im jealous im 17 and work at a movie theatre for about minimum wage. all i want at the moment is a slp intake (but its gonna take months at this rate). but my dreams are big. so one day if i have this car long enough ill be able to do everything i want to it and have a sleeper. good job musicman keep it up (green with envy)

 

You're doing exactly what I thought about doing with mine =D Making a ***** out N/A car but still have the show with all that go!

Very nice Steve. Keep us updated!!! I'd like to know what kind of cam/nitrous shot you're thinking of running. I'm in the process of porting a spare set of heads so I can run a nasty NA cam when I buy my new car =P

 

The cam will be from ARH, guides in the heads will be cut down to clearance the custom grind. I've got a double roller chain that I am going to utilize, springs will be 130's or higher, shift point will be close to 7000 rpm. My heads and intakes will be gasket matched and mildly ported, since you can mess with the pre-98 heads too much. Nitrous will be a 100 wet shot, hidden. Going with bigger injectors, racetronix pump, and a few other things. Also working on a unique intake manifold idea that I've had up my sleeve for some time, and have never revealed it.

My parts tried to come today, but I wasn't home to sign for them, so they'll be here tomorrow. Soon as I get the stuff all checked out, the crank, pistons, rods, balancer, and flywheel will go get balanced. THEN I can start assembly on the shortblock. Then my checking account will officially be empty for a while.

 

Get ya a set of heads out of a 99+. They're great for porting

 

Nah, no need. I ain't rich, actually, I'm a $200 from being completely broke, I'll use what I've got.

 

Haha I know the feelin. I stay broke...

 

i dont know if the heads would be damaged from my motor issues but i'll have an extra set of 98 heads that i'd sell for cheap

 

98=same same. He needs 99+ for porting. Luckily you've got a friend right here, I might so happen to have an entire 99 3.8 to get rid of.

 

The 98 ones work, 98+ is what's required. The 97- heads crack between the valves, and have an odd spring seat. So I've got a set of those from a club member for crazy cheap, they'll be sent off to ARH for their stage 2 setup, 3 if I can find the funds. Got my cam specs figured out, not telling, so don't ask for them. She'll be lopey though. Got new pistons for it, stock bore stock compression hypereutectics. Stockers are eutectic, less silicon. So these a very mild upgrade. They'll have the skirts coated and the tops ceramic coated for a little extra protection. Block is home, and ready to be assembled.

Not much to update, I ran into a bit of a financial squeeze. Had to pull the insurance off the maro and drive the Buick for a while. But hay season is finally firing up. As long as my tractor keeps running, I'll be fine. But if it kills the crank, I'm broke. The rod journals are egg shaped, she makes about 8psi of oil pressure, and hammers like a jack hammer, eats bearings faster than a fat man eats bacon in an all-you-can-eat restaraunt.

There's also a slim possibility of boost still. I've still got my l67 rods and pistons. If I can find a way to blow some air in it on my budget, you can bet I will. But so far there's been no windows opened up, and I'm getting ready to close the door on the idea for good here soon. If FFF can make me some affordable FF headers, then I'll jump in the pool, if not, going NA/Juice (120-150 dry shot). If you're wondering about the dry shot, wet shots are bad for these engines. Due to our awesomly sucky UIM design, the fuel pools up, then you get this lovely boom, and a fire that follows. Running a dry with larger injectors and a 2-in-1 tune is the way to do it. Shot has to go accross both the IAT sensor and MAF, then you can tune around that.

Things are going really slow on this, only reason is money. I'm broke as broke can be right now, work is impossible to find, dealerships out here aren't doing much for hiring. Even though I've got a few ASE certs, it's just hard to find work outside the family farm.

 

Great build thread, love the progress even though it's slow. I understand about the money deal too. Switching over to a six speed in my second gen is costing me what I wanted to put into a 496 stroker. In the end it will all be worth it so stay with it. You could be like my neighbor who is a certified GM master tech and hasn't worked in about a year. He has over 30 years experience and ran and owned a number of pro shops. He had a bad turn with his wife's health and it took everything he owned and now he's scraping by doing stuff out of his garage.

Can't wait to see more and goodluck with the job search.