Blooze Own: An F355 Six Speed N* Build Thread (Page 2/126)
Bloozberry APR 25, 09:36 AM
Thanks guys for the interest (BTW Rourke, it's my '29 model A five window you noticed... it's out on the 5-year build-horizon though... the F355 is gettin' done first).

I'd be posting an update right now except that 'someone' said it would be better for the longevity of the thread if I used PIP instead of Photobucket for my pictures. OK, I thought... I'll go along with that... except I keep getting a "Run-Time Error '13' Type Mis-Match" error message every time I try to open PIP. What's up with that? I've reloaded PIP three times now and still get the same thing. Damned software gremlins! Arrrggh.

[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 04-25-2010).]

bowrapennocks APR 25, 09:51 AM
I am looking forward to your build.

I used to own a 355 on an 86 chassis. I purchased it assembled after somebody installed the body, but then when they lost interest, did a really poor job on the interior and sold it to the guy I bought it from. It sat for many years and I was bold enough to drive it home 25 miles with an engine barely running on 5+ year old gas. After an oil change, all filters, and new plugs, the car ran great after I used up all the old gas. The engine was a 3.1, blueprinted and balanced, roller cam etc. It had an automatic which only had 200 miles on a rebuild. After all the money dumped into the body, engine and transmission, it was sad what a poor job was done on the interior. I pulled all of the interior out. It had a 355 interior kit, which I reglassed in some areas an then recovered. It had brand new Mr Mikes seats, which were fine. After new carpeting, headliner, and gauges, the interior came out great. While the body was installed well, the unkown builder did the following strange things:

* The mirrors were Ferrari replicas and were fixed mounted. A subsequent owner to me broke one of them off. Also, the passenger side mirror was mounted in such a way that you could not adjust it to actually see anything useful.
* The body was mounted over the battery and there was no way to remove it.
* The body was not stretched, but the wheel wells were moved foward
* The body was mounted over the air filter and I had to cut the assembly to change the filter
* The replica dash dumped almost all the air out the center vents
* The only way to open the engine cover was by the solenoid. A dead battery meant you were dead.
* The only way to lock/unlock the doors were via aftermarket lockers. A dead battery meant you also had a problem.
* The center console was one piece and did not vent the ECM. So to get to the ECM, you had to remove part of the dash, then remove the whole console. When I did the custom console on my 87 t-top coupe, I made it in two pieces, so I could access the engine computer
* The vents were not cut in the rear decklid and the engine had headers. It never overheated, but I bet it was very hot back there.

A 355 is a cool looking car and it really drew attention. I wonder where it is now. It went from WA to OH and then to CA.

Jim

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87 T-top 2.8 5sp Camaro Dash Bonneville door panels; 86 355 body & interior kits 3.1 Auto; 85 SE 2.5 5sp, 86 SE 2.8 auto parts car

Bloozberry APR 25, 10:20 AM
OK, PIP worked this time... I think it heard me threatening to post the error message on Photobucket.

I want to apologize for anyone who was hoping that I'd spend the first ten pages of this thread with the body work. It's just not going to happen in that order. I'm an engine-man at heart so that's where I first really delved into it. After lurking for years on the forum and drooling over threads by Will, Daviero, Ryan Hess, Zac88GT, AJXTCman, and others, I fell in love with the notion of an all-aluminum, 4 cam, 32 valve V8. I give credit to those guys for being among the pioneers who learned alot of stuff the hard way and took the time to write about it so the rest of us could benefit from their experiences. From those threads I learned I wanted an early engine for their "relative simplicity" (as compared to say, a nuclear reactor) and cheap initial purchase cost. But I knew it would cost every bit as much to get one running as it would a later engine. I had it in mind that regardless of the claimed mileage or exterior condition of the block, it would need to be overhauled for my own peace of mind.

In the end, I bought two '97 VIN Y's, one from a car in a local yard with 250K kms on it, and one on eBay from Ontario that had 100K kms on it (yeah right!). I bought two because the first one came with anything and everything I wanted for $450 and the eBay one which was supposed to be better was more or less just a long block... no beauty cover, accessories, wiring harness, PCM, MAF, etc for about the same price. In Canada we call it a "two-fer" (two for the price of one). I know that the VIN 9's are the more desireable engines because of the 300 HP output, but I'm OK with 275 HP. Besides, this leaves growth potential!

So enough background, here's what they looked like when I picked them up in our trusty-dusty utility trailer and unloaded them in the shop. From the crustiness of both engines, I don't think either Caddy-owner ever cleaned anything except maybe windshield every now and then with the wipers.



