Inliners International Forums General Discussion Hi Performance Building a 302 GMC for LSR

Just thought some might be interested in the build I have started on. It is a military 302 GMC that was overhauled in 1963 at Ft. Riley Kansas. I am going to bore it .060", have purchased aluminum rods from Howards Rods. Have intake and exhaust flanges water-jet cut, I am going to turbocharge with efi. It will go into my 1953 Studebaker and race on the salt flats. I am in no hurry to finish the GMC as I am still racing the Stude with a BBC engine for now..Will keep you informed. Cya

GH,What a great Homepage. The straight 8 cars are awsome. I look forward to future information and updates. Very much enjoyed your Bio section; And those records. Wow.

Welcome to this Forum, Gary!

That Buick is an inspiring piece, and some of us are eager to see what you will do with the GMC.

God's Peace to you.

d
Inliner #1450

I bought a steel cam from Doug Robinson, he sent it to Chet Herbert Cams, Donnie Johansen will grind it for a turbocharger. Am in the process of ordering pistons from Venolia, timing set has been ordered. Am going to grind clearance in lower end of cylinders for aluminum rod clearance. Also bought a copper head gasket from Doug Robinson. Cya

GH When Doug runs out of copper head gaskets or you need a different thickness. Order them at www.Husseycopper.com ..They even have a part# for them..Good luck. JD

gh
i am in the planing stage of doing a 302 my self. how long are the rods you got ? are you going to grind the crank for smaller rod bearings or use stock size bearings ?
i have had time to looks around but my self i was thinking of using chevy big block rods that way i could off set grind the crank to get a zero deck.
any ideas would be helpful !

Dew,
The stock rod is 7.0 inches long so to get a decent piston compression height, and a light weight piston, you need a rod about 7.75-8.0 inches long. I'm sure you could get a set of BBC rods made that long but they would cost $$$$.
Plus the BBC rod isn't wide enought. I did like GH did and ordered a set from Bob Johansen. In fact I had him offset bush the small end of the rod and will end up with a 7.850 inch rod.

302 info:
I flowed the stock 302 head (983 casting)with stock valves and got the following flow numbers:
Intake 175 cfm @ .500 lift(gag,puke,spit)
Exhaust 115 cfm @ .400 lift.

Both the intake and the exhaust leveled out at those lifts and wouldn't flow any better even though I flowed them to .750 lift.

Now I have to figure out how to get more flow or
buy a bigger rubber band for the dragster.

Hi Gary

Ron are you related to a Denny Golden out of St. Louis? He raced on the salt flats a few years ago, I don't know him but have talked on the phone with him.

Gary, Denny Golden must be from another clan. All of my family is in the Kansas City area and Grand Junction, Colorado.

By the way how is your 302 Jimmy coming along?
Jerry Gilpin says "Hello".

Ron

Ron, my machinist was closed last week, will get the block and crank back today. Pistons was ordered last week. Now I can grind clearance for aluminum rods in the lower end of the cylinders. Timing gears are here now. Rick Pope, a freind of mine will cut the O ring grooves and install the stainless steel O rings in the block. After all that, I will be on hold until I receive the pistons. Tell Jerry and Ruth I said hi. There is an indoor car show in Joplin, Missouri sometime in February, I think I will take the Stude with the twin turbod big block chevrolet to it, maybe.. Cya

Nothing new to report, had to take time to remodel bathroom, it has been on my honey-do list for quite some time....Cya

Gary,

I still haven't got my rods from Bob Johansen yet. I called yesterday and he said they should be shipped next week. The block is bored and I'll be starting on the head this week. Lots of things to do. I'm going to build an aluminum roller rocker/shaft assembly. I want a 1.8:1 rocker in the engine. I hear you got a lot of ice from the storm going thru this weekend.

Ron

Lots and lots for ice, no power since Friday 8:30 PM, trees down all over the 5 acres, knocked down power from transformer to house, running insert fan with 12 Volt battery out of race car using an inverter. Things are looking up, insurance adjuster was here yesterday as was the electician and the power company came late yesterday to cut limbs off power lines on their side of transformer. All work on cars have come to a screeching halt... Cya stay warm.

Power has been restored, received pistons from Venolia yesterday. Will start grinding lower end of cylinders for rod clearance today. Will Egge sell a partial gasket set???

Gary, I only buy what I need. Pan set, side plate, valve cover, & timing set. Chev 6 will do for that one. All are from Fel Pro. I have bought single 302 head gaskets from Napa also before I went to oopper. Rock Auto is good on the net but their shipping is a little high for me. I make all the rest.

You've never said what you are going for a rear main seal. I still like rope; others like the 360 Dodge.(with a little work) Fergusons have made some big block Ford work. With a dry sump or a vacuum pump the rope sill works for me. If you are going for rope tell the crank grinder to leave the serations? on the crank in tact....Good Luck..J.D.

JD, I've had good luck using the old style rope seal and the crank has been turned down for the rods and the mains are std. and the cross hatch is still in the rear seal area. I started grinding for rod clearance, getting close, but not quite there yet. Is there any danger of grinding too far on the side opposite the cam shaft??

