Can't wait to bolt on the ported heads!

[Paul Workman]

You get used to how a car performs, after driving it for a year (season). And, so you know what to expect in familiar situations - like coming upon a "victim" on the highway...

Familiar situation - coming up on traffic on a fresh, smooth rural blacktop - car doing about 60. A quick look ahead shows two cars, actually, but plenty of room to slip in between and take them one at a time...methinks.

But, it isn't a familiar situation...the Z has a freshly ported top end, new SW headers, a Marc H chip, headers, 3" exhaust open to the muffs - quite a departure from last year's stock setup, doancha know.

So, I double clutch into 3rd and the tach jumps up to about 3800...oh, schweeet the sound she makes! I look one last time - road is clear - HAMMER DOWN... I expected a performance lift, but JEEEEZE! Suddenly things are happening waaay quick - almost too quick!

My head bumps the rest, the hood jumps up and I'm surprised at how quickly she's about to bite off the rear bumper of the car in front of me if I don't get on with changing lanes!

In the adjacent lane now, the the sound of the LT5 building up to a full roar has me glancing quickly at the tach - the tach that is sweeping upward at an incredibly fast pace - waaaay quicker than I've ever experienced before ! The tires are fighting for traction and the car I'm overtaking is just a blur. My senses are all near overload as I'm trying to absorb and assess this unfamiliar cadence of events.

I don't know how fast I was going as I came to the gap between cars, because I was glancing at the tach at that moment and momentarily mesmerized by the tach sweeping rapidly and nearly at 7000 and accelerating now harder than ever! Too late to even think about diving into the gap...I'm somewhere north of triple digits and climbing fast as I begin to pass the next car. (That car must have pulled over to the side of the road, cuz I'm past him in a blink!)

As I passed the second car (pickup truck) I let off and merged back into the right lane. The adrenalin was pumping (whata rush!) and my heart was beating hard. When thought finally could be formed, my first thought was 'holy crap!!

She's a different beast now - totally different animal! But, as fortune would have it, the new headers/exhaust allowed me to hear what later proved to be a leaking exhaust valve. Even before doing the porting etc, I knew it was leaning out, especially above 5000 rpm. I maybe shouldn't have made those spirited runs before addressing what later proved to be a fuel pressure issue, but none the less there was a leak. So...Off with her head!! (or heads, actually!) I figured that "while I was at it, might as well port 'em. That lead to a complication (rookie mistake) that has taken some time to repair. However, the latest report is the repair is complete, less the final pressure testing. SO! A valve job and some new valve stem seals and mebby there's time to get it back together before the snow flies>...Maybe??? But, I can't wait to see how she runs now!

P.

PS

Actually, there was this Sunfire driven by a couple young chicks that tried to pick a fight with me just after I put the ported top end back on - before the headers etc. Not much of a contest, but even so the SF was surprisingly quick. Did I hear that Pontiac put some LT1s in some of the Sunfires??

P

[rhipsher]

Originally Posted by Paul Workman

Actually, there was this Sunfire driven by a couple young chicks that tried to pick a fight with me just after I put the ported top end back on - before the headers etc. Not much of a contest, but even so the SF was surprisingly quick. Did I hear that Pontiac put some LT1s in some of the Sunfires??

P

Were they cute?

[jonszr1]

i can hardly wait to hear how she runs with the heads done