Champion Radiators: Review and Install

In the midst of the car running to warm for my liking. Actually it would just keep rising no matter what I did. I Finally placed an order to Champion Radiators to get myself one of their 3 core aluminum radiators for my car. When I received the package it was boxed very well and the radiator was also in bubble wrap with Styrofoam. Once the radiator was out and visible it looked amazing. It featured polished end caps, a brass drain petcock when other brands use plastic. It also included a new radiator cap which i didn't need since I use the pressure release lever cap. The welds on the end caps all looked very good and uniform and the fit is amazing. It keeps the car at 180 degrees in the summer heat (with both fans on of course). But still to keep a 406 small block Chevy at those temperatures and with a carburetor yet too. I am overall pleased with the quality and craftsmanship of Champion Radiators and would recommend them for anyone looking for an aluminum radiator. Also there a third the price of other aluminum radiator brands so you also get to save money. Which is always a plus in the muscle car community.

Fast forward update

Instead of posting about 30 more posts to catch you all up to where I am with my car I'm just going to tell you everything I've done up to this point. First things first I blew the head gasket on my 305. I figure that I blew the head gasket considering I had coolant in my oil and the car was running hotter then ever. So I got in contact with my friend up in Olly, PA and he found me a new motor. But not just any motor, no it was a worked over 400 small block Chevy. It was bored 30 over with a comp cams 268 cam and flat top pistons for a 9.5:1 compression. So the swap started with tearing out the very tired 305 and taking all the parts I needed from the 305 and transferred them to the 400.
After about two or three days of assembling the 400 and getting everything ready for the 400, it was time to install it into the car. Me being me while installing it I accidentally released the engine hoist to lower the engine instead of tightening it to stop it from lowering more causing it to slam onto my grill/ front end. Just a couple nicks in the paint, but still enough to get me pretty mad.
Once the engine was completely in and ready for its first start up, I began to get a little nervous cause I had no clue what it was going to sound like. When I finally got it started up and adjusted the idle and tuned the carb, it was time for its first test drive. The first time around I took it easy just to get used to my car again and get used to the increase in power. But the second time around I really got onto it. The motor really woke the car up and makes it move. Since the engine was built for more of low to mid range power, the torque just carries the car like its not even there. But the happiness was shortish lived since the carb I bought wasn't even close to be jetted to my motor.

It just dumped fuel into the engine. It ran alright but you could tell it struggled. It would wanna cut out around turns cause it of running so rich. I adjusted the floats and everything but still couldn't get it to not want to cut out around turns. It also caused my car to run really warm, I mean, the paper thin radiator I have really doesn't help at all but still. So I purchased a Holley 6709 750 cfm mechanical secondary double pumper and had it rebuilt by Jason Risser. I highly recommend him for all carb and engine work. He knows his stuff and is very far with his prices. After the Holley, it doesn't want to cut out around turns, and it runs like a dream. And since it doesn't dump fuel into the engine anymore like the old carb did, I seen a big increase in gas mileage.

One of the next upgrades I did was to dual electric fans. I ordered dual 14" electric fans off EBay.com for pretty cheap with the zip ties to hold them to the radiator. My brother helped me wire them into the car and get them to run right. I seen a big increase in cooling, and throttle response since it didn't have the heavy 7 blade fan with fan clutch swinging on the water pump pulley anymore.

Positive traction anyone?

Yet another update from the long list to get you all caught up is the finding of a posi rear. I went along with my good friend Corey Buckwalter and his dad to pick up a posi rear that he found in a early 80's El Camino for his '78 Malibu that I will be featuring on the blog in the next month or two. As his dad and I walked around looking for a potential motor swap for my car, we came upon a mid 70's Pontiac Le mans station wagon and just as we pasted it, his dad goes. "How about checking this for a posi rear?" I said there's no way but still checked just to make sure. When I looked underneath the car, I was blown away. Not only was it a posi rear but the spring and shocks were in the same location. My mind was officially blown away with astonishment. So we walked up to the entrance and told the guys that I wanted the rear. So 20 minutes later we had two posi rears loaded in the back of the truck and on our way home.

When we got home I started doing a little research on my rear that i bought and couldn't find a darn thing on it. But from looking at pictures of rears like it i think its a Pontiac 8.75 rear end, but I'm not certain. As we installed it into my car we took one of the drums off and it could actually fit completely over my old rears drum. It was amazing, and as we looked at the brakes on the Pontiac rear, it looked as though the pads were changed not long before the car was sent to the junkyard. Which was a big plus for me since i can hardly find any info on the rear let alone bake components. When we finished it, we dropped it down and Corey and I took it for a test spin. At first the posi didn't want to break free around turns like it had a spool, but once it started getting used again and started driving it, it loosened up nice. An let me tell you one thing, having posi is so nice, even though it still has 2.73 gears, its still so much more fun then peg leg.

