grumpyvette

not only will you need about 70% more METHANOL, keep in mind that ALCOHOL is HYGROSCOPIC ( CONSTANTLY absorbs water from the air)and METHANOL is HIGHLY CORROSIVE, cylinder wall and fuel system corrosion will tend to be constant problems on an engine thats not run and brought up to heat regularly, flushing the cylinders with fresh oil changes and running racing gas for the last few minutes before putting the engine away for any extended storage time is almost mandatory, check with those sprint car guys youll see what Im talking about, they don,t run the same oil for 3000 miles and just turn the engine off and let it sit with a half full fuel tank, and fuel lines for a week between races. also keep in mind that ALCOHOL requires diferant fuel line sizes, pumps,filters,rubber/synthetic lines/fittings and running into paint supply stores to buy METHANOL when you run out of "GAS" someplace which you will be doing about 40%-70% more often for fill-ups gets to be a MAJOR P.I.T.A. REALLY QUICKLY! just some things to think about

Im useing TOTAL SEAL GAPLESS RINGS in my vettes 383 and have used them many times in the past, personally I doubt that they are really worth the extra price which can be 3 times as much but yes they do give you about an extra 7-10 hp (not what TOTAL SEAL CLAIMS) but still better than most conventional rings. its your choice, like I said yes they work, but the hp gain per dollar return at least from what Ive seen is minimal

in most cases the factory marks on the timing gear set will allow you to install and run the cam with little or no problem BUT KEEP IN MIND everyone makes mistakes INCLUDEING THE GUYS MAKING CAMS AND TIMING GEAR SETS and if your like me , for several years I installed cams at the factory marked setup points and only occasionally had engines not run quite as well as I thought they should. we let me say this , since I started checking things carefully with a dial indicator I find just how sloppy the manufacturers tollerances are and that engines are fairly tollerant of running cams that are ground a few degrees off what the spec card SAYS the SPECS are. if your one of the millions of guys that can,t really tell if your running 375hp or 395hp but just want to burn a little tire smoke , don,t worry about it too much but if your one of the guys that wants EVERY LAST HP AVAILABLE than take the time to do it correctly, but be prepared for a shock at just how loose some manufacturers are at matching the cam to the posted specs. degreeing in your own cam after buying the tools listed below is a great idea because (1) youll learn a great deal about your engine doing it! (2)even with the cost of the tool kit depreciated over only a single engine build-up, it will still cost less than most shops charge to do it for you CORRECTLY and over several engine builds its a total no-brainer that your way ahead cost wise (3) you can get the purchase price of the tools back over very little time charging a minimal fee to check/install cams CORRECTLY (4) youll prevent lots of major problems by checking and finding manufacturing errors and assembly screw-ups and a single manufacturing mistake not caught in time before starting your engine can easily cost you a whole engine (5) the dial indicator and base can be used to check other engine clearances (6) the kit comes with a video tape instructions, all the tools, degree wheel, dial indicator ETC. tool kit

heres some good info you need to read http://www.totalseal.com/howdoo.html http://www.aera.org/members/enginetech/edge1296/page3.htm http://www.muller.net/mullermachine/docs/ring_lap.html http://www.hastingsmfg.com/service_tips.htm http://www.sswesco.com/ss/sssugges.htm http://www.pontiac.tm/goat/rings.htm http://www.babcox.com/editorial/us/us20114.htm http://www.lunaticams.com/PistonRings/Ring03.html http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/TechServ/TechInfo/IECPTech6.html http://www.propowerparts.com/products/rings.htm http://www.kb-silvolite.com/speclear.htm#CHART http://www.hastingsinc.com/Service%20Tips/ring_gaps.htm http://www.precisionmeasure.com/block16.htm http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=85487&prmenbr=361 http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=3301&prmenbr=361 or if your careful a DREMEL tool can be used very effectively useing the edge of a cut-off disk just some info Ive broken a few rings over the years useing this type compressor this type works much better but this type is the easyist to use fom my expeariance just some extra info, I normally use piston skirt coatings that retain the oil film better and heavily coat parts with MOLY SPRAY during assembly and polish the combustion chamber and piston crown surfaces and smooth and round off the valve edges and pistons valve clearance knotchs. I personally have seen no big gains from piston dome and combustion chamber coatings the few times Ive tried them, and don,t personally think they are worth the extra expense on engines most of us build for street strip use. http://www.msmoly.com/ http://www.sandstromproducts.com/Tigs/e720.pdf http://www.etoolcart.com/product.asp?3=401

