Mike C

Moroso makes a "claimer" pan for roundy pounders. It's only 5 quarts, but has a scraper, baffles and windage tray for less than $150. I have a Moroso 20190 on my Camaro, 7 quarts plus filter, but I only run 5 plus filter for street/strip. One it minimizes windage, and two it gets two oil changes from a case. If I ever autocross, I top it off.

I'd by the GM ZZ4 crate motor. 355hp with a GM warranty. All new parts. 4 bolt main, steel crank hypereutectic pistons, powdered metal rods, aluminum heads, aluminum intake, HEI, hydraulic roller cam. $3500 or so.

The "short" pump doesn't extend as far from the block. It uses different pulleys and brackets from the "long" pump. Within the short pumps are several varieties. You have the 5/8" pilot of most and the 3/4" pilot of some Corvettes. The newer reverse rotation short pumps have a different height as well and require shimming or grinding to work with older brackets/pulleys as well as changing the impeller to standard rotation. Within the long pumps you have just standard and reverse rotation. I usually just run auto parts store pumps with no problems. There are some will known better pumps, Stewart and Flow Cooler, but they are pricey. I have a friend who has run the Edelbrock pumps, but both failed. You can't go wrong with genuine GM parts, but you can go broke!

Even within the same size tire there can be discrepancies between manufacturers. You can get reall close by taking the tire section 225, multiplying by aspect ratio 60%, double it for both sides of the rim, divide by 25.4 mm/in and add the rim width, 15". 225*.6 +135, 135x2=270, 270/25.4=10.63, 10.63+15~=25.63 You can do this for any tire and get pretty close. The 55 series is ~25.1" tall. Tread width gets wider as the aspect ratio goes down as well even though section width is the same.

Probably as much power could be made with a modified N42 head as with either of the high compression producing 240 heads. I'd continue in your original vein with the swap of the stock fuelie motor into your car with intake and exhaust upgrades.

They never used the 4.3 in the Camaro, just the 3.8 Buick v6. You'd have to score a 4.3 from a truck. The best bet is probably a complete driveline from a 97 Camaro/Firebird with the 3.8 and 5 speed. The newer cars have drive by wire and would be harder to swap than the cable throttle motor.

No. They aren't actually a balancer but a hub. No elastomer. Stay with a damper for maximum longevity. If you want to reduce inertial mass, do it at the other end.

The head is warped. I had a friend who made a business out of fixing blown head gaskets and warped escort heads. New gasket and surfacing (if you are lucky and it's not cracked...) and you'll be back on the road.

The problem with small blocks is the valve cover gasket rail is raw casting. One advantage to aftermarket or aluminum heads is they have machined gasket rails. Having rigid cast aluminum valve covers helps a lot. Go with the rubber gasket and use sealer on the cover side. Having valve cover studs makes this job MUCH easier as well.

Summit has those heads as well and they have free shipping. I wouldn't waste my money on a set of '86 heads castings unless they were the L98 aluminum heads, and even then you'd be better off with aftermarket heads. Small chamber heads (69-70 with bolt holes) are the "good" GM heads, but not easily found anymore and figure on spending at least $600 R&Ring them, NOT counting port work. Dollar per dollar the aftermarket heads are money well spent.

Typically the rear. You want maximum braking in the front and adjust the bias to the rear so that they don't lock up. The weight shifts to the front during hard braking so not as much force is needed at ther rear.

What Terry said on the curved crossmember. When I remove diff flanges on rear axles, I use my 30" Snap On breaker bar and a pipe wrench. Obviously put the socket on the bar and clamp the pipe wrench to the flange. Get a buddy to brace the housing/flange while you turn the breaker bar.

www.motorbooks.com has several Holley books. Here are some links: http://www.motorbooks.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/mbi.woa/60/wo/fl3PCwostyK93zKfeLK1CV7r5CH/5.10.1.3.ProdListShort.1.16.3 http://www.motorbooks.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/mbi.woa/60/wo/fl3PCwostyK93zKfeLK1CV7r5CH/5.10.1.3.ProdListShort.1.17.3 http://www.motorbooks.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/mbi.woa/60/wo/fl3PCwostyK93zKfeLK1CV7r5CH/5.10.1.3.ProdListShort.1.18.3 http://www.motorbooks.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/mbi.woa/60/wo/fl3PCwostyK93zKfeLK1CV7r5CH/5.10.1.3.ProdListShort.1.19.3

The swap is just the mustache bar on a 72-73 240, but it requires the rear curved crossmember and a driveshaft on a 70-71 car.

