Bartonek Drag Racing

Well…in my previous post where I swapped intakes, I had a small leak around the water ports.   Tried it twice.   After looking at it and heading to my local machine shop, Kendrick Automotive, the determination was made that the intake was milled.  It was noticeable after comparing it to another Victor Jr..  It could have been used anyway by utilizing thicker intake gaskets.   While I was there at Kendrick Auto, they have a new and used parts section where Tommy directed me to a ProComp intake, pictured below.  It is essentially a clone of a Super Victor intake from Edelbrock.   After reading reviews, its actually a pretty damn good intake.   Well, I picked it up, painted it and installed it.  The same installation procedure went into this one as the previous intake swap post, so you can follow the steps there.  I did have to reset timing by hand..might put up a few pics on how to do that.

 

Originally this 406ci SBC came with a 650 Holley and a Edelbrock Performer dual plane intake.  Pretty restrictive if you ask me.  I ended up installing a Holley 830 and it was time for the intake to be replaced.  Here’s a few pics of that process.

 

Initially, the dual plane intake just looks ugly because its dirty.  Performance wise, a 406 will make a little more HP with a single plane intake.  I cleaned up and painted the Victor Jr a high-temp silver.

 

 

After removing the distributor, alternator bracket, carb and various things that were in the way…time to remove the old intake gasket and seals.  To keep trash out of the valley I just used some shop rags and vacuumed out whatever slipped past the shop rag.

 

After installing the intake gaskets which are being held in place with a small dab of blue sealant, its time to seal the front and rear where the intake will rest.  Dont want any oil leaks.   Oh..and the 2 cork gaskets you get with your gasket set, throw them away.  On all 4 corners where the head meets the block, make sure you get sealant there also.  I’ve seen a simple job like this turn messy because of a pinhole leak in those areas.

 

These two..just go ahead and throw them away.

 

Carefully line up the intake and place it on the engine.  This pic shows my distributor installed.  Didnt take a pic of the intake being installed.   Torque specs are 25# and pattern in the next image and in addition to this I used a little bit of thread sealer on the ARP bolts to make sure we dont have anything leaking past the bolts.

Originally I had picked up an alternator bracket because low mount brackets didnt work with either my water pump or my rack and pinion setup.   It wasnt the best looking thing, but it worked.

 

 

Ended up finding this alternator bracket on Amazon for $55.  I was kinda hesitant since it didnt have any reviews until I put mine up.   Well it worked like a charm.  On two of the allen head bolts, my allen head socket didnt quite fit.  Looked like a machining issue, but after digging around in my toolbox I found one that “would work”.  Worst case, buy the same bolts from your local hardware store and still save $$ over buying a March alternator bracket.  Here’s a few pics of the parts and the after…

 

Took my ’67 to a local shop, Lethal Performance,  and had them do some fab work.  They installed my Hooker Aerochamber (3.5″ in/out!) mufflers and had them exit on both sides infront of each tire.  Came out awesome and sounds even better!!

 

 

 

Still have more to do, but here’s the link to it on YouTube.  I was having issues with it backfiring through the carb, so I double checked TDC and found out that I was off a little with my distributor.  Once I set that, made sure my float level was acceptable and idle screw adjusted, it fired right up.

Everything in.  Last thing to do is wire it, replace the trans pan and some small things here and there.  Should be ready to fire up this week!  🙂

 

My son and I installed the 406 in my Chevy II.   Still have lots more to do, but its getting there!