89 GMC shortbox - Cruiser - torque build

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89GMCJOHN

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I bought this a year ago....as you can see from the pics the motor was toast . Its an 89 GMC 2 wheel drive . Red - maroon interior - really good shape . The previous owner put a Chevrolet grill on it . I took the 350 motor out only to find it was trashed internally - zero oil changes apparently. 1/2 inch of "coke" - baked oil in the galley smoking like crazy etc...The transmission appears to be out of a 93 (instead of 89) 700r that had 50k miles written on the side of it in grease pencil ...internally the transmission was clean as a whistle . I bought a 350 roller .060 over shortblock (360 cid) , Air gap intake , 600 cfm summit brand carb , and a Chevrolet ramjet camshaft 246 256 459 470 lift 109 lc as I am running 1.6 rockers for a little more lift . With the rebuilt "305" swirlport heads (on purpose :) ) and proper gasket I am running 10:1 . I built it to be a cruiser with decent gas mileage but a good amount of torque for what it is if I decide to pull a boat with it . So basically a torque build . I am even running the original detailed exhaust manifolds. I am switching to carb and a mechanical fuel pump as I didnt want to deal with computers , electric fuel pumps etc. and run my 89 Camaro rod this exact way as well . I detailed and cleaned the transmission , put a Corvette servo in the trans , new front and rear trans seals and a recalibrated governor assembly . It has a mechanical HEI ignition 60kv coil , MSD wires and GM plugs . Braided hoses, 3 inch open element air filter , factory detailed mechanical fan and shroud , new Gm valve covers and aftermarket intake are painted Chevrolet orange to give it an old school small block look . Will post more pics once all installed in a few weeks ... Desktop dyno says 270 hp 393 Torque J

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89GMCJOHN

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I am buttoning up this 350 engine for my truck and ran into something that has never happened before to me in 10 engines ....the aftermarket mechanical HEI distributor simply would not engage with the oil pump shaft . It hung the distributor up 1/2 inch above the distributor pad. After reading around I discovered the oil pump shaft was leaning forward down in the engine...so I jacked up the front of the engine engine until the shaft dropped backwards and basically stood up straight and it dropped in within a minute of trying . I must have stabbed it in there 30 times trying with the shaft leaning forward and failed . I even moved it several times with a long screwdriver all to no avail and even tried rotating the the engine by the balancer - it simply wouldnt engage ,,,,its always something new .
 

89GMCJOHN

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Well the engine is in ...wiring is next ......I wanted it to look like an older 60s 70s smallblock so I went with Chevrolet orange on the heads , intake and valve covers ...the block is black ..I like the way it looks ..
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89GMCJOHN

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Wiring almost complete .....got the correct thermostat housing neck and hose this week ....... I also detailed my radiator overflow catch tank ....it was HEAVILY rust stained and had a 1/8 inch layer of rust / calcification inside ....I used the chemical CLR from the grocery store , a pressure washer , rinsed then I filled it 1/5 the way full with sand and water and shook it back and forth for about 10 minutes to scrub it from the inside - then a bleach soak for about 20 minutes , finally shot it with armor all .....it came out great - almost looks brand new . I am going to detail the compressor and clutch face tonight and will be done with that ....wiring the distributor and plug wires next - then I hope I can fire it by weeks end .

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89GMCJOHN

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AAAnnnnd drumroll ...tried to start it today no spark...my new hei unit has some sort of issue ....going to try a spare coil / cap tomorrow :( ... hopefully thats it ....
 

89GMCJOHN

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Wheew this ones fighting me ....finally got spark - 3 wire connector wasnt making contact with cap so thats fixed....had a hell of a time getting it started ...filled the bowls of the carb and got it started after 20 tries ....ran for 45 secs then dies - it did this 3-4 times ......hmmmmmm ....while running I have a tapping sound from the passenger side of the motor (drivers side quiet as a mouse I have 60 psi oil pressure ) AND it appears my mechanical fuel pump isnt pumping......I ran all new fuel lines up to the carb up front ....so my theories - questions are .........

1.) When you run brand new fuel lines do you have to prime them with fuel all the way back to the tank ? OR does a mechanical pump create enough suction to displace the air and pump fuel to the carb on its own ? Its a HEFTY summit 80 gph mechanical pump......

2.) I think the pump arm isnt on the fuel pump pushrod possibly ...it felt pretty easy going on like I wasnt fighting the spring pressure on the arm but I thought oh well it must be ok....that is probably the source of my tapping as well is my theory......

3.) 395 Marine Cam I am running has a fuel pump lobe .

Any thoughts ?
 

89GMCJOHN

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I talked to a good friend of mine and he said to make sure the two bolts down near the front of the engine near the fuel pump werent possibly holding up the fuel pump rod....I think those are usually torx heads that hold the serpentine brackets on the left side of the motor...I hate those torx heads ...so I bought two regular bolts and attached the two lower bracket holes that way ....one of the two bolt holes (lower one) doesnt have a path to the pushrod the other looks like its diretly inline with it (the upper one) ...so I just took both bolts out and restarted the truck and it immediately had fuel pressure .The higher bolt near the fuel pump pushrod path was preventing the rod from moving. So I will grind its length down so it seals the hole but cant touch the pushrod. I guess its there to hold the fuel pump rod out of your way temporarily while you are installing a new fuel pump. Anyway its fueling starting etc great now with the bolt out in the pic .
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My Last huge problem now is I still do not have oil pressure getting to the passenger side rockers . But I have a Melling M55A oil pump that is registering 60 psi at the back of the block behind the intake . Drivers side is quiet - passenger side making noise and not oiling. The most I have let it run is 1 min straight until I figure out what is going on . I am going to pull of the drivers side rocker cover and verify its oiling but I am pretty sure it is because its quiet as a mouse on that side of the engine . A buddy told me he has seen a roller block do that before and they sat there and drizzled oil on the passenger side rockers until the engine heated and it apparently started finally pumping up through the passenger pushrods -rockers after awhile on its own .

Question has anyone else seen this here on a brand new roller motor ? No oil on passenger side rockers for awhile during initial comisioning - engine firing - startup ?
 
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89GMCJOHN

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I apologize ...Crappy late night video...with this cheap single Hush Thrush Turbo muffler the 395 Ramjet cam is pretty loud ....will get a better revving video in the next few days ...it sounds like a diesel lol ....

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89GMCJOHN

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Started putting the proper GMC grille on it today...the previous owner put a chevrolet grill on it ....
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