The one block I had for aluminum rods was ground only in the area where it was needed. As I remember it was not that much. The grinding and smoothing went up into the cylinder about an 1" and arround on to the botton about 3/4" I don't remember how deep but 3/8" would be close. The rods were never touched. When I went to use the block for another engine I found it to be cracked up in one of the cylinders probably happened when the crank broke between # 4 and 5. I bought the engine with the car. The only component I have ever used was the injectors. Some day I'll see if the Racer Brown cam and the head works.

Here it is the last day of February, still sawing downed trees, hauling and burning brush from last months ice storm. Bathroom remodle complete. Just finished grinding lower end of cylinders for aluminum rod clearance. Block goes back to the machine shop today for finish bore and hone to fit new Venolia pistons. Will get O ring grooves cut in the block and Stainless steel O rings installed next week. Will take all rotating pieces to be balanced next week also. Finally making some progress.

Gary
What class are you going to run in? If you run in XXO turbos and EFI are not legal. If you run those you will have to go heads up against others with the same C.I.

$UM FUN, I will be running in the XO/BGALT & XO/BGCC in the modified catagory not the ventage class with a 53 Stude or the classic class with efi. I am pretty sure I am correct. Cya

Gary, I believe if you run XO or XXO they will class you as a vintage engine and the turbo and the EFI aren’t legal in that class. It’s a shame but that’s the rules as they are today. I would double check with the powers to see if this is the case. Maybe JD will chime in on this one.

A 53 Stude and a XO motor, WOW! What more can you say!

Turbos are not allowed in vintage bodys with vintage engines. They are allowed with all other classes. Bottom of page 15 in the last rule book. Gary is OK. I would add a diaper to catch the pieces.:^)

There have been countless inlines in Studies over the years. I'm glad to see another one. J.D.

Here's the latest update on the 302 GMC. Just got the block back with the 0 ring grooves cut. Sent it to the other machine shop to be honed and cleaned one more time. Still waiting on the cam from Donnie Johansen.

Got the block back yesterday, honed, cam bearings and freeze plugs installed. I painted it and now I will start assembly. Still waiting on Donnie Johansen for the cam.

I started on the assembly Saturday. Didn't get very far, ARP sent the wrong size nuts for the main studs, 7/16" instead of 9/16". Talked with them yesterday, they will send correct size today.

Can't wait to see this one. Gary is the only person on here I've ever met. He had the Buick at the Tulsa stop of the 2000 Power Tour. Back then it had a homemade tunnel ram. Thousands of cars there, and it was the only one me and my brother stopped to look at. I think my brother Ross has hung out with you at Kansas City Goodguys show with his primered/flamed/blown 55 Chevy. I thought he was just this cool guy with a unique car, and here I was talking to the famous Gary Hart!

The crankshaft is in and the rods and pistons are in also. Still waiting on the camshaft. Ready to put in the stainless steel "O" rings in the block. I have sent the head to the machine shop to have larger valves installed.

Any chance it will be ready for Bonneville this year?

That was not the plan. I will run what's in the Stude this year, hoping to get into the 2 club with the twin turbo charged BBC. Then I will install the GMC.

Gary, made a nice "new engine" check out pass at El Mirage this weekend running the rear gear I'm planning on using to use at Speed Week. Saw no reason to have the normal El Mirage gear for one pass.

A pleasant surprise showed up when my son and 2 grandsons came down to pick me up and said we are going to impounds. I broke the 1997 record by 1/2 mph. Deliberatly had it rich not to hurt it; plugs said that too. The boys said they thought I was going to take it easy, I told them I did. Friends who were watching at about the one mile said I shifted it smooth and easy and it never missed a beat. Saving overdrive for Bonneville.

My last ride for a while. The son is taking over and his oldest (15) will be in the seat in about a year and a half. Nice to go out on top.

See you in Wendover....JD

JD, that's great news, how much rpm do you run the GMC. Did you lean it out a tad for your backup run? See you in a little over 3 weeks.

One run is all that's needed at El Mirage. Since it was a little fat, it started getting lazy near 5400 so I shifted there. Came back to about the same for high gear. JD

Donnie Johansen is bringing the camshaft for the GMC to the salt flats. The machine shop is reworking the head with bigger valves.

Just heard from Donnie Johansen last Friday, "the GMC reground cam is in the mail". After I get the problems solved with the Merlin Big Block Chevy I can get back to work on the GMC.

My experience with DJ is, he grinds a good cam, but it takes him a while.

God's Peace to you.

d
Inliner #1450

Got the camshaft from Donnie Johansen last week, it's looks great. It clears the aluminum rods by about 1/8". I installed the timing gears, timing cover, ATI Super Damper, and the oil pan. Now I can get to work on the head.

I just traded my Garret GTP38 turbo (7.3 L Ford Diesel) for a Holset HSSuper 40, supposed to be better for performance.

A drag racing friend of mine came out yesterday to install the stainless steel O rings in the block. Got the head back from the machine shop last week, now I can put on the head using the copper gasket and ARP head studs, then I can measure and order push rods. Been a long project but I have other projects for other people to do and besides I am in no hurry to finish the GMC.