Summer 351 Southeast Texas Fox

[dtsan]

Hi everybody. I've been lurking around the forums for awhile but I never made a profile. Well I finally did after I picked up a 91 LX last week. I've been building a 351w since winter. It's my first motor so don't rag on me too much. Anyway I figured I start a build thread and keep track of my progress. That and to ask for help and opinions.

A little bit on the motor. It was given to me from my buddies dad. A 351w marine motor. Originally I planned on reusing a lot of stuff but then it turned out to need new heads and stuff. So i tried to pick up some cheap E7 heads and turned out that those needed work. So new valves and new springs. My machinist went ahead and sized the most aggressive cam that I could go with stock pistons.


A little bit on the car:
91 LX. Picked it up not running. Got it for $1k. I was really glad that someone nice sold it to me and not someone trying to screw me over. It's good to know that there's still nice people in the world!

IMG_20120610_134735 by ZdProjects, on Flickr

The guy told me what he thought was the problem, the timing was off. I had the car driving decently by Wednesday or so? Anyway, the motor ran decent enough for me to be good with pulling it.

IMG_20120613_181014 by ZdProjects, on Flickr

On Saturday, I pulled the motor with my buddy. Didn't have an A frame or engine hoist so we used a tractor.

IMG_20120616_200245 by ZdProjects, on Flickr

Today I tried to get the harness labeled. I would really like to tuck all the wires. I plan on going carberated with the 351w so I don't need a lot of the wires. I do want to keep the A/C and P/S so it's not as easy as I hoped it would be. I live down here in Southeast Texas so A/C is kind of a necessity.

IMG_20120617_181641 by ZdProjects, on Flickr

I'm open to suggestions and questions. Some good stuff here on this forum and I'm glad to be part of it. Finally got this post to work with pictures after 3 tries! Horray for noob foruming.

[92LX-5.8]

Should be a fun street car. It would not be hard to keep it fuel injected if you wanted to keep it that way. good luck and keep the pics comin

[Mustangmichael]

Yeah, in all that heat, a carb is gonna be a blast. not. lol. Fuel mileage will suck, because on every hot day you park it, the fuel in the bowls will 'percolate' and the fuel under pressure in the fuel line will spray into the carb and boil away as well. So plan on frequenting a gas station. Maybe they'll send you a Christmas card, lol.
Anyway, EFI is the way to go in this day and age, especially if all the efi stuff is still there. ONly thing you'll need is an upper and lower intake, everything else you're gonna need whether it's carb or EFI, like oil pan, headers, accessory brackets, distributor. The distributor would be different between efi and carb'd, but not much price difference especially if you buy it used.
Good luck, couldn't see pics here at work, but I'll scope them out when I get a free minute at home.

[dtsan]

Haha well thanks man! The motor cam from a marine application so I'm lacking the EFI setup for it. Plus, I think it's kind of cool learning and experimenting with this old school stuff. It's my first ever build so I'll end up in the newer tech eventually. I'll put up some pictures later. Since the last post, I painted my bay and I'm almost done finishing up the bottom end of the motor. Just waiting on the flywheel before I stick her in there.

[dtsan]

Fast forward a few weeks:



These past few days has been kind of frustrating. I'm putting together heads for the first time and I've managed to ruin 3 studs. I wanted to have it started by this Saturday but I'm not sure that can happen.

I need to hit up the junk yard for a 3G alternator and a e fan from a Mark VIII. It's supposed to rain all week though.

Today I did some body work and tried to figure out the wiring for this carb setup. I think running the stock fuel pump with a regulator will save me some headache in the wiring department.

[92LX-5.8]

Dont think you can run stock fuel pump and regulator with carb, way to much pressure. You will need a holley blue pump and reg.

[dtsan]

I'm going to be running the stock pump with a Profession Products regulator. It's a return style and supposed to regulate it down to 3-9 psi.

[92LX-5.8]

Cool, shows you what I know about carbs. By the picture above it looks like you have alot of work ahead of you, good luck.

[dtsan]

Thanks a lot man! I can't say I know anything about carbs either. This is my first build! It's been a lot of work and reading but I'm determined to have this thing running by the end of the summer.

[twisthappyr6]

What part of South East Texas you located in?