BTW I HIGHLY ADVISE degreeing in your own cam after buying the tools listed below if you intend to build more than just the one engine in your (Z), degreeing in the cam is a great idea because (1) youll learn a great deal about your engine doing it! (2)even with the cost of the tool kit depreciated over only a single engine build-up, it will still cost less than most shops charge to do it for you CORRECTLY and over several engine builds its a total no-brainer that your way ahead cost wise (3) you can get the purchase price of the tools back over very little time charging a minimal fee to check/install cams CORRECTLY (4) youll prevent lots of major problems by checking and finding manufacturing errors and assembly screw-ups and a single manufacturing mistake not caught in time before starting your engine can easily cost you a whole engine (5) the dial indicator and base can be used to check other engine clearances (6) the kit comes with a video tape instructions, all the tools, degree wheel, dial indicator ETC. http://www.chevytalk.org/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB64&Number=298366&Forum=UBB64&Words=degree%20wheel&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Old=6months&Main=2981 66&Search=true#Post298366 tool kit

this is some of the best basic cam info youll find so read this first, http://www.newcovenant.com/speedcrafter/tech/camshaft/1.htm (lessons 1-8) http://www.mercurycapri.com/technical/engine/cam/lca.html http://ctfba.tripod.com/main/technical/cams/cambasics/cambasics.htm http://ctfba.tripod.com/main/technical/cams/cambasics/GraphAttack.htm http://moparjimsgarage.virtualave.net/camvalve.html http://www.federal-mogul.com/speedpro/camshafts_speed_pro.html some good general info here look closely at the duration used for each MATCHING rpm range. ALSO KEEP IN MIND THE DCR AND OVERLAP MUST MATCH look here these are the valve timeing overlap ranges that are most likely to work correctly trucks/good mileage towing 10-35 degs overlap daily driven low rpm performance 30-55degs overlap hot street performance 50-75 degs overlap oval track racing 70-95degs overlap dragster/comp eliminator engines 90-115 degs overlap but all engines will need the correct matching dcr for those overlap figures to correctly scavage the cylinders in the rpm ranges that apply to each engines use range. http://cochise.uia.net/pkelley2/Overlap.html http://cochise.uia.net/pkelley2/DynamicCR.html read this http://www.motortecmag.com/archives/2001/jun/JUN01-01/JUN010101.html http://victorylibrary.com/mopar/cam-tech-c.htm and pay special attention to this chart

that 294xe cam looks to be a little to large for a car with any street time, its sure going to be hard on the valve train! and a 434 is normally built with a 4" stroke crank and 5.7" rods and Id stay under 6000rpm as a max with that stroke, now you can make a super torque monster but Id have a long talk with comp. cams BEFORE buying a 294xe, personally Id be looking at something like a xr280r as a reasonable max for a street cam. now theres no doubt that the bigger cam gives you a few more peak hp but the more reasonable 280 roller cam gives you a killer torque curve my computer guesses at 560hp/570 tq with the smaller cam and 580hp/560tq with the larger cam but it says youll most likely have close to 470ftlbs at 2000rpms with the smaller cam and only 415ft lbs at 2000rpm with the big cam!!!! now even if the computers is way off the numbers that differance is huge! in the lower rpms where youll spend most of the time, especially street driven!!!!

no! you must keep the quench in the .035->.042 thousands range for clearance, pistons/rod stretch at high rpms enough that anything less that about .028 thousands tends to cause big problems

8.2 :1 is what Id be trying for with a set of aluminum heads, now the differance in hp is about 4% for every step up in compression example at 9:1 if the engine makes 400hp at 10:1 its likely with no other changes to make about 416hp now Ill grant you thats not what looks like a huge increase but that 16hp is over the whole rpm range not just the peak. and since your buying pistons you might as well get the best cpr pistons you can because theres very little cost differance. keep in mind milling the heads slightly to lower the combustion chamber voluum and useing a thinner head gasket are also options.in your case just changeing to a slightly thinner head gasket and a minimal head mill of about .015 thousands will get you there. but talk to AFR like I said before the differance is minor and might not really be worth worring about if a few hp and a few ft lbs of tq are not worth the costs involved. what Im trying to get accross is that its the little things that add up!its the minor changes made durring the planing and assembly phase that make the differances! heres a few examples your dynamic compression ratio is what matters and thats to a large part determined by the relationship between the static compression ratio and your cam timeing at 9:1 static cpr if the engine makes 400hp at 10:1 static cpr its likely with no other changes to make about 416hp now Ill grant you thats not what looks like a huge increase but that 16hp is over almost the whole rpm range not just the peak. and since your buying pistons you might as well get the best cpr pistons you can because theres very little cost differance. keep in mind milling the heads slightly to lower the combustion chamber voluum and useing a thinner head gasket are also options. just changeing to a slightly thinner head gasket and a minimal head mill of about .015 thousands will sometimes get you there. getting the quench into the .035-.042 area of clearance, useing oil retaining piston skirt coatings,ETC. but talk to your head and cam manufacturers like I said before the differance are minor and might not really be worth worring about if a few hp and a few ft lbs of tq are not worth the costs involved to you but the differances add up! what Im trying to get accross is that the differance between a very good engine combo and a great engine combo is the slight differances made, its the 50hp you get from useing great flowing heads verus the stock heads its the 40hp you get with a stroker crank assembly versus the stock displacement its the 30 extra hp you get by correctly picking a perfect cam verus useing the hot cam your buddy suggested without checking if it truely matches YOUR COMBO its the 3-7 hp get from ballancing the engine assembly, the 5-7hp youll at least at high rpm get by running longer connecting rods,its the 3hp from perfectly fitting pistons versus too much clearance and the 7 hp from a cam thats advanced or retarded to get the most out of it, and the 15hp you get by getting your cpr exactly where you want it and the 4hp you get with synthetic versus mineral oil, and the 3hp you get by gapping your rings correctly, its the 5hp you get by port matching and the 20hp you get by smoothing and blending the bowl and chamber areas, its the 12 hp you get by useing long tube headers versus short tubes and the 15 hp you get by useing a merge collector with a full length free flow exhaust versus a standard collector and stock exhaust its the 3hp that you get from running the correct fuel pressure. the 5hp you get with a windage tray the 8hp you get from a good free flow air filter ETC. as examples, that combined make the differance, not some special super part you installed, ITS THE SMALL DIFFERANCES THAT ADD UP!

