what do you guys think?
MONDELLO ALUM HEADS ROCKERS AND PUSHRODS TORO ALUM INTAKE SHIPPING & HANDLING ARP HEAD BOLT EDELBROCK .051" HEAD GASKET GASKET INTAKE H/D GREEN BIG BLOCK
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total $3556
More power for my 66 Toro
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toro_mike
- Posts: 180
- Joined: Thu May 14, 2009 6:31 pm
- TOA Membership Number: 4
- Years Owned: 1968 and 1969 W34
- Location: Denver, CO
- Contact:
Re: More power for my 66 Toro
Ah, xgecko will definitely have something to add here! Make sure you look at his threads here as he just did a major job on his '68 motor.
What cam are you going with? Doing anything with the pistons/rings, bearings or crank? What else are you planning?
What cam are you going with? Doing anything with the pistons/rings, bearings or crank? What else are you planning?
Mike
TOA #004, Webmaster
Forum Administrator
1968 Toronado
1969 W34 Toronado
TOA #004, Webmaster
Forum Administrator
1968 Toronado
1969 W34 Toronado
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xgecko
- Posts: 454
- Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2010 9:21 pm
- TOA Membership Number: 831
- Years Owned: My first Toronado was a 1968 W-34 with the bucket seats and center console... (weeps gently) It was a New England rustbucket in 1982 after less than 14 years. So sad. But it is what infected me and before I knew it I had another '68, a '69, a '70 and eventually inherited a friend's '67 and another friends '73. After buying my brand new Grand Prix in 1988 I retired the last of my Toronados and pulled the 455 I had rebuilt along the way and put it into storage in a friend's barn where it is to this day.
In Mid September of 2010 I happened to see a repeat of the show where Jay Leno did his 66 Toronado and had an instant remission of the disease which resulted in my purchase of a 1969 in very good condition. I am now in the process of fully rehabilitating it and hope to have it on the road in the spring of 2011. - Location: Gig Harbor, WA
Re: More power for my 66 Toro
Mike, you nailed it... I sure do have something to say!
The heads and manifold are wonderful. They look good and work great. The roller tip rockers fit under stock valve covers and reduce friction a bit and are adjustable to boot.
Camwise I have good advice... if you want the simplest possible build yet good strong power (monster torque is of course a given) go with the Mondello JM 18-20 cam. I used this part 25 years ago and the motor was ubelievably strong while providing sufficient vacuum for the power brakes. This time around I went one step up with the JM 20-22 which has longer duration, higher lift and most critically a 110 degree lobe angle vs. the 112 degree angle of the 18-20 stick. This turns out to be just enough to kill vacuum to the point where I ended up replacing the stock vacuum brake booster with a Hydroboost unit from an Eldorado. This necessitates some whacking of the exhaust pipe to provide clearance for the accumulator that is part of the new booster.
I also should note that I have yet to get the motor fully tuned. My carb is a Summit Racing Q-jet for a BB Chevy (you cannot use the stock carb on the aluminum intake as you must have an electric choke). This carb seems to have bigger jets than I need and probably needs some major tuning. This motor just is not quite right yet as throttle response is not great and it does not rev happily. Not to say that the car is not powerful, I just know what it should be like and therefore know I have significant tuning to do. Much of this will be solved when I upgrade to Fuel Injection and some form of digital ignition this winter so I am not going to bother fiddling with the carb.
So... what should you do? If you do not want to deal with the customizations then go with the 18-20 and know you will have a ridiculously powerful car. I had mine up to about 165 MPH when I was young and particularly stupid
and that car did 0-60 in 5.6 seconds. Never did a quarter mile with it so have no data on that. It was originally a 1968 W-34 with bucket seats and center console; the OM transmission was definitely firmer than what I have now and the 2500 RPM stall converter I installed helped make launches a bit tricky as the wheels tended to break loose but power was always available as a result.
My current engine may well exceed that performance level - and it should based on the cam specs - but it is possible the exhaust manifolds might be a real limiting factor. Lynn over at Mondello just told me that they make headers for the Toronado...
he swears they fit; I have to admit I am slightly skeptical and while I am very happy with them so far I am aware of their somewhat unsavory reputation so I may well see if a local specialist can figure out how they did it and make me a set.
As for the rest, speak up if you are going to do a bottom end rebuild. At the very least I strongly recommend rebuilding the existing bottom end with new rings and a thoroughly inspected block and crank with new cam bearings. I reused my rods and (gasp) my rod bolts along with my pistons as the motor had been recently redone before I got it. I do not intend to run this motor up to high RPMs so it should not be a problem; the motor I built 25 years ago certainly ran at high RPMs in the same condition so I should be fine. It is always best to replace the bolts, but it requires some machine work I did not want to do this time around so I went with the originals.
So far you have a solid kit, let us know what else you are doing and how it works out!
The heads and manifold are wonderful. They look good and work great. The roller tip rockers fit under stock valve covers and reduce friction a bit and are adjustable to boot.
Camwise I have good advice... if you want the simplest possible build yet good strong power (monster torque is of course a given) go with the Mondello JM 18-20 cam. I used this part 25 years ago and the motor was ubelievably strong while providing sufficient vacuum for the power brakes. This time around I went one step up with the JM 20-22 which has longer duration, higher lift and most critically a 110 degree lobe angle vs. the 112 degree angle of the 18-20 stick. This turns out to be just enough to kill vacuum to the point where I ended up replacing the stock vacuum brake booster with a Hydroboost unit from an Eldorado. This necessitates some whacking of the exhaust pipe to provide clearance for the accumulator that is part of the new booster.
I also should note that I have yet to get the motor fully tuned. My carb is a Summit Racing Q-jet for a BB Chevy (you cannot use the stock carb on the aluminum intake as you must have an electric choke). This carb seems to have bigger jets than I need and probably needs some major tuning. This motor just is not quite right yet as throttle response is not great and it does not rev happily. Not to say that the car is not powerful, I just know what it should be like and therefore know I have significant tuning to do. Much of this will be solved when I upgrade to Fuel Injection and some form of digital ignition this winter so I am not going to bother fiddling with the carb.
So... what should you do? If you do not want to deal with the customizations then go with the 18-20 and know you will have a ridiculously powerful car. I had mine up to about 165 MPH when I was young and particularly stupid
and that car did 0-60 in 5.6 seconds. Never did a quarter mile with it so have no data on that. It was originally a 1968 W-34 with bucket seats and center console; the OM transmission was definitely firmer than what I have now and the 2500 RPM stall converter I installed helped make launches a bit tricky as the wheels tended to break loose but power was always available as a result.My current engine may well exceed that performance level - and it should based on the cam specs - but it is possible the exhaust manifolds might be a real limiting factor. Lynn over at Mondello just told me that they make headers for the Toronado...
he swears they fit; I have to admit I am slightly skeptical and while I am very happy with them so far I am aware of their somewhat unsavory reputation so I may well see if a local specialist can figure out how they did it and make me a set.As for the rest, speak up if you are going to do a bottom end rebuild. At the very least I strongly recommend rebuilding the existing bottom end with new rings and a thoroughly inspected block and crank with new cam bearings. I reused my rods and (gasp) my rod bolts
along with my pistons as the motor had been recently redone before I got it. I do not intend to run this motor up to high RPMs so it should not be a problem; the motor I built 25 years ago certainly ran at high RPMs in the same condition so I should be fine. It is always best to replace the bolts, but it requires some machine work I did not want to do this time around so I went with the originals.So far you have a solid kit, let us know what else you are doing and how it works out!
I have my Fuel Injected Toronado. Life is good! 
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