68 GT convertible project
I read an article in Car Craft where they made a baffle to fit a stock small block oil pan. I thought it looked like an easy/inexpensive project so I started making one. I made a template out of cardboard first.
Then I transferred it to a scrap piece of sheet metal.
After derusting the baffle, I added some oil drain-back slots. I don't know if they will really do anything but they are there now.
Finally, I had a friend of mine weld it in.
Once I got the heads back, I test fit the new Edelbrock intake. That's when I discovered that the intake didn't sit level on the block with all the bolt holes lined up. The entire intake was tilted to one side. I swapped the heads side to side thinking it was a head issue. Nope, the intake was still tilted to the same side when all the bolt holes were lined up. That intake got sent back to Edelbrock as well. However, they checked it out and said everything was within spec so they sent it back. While that intake was away getting looked at, I test fit my old Weiand intake. It fit perfectly and wasn't tilted at all. The next thing I did was borrow an old Edelbrock RPM intake from a friend to test fit. That intake was tilted just like my Air Gap. So, two Edelbrock intakes sit tilted on the engine but the Weiand fits perfectly. The machine shop and I were both stumped but to keep the project going, I ended up having the intake machined on only one side. That let the intake sit down lower on the one side and everything lined up.
While the Air Gap was at Edelbrock getting looked at, I worked on modifying the distributor to cut down on erratic timing. I bought a complete Pertronix distributor and test fit the shaft into the oil pump drive gear slot. There was a lot of slop between the two. I bought a new intermediate shaft and the slop got better but there was still too much movement between the two parts. After I did some reading and seeing what other people did about this, I disassembled the distributor and peened the end of the shaft with a punch/hammer. This swelled the four edges of the shaft so they fit tight into the intermediate shaft slot.
I also noticed that there was a lot of up and down movement in the Pertronix distributor shaft. If left this way, the intermediate shaft could bounce which will change the timing. I added another shim between the distributor body and the locking collar to take most of the play out of the distributor.
Next, I add a collar on the distributor shaft right above the oil pump drive. This keeps the gear from bouncing and should help stabilize the timing.
The last thing I did before installing the intake was to reinstall a block off plate I made for the valley. It's very crude looking but it is designed to keep hot oil from spinning off the cam and heating the under side of the intake manifold. I don't know if it's needed with the Air Gap intake but I reinstalled it anyway.
I read an article in Car Craft where they made a baffle to fit a stock small block oil pan. I thought it looked like an easy/inexpensive project so I started making one. I made a template out of cardboard first.
Then I transferred it to a scrap piece of sheet metal.
After derusting the baffle, I added some oil drain-back slots. I don't know if they will really do anything but they are there now.
Finally, I had a friend of mine weld it in.
Once I got the heads back, I test fit the new Edelbrock intake. That's when I discovered that the intake didn't sit level on the block with all the bolt holes lined up. The entire intake was tilted to one side. I swapped the heads side to side thinking it was a head issue. Nope, the intake was still tilted to the same side when all the bolt holes were lined up. That intake got sent back to Edelbrock as well. However, they checked it out and said everything was within spec so they sent it back. While that intake was away getting looked at, I test fit my old Weiand intake. It fit perfectly and wasn't tilted at all. The next thing I did was borrow an old Edelbrock RPM intake from a friend to test fit. That intake was tilted just like my Air Gap. So, two Edelbrock intakes sit tilted on the engine but the Weiand fits perfectly. The machine shop and I were both stumped but to keep the project going, I ended up having the intake machined on only one side. That let the intake sit down lower on the one side and everything lined up.
While the Air Gap was at Edelbrock getting looked at, I worked on modifying the distributor to cut down on erratic timing. I bought a complete Pertronix distributor and test fit the shaft into the oil pump drive gear slot. There was a lot of slop between the two. I bought a new intermediate shaft and the slop got better but there was still too much movement between the two parts. After I did some reading and seeing what other people did about this, I disassembled the distributor and peened the end of the shaft with a punch/hammer. This swelled the four edges of the shaft so they fit tight into the intermediate shaft slot.
I also noticed that there was a lot of up and down movement in the Pertronix distributor shaft. If left this way, the intermediate shaft could bounce which will change the timing. I added another shim between the distributor body and the locking collar to take most of the play out of the distributor.
Next, I add a collar on the distributor shaft right above the oil pump drive. This keeps the gear from bouncing and should help stabilize the timing.
The last thing I did before installing the intake was to reinstall a block off plate I made for the valley. It's very crude looking but it is designed to keep hot oil from spinning off the cam and heating the under side of the intake manifold. I don't know if it's needed with the Air Gap intake but I reinstalled it anyway.