theres little if any differance between the AFR 190cc and AFR 195cc heads, other than the intake port gasket surface port size, Id get the 195cc size and have them mill about 10-15 thousands off to lower the combustion chamber size slightly, you have almost everything correct,but even with the 68cc head your dynamic compression will be slightly low with that cam, at about 7.6:1 so use the thinnest head gasket that gets you about a .038-.041 quench and very carefully check pistion to valve clearances and rod to cam clearances and if you order the heads with a 62-62 cc combustion chamber the engine will make more power but limit you to high test gas at all times, IF you have access to 93 octane gas,if you don,t have 93 octane ALL THE TIME, leave the heads at 68cc if you don,t have a steady supply of good gas! BTW that cam is very similar to the one Im running in my 383 http://dab7.cranecams.com/SpecCard/DisplayCatalogCard.asp?PN=119661&B1=Display+Card which I picked for its greater lift and smoother idle mostly due to the wider 112 LSA that makes it a better NITROUS cam even though your cars light I think youll be slightly better off useing a EDELBROCK AIRGAP RPM INTAKE for massive mid-range torque and a vacuum secondary 750-780cfb carb, DP carbs work well when used at the track where your foots on the floor most of the time but if you intend to drive on the street get the airgap/RPM and vacuum secondary carb, youll be much happier!!!

yes your static compression ratio is about 9.7-to 9.8 but thats not what the engine sees, remember the pistons compress NOTHING UNTILL THE VALVE CLOSE! here some good reading http://members.uia.net/pkelley2/DynamicCR.html

since I broke my ankle last year I have not been taking on any new jobs unless I can watch and instruct personally whats going on with the person who owns the car doing 90%-99% of the work as I can,t stay on my feet more than a minute at a time, hopefully the damn ankle will heal shortly so I can get back to doing what I enjoy, building engines!(I also have not been chargeing anything for the work as that would not be fair) BTW on the high voluum pump versus the standard pump, what Im saying is basically this if you push the oil at a low enough pressure and voluum accross the bearing surfaces the limited , stock oil voluum ,compared to the higher , voluum pumped by the aftermarket pumps, passing over the surface will ,pick up a higher heat transfer per oil voluum in contact with the bearing surfaces due to its longer contact time. that poses three minor potential problems that might be major potential problem depending on the temp. range and oil quality (mineral versus synthetic) (1)as the oil voluum passing over the bearing surface heats up it can absorb a lower percentage of the bearings heat (2)as oil heats up it breaks down and by the time mineral base oils hit 260 degrees they have lost significant luberacation (3)oil picks up and carries micro trash (carbon,acids, metalic dust,etc.) that can embed in the bearing surfaces, a slightly higher pressure and voluum flowing accross the bearing surfaces TENDs to keep them cleaner because the FILTERED oil PUSHED OVER THE BEARING SURFACES tends to be run through the FILTER more often so if your pushing 20% more oil at 10% greater pressure accross the bearings the oil will tend heat slower,have a greater time in the cooling off cycle and stabilize at a lower total heat absorbsion level. what most of the guys that tell you a stock pump is all youll ever need FORGET to TELL you is that the high voluum pumps pump oil to the bearings faster at startup, helping to prevent wear, pump ONLY what the engines CLEARANCES ALLOW, have a more constant pressure level, and they also don,t seem to understand that the hydrolic lifters in most engines have internal valves that limit the oil flow voluum, in almost every case where someome says the valve covers fill up at high RPMs, your talking to someone whos just repeating something they heard, or someone whos FAILED tO CORRECTLY PREP THE BLOCK AND/OR USE A WINDAGE SCREEN not someone thats actually tested the engine to see if what they are talking about is true read this part of that big post above now what does quite frequently happen is that the guys installing a high volume oil pump just swap out the standard pump, reinstall the stock or simular pick-up and bolt on the pan with the pick-up in the stock possition on the oil pump. the stock pick-up is mounted about 3/8" off the pan bottom,the high volume pump is normally equiped with impeller gears about .3 inches longer than stock, the high volume pump body is that much lower in the pan, resultting in the pick-up being only about 1/8" from the pan bottom. the result is that on a normal chevy oil pump pick-up this leave a space of about 1/8" x 2.5" for oil to flow into the pump. at low rpms this works but as the rpms climb the pick-up that can,t get any oil to pump cavitates as it spins and fails to pump oil, result oil pressure drops untill rpms are lowered no matter how much oil is over the pick-up............ valve covers never get and hold more than about 1/3 to 2/3 of a quart each even at 8000 rpm (high speed photography by SMOKEY YUNICK doing stock car engine research with clear plastic valve covers prove that BTW WHILE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT OIL SYSTEMS, just some info, see these remote adapters, a fairly comon reason people install high voluum pumps is to use these remote adapters well a fairly comon way to kill an engine is to INCORRECTLY install one of these remote filter adapter kits, look at the top picture and keep in mind that those two connecting hoses COULD be flipped as to what end(in/out ) on the remote filters gets hooked to the bypass adapter (IN/OUT) ports, hook it up correctly and everything works just fine! but swap the two hoses on only one end and YOUR OIL PUMP tries to push OIL PAST the ANTI-DRAINBACK VALVES on the oil filters,(and most of the time is marginally successfull in that a trickle of oil does get to the bearings and rocker arms at idle) now at idle youll still get good oil pressure (about 15 lbs) but rev the engine and the highly restricted oil flow pressure goes up very slowly but the oil VOLUUM getting into the block is so low youll spin a bearing in about the first 20 minutes ( [color:"red"] and 99% of the time the guy that does this blames the guy who built his engine for putting it togeather WRONG when in fact the engine could have been PERFECT but with no oil reaching the bearings under load the engine is history within at best about an hours running time! [/color]

