Ask any car enthusiast what the best part of a project car build is and most likely you will get a few different answers. Some say the parts showing up at the door, other maybe the car out on the track – for me…. it’s the engine firing up for the first time in the car. That’s the same feeling we got when we pushed the button of Grandma’s nasty 555ci engine for the first time.

Our project Grandma has come along way, and not too long ago it was time to turn our 555 Edlebrock/Musi motor over and bask in the sound that our neighbors would soon not forget. Before we were ready to fire, but we needed to finish up the wiring and get our EFI system installed.

It took a little bit of reading, but before long we became masters of the Edelbrock Pro Flo-XT and the FAST Dual Wide Band. The Edelbrock system becomes simple to use once you understand the basics of it. We adjusted the timing lockout and set the car down off the lift for the exciting moment.

With most of the components squared away with our car, there was little left to do other than fill the car with fluids. We started with the engine.

We used 7 quarts of Royal Purple SAE 40. Because our engine had already been run on the dyno when it was built at Pat Musi’s shop, there was no need to pour in a low quality oil to do a break in – it was already done. RP claims their oil has great oxidation stability that allows for extended oil drains and fewer oil changes. They recommend that we swap out the oil and filter about every 8 passes.

The Royal treatment continued under the rear end as well. We used just about 3 gallons worth of RP’s finest. This will keep our 9 inch from Currie well lubricated and even help in reducing the amount of heat that can build up in a rear end.

This engine was designed to run on pump gas, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t mix in a little race gas. We filled the fuel cell with a 50/50 mix of California 91 octane pump gas and C16 106 octane VP Racing Fuel. Because we planed on running Grandma without the nitrous for the first time, we wanted that little something extra.

With the FAST wide band ready to pump information to the Pro Flo-XT, we turned on all the necessary switches. Then it was the moment of truth, the start up. No one knew what to expect, the engine hadn’t run in over a year and the wiring in the car had only been completed just moments before.

To our delight the monster came right to life! After playing with some adjustments in the timing, we were rewarded with that super sweet sound. Just sit back and enjoy the sound preview above.

One last cool thing.

We fired up the engine before we had the exhaust coated. As we were checking for leaks and any other problems, we came across this interesting feature on the Lemons Headers that we didn’t know about. So for anyone who plans not to coat a set of headers from Lemons, you will not be disappointed.

Check back soon and we will be bringing results from the track on Project Grandma as well as what is in store for our little old lady.