aussie intake

[mdiesel]

Project is going well. Got the block back from the shop , waiting for parts to come in the mail. I managed to get a set of stainless steel force-fed fab long tube headers. I got a question about exhuast systems if anyone has some insight. I wanna go with a true duel system, but as most of you know there arent many out there. Hooker has their 2-1/2" blackheart system that costs $920. This seems to be the only 2-1/2" system available. Speed engineering has a 3" true duel system for only $469. I know 3" duels is huge for a 3.8l, but how much would it really hurt my low end torque ?? My wallet likes the 3" system allot better...

[ssms5411]

Nice.

[mdiesel]

sorry havent updated in a while. Covid kinda put a stop on evrything for a bit.... motor is outa the car now and the block is at the local engine shop getting boiled, fresh cam bearings, freezout plugs, boring cylinders .20 over.

[mdiesel]

So I still gotta take the heads in for the valve job and resurfacing, but I had a little extra time today so I polished the chambers a bit more, deshrouded the valve seats too.

[ssms5411]

Yeah I know what you mean about hot, but no garage here just carport.

[mdiesel]

Sorry I havent had any updates on the project lately. I don't have ac in the garage and it's been over 100 degrees everyday here in Florida. I can last out there for about 10 minutes, then I'm done, lol. Once the weather cools off in another month or so I'll pick the project back up again.

[ssms5411]

My Pacesetters are holding up well, can’t complain. I use V bands though.

[LETZRIDE]

Ya they had some funny fitment.

I was actually thinking about my old pacesetters when I was doing the manifold on my colorado the other day. It has the same style collector flange. But they had a brilliant idea. The manifold side is threaded and you screw a bolt shaft into the one side. Then connect the midpipe and screw a bolt onto the other side. The two threads are opposite one another. My flange doesn’t leak either... made me think the same setup would have solved the common leaking issue with the flange...

Pacesetter didn’t have great quality control, but there weren’t many options for our cars to chose from

[mdiesel]

So while I was doing all this porting work I decided to take a look at my old pacesetter headers. They always leaked. If you look , the weld was actually the part that was making the seal to the head, and it doesn't line up perfectly with the port. So I ground the welds down flat so that the gasket will be squished evenly between the header flange and the head. Hopefully they wont leak anymore

[mdiesel]

If you end up needing shorter pushrods I have I believe 7.00” here from comp. Nothing wrong with them that I could let go for reasonable.

Great progress- happy to see this coming together so well!

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind when I get everything measured up. Yea I'm getting closer with this project. Still got a long way to go ,though. After the heads get done I still gotta pull the engine and tranny from the car, disassemble the short block and send it out for cleaning, new cam bearings, cylinder hone, plug balance shaft oil hole. And then put it all back together. But hey, it'll practically be a brand new motor when I'm done.
I've had some people ask me why I'm not just ls swapping it. Ive told them for less cost of an ls swap with a used motor , that I'd have no idea how badly the previous owner beat on it, I'll have a brand new , power house of a v6 that will probly beat a stock ls car any day. I havent seen a complete used ls/tranny with wiring harness and pcm for less than 3 grand. Add in cost of k-member, accessories, gauges and I'm past what I'm spending on building up the v6, for a used, unknown v8...

[ssms5411]

What compression did that give you?

No idea. Not much.

[ssms5411]

You’ll be good then. If going for more compression then yeah go for the .020 mill then.

[LETZRIDE]

If you end up needing shorter pushrods I have I believe 7.00” here from comp. Nothing wrong with them that I could let go for reasonable.

Great progress- happy to see this coming together so well!

[mdiesel]

I was planning on .051 thick multilayer gaskets from ZZP. I'm hoping between milling and the gaskets to be close to 10:1 comp. I figured on buying a pushrod length checker, I cant remember if my cams base circle is smaller than stock or not, so even if I wasn't milling heads I'm still gonna check the length and order custom pushrods if I need em. Either way I'm not reusing the stock push rods anyway.

[FirebirdGT]

I’ve milled mine .015 and stock head gaskets

What compression did that give you?