BTW as a general rule youll want to run the thinnest weight oil that will maintain about 20 lbs of oil pressure in a hot (200f)engine at idle, remember oil flow over the bearings COOLS by ABSORBING HEAT and carrying it into the oil pan, oil cooler or letting the cooler block surfaces absorb the heat for the cooling system to remove, to cool the bearings and lifter contact points ETC. the greater the voluum of oil flowing over the bearings the more heat can be carried away and the more constant the surface temp. can be. and be fore someone jumps in with that old myth that oil flowing over the surfaces to fast will fail to pick up the heat from the bearings... let me point out this chart http://www.diabolicalperformance.com/clearances.html heres other info, http://www.babcox.com/editorial/ar/ar10180.htm http://www.thirskauto.net/BearingPics.html http://www.waynesgarage.com/docs/oil.htm http://www.jimcookperformance.com/TechNotes/TN%2023.html http://www.cryoeng.com/images/EngineDurabilitySecrets.htm http://www.melling.com/engoil.html http://members.aol.com/carleyware/library/engine2t.htm

IVE POSTED MOST OF THIS BEFORE BUT IT FITS HERE AS A SOURCE OF INFO FOR THE NEWER GUYS if you have the chance go an get a better baffled higher capacity oil pan that is engineered to control the oil supply better, NOTICE not once did I say spend tons of money, please pay attention while I prove my case! short answer is NO YOU MOST LIKELY DON,T NEED a HIGH VOLUUM OIL SYSTEM BUT ITS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA! look at it this way, theres no way a high voluum oil pump can pump more oil through the engines oil passages than the voluum the clearances allow at the max pressure that is supplied by the pump, read the info below http://www.melling.com/highvol.html http://www.melling.com/engoil.html ok lets look at a few things, pressure is the result of a resistance to flow , no matter how much oil is put out by the oil pump there is almost no pressure unless there is a resistance to that oil flow and the main resistance is from oil trying to flow through the bearing surface clearances and once the pumps output pressure exceeds the engines ability to accept the oilflow at the max pressure the oil return system/bypass spring allows the oil circles back through the pump ,now the amount of oil flow necessary to reach the furthest parts in the engine from the oil pump does not go up in direct relation to rpm, but it instead increases with rpm at a steadly increaseing rate that increases faster than the engine rpm due to centrifugal force draining the oil from the rods as they swing faster and faster since energy increases with the square of the velocity the rate of oil use goes up quite a bit faster due to the greatly increased (G-FORCES) pulling oil from the rod bearings over 5000rpm going to 8000rpm than the rate of oil flow increases from 2000 rpm to 5000rpm (the same 3000rpm spread) and remember the often stated (10 lbs per 1000rpm)needs to be measured at the furthest rod and main bearing from the pump not at the pump itself, next lets look at the oil flow itself, you have about 5-6 quarts in an average small block now the valve covers never get and hold more than about 1/3 to 2/3 of a quart each even at 8000 rpm (high speed photography by SMOKEY YUNICK doing stock car engine research with clear plastic valve covers prove that from what Ive read) theres about 1 quart in the lifter gallery at max and theres about 1 quart in the filter and in the oil passages in the block, that leaves at least 2 quarts in the pan at all times and for those that want to tell me about oil wrapped around the crankshaft at high rpms try squirting oil on a spinning surface doing even 2000rpm (yes thats right its thrown off as fast as it hits by centrifugal force, yes its possiable for the crankshaft WITHOUT A WINDAGE SCREEN to keep acting like a propeler and pulling oil around with it in the crank case but thats what the wrap around style milodon type windage screen is designed to stop)the only way to run out of oil is to start with less than 4 quarts or to plug the oil return passages in the lifter gallery with sludge or gasket material! now add a good windage tray and a crank scrapper and almost all the oil is returned to the sump as it enters the area of the spinning crankshaft! forming a more or less endless supply to the oil pump, BTW almost all pro teams now use DRY SUMP SYSTEMS WITH POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT GERATOR PUMPS that are 3,4,or 5 stage pumps each section of which has more voluum than a standard voluum oil pump because its been found total oil control is necessary at high rpms to keep bearings cool and lubed NOW I POSTED THIS BEFORE BUT IT NEEDs REPEATING ok look at it this way,what your trying to do here is keep an pressureized oil film on the surface of all the bearings to lube and cool them and have enough oil spraying from the rod and main bearing clearances to lube the cam and cylinder walls/rings. now a standard pump does a good job up to 5000rpm and 400 hp but above 6000rpm and 400hp the bearings are under more stress and need more oilflow to cool and because the pressure on the bearings is greater you need higher pressures to maintain that oilfilm.lets look at the flow verus pressure curve. since oil is a liquid its non-compressable and flow will increase with rpm up to the point where the bypass circuit starts to re-route the excess flow at the point were the pressure exceeds the bypass spring pressure. but the voluum will be equal to the pumps sweep voluum times the rpm of the pump, since the high voluum pump has a sweep voluum 1.3-1.5 times the standard pump voluum it will push 1.3-1.5 times the voluum of oil up to the bypass cicuit cut in point,that means that since the engine bearings leakage rate increases faster as the rpms increase because the clearances don,t change but the bleed off rate does that the amount of oil and the pressure that it is under will increase faster and reach the bypass circuit pressure faster with the high voluum pump. the advantage here is that the metal parts MUST be floated on that oil film to keep the metal parts from touching/wearing and the more leakage points the oil flows by the less the voluum of oil thats available for each leakage point beyond it and as the oil heats up it becomes easier to push through the clearences.now as the rpms and cylinder preasures increase in your goal to add power the loads trying to squeeze that oil out of those clearances also increase. ALL mods that increase power either increase rpms,cylinder preasures or reduce friction or mechanical losses. there are many oil leakage points(100) in a standard chevy engine. 