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AMC8

I'll be at Truckfest on July 22nd if my engine builder keeps up his end of the deal, then a few brackets here and there. Mopar- ouch. I guess if that's where the other 4 AMC's in the state are I'll show. Let me see if Putfile still has the old shots.
 
Yeah, there were a few AMX's up there last month, one getting into the 11's. They were letting some Mitsu's run...I guess they're MOPAR in a round-about way. You'd fit in just fine.

As long as you're looking for links, was it you that grenaded a 4.0 that was on its last legs?

Steve
 
Got the upper half of the remaining header done last night. Went to the machine shop today to check up on their progress- keep in mind I was told 'will be done this week' and it's Wednesday. The pistons were on the same shelf as a year ago, nobody could find my block, I spotted the flexplate up against a wall but didn't see my damper, and so on... oh, the cam's been on 'it should be here any day' status for a month. Somehow I don't think the problem lies with Howard, there.

I think I made a poor machine shop choice, and will be ecstatic to get all my parts back, let alone assembled. I'm not building the short block (if I ever get one) because I need them to mock everything up and work the valve reliefs as needed for clearance.

They have a nice website though, www.bowersracingengines.com
 
Not much new- doing all the last little fiddly things while waiting for the machine shop. Turning the drums, wiring the shifter, need to repair the cab corner cracks and come up with a plexi rear window (cage soon too) Front shocks today, rear tomorrow, it's dropped 2" from stock. Driveshaft arrives tomorrow. The manual brakes work OK I guess, stalled out the forklift at work. :)

The headers are completely done, never thought I'd say that. I really need another digicam. Stepped 1 3/4 to 1 7/8, full length- they come to about the middle of the TH400. 3.5" collectors.

I took some time off work yesterday to check on 'progress' and they were actually working on my stuff, porting the heads even more. So, soon I hope.
 
Keep us in the loop - watching for updates. :)
 
JJacobs said:
I'm out of things to do. Need motor. Will this be the week? :)
Click to expand...
I had a similar experience a few years back with a non-Jeep related vehicle. It was getting rebuilt at what I thought was a reputable shop. They originally quoted me a week for everything, which quickly turned into a month.

I started calling every day just to "check in on the progress". I never once showed any irritance or became angry, just a polite, smiling, "how is it going down there? heh heh...". After five days of my calls, the shop foreman got on the phone and says "calling us isn't going to make it go faster" and I just replied, "well everything else is waiting on the motor, so I have to do something with my time. Heh heh. But don't worry, I'm not pressuring you guys, I know you're busy, I'm just keeping in touch." Big smiles, friendly voice.

The next morning, I showed up down there at 0700 with good coffees for all the guys in the shop, and chatted them up politely with lots of smiles and ass-kissing. "What a nice shop. I gotta another vehicle I need done too, this is probably the place. Wow! What kind of lift is that?" That kind of crap.

Miraculously, it was done two days later. I don't know if they were trying to get rid of me, or if I made myself likable enough for them to work harder, but at any rate, I got it back... :D
 
So I called today to "pick it up since you said it'd be done this week"
And dude says he was just going out back to dig the block out so he could start on it. Guess it wasn't mine on the stand. He also said half his crew just quit, wonder why? Maybe he has as hard a time writing paychecks as he does working on sub-2000HP motors?
 
Got a little more pro-active today. Took the afternoon off work and went down to the machine shop. "Hey, since you're a little short-handed around here, I'm here to help" :) Weighed bearings, wristpins, rings and so on for the bobweight calculations for the balance job. Installed the TH 400 bushing in the crank along with flexplate and damper for balancing. Put the block on a stand myself, finally, knocked out all the old cam bearings, washed a bunch of parts. They're really nice guys, just a little (ahem) lacking in motivation.

I got one of the employees to go to bat for me and tomorrow he'll be finishing bushing the rods, filing ring gaps, installing cam bearings and I'll pick up the works Friday to finish up on Saturday. (knock on wood)
 
This thread has been sorely lacking in pics. I just got a camera, so here's a few.










Got a few things back from the shop, still need rod bearings/ heads, someone walked off with my cam/lifters/timing set so I'm gonna reuse the old Comp Magnum 292 hydraulic for now, thinking of ordering a solid roller setup.
What's going on with the throttle body? That's the regulator bowl off in the picture, I took the regulator diaphragm out and will be using the Aeromotive one up on the firewall, just to keep E85 off of rubber stuff. Just out of curiosity I made a rubber gasket a couple weeks back and ran fuel thru the system, it already tore up the gasket. So I'm gonna o-ring it.
 
Last edited:
Short block's built. I now have all parts back from the machine shop! Except for the magical disappearing cam/lifters/timing set. At least he didn't try to charge me for them. I also found out that the 1.5 roller rockers I've been running on this thing aren't right, should be 1.6, so that's a bit of a performance hit. They're staying for now.

I've heard the 401 is a stroked 390, and I don't doubt it after today. The crank clears the piston bottoms next to the wristpin by about .015". Cylinder 1's clearance was, well, negative? Had to work the piston a little to get it to even turn over. Fixed that.

Need a few head dowels for tomorrow then finish up assembly and slap it in. Couple more days-
 
Is that a carberator or just a really old school fuel injector. I saw something similar on a 89 chevy with a 350 in it.
 
Real nice!!!....A little info that may come in handy...sounds like you know what you are doing....but just in case....if the TH400 slips a bit....pull the pan off and pull the pressure regulator out of the bottom of the pump and check for debris....it's a great nesting place for errant particles...the regulator will come out without pulling the trans and pulling the pump out.

The TH400 is massively strong...I ran one behind a LS6 in a Chevelle....I did manage to pull the low band stay out of the case once, but it took slicks and a real hard launch..
 
The throttle body- it goes with the Holley Commander 950 EFI system which you can buy right now. It's a 900 cfm unit, a lot bigger than the old Chevy 2-bbl ones. I'd rather have multiport, but this is what is there for now.

MudDawg- thanks for the info, I'm not looking forward to any problems though, I just built this trans and all components checked out good.

Here's a clip of it running in the shop:
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/8cd8cd95-177a-40be-9089-998600195712.htm
 
No prob....it's one of those little things that's handy to know if you are new to the TH400....good luck!!
 
JJacobs said:
The throttle body- it goes with the Holley Commander 950 EFI system which you can buy right now. It's a 900 cfm unit, a lot bigger than the old Chevy 2-bbl ones. I'd rather have multiport, but this is what is there for now.

MudDawg- thanks for the info, I'm not looking forward to any problems though, I just built this trans and all components checked out good.

Here's a clip of it running in the shop:
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/8cd8cd95-177a-40be-9089-998600195712.htm
Click to expand...

Sound vary sweet to my ears:D Good job!

love the sound of open heads, and the lope adds to it

Man i need to get my Cuda back together.

Flash.
 
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