jakeshoe

Every setup is different but when footbraking it is usually best to bring rpm up enough so that the motor will launch with no hesitation or bog, but not bring it up anymore than necessary. When you launch, you go from a slightly elevated idle, to converter flash by matting the go pedal. This way the motor is accelerating rapidly, when it reaches the stall speed, then the converter initiates input shaft movement (which causes even higher stall, called flash stall) and the suspension and tires are "shock" loaded resulting in better traction. Again it all depends on the combo. Think of launching this way as similar to a neutral drop. A transbrake achieves the same thing but the motor is already at the rpm and on the floor, with the suspension and tires not loaded, when the brake is released, it will hit the tires and suspension.

Converter tech has improved drastically. A few years ago, a 3500 rpm converter was usually a 10 or 11" unit and it would flash to over 3500 but would "feel" loose at lower rpms. It felt loose because it was much less efficient. Modern converters typically use a smaller diameter. Nowadays most 3500 rpm converters would be built on a 9.5" core, some on a 10" and are much more efficient. A smaller converter can have a better fin angle/stato combo and that makes it more efficient. There are limits, as in some very powerful combos if the converter diameter becomes too small it will "drive-through" or overpower the converter and it will never achieve "stall". A well built 9.5" unit would be a great street converter in a lightweight Z car.

Mike, Thanks but I have it all mounted now. I THINK my book may be over at my dad's. I was showing him some of the other projects in there. I need to go over there and see sometime.

Thanks guys, I got it done yesterday. I took some measurements and got it where it latches. I need to adjust the latching mechanism on the hood about an 1/8" and it will be perfect. Next stop is the exhaust shop.

I have the JTR hood latch assembly and need to install it. MY JTR book has been MIA for awhile now so I don't have the dimensions to mount the JTR bracket. Can anyone tell me the instructions or scan me that specific page that has the pic with measurements? I plan to secure the hood this weekend and have the exhaust installed next week. Then it will be pretty much ready to drive. Thanks in advance.

Cable, Mine is in about the same stage right now with the 408 SBC. I installed a new B&M shifter but I made a "pan" that dropped the shifter down into the tunnel about 2.5" so that the shifter location was more ergonomic and would come out of the stock console looking near stock. I need to finish up my wiring, I have to sort out the electric fan and then just loom it all up and put it in convoluted tubing. Bad part is, I wanted to do a manual trans when I sold the 200-4R out of the Z. I looked around and no luck so I put the TH350 back in, had to buy the new shifter to do that. Then I came across a complete ST-10 setup. bellhousing, trans shifter, new Centerforce DF clutch, yoke, flywheel, dust cover, etc for a good deal so bought it. I've had the trans in and out of the Z 3 times (various trans) and not driven it 5 miles yet and am contemplating doing it again to put the manual in Looks good.

I plug the holes with a small expansion plug when I build a racing unit with a full manual valve body. I have also threaded the hole and used an 1/8th" pipe plug. You would have to drop the pan and remove the linkage to plug the hole as I do though.

It's not necessary.

Also, Make yourself some dowels from 3/8" bolts for install. Get some ~2.5" length bolts and cut off the heads, cut a slot so you can remove them with a flat-tip screwdriver, and thread them into the block, use these to align the trans with the engine. Get the trans flush with the engine block, but before you tighten up the bellhousing bolts, be sure the converter will spin freely.

