Priya's SX/4 project

[jim]

We have had both of ours in car shows, and neither comes close to matching Prafeston's.  I feel that I'm doing a public service by educating the public about Eagles.

[priya]

Okay, if I can talk my husband into it I'll do it.

[Prafeston]

 

[Prafeston]

All other "normal" car shows, I had to park outside, walk in, & get my registration papers before they'd let me in. And this was even after I'd washed it & everything!

Hahaha, that's funny!

[Sunny]

All other "normal" car shows, I had to park outside, walk in, & get my registration papers before they'd let me in. And this was even after I'd washed it & everything!

Don't lie. You've never washed it  

[maddog]

Don't lie. You've never washed it  

I did too! Though I have to admit, there was no soap involved, simply pure river water brought up to the roadside by the bucket load

hey that's better than than what Eagle Eyes gets. the only time she gets washed is when it rains.

[Prafeston]

id go find a good mudhole, get the car texture painted brown a day or so before. let it dry, then show up at the car show. show some AWSOMENESS!!!

Haha, love this idea!

[68AMXGOPAC]

How tightly does the air cleaner element fit?

To be honest, I haven't tried it out since the modifications.  I'm pretty sure its not going to be a problem as the mating surfaces on the air cleaner for the filter have sharp curves around them that weren't cut so I don't think that part of the air cleaner base or lid sproinged when I made the other cuts.

Looking awesome Priya !! Is that header from Clifford? and is it the one for the 258 cu. in. head ?? I forgot if you did a 4.0 head or not. Any issues with the fit ?

Yes, the header is from Clifford and it is for the 258 head.   When we first bolted it up the  output flange was about 1/4 inch from the pinch weld on the "frame" and Ward said that wasn't enough so we heated the pipes with an acetylene torch where they join together at the output end and bent the output pipe about an inch.  Trouble was the flange that joins the input pipes at the head is in two pieces so 4 of the input pipes were then in a different plane than the other two.   We took the intake/exhaust head gasket and marked out the openings for the intake pipes on  a piece of 1/4 inch plate and drilled holes for the bolts, bolted the flange with 4 pipes to it and then heated the other two input pipes where they joined together at the collector and then bent them into place and clamped them to the 1/4 inch plate guide and waited for it to cool.  This got the input pipes close to the proper places but it still took some prying to get them all bolted to the head.  Ward says the first few times the engine heats up the intake pipes will set in the proper place on the head and it won't be a problem.  If I had it to do all over again I'd have done like I initially planned and cut away the pinch weld on the "frame" where the header output pipe was close and then re-welded the "frame" pinch weld and left the header as it came from Clifford.

Thanks Priya, I bought one when I got my first wagon, but yet have to install it.Figure it will fit on the wagon or the SX/4 long as it's a 258.Looks like it works well with the intake too.

[68AMXGOPAC]

I like rideing around in the farm fields too . ( not sure if 1,300 acres and apx. 350 head count as a ranch)  , but it is cool to just be able to wander around. I usually take my son as the "gate" person , PIA to get out and open, drive through, and close.They are black angus and red devons and seem to be attracted to the little black SX/4 LOL.I can't rip around much in the fields etc. , because they are " grass fed" , and they need every square inch of usable area to grow and cut.

[Will]

Just curious Priya.  What make you decide to go with the Clifford intake vs the stock intake? 

[priya]

Just curious Priya.  What make you decide to go with the Clifford intake vs the stock intake?  

My goal with this motor was to make modifications that boosted both power and fuel efficiency.  I decided that one way to do that is to have a 4 barrel vacuum secondary carburetor with smaller primaries than the stock 2 barrel.  If I remember correctly the stock 2 barrel is 250 cfm while the primaries on the Holley, which the car will run on most of the time, are 195 CFM.  This way I in effect have a smaller, more fuel efficient carburetor for normal driving and if I decide to floor it the vacuum secondaries will open on occaision and give the car any CFM it needs above 195.  The 390 CFM Holley is actually quite a bit more flow than a mostly stock 258 can use but because it is vacuum secondaries the carb will only provide enough secondary opening to meet the requirements.  I figure the vast majority of the time the car will run on only the primaries.  For my goals I think the ideal 4 barrel would have been about a 300 CFM model but if anyone makes such a carb I'm unaware of it.  I suppose I could have cabbaged together some sort of adapter to mate the Holley to the stock intake, but I think that would be less efficient than having a manifold designed for a 4 barrel to begin with.

[shaggimo]

Very nice priya! Don't expect much better gas milage just yet, lol, you'll probably have to train yourself to stay out of the secodaries  , the I6 just sounds sweet when the secondaries are wailing  (it's hard to resist). You'll love the spread bore on there though. 

[priya]

Shaggimo, the primaries and secondaries on the 390 Holley are the same size (is that called square bore?).  A spread bore might have been better if it was available.

[shaggimo]

  oops, Yes you are correct, I thought you had a spread bore there, lol, no matter though, either way, I think  you'll like it. 

[priya]

Question for ya about the door trim - was it you that did the write-up on restoring that stuff? I remember reading something like that many, many moons ago, but can't find it now? It's the rubber/chrome strip near the bottom of the door I refer to.

No, it wasn't me that did the write-up on restoring door trim.  Mine was really beat up, I searched various shops to find something similar but couldn't find anything close.  Eventually what I did was find some thin black trim and some thin chrome trim, lay down one strip of black, then one strip of chrome and then another strip of black.  It's not the same as original but its about the same total width and similar looking.