It lives.

[Prince Valiant]

Well, after 1 1/2 years,the Valiant springs back to life with a new engine and new tranny, and a whole slew of new crap. It breathed it first breath of fresh gas and air at approximately 3:00pm.

I am a happy man. :shades

[Syclone0044]

Congrats!! :haveabeer
What kind of break in are you going to give it? Or is it a flat tappet camshaft?

[Prince Valiant]

flat tappet hydraulic cam....so it went through a 20 minute break-in procedure...it's funny, because as the motor breaks in at 2500rpm and the internal ressistance lowers, the rpm's keep creeping up. Had to adjust it down several times as it would climb up to 3500 rpm after a few minutes of running. Then I'll do a couple of hard throttle applications to get those rings seated.

It sounds sweet though, but boy, what a smoker on the initial start up.

Not quite ready for the road. I've got to get a better lower radiator hose, and I've got to get new plug wires as well.

Probably do that tommorrow and light her up again...and maybe even road-test it. :rockwoot:

[Crawlin]

AWESOME!!!! so what's the whole combo?

[Syclone0044]

Thats something I never understood, with the break ins of the 3000 RPM flat tappet 30 minute deal, or the MotoMan wind it up to redline on the road method, what do you do after you spent so long putting your motor together from scratch and you find out you've got your plug wires crossed, or its pissing oil or coolant, or some other small problem? The two methods outlined kind of depend upon everything being 100% on the first fire up, dont they?

Anyway, glad to hear about the hard throttle to seat those rings :thumbsup

Forgive me but my memory needs some refreshing. What's the build again? I seem to remember edelbrock heads maybe? Carbuereted for sure. 318? What's the goal, is it going to be a championship DRAG Racer? (or street racer for that matter)

By the way, I'm ready to give you the ride in my Syclone that I talked about last year. She's running at full tilt now.. If you have yours running maybe we can exchange rides even steven.

[Prince Valiant]

The reason you break in a flat tappet cam is to establish the proper wear pattern on the lifters...at 2500-3000 the lifter begin to spin, and thus the proper pattern is then established. And yes...it is a great time to look for any foul ups, and to smoke off all the grease, grime, coatings, etc...let me tell you, it was more than I remembered from the first build-up.

The motor is a fairly basic 360 v8 build up using ported stock cast iron heads, 9-9.5:1 compression ratio, edelbrock performer RPM intake manifold, holley 700 mechanical secondary carb, headman headers, and a hughes 232/237 cam.

The goal is for consistent 12's with some reliability all while looking like this:
http://www.belowunderground.com/streetscene/pictures/gifs/76valiant1.jpg

Last thing I would want to do with THIS particular car is become too hard core a racer...I just want to have some fun. When I first finished the first motor (stock heads w/ 1.88 valves, 8.2:1 CR, performer intake, 600cfm vacum secondary holley, 224/228 cam, headers) I just wanted to break 15's...that's all. The thing went 14.3 it's first day at the track with stock open diff and 2.94 gears :stare

Then the bug bit...had to go faster. First the gears (3.90) with locking diff, then the heads (mildly ported) tried a different carb, went back to the original despite being slower, then the intake manifold, etc etc etc. I was not having too much fun with it with all the down time....

Then racing a turbo civic I missed shifted and spun a rod bearing....so I figured if I was going to rebuild it, I would do a better job this time...so better combo of parts for the motor.

While it was out, I came across another manual trans and picked it up...the problem with the original unit is that it is an OD unit with very wide gear spacing (3.09:1, 1.65:1, 1:1, 0.73:1) with the big drops it killed my traps. When I first broke into the 13's, I was only trapping at 93-94 mph...while I acclerated at a decent clip in 1st and 2nd, I stopped gaining speed once I hit 3rd....I shifted into 3rd before the 1/8th and usually only gained 13-14 mph in the second half of the track...icky. On top of that, the tranny was an aluminim cased 833. 833 4 speeds are tremendously tough, but the more flexible AL cased ones have a capacity of 300ft-lbs of torque. Mine lived, if not too happily, but now I should have no worries with the new cast-iron unit . Gear ratios are now 2.67:1, 1.92:1, 1.33:1, 1:1...so much more effective for spirited driving.

And yes. I am looking forward to a ride in your car...but it will take a few weeks yet before I say I am ready with the valiant. Got to tune her up yet you know? :cool2:

[Syclone0044]

Oh man, I think I just realized who you are. As I read your story about the turbo civic I had some type of flashback to a few summers ago and remember seeing this rust colored, steel wheel, old looking (sorry) car cruising on highway frequently, with these extremely narrow tires. It was quite unsuspecting, but I recall the driver wanting to race often. If this is you, then we've definitely got on it a few times next to each other. I recall the car being a lot faster than I had suspected from the way it appeared. I could swear the car did not have a clear coat last time I saw it, the one in your picture appears to shine.

As for a ride, PM me some contact information.. I'd recommend closing this deal sooner rather than later; I make no guarantees the bottom end will hold together one week to the next :stare :goof You can just owe me one until you get yours ready.

[Prince Valiant]

yep...that was me :3gears: Although I only recall racing one syclonne, and I don't recall that as being you though...The only one I recall racing was b/w oklahoma and beliot just past the toyota dealership and the syclonne had a chick in the passenger seat. The one I recall racing I ran essentially neck and neck with...maybe with me pulling a fender. Your much faster than I was (I think that it was with the stock heads/etc with only 3.90's...I was in the higher 13's then, IIRC, honestly so many races, so long ago...I was kind of a racing fiend then :) ) and certianly you're faster than i am now :rockwoot:

Sent PM

[WhiteZCamaro]

Good to hear man!! can't wait to see that thing out on the road. :thumbsup

[Rocket Power]

Sleepers rule!!! :rockwoot: