If you are work on your older cars engine, there are a good many tricks that you can use save a couple bucks and gain a little horsepower.
This one is an oldie but a good.
Have your intake valves back cut, you’ll get a similar boost as if you use high lift rocker arms or cam.
The procedure is best done by a qualified machinist. So while you have your engine apart and laying all around our garage on pieces of cardboard (come…you know that’s what happens!!!) have him take a little off the port side of your intake valves. This creates the same effect as an earlier opening a later closing action like just a like a the addition of a an upgrade cam. The lighter valve means less spring pressure is required to control the valve at higher rmps.
A 30 degree cut is what they do on vortex engines.
The backcut is at the edge of the normal valve cut.
Evo is short for Evolution Performance Driving School. Evolution Performance Driving Schools are hands-on, foot to the floor autocross driving schools. With programs designed to improve the driving skills of 16 year old novices to multi-time Solo II National Champions. (I didn’t write that it from their web site.)
This even is sponsored by the SCCA Tucson, Arizona Border region and will be held at the Marana Airport, Marana, AZ .
This weekend two instructors Brian Peters and Tom Kotzian will we taking us through our paces with our cars. Both of these guys have plenty of experience with National level Solo with the SCCA, including multiple National level wins, and Championships.
Yes I’ll have my 07 Corvette there and Well see how I do.
While I getting my act together after a very nice week-long road trip I wanted to share a car that I once owed and that for all too common reasons let it go to a new home.
1974 was about the time the U.S. government’s fossil fuel consciousness began to kick in, choking the horsepower out of the muscle car. But this car was an exception. Here’s its specs.
Gran Torino Sport
VIN: 4H38Q107971
Body: 65R
Color: 3D
Trim: DB
Trans: U
Axle: 9
DBO: 75
Date: 08/73
Vin Code: 1974
VinCode Body Serial = Gran Torino Sport 2dr HardTop
VinCode Body: Medium Blue Metallic
Seat: Balmora B/Cloth & Corith (L/B Bench)
Trim Code: Med. Blue
AxleCode = 3.25:1
DSOCode: Phoenix
Assembly Plant: Lorrian
Undercarriage is aerodynamic ball joints are much larger than other Torino’s of the same vintage
Transmission is unique (Minus the traditional “Humped” housing)
Engine is 351-V4 Cobra Jet (Not a Cleveland)
9” rear end
10.5:1 ratio
Came with a 3500 Stall Speed Torque Converter.
This was an amazing car.
Unless you are an expert on the Torino what you won’t know is that the 351 V4 Cobra Jet for 1974 was only one of 300 engines made that year. It took me nearly two years of research to find this out.
I sold this car to a nice guy up in Green Bay. Here is a before shot:
One thing I really hate is a leaky car. I don’t like it when stuff leaks inside the car and I don’t like it when stuff leaks out of the car.
I have a friend that alway says…”Hey…old cars leak. That’s just what they do.” To this I normally just respond with “Yeah…I guess so.” I say this because he has pride in his work he does on his cars and I’m not going to poke at him about it.
What I want to say is “Bullstuff!!!!” Not this day in age, there all kinds of reproduction parts and hoses that can be molded and even entire businesses that make custom hoses. If it’s a gasket that’s leaking you can make your own, there’s all kind of gasket material on the market.
If you remember back a bunch of post ago, you may recall my power steering issue with my C4 Vette. Oh…yes…my poor old vette (which now has a new home), leaking everywhere!!!!. I hated that, but it was all fixable, right down to having a place in town customize a power steering hose ( it didn’t actually get that far, the oddly shaped hose turned out to not be the issue.).
The reality is that chasing down a leak is sometimes difficult, almost always time-consuming and the likelihood that it will be expensive is high. So, no old cars don’t have to leak.
What old cars do do (that’s just as funny to type as it is to say) is vibrate. My ’70 Mustang is mostly stock parts, with the exception of polyurethane motor mounts, and it will shake stuff loose, is it a pretty raw machine. A good portion of leaks can be attributed to that alone.
A few weeks ago, I notice a dime sized dot of oil in my driveway….errrkkk….no I’m not a neat freak, my drive has spots (been meaning to get it power washed), but with my older cars I like to keep an eye out for issues. So I climbed under the car and looked around and it appeared that the leak might be from the oil plug it’s self. So I grab my 5/8 ” open end wrench and gave it a bit of a crank. Now you have to be careful, especially with the type of oil pan I have (aftermarket chrome) as it can get out of shape if you over torque the drain plug and really leak. I wiped down the pan so I could tell later on if there might be another leak.
Chrome Oil Pan and Plug
A few drives later I noticed another dime size drip. Only this time it was a bit further back. OF NOTE: My driveway is sloped, and pretty good incline at that. This causes a bit of a problem determining exactly where liquid might originate, that whole gravity thing, ya know. This drip did seem a bit further back then the last.
Again I check the oil pan and this time the oil pan gasket between the engine and the block. Nope no oil. So I go topside and start checking the valve covers. And sure enough there, there appears to be a leak in the rear of the left value cover. Not really a big deal, looks like it’ll just need new valve cover gasket, this 302 engine is wide open in the engine bay with lots of room (nothing like the 84 Vette was to get to).
Lots of room in this engine bay to work.
Valve Cover, you can see the bit of oil grunge along the bottom.
I then recalled that FelPro gaskets were used and I specifically chose the type used on drag cars, designed so that you can pop the valve covers over between heats to make adjustments. This particular set of valve covers that I purchased when restoring the car came with bolts that tighten with an allen wrench.
Screw with allen wrench (or hex wrench).
Just in case:
Allen Wrench/Hex Wrench
Hexagon end of allen wrench
So I thought…to myself (really….can you think to anyone else?) “I wonder if they are all tight?” Sure enough they were all loose. Hence the oil leak. I tightened them all down, wiped down the engine where I could reach and drove it a couple of days. No leaks!!! Now I make it a habit to check those every so often. This is BTW a good tip if you drive your muscle or vintage car.
Now the latest leak, I noticed a couple of days ago. I check the liquid laying in my drive (only about the size of a quarter) and it was power steering fluid. I’m thinking oh…NO..not again!!! I didn’t even look under the car and went straight to the computer and did a quick search for new power steering parts for my 70 Mustang. What I found wasn’t horrible, as in, well no retirement for me, got to fix up this ‘stang, but bad enough price wise to see if it was repairable.
So I crawled under the Mustang (or hunk of iron, as my wife calls it…or maybe she was calling me the hunk :^ ) and took a look. Yup, there was a leak but it appeared to be coming from the flared steel hose fitting going into the power steering unit.
Steel hose and the leaky mess.
A couple turns with a 1/2″ open end wrench and again wiped down area. I keep checking back to see if any new leaks appear.
I can say… right now…. that my 70 Mustang doesn’t leak….I don’t think!!!
So now I stand corrected, sort of. Old car do leak, hey new cars leak!! However, they don’t have to stay that way.
Tips:
1. Check under your muscle or vintage car for any liquid (hey…it’s ok if is just water from you AC..usually) on a regular basis.
2. Get under the hood and after your ooo’ss and aaahhh’s at your magnificent creation, tight things up. ( I always ooo and aaahhh!!!)
3. Get the car up in the air “”SAFELY”” and check the fittings you can’t see or reach from the top side.
4. Chase down the leaks and clean the area to make checking for a continued leak easier.
Sorry MOPAR fans, I got sidetracked. Let’s continue with the Dodge’s use of the 318.
Dodge didn’t get a V8 until 1953. That first engine was a Hemi with 241.3 cid and only 7.1:1 compression. They called it the 241. It was improved upon for the next couple of years and very cool names like, Red Ram and Super Red Ram.
Approximately 1956, Dodge began using the 315 with the Polyspheric chamber. (Here is the link from my earlier post on the Polysheric head: http://wp.me/pKHNM-gy)
It wasn’t until 1960 that Dodge began using the 318. This was, again, the Polyspheric chamber, and it came in two versions in 1960, a 2 barrel and a 4 barrel, with 230 hp and 255 hp respectively (of course) and both a 9.0:1 compression (that pretty good compression rate). The 318 was used in the Dart Seneca, the Pioneer and the Dodge Phoenix got the larger of the two 318s.
The 318 carried on through out the ’60s with the horsepower hovering between 230 and 260. Of note during that time was where the 318 was used. I was surprised to find, such as, in 1968 the Dodge 440 Coupe used the 318 (not the 440, which even non-MOPAR peeps know about that one).
The most cars sold by Dodge was the Dart throughout the 1960’s. There were actually 3 sub-models of the Dart, the Sencea which had 3 different trim levels, the Pioneer which had 5 different trim levels and the Phoenix which was the most upscale sub-model with 4 trim levels. The engine options were either the 225 slant six or the 318.
Here are a few pics:
1960 Dodge Dart Phoenix
1960 Dodge Dart Pioneer
1960 Dodge Dart Seneca (I love the fins!!!)
At the beginning of this series I mentioned that I had 1970 Dodge Dart and that it did have the 318 with a manual transmission. There was only one version of the 318 for 1970 and it was has 230 hp and 9.0:1 compression with a bore and stroke of 3.91X3.31 in. That made for a pretty quick car, as light as it was.
Well, I bet you can guess what comes next. Yes a sharp decrease horsepower. By 1972 the 318 was reduced to 150 hp and by 1975 the drop was to 145. 1976 was the last we saw of the 318 used by Dodge. The 1976 Dodge Dart was the last year for the Dart, but it went out in a big way being offered with a Police Package Code A38. One of the options in this package was the 318 and it regained some of its muscle to the tune of 220 hp.
This concludes the series on the MOPAR 318. If you’d like to offer up an engine to see more information on drop me a comment here or email me at timsweet@cox.net.
As you know the electrical system failure was the alternator and it was replaced.
A now the story continues……
I picked the car up and it started fine, even had power to flip the lights up (it could do that when I dropped it off) and I drive two miles home. It ran just horrible. No power at all. That was worrisome.
Now the ’84 Vette has a very simplistic computer that controls the fuel injectors and it does take a bit after a “power outage” for it to get the mixture correct. This should happen after a couple of miles. Well by the time I got home there was no change in the how utterly horrible it ran. So I took it for another spin and still no change.
So I disconnect the battery for a few minutes and then tried it again…still the Vette could barely keep idle and giving it gas made it shake and the idle dropped to 400, 500 rpm. So I thought ..ok..I’ll drive it to work in the morning and see if the 10 + miles will straighten it.
Next morning, a Volkswagen bus filled with 40 people could have passed me like I was up on blocks!!!!
Ok…at this point I’m getting a little bit…P.O.’ed…(that’s short for…oh..you know what it’s short for!!) I call up my guys and I explain my displeasure. My take was that they should have test driven the car and that they have had the damn (that’s short for @#$@#%%!!!!!) thing enough to know that it wasn’t running right. I expanded on my thoughts in person when I limped the car back there after work..which was not a great day…which might have contributed to my disposition. Sorry Sean, but you ya know noting but love…its all good dude….Sean later told me I hurt the only “feeling” he had…I told him to get over it. They had a new guy there and he was the one that test drove it after the electrical work.
This was the start of a 3 day, all hands on deck, WTH…(that’s short for “What The Heck” >wink?<…I didn’t want to push the envelope with the “bad words”, because I would have had to add “put the kids to bed ..I’m about to use some adult verbiage”) is wrong with this car!!!
I’m thinking it’s still electrical, computer was F ‘ed (short for “fried”) or there was a short somewhere. I ended up at the garage a couple of nights after work poking around a bit – Tim Sisk the guy that runs the places is good about that.
So here is what was happened.
It appears that the evap system that is supposed to take the fumes from the gas tank for emissions was filling up with fuel every now and then. This system is supposed to push the fumes through a canister filled with charcoal and remove some of the harmful particles. Of course it doesn’t stop there the “cleaner” fumes then are pass back into the intake manifold to be “re-burned” and sent out in the world through the Vettes exhaust system. This simple hose highway runs along the entire length of the car and isn’t designed to handle fuel.
The end result was fuel running through the hose design for only fumes, traveled the hose highway all the way to the front of the car, filling the charcoal canister – which wasn’t designed to hold gasoline. Once full the gas has not where to go but across the engine, just following Avenue Hose, and dumping fuel directly in to the intake. That’s the cause of the poor (understatement) idling and running. The car was drowning in fuel.
Canister - now rendered useless.
How does this happen? Well it occurs when too much pressure builds up in the fuel tank. The venting of the fumes is supposed to prevent that. Once the pressure builds, which doesn’t take long with a full fuel tank, the gas has to go somewhere, so it takes a trip up the evap hose.
Now, here is where a guy starts to wonder WTH (short for….) am I doing with a one off car???!!! Really the 84 Vette is a one off production year. There were not ’83 Corvettes sold and although it has the same basic engine as the ’82 Covertte crossfires, nothing else was the same, and the ’85 Vette was an entirely different animal. This leads to a fairly significant lack of printed knowledge on the system..this many years out. Why do I mention this? Because it’s tough to find the knowledge after this long and the newer repair books treat the ’84 systems as ..”oh yeah..it’s not the same as the ’85 or the “L83 (my engine) is similar.” Gee..thanks for that. But it is different and it’s not similar in many ways.
Here is one.
The fuel tank on ’85 Vette has what is called a check valve with allows vapor to travel through it, but if fluid enters it, a small ball is pushed by the denser liquid to a point where it will block the hole. There is a diagram of that in many of the new repair books. But there are none for the ’84, and no, upon actually view the parts, you aren’t going to see anything that looks like the ’85 check valve.
Ok..armed with is knowledge, I showed up at the garage and share the info. This left us all scratching our heads. There seemed not logical reason for pressure to build up. There is only the fuel pump down there (that we tested in a bucket of fuel and worked as it should) there was only one other fuel delivery system was the “limp home” system which use the oil sending unit to push just enough, when the tank was low or fuel pump failed, to get you home or a repair shop.
This lead into the third day, at which point the fuel module was removed from the tank again and it was discovered that there was indeed a check valve.
There is a check valve built-in to the fuel module, it had a piece something (appeared to be plastic or maybe rubber) lodged in it large enough to keep the ball in a position where the it increased the pressure so much that sent it shooting fuel out up the vacuum line. It was incorporated into the system in a way that was not conducive to separate replacement. It was cleaned and that solved the problem..well most of it.
The canister should be replaced find one it not easy. Right now we replaced the PVC valve with a right-angled and the canister is no longer in the flow.
For my 84 that’s not a problem since there is no sensor that checks that and the car is running great. I’m not sure but I think she’d even pass emission, unless they were to visually see that it wasn’t connected.
Of course I’m a big tree hugger and (you can tell because the Mustang gets 4 gallons to the mile ..hey that’s what dead dinosaurs are for!!!!) so I’ll eventual get it replaced. If I can find one. In the mean time I’ve re-routed the hose to protrude under neigth the engine so the fumes don’t fill the engine bay.
Some pics:
Hose Highway with Canister
End of the hose that is supposed to travel on to the Intake, now routed under the car, temporarily.
So there you have. Good thing there wasn’t a car crusher in towing distance….nah…I love that car.
