408 W2 Stroker Build

[M_Body_Coupe]

So the fire-up took place...boy, I was in my glory, with a bit of trepidation (which is always there to be honest) b/c with this level of parts I have learned to never expect perfection!

NOTE: I have no idea how those of you who race cars manage to keep your wits about this stuff...I would be going a bit coo-coo!!!

Anyways...initial trip was good.

Fast forward to a couple more trips: the brand spankin' new Carter race pump is freaking leaking fuel!!! YEY!!! boo...boo you Carter...

So tonight I'm pulling it off, stripping to down, hopefully it's just a loose internal screw and back on it goes. We have that big Windsor, ON classic car cruise Satruday and that beast of mine better be ready!!! LOL

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

...Fast forward to a couple more trips: the brand spankin' new Carter race pump is freaking leaking fuel!!! YEY!!! boo...boo you Carter...

So tonight I'm pulling it off, stripping to down, hopefully it's just a loose internal screw and back on it goes. We have that big Windsor, ON classic car cruise Satruday and that beast of mine better be ready!!! LOL

Let's see, how do I explain this w/o feeling like a tool??? LOL

So the leaking pump "thingie"...took the pump out, pulled it apart thinking that maybe the pump halves do not have the sealing surfaces machined flat (or enough so) that when you re-assemble them and all you have is that rubber diaphragm in-between somehow the fuel leaks. OK, yeah, the casting wasn't of the greatest quality, I did remove the various machining high spots, put it all back together and re-tried....DAMN...fuel still leaks!!!

At this time it's about 8pm the night BEFORE the cruise and w/o any test'n'tune time I'm getting a little nervous.

Pump comes out one more time. I think: "OK, back to the basics" and I start looking at all the obvious things that - well - couldn't possibly have been overlooked, right???!!!!

So as I have the pump mounted in the bench vice I yank on the output port fitting (it's a 90 deg. setup so it feeds directly up into the fuel line, and therefore I have it clocked in just the right spot) and WWHHHAAATTTT...that thing is loose?????

Well, as it turns out, when I had initially setup the pump while I did thoroughly tighten the IN fitting, the OUT I probably left semi-tightened as I anticipated having to finalize the clocked position, so yeah, that never happened and while the thing wasn't loose to the touch, there just wasn't enough interference between the threads to really seal it up!!!

HOLY CRAP...man, what a doozy!!!

All good now though...the next challenge: figure out why I'm pulling 5" at WOT (and rising to 6.5" at 6500 RPM). The weird part here is that as I made a little ad-hoc 1/4 mile pass on the back-road the other day my ET was 12.74 with a boat-load of tire spin to start off with (enough so I had to let off the throttle), so it's not like the sever sized secondaries are not kicking in...but 5" at WOT is just wrong!

EDIT
===
Judging by Oldiron440's post, I need to clarify something: the "...pulling 5" at WOT..." is a reference to engine vacuum and not fuel line pressure.

 

[Oldiron440]

Back in the eighties I ran the Carter race pump on my 500hp 440 and it couldn’t keep up, I ended up with a Holley race pump at the tank pushing to the Carter. Later I removed the Carter all together. Now I use a Quick Fuel Pump and return regulator with 1/2” lines going both ways, it is so simple and easily effective. I’m plumbing my little 64 Fairlane the same way it has a 455 hp 292”/289 that will require fuel. One nice thing about the return line setup is vapor lock is something you really don’t need to worry about even with today’s fuel.

 

[Duke5A]

There has to be a restriction somewhere. How big is the filtering element? Secondaries opening?

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

Duke5A!

There has to be a restriction somewhere. How big is the filtering element? Secondaries opening?

Yeah, I totally agree, but man I tell ya:
1) 16" air filter, drop base with 1.6" of space above the TQ vent tubes
2) secondaries open for sure, no way my impromptu run could got "12.anything" ET on the measly 1-3/8" primaries alone
3) my AFR is reading crazy rich 11.5 at WOT, so I re-programmed my LM1 & RPM Converter last night, re-calibrated the wide band O2 sensor and will hop out there later today to re-test
=> I will say this, of all things this is the most suspect: the jetting I'm running (0.137, which is the stock secondary jet on the 9800 series carb) just isn't fat enough to give me those results, so it very much feels like the air-door itself is simply NOT opening up far enough....but I've gone through the linkage multiple times, did the test run 'blip the throttle real dip' and it's all working

I actually dusted off my old Hero3 camera and should be ready to do a recording of what's actually going on with the carb as I do a run like this...ha ha, never a freaking boring day!!!

