Projects '62 Corvette gets '63 Latham Supercharger

Thanks a lot Jim
I truly don't know where this car will be power wise once the Latham is installed...heck I don't even know what the internals of the engine are? Sounds like I could learn a lot from you, I've always wanted to run a 1/4 mile but never have, never had or went after that scene. I'm gonna ease into this car and see what it's like.

I see what you mean about the shims. I have always loved the raised look and perhaps this car will evolve to that one day? Thanks for your insight thus far. Right now this car cruises with two fingers at 70 mph and I am a road tripping fool, so I'd never want to loose that! Well, the 3.70 Eaton may have done that already. Maybe I could hide a Tremec inside?
I'll get the rear buttoned up this week and begin on the Latham next.
Thanks again.

 

BTW, I grew up in Onsted, MI...so it's good to know ya on that level as well. When this car's mechanically sorted, I'll drive it MI and surprise my Dad. Maybe we can grab a burger?

 

My two cents. In the late 60s, I drove my cousin's 61 vette at the track. It had a 425hp/427 in it. Bill Thomas made the kit(still have the headers). Every time we put the 8 inch slicks on it, it broke the spider gears the next time ya launched it on the street with the wide ovals.

 

Sounds good on the burger. Always like to see old Vettes and especially one with a Latham. The Eaton posi is a good thing for sure (I broke the spiders shifting into 3rd with my open 3.70 that I had in before going with the Eaton). If you are not going to drag race it seriously the Mosers are inexpensive and a little insurance when you want to get on it a bit.

As to Bill Thomas, I have a 427BBC in my avatar car and the mounts are stainless copies of Bill Thomas mounts. I have a turbo 400 with a Ford 9 (although at times I wish I had a four speed in it). The thing I like about a 4 speed is it gives me more to do with shifting in the quarter mile. I built it kind of as a tribute to an old drag car I was associated with in the 60s that had a 427 with a turbo 400. Still a bunch of fun and gives me good memories which is essential in so many respects.

If you want to ever run it (and do some good spectating), the Meltdown drags in July in Byron Illinois is about as much fun as one can experience IMO.

 

Hello Jim
I'm wondering if you or someone you know could help with my radiator supply tank question? I won't be to this phase for a bit but I'm being progressive.
Due to clearance issues on the Latham, the original instructions say I have to plug the port in the top of the water pump, which is where the bottom supply line from the supply tank attaches. Latham doesn't tell a guy what to do with that line?
Corvette manual says, “In the later model aluminum cross-flow radiator the coolant follows two paths from the radiator to the water pump: (1)main flow is through the radiator outlet hose directly to the pump and (2) is from the top of the radiator, the latter acting as an air separator as well as a supply tank."
SO, I'm wondering if you would have an opinion on where I could tie this line into the system? I've asked Richard Paul at Axial and he's not sure.
Would seem strange to put a "T" inline of the radiator outlet hose for the supply tank to feed into, could defeat the "air separator" aspect currently in place?
Perhaps I need to go with an earlier model radiator with the expansion tank on top of the radiator?
Any thoughts from anyone would be appreciated.

 

Mystery solved...I redescribed the question to Richard Paul and I simply need to run it back to the heater hose coming out of the intake manifold. That's easy.

 

Good as it had me scratching my head for a bit-I had done it in the past but CRS had made how I did it difficult.

 

Final setup of the Eaton, probably should have taken more photos.
The pencil photo indicates where I had to grind a small portion of the case away due to the Posi unit just barely rubbing in a couple spots.
And the one photo shows how the Eaton clears cleanly after the inside ear was cut off.

 

Test run last night was different. The tach doesn't know what to think with 3.70 gears, redline gets visited often it seemed. Some undercarriage cleanup today and I reckon it's Latham time!

 

Well the heads #3795896 concur with the block that it's a 250 hp car. I had hoped to open it up and find it had been upgraded at some point, bummer.
Seems a bit silly to put a Latham supercharger on this setup? I still want this to be a driver but starting at 300 hp seems better to me.
Was hoping to avoid this quandary!
Anyone have something fitting for the car?