Yeah, You must have tightened the trans up to the motor without having the converter completely engaged like dr. hunt said. It happens.. Get another converter or have yours repaired. There are two holes in the pump, where the pump bolts go through, that are threaded to 3/8-16 threads. You can use an adapter on a slide hammer and thread into those holes and pop the pump out, or there is a pump removal tool you can use that grabs the stator (splined portion that protrudes out of the pump around the input shaft) and uses the input shaft to pull on the pump, or you can do what I do when rebuilding one.. Remove all the pump bolts, remove the pan, and you can see the intermediate clutches through a large drainback passage. Use a flattip or small prybar and put it between the forwardmost steel plate and the intermediate apply piston that is on the rear of the pump, and pry the pump up. It will come out fairly easily. This may help you: http://www.nastyz28.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53671 You can get new pump gears for about $10 from http://www.bulkpart.com but you will need to measure the thickness of your current gears, they vary and you want pump gear clearance to be less than .002". You might also call http://www.bulkpart.com and just buy a completely assembled front pump. A local trans shop may be able to get you one. A reman'd pump for a TH350 is usually $35-50. Really not a bad deal considering, both halves are surfaced, new gears, new bushings, etc. I've gotten to a point if the pump is iffy on a trans, I just install a reman. My time is worth more than $35 to mess with one by the time I surface it, etc. a shop will need to know if it if for a lockup TH350C or a regular non-lockup. Good luck.

A fresh trans has a new pump bushing installed like this: Note this pump is set in the case backwards to align the other pump half before final assembly of pump and installation. You can see the new pump bushing behind the gears in the pump. When installing the bushing, the builder should always check to be sure it fits over a converter snout and doesn't have burrs. A new converter and trans with a new bushing can be a fairly snug fit. When installing the converter it will want to hang down, you need to support it so it doesn't harm the seal, and slide it in, turn, slide, etc. all the while trying to hold it centered so it will go all the way in and engage the pump gear tangs shown in the picture. Another thing to note, Sometime a DIY trans builder will install the gears backwards, the tangs are offset towards the rear, if they are installed backwards they becoem offset towards the engine, and then the converter will be completely engage but still not in the proper position.

Too much converter slows a car down. I ordered a custom converter and asked for a 3400-3600 flash for a Chevelle I have, mild BBC combo. The conveter I received flashed 4400 rpm, well above my request, it slowed the car down 4 mph and .5 in ET in the 1/8th mile compared to a much cheaper 2200 converter. So basically I did not receive what I requested and because of my relatively low shift rpm of 5800 rpm and very limited rpm range, 1400 rpm, it didn't work. The car needed the converter I requested based on the torque curve. Simply installing a looser converter doesn't make a car faster. A tight converter always "feels" faster to me from a roll, and sometimes from a standing start than a loose converter. However the looser converter will work better on more rpm happy combos in a drag racing situation IF it isn't too loose. An advertised "5500 rpm" converter may not flash stall nearly that in a lightweight deep geared Z car. You have to base converter selection on engine torque, rpm range, (both based on CID and cam selection and compression) and the vehicle gearing and weight. GOOD converter manufacturers have built enough converters that they have a database to reference using all the vehicle parameters and hit the stall right where it needs to be. Coan is a good manufacturer I usually recommend PTC to my transmission customers but there are many good ones. PTC, ATI, Coan, Continental, etc. My best suggestion would be to call a couple of the manufacturers and ask their suggestions, be sure you have all the vehicle statistics and a TRUE expectation of what you want. Converter selection is like alot of other things, it is combo specific but there are trade-offs depending on the REAL intent of the car, is it a drag only car, a mostly drag with some street, or a street with some drag racing. If I were selecting a converter for it, there wouldn't be a huge difference in any of the different intended uses because the engine, vehicle weight and gearing have more to do with it, but there would be some variation. I would happily give up .1-.2 in the 1/4 for a much more streetable converter on a more street oriented combo, but on a drag only car, I would give up the streetability for every .01.

Converter selection is based on peak torque. A quick check on EA shows that combo as having a peak tq at about 4000, with almost the same at 3500 rpm. If it has a 3 speed auto you wouldn't go over a 4000 and would usually use a 3500 rpm converter in this combo. Otherwise you are leaving 500 usable rpm since torque is virtually identical at 3500 as it is a 4000 rpm. On a race application or with a two speed you would go about 3800-4000 rpm. You would want to speak with a converter manufacturer and be sure they know the weight of the car, the lighter car will cause a converter to not flash as high. 242@.050 is a fairly short duration cam in a 400+ cube engine, and it shows because peak HP is at 5000 rpm, if you have a converter that flashes to 3500, and you shift at 5500, that only leaves you 2000 rpm of usable power.

