SpeedRacer

Mark, you can get the Russell ones from Summit Racing as well http://www.summitracing.com/index.htm

Thanks Mike and Pete - that's just what I need to know. I didn't want to have to take this thing apart again. BTW Pete, thanks for the extra tips.

corZette - are you talking about dual leaf springs like a lot of cars have or are you talking about using a traverse carbon fiber spring out of the Corvette. Hmmmmmmmm, Corvette IRS under a Z ..........

I know there was a thread here on installing the R200 per the JTR manual but I can't find it. Yeah, I'm fixing the infamous Z rear axle clunk but my JTR manual is to old and doesn't cover any of those changes. I installed a new front (later version) rear axle front mount and I have also installed polyurethane bushings that I got from Motorsport Auto in the mustache bar. There are two large thick washers for the top and bottom of each mount. I thought I read here that I should leave the top one out to improve the driveshaft angle. Can anybody help? Thanks guys!

Sorry guys, it's a Dart aluminum block. The Donovan is a 434 CID complete motor and the guy want's $13,000!!!! http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=317622210&r=0&t=0

Just happened to see this over on eBay - a brand new Donovan 400 CID SBC aluminum block currently at $2,900 with no reserve and one day left to bid. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320318104&r=0&t=0

We have a guy in the kit car club that is building a Classic Roadsters 1963 Sebring MX3000 (Austin Healy look-alike). This car uses a Mustang chassis and powertrain so he just converted it to the new Mustang IRS using brand new pieces from the local Ford Dealers parts department. I think he said he paid about $1,800 but I will have to double check with him. I should see him next Saturday for breakfast so I will let you know.

Owen, I put the 18 circuit Painless (not true!) wiring harness in my car without any problems except for the wipers. It drove me nuts because you ground everything through the switch except the stupid parking reed switch that is under that little round cap on the wiper gearbox. The reed switch is not isolated from ground so you can not run a hot wire to it. But if you just ground it the wipers keep on running. Stock uses a relay to control this and, by the way I only have two speeds because I replaced the swith with a three position toggle version. Anyway, I ended up taking the rivets out of the reed switch and using some really small grommets (from my RC cars) to isolate the switch from ground. This way the wiper switch provided the ground to operate the motor until you turned it off which broke the ground circuit. However, the motor is still grounded through the reed switch until the cam lobe on the disk rotates around and opens the circuit. Of course you can adjust the park position by loosening the two screws that hold the switch on turning it until the wipers park in the correct position. Hope you can understand this and it helps. It took me hours to figure this out.

We have a bunch of guys in the kit car club that use these headers - and man, do they make a lot of different versions but all very, very high quality. http://www.centuryperformance.com/sanderson2.htm

Here I go with my "in general" again but you can use the sway (anti-roll) bars to fine tune the handling of the car. In general, if you put a larger bar on the front it tends to increase under steer (push in NASCAR terms). This means the car will want to go straight as you turn in for a corner. A larger bar in the rear will have the opposite effect and stiffen the rear adding to the over steer of the vehicle. As you travel through a corner the rear end will want to come around. Normally it will not have any effect on the normal ride qualities of the car. BTW Sterling Moss once provided a great description for under steer and over steer. Under steer is where you go around a corner to fast and go off the track and through the fence. Over steer is where you go around the same corner (still to fast) and proceed through the same hole in the fence.....backward! Have a good one.

Jim Simpson http://www.simpsondesign.net/ might still make up a couple of sets if you ask him. The workmanship is great and he provides four "pads", two for the hood and two more for the fenders so you don't have to set them down on the paint when you open the hood. Finding headlight cover trim rings is tough too but Jim installed a chrome wheel opening trim on mine that looks great. BTW, I picked up the leather belts for the hood from Moss Motors http://www.mossmotors.com/ Please post some pics as you are building it so we all can see your progress.

Great thread guys and I think most pros and cons where covered except maybe one. On a normal straight axle car the rear wheels are maintained at a 90 degree angle to the road. So, for a drag car, you get the most traction. For an IRS unit the tire travels through an arc which changes the camber (more positive). Since this helps against side forces on the tire and counter acts body roll it is a good thing and improves handling. As Mikelly noted, an IRS car squats on take-off but when it does it adds camber and the tires are no longer flat on the road which reduces traction. It is interesting to note that the NASCAR boys actually bend the rear axle tube to provide positive camber. This is really rough on the rear axles and bearings which is why you see them fail once in awhile.

Sorry if I caused any confusion Dennis. Both kits have had the fit problem fixed but in different ways. McBurnie designed a whole new nose and made a new mold. You can tell a McBurnie by the hood being back farther, small fiberglass cowl panel and a more oval shaped grill opening. John Washington at VR Engineering made the nose and hood all one piece that tilts. It looks like the original Eagle/Alpha 1 front end with the more squared off grill opening but does not have hood. There is a seam just above the side louvers where the front end joins so the entire front nose can tilt much like a newer Corvette. Therefore, the Thunderanch kit is more like the original GTO. To be honest, I do not know where McBurnie got his molds from. After Ferrari put him out of business for a while the molds went to Jim Simpson (another great guy) who owned Blue Ray GT Engineering. Jim called the kit a "Rhino" and when he moved to Washington (http://www.simpsondesign.net/) he sold the molds to Bill Cummings at Stable Autoworks. Simpson also added a pair of fiberglass rocker panels that where not included in the original kit. I also bought my replica Ferrari hood hold downs and Nardi steering wheel from Jim Simpson. Build'em guys, these cars are a blast to drive and you would not believe the attention they get. If you need any help or pointers please let me know.