16 lifter to push rod points 16 pushrod to rocker arm points 32 lifter bores 16 x 2 ends 10 main bearing edges 9 cam bearing edges 16 rod bearing edges 2 distributor shaft leaks 1 distributor shaft to shim above the cam gear(some engines that have an oil pressure feed distributor shaft bearing.) so the more oil voluum the better,(AS LONG AS ITS TOTALLY UNDER CONTROL ON BOTH THE PRESSURE AND RETURN/SCAVAGEING SIDES OF THE SYSTEMchevy did an excelent job in the design but as the stresses increase the cooling voluum of the extra oil available from the larger pump helps to prevent lubracation delivery failure, do you need a better pump below 5000rpm or 400hp (no) above that level the extra oil will definitely help possiable deficient oil flow and bearing cooling and a simple increase in pressure does not provide a big increase in voluum that may be necessary to keep that oil film in the correct places at the correct voluum at all times.the stock system was designed for a 265cid engine in a passenger car turning a max of about 6000 rpm but only haveing the stress of under 300hp transmitted to the bearings, Im sure the orriginal designers never thought that the sbc or bbc would someday be asked to on occasion hold up to 450-800hp and 6000-8000 rpm.nore did they forsee valvesprings that placed 500lbs and up loads on the lifters and the use of over 9 to 1 compression ratios in the original design so the oil voluums and pressures necessary to cool those valve springs and bearings at those stress levels were never taken into account for that either. the oil pump can only pump as much oil as the engine clearances allow at the max pressure that the oil pump bye -pass circuit will allow, and no more. for your idea to be correct (which it could be under some conditions)the oil flow through the engine clearances would need to be so great that the pump turning at 3500rpm,7000rpm engine speed(remember the pump spins 1/2 the speed the crank does)and most likely pumping at max pressure could lower the oil level to the point that the pick-up becomes uncovered or a vortex as you call it forms and the pump starts sucking air. now under hard acceleration it is very possiable for the pickup on ANY oil pump to to become uncovered in a oil pan that has less than 5qt capacity and with no oil control baffles as the oil rushes to the rear of the oil pan if the pick-up is located in mid pan or under hard brakeing if the pick-up is located at the rear of the pan on a non- oil baffle controlled pan. I will grant you that it is possiable for ANY oil pump to pump a good amount of oil into the lifter gallery at high rpms IF THE OIL RETURN PASSAGES IN THE HEADS AND LIFTER GALLERY ARE BLOCKED, preventing its normal return to the crankcase , but running a high volume oil pump will have little or nothing to do with how much oil is in the pan if the engines drain back holes are clear and your useing a milodon style windage screen. I have several times had that same complaint about lack of oil pressure under acceleration but it is caused by a non-baffled pan or the pickup mounted so close to the pan bottom that the pump cant get a good intake flow, if you carefully check youll find that on a dyno runs it seldom happens,because the oil is constantly removed by the windage screen is returned to the sump, most of the oil pumped into the system exits at the rod and main bearing clearances or at the cam bearings and from the lifter bores lower ends, its not the constant oil flow or lack of oil into the rocker arms that has the big effect on total oil flow as SMOKEY YUNICKS PHOTOGRAPIC RESEARCH PROVED YEARS AGO,its the oil flowing from the bearings and lifters and that oil flow is quickly returned to the sump by a windage screen scrapeing it off the spinning crank and rods as the spinning assembly passes over the windage screen. in effect most of the oil in an engine works like your timeing chain in that it constantly cycles top to botton and back never getting higher than the cam bearing lifter area. now what does quite frequently happen is that the guys installing a high volume oil pump just swap out the standard pump, reinstall the stock or simular pick-up and bolt on the pan with the pick-up in the stock possition on the oil pump. the stock pick-up is mounted about 3/8" off the pan bottom,the high volume pump is normally equiped with impeller gears about .3 inches longer than stock, the high volume pump body is that much lower in the pan, resultting in the pick-up being only about 1/8" from the pan bottom. the result is that on a normal chevy oil pump pick-up this leave a space of about 1/8" x 2.5" for oil to flow into the pump. at low rpms this works but as the rpms climb the pick-up that can,t get any oil to pump cavitates as it spins and fails to pump oil, result oil pressure drops untill rpms are lowered no matter how much oil is over the pick-up. simply checking to make sure that anout 1/2" of space is under the pick-up when the pan is installed cures that problem (a simple trick is to weld a 1/2" thick nut to the oil pump Pick-up base and test fitting the pan BEFORE WELDING THE PICK-UP TO THE PUMP BODY) what it comes down too in every case that Ive looked into so far is a improperly positioned pick-up or a non- baffled oil pan without a windage screen or less than 5 qts of oil in the system, not a problem of all available oil being pumped into the lifter gallery and valve covers like some people would like you to think. the MELLING COMPANY HAS THIS TO SAY Most of the stock automobile engines are designed to operate from idle to 4500 RPM. The original volume and pressure oil pump will work fine in this type of application. As the demands on the engine increase so does the demands on the oiling system and pump. The oil pump's most difficult task is to supply oil to the connecting rod bearing that is the farthest from