SC Saga  #4

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SC SAGA-cont'd

 

11/4/97-UPDATE

COOLING-The car sat at Robichau for 3 weeks after ripping the water pump pulley to shreds on the weekend of October 11. I had the car flatbedded ($75) to Robichau on Monday. We decided to go back to the heavy-duty flex fan and pulled off the elaborate 4-fan electrics from Perma-Cool. The problem is that the water pump Kevin put on does NOT come with a serpentine pulley. So after a week and a half of trying, we had Ansen (Ansen wheels, etc.) make a custom billet pulley ($130). After two tries it worked fine. We cut the fan stand down to get a little more room from the radiator, while still clearing the AC pump and alternator. The fan is about 1/2” above the radiator, and presents a MAJOR finger-chopping threat without a shroud. I've been waiting for two weeks for a fabricator, Harold Glaser, to keep his appointment to measure and price (and hopefully commence making) a shroud. The engine is noisier (I HATE that), it stays pretty cool, but DOES heat up with the AC on and without front fans. With the fan boost it helps, but without the shroud, there's no judging it. I HAD this setup before with a less aggressive fan and a copper radiator, and it was not adequate in the heat. The difference this time is more space from the radiator to give the shroud a bit more efficiency, an aluminum radiator, and a more pitched fan. That's pretty much all I can do. But as a point of review, I have been told the following contradictory opinions: more flow, no stat, gotta have a stat to restrict flow and slow coolant, a copper radiator works better than an aluminum, vice versa, electric work better than a fixed fan, vice versa, aluminum heads run cooler than iron, vice versa, the lip of the air dam is critical to air flow, the air dam means nothing, you have insufficient air flow thorough the grille, the factory setup with the original motor worked just fine with half the radiator and a single electric fan. And of course I spent tons of money and time trying all this stuff without any permanent solution to date.

 

POWER STEERING

The rebuilder completely redid the rack and pump. It works OK, although it's not perfect when parking at idle speeds. It also still seems to pump when turning to the right. At this point I'm out of money, patience, time, and available energy. Down the road I'll take it back over to Tommy Lee, and see if he has an opinion before pulling it all off, having to re-align, and having him jerk around with it.

 

ENGINE-The engine oil pressure drops to zero once it gets hot. Since I've not yet hooked up my 8 instruments, I have no clue as to the actual temps and pressures I'm dealing with. That is primary on the agenda at this point.


 

CARB-The carb was narrowed down as the source of what was thought to be an intake manifold air leak. Randy Laur rebuilt it completely, changed the power valve from a 60 to a 65 per the book, and it runs smoother. Down the road I'll probably change it out for a choked unit 600 CFM unit. I would prefer to just get an injection system, but as is apparent, I'm really not up to another 3 grand of experimenting right now. Sadly, I just missed out on a blown 351 Shafiroff motor for a mere $2500 last week. Wow, would that 455 HP unit have been interesting! That would have changed the flavor to Coffee Crunch. I haven't completed a mileage check as yet. It was down around 11-12 MPG, including highway cruising, which is way off it's prior 17 MPG. It is somewhat difficult to get a true reading as I haven't put a full tank through just on the freeway alone.

 

AC-Haven't taken the car back to AirMec as yet. I still want to get the front fans to come on either with the key or off the AC somehow. I may just hard wire them for the purpose of having Morgan repair the system. I DO have the relays ready to do the job. The trick now is just finding the right trigger wire.

 

ELECTRICAL-After all the BS and expense, nothing has really been determined. I leave the hifi hooked up, and the battery stays up. The alternator seems to work OK, although the motor does the hesitant start number when hot. So I never really did find out what the hell was doing it. The alarm is back on, the hifi is on, and the battery is new, and staying charged.

 

TRANS AND OIL COOLERS-Haven't installed them as yet. Gotta get the instrumentation working so I have a baseline to see if any of it helps at all.

 

CURRENT STATUS-I'm annoyed beyond measure at the sniggling little crap. I'm also distressed that I now have zip for oil pressure when hot. The cooling is not totally resolved, and many other problems have been mostly solved, but not what I consider really completely. I may be just getting anal about it at this point. The car drives nice, is quiet (save for the mechanical fan), starts, stops, turns, has great sounds, and is quick. No question about it: I would NOT have done this if I had a clue as to what would ensue. I still think it's a great idea, but I think retaining the computer and injection, while more complex, would have given a car less prone to pinging, without probably better response and mileage. A supercharged motor with aluminum heads would be the route to go. Otherwise, just getting into some hop up of the 3.8 probably would get similar performance, without a lot of the downside I've experienced. At over 130,000 miles the car is obviously not going to be maintenance-free, and a little of what I'm annoyed with may just be maintaining a 9 year old car. I love the looks, love the ride and feel, and hate the expense I put myself through. But someone buying this car from me at this point would be knocked over by the beast, no doubt, and would get it at a MASSIVE BARGAIN (as is true for all hot rods).

 

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