SBC/700R in a 33 Hot Rod

[maczter]

Anyone here done a SBC? Care to share any pains/do's/don'ts? Header suggestions? Distributor clearance issues, HEI or is a smaller one needed?

[Racer 28]

Like... this?? 1541715418

[Racer 28]

Custom motor mounts, Tranny mount, headers and a small base MSD Dizzy and that's all she wrote...

[maczter]

Custom motor mounts, Tranny mount, headers and a small base MSD Dizzy and that's all she wrote...
Awesome. FFR has the motor mounts, but I will be making the tranny mount. Good info on the distributor, pretty much what I thought. Found a nice Summit kit, with Dizzy, Coil and Computer Box. Where are you mounting your coil? Did you try any of the off the shelf headers such as the Hedman Shorty's http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hed-68606. Thank you for the info and the pics, huge help!

[Racer 28]

On that car we mounted right beside the dizzy...

15419

[maczter]

Your pics are a HUGE help by the way. Noticed 90 deg thermostat housing too, was wondering about that as well. Very clean car, super nice! Thanks!

[Mike6568]

Mine is in the SBC/700R club as well....15450. I used the FFR motor mounts, but had to add spacers to the 700R transmount.

[maczter]

Great info. Noticed you DID use the HEI, no clearance issues? What brand headers did you use? If those are homemade, did you try any of the shorty brands before making your own?

[Mike6568]

I did go with the HEI and everything fit perfectly, plenty of clearance. The SBC does sit up fairly high, so I had to go with a drop base air cleaner (early IROC) to get the clearance under the hood. I used the recommended Flowtech headers, I think FFR recommends P/N 11102 (P/N 31102 "3" designates the ceramic version). The driver side fits perfectly, the passenger side needed a little tweaking to get the correct angle for the tubes to fit thru the frame rails. This is my first ever build so everything has to be kept simple. Have you posted any pics?

[maczter]

No pics yet. I am in the parts buying frenzy phase. I just bought her and she is due to be picked up from FFR on March 7th...and my guess is here a week after that. I am going to "try" to blog the entire process with pics. Since I cannot find a SBC build heavily documented, it will help me to keep track of it all and maybe help someone else. I am not nearly as talented as some of these guys so I am challenging myself. I have done one frame off restore before, and many SBC builds, so we will see what shakes out. I found the headers you mentioned at Jegs, so thank you!. Do you have any pics of your shifter and tranny install?

[Mike6568]

Sounds like you've got a ton more experience than I. My Dad always had a street rod (one featured in Hot Rod) or 'vettes, but I have never really gotten my hands dirty. I'm enjoying every minute of this build, and learning something new every day. I've attached a few pictures of the Lokar Shifter and Trans Install, hope they help. 15472154731547415475

[maczter]

Mike...awesome! These will be a huge help. When you made your spacers, did you check pinion angle, or how did you come up with how big to make the spacers? Do you remember the measurements? How far are you along with your project? Sorry for so many questions, just trying to pick as many brains as I can! If this your first build, you sure jumped into the deep end of the pool, congrats! I have been playing with Harleys for the past 10 years and decided to jump in the pool myself with this.

[Mike6568]

The FFR community and vendors have allowed me to get this far...everyone has been very helpful (and patient) when questions come up...

I needed the spacers to raise the tail housing so that the driveshaft would clear the frame. The spacers are 1.5" tall and I ordered them from aluminumspacers.com. I helped you, now tell me everything I need to know about the pinion angle...I didn't consider this at all (uh oh...). The drive shaft has a fairly significant angle on it while the yolk just clears the frame. I have the Moser 3-Link setup, so I can adjust the pinion angle. Do I need to be concerned about the pinion angle? How much is enough? I picked mine up April 5, 2012 and here is how she sits today...15477

[maczter]

Yeah, if the pinion angle is off, it can cause vibration problems, parts breakage, or at the very least, U-joint failures. What is means in a nutshell is that you want a straight line from the motor/tranny, driveshaft and rear end while it is on the ground and fully weighted. It should be within approx 3 degrees of being straight. There are a number of articles for reading on it:

http://www.carcraft.com/howto/91758/
http://www.rosslertrans.com/Pinion%20Angle.htm
http://www.wolferacecraft.com/pinionangle.aspx

I have not read much about people having issues with it, so my assumption is FFR took all that into consideration when they designed the car. But if your angle is that sever, you DEFINITELY want to adjust it.

She's looking good. What did you use for fuel lines? Braided or rubber? How about vacuum lines? I cannot find any braided that small so I may have to use rubber for the distributor.

[Mike6568]

Thanks for the links explaining pinion angle. Quickly checking, I think I'm ok but will add this to the list of things I want to have checked by pro's before I put it on the road.

I used 3/8 metal fuel lines, except for about 6" of rubber at the tank and fuel pump. I also went with rubber vacuum lines (advance & pcv valve)

I think you saw my engine on Mike Forte's dyno over at "the other forum"....