It had never been my plan to build an engine but I thought at the time it'd be a fun project.
Well after 5 years of (not) building my 3.5, my mojo is at an all time low for the project. However I still dream of cruising in my Cav to a V8 soundtrack, so I've managed to secure myself another engine.
This time it's a 3.9 from a P-reg discovery that my friend was needing shot of. The deal was if I helped him break the truck, store the parts and help him shift them through Fleabay and the like, I could have the engine and 'box for my troubles. It's got 90k on it, but loads of comprehensive history for the disco, never missed a service and best of all 'cos it's out of my friends vehicle, I've heard/ seen/ driven it running and it pulls very well!
So we took this truck:
and after some grinding:
hoisting:
and lots of shoving and a bit of swearing, it came out:
sorry for the crappy phone pic, SWMBO saw the state of my hands and wouldn't let me take the camera into the garage
I had originally planned to try and convert the R380 'box to RWD but having now seen it in the flesh I think a different box will be the best way forward, LT77 is the obvious choice, but might be a bit weak for future plans (see below) and I'd rather not have to change boxes later on. Suggestions (or donations
) welcome!So now my plan is to take off all the EFi gubbins and carefully store it. Bang on my Edlebrock 1404 and Performer manifold for simplicity and because a V8 on big carb with the big pan filter is a boyhood dream which just looks sooo
! Stick that in the Cav as is and get used to the extra power which assume will be around 150-160bhp. Meanwhile riding the wave of mojo from actually having a V8 in my pride and joy I'll build the 3.5 to the spec I've been researching and trying to afford all this time and aim for 220bhp - Crower 50233 cam, raised compression, decent head job, maybe the Efi kit?Swap in the 3.5 to the Cav get used to the extra power and sort any other mods the car will need to cope!
Then take my time rebuilding the 3.9 into something REALLY fun. increased capacity, extensive head work, and a dirty great big super charger!
Call it my 10 year (read 20 year!)
plan. Regards,
James
