Thread: Bad Ast Astro Van Build

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Haven't done an update for a while. Didn't have a lot to post until this past weekend. McCarthy performance completed the engine build last week and I went up there Saturday morning to pick it up... Quite a story there... Just a hint. I had a ride in a 606 HP CTS-V. I can reiterate if anyone is interested... Pat, your secret is safe with me...
The 509 is home and ready to rock! It looks a little different too. It's not Chevy engine orange anymore.
After Pat had the short block together I went up and painted it. Used a self-etching primer then layed on a couple of coats of hammer tone silver. Kept the coats light to limit the "hammer" effect.
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Pat did a lot of work to this dude. I bought the engine assembled and was uncomfortable just firing it up without knowing what "exactly" I had. Pat told me to bring it up, he would check it out.
The engine was purchased with a set of rectangular port 124cc heads on it that had been ported and were WAY to big for what I wanted this motor to do. It also had a solid roller cam and a set of Crane stud girdles. I did not want to be adjusting valves two or three times a year and I wanted the motor to be drivable.
SO, we pulled off all of the "race" stuff we didn't want and I sold it all on eBay. I made enough to get a set of Brodix 270 Race Rites and a new intake. The issue with the new heads was the biggest chamber available was a CNC'd 119cc. Pat calculated the compression with the old heads was around 11:1. The smaller chamber head would put us at 12:1 or more. To much, which he fixed by milling the domes on the pistons.
Some of the things he fixed were not show stoppers but he didn't like the way they were done. The biggest thing was an oil leak he found in one of the main journal feeds. It got nicked when the engine was bored in a previous life.
Here is a list of things he did. Make any corrections you see fit Pat.

1) He smoothed off the bottoms of the cylinders which were left sharp after the bore.
2) We decided to put in new ARP rod bolts because the torque was low when he checked the rods. Didn't know how many times these bolts had been torqued so, replacing them was a no brainer.
3) Resized the rods to get them back within tolerance. New bearings of course.
4) Fixed that oil leak.
5) Milled the tops of the pistons to bring compression down to 10.5:1 with the new 119cc chambered Race Rites.
6) Assembled the heads with all new valves and springs and did some work to those when the factory work wasn't done right.
7) Hot tanked the block TWICE! Once after he smoothed down the bore bottoms and again after he fixed the oil leak.
8) Assembled the short block. I went up to his shop and painted the block when this was done.
9) Stuck in the new Erson hydraulic roller cam.
10) Finished up the motor build. Sprayed the RPM Airgap with Aluma-Blast and was going to install the distributor but saw the bronze gear was worn. I ordered a new steel gear and will replace that and stab in the distributor before I fire it up.
We are expecting 550 horse and around 650 LB/FT out of this guy. Should be plenty to get Bad Ast moving. I can always add some spray down the road if I need more.
Mark
I want to thank Pat for the work he did. A lot of it was above and beyond, but he is meticulous and I recommend his shop to everyone.
We will be starting a build on a Pontiac 455 next year.
Can you see the HUJAZZ smile on my face?
Mark