Priya's SX/4 project

[priya]

That's turning into one very cool ride 

Thanks Robert, I'm really liking the way its turning out too.

[68AMXGOPAC]

OK, I "officially" have the chrome piece : ) . Now to get it shipped. I did not have any of the other goodies I thought I did.Both trays have vents,wich would be cool with maybe some small "tweeters" in place of the vents....or interior lights...... or or or.... : )

[priya]

Great, thanks 68AMXGOPAC!

[shanebo]

That cars really coming together nicely! Its gonna be a real eye catcher!

[priya]

Thanks Shanebo 

[doneagle]

        HI    Priya   Its looking good that head liner is nice ...is the rest of the car coming together as nice .... Don

[philotomy]

Oh I wish I had a lift or a real garage for that matter,your SX/4 has gone thru quite a transformation,,it's threads like yours that keep us motivated.

[priya]

Thanks Teneagle and Philotomy.  The rest of the car is coming together pretty nicely, if I could only stop scratching the paint as I'm assembling it!  I'm still running into delays in assembling it,  for example, I put the front bumper and corners on, the headlight assemblies and am ready to put the grill and headlight bezels in but the old screws are rusty so I wanted to put new ones in.  I've checked a number of places for them and the only place that had something that might work didn't have any in stock so I had to order a box of fifty with an estimated time of arrival of two weeks.

The hoist has been a huge help.   As those who've restored rusty cars know, most of the work is near the ground and for me spending long times lying on my side caused a lot of neck problems, even severe spasms that had me laid up for several days.  Soooo much nicer to be able to lift the car and have a rocker panel at chest level to work on, not to mention doing any mechanical work underneath.

[priya]

I'm also having trouble finding the aluminum trim that goes around on the driver's side rear wheel flare (a wagon won't work, but I'm 90% sure the passenger side will work on the driver's side). 

After looking more closely I discovered the aluminum trim for the rear wheel flares do NOT interchange between passenger and driver's side. The edges of the trim piece are folded over to form lips.  The side that goes over the bumper end cap has the bottom inch or so of the lip cut away to allow it to sit flush on the bumper end cap.  For the driver's side if you're holding it as it fits on the car the cut away lip part would be on the right side of the trim piece.

[Prafeston]

Holy wow! I just went through this whole thread...reading some, but mostly looking at pics. Well done priya! Giving you my first egg! Great job...can't wait to see this thing running down the road!

[priya]

Thanks Prafeston

[Will]

engine question -

earlier in the post you mentioned taking .015 off the head and the block.  did that ever happen?  if so, what else did you do to the engine and why?  any cam changes? 

i was thinking about doing the same and putting in the following cam -------->http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/cam-specs/Details.aspx?csid=7&sb=0

any thoughts?

[priya]

engine question -

earlier in the post you mentioned taking .015 off the head and the block.  did that ever happen?  if so, what else did you do to the engine and why?  any cam changes?  

i was thinking about doing the same and putting in the following cam -------->http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/cam-specs/Details.aspx?csid=7&sb=0

any thoughts?

Yes, I did remove .015 from the head and block.  Then engine was overbored, if I remember correctly .060, but it might have been .030.  It got a slightly hotter than stock cam with a bit more lift, less overlap on the cam to maintain higher cylinder pressure and give more torque and better gas mileage.  I bought stiffer valve springs, stronger retainers and keepers all from the same manufacturer as the cam as that's recommended to provide the best compatibility in terms of wear and performance.  The internals of the motor are otherwise stock.  I am putting a GM HEI distributor in it, a Clifford header, Clifford intake and 390 CFM Holley vaccum secondary four barrel.   The primaries in the Holley are a bit smaller than the venturies in the stock 2 barrel so it should improve gas mileage in normal driving will allowing added power under heavy throttle The goal of all the engine mods was primarily to improve gas mileage will at the same time adding a bit of power while still maintaining the ability to run on regular gas.  If I had a chance to do it again I'd have bought the Offenhauser dual port 4 barrell water heated intake. because the Clifford is single plane and the dual plane design would give better flow at low speeds through the primaries and theoretically better gas mileage while the secondaries would still flow through the second plane and once again provide higher velocity and stronger flow theoretically producing better power in the mid-range and somewhat higher RPM range whereas the single plane clifford would be best at high RPM.  I was looking for one and my husband said it wasn't worth the money because I only drive a couple or 3 thousand kilometers a year and with at best only a slight improvement in gas mileage I'd never recoup the cost of the Offenhauser in fuel savings.  If I remember correctly one problem with the Offenhauser dual port is that it says "Not for automatic transmission" which think is due to the downshift linkage hitting the intake.  I felt my husband could modify/fabricate a downshift linkage to overcome this, but that might be a larger concern for you.

The cam you selected looks very familiar, it is from the same manufacturer I chose, I don't remember precise specs, but that may in fact be the exact cam I chose.

[Will]

Thanks Priya.  I'm getting ready to send the block and heads off the machinist and I just wanted to check my numbers.  The overall objective with my SX/4 is to optimize the efficiency of the engine and its components without sacrificing fuel economy.  If you could double check on that cam for me it would be most appreciated. 

Aside from that I was going to do the following:

heads -
3 angle valve job
port / polish
harland sharp roller rockers

clifford intake and headers

not decided on carb.  was thinking weber38/38 from clifford as well

lemme know what you think.  is there anything i missed? 

best,


Will

ps.  your sx/4 is looking amazing. 

[priya]

Thanks Will.  Off the top I can't think of anything you're missing.  From what I've read polishing is not really worthwhile on anything other than a race motor as a street motor will soon get carbon buildup in the ports erasing any effect of the polishing.  I'll have a look later tonight and see if I can figure out which cam I got, its in one of my books but most of my stuff is still in boxes from moving three years ago so it might be a problem finding it.