[dtsan]

Finally got it running for the break in today! Well tried to. Couldn't keep it going for too long because temps were getting 240+. Had a lot of other various problems for the past week.


Anyway I'll upload some pictures and try to get a video later. So nice to finally hear the thing run for awhile!

Any suggestions on why my motor is running so hot? I got the contour fan setup with a hayden fan controller on there. 180 tstat and it's opening up. The temps just keep on climbing for some reason.

twisthappyr6, I'm in Orange man.

[92LX-5.8]

Are you losing water anywhere? I am using the mark VIII set up on mine (I think) and have no cooling problems, before that I had a cheap 15 inch electric and had all sorts of heating/cooling problems, my fan is also wired to run at all times. If the contour fan blades are not broken or bent and you have them wired so they are pulling/pushing air towards the motor and not away from the motor then you should be good there also. If you have a cheap t-stat that does not have the small hole to allow system to become water solid you may also have to " burp" the coolant system to ensure all the air is out. Long story short, Check wiring polarity on fan, check water level, and ensure system is water solid (no air). By the way, I can’t wait to see pics!!

[dtsan]

Nope no water loss. I did find out this morning that one of my Contour fans were going the wrong way and fixed that. I'm using a Duralast water pump from Autozone. You think it could be the wrong rotation?

There's still a long way to go so don't expect too much from the picture. xD I'm just trying to get the motor running right. After August 10th when I finish my internship I got two weeks until school starts. I don't plan on sleeping then so progress should be quick. I'm hoping to have the motor stuff worked out by then!

PS: And yes, that's yoyo string attached to the carb. I didn't have any help this morning. xD

[92LX-5.8]

I would think the one fan turning wrong would have been the issue, because you then have two fans fighting each other. I would fix that and see how it does, the pump should be a reverse rotation pump (check that your belt on correctly and it is not loose). I would think if your belt is on correct and if they gave you a forward pump and not a reverse pump you will burn the bearings in the pump causing premature failure.

P.S Nice yoyo string

[dtsan]

Temps climbed a lot more slowly after I fixed the fan. I'm going to switch out the tstat today with a 160 degree and see how it does.

[TxFireman1972]

Nice build. Beaumont here. Always good to see another local join up!!

[Mustangmichael]

Make sure your thermostat is facing the right way, sounds silly but I see it all the time. The copper piece faces the back of the car. Another thing, did you put the heads on yourself? If so, head gaskets on upside down can cause that. I've seen guys make sure the head gasket stripes were facing up on both sides, which makes one side upside down and causes spikes in temp. Good luck hope you get it done and running right soon.

[mustangmatt8693]

check which water pump is on the car, there are two different directs. be there done that. you will like the extra torque of the 351, depending on what intake and motor mounts you might have to use a cowl hood.

[dtsan]

Hmm. I think I put the head gaskets on right. I remember wondering about the right ones going up. I do know for sure the coolant passages are in the right place. Temps have been a lot more stable now. Finally fixed the brake lines today and drove it around the yard for the first time! It sure did feel good to have this thing move. School starts the 27th. I still think I can get this thing street legal before then. Let's hope I can! I'm still chasing down little problems. Right now I can't get the alternator to charge. I'm running a 3g and I know the alternator is good but it's not charging or giving any voltage. I've read that it's not being energized because of some circuit that's in the cluster. I don't have the orginal cluster and the ones I have has been giving me problems. I'm going to run a 12v wire with a 500ohm resistor to the wire on the alternator and see if that will get it charging tomorrow.

LIST OF STUFF DONE:
351w Carb Conversion
Contour Fan
3g Alternator (Almost done)


Untitled by davidtsan, on Flickr

TxFireman, Hopefully you starting seeing my fox running around Lamar soon!

I feel pretty accomplished getting it this far this summer. First time to build a motor and do a major project car! I really appreciate all the help I've gotten from people around me and the people from Corral!

[Mustangmichael]

I like the color you picked for the engine compartment, good to hear you got it running. Take some video, like to hear what it sounds like. What exhaust did you put on it?

[TxFireman1972]

Originally Posted by dtsan

TxFireman, Hopefully you starting seeing my fox running around Lamar soon!

I try not to go to that part of town!! lol

[usmc363]

Originally Posted by TxFireman1972

I try not to go to that part of town!! lol

lol, ditto. Originally from Bridge City here!