The retrofit kits that use a linked lifter will work fine. The kits sold on Ebay are just instructions on how to grind your block and what wrecking yard parts to get to make it work. I have to agree with grumpy that it isn't a good idea. However the lifter bores are in the same location and diameter and the oil galleries on the blocks are in the same location, so that wouldn't be the issue, all the grinding on a perfectly good block to make the lifter retainers clear would be, as if you go too deep your into the water jacket, and even if you don't you may be close, making the block prone to crack. The retrofit lifters look like any aftermarket roller lifter, a pair of lifters is linked together by horizontal or vertical bar. This keeps the roller on the lifter running sqaure to the cam lobe, whereas the factory design uses the lifter retainers. The factory setup runs into problems with high lift because the lifter will drop out of the bottom of the retainer on high lift cams, and then not be controlled, begin hitting the retainer, etc. Not a good setup for a performance oriented motor.

Unless they look at the block, the bulges around the cylinders that are identifiable from the top, usually the 3 freeze plugs or bosses on the sides, many 400's also have a distinct pattern on the front of the block of casting circles.

Any luck on the dyno results?

Another thing to add, the greater precision nowadays has resulted in the lifters themselves being a controlled restriction, most good roller lifters now control the amount of oil to the upper end, but not overly so as the oil gallery restrictors have a tendecy to do (especially on a SBC engine).

I would think restricting flow to some areas is "controlling" the flow. John, This is a "it depends" scenario. Valve spring life is reduced when you cut down the oil to them, roller rocker life as well. Isky recommends no restrictors run with their roller lifters. If this is a hydraulic roller motor, absolutely do not run restrictors. Higher end motors that run restrictors typically use a spring oil in the valve covers to spray oil on the springs and keep them cool. The guys who have really messed with this use varying size restrictors so that each lifter bank gets the same amount of oil, etc. If this motor will see street use at all I wouldn't run restrictors. If it's an all out race deal with limited time idling, no extended operation, then the restrictors have a place.

OH, I'm was speaking of rod to cam clearance issues. I have heard of some people building 383's with NO grinding (on the block, etc.) but that has never been my experience. The biggest issue when building a SBC stroker becomes the rod to cam clearance issue. There are a couple of offending rods that tend to contact the cam lobes. (#2 and #6 IIRC) You can and usually will have to grind the block, but you cannot grind the cam lobe obviously and there is only so much material you want to take off a rod bolt to beam transition area. My 400 with Eagle capscrew 5.7 rods I just had to touch up the transition areas on the two offending rods. One would clear but BARELY, so I gave it a quick grind and smoothing to knock it back .040" or so. My cam was a slightly reduced base circle 1.050" as I remember.

Michael, Late model GM engines do not turn the fans on until 224*, these often have aluminum heads, etc. 235 is a bit warmer than I would like to see on a fresh combo, but you are probably OK. My main concern would be where is the temp sender located and is it in a cooler spot than the hottest part of the engine. i.e. No water pumping, the hottest portion of a SBC will be the center of the exhaust side of the cylinder head. If your coolant temp sending unit is located in the head, you were probably getting a fairly accurate max temp reading. If it was located in the intake, you were probably 15-20 degrees less than max, and if in any other location, it wouldn't give a good indicator of the temp.

