American Speed - Not Impressed! !

[CanAm Dave]

Took the engine and transaxle out of the CanAm yesterday. In the evening I decided to start to strip the engine. When it came to removing the heads I found that one of the head bolts was completely rounded off. Not impressed at all. I tried various sockets including different flat drive types to no effect. Could not use my various extractors because of the close proximity to the valve springs. So firstly I sacrificed an old 12mm socket by hammering it on but it split. Next I hammered on an impact socket. This did remove it, but needless to say this sort of engine building practice does not speak well for American Speed.

This engine had only done 3,000 miles but is a good advert for fuel injection. I have seen less deposits on engines that have done 100,000 miles. Most carburettored chevys are setup too rich. Its a good advert also to get them tuned once you have your cars on the road.

Happy Christmas to one and all

Dave

>> Edited by CanAm Dave on Friday 23 December 13:38

[pb3]

Dave, are you sure the head bolt hasn't been damaged later, by say someone doing a re-torque. That should have been done at something in the order of 300miles or so. As to running rich I could not agree more, that is my main motivation to doing an EFI conversion.

[Boosted Ls1]

Maybe an air gun was used?

Boosted.

[gtr-gaz]

My AS engine was running far too rich as well. For some reason they are set up like that?
I think it might have something to do with cooling issues. The richer they are, the less likely they are to overheat in traffic.

On a side note, I have traced an oil leak on mine to the main crankshaft oil seal. It was dripping from the adapter plate.

My engine should be out tommorrow! Will keep you informed as to what I find when I remove the sump.

Gary

[CanAm Dave]

The Edelbock heads on my engine should have been re-torqued after the first start-up and cool-down, as recomended by Edelbrock. As the engine was run on a dyno the blame is still with AS. They have not been touched since. The car has just had normal servicing. After buying the car I did a top-end check and found a damaged rocker. I spoke to Gail at AS who seemed a nice guy but there is no excuse for bad work practice, and I hope they don't use an airwrench as Mike sugested. Repution should be everything to an engine builder.

Good luck with your engine Gary.

Regards Dave