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

So a couple of different updates, one that is way past due - as in it should have been the End-of-Season-2025 update regarding the running rich problems I was describing above.

In that case, what it actually turned out to be is very simple: the Lokar linkage setup I have here (which uses some pretty stiff return springs) wasn't fully opening. Once I put a video camera on that thing and went through the full WOT sweep and compared that to a manual sweep at the carb throttle it became very obvious!!! I was seeing maybe 2/3 throttle opening.

No wonder I wasn't seeing a drop to 0" vacuum at a WOT pull when test-driving it. I fixed that by removing the big return spring and re-adjusting the line linkage. Took the car for a ride and OMG...balls-out baby this thing's scary fast (for me)...felt good...felt like a superb way to end the 2025 season!!!

OK, so over the winter I decided to pull the valve covers and re-adjust my Comp Cams hydraulic roller lifters to a full turn pre-load. I was previously running a 1/4 turn but always felt like maybe that was pushing it a bit with this setup. I got used to running 0 (zero) pre-load on my old hydraulic flat tappet cam and the SpeedPro anti-pump up HT2011R lifters...they were awesome. Also, the Comp Cams install instructions for the manufacturing year of my lifters did call for a full turn of pre-load, so why not run (or at least try) what the manufacturer calls for, right?

Driver side bank was all good, found what felt like maybe a soft lifter, but then again the motor was sitting there for most of the winter before I got to it, so plenty of time to bleed down, etc.

The Passenger side though brought me a little surprise (see attached photo).

Turns out that the baffle plate in the MP cast valve covers was pounded on by one of the rockers enough so to split!

I suspect the valve must have floated, maybe at the same time I lost the lash-cap on the driver side. I say this b/c the opposite side baffle plate is fine and of course during the assembly process I had gone through this particular thing worrying about clearance (although with only a 0.588" lift I honestly though this should have been the last of my worries).

Anyways...I grabbed another spare baffle, gave it a bit of extra clearance and off it went into the valve cover. I clearance checked it with some clay installed to measure the distance between the rocker arm adjuster and the baffle, plenty of room. I buttoned everything back up, re-started, so far so good, no noise.

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

This update here is about the other 'winter project', that being the installation of the remote oil filter setup.

Here is the BOM (Bill of Materials):
1) Remote filter kit - Derale #15715 KIT, Engine block & oil filter adapters, routing lines, 1/2" NPT ports, 3/4-16" engine oil thread, 1/2" hose x 10ft

2) Fire Sleeve, Yamakato #AYMK335_GJN, Heat Shield Sleeve, ID = 1", 5 feet, -65F to 500F (-54C to 260C) continuous exposure, up to 2000F (1093C) for 15-20 mins exposure, Inner Sleeve = fiberglass, Coating Material = silicone

3) Brackets
- these were made from some aluminum stock I had set aside, mounting idea came from Duke5A

I wanted the install to be as invisible as I could possibly get it to be. This meant running the lines by the framerail (where the K-frame bolts up to), and since that means the rubber oil hose would be very close to the header pipes I just needed to put that Fire Sleeve over it for peace of mind.

The hoses then come up to the rad support area where I drilled two pass-through holes, found the right sized rubber grommet that captures the lines (so it's a V-shaped thing as opposed to an O-ring style grommet) and then the lines bend down to where the oil filter mounts.

Hindsight being 20/20, had I actually had some of the parts handy for a trial fit, I would have gone with a section of the high-temp fiber sleeve where the lines make the bend away from the frame rail and attach to the block adapter plate. This part is is soo darn close to the header pipe and has soooo little room that I wish I should have slipped on that additional insulation instead of the aluminum line wrap I ended up using.

Here come the pics.