Hello from Kansas

[Canon_Mutant]

Hello All,

After making my '87 442 "go" quite nicely about 10 years ago, now that I am retired, I want to finally make the ole girl actually hook up better, turn and stop too [silly me!].

Anyway, I've been lurking over on Gbodyforum for a while trying to learn what I can and was turned on to this site. So, I thought I would sign up and see what I can learn here as well.

Since I currently have the car scattered doing the suspension and brake upgrade, I don't have any decent pics at the moment but this quite dusty one at least proves I have the car up on stands taken back when I was ready to start. The right front was off as I was finishing the electric antenna from hell swap at the time. I've got a build thread over on Gbody with additional pics and documentation of the build I can transpose over here if anyone cares?




For those that care:

1987 one of 4208 442 I bought new in late '86 with 28K actual miles [why do they always say "actual" miles? . . . make believe miles?]

To Make It Go:

After exhausting all possible options to make a noticeable power improvement with the factory 307, I pulled it and safely stored it for posterity if anyone ever wants to actually make this car run and drive poorly again after I am long dead and gone . . . and I instead endeavored to build a nicely over square Olds BB because, though they might not have as high of a peak torque number, they do produce a wider flatter power curve with a higher percentage of peak torque available throughout the power band and they rap quicker and farther than an undersquare 455 cranked motor. So, using a +.060 455 F block I already had for another project which I took to +.080 to clean it up after ultrasounding it to make sure it would take a full 1/8", I managed to score a virgin forged 425 crank and rods that happen to have the exact same TDC point in the 455 block with some forged 10:1 pistons. Of course it's all balanced and I am running a very streetable Comp .496/.512 L 276/280D cam with their roller rockers too.

It is purely a novelty when you do the 4.205/3.975 bore/stroke math, you get 442CI. I did not start out intending to do that. If I had a good virgin 455 block, I would have gladly built a modern cam bank angle version of the 425 using a 455 block which would have been equally cool. I am also running Edelbrock Aluminum Heads and Performer intake along with an aluminum water pump and a few other changes, the car weighs 40 lbs. less than it did with the small block making literally twice the power. You gotta love that . . .

The real challenge though was to try to make it run on the [granted] rudimentary '87 ECM, CCC, and ignition. After 3 tries working with an e-friend from Toronto with me doing laptop runs and dumps and him rebuilding the tables and sending me a new chip to try, we finally got it. Why? CCC carbs have a bad rap for reasons I do not understand? The thing is almost fuel injection snappy and [in lean burn mode on the H/W] gets 18-20mpg so I can actually make it to the next potty stop BEFORE I have to refuel. And, with a new 4 core, the thing runs 190 all day whether it's 100 or 50 out. Of course, I had to dramatically change the 200-4R to stand up to this new engine so I bought a stage 3 Bowtie tranny that so far has held up nicely on a G-force cross member with the factory 8.5" 3.73s out back. Since I cannot begin to get the power I am making now to the ground and I hate headers, I am running W/Z manifolds into a Torque Tech Stainless 2 1/2" full dual exhaust through Magnaflow high flow cats and 5x11x22 Magnaflows. 13.4/103 through full exhaust with NO traction on the factory [size] 215/65/15s. I recently put 245/60/15s BFG TAs on it and I don't think they hook up any better than the 215/65 Goodyears did.



To Make It Hook Up Better, Turn, and Stop?:

UMI Boxed Lower Rear CAs with Poly/Roto Combo
UMI Adjustable Upper Rear CAs with Poly/Roto Combo
UMI Reinforcement Brackets
UMI Pro-touring Rear Anti-roll Bar in place of the factory F41
UMI Shock Tower Brace
UMI Adjustable Upper Front CAs
UMI Front Sway Bar <= Since they are virtually the same, I was just going to use my F41 but Summit accidentally shipped me this instead of the rear I ordered so they made me a deal to save return shipping which ended up much less hassle then pulling, blasting, and coating my 30 year old F41. Plus the new purdy mounts/polybushings came along with it.
Spohn Lower Front CAs
Spohn Precision Steering Rebuild Kit w/ the Bump Steer Kit
Lateral tube bracing added to the F41 triangle in front to better tie the front rails together
1 1/4" lateral boxed brace in front of the rear bumper to better tie the rear rails together
Eibach Pro SS Lowering Springs
Bilstein AKs
Wilwood Big Brakes in front and Big Brake Conversion for the rear w/ new adjustable proportioning valve
US Mags U437 Saber 17x8s w/ 245/45s in front and 18x9.5s w/275/40s in back <= if being on the track gets serious, I will get less expensive wheels

[andrewb70]

Welcome!

Andrew