Well, I have been absolutely flat chat since the beginning of the year. Haven't been popping in regularly.
The company I worked for was bought out. The new owners found I was considering retirement in a couple of years and basically said they didn't want me if I was retiring. My previous employer backed out of a deal to hire me onto his other company and instead offered me a casual position at an hourly rate which didn't match my old hourly rate plus extras. 60yrs old and my experience means nothing...
well, stuff you all. since march I got my electrical contractors licence and have been out on my own running my own business. Now they pay way more to do their work. There is not enough of me to go around Now. All of my old customers have either called me up wanting me to take their contracts on or offering me a job. Had to decline, I am only one guy after all....
Now I have the flexibility to do what I like.
So, onto the engine. As you know I through number one piston out the side of the engine.
I am building a new engine of course! A 489CI BBC stroker with 871 blower and dual throttle bodies reusing my FAST XFI fuel injection engine management. being in australia this is not going to be cheap. I am not thinking about it....
I managed to pick up a pretty fresh 2 bolt 454 complete. It obviously hadn't had the cam broken in correctly and a lobe had about 6mm knocked off it. Motor was super fresh...paid $3000 for it complete. Have sold parts, heads, intake, 600vac sec holley. All brand new. Will sell the rotating assembly next. Bought a 4 bolt conversion kit. Engine is in getting machined presently.
So, I am going to start posting pics on my new engine build. Here's some starters. I am looking at making 650-750 rwhp. Apparently with the gear going into the engine it can take more! Settle down fulla!
pics to come.
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cutting a roof off a four door is NOT a convertible.....
65 Parisienne convertible.one of 49 built for RHD export market,402BBC, T400, 2500 stally, posi rear, upgraded brakes with front discs, FUEL FAST efi custom built by me.
Great to hear from you again! Please be frequent here like you used to be...
Also great to hear you got things sorted out with your work situation. It sounds like you are even better off than you were before when you worked for someone else.
And best of all, looking forward to seeing the new build!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars (now converted to a "factory" 4 speed)
cutting a roof off a four door is NOT a convertible.....
65 Parisienne convertible.one of 49 built for RHD export market,402BBC, T400, 2500 stally, posi rear, upgraded brakes with front discs, FUEL FAST efi custom built by me.
Setting up the throttle bodie linkage. Had to machine down the bronze bushes to suit the throttle bodie arms. The linkage from the lower bracket up to the throttle bodies hit the injector plate. Had to drill and tap the rosejoint holes to screw in horizontal rather than vertical.
cutting a roof off a four door is NOT a convertible.....
65 Parisienne convertible.one of 49 built for RHD export market,402BBC, T400, 2500 stally, posi rear, upgraded brakes with front discs, FUEL FAST efi custom built by me.
These builds always have little challenges. So these throttle bodies are a lower profile than normal carbs. This means the throttle arm ends up higher than the filter housing seat. Need to figure out what sort of riser to use so I can use my scoop. Any ideas?
cutting a roof off a four door is NOT a convertible.....
65 Parisienne convertible.one of 49 built for RHD export market,402BBC, T400, 2500 stally, posi rear, upgraded brakes with front discs, FUEL FAST efi custom built by me.
Good to hear from you Phil! Sorry to hear about the work situation, but sounds like it worked out well in the end.
This is going to be one cool engine build thread!
For the scoop you should be able to find/fab some short spacers to sit on top of the throttle bodies?
cutting a roof off a four door is NOT a convertible.....
65 Parisienne convertible.one of 49 built for RHD export market,402BBC, T400, 2500 stally, posi rear, upgraded brakes with front discs, FUEL FAST efi custom built by me.
Well, poor internet connection and recovering from stomach surgery (fixing hiatus hernia and tightening top of stomach valve to hopefully fix a 30year acid reflux problem) means I haven't been posting regularly.
recovering ok but on liquid and smoothie diet to varying degrees over the next 5-6 weeks. At 60 my bodyis telling me I ain't in my 20s any more and recovery is slow.....lost a tad over 6 kg so getting that 30yr old body back...hahahaha.Was getting bored to the max but over the last week have managed to do some jobs on the blower where I can sit at my bench or in front of the blower and work on it.
The internet connections out in the street are getting looked at today so that should get fixed. Anyhooo....
Have done some work on making the baseplates for the airfilters, getting them to fit snugly inside of my vintage weiand scoop, fitting new connectors to the injector harness, hiding injector harness inside the injector plate, fitting throttle bodies, firring wiring harness to intake, working out fuel lines and sensor locations.
The engine will be ready monday coming for assembly.
Pics to follow!
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cutting a roof off a four door is NOT a convertible.....
65 Parisienne convertible.one of 49 built for RHD export market,402BBC, T400, 2500 stally, posi rear, upgraded brakes with front discs, FUEL FAST efi custom built by me.
cutting a roof off a four door is NOT a convertible.....
65 Parisienne convertible.one of 49 built for RHD export market,402BBC, T400, 2500 stally, posi rear, upgraded brakes with front discs, FUEL FAST efi custom built by me.
cutting a roof off a four door is NOT a convertible.....