 

I am not sure I would be that disgusted with what you discovered. If you would be happy with the 300hp then you should have no problem with the 250 hp. I believe the differences between the two were the heads, intake and carburetor. I believe the camshafts were the same and the CR was the same on the two (either 10.00 or 10.5 not sure without looking it up). If you are putting on supercharger then you probably should consider a cam change and I would change the heads to a more modern setup. I would consider cleaning up your 250 unless the wear is to the point where it needs a rebuild, which should not be that difficult. With new heads, cam, some Hooker comps for instance (electric cutouts for when you want to make some noise) then you should be good to go. There is something to be said with the original 327 that it came with, versus an over the counter crate motor IMO. You are trying to make a statement that you are using a 1963 supercharger so you are in essence going in a way back machine anyways-kind of. Of course now that you have a dilemma you have the good fortune of figuring out what the solution is going to be, make a plan and execute.

 

1963 is the goal for sure, maybe it's perfect anyways. The Latham was truly designed for a 9.5 to 1 ratio anyways. Richard Paul feels a 40% increase is pretty realistic.
What would you think Jim about simply putting in a 300 hp hydraulic lifter cam and leaving everything else? New heads and Hooker comps w/cutouts won't work due to age. I have a fun/challenging thought of building some headers as if '63 in the shop and putting a cutout lever next to the shifter. I've never done it but I imagine I could...anyone have some vintage headers out there?
I wonder what 300 hp heads(3782461) would do to the compression ratio?

 

The camshaft should be the same as the camshaft in your engine now, if you still have the stock cam. The heads though with the 250 should have the power pack heads and the 300 should have the 1.94 camel hump heads I believe. I have a 327 sitting on a stand and I believe it has the power pack heads ( I believe they have the rectangle with the triangle on top). The camel humps were on the 300hp I believe so you would be better finding those if you want to stay period correct-the CR I believe would stay the same. The camshafts were the same in the 250 and 300 so you have that cam already. They do not make a ton of power so maybe you can still do a cam change that would be period correct. There were cam wars back then so you may be able to find the specs on an old grind and have at it. Your cam in your car will be all done before you give the Latham a chance IMO (although I am admittedly not an expert in that arena).

I may have an old set of headers in my attic but they are pretty small and restrictive-close to 1-1/2" I believe. The Hooker comps are 1 5/8" and super comps are 1 3/4". If you want to stay period correct maybe you could have Tubular Automotive make you a set of headers. I am pretty sure they were building headers for race cars back then and are still building headers today-works of art and not too expensive. The headers in my avatar car were made by them. Same basic headers they made for the big block conversion guys were doing back in let's say 1965/66. They made some headers for some racecars even before then so 63 may be correct for them. Even a nice set of 1 5/8" headers would be nice and correct for them most likely.

As to trying to stay period correct, remember there were guys that were doing some amazing stuff with these engines back in 62. Think of Nicholson and then of course Bones Balogh worked magic with cams (worked with Isky) and ended up taking his small block out his 58 Vette in the early 60s and putting it in Mazmanian's car. Maybe some research on his car would give you some direction of staying period correct yet pushing the envelope a bit.

 

One of the coolest threads of late! A real HAMB worthy build!
Good Luck!

 

Thanks for the insight Jim. It currently has Super Comps and maybe I'm making this harder than it needs to be. I want it to "look" period correct to a "high" percentile but there's also no deadline. Maybe some great headers could be built or found one day and I'll just run these for now.

And I'm heavily leaning towards the Nostalgia series cam by Comp Cams, very similar to the Duntov or even the 30-30 grinds and better torque but with hydraulic lifters. I had one in a '70 El Camino and loved it.

Yes to the heads, so if anyone has some good clean affordable # 3782461 camel/double hump heads...do let me know.

This is turning into the classic story though...I truly did not want to pull the engine etc etc. But here we go! The block is so tacky looking, paint flake, leaking everywhere etc. PLUS Richard Paul is highly suggesting I have the pulleys machined to accept a Micro-V belt vs running it the way it evolved over the years to a reversed flat sided belt. He guarantees I'll get belt slippage and won't be satisfied. Which also means an engine pull.
Well that means an actual restore to the engine compartment...yes, I'd actually paint it!

 

I believe in the end you will be happy you pulled the engine and went through it (as well as the necessary machine work).

As to the headers I believe the Super Comps will be more than OK with the air you will be moving with the Latham. If for whatever reason you want other headers let me know and I may be interested in them. I have a slow moving project that may need a set of Super Comps.