One thing I will point out, While Grumpy makes a good point and in many cases a solid flat tappet has more power potential, however in a sub 6500 rpm combination, mostly a sub 6000 rpm combination, it isn't necessary. A solid flat tappet does not suffer from lifter "pump-up" which is the action that happens at RPM when the oil pressure is higher and the valvetrain less stable. The hydraulic lifter has a plunger that has a range of travel, when the valves are properly adjusted this plunger is depressed into the lifter approximately .060" depending on adjustment method. This plunges the lifter into the hydraulic cavity. The oil in the hydraulic cavity "adjusts" to compensate for wear. However when things get out of control this oil can "adjust" when it shouldn't. This is the case at high rpm with a hydraulic lifter, there may be a momentary "lash" at high rpm when the lifter goes over the nose of the cam and starts to descend down the back of the lobe. This will let the oil fill the lifter to take up the lash, but then when the cam gets to the base circle (area of no lift) the lifter has too much oil in it, and this oil can't escape quickly, because there is a one way check valve involved. This causes the valves to not completely seat, and loss of compression/power/valve control. This is not an issue on a SBC until at a minimum very high 5000 rpm range, with proper component selection, a flat tappet hydraulic can approach (and exceed in some special cases) 7000 rpm without any issues. I have routinely built SBC's that would rev to ~6500 rpm with a flat tappet hydraulic without lifter pump up or valve float, etc.. One of the keys is how you lash the valves, and if you want zero issues at the higher rpm levels there are special hydraulic lifters that can be used. The solid lifter doesn't have this issue because it is basically a positive mechanical "link" between the cam and the pushrod, it simply transfers motion from the lobe to the pushrod. It also spreads the load, dissipates heat, creates a spinning motion to control heat and wear, etc. However for simplicity it won't "pump-up". Another interesting sidenote is that the initial ramp of a hydraulic cam is usually faster than a solid, but just the initial opening, because of the lack of lash to be taken up, a hydraulic can and needs to near instantly begin rise. The quick initial opening causes the oil to try to reverse flow (because the pushrod is pushing on the plunger) and closes off the one-way check valve in the hyd lifter. A solid lifter has lash that must be taken up relatively slowly so the rocker arm doesn't beat up the valve tip. This is why the lash adjustment on a solid lifter cam is very important. One thing I would caution, You have alot of good advice here but you have to apply it to YOUR specific needs. My guess is that you are probably not REALLY willing to deal with the lash adjustments, one it is a learning process, two you may or may not have anyone to actually help you "hands-on" with this that knows what they are doing, three initially the cam may need more frequent adjustments during break-in, etc. and also it requires better components to hold a good adjustment, such as roller rockers with poly-locks. If you are willing to learn the process and do the adjustments, then the solid lifter cam is probably worth a minor improvement in power in a 6500 rpm combo, a very minor improvement in a 6000 rpm combo, and may not be worth any realizable power in a sub 6000 rpm combo. It sounds like your combo will be a mostly street deal that will rarely see over 6000 rpm, and that you probably want to be reliable as a rock with minimum fuss. Go with a hydraulic flat tappet OR roller. Either will work well for your combo. It just depends on budget. Don't let someone convince you that you need all the whiz bang parts, the 10-15 HP a solid flat tappet MIGHT contribute to an equivalently cammed hydraulic SBC may not be worth the trouble in your case but only you can decide that. I have seen many cases where someone built "TOO MUCH" motor. It sounds cool to have a 12-1 compression solid roller cam'd, aluminum headed, stroker motor but in reality this isn't what makes a good street motor for most people, and sometimes even a race motor would be better suited without the high strung manners and maintenance program an engine like this demands. You need to assess your goals and get reliable recommendations from several sources and ask for reasons when you see differences in the recommendations. If 3 engine builders tell you cam specs within 5-10 degrees of each other for your combo, and one other tells you some wazoo specs that differ significantly, ask the odd recommedation WHY.

http://www.flatlanderracing.com has pretty good pricing on stroker kits. I've also used http://www.dirttrackthunder.com and CNCMotorsports for parts. http://www.competitionproducts.com usually has good pricing.

This is a good deal as far as heads go: http://www.nastyz28.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62386 AFR usually has a lead time of several weeks to get a pair fo their SBC heads. Since they have their new line out, maybe you could get a better deal on these?

Grumpy, Check out "AllPro" cylinder heads sometime.