the pump. To reach this bearing, the oil travels from three to four feet, turns numerous square corners thru small holes in the crankshaft to the rod bearing. The rod bearing doesn't help matters. It is traveling in a circle which means centrifugal force is pulling the oil out of the bearing. A 350 Chevy has a 3.4811 stroke and a 2.111 rod journal. The outer edge of the journal travels 17.5311 every revolution. At 1000 RPM, the outer edge is traveling at 16.6 MPH and 74.7 MPH at 4500 RPM. If we take this engine to 6500 the outer edge is up to 107.9 and at 8500 it is 141.1 MPH. Now imagine driving a car around a curve at those speeds and you can feel the centrifugal force. Now imagine doing it around a circle with a 5.581, diameter. The size of the gears or rotors determines the amount of oil a pump can move at any given RPM. Resistance to this movement creates the pressure. If a pump is not large enough to meet the demands of the engine, there will not be any pressure. Or if the demands of the engine are increased beyond the pumps capabilities there will be a loss of oil pressure. This is where high volume pumps come in; they take care of any increased demands of the engine. Increases in the engine's oil requirements come from higher RPM, being able to rev faster, increased bearing clearances, remote oil cooler and/or filter and any combination of these. Most high volume pumps also have a increase in pressure to help get the oil out to the bearings faster. That is what a high volume pump will do. Now let Is consider what it will not do. It will not replace a rebuild in a worn-out engine. It may increase pressure but the engine is still worn-out. It will not pump the oil pan dry. Both solid and hydraulic lifters have metering valves to limit flow of the oil to the top of the engine. If a pan is pumped dry, it is because the holes that drain oil back to the pan are plugged. If the high volume pump is also higher pressure, there will be a slight increase in flow to the top. It will not wear out distributor gears. The load on the gear is directly related to the resistance to flow. Oil pressure is the measure of resistance to flow. The Ford 427 FE "side oiler" used a pump with relief valve set at 125 psi and it used a standard distributor gear. Distributor gear failures are usually caused by a worn gear on a new cam gear and/or worn bearings allowing misalignment. It will not cause foaming of the oil. With any oil pump, the excess oil not needed by the engine is recirculated within the pump. Any additional foaming is usually created by revving the engine higher. The oil thrown from the rod bearings is going faster and causes the foaming. This is why high performance engines use a windage tray. It will not cause spark scatter. Because of the pump pressure there is a load on the distributor gear. The number of teeth on the oil pump gears determine the number of impulses per revolution of the pump. In a SB Chevy there are seven teeth on each gear giving 14 impulses per revolution. At 6000 RPM the oil pump is turning 3000 RPM or 50 revolutions per second. To have an effect on the distributor, these impulses would have to vibrate the distributor gear through an intermediate shaft that has loose connections at both ends. Spark scatter is usually caused by weak springs in the points or dust inside the distributor cap. BTW > The bottom of a Chevrolet distributor housing can be modified to spray pressurized oil onto the distributor drive gear. The extra lubrication will reduce distributor gear and camshaft gear wear. This is especially important when the gear is used to drive non-standard accessories, such as a high volume oil pump, or a magneto that puts additional loads on it and the cam. When the distributor is installed, the bands at the bottom of the housing are designed to complete the internal right side lifter galley on all small and big block Chevrolet V-8’s and 90° V-6 engines. If you hand file a small vertical groove .030" wide x .030"( thats the diam. that crane recommends Ive always used the larger groove with no problems)deep on the bottom band (above the gear), pressurized oil running between the two bands will be directed downward onto both the gear and the cam. This procedure is recommended for all Chevrolet engines no matter what material gear (cast or bronze) or what type of camshaft (cast or steel) you are using. keep in mind the groove MUST be lined up with the cam gear when the distrib. is installed the oil SYSTEM is just that... [color:"red"] a SYSTEM, a system, where ALL the parts must match, [color:"blue"] since oil is non-compressable fluid and oil pressure is restricted to the max pressure limit set by the bypass circuit cut-in point , the oil pump will pump and can only pump the amount of oil the clearances and oil bleed off rate allows, if your engine needs more oilflow and the stock pump can,t keep up with demand the pressure WILL fall, but if the pump supplies more than necessary not much bad happends except a possiable loss of max horsepower due to a couple hp (2-4hp) produced being wasted pumping extra oil through the bypass circuit, COMPARED to when not enough oil reaches the bearings........ ( WHICH RESULTS IN TOTAL ENGINE FAILURE)[/color] if your going to pump oil in maybe 5%-10% higher voluum (and thats only true if the engines clearances allow it) at the mid and upper rpm levels to MORE EFFECTIVELY COOL AND LUBERACATE the BEARINGS AND VALVE SPRINGS you must also return that oil voluum to the sump about 10% or more faster at ALL rpm levels [/color] you must be aware that if you install a high voluum pump you will also be much better off installing a windage screen like MILODON makes ( a windage screen DESIGNED to return oil efficiently to the oil pan sump for quick, effective RECYLCLING thru the system )and makeing VERY SURE the oil pump pickup is 3/8"-1/2" OFF THE oil pans lower surfaces AND that the oil drain back holes are clear , also keep in mind that a baffled high voluum oil pan is ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA, heres a reasonably nice one for the money, that can fit or be modifyed to fit many cars http://www.midwestmotorsportsinc.com/mms.nsf/pages/Specials and there are "KITs" available to weld a larger or wider sump to stock oil pans

