Small Block Chevy Build Stage 2, Part 1: The Budget Goes Out The Window - Engine Power S3, E2

today on engine power it's time for stage two on our small-block Chevy power house with a budget breaking list of internals plus how to correctly install your distributor glad you could join us for more engine power today we're continuing on with stage 2 of a three-stage build-up of our small-block Chevy last week we completed stage one we started with a machine stock block from Summit Racing along with their pro pack kits which included stock replacement Pistons rods and crankshaft it was topped off with Summit 170 CC aluminum heads a Wyant intake and a 650 Holley carb then a short dyno flog yielded an impressive 357 horsepower and 389 pound feet of torque and we built it for less than four thousand dollars this is what it looks like today we were using the block the rest goes on the shelf because today the budget goes out the window that's why I'm here I heard that small-block roaring through the building last week and well I decided I had to be a part of this bill especially since we're upgrading to some bulletproof parts that'll raise the cubic inches to 383 and the horsepower to more than 500 for example at stage one we use these cast pistons now we're upgrading to these moly power pack Pistons that are fully machined forgings now they have a phosphate coating that reduces pin galling and micro welding plus on the skirts a graphic coating that reduces drag the connecting rods were used in stage one were more than adequate for our combination then now though we're gonna upgrade to these much beefier h-beam forged rods with floating pins and they'll be able to handle all that abuse for a camshaft we're going from this basic hydraulic flat tappet this custom grind billet solid roller from come now the base circle is smaller on this cam than the stage one and that's so it'll clear the connecting rods with our stroker now check the difference in the duration of these lobes over here we've got 218 intake and exhaust at 50 thousandths over here 252 and 260 this ultimate adjustable billet timing sets a big upgrade as well especially with all of its adjustability up to six degrees advance or to make dialing in the cam of snap and we'll go from hydraulic lifters to a set of solid rollers those new lifters timing set and cam all came from comp while our Pistons rods and crankshaft are part of eagles competition series it's a 4340 forged crankshaft it's gonna bring our stroke up from three four eighty two three seven fifty with a 4-0 30 bore and that's where we planned ahead now normally we would have to grind on the block to make room for that additional stroke but we ordered the block with the clearancing already done with that being said there's still more work to do with the block wash it's time to focus on oil flow I'll start in the oil filter boss area removing all sharp edges and making smooth transitions the same process for the oil pump mount on the rear main cap now with that additional flow we're gonna put that oil right where it needs to be the mains some performance engines like our 572 have a group in the main saddle to put extra oil to the mains since our stock block doesn't have them I'll show you how to put them in yourself all it takes is a discarded main bearing for a template install it in the saddle along with a couple of bolts and washers to keep it in place then use a cut-off wheel to gently grind through the bearing into the main approximately sixty thousand or a sixteenth of an inch deep take your time and check your progress regularly it's got to go a little further on this side but that's really close with the first one done you've also created a perfect template for the rest move the bearing to the next saddle and repeat the process finish it off by deburring the oil holes gorgeous that looks like a machine did it will drill extra holes and the new main bearings before they go in the press to end front or gallery plugs can pop out under high pressure so I tapped them for screwin pipe plugs which I'll install on final assembly that's a nice tick on those lanes now that increased flow will also increase the pressure where we want it given the oil has the same viscosity now bottom line is this blocks going to stand up to the RPMs an extra horsepower we throw now we're gonna give it a bath and when we come back we'll start throwing some parse at it we're back and going to start the build of our stage two small-block Chevy now like with any high performance engine you don't want to leave anything to chance like bearing clearances if you remember in stage 1 we plasti gauged our clearances which was fine for its power level and application yeah but for this stage we'll be more precise and that means using a set of quality micrometers and a dial bore gauge this way we can measure down to 10 thousandths of an inch and we'll start with the number 1 crank jerk and transfer that measurement to the dial bore gauge to avoid scratching the new bearings we'll do 1 journal at a time and record the results to a build sheet like this one you can download from our website the minimum vertical oil clearance for a high performance engine should be one thousand spur inch of shaft diameter so for our small-block Chevy the minimum oil clearance should be twenty-five ten thousands and we have between thirty and thirty three ten thousand so weren't good with the mains all set up we can now drill the extra holes in the new bearings will space two of them evenly on each side sixty thousand sin diameter will make sure to deburr them afterwards with that handled apply a dab of high pressure Lube to the rear main seal and install it now we can place our modified bearings in our modified saddles and with some high viscosity Lube on them we're ready to carefully lay the crank in for good our Lube caps can go on now we'll torque the caps in a circular pattern from the inside out first at 40 then finally to 70 pound feet as always we'll check the cranks thrust it's at a sweet 5,000 next I'm gonna drop a couple of ringless piston and rod assemblies in the block here's why we want to make absolutely sure the clearancing that was done inside the block is compatible with our parts combination if we need to do any more