| Hello everyone. I own a 1970 Chevelle SS that I purchased in July of 1996 in Hays, Kansas for a thousand dollars. The car isn't a cream puff, but it is a very good starting point. When I purchased it, the original 396 375HP motor was not with the car. It had a small block 305 that needed rebuilt. I had a few 396's left over from my first 70 SS that I owned back in High School and one of the blocks is a matched number! Since I had a small block 350 with all new parts so I decided to stick it in for the time being. This way I won't be quite as upset if I blow the motor up since it will be just a "temporary motor". I started with a 350 cid Chevrolet block from RHS bored 0.30 over. Put a 4130 steel crank in and used TRW forged 10.5 to 1 pistons. The rods are Crower (steel), and the bearings are Clevite77. I clearenced the mains at .03 and the rods at .04 as later I realized this was a mistake. The cam is a Competiton Cams Magnum 290 duration 507 lift. The timing chain is an Edelbrock double roller. I started with a bone stock set of casting #882 heads and went crazy with them! I went ahead and had them machined for 1.94 intakes and 2.06 exhaust valves. The valves are Manley Titainium. The springs are Crower triple springs with Manley teflon seats. I put screw in studs and guide plates in them. I decided at first put a stock Chevrolet intake manifold and a 750 cfm Quadrajet carb on it. This was another mistake. So when I finally got the small block together my stepfather helped me drop it in the car. After a couple of nights and more than a few Budweiser's, I fired it up and took it for a drive. The motor purred very nice and sounded very mean. But I instantly could tell the intake and carb were starving the motor. After driving around town for a couple of days I scheduled a road trip of 500 miles round trip. I knew the motor would be broke in after the trip and ready to take to the races. I made it 23 miles from home and I started hearing a slight knock in the motor. I shut the car off and called a tow truck. When I got it home I realized that the knock had to be in the bottom end of the motor. I scheduled it at a friends repair shop and we started tearing it down. When we pulled the oil pan off I could have cried right there. It had spun 3 rod bearings and 2 mains. The crank was ruined. I kept thinking to myself that I had done something wrong when I built it. So I sent the motor to the local race shop and had them diagnose what happened. It came down to the original machine work on the block. Three plugs in the back of the block were never removed when I had it prepped and all the old crud in the oil was trapped inside the motor. When I fired it up the first time, it shot all that crud through the crank and in the bearings. I'll never have any blocks prepped by that machine shop again. Well those of you who are new to my site are now caught up. Now go to The Story-part 2 to get "the rest of the story". |
