There is definitely an appeal to the all-natural motor. I think mine looked tougher before I cleaned and painted it. It'll take 40 years of neglect to get mine back looking 'tough' again, maybe you're onto something here. :beers2:
I dont know. Budgit build or not, That motor looks CrUsTy.Paint it. even if its pruple or fushia, just put something other than grease and rust on there.
I like that Ken. Good idea. I'm actually glad that look is kind of "in" because my convertible is going to look like that on the outside for a while. Make sure to tell people that chevy runs so good because you did the distributor to the front swap.
Ok an update - I am almost ready to start. Waiting on a -6AN fitting from summit, some new Vbelts and a driveshaft. A fan shroud. Need to custom fab the downpipes and hook up the exhaust. I think thats it. As an aside - I did end up putting a reman water pump and a Carter Muscle Car Mechanical fuel pump it it. New rad hoses. here is the 430 econo build in my car as it sits. Ive put a TH400 econobuild behind it (Transgo kit) with a B&M torqmaster 2400 converter, cause its what I had sitting around. PS what can I put in the passenger valvecover towards the rear - theres supposed to be a breather there right? All the ones I have are too big a diameter. Am I missing something?
This has been pretty interesting. I've been resisting a switch to a BBB (since I have a spare 350 in the garage) but I've been seeing 430's showing up here and there on craigslist and it seems like a good inexpensive BBB alternative to a 455, especially since anything that will bolt to a 455 will bolt onto the 430, correct? Headers, intake, etc.
Update: IT LIVES fabbed up the downpipes and exhaust today pushed it outside and fired it up. Once I got the timing squared away it purred like a kitten. No major fluid leaks, bangs crunches or squeals. One small oil leak from the back of the engine, I will have to figure that out. There was one concerning noise, a tinny clacking from the bottom end. It ended up being the dipstick being hit by the crank. I rotated the stick 180deg and no more contact. Minor rocker arm clatter - normal or at least equivalent to other BBBs I have heard. I do need to get a set of rocker arm tips for these rockers. where do I find them? No smoke in the exhaust. The engine just sounds REALLY happy. starts right up. Soooo mild at idle. Has a niiice growl when I stab the throttle into the secondaries. I have only driven it in the driveway so far. I will update and provide a video maybe later when I have ahd a chance to drive it some. For now I am very pleased that I apparently have not wasted my time swapping this engine into my 72. EDIT: oil pressure 20 psi at idle ~750rpm. Not sute the upper limit. I will adjust the TA regulator as needed once I have driven it allittle
oil 45 psi max hot, 20psi at idle Drives well. Bone stock 68 430 carb is pretty lean - smells like gas mileage. Pings a little with 87 octane, 21 initial, 14 mechanical 8 vacuum. TH400 is solid and functions well, but shifts like its from a big car (it is from a 68 riv). 1-2 occurs too soon and 2-3 is too slow and soft. Luxo-boat shifting. Needs governor work. Or I can manual shift with the Prostick. Its a different driving experience than the 350. feels more like a tractor. I will get to work on the engine timing, try to eliminate the ping and then really try hammering the engine. That oil leak at the back of the engine is really going to bother me.
You always wondered what pinging sounded like buddy. Now ya know. Time to join the rest of us and pay for premium gas!:laugh:
Got the oil leak sorted out. loose pan bolts near the back. all dried up now - no leaks. thats a relief. I took a couple degrees timing out and drove it a bit today. still pings when I get in it heavy. Looks like youre right Jay, time to step up to the premium gas. I did one mean burnout in 1st gear because I couldnt resist the temptation. I cant wait til I get it all dialed in and can thrash it good..
When I used to get the 430's out of the j-yard back when you could just stop at the car wash on the way home to clean them off, spray some paint on them, and in they went. The only paint you could get back then was Hemi or Chevy orange which was always good for 10 HP. They always tended to ping more than the 400 or even the 455. I believe the 430 has closer to a real 10:1 compression ratio than the 455's did. No getting away with 87 octane with that compression and a recurved distributer. No real difference in power ratings between the years. You've got the Stage 1 oil pressure spring in there right? Should be able to get an honest hot 60+ psi out of that engine since the bearings were good. Idle pressure sounds great. I didn't see anything about a cam change. Did you rerun the original cam and lifters? If so how did the lifters come out? High mileage lifters tended to mushroom making it harder for them to come out and their face would get concave which was one of the reasons the valvetrain got noisy. 100K miles would do it easily. Nothing wrong with it functionally, just noisy. I was always playing with it to try to get them quiet. If you installed adjustable pushrods to adjust out the noise you'd have too much preload and the engine would go into valvefloat at 4000 rpm. I also made up a custom fitting that replaced the last holddown bolt on the drivers side to check for oil pressure there. That was about the last place oil would get to in the engine. The rocker tubes would always have lots of grey goop inside them. Sometimes the feed hole to the rockers at the front of the head would be just about plugged also.
I have the Ta adjustable oil pressure regulator, and I havent adjusted it tighter yet. I just went for approximately a stock setting off the bat. I am sure once I tighten it up the max hot pressure will come up, and I will dial it in to maybe 55psi. I threw a tank of 93 in it last night and drove away with a lighter wallet. I drove it around today and it still pings at WOT. I am going to change dist springs to bring the mechanical in later, see if that helps. The 430 is totally stock. (including a 7028240 stock Qjet rebuild) The lifters came out easily and the cam and bearings were in great condition. I didnt have anything sonic checked or magged so I went for the el cheapo regasket just to see if it would run. I will probebly run it at the track stock, then hit it with notrous, then consider a cammed NA build on it. Right now I just want to drive it. get rid of the ping.