grinding now is the time to no not during final assembly we are good to go time to put some plugs in our newly threaded oil galleries make sure to put some high pressure lube on them or they can goggling in sealant isn't required on them since they're inside the engine now our comp custom solid roller gets carefully slid in this is the most aggressive cam profile we can put in this engine without having to do major changes to parts elsewhere keeping the cam in phase exactly where we want it is this cop ultimate adjustable timing set with our button back in place the fasteners are torqued to 28 pound-feet degreeing the cam is the next step on our list I'm setting up the intake centerline on a hundred and eight degrees which is 2 degrees advanced when finished the inner bolts get torqued to 13 pound-feet the greeing a camshaft is a must for any high-performance engine because it's the intake center lines position relative to its lobe separation that dictates the engines power band now I'll expand on that later because right now we're gonna check for piston to valve clearance and no using clay here we're gonna use our degree wheel and a dial indicator to get an exact measurement I'll leave the number1 piston and rod assembly in the bore I took our new cylinder head and pulled the springs off number one cylinder and replace them with checking Springs now I'll place some long feeler gauges that are the same compressed thickness as our new head gasket on the deck in our case that's twenty-seven thousands a set of rockers is next to go on and get mocked up now because of the increased power level and rpm we're gonna have we opted to install a set of Jessel sportsman series shaft rockers they're built out of 2024 aluminum that's been cnc'd and shot peened and they feature centerless ground shafts needle bearings throughout and even have tool steel adjusters we are dangerously close to checking our piston to valve clearance but before we can get started we have to find our push rod length so I'm going to take a couple of adjustable push rods and drop them into the lifters while the cams on its base circle the rockers get bolted down and the push rods get extended then the latch is set with a feeler gauge to 20,000 on each one the length is now set and they'll stay put for our to valve clearance check but when we pull them out we'll get a length on them to order our new ones a magnetic base dial indicator gets positioned on the intake valve spring retainer next I'll rotate the degree wheel until it gets to 10 degrees after TDC unsplit overlap meaning the exhaust valve is almost closed and the intake valve is starting to open then press down on the intake rocker until you feel the valve contact the top of the piston the amount of travel on the dial indicator is the exact amount of clearance it has the exhaust gets the same treatment the only difference is that the degree will needs to be at 10 degrees before TDC unsplit overlap the minimum clearances we're looking for are 60,000 on the intake and a hundred and ten thousands on the exhaust to keep things safe we actually have 111 thousands on the intake and a hundred and sixteen thousand on the exhaust so we're in the clear this is absolutely necessary to check on camshafts with big duration and big lift because if you don't have enough clearance your engine is going to turn into a roman candle when you run it so now that all our tight clearances are checked we're finally ready to start assembly and we'll get to that after the break hey we're back and got to say that with some cool and useful tech that Pat just shared with us the kind of stuff that takes time but it's well worth it for the peace of mind and you know what we got more before we started assembly in fact we've got to check our rod clearances like we do our mains we'll start on the front journal that carries the number one in two rods and used the numbers to set up our dial bore gauge hey you got her you nailed it then of course we'll fill in these blanks on our bill sheet we'll use the rod vise to torque the boats to 63 pound-feet just like in final assembly the reading on the dial is our actual clearance of course we'll make sure to log in this data on our bill sheet as well with everything in the green zone we're finally ready to made up our rods and pistons now we have floating wrist pin assemblies which are highly recommended for horsepower levels above 400 plus they're just easier to assemble than if you have to heat up a rod for a press fit the wrist pins are retained in the Pistons with circlips these pistons combined with our heads and other parts will give us a calculated compression ratio of eleven point zero zero two one well like our pistons we got Molly rings in our power pack yet they're designed for precision lands and the top ring second ring only measure one and a half millimeters the oil ring measures three millimeters now smaller rings mean less friction less friction means more horsepower but as with any performance bill we first have to file fit these rings and for that we'll use our dissin Electric Fowler start with the second ring which comes out of the box with almost no gap at all we'll file off about five thousandths check it into the bore with a feeler gauge yep five thousands and we'll continue sneaking up on it there's 15 thousands just a little more to go final eight we're at twenty thousands which is our target the top ring gap is the most critical it needs to be four and a half thousand four inch of cylinder bore sits our bores at four o thirty that calculates to eighteen thousand string gap with all of our rings gapped and cleaned we can start installing them from oil scraper up the second ring is next and here's something important the tops of the second and top rings are marked and need to be installed that way since the rings are pretty delicate you always want to take your time doing this I like to use specific break-in oil on a cylinders and on the Pistons and rings during assembly now by the time you get back we'll have them all stuffed in the block so stay with us coming up the quick and correct technique for distributor installation beautiful yes sir Jeb Marita an engine you didn't like I haven't actually I didn't think so with all of our upgraded Pistons and