you must have a very large bank ballance that you want to kill! 18 degree heads normally require EXPENSIVE OFFSET rocker arms, offset roller lifter seats and other engine mods costing extra compared to a standard sbc yes you can make 575-650hp if your in a big hurry to spend money, but since a (Z) will also require a ROLL CAGE and MAJOR SUSPENSION MODS to handle that power level well I doubt youll be thinking it was a GREAT IDEA by the time EVERYTHING GETS SORTED OUT CORRECTLY

http://www.secureperformanceorder.com/dynatechdragstore/getproduct.cfm?CategoryID=30&ClassID=278&SubclassID=1309&ProductID=2476 heres the quick simple answer to droping the sound level a reasonable amount, just install one in each tailpipe exit

you can get almost exactly the same net effect by running both header collectors(especially of this type ( http://vsholley.vwh.net/HiOctn/ProdLine/Products/ES/ESHHA/SplitFlow.html ) into an (Y) pipe like this http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/flomstr1e.htm and still fit the exhaust under the car

What holds the cam in from the front? while nothing NEEDS to be installed on NON-roller cams in a sbc useing a flat tappet cam,BECAUSE the lobes are cut at a very slight angle that TENDS to force the cam toward the back of the block installing a CAM BUTTON MATCHED TO A CORRECTLY SET UP TIMEING SET is the CORRECT SOLUTION that STABILIZES the CAMSHAFT POSITION FORE AND AFT IN THE BLOCK http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=3277&prmenbr=361 What is the plug that holds the cam from the back of the engine called? GM PART # 10241154 GM LIST: $2.08 DESCRIPTION: PLUG-CAMS

that graph was for 700r4 parts the 4l80e is already more than TWICE as strong STOCK as a BUILT 700r4 and can handle torque loads WELL OVER 600 ftlbs, the 4L80E trans is what they install in 10 ton motor homes and some large commercial trucks

heres an interesting bit of info on stock 700r4 trans torque levels untill failure, most 700r4 trans fail fairly quickly once you bolt on slicks on any car NO MATTER WHO REBUILDS IT WITH ANY PARTS so dont fall for the IDEA that because a few of the parts can handle over 450 ft lbs that the trans will survive long term! youve hit one of my pet peeves [color:"red"]transmissions rated by how much hp they can handle[/color] the formula for HORSEPOWER IS (TORQUE X RPM /5252=hp) parts are broken by the TWISTING TORQUE LOAD, not any differance you say? lets look at it, EXAMPLE (1) 377sbc that spins 7500rpm max and makes 500hp at 6900rpm, well simple math shows 500hp at 6900rpm 380 ft lbs of torque EXAMPLE (2) 632bbc with a set of peanut port heads that makes 500hp at 3700rpm (yes an obvious mis-match of parts, but easy to build )well simple math shows 500hp at 3700rpm 710 ft lbs of torque EXAMPLE (3) a 355 with 18 degree heads that makes 700hp at 7500rpm in a stock car that simple math shows makes 490 ft lb of torque [color:"red"] now if the trans is rated at 700 hp but will start pukeing parts at 500 ft lbs of twisting power you can readly see where that big block tow truck engine combo is going to bust that trans the very first time you get good traction , and your stock car engine will trash the trans within a few races yet your 700hp rated trans is not even seeing 510hp!!!! with the big block and is at BUT NOT OVER the ragged edge with the 18 degree sbc which barely stays under the rated limits [/color] [color:"black"] a great example of this is the "BUILT 700r4 TRANSMISSION ADVERTISEMENTS" the trans is sometimes rated at holding 600hp yet the first time you dump a in 150hp shot of nitrous and get great traction with a 383 that makes 400hp non-nitrous the trans is likely to puke parts! you never made over 550hp but you could easily exceeded 500 ft lbs of torque at 3500rpm [/color]

