The work was more or less completed in September, just barely in time for another exotic car trip through the mountains. The car was not sorted properly before we left, so the trip was a disappointment. A power wire pinched behind the alternator meant we went through three regulators before a Canadian Tire mechanic in Vernon finally diagnosed the problem. There were lots of other electrical gremlins, plus a clutch that needed repeated adjustment to keep from slipping. To cap it all off, the new 427 started running poorly as a result of the carb running way too rich. It was also a bear to start on the cold mountain mornings because the vendor sent the engine with a carb that has no choke. IMHO, this may be fine for California but not the greatest plan for a car to be run in Canada.
I also kept hearing a ticking that sounded like a header leak but, on pulling the valve cover, it turns out the problem was more serious. The exhaust rocker arm was either not installed properly or slipped off shortly after it began running. It was cocked sideways and the roller was actually riding on the top of the valve retainer. It was like this long enough to substantially wear into the valve retainer. Eventually the retainer would have broken, dropping the valve into the piston.
Another problem I ran into is that the new motor did not come with a puke can or a PCV system, so oil kept dripping out of the breathers onto my headers. It was embarrassing being followed by a cloud of blue smoke everywhere, and we found the smoke was getting sucked into the passenger compartment meaning we probably both emitted and breathed our lifetime LA smog quotient in one trip. I’m also less than happy with the resulting discoloration on my newly Jet-Hot coated headers. The crate engine vendor had no solutions, so I turned to Hall for a nice billet aluminum PCV system that’s being installed as I write.
We had to keep the speed down for the first part of the trip in order to break the engine in, and by then the motor had started running so poorly I didn't want to push it hard. Even so, I can say the car really flies now; anything more than half throttle and I'm just hanging on for dear life. I can't even imagine what your car will be like to drive with twice the horsepower.
If you want to see some photos of my car after the restoration, have a look at the following links:
http://pantera.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/155004...470074093#7470074093http://pantera.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/155004...730059683#3730059683http://pantera.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/155004...210059683#4210059683http://pantera.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/155004...430051683#9430051683Currently, I have once more torn off my (newly refurbished and powdercoated) control arms and steering rack, and sent the works to Pat Mical for his ministrations. I am determined to get rid of the wandering and tram-lining. While I'm at it, I'm going to install new fully adjustable Koni gas shocks with 2 1/2" Hypacoil wire. Once the car is back together, I plan to take it to a specialty shop in Edmonton that can do the bump steer tuning and corner weighting for me. Pat has offered to talk us through this over the phone. After that, it's off to a specialty dyno tuner in Calgary to try to sort out the carb jetting -- since the crate engine vendor was no help there either.
In short, I empathize with your not being able to enjoy your first drive because of all the maiden voyage trials (to use a nautical metaphor, just between us sailors).
I hope to join you on the road in the near future!