Hi Tony, Lawyer ? No, man - those are the guys buying A & B bodies at Barret-Jackson !!! Although, I better be careful not to upset any of them, because If my initial maiden street voyages are any indication, I might need one in the near future...
I got a serious reality check when the throttle blades hung open last Wed after those ram tubes sucked air so severely while standing in it, that some filter cloth dislodged and went into the intakes. Yes, I have come up with a much better (safer!) filtration setup. I'm still shaking a little and treating it as a reminder to always respect these machines and their horsepower.
I'm just a normal working stiff. Yeah, I've got lots of money in my girl, but I've been working on her for almost 10 years now. Plus, no wife or young-uns, which would certainly have taken priority and I never would have been able to afford to do this.
As far as the ss ball bearing/stud gimmick mentioned in earlier post -- this is an old-school trick I learned from Jeff Prock. The theory is that by the stud bottoming at the same exact point that it seats to the surface, you are basically creating a steel stud tension/compression support, filling the hole (in the block or head) where the stud goes. Of course, the stud is threaded in with little force. Ideally, you would want bullet nose studs that are slightly too long, and then mill the bullet end down until reaching this precise dimension.
If unavailable as I found after much research and drawings sent all over the country, then you drop in a ss ball bearing that is the same diameter to make up the distance and mill the bottom of stud off from there. For my main studs, I actually used machined to blunt, hardened steel target arrow heads as I needed to make up more length than the diameter of hole. It is extremely time consuming and each one has to be done individually as no two holes are the exact same depth. Obviously, you could not do this with a Chevy where there the stud holes do not have a dedicated bottom and ends into a water jacket or open space.
Will this really make a difference ? -- I don't know. But, it makes sense, and I was willing to try everything logical thing I could.
Matt- You should have seen my car before I started. It was pretty rough, and rust colored. Study your car, get a vision, and stick with it. Nobody saw my vision and thought I was crazy. That's why I call my Fury "Christine" and my girlfriend calls me "Arnie."
Joined: Sun Oct 09 2005, 05:02PM
Location: ALLEN PARK, MI.
Posts: 2007
Nelson, I'm trying to clear this up in my head, but I'm thinking that your actually using "Roller ball bearings for main crank bearings......like axle bearings! Am I WAY OFF on what you did, or on the right track with this.
I hear you on the money! The tube intake incident would bother me to! Man, that motor has LUNGS! Yea, I've been at my car about 8 years....AND STILL NOT FINISHED YET! Things will change one day soon!
Well, keep going and get some TRACK TIMES for us...will ya? !thumb !drive Tony P.
No, although roller main bearings would be pretty cool if there were enough beef in the main webs!
OK, the main studs go into holes drilled and tapped into the main webbing of the block. So now you have cylindrical cores of material removed, weakening the main webbing.
Where the threads end on the section of the stud that goes into block, there is a shoulder where it becomes slightly larger in diameter. When installing the stud, it stops at this shoulder when it reaches the top surface of the main webbing (where the main caps will contact the block). And, does not bottom out because the part of stud that threads in is shorter than the depth of the hole.
So, you still have these weakened areas in the most critical part of the block regarding strength - the main webbing. (10 holes as there are 5 main caps.)
The theory applied to help with this weakened area is that if the stud reached the floor at the bottom of the hole at the same exact time it's shoulder bottomed on the top surface - then essentailly you would be completely filling the hole with a hardened steel plug (the stud), which is made of metal superior in strength to the iron block material.
In addition, this plug will now act as a strengthening gusset, because it is under tension and compression at the same time, further strengthening the bottom end. This because as the stud is tightened it pushes against the bottom of hole and top of main webbing (compression), but also stretches like a rod bolt (tension.) And, it is doing this at every thread.
The problem- studs don't reach the bottom. Solution- drop a .492 inch diameter hard metal ball bearing in the hole to effectively make the hole .492 inch less deep.
New problem- Now, the stud will be slightly too long. Solution- machine the end of the stud down in a lathe with a digital readout until you arrive at the perfect length. I took a measurement and got it close, then literally machined .001 off at a time.
Each time screwing the stud into block, closing my eyes, and wiggling it for feel. Yes, I made close to a hundred trips to the lathe and back as each one is slightly different, but you would be amazed how good it feels when shoulder and bottom touch at same time. You can literally feel this theory work at hand tight when you arrive at the correct length. And, it even feels a little different when you torque down your main caps. Kind of "less stretchy", and sturdier final click at torque wrench.
In my case, with ARP studs specific for stud girdle and aftermarket billet caps used, my studs were more than .492 inch short. Since the hole diameter is no bigger than this (threaded for a .500 inch stud) i had to use something that was no larger in diameter, but slightly longer, and still be of a high quality hardened steel to succeed. So, I came up with some professional, hardened steel, target arrow heads. Milled the point down to blunt-rounded and cut some length down and Money!!!
For the head studs I was able to use stainless steel ballbearings.
Oh yeah, I found the bottoms of the holes are rounded, not flat, so things work out really nicely. Also, etch location numbers in everything so you know where they all go upon a teardown.
Also, Do Not Overtighten studs - they just need a mild tug wth an allen wrench (or two nuts if no allen head provision) beyond hand tight.
Any more questions, feel free to ask. And, i guess this all just adds to the notion that us C-body guys are a little "out there"...