I must be a true believer in large cube engines. I'm loving this!

build sheet:
small block chevy, 400 SBC high nickel block, short fill hardblok. No core shift. Block sonic checked ok at .060 bore. Decked to 9.00 inches and plugged. Valley screens and vent tubes installed in lifter valley. Stroker clearanced.
440ci. 7.2 L (4.185 bore, 4" stroke)
internal balance
6" lightweight I beam rods, 7/16 capscrew (scat)4340
4" Eagle internal balance 4340 crank
JE flattop pistons, -5cc, 1/16 1/16 3/16 ringpack, floating pins
Flatout .040" 4.2" bore head gaskets
ARP studs on mains
SBC oilpan with scraper, windage tray and converted to use LT1 oil level sensor
LT1 timing cover, machined to fit SBC with custom adapter plate
custom small base circle billet hydraulic roller, not yet ordered (waiting on flow data from heads)
hydraulic roller lifters
Jesel SS shaft mount rockers for Dart heads
Dart Pro 1 230, 72cc chamber, angle plug, 2.08/1.6 ferrea valves, being ported. Projected flow numbers are 335 cfm/235 cfm @ .650 lift
Accel Pro-Ram single plane intake manifold, being ported with heads.
intakeelbows.com custom intake elbow for LT1 throttle body
58mm Throttle body
42.5# Lucas injectors and Aeromotive AFPR
OEM hydraulic roller timing set
custom oil pump drive adapter with ARP hardened driveshaft
Melling oil pump with welded 3/4 pickup
electric water pump for sbc
11.5:1 compression

All OEM sensors and components fit into place. Engine is internal balanced to use LT1 damper and crank hub. Water pump is electric with spacers to make room for opti which is only used for the cam position sensor (delteq). All OEM accessories line up and clear. Engine still uses centerbolt valvecovers (though I doubt stockers will clear shaftmounts). I will use my 1.6 7/16 NSA promags until I get the shaftmounts in, pushrods ordered, and valvecovers cleared.

All I'm waiting on is the numbers to come back with the heads to order a custom cam... then it goes together from a shortblock into a longblock... then I just gotta find time to drop it in. I'm looking for a tuner for it now, seems to scare alot of people, haha! I know alot of people are probably skeptical, and I guess that's ok. It's a new thing. The timing cover and oil pan work were suprisingly easy and cheap to do...

This is a 'demo motor'. Believe it or not, this motor was pretty inexpensive. Cost me less to build than my 383 did. It's not a high RPM motor, I'm looking for midrange torque out of it mostly for street crusing. I'm not looking to spin it much over 6000 RPM, and that would be rarely. Just not my driving style. If I wanted to build it up more and beat on it, I would have went with a cylinder head other than a 23 degree head, a solid roller, monoblade, and used that nifty aftermarket block I have. That will follow later.

Doubt I will dyno it soon even if I do get it in. The rest of the car is built but I doubt a built 10 bolt would take it even on the street I'm sure between the T-56 and the new motor, the driveshaft and rearend would be toast. Obviously! Best thing is, if the FI system cant take it, I can throw a carb on it, change timing covers, and put it into something else, or go DFI. Works either way!

Pics will follow next month after I get the heads and intake back and the cam ordered so I can show you guys some internet **** I cant right now since Im not where the motor is to take pictures of it...

Now the whole point here, before anyone asks, if that if you can do this with a Gen 1, you can do it with an aftermarket block and save the expense of DFI for those who dont need it. Meaning you can do a larger motor than you could with an LT1 for as much as you could or less than a 383 or 350. I've noticed lately that Gen 1 parts are a little cheaper on average than LT1 stuff and we all know there's more of a selection. The only stipulation here is you cant use a raised cam block without excessive timing cover mods to recenter the opti and I havent figured that one out yet. Maybe I should... haha And by the way, dart blocks are on ebay for $1499 shipped last time I checked.

Let the bashing begin!!! LOL

 

great idea and plan...i'm not a fan of the elbows with the tb on it tho. But to keep it all under the hood and streetable seems like it will work well. You have some pretty descent heads to say your keeping it under 6k, good luck with it, looks like it will be alot of fun

 

sounds good, i'm ready to see it put down some dyno and track numbers. congrats on being relentless on getting this project done.