Update Part: 2

The next thing on the list to update everyone is my suspension upgrades. Now some I did at different times but I'm just going to give most if not all of the upgrades that are currently on the car. First off I bought and installed Hotchkis 2 inch lowering springs for the front end. They were for a mid 70's Camaro/ Firebird but still would fit my car. The front shocks I swapped out the crappy stock shocks from '79 and added Monroe's Sensa-Trac Coil over shocks to help with some pretty bad bouncing and give it a stiffer ride. They also helped in overall driving considering I like to take turns too. I also added front sway bar bushings to help the sway bar end links control body roll.
Now moving to the rear suspension, I added stock wagon rear springs that are the variable weight, combined with Monroe's Sensa-Trac rear shocks. I also added a rear sway bar from a Cadillac to help the rear end body roll. I then bought mini spring compressors to lower the rear end of the car and inch or so to even further help with handling and body roll. Overall the car had a very aggressive stance and is a force to be reckoned with on the roads.

It's been a while...

 I know I know its been forever since my last post but over these last couple months i've made lots of progress one my car. So to catch up to when I currently am, im going to break it down into different posts each week till your all caught up. So I will start from where I left off which was with my exhaust system.
I went with Hooker long tube headers and the coupled them to "gutted" cats, which were then attached to a Jegs 2.5" true dual cat back exhaust kit. The exhaust kit came with cheap "turbo" mufflers but I didn't really like the sound and it was just to dang quiet for me. So I replaced them with Flowmaster Super 40 series mufflers. They sound great and give it a very deep tone under WOT. Stay tuned for next weeks Catch Up Part: 2 to see what was done next.

79 Impala Exhaust Update

Stopped by my mechanic a couple days ago and asked some questions on visual emissions. Found out that the heat riser thing in between the manifold and down pipe, wasn't for emissions, and could be taken out. So I went to JEGS.com and found a set of Hooker long tube tube headers, magnaflow cats, universal x-pipe kit, and reducers from the 3" collector at the header to the 2.5" piping. It will all pretty much bolt into place, and pass emissions. Which makes me happy. Should really open up my exhaust, an flow much better. I'll keep you guys up to date of when I purchase the exhaust, an start installing.

N/A vs BOOST

You see in almost every blog or forum about the question, weather to boost or keep it all motor. So I thought its my turn to talk about what I think of the N/A vs Boost conflict. To help name some pros and cons of both setups, and to maybe help you in your decision of weather to keep it all motor, or put boost to it. I'll start out with the naturally-aspirated end. Probably the main reason for most people to stay n/a is cost. The average car guy might not be able to get the funds needed to not only pay for the motor, but also pay for the boost setup, weather its turbo, procharger, or supercharger. So to just have to pay for the motor being either rebuilt or getting a motor built, would be much cheaper then boost. Another pro to n/a is instant power, no need to wait for boost to kick in to get your peak power. Its all there when you need it, mainly low to med range torque an even high end torque for n/a motors. The weight is also a factor of any car. With no boost setup, you save the weight from all the added material that you would need for boost. An the extra weight of the boost setup is over the wurst part for racing, the front end. Also when building a naturally-aspirated motor, there's no need for a more expensive boost friendly cam, or blow through carburetor, if you stay carburetor that is. Now the pros of the boosted side of things. The three main attractions for any boost setup is the amount of power you can make, an when out of boost, its like running on a low compression n/a car. Till the boost does kick in of course. The third is how easy it is to maintain a boost setup, weather its turbo, procharger, or supercharger. The first of three is the amount of power. You could make the same power using a smaller displacment motor with boost, as a larger all motor engine. That could save you costs from having to go to the larger motor setup. The second is that when your out of boost its like driving an all motor car. Until boost does hit then you better hold on. So your basically driving you car around like its n/a, with low compression. That's when you get the fuel sipping motor, with a lot of power, which is one thing I think every car guy wants. An the third is maintenance of your engine with the boost setup of your choice. I will say that a turbo setup will cost more to not only build, but to maintain. But never the less any boost setup will be more to maintain then a naturally-aspirated motor. With any supercharger or procharger system you just put the pulley with the set psi you want to run, an tune the motor to that boost setting. Knowing that you will always have the same boost an know that the tune is good for that boost setting. Not saying that a turbo is bad for boosting a motor, you just have more to worry about when installing and maintaining the system. All in all, weather to stay naturally-aspirated or boost your car is up to you. You gotta go with the setup that nets you the best performance for your car, an best for you event, weather its autocross, drag, drift, time attack, ect.