65 Parisienne convertible.one of 49 built for RHD export market,402BBC, T400, 2500 stally, posi rear, upgraded brakes with front discs, FUEL FAST efi custom built by me.
cutting a roof off a four door is NOT a convertible.....
65 Parisienne convertible.one of 49 built for RHD export market,402BBC, T400, 2500 stally, posi rear, upgraded brakes with front discs, FUEL FAST efi custom built by me.
cutting a roof off a four door is NOT a convertible.....
65 Parisienne convertible.one of 49 built for RHD export market,402BBC, T400, 2500 stally, posi rear, upgraded brakes with front discs, FUEL FAST efi custom built by me.
cutting a roof off a four door is NOT a convertible.....
65 Parisienne convertible.one of 49 built for RHD export market,402BBC, T400, 2500 stally, posi rear, upgraded brakes with front discs, FUEL FAST efi custom built by me.
ACK! Still waiting on the engineso little jobs it is...
finally decided on fuel line routing. Mounted the regulator on the front of the blower. all -8 lines. In from the tank pump to a Y block behind the blower, into injector rails, out front of injector rails ro regulator then return line back to the tank. All AN/ORB fittings on order. Will go together soon as I get the fittings.
-- Edited by koolconvertible on Thursday 7th of December 2023 03:07:24 PM
cutting a roof off a four door is NOT a convertible.....
65 Parisienne convertible.one of 49 built for RHD export market,402BBC, T400, 2500 stally, posi rear, upgraded brakes with front discs, FUEL FAST efi custom built by me.
Little bit of an update.....been a bit quiet. My engine builder went quiet, not answering calls or messages since early december. Was starting to get concerned he had disappeared. Now been in contact. He had had dramas with the fella who worked for him after having that bad accident. Some real bad issues...
anyway, he has now contacted me and explained everything that has happened. Glad I'm not in his shoes is all I can say.
So, things are on track and even spoke to the engine guy doing the machining. Hopefully I will see an engine soon.
heres a photo of the balancer I had to buy as the engine balancer guy didn't like my crank hub.$550 later.....
cutting a roof off a four door is NOT a convertible.....
65 Parisienne convertible.one of 49 built for RHD export market,402BBC, T400, 2500 stally, posi rear, upgraded brakes with front discs, FUEL FAST efi custom built by me.
Well, this has been a long process....finally been progress. Crank and pistons in with added crank girdle tried fitting a crank scraper but had problems due to the girdle. So no crank scraper.
installed the cam, the cam specs are in the photo. Heads are ready to install. This is going to be an absolute monster.
had to sell my turbo 400 and buy another one which had a heavy duty case so I can get it built to take the horsepower. That will cost another $4500.....
I have actually stopped counting. Real horsepower is not cheap. I'm not far off retirement but will keep working until I have the car back on the road then drop my hours. I can do that now I am working for myself.
seriously considering upgrading my fuel injection/engine management system as knock sensors would come in handy. A lean out would cause a lot of damage...
I have also been working on my fuel system. The intank pump I had for the other engine was only good for 500hp normally aspirated. SoI bought another twin aeromotive intank pump system from marketplace in perfect nick. I left the original pump in and installed the twin pumps as well. This at least gives some reserve/redundancy. I made an access hatch in the boot Enabling easy access for checks and repairs if required. Taking the tank out would be painful.
I also made a marshalling/fuse/relay box to control the pumps. As the battery is in the boot, it made it easy. Made a new 5 control wire loom which goes up to under the dash to pickup the ecu control wiring with a couple of extras.
anyhooo...check out the pics and let me know if you would like pics of something specific. Lots to fit up yet.
cutting a roof off a four door is NOT a convertible.....
65 Parisienne convertible.one of 49 built for RHD export market,402BBC, T400, 2500 stally, posi rear, upgraded brakes with front discs, FUEL FAST efi custom built by me.
Well, heads on. Final torquing to be done. Need 8 more studs. Gave me a chance to stick the blower on. extended oil pickup fitted, bottom end torqued down and ready for sump.
still need the head hardware, rockers, studs etc in. Roller lifters and pushrods. That should be in by the weekend. Pnce that is done we can degree the cam in. Once that is done we can put the timing cover on and fit the sump.
We need to do some porting on the intake manifold, very possibly machine the head surfaces down to align the ports. Then I can start measuring up for blower snout and pulleys, then water pump plumbing and fuel system.
so much yet to do.
that oil pickup was going to cost me $260 when ordered through a performance shop in australia. Bugger that! Bought one on amazon, free post from the US and was herein a week costing me $120. We really do get ripped off in australia....
cutting a roof off a four door is NOT a convertible.....
65 Parisienne convertible.one of 49 built for RHD export market,402BBC, T400, 2500 stally, posi rear, upgraded brakes with front discs, FUEL FAST efi custom built by me.
cutting a roof off a four door is NOT a convertible.....
65 Parisienne convertible.one of 49 built for RHD export market,402BBC, T400, 2500 stally, posi rear, upgraded brakes with front discs, FUEL FAST efi custom built by me.
Gonna be a Cool Convertible with you peeking around that blower.
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
