New C3 owner, already bad news!!

New C3 owner, already bad news!!

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Voguely

Original Poster:

340 posts

157 months

Monday 15th October 2012
quotequote all
Well finally back from my jollies and got a new battery for the 'vette and had someone come look at it today. Wasn't starting to begin with until the guy put his finger over some kind of intake nozzle on the back of the supercharger, when it suddenly came to life. Seems that some kind of cover for this nozzle must have come off at some point, leading to air going straight into the SC bypassing the Carb and causing savage backfires. Although I'm not convinced that this is the only problem, but rather I reckon it has been exaggerated by this and that possibly the nozzle cover was only blown off by one of the later backfires (and that is when it stopped being able to idle).

Also the gasket between the engine and the supercharger had also broken (possibly as a result of the backfires) and so that is now also leaking air in. Bad times. Anyway the above problem is easily fixed with a bit of hose+bolt as a cover, but now I've got to try and find a gasket for an Edlebrock supercharger somewhere - had a quick look online and it's not looking easy so far, these things are rare!! So any advice is very welcome. I've tried looking for a serial number on the SC but couldn't see one. Its magnusson type long nose charger (I'll take a pic at some point and post it here).

Cheers!

edit - SC looks like this http://www.summitracing.com/parts/EDL-1551/?rtype=... however there are a number of sligghtly different models which all look very similar! I'll investigate more (unless someone can tell me if they all share the same base footprint and therefore gasket? (and where to get said gasket!?)

edit 2 - think I've found what I need! Hope so as shipping was double what the part cost! Oh the joys of classic american motoring!

Edited by Voguely on Monday 15th October 18:55


Edited by Voguely on Monday 15th October 21:03

AdeTuono

7,240 posts

226 months

Monday 15th October 2012
quotequote all
I'm sure if you contact Magnacharger with your engine type, they'll sort you out. In my experience of US part suppliers, you'll have the part in less than a week, at a price probably cheaper than a rocker cover gasket for a 1972 1100cc cross-flow Ford.

http://www.magnacharger.com/

Bowler

905 posts

210 months

Monday 15th October 2012
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When you've finally ID'd the part you need, talk to Keith at (www)EuroVettes. He operates a monthly shipping service from the US and will give you a delivery address in the States for the part

100% trustworthy BTW

HTH

Z28DUNC

155 posts

149 months

Tuesday 16th October 2012
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What type of gasket is it? You might be able cut your own out of gasket material. I've done this for rocker gaskets before but not sure what material a supercharger gasket would be made out of.

Voguely

Original Poster:

340 posts

157 months

Tuesday 16th October 2012
quotequote all
Z28DUNC said:
What type of gasket is it? You might be able cut your own out of gasket material. I've done this for rocker gaskets before but not sure what material a supercharger gasket would be made out of.
Thanks for the tip - may look into this as an option. I've ordered a gasket for between the top of the engine and baseplate of the SC. But can't find one for the gasket between the baseplate of the SC and the SC main body, so making my own could be the way forward. I'll have to get the SC off and have a look what it's made from. Did your own home-cut ones work ok?

Anyone else with an experience (good or bad) of creating their own gaskets?

AdeTuono

7,240 posts

226 months

Tuesday 16th October 2012
quotequote all
Voguely said:
Thanks for the tip - may look into this as an option. I've ordered a gasket for between the top of the engine and baseplate of the SC. But can't find one for the gasket between the baseplate of the SC and the SC main body, so making my own could be the way forward. I'll have to get the SC off and have a look what it's made from. Did your own home-cut ones work ok?

Anyone else with an experience (good or bad) of creating their own gaskets?
You need some CAF material. If you've got the 'charger off, you can lay a sheet over the top of the manifold and 'cut' a gasket using a ball pein hammer.

http://www.british-gaskets.co.uk/products/guidance...

roscobbc

3,306 posts

241 months

Tuesday 16th October 2012
quotequote all
Voguely said:
Thanks for the tip - may look into this as an option. I've ordered a gasket for between the top of the engine and baseplate of the SC. But can't find one for the gasket between the baseplate of the SC and the SC main body, so making my own could be the way forward. I'll have to get the SC off and have a look what it's made from. Did your own home-cut ones work ok?