AS ALWAYS CALL CRANE 1 386-258-6174 BEFORE BUYING BUT YES THIS IS ONE OF THE BETTER CAMS IVE USED WHEN THE 114681 is just to much cam. comp cams #12-221-5 is similar but rougher idle http://dab7.cranecams.com/SpecCard/DisplayCatalogCard.asp?PN=113841&B1=Display+Card http://www.cranecams.com/master/apps/chevy21.htm#1. PowerMax fairly mild solid lifter flat tappet cam with good mid range power, I like to use it in 383 camaros/novas ETC. that have manual trans and 3.36- 3.54 gears, requires headers and good flowing intake power range 3000-6500rpm with good mid and higher range torque, idle very noticeable lope 114 LSA 238/248 duration .480/.500 lift

yes there are very good aluminum roller rockers out there. the erson billet aluminum roller rockers are very good, the CRANE PRO roller rockers were standard equipment on the LT4 corvette and you can be very sure CHEVY tested them before letting themselfs get involved in what could be a warranty nightmare if they could not stand up for tens of thousands of trouble free miles. I have not used HARLAND SHARP ROCKERS FOR YEARS so I don,t know about thier pressant production roller rocker quality, they may be some of the better ones available, (I DON,T KNOW) but I can tell you that there are CHEAPLY MADE IMPORTED roller rockers that do not hold up well to heavy valve spring pressures that look similar to the harland sharp roller rockers,I have seen several fail within 30,000 miles of street useage. like most things you get what you pay for, and if you see full roller rockers new for less than about $150 Id be really careful, theres a reason they charge over $350 for the ERSON AND CRANE ROLLER ROCKERS quality parts cost more money http://www.mrgasket.com/ersonmain.html (look under valve train components about 1/2 way down the page) http://www.cranecams.com/master/goldpro.htm

1.6 ratio rockers rarely gain much hp unless your severly under camed and the engine needs a big increase in lift and duration, and if thats the case a new cam will have far better results, now changing to roller rockers versus ball piviot rockers can easily free up 20hp because of less frictional losses but again the ration has little to do with it, 1.6 ratio rockers should really be looked on as a tuneing tool that allows you to add small amounts of lift/durration to match the engines needs rather like advanceing or retarding the cam timeing a few degrees. 1.6 ratio rockers frequently cause valve train geometry problemd and clearance problems with little gain to show for your trouble, in fact after testing several times on several engines Ive found that they tend to lower your valve float rpm level about 150rpm on many engines, now that being understood, 1.6 ratio ROLLER rockers when installed with the correct clearances and geometry on an engine running a stock cam that has been retarded a few degress to raise the torque peak due to the combination of slight changes in cam timeing at the valves that the TWO MATCHED CHANGES can and do produce can through the lower frictuion and slightly increased efficiency at the higher RPM range work almost as well as a mild cam upgrade but your not going to see major hp increases, 25 hp-30hp would be a very big and very unlikely gain due to the lower friction, higher lift and cam retard combined. if your still set on doing it, comp cams and crower cams both make GOOD REBUILDABLE ROLLER ROCKERS that are much better than the cheap crap available in some of the cast aluminum roller rockers costing almost as much this type lasts and works very well this style (NOT THIS BRAND NECESSARILY)is far more likely to wear faster or fail under extreme loads this style gains you little if any improvements on most engines in spite of what the advertizeing says from what Ive seen on dyno results 1985,1992,1996 vettes keep the rubber side down and the fiberglass off the guard rails

THANK YOU GENTELMEN Ill give them a call, but if anyone else has other sources/parts/info/ideas, PLEASE, feel free to let me know, thanks again for the help!

I would like to find a water neck for a intake manifold like this one (swivels to any possition)with the neck pointed level not upwards (or at least at a shallow upwards angle) http://www.billetspecialties.com/item.asp?cid=7&scid=8&pid=498&rdir=1 theres two problems with this one , (1) it costs about $70 (2)and its 2 7/8" tall, Id like to find a cheaper model as I will be buying a lot of them and ID REALLY LIKE TO FIND A MODEL ONLY 2.5" tall max ANY INFO YOU HAVE MIGHT HELP , THANKS IN ADVANCE GUYS