rods installed and the rods boats torqued a 63 pound-feet this gets us close to finishing up our short block next our cast aluminum timing cover can go back on now the fact that it's one piece and does not give us access to this trick billet adjustable timing gear is okay for this stage because in stage three we'll use a two-piece cover in case we want to do some cam tweaking now what we'll reuse the SFI approved balancer used in stage one which is a must for the increase in power and rpm that we're gonna be making we were also looking ahead when we used the summit pup and pant kit in stage one both I'm sure this little beast is well supplied with oil and that is officially it for our short block we slowed down this time to show you more tech than usual but you know knowledge is power and in this case horsepower well next time we got some hardcore race parts for the top-end case-in-point to work with those AF are aluminum heads we're going to be using one of their Titan TX our race manifolds now it's a two-piece composite design made out of plastic which will run up to 30 degrees cooler than aluminum plus be about 11 pounds lighter AFR says that it's worth 15 horsepower and 15 pound-feet over their competition and we're gonna see exactly how much power Stage two makes in the dining room but it should be well over 500 horsepower of course that's not the finale the best and baddest is yet to come because in stage three we'll reuse most of the top-shelf internals and put them in an aftermarket block that's designed to handle all that abuse then we're gonna pressurize it all with a centrifugal supercharger and that's gonna make power numbers you're not going to want to miss you all know that heat is your engines enemy well this could be its new friend it's de-ice cryo two system that's all about reducing fuel and air temperatures to make more power it harnesses the properties of liquid co2 to produce intake temperatures by as much as 50 degrees now the foundation is a 5 or 10 pound bottle like this with all the accessories you need that's modular and expandable so you can add things like this fuel chiller it's good for turbocharged supercharged and of course naturally aspirated engines since your brake pads and rotors have to work together it makes sense that they should come together as a kit like EBC Stage five kit now it's ideal for Street and occasional track use it comes with a set of their yellow stuff brake pads for high friction braking and their Gd series Dippold and slotted rotors now these slots help the brake pads and rotors wear evenly and the material in the pads contains no heavy metal so it's less abrasive to the rotors it's an ideal combo for your next breakout grey for all of you car truck and street rod builders looking to dampen exterior noise and/or enhance your stereo sound lizard-skin sound control is an environmentally safe class a fire rated coating that's an easy spray-on application it also dampens vibrations and seals out moisture to keep your prized project protected for years to come it comes in a two gallon pail that will easily cover most interiors and it's easily cleaned up with soap and water you can find yours at Summit Racing for round 165 bucks installing a distributor is a popular topic in our email bag and most of them are asking how do we get so lucky dropping in a distributor and getting an immediate fire up every time well there's no luck involved it's a simple understanding of positioning and the process we're going to show you here applies to all engines that have distributors the first thing to do is make sure the number one cylinder is coming up on top dead center on the compression stroke there's a couple of ways to do that the first and generally easiest is to have the number one cylinder spark plug removed now place your finger over the hole and turn the engine over slowly when the piston comes up on the compression stroke it will force air out of the cylinder and push your finger off its seal like this the second way is more involved and requires you to pull a valve cover when you turn the engine over and both valves are closed and the rockers not moving you're coming up on the compression stroke now slowly turn the crank to get the tiny mark or zero depending on your balancer about 30 degrees before on the timing pointer to put it in simple terms there are 360 degrees in a circle so that means 30 degrees is a little less than one-tenth of that which is a very small distance now it's time to drop the distributor end the important thing is to position the rotor where you want it not where it falls this is important for your wire routing to look neat and clean to make it drop all the way down all you have to do is rotate the engine and the distributor will index the oil pump drive then simply reverse the rotation back to 30 degrees before TDC now the cap goes on the wires are routed to the spark plugs and here's the results so all you need to do is follow that simple procedure and you'll never see flames come out of your carburetor again plus they'll just make your life simpler one more thing about distributors you can't run an iron gear on a steel cam in this case the materials hate each other and you'll get almost immediate failure on your distributor gear a composite or bronze gear like this one from MSD will solve the problem the bronze material is softer than the camshaft gear allowing for a friendly mesh between the two the gear isn't hard to change but it's positioned on the distributor shaft is crucial luckily MSD provides the correct dimensions for its placement on this sheet simply remove the pin and press it off and a new one on making sure it's at factory spec drill a new hole for the new pin and you're good to go for the long haul well like the old maids said to the peeping tom thanks for looking there we'll see you next time

Channel: POWERNATION

Views: 598,408

Keywords: Automotive;, Cars;, Vehicles;, How-To;, Auto, News;, Howto;, How, To;, DIY;, Car, Tips, Small block, SBC, SB Chevy, Small Block Chevy, Engine, LS Engine, Horsepower, Joe Elmore, Powerblock, Powernation, Engine Power, Pat Topolinski, Mike Galley, Pistons, Distributors

Id: LMtU0rxJWmU

Length: 19min 42sec (1182 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 03 2019