Anyone else with an experience (good or bad) of creating their own gaskets?
Its not too difficult with the paper type gasket material - simplest way to get all holes etc in alignment is to first hold the paper securely on to the machined surface and using the rounded end of a ball pein hammer, press hard against the gasket material where it is over the bolt and stud holes. This if done properly will enable you to simply push out the holes in the material giving accurate gasket location (if careful the same method can be used for other holes like inlet ports providing material isn't too thick and the machined surface has nice sharp edges!

Voguely

Original Poster:

340 posts

157 months

Wednesday 17th October 2012
quotequote all
Cool, I'm going to give this a go then! Thanks for all the advice so far guys, much appriciated! Can't wait to have this beast working again to take for a spin on a nice sunny weekend around the east coast!

Voguely

Original Poster:

340 posts

157 months

Thursday 1st November 2012
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Hello again all,

Well it wasn't the gaskets! There were various air leaks, now stopped, which has reduced the probelm. There were also various hoses going into wrong places thanks to those who refitted the new engine (who shall not be named), it's a wonder it ever worked at all!

Anyway unfortunately it's still not quite right. Seems to be running smoothly from cold, but when it gets upto operating temp the backfires are coming back. So back to the drawing board! The garage that currently has it called me today and said that he'd tried everything that he could think of in terms of tinkering and didn't want to just start guessing by changing parts etc, and so has effectivly given up. In fairness I appriciate his honesty rather than just throwing (my) money at it until it worked! So now I'm looking for someone else to look at it. Looking through the files it was American Vehicle Specialists in Braintree, Essex who originally fitted the S/C to it (back in 2010 prior to new engine going in earlier this year) and the current garage recommended them saying he'd sent them work from himself before. They don't have a website, but I've found their address. If they are any good then it'll work out well as they are only about 15 miles from me!

Has anyone on here used them and able to give any feedback?

Also any general ideas as to what would cause a backfire when engine is hot but not cold are more than welcome!

Cheers guys!

Geoff Stilwell

679 posts

174 months

Monday 26th November 2012
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Try Jeff Bull Racing he is in Essex i think. go to www.eurodragster.com he advertises on there.

Voguely

Original Poster:

340 posts

157 months

Tuesday 4th December 2012
quotequote all
Woohoo! Finally fixed and working again!

Pictures to follow, but had a great weekend of light hooning in the Sunday sun! As luck would have it I had total, no rules access to a runway (+racetrack) for me and a couple of mates, so got to have a bit of a play and find the limit of grip on a damp runway (unsuprisingly, the limit was not very far away and resulted in some amusing sideways action!).

Anyway, hopefully I will see some of the other Essex yank motor owners around soon somewhere!

AdeTuono

7,240 posts

226 months

Tuesday 4th December 2012
quotequote all
Voguely said:
Woohoo! Finally fixed and working again!

Pictures to follow, but had a great weekend of light hooning in the Sunday sun! As luck would have it I had total, no rules access to a runway (+racetrack) for me and a couple of mates, so got to have a bit of a play and find the limit of grip on a damp runway (unsuprisingly, the limit was not very far away and resulted in some amusing sideways action!).

Anyway, hopefully I will see some of the other Essex yank motor owners around soon somewhere!
Go on then; what was the cause?

Voguely

Original Poster:

340 posts

157 months

Tuesday 4th December 2012
quotequote all
AdeTuono said:
Go on then; what was the cause?
Detonating due to timing being out when boost came through as S/C spooled up. Ended up just taking charger off (rather than having to fit boost retarders or timing delayer for distributor) and now its back to N/A it seems much happier and is running fine (touch wood!), and TBH is still more than fast enough so I'm happy.

