Hi guys I've being of building my cars and pulling my hair out with some of the finishing touches.
This my 79 firebird with 403 Olds engine. The car is my every day driver , so doesn't look much ( half sanded , no carpets or hood lining )
Just front seats and seat belts but I have started at the back and worked my way forward but just mechanical. I've done new fuel tank and lines,diff, suspension front and rear lowing the car 3" I've owned 2nd gen firebirds for 35yrs. I have always had chev engines never had a problem, I knew my way around chev engines and even had a 400 with Siamese bores so when I came across 403 with same problem I thought no sweat. I did some research and found out about the holes in the wedding and the way to fix this problem . I would have normally ditch this engine for a chev or new modem LS engines but this is a numbers matching car and engine was rebuilt but hadn't been started,gear box was good and I put a diff in a had here out of a firebird I put a 9" in before. But it over heats when on the hiway or drive around town at ,80kph for a while it starts to rise. I have gone through everything this not my first rodeo.
First I thought the top rad hose was creating vac lock because it sits high over the alternator. So I changed it to run in front of the alternator and now it sits level with top of rad. Then I put electric fans on from a vy commodore that had twin fans factory with shroud that fitted perfectly and draw 3000cfm.
Still no luck. Rad was new at the beginning. I had to modify my bottom rad outlet because of steering box, it's RHD . and for some reason when I got it back I noticed the inlet and outlet had being reduced in diameter probably 4or5 mm smaller my be more but I could still tighten clamp with spanner couldn't get tight enough with screw driver doesn't leak.im going to get them fixed but I can't imagine this is the problem. I don't want to pull heads,as a last resort. I'm thinking of putting a factory clutch and fan on with shroud don't need max power it's drive car I've got a 77 with turbo LS1 and 79 trans am. Also getting parts for Oldsmobile's engines in Australia is a pain. Timing marker is just for 3 models and cant get it anymore and not only is unable to be found but replacement looks different but apparently mounts the same. Just to make it more fun you can't use the one of any other 403 engine the timing marks are different. And I was considering connecting the heater hoses from manifold to water pump together just In case it helps but technically it should make any difference. I live in a constantly hot city so a heater is not necessarily. It's cold Maybe for 4 days a year.ive done leak down test with no problems. I know this is long but I don't want to read through a heap of stuff I've already looked at, I'm looking for something Ive missed .oh by the way which rocket scientist thought it would be a good idea to run fuel line down the opposite side of the fuel.pump and under a hot engine. That's a great idea. I know Pontiac engines pump is on US drivers side but it chev is on the left.
This my 79 firebird with 403 Olds engine. The car is my every day driver , so doesn't look much ( half sanded , no carpets or hood lining )
Just front seats and seat belts but I have started at the back and worked my way forward but just mechanical. I've done new fuel tank and lines,diff, suspension front and rear lowing the car 3" I've owned 2nd gen firebirds for 35yrs. I have always had chev engines never had a problem, I knew my way around chev engines and even had a 400 with Siamese bores so when I came across 403 with same problem I thought no sweat. I did some research and found out about the holes in the wedding and the way to fix this problem . I would have normally ditch this engine for a chev or new modem LS engines but this is a numbers matching car and engine was rebuilt but hadn't been started,gear box was good and I put a diff in a had here out of a firebird I put a 9" in before. But it over heats when on the hiway or drive around town at ,80kph for a while it starts to rise. I have gone through everything this not my first rodeo.
First I thought the top rad hose was creating vac lock because it sits high over the alternator. So I changed it to run in front of the alternator and now it sits level with top of rad. Then I put electric fans on from a vy commodore that had twin fans factory with shroud that fitted perfectly and draw 3000cfm.
Still no luck. Rad was new at the beginning. I had to modify my bottom rad outlet because of steering box, it's RHD . and for some reason when I got it back I noticed the inlet and outlet had being reduced in diameter probably 4or5 mm smaller my be more but I could still tighten clamp with spanner couldn't get tight enough with screw driver doesn't leak.im going to get them fixed but I can't imagine this is the problem. I don't want to pull heads,as a last resort. I'm thinking of putting a factory clutch and fan on with shroud don't need max power it's drive car I've got a 77 with turbo LS1 and 79 trans am. Also getting parts for Oldsmobile's engines in Australia is a pain. Timing marker is just for 3 models and cant get it anymore and not only is unable to be found but replacement looks different but apparently mounts the same. Just to make it more fun you can't use the one of any other 403 engine the timing marks are different. And I was considering connecting the heater hoses from manifold to water pump together just In case it helps but technically it should make any difference. I live in a constantly hot city so a heater is not necessarily. It's cold Maybe for 4 days a year.ive done leak down test with no problems. I know this is long but I don't want to read through a heap of stuff I've already looked at, I'm looking for something Ive missed .oh by the way which rocket scientist thought it would be a good idea to run fuel line down the opposite side of the fuel.pump and under a hot engine. That's a great idea. I know Pontiac engines pump is on US drivers side but it chev is on the left.
