Working over the 57 chevy

[swampratt]

I put the longer serpentine belt back on to have AC.
I have also detuned it in search for more MPG but that was last year.
Pulled my 280H cam and 3.70 gears and went 268H and 2.75 gear.

WOW what a putz of a car.
I have 3" exhaust through straight through mufflers dumped at the ground before the rearend.

Pulled my pontoon Saturday to Tbird lake and the exhaust was loud enough that I decided this morning I would
take some of my scrap 2.5" exhaust and make some tail pipes that would exit past the rear bumper.
Lots of cutting welding and grinding later I have it finished and it seems quieter.

BUT WAIT!! That's not all.
My low end TQ feels like it gained a bunch and throttle is much snappier, but was pretty snappy before.

Years ago Well 30 years ago I tried many different exhaust systems on a 350 Olds I had.
Duals with glass packs then turbo mufflers and then single with glass pack and single with turbo and single with pancake catalytic converter out the side.

All of them went out the side but most power was had with the Cat out the side..odd how that works sometimes.
No it is not the added back pressure that makes more power it is more like scavenging and Wave tuning.

Give it what it wants.
Now I need to find or build a center console to add cup holders to this car and I will run AC duct through it and have side ports and then dump it under the seats to help
cool the back seat area.
It gets pretty cool back there now but more would not hurt.
Froze the wife saturday on the way to the lake so it works well.

 

[beardking]

I wish I had half the automotive mechanical knowledge and creativity that you have. Freaking carburetor tuning and timing setting would have me pulling out my hair these days if I actually had any.

 

[swampratt]

Freaking carburetor tuning and timing setting would have me pulling out my hair these days

It really is simple once you figure out the why and what.
Easy as reloading your own ammo.
Why this much powder what caliber.
Going to attempt to build a decent looking center console today.

I can build a crappy looking one really easy but I do not want that this time.

 

[Perplexed]

Still got the W/D set on the back bumper? My gf and I still chuckle about how we found your house that time. “Oh look, there’s that old Chevy with the W/D. Gotta be the place.”

 

[swampratt]

Still got the W/D set on the back bumper?

No Those were removed and the luggage carrier removed and I built a heavier duty luggage carrier.
Drove my riding mower up onto it.

That was some ridiculous weight on a receiver hitch.

I finished my center console for the 57 and it looks pretty good.
Black vinyl and some oak stained with dark walnut.

 

[MR.T.]

I made one out of Eastern Red Cedar & some copper colored aluminum & a 4x4 shift boot from a 95 Dodge. This went into my 57 Chevy pickup.

It's been there 2 years now & almost 3000 miles.

 

[Shadowrider]

That’s a lot of car for a 2.75 gear but mileage should improve on the highway for sure.

 

[Mr.Glock]

2 speed rear axle Swampratt! I had one in a Nova, worked great!

 

[O4L]

What were the results of the cam and gear change in MPG?

Which transmission are you running? It sounds like you could use a good overdrive with the lower gears.

And didn't you buy a truck to pull your boat?

 

[swampratt]

What were the results of the cam and gear change in MPG?

Which transmission are you running? It sounds like you could use a good overdrive with the lower gears.

And didn't you buy a truck to pull your boat?

I have not put the math to the cam and gear change yet I have just driven it and enjoyed it being better.
But I do not think it is better with the pontoon in tow vs the 280H on a 110 lsa.
Lugging it too much and this is causing the converter to slip much more so rpm is not as low as it should be.

2700 at 65 and TH350 is the transmission.
I feel a 3.25 or 3.50 gear would put it in a sweet spot.


Yes i recently bought a 1980 Chevy truck from a member here knowing the engine had issues.
Head was cracked and block was .060 over and has a lot of rust in the cylinders and one with huge pits like porosity in the casting 1/4" round craters in the cylinder walls.
Junk block.
Got another block and machine shop bored and honed it and said it was ready and when I was cleaning it all up I found a pin hole in cylinder 5
that goes through the cylinder into water. Another .060 over rusted out 350 block.

I dug around through my junk and found a decent .030" over 350 I cleaned it up and my cam was just finished Friday.
But the Pontoon lost a hub/spindle assembly Thursday and I am busy with that.
Battery died in my 57 same night and then the next day the upper radiator hose split on my camo corolla 100 feet from the house.

Lucky!