I found this over at KitCar http://www.kitcar.com/ Bill Cummings the owner of Stable Autoworks in Dallas, died unexpectedly in November after a brief illness. He was 41. Stable Autoworks was the most recent home of the Datsun Z-car-based kits patterned after the 1962-'64 Ferrari 250 GTO. These cars were first built by Eagle Manufacturing, then by Alpha Design, McBurnie Coachcraft, Blue Ray GT Engineering, and finally by Stable Autoworks. Stable will continue to operate under the direction of Bill's wife, Robin Cummings. Robin will continue to offer parts and kits to support current and future customers. However, Robin is also entertaining offers for the business. "For more information or technical support, call Robin at 972-712-0625, or John Washington at VR Engineering, 480-967-3289. It sounds like the sale is going to happen. Although McBurnie changed (fixed actually) the nose all the GTO kits are based on the original design and molds built by Eagle Manufacturing. I don't think anybody changed the door skins or rear clip. The original front end had huge fit problems. The fit between the front of the hood and the nose was almost impossible the get right. McBurnie solved the problem by designing a complete new nose that moved the hood back which now mounted on the radiator support instead of bolts through the fiberglass. The additional glass between the hood and radiator openings stabilized warping in this area and led to a much better fit. John Washington at VR solved the by taking the old nose/hood mold and making it a one piece tilt unit. BTW John also has the registry of all the GTO kits built. Either way I still say you should do it.

Welcome Ken - I think you will find there a great bunch of guys here who are all willing to help you. BTW if you want to keep up with the Jones's (Ron Jones that is) you will have to do the 1/4 in 8.56@160!!!! Pretty amazing huh. You can check out his car in the Members Rides area. Good luck on your project.

Hey SpencZ - Can't believe what you have done to that car - ya got guts man! Anyway, just thought I would pass on a crazy idea. Speedway (402) 474-4411 is having a sale on Cadillac Northstar V8's. DOHC 32 valve 4.6 litre, 300HP and 400 lb/ft of torque for $2,500 brand new in a crate.

Hi ya Ryan and welcome. The JTR manual will help you make your front motor mount brackets or you can buy them - they work really well. I don't think the JTR book covers the Muncie but I think the trans mount might work as well. Just be careful of the driveshaft angle. Most of us use the Hooker "Block Hugger" headers but be careful with the Edelbrock aftermarket angle plug heads. Sorry, I'm not an expert on ignition but I think a good electronic unit will suffice. Maybe someone else here can help you with that. The book is also pretty helpful with cooling unless you want to spend the bucks for a custom aluminum radiator. The boys a Griffin Radiator http://griffinrad.com/ would love to make you one. I would keep it light so I would also suggest you consider an aluminum water pump and small gear driven starter if you haven't already. If your struts are in really good shape than I would just replace the rubber bushings with polyurethane ones. It will ride just a bit harsher but it will also handle and turn in better. Don't forget to do the sterring rack and anti-sway bar ones as well. Motorsport Auto http://www.zcarparts.com/ and a few other places sell kits. What you are building isn't to far off what mine was like before I changed out the Holley. It makes for a really nice street car and I think you are going to like it. Good luck!

Thanks Myron, I wasn't sure what you had but it looked interesting. Hedman makes some "Tight Tubes" that are supposed to be even closer than the block hugger type. They do it by bringing all the tubes together in a line instead of the usual cluster of 2 in front and 2 in back. The ceramic coated ones aren't cheap so I don't want to waste the money if they are not going to work. You can find them on page 175 of the April 30, 2000 Summit Racing catalog. Has anybody tried these headers? If so, how do they work? Any clearence problems? Thanks

I was checking out the photos of your car and noticed your headers don't look like regular "block huggers." It also looks like you have angle plugs but there is a lot of clearence. What kind of headers are they and do you like them? My spark plug boots clear my Hooker block huggers but I would like a little more room. Also, the ports do not match up very well to the header flanges. Thanks for your help. BTW, thanks also for the humor!

Hey SpencZ - John Washington owns VR Engineering and is a great guy so give him a call. Many of the parts for my car came from him. Sorry, I haven't had mine much over a hundred yet so I don't know how it will handle. It was rock solid at that speed though but at 150 mph you are going to be pushing a lot more air. If you had to, I think you could hide a black airdam way under the nose to keep the air out from under the car and it would be OK. BTW my car was the March "Car of the Month" over at ZDriver http://www.zdriver.com/ and I did a writeup on the Ferrari GTO if you are interested. You should do it!

Here is on for blocks http://www.mortec.com/castnum.htm and just in case you need it, here is a better one for heads http://www.auto-ware.com/techref/castnum.htm

Yeah Owen, it is real close on the bottom - about 1/8" - but I don't think it has every hit. No marks in the paint and I have never felt it hit. I think you could trim the bottom a bit witout any problem if you wanted to.

Yeah it's only 240 HP @ 7,000 RPM so it's not much of a hot rod. And you are right - at 30,000 miles the major tune-up is something like $2,200 to $2,800 unless you can do it yourself. I just thought it would look neat in my GTO but I guess I'll stick with my 327.

http://www.4wd.org/moreinfo.phtml?key=104470 Wish I had seen this before - but he does want $3,500 (OBO) for it.

Here's a rebuilt 327 short block on eBay that currently is at $405 http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=284409114 Wow - that's alot of money for the JTR book! It will help you a bunch with a Chevy but only give you ideas for the Ford.