www.the351cforum.com

Test fitting things on the 351W block. I'm going to have to paint that block, the Chevy orange makes me queasy



The water conversion isn't going to work as mounted. The heads have 3/4 pipe ports instead of 1/2" and the 3/4 NPT x 3/4 hose are huge. The little hoses can't make the turn. I'm going to move it out to the motor plate and see how that works. Also considering using -12AN lines to a Y and tapping the Y for a temp probe. Two -12 45s, a Y and three -12 straight ends is a lot of $$ for just hose stuff LOL. The Trick Flow piece is nice if I can make it work. Side benefit of moving the water outlet to the motor plate would be to allow clearance for a crank trigger distributor.

What surprised me about the ports - Looks like I shorted myself .3 deck LOL.

_________________
Chris - Merkel, TX
http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod
"Owner built, owner abused."

Can you get some reducer fittings for the heads instead of using braided line?
When I ran my clevor we (actually just my brother in law) made the water crossover/water neck, and he built it so the factory 351W bypass hoses would fit. It took 3 of them, but they just slid right in place.
Although, I do like the idea of moving it farther away to get clearance for the crank trigger distributor.

Moving it out to the motor plate seems to have solved most of that problem. The -AN Y stuff would work, but this would be simpler all around. I also remembered you can buy a "floating" type thermostat housing that just hangs in the air. The fitting to the radiator up high will help bleed air I think. The threads in the heads could be tapped a little deeper I think. Not sure if I have a 3/4 NPT in the tap drawer. Have to plug the decks too so may have to order one to get the plugs deep enough where I can mill them down a little and still have hex to drive them tight below deck.



PS - if you need any metal stuff, order it asap. I ordered another 24x24x.250 6061 plate to do a full rear motorplate and the price is up $30 from 11/29/20. I read that steel will be going up substantially.

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Chris - Merkel, TX
http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod
"Owner built, owner abused."

nice!!

4" crank came yesterday, need to go over it with the mics and verify rod bearing clearance. Once the pistons get here, will get it balanced and ready. Broke down and bought a crank trigger distributor, what's another 300 or this deal anyway.

Still have to buy tires, truing to decide between 33x15-15 regular or stiff sidewall. Getting mixed messages on that about a hard tail dragster. Probably call Hoosier Tech and see what they think.

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Chris - Merkel, TX
http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod
"Owner built, owner abused."

All the dragster guys around here (especially the ones that win a lot) have switched to Mickey's, but of course, they are all sprung cars and not hard tails.

That's what makes it harder, not many people run a spine buster like me LOL. I'm seriously considering a future mod to a swing arm. That's about a $5k dump. Wife was just asking about fatigue issues (when your other is a racer LOL) and I suggested that would be the best deal, outside of buying another car and mounting the old chassis on the wall. It IS going on 19 years old at this point.

_________________
Chris - Merkel, TX
http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod
"Owner built, owner abused."

Update - still no oil pan, last date offered was end of May. Word from local machinist is that Dart may be a while catching up. He has problems getting even Chevy items.

Took the rotating parts to be balanced, should hear back in a couple of weeks. Jared at West Performance gave me a Molnar catalog, said every time he buys something they send him one so he has a stack lol. Looks like the 6" rods are the standard Chevy 6.000 part, chevy pin, .940 width and 1.010 pin end width. Catalog says 617 grams, my scale says 615~616. They are for sure not the Ford offset items as the pin end width on those is listed as 1.000.

Think I figured out the water routing I want to use - way simpler than trying to use the clevor adapter. Just cost an extra $60 or so in fittings to try and figure out what works LOL. Won't make any hoses until the real parts are in place and the radiator set at whatever final location - it's a little cockeyed and needs to be a bit closer to the explosion plate.

Thinking about either drilling the right head for the temp sender or possibly the Y. I may need two senders, have to look at what I bought for the data system.

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Chris - Merkel, TX
http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod
"Owner built, owner abused."

Falcon67

nifty little water setup there. Do you think it will have any flow issues merging to that single outlet? Maybe the shorter side trying to go faster or something?

On methanol, not too worried about it. I like to stage at 180 and if it's 200+ back at the pit, all the better.

_________________
Chris - Merkel, TX
http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod
"Owner built, owner abused."