Now deciding what to do with hole in the bonnet where intake previously stuck out. Thinking either:

a) get a piece of metal fabricated to put between carb and intake so it still stick out.
b) some sort of subtle hood scoop to go over the hole
c) some perspex to fill the hole and make a window (like the ZR1)
d) open to other suggestions (that don't involve having to buy and paint a new bonnet!)

roscobbc

3,306 posts

241 months

Tuesday 4th December 2012
quotequote all
Voguely said:
Detonating due to timing being out when boost came through as S/C spooled up. Ended up just taking charger off (rather than having to fit boost retarders or timing delayer for distributor) and now its back to N/A it seems much happier and is running fine (touch wood!), and TBH is still more than fast enough so I'm happy.

Now deciding what to do with hole in the bonnet where intake previously stuck out. Thinking either:

a) get a piece of metal fabricated to put between carb and intake so it still stick out.
b) some sort of subtle hood scoop to go over the hole
c) some perspex to fill the hole and make a window (like the ZR1)
d) open to other suggestions (that don't involve having to buy and paint a new bonnet!)
E) put the friggin' blower back and get the timing sorted!

Voguely

Original Poster:

340 posts

157 months

Tuesday 4th December 2012
quotequote all
roscobbc said:
E) put the friggin' blower back and get the timing sorted!
Haha, thanks but no thanks. As an aside, blower is now for sale if anyone fancies their luck better than me at tuning it properly. In the mean time, enjoy a bit of this....


miln0039

2,013 posts

157 months

Wednesday 4th September 2013
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Voguely said:
Haha, thanks but no thanks. As an aside, blower is now for sale if anyone fancies their luck better than me at tuning it properly. In the mean time, enjoy a bit of this....

Awesome! Sorry to resurrect this but I keep getting my eye drawn to C3s - but generally small block mid 70s cars - big block out of budget!

How do you find the performance with the NA set up? Any ideas on power etc?

Most of all though - do the mid 70s cars sound as good as they look? (True sucker for noise!!)

Cheers,
Alex

Voguely

Original Poster:

340 posts

157 months

Wednesday 4th September 2013
quotequote all
miln0039 said:
Awesome! Sorry to resurrect this but I keep getting my eye drawn to C3s - but generally small block mid 70s cars - big block out of budget!

How do you find the performance with the NA set up? Any ideas on power etc?

Most of all though - do the mid 70s cars sound as good as they look? (True sucker for noise!!)

Cheers,
Alex
Hi,

Power with NA setup is still very good. Esp in a car which has no traction control, ABS etc! These small blocks are very tunable - you can get uprated higher compression heads, more aggressive cams etc which will give you some pretty epic power if combined properly.

As for sound, yes, incredible! You want one with side pipes or an aftermarket stainless steel system out the back.

Mine is for sale at the moment. http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/c...

Edited by Voguely on Wednesday 4th September 21:58

miln0039

2,013 posts

157 months

Wednesday 4th September 2013
quotequote all
Voguely said:
Hi,

Power with NA setup is still very good. Esp in a car which has no traction control, ABS etc! These small blocks are very tunable - you can get uprated higher compression heads, more aggressive cams etc which will give you some pretty epic power if combined properly.

As for sound, yes, incredible! You want one with side pipes or an aftermarket stainless steel system out the back.

Mine is for sale at the moment. Was on the classifieds on here, but expired recently and haven't got around to renewing it yet. Let me know if you are interested (it's working well now, don't worry about this old thread from a year ago!!)
Any particular reason for sale?! Seems a shame after spending all that time getting her in shape!!

For me it might be a bit early as I haven't freed up any garage space yet! The wife is convinced though smile

Yours has the side pipes am I right in thinking? To be honest I am sold on anything that barks loud and has a pop and crackle on the overrun!!!