[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 04-25-2010).]

dratts APR 25, 11:02 AM
I'm jealous! My garage just got sold so I'm using plastic ones until I find another one. Sure interested in the drivetrain as you know. My 355 spider has the N* and fiero auto, but I have two f40s, jstrickers intake, and pbjs turbo.
Tony Kania APR 25, 12:50 PM
Blooz, you are one of the most knowledgeable folks that we have on this forum. You are always helping out, and lending a general hand to so many of us. The first thing that I thought, when looking over your pics, was, "Man, that is the garage that that guy deserves!" You have an obvious passion for automobiles, and those cars deserve an owner like you. Good luck with the build, and marked as a favorite.
cptsnoopy APR 25, 01:23 PM
What Tony said ^^^.

Munching popcorn and enjoying the show.

Thanks for taking the time to post your info Blooz!

Charlie
motoracer838 APR 25, 01:48 PM

quote
Originally posted by Bloozberry:

Thanks guys for the interest (BTW Rourke, it's my '29 model A five window you noticed... it's out on the 5-year build-horizon though... the F355 is gettin' done first).

I'd be posting an update right now except that 'someone' said it would be better for the longevity of the thread if I used PIP instead of Photobucket for my pictures. OK, I thought... I'll go along with that... except I keep getting a "Run-Time Error '13' Type Mis-Match" error message every time I try to open PIP. What's up with that? I've reloaded PIP three times now and still get the same thing. Damned software gremlins! Arrrggh.




I've never been able to get pip to work, hell, I've had friends who are computer geeks that couldn't get it to work!!!

I'm using the imagehost over at
http://www.myfiero.com/imagehost.php

The only downside is that it only allows 100k or smaller, and the smallest that my camera takes seems to be about 112k so I have to spend some time resizing. I really wish that would get an upgrade!!!

That's a big project in front of ya' Blooz', good luck with it.

You might be a king, or a little street sweeper,
but sooner or latter you'll dance with the Reaper. Joe

[This message has been edited by motoracer838 (edited 04-25-2010).]

Bloozberry APR 25, 03:34 PM
Thanks for little tips there bowrapennocks... I'll have to make sure I don't make any of those mistakes! And thanks for the encouragement there Dratts, Tony, Charlie and Joe. I'm banking all these positive comments to help keep me going when I'm sweaty and full of fibreglass dust later this summer.

[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 04-25-2010).]

Bloozberry APR 26, 09:00 PM
It wasn’t very long after I got my engines that I could hear the lower mileage one calling out “Pick me! Pick me!”. But like any engine builder knows, it’s a good idea to run a few tests to make sure a used engine has the potential to be anything more than an anchor. I like to turn the engine over with a breaker bar at least two full crank revolutions to be sure there aren’t any bent or broken valvetrain parts. If there’s no obvious grinding, seizing, or blockages, then a compression test is in order to get an idea how well the valve and pistons are sealing. At first I was hopeful, it spun the needed 720* and I got 170 psi plus or minus 5 psi on all eight cylinders. That’s right in the range for good static compression for a Northstar. So far so good. Maybe I would avoid the nightmares of some of the other PFF members.

Next up, I cleaned the outside of the engine off so that I wouldn’t contaminate the insides with the crud from the outside. Then I took the valve covers off, and apart from the valvetrain being a little discolored from hot oil, there was no sludge which indicated that the engine probably saw at least semi-regular oil changes. Another thing I learned from AJxtcman was to look for a fine metallic deposit built up on the inside of the valve covers in the area of the sprockets. I forget what the source of it is, but in any case it’s not a good sign if you have it. Mine didn’t… whew!



What it did have though was worn out exhaust cams. This was my first clue that I’d been “had” by the eBay seller. 100K kms doesn’t make flat spots on the nose of your cam lobes. (I could’ve sworn I took close-up pictures of those so I’ll post them later when I find them). Closer inspection of the cam followers also revealed that some of them had the tell-tale wear circles in the middle where the case-hardening had worn through to the softer underlying metal. Cha-ching!… I could hear the cash register at my local machine shop ringing already.



I had decided from the get-go that I was going to do the Timesert repair whether it needed it or not, so I went ahead, removed the heads and dropped them off at my favorite cylinder head shop (that’s all he does) for an in depth inspection and rebuild estimate... keeping my fingers crossed.
skuzzbomer APR 26, 10:43 PM
This is interesting.... following along.