the engine. rite now its about high 16-low 17 quarter mile times.

I am hoping with the turbo to be somewhere around 150-200 hp at the wheels.

For the dart i am thinking of doing a 318 bottom end with 360 heads to get pretty low compression, then add the twin turbos and see how much boost i can throw at it reliably and run 91 octane.

anyway hopefully i get a part time job soon so this can become a reality faster!
Click to expand...

Nice! My daily driver 2004 Vibe (Same car as the Matrix) was a dog w/the little 1.8 Toyota 4 banger. Added a TRD Supercharger, Piggyback ECU,CAI, smaller pulley for the supercharger etc. 1/4 mile dropped from 17.8 at 15.9 with some wheel spin. Certainly not a street screamer, but a heck of a lot of fun...and still get 29/30 mpg around town. Your Celica will be a little beast with the turbo set-up
:burnout:

You plans for the Dart are just sick! :cheers:
 
Love the progress so far! It's great to see another young gun get into the hobby,and also very cool of your Dad to help you out with parts and knowledge. That's one cool pops!

This hobby is real expensive,so good on ya finding those deals! I dont purchase until I find a great deal either,lol! Cant afford it otherwise.

Susbscribed and waiting for more updates! @Way to go SirDan!
 
I just have to share today's story! I feel like a retard but its a good story.

So i drove the dart around the block today, did a burnout and pulled in the driveway, all of a sudden it was idling lower and running kinda crappy. at 2,000 rpm it kind of sounded like a knock. my dad though it was a rod knock my mopar buddy told me to do a compression test to see if a valve was stuck open.

so i took the plugs out then went to yank the coil wire and realized the distributor was waayyyyy loose. since every plug was out i figured i would still compression test it just for kicks.

drivers side every piston turned out 122 psi
pass side was anywhere from 122-150 psi

not bad numbers rite?

anyway plugs back in, and distributor tightened it runs just as it did!

I think tomorrow morning ill go out and play with the timing to get it where it feels best. It might have needed a change anyway since it has full exhaust now.

i feel stupid it was such a simple fix!
 
A simple fix is a good thing!

Hey sometimes those misdiagnosis thing can be a good thing too. I dont know how many times I've missed a diagnosis and replaced a part that turned out to need replacing anyways!:wink:
 
I thought for sure I bent a pushrod at first.

I'm glad it wasn't anything critical.

Had it been something major it wouldn't have been too bad, I am just screwing with this engine for the heck of it with bolt on parts. this is the block and heads the engine had when i got it. no idea if anything has ever been done to them. been through at least 2 timing chains though. runs really good no smoke at all.

still if it blew i don't want to work on the other motor i have just yet. so that would have sucked.
 
Well since this motor has unknown mileage on it, my guesstimation would be about 230k I have decided to build my other low mileage 318. Its a 80s pre roller motor. The plan is build this thing for as cheap as i possibly can.

new rings, bearings, gaskets, oil pump. the 318 I'm building has a almost new double roller timing chain i will re use. I think the 340 cam is still good so i will re use that. I have the LD4B and a torker 2 manifold to choose from. I will also re use my headers and 600 cfm carb.

I calculated all the costs and it will be about $325 for parts, break in lube, oil, ect. everything to get it running. I have $100 towards it so far! :cheers:

I also entered a cam giveaway lunati is doing! maybe ill win a new cam? they didn't have any turbo grinds though so i went with something suited for a mild engine.

I think i will also take this opportunity to install the 4 speed with the engine. All i should need to do that is new fluids and the clutch surfaced. so maybe 50-100 bucks? hopefully i can sell my automatic to cover those costs.

I should really install a newer style starter while I'm at it as well!!

Still don't have a god damn job!!!!!!!!! :banghead: :banghead::banghead: :banghead: I have an interview thursday though wish me luck!

sorry i don't have any good news to post up. I just need some reliable income and i will be able to do more. just doing the best i can with what i have.(or don't have..)
 
Good luck on the job. I got a job on Feb 29. I was unemployed over a year.
 
well this morning i got a call and lined up another interview. the original interview i was talking about was a total waste of my time. but the call i got this morning was from a race car shop looking for a shop helper. I ran over and chatted them up. It is a mom and pop business, the owner was a real cool guy. They were looking for someone to clean the shop and occasionally help out with mechanical stuff. The shop had mostly vintage racecars. It was really cool, even if i don't get the job it was worth it to talk to the owner and look at the cars!

as said before i have 100 bucks and I am owed 90 bucks and did maybe 200 bucks of work this week. so once i get that money the engine build can start! :blob:

Like i said i am looking to turbo the 318. I am going to run it NA at first then save for the turbo components. Do you think i should try my hand at porting the 318 heads? I don't want to do any machine work at all, can i port the heads with no machine work? do i just watch the valve guides and valve seat? probably tape them up a bit to protect them? I see a lot of info on working the bowl and pushrod pinch and stuff but I haven't seen anyone talk about what to be careful of to avoid machine work.
 
I got paid today!! :blob::blob::blob::blob:

$480 bucks in hand, lets get this build underway!

Might end up using some 360 heads instead of the 318s.:finga:

Very happy today!
 
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