As to the cam if that is your choice then so be it. I have the 30/30 cam in my black car and I for one really like the cam. I have heard of the hydraulic versions but have never tried them. Comp Cams make a pretty good cam though so probably your good to go with it.

As to the heads, if I hear of any I will let you know. For years I collected camel hump heads but always found guys wanting a set. I sold two sets of 2.02 heads and one set of the 1.94s and have the 1.94s in my black car. The only set I have left are some extremely rusted ones that are pretty much junk except I have used them to bolt some headers up to when I painted them (after heating the headers up a tad). A few years ago I took my 1.94 heads to the machine shop to get screw in studs and have them cleaned up in general. The machine shop called me and told me a guy was willing to buy me a new set of heads if I traded him. I thought about it but ended up keeping them (I guess I was a sentimental old fool that wanted to keep period heads-so I get your sentiment as well). The only flip side is that I wonder at the 1000 foot mark of the dragstrip whether a better set of breathing heads would help a bit when I seem to run out of steam. A good set of 1.94s are apparently in demand so good luck with your search. I am sure there are some deals out there.

 

younglove,

Where are you located? 461 heads show up at Brad54's swap meet here in Commerce, GA fairly regularly.

Looking forward to seeing your progress!

 

Thanks, I’m in CO

 

Cool project- I'm not much into stock early Corvettes, but a hot rodded one, YES!

 

Just thinking out load, if you plan for a blower, wouldn't forged pistons be a must have upgrade?
Even if not, you still need to take the engine down and open up the ring end gap.

 

Yes sir, forged is on the list based on a long term outlook.
Always glad to hear “out loud” thinking!
Thanks

 

Jim...when you have a few moments see if you can find those old 1 1/2" headers, according to my calcs they are more than enough for my purpose. Maybe we just trade?

 

Running out the door to take my black car down to the festivities on Woodward-it should be a zoo. Will dig them out of the attic in the morning. I have had them for decades and never really studied them. Will send you some pics tomorrow if you like. PRivate Message me with the second ribbon above right side and I will email them to you.

 

Ok, that's it, no more dismantling! Actually there's no more, it's all out!
This car was driven but not loved...look at that sloppy mess.
Fabrication, cleaning, painting and reassembly coming soon.

 

That dismantling looks familiar. Not sure if you have done it before but if not, look up Tom Parson's rebuild of the front suspension. If you do not have it maybe I can find it and send it to you. If you have any questions along the way let me know and maybe I can help. The only real tough part is replacing the upper shaft for the upper control arm in the cradle. If it is loose you will know-if it is solid then I would not replace it. Sometimes guys welded them in when they got loose. If the shaft looks solid and the bushing nuts are pretty solid on the ends then you are probably OK. I have found that some of the reproduction stuff is not as good as the original stuff but hopefully your parts are OK as well.

This week is one of those weeks that has me scratching my head how I will get it all done but will get working on boxing up the headers, if not this week then the next but I believe you might not need them this week anyways.

 

Thanks, I'll check the upper shaft closer tomorrow, after it's clean but I believe they're still very tight, no movement. The super front end rebuild kit will arrive this week from Paragon, so perhaps I'll just hold on to the upper shafts for future use.

 

Cold oven cleaner is a good cleaner for greasy parts. Jim, would a 350 hp hydraulic work with the Latham? They are a much better cam with a carb but don't know about this.

 

Doug, I am a fan of that cam but choosing a cam for the Latham may be out of my pay grade.

 

Nice question noboD, left word with Cam Motion today for a recommendation.
I don't want to over analyze this one but would like to try for a could fit the first time. Heck the Jim ran the Latham for 60,000 miles on three different SBC's and all were fine.
And speaking of that, I'm not going to over think the drive belt either, again, a flat sided belt was run for 40-50,000 miles and performed great. It needs to slip!? We'll see.

This Transformer is taking shape, Jim's cool vintage headers will be on there way soon.
I discovered some super clean, ready for paint, 461 heads from Joe in PA, maybe some of you know of him. He said he ran The Ghost GTO back in the day in New Jersey. So they're going to help a bunch!

And I'm going for it, the front suspension lift is on this weeks agenda!
Holy Smokes, I'm going to have so many little things to tweek, troubleshoot and figure out when this thing starts to roll again!!!!!!!

 

Very cool car