[ Up ] [ '69 Info ] [ 69 Chassis Build ] [ 69 Engine Build ] [ 69 Body Tear Down ] [ 69 Interior ] [ 69 Body Build ] [ 69 Completed Parts ] [ 69 Tops ] [ 69 Before & After ] Engine & Transmission
Tear Down and Assembly
This car originally was a L36 427 and I was told that the motor had recently been rebuilt, just not completed as the project stalled. The initial inspection revealed that the heads had been rebuilt and had some nice components added. Because it is easier to tear a motor down while it is out of the car I pulled the heads to see what I was dealing with. It was true that the motor had just been rebuilt and the machine work and assembly looked good, but...... the motor was never 'sealed' and was left outside so what I found was extensive rust in the water jackets, and when I rotated the motor over, mice droppings and seed hulls came out! (as seen in pic with the brown towel under it) That's a shame. So the motor came completely apart and upon further inspection a crack was found in the starter motor threads on the block side. This is a block killer! CRAP. So now I have a totally good rotating assembly with a 500 lb. paper weight block. I found several "matching number" blocks, but people are very proud of their 427 vette blocks so I went a different route. I upgraded to a 454 block bored .0030 over. This is the 4-bolt main externally balanced 454 with 500 + lbs of torque right out of the box. The old rotating assembly got put on the auction block with the M20 Muncie 4 speed, the intake, and Hurst shifter.
I kept the heads and had them rebuilt with larger valves and new springs to match the Edelbrock BB Performer RPM cam. The new 454 block was assembled with 10.5:1 dome pistons, forged crank, high performance connecting rods, high output oil pump and the Edelbrock cam for the brains of the operation. To keep everything compatible an Edelbrock Air-Gap intake and 800 cfm carb were added to top it off. The bell housing cleaned up real nice and the clutch and water pump have never been used. They were inspected, cleaned, and retained. New valve covers were added and a temporary air filter was put on to keep the mice out:) Because of the intake height I will go with the L88 hood and cowl induction. I think this looks better anyway. This car had side pipes, but the original covers were no where to be found so the next best things are Hooker side mount ceramic coated headers. Here you can see them in a trial fit. Very Cool.
After wrestling with the thought of spending all this time working on the engine and not going with aluminum heads I finally made a decision..... I broke down and ordered me a pair of Edelbrock Big Block Performer RPM heads. It was a piece of cake doing this before the front clip is cemented in place. They look great, will flow great, and will add another chunk of HP and Torque to the numbers below!! :-)
Dyno 2000 Chart
Red = Torque Blue = Horse Power
Max Torque : 544 lbs @ 4500rpms
Max Horse Power : 540 @ 5500rpms
New Motor mounts were added and the motor was lifted and put into place. Up until now the front springs had no tension on them, but add a few hundred pounds of iron and the chassis took on a whole new stance. I fitted the side pipes with Spiral Turbo Specialties mufflers. From all of the testimonials I have heard and read they have less back pressure then glass packs, but without the 'tin' sound. They are pictured below and as you can see they don't look anything like mufflers. After drilling two holes in the side pipes they mount easily. Again I trial fitted the exhaust headers to see how they looked and I'm VERY happy:) The transmission is on order and will complete the rolling chassis. Then I can start it up, make some noise and tune the engine. Then comes the body work.
Installation of the Keisler Automotive's
Custom Tremec 5 spd in place of the Muncie 4 spd
There was really only 1 reason to keep the Muncie 4spd and that was originality, but many reasons to upgrade. I'm all for originality, but for me if that's the direction you want to go then it needs to be total and that's expensive and you end up with a show piece that can't be driven on today's highways. I plan on keeping this car and driving it frequently so I'm more concerned with additional performance, safety, and reliability. An easy place to do this is the transmission. I'm putting in a Tremec TKO 5 speed. This will give me a .68:1 5th gear overdrive which will keep the gas mileage in check on the highway, keep the engine cooler, and allow it to run at a lower rpm making the motor and the accessories last longer. Good all the way around and the Keisler Automotive Engineering's 5 speed is a direct bolt in! The folks at Keisler designed this Tremec for the C3 vettes with the following specs:
Gear ratios: 3.27, 1.98, 1.34, 1.0, 0.68 (first and second will be a REAL JOY!!)
Short internal rail shifter with just a 4" throw.
No cutting of the floor pan or modification of the shifter plate.
Only 99 lbs so more weight savings (Grand chassis total now about 175 lbs saved)
The lower 3.27 first gear compared to the 2.52 in the Muncie will allow for excellent tire shredding acceleration from a standstill eliminating the need for a lower rear end ratio. With my 3:36 rear ratio and 255/60 R15 tires I will be able to cruise on the highway at 70mph running the motor at 2000 rpm's compared to 2950 rpm's with the Muncie. That's almost a 1000 rpm savings which will add up to a lot of gas, heat, and wear and tear saved!
Below are the pics of how the transmissions was delivered and the parts included. Keisler Automotive provides everything you will need to upgrade your C3 to a 5spd including the speedometer cable and gear matched to your specific tire applications and differential gear ratio.
They advertise 4 -5 hours for installation, but with the body off it took me all of 1 1/2 hours and that included installing new clutch and release bearing. Here are some pics of the installed Tremec 5 speed. The first pic is Keisler Automotive's new tranny mount, a direct bolt in. The white hoses you see on the front of the engine are for the make-shift radiator (a home depot bucket). Now that the tranny is mounted I can start the engine and tune it....... then it's on to the body!
I'm running the motor now, tuning it, and breaking it in. It sounds great (Click here to hear it:)) I have two resistor ballast between the 12v and the + terminal on the coil to keep the breakerless module from overloading and a switch that acts like an ignition 'on/off' switch to shut the motor off. I am using a trigger remote starter to get the starter motor going. It idles and revs just fine, but will get a dyno tuning after it gets on the road. I should have a better sound clip in a week or so.
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