 

There is a guy with an Impala who converted a Donovan aluminum smallblock to use even the LT1 mechanical waterpump and he uses a modified stock opti for actual spark distrobution. Is a 434ci motor with modified LT1 intake and AFR 227 heads, on the blower and a 75hp nitrous shot it goes 9.6 at 146 at a 4400lbs raceweight. This is on the stock pcm too. Believe it makes about 1200hp at the crank on 15psi. If he can do that you can get yours tuned.

Enough people have seen this car run that it is the real deal. Another great part is underneath it is a 4L60E and 8.5" 10 bolt just two more parts people will not believe will work at that level.

 

Thanks for the comments. I have to say this... I love ebay I just happened to find the heads and crank I was looking for at a steal so I picked them up. Found some off the shelf pistons on clearance. And it's all to the specs I needed.

Would you guys $hit yourselves if I told you that to date, I've only spent roughly $4000 in the motor minus the cam and shaft mounts? This is on heads, block work, rotating assembly, porting, intake, injectors, etc... I've been lucky and found some deals that saved me a couple grand easy! I think after it's done, the total will be close to 6. But this is including the block which I already had. The details are whats costing money at this point since most of the expensive parts have already been taken care of.

Time while deployed behind a computer can actually be a good thing!

The heads are BIG for a 23 degree head, but considering the size, should make up for it.

Cool thing is so far I've done it for the cost of the donovan alone. That is truely a rare block since it doesnt exist as-cast. Part of the goal here was to make the conversion as much of a bolt on affair as possible. The cam retainer plate I couldnt avoid, but was very easy since I had the shop do some minor welding that fixed that problem. The shop normally does high output small and big blocks so at least I know it's being done well.

 

If I did it again and I might, I would probably do it with SB2.2 hardware, a 4" cowl and a different type of throttle body. I want to see how this one behaves before making any decisions. So in other words, this motor might go up for sale shortly. The biggest thing was for me to invest a little now to make sure it was feasable before dropping a ton more into a motor to do it the way I REALLY want to.

I really want to find someone who can make me a custom elbow that deletes the MAF and CAI, runs down to where the CAI went, and terminate it into a filter using 4" coated pipe. Not sure where to look exactly but I'm on it!

 

what do you want the cai made from...If you find a good muffler shop they can probly do it...i'm sure you want a 4" pipe mandrel bent

If you could fab it up somehow or another...wood or fiberglass a plastic shop should be able to do it

 

I was thinking of using a 4" pipe, getting a smooth 90 to go down into where the CAI goes into the fender and putting a filter on it. the 90 will have a slight bend to it maybe 20 degrees to offset it towards the front of the car to clear the radiator. Then use a second piece with a 90 in it, cut off right after the 90, and on the other side, have a 45 right next to the 90 running up to the TB where I put it onto the throttle body with a piece of 4" silicone hose. I'll put the two halves together with another piece of hose, and have the pipe coated to look purdy

This way I can adjust it for the height of the TB coming off of the intake elbow, and it will ditch all the rubber hose, the MAF and the CAI on the way to the TB. Nothing but a filter and air, except for the little grommet I gotta install for the opti vent. And it will do a nice job of covering up the oh-so-obvious gen 1 water pump

Only thing I gotta figure out is if the size of 4" pipe will interfere with anything. If It does i will simply make the pipe more oval instead of round, probably near the water pump, in which case I will make it oval all the way into the TB.

Oh, and to answer your question, I'll use mild steel. Something fairly thin, about the same thickness as sheetmetal.

 

You may be able to make something from the material off of this website:

http://intakehoses.com/Merchant2/mer...T&Store_Code=I

 

Good link, thanks dude!

The obvious eluded me lol

 

I want to thank you for your very informative answers to my question, and for the tips. I can not wait to see that beast put up some big numders.

Thank you again.

 

That's an interesting project.

I look forward to the pictures and results (track/dyno) if you ever get them.

 

If you get Aaron(intakeelbows.com) to make the sheetmetal elbow for a monoblade or stock style LT1 TB, get him to put a plate in the floor of it like I got him to do mine. I didn't like the way the short side turn was,so I made a template out of thick paper, taped it in and sent it back to him, he did a BEEEEAUTIFUL job welding it in.....do a search on this board for the pics I posted. Aaron is a SUPER nice guy to deal with.


David