Topic: Engine Bay Detail and Cam Swap UPDATE (with pics)

[1976T/A]

Hi all-

I'm not new to this site but I am definitely more of a "reader" than a "writer." If it wasn't for this forum and a couple others, I would never be doing this project.

Started this primarily just to detail the engine compartment, but now that I have so much torn down, I am probably going to do a cam swap, too.....BUT will be needing your help, please ??.....never done that before. After much research, I've decided that the Comp Cams XE262 is the right one if (and that's a big 'if') I can use the existing stock valvetrain with a slight conversion to 'adjustable' to accommodate the added lift of the new cam. Will need your advice.

First, here's the car. It's a 1976 T/A with 47,000 original miles. All sheet metal and interior is original. L78 400ci automatic. Only mods have been a set of headers and some 3.42 rear gears. Paint is about 4 years old. Car has been in the family since 1983 and legally became mine about 7 years ago. I've already spent a ton of time and $$ getting it to where it is, but am having a blast doing this !!







Engine bay before project began:






Parts removed:




Intake all cleaned up with a wire wheel, primed and painted. EGR block off plates fabricated and installed along with a couple of additional EGR plugs:



Various brackets also hit with a wire wheel, primed and painted:




Inner fenders removed. Have the inside and outside of one degreased, wire wheeled and just started shooting some primer:




Been under the hood, too, removing rust and other crud. You can't really tell from these pics, but I've done quite a bit:








Will be ordering a bunch of new parts, including new A/C compressor, radiator, hoses, belts, water pump, brake booster and master cyl., plugs, wires, VIR valve, and a handful of other things.

So, I'm hoping if I get stuck, I can solicit some help.....especially with the cam swap

Thanks.

Paul

[KeePat]

Paul, Your T/A looks great and the cragars with the black, Awesome! Looks like your off to a good start under the hood, good luck and keep posting the pictures along the way!
Pat

[Rick]

That's looking pretty good!  How are you going to do the choke?  Convert to electric?  I note that you've made a block-off plate for the hot air feed to the choke, which is why I'm asking.

Your intake manifold looks good.  I think you made the right choice in deciding to go with the correct "stratospheric" blue for the 75/76 engine.

[ponchonutty]

Looking good!  Please pick up the pace with more pictures too since I'll be doing the same exact thing in a week or so.  I'm very curious to see how well this turns out with out pulling the motor.  I was planning on pulling mine.

[SoonerTA]

Great looking car!!  Love the black!

[RRR76TA]

Looks nice . One question where do you live?

[1976T/A]

Paul, Your T/A looks great and the cragars with the black, Awesome! Looks like your off to a good start under the hood, good luck and keep posting the pictures along the way!
Pat

Thanks, Pat. I wish I had the patience and know-how to get my stuff looking as good as yours. What you are doing to that '72 is amazing !!

That's looking pretty good!  How are you going to do the choke?  Convert to electric?  I note that you've made a block-off plate for the hot air feed to the choke, which is why I'm asking.

Well, if my understanding is correct, I won't need that hot air feed as I never run the car when it's cold out. I did some research and I don't *think* I need it ?

Looking good!  Please pick up the pace with more pictures too since I'll be doing the same exact thing in a week or so.  I'm very curious to see how well this turns out with out pulling the motor.  I was planning on pulling mine.

Will try to keep the pics coming. Things may slow down a bit for the next week or so.  Even with the engine in the car, I expect it to come out pretty good. A little tougher getting all the grime off, but with patience and some elbow grease, it's getting there. I almost pulled the engine.

Looks nice . One question where do you live?

I am a Michigander !!


Thanks for all the compliments, too !!!

[RENOVATIONS]

Your intake manifold looks good.  I think you made the right choice in deciding to go with the correct "stratospheric" blue for the 75/76 engine.

Totally agree 



Great looking '76 and good work so far

[Rick]

Well, if my understanding is correct, I won't need that hot air feed as I never run the car when it's cold out. I did some research and I don't *think* I need it ?