I started replying into the como switch post, but figured this needed a new topic. Scottie, How did you solve your wiring woes? I have had trouble with my lights and the fuses are getting hot. (Not insulating melting, but hot.) The taillight circuit was the worst. If I remember my basic physics, the heat is at the source of resistance, so I pulled the connector wires from the box and soldered the fuse clips to the wires and rivets. This made a HUGE difference, but not 100% Has anybody else tried this? Any flux you recommend for cleaning brass, including between the rivet and plates? I was mostly happy with the results of the first one and will repeat on my headlight circuit. Just wondering if anybody else has found a solution other than rewiring the car.

I agree with Grumpy 100% on the 215cc heads and about larger intake ports/vavles not hurting torque. Somebody did a test on this, and the 215 were 2nd place winner in the below 4000 rpm torque average. The winner was a 165cc runner. They came to the conclusion (Duh!) that the CAMSHAFT determined the power band. Imagine that. However, comparing big block to small block just doesn't work since the length of the intake port drastically changes the volume. It's the cross-sectional area that is more important rather than total volume when talking about flow velocities, and unless the lengths are the same, comparing volume has no real meaning. Most 350 in 69 will be the 290-300 horse 4 barrel motor depending on vehicle. This is an excellent motor that will have stock small chamber heads, possibly double humps. (I have a set from a '70 Kingswood wagon that was 300/350.) The nice thing about the Vortec motor is the hydraulic roller cam. Either choice will be great, and either way, you'll spend more than you want!

You will lose the compression to some degree. The later heads will probably give about 9:1 with the early pistons. I would rebuild the heads on the '69 with new valves, exhaust seats, and guides. David Vizard, "How to build and modify small block chevy cylinder heads" Says the closed chamber heads are worth 20 more hp than the open chamber heads, all else being equal. Or just by a set of aftermarket heads with the 64cc chambers as they have learned a lot about combustion chambers in the last 30 years.

The extremely durable Eaton case posi for GM sells for $349... I may look into this. Redier racing used to sell an LSD for $425, but they lost that supplier. Anyone else know anything about these? Is the 240sx diff the same as the 280zx with 12mm ring gear bolts? Somebody make ring gear bolt sleeves for using 10mm ring gear bolt gear sets?

Copy places like Ginny's or Kinkos can make paint stencils, I think. That's what I'd try. Just shoot some paint over the stencil, bang, done!

T5 were installed in just about everything from Mustangs, to Jeep Cherokees, Camaros, and as well all know, 280zx turbos. Starting around '88 they upgraded to the "World Class" T5 which is 330lb ft torque rating vs. the 300 of the earlier trans. The WC T5 uses ATF instead of gear oil, has paper cone silencers and different speed gear bearings. All of the GM v8 trans have the 2.95 first gear.

I think EFI is an awesome deal, but I'd modify an intake for a single large throttle body. Then you don't have two throttle positions sensors and the associated wiring headaches. It's possible to cut the end off the intake and weld on a machined plate for any style/size throttle body you'd care to use. The Mustang uses a single blade throttle body I believe, and they are all over the place in several different sizes. My guess is a stock one somebody pulled from their 5.0 would be perfect and cheap. Might as well modify for Mustang/Camaro style injectors and fuel rails as well while you are at it.

I pulled all the air pump stuff off my current car and my last. (My first was a '73 with round body carbs and the emissions stuff was already gone) I was having trouble with backfires on decelleration which was a result of the air pump. It is a bear to get all the fittings out of the manifold, but possible. I plugged them with brass plugs.

The problem with the 'vette IRS is that the half shaft is a locator for the suspension, and if you break a half shaft the car gets squirrly since nothing keeps the whole thing from wagging. (I broke a half shaft clip in the diff in my '84 and it did all sorts of weird dances. Quite spooky) That's why NHRA won't let IRS go faster than 11.00 becasue Corvettes were the only IRS vehicle that was drag raced for a long time. Hopefully you can figure out a way to beef up the stock setup.

Just put about a foot long hose on the vac advance can and suck! Use your mouth to put a vacuum on it and if it works, you should see the pickup plate rotate.

If you are going the FI route, I'd go LT1. They make more power than TPI (in purely stock form) and they have more potential for big power because of their shorter intake runner design. Also, you don't have to modify the Z hood latch since they remove the distributor from the rear and replace it with one driven from the front of the camshaft.