Well, you have to understand "cold" in the automotive world.  "Cold" to an engine of this vintage (1976) is when it is operating at any temp of less than 195 degrees F.  It's really not connected to the absolute outside temperature, although when it's 0 degrees outside it obviously takes the engine longer to get to 195 F than it does when it's 100 F outside.

You see, the choke provides a richer air/fuel ratio to the engine so it will better when it is "cold" (less than 195 F).  That helps keep the engine running, as at temps lower than that the air/fuel ratio isn't steady.  It will go "lean", and the engine will stall.  This will continue, with erratic engine operation, until the engine gets "hot" enough for the air/fuel ratio to stabilize.  The biggest factor affecting engine warmup is the termperature of the intake manifold, which is why the exhaust ports crossover right under the carb.  The idea is to use the exhaust gas to heat up the intake, which helps vaporize the fuel coming out of the carb, and thus providing more uniform air/fuel mixture to the intake ports.

If you don't have a choke, the car will stall and die repeatedly until the intake manifold gets warm enough to do that.

So -- do you need the hot air supply to the choke?  No, not if you essentially disable the choke.  If the choke is enabled (working), then without that hot air supply it will never disengage.  That chokes off your engine and prevents it from developing full power from full air flow through the carb.  Also, if its setup right, your secondaries won't open because they will be "locked out" by the choke that doesn't open.  That's why most people without a working hot air supply have their chokes disabled -- intentionally, as the car won't make any power with it working.  They just put up with the crappy running until the car reaches operatiing temperature.

It's a driveability issue that helps with emissions.  A working choke doesn't harm power at all, and makes the car easier to start and drive.

[1976T/A]

Almost finished. Just have some minor touching up to do and will need to have the A/C system checked and charged. This project has been a ton of work.....but I have honestly enjoyed doing it and I'm pretty pleased with the results. It's not 'hard' work and I didn't run into any major problems but it was time consuming and tedious getting 33 years worth of grime, grease, and rust off of everything. The only part I'm not 100% pleased with is the alternator. Tough to find a brand new 27si for a reasonable price so I ended up cleaning the one I have as best I could. I didn't paint the case but I did paint the fan. I decided against doing the cam....maybe next year. I just didn't feel confident enough with my limited skills to get into the engine internals. But, now that I have a good feel for how everything comes apart in order to get to the inside of the engine, I'll be a little more confident doing it. Tell you what, I have a whole new respect for the guys who do any kind of 'restoration' for a living. It is a time consuming a tedious job. I would guesstimate I put in somewhere around 115 hours which includes tracking down all the parts and ordering them and/or picking them up.

New stuff:

A/C Compressor
VIR Valve
Water Pump
Hoses
Distributor
Spark Plugs
Belts
Master Cylinder
Brake Booster
Radiator Overflow Bottle
Washer Fluid Bottle
Radiator
Fan clutch
Radiator Cap
Valve Covers
....and a bunch of other small things I can't think of right now.

These aren't the greatest pictures but it was later in the day and the light wasn't all that great. Would have liked to have gotten some good pictures of the upper control arms, the inner wheel wells (which were removed, stripped to bare metal, primed, and painted)...and the frame rails.....which all came out really nice.

BEFORE



AFTER

[RENOVATIONS]

Again, that REALLY looks good...excellent work! 

[72blackbird]

Paul,
Fantastic job on the engine bay detailing- totally an inspiration of how I hope my engine bay will look one day. My poor T/A is still w/o an engine (in process of looking for a complete engine now)- at least I have the 'before' pic LOL.



Geno

[SoonerTA]

Wow...I am very impressed with how it all came out.  I have my front suspension ripped out of the car and think that this would be a good time to do exactly what you did!  Thanks for the inspiration! 

By the way...your alternator looks great!

[jphillips3333]

Looks fanstastic Paul - great job!

[4speed76]

That looks nice and clean.  Good work.