grumpyvette

rsicard Ive run a jackson QUITE gear drive on my EFI engine for years, your engine shops correct at some rpms, under some conditions ,the gear drive does, on occasion make the knock sensors crazy, but that doesn,t necessarily prevent thier use! but youll be far better off in most cases with a cloyes true roller chain drive

the first thing ID point out is that the chevy blocks are far less prone to cracking from flexing than the ford blocks and that anytime you exceed about 550-600hp your much better advised to use an aftermarket DART BLOCK with its much thicker cylinder walls, main webs ,and block endwalls, before spending hundreds of dollars on machine work, but the chevy block will stand up to a good deal more abuse than the sbf generally will if its correctly machined, read thru the links, JOBYs turbo build on a STOCK short block lasted for quite awhile under higher loads lets put it this way, Ive built over 175-200 engines in 39 years (6-8 a year)and Ive never seen a block crack thru the lifter gallery unless it was the result of a rotating assembly grenading and that was usually at over 6000rpm, with obsurd levels of nitrous used, chevys crack cylinder walls, main caps, main cap webs, and decks on occasions but even the stock chevy blocks take alot more abuse than stock sbf seem to from what Ive seen http://www.dartheads.com/products/engine-blocks http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=69&t=636&p=850#p850 http://www.adperformance.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=69_82&zenid=0aaf0a17ddbd33634a85e31f4062f2a0 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=47&p=56&hilit=+dart#p56 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=439 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=976 PS, what does that lifter valley brace really do that the correctly bolted in place chevy intake maninifold not do, IE provide a solid linkor brace between the cylinder banks

as rsicard pointed out, getting the valve train geometry correct by verifying the correct pushrod length is mandatory, the chrome moly pushrods tendto flex less andat high rpms that can be important to the valvetrain control, I doubt it makes much differance on a stock or nearly stock combo but add, stiffer springs and spin the engine over about 6000rpm and you can at times see a differance Careless why not post a list of parts with pictures and prices on several sites, craigslist etc. http://forums.hybridz.org/forumdisplay.php?f=141 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewforum.php?f=88 http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showforum.php?fid/95/

its very unlikely to be a defective set of rods , a bad damper or a badly machined crank thats at fault, carefull examination of the components will usually indicate the source but without careful examination of the stress fracture , and all components in the engine it will be hard to verify the source, stress is cumulative having the engine ballanced and correctly clearanced is mandatory. maintaining proper lubrication and valve train control is mandatory. I see guys blame the crank and rods for failures that were really valve train or detonation related, no piston, rod or crank will successfuly compress a bent valve or a busted chunk of piston ring land that broke loose due to lack of valve control or detonation damage, but dampers do go out of index, and cranks do occasionally have stress risers, bearings do occasionally get starved for oil, timing gets moved, detonation can result, etc.

even the BIG BLOCK 502 cubic inch ram jet engine still uses the 48mm tb

math doesn,t seem to be a strong point here is it! look a 383 spinning 6400rpm (WELL OVER WHAT A HOT CAM WILL PROVIDE AS A PEAK POWER RANGE) could in theory pump 697 cubic feet of air thru its cylinder,s but the truth is that youll seldom exceed 90% volumetric efficiency even on a race engine at over 5000rpm with a sbc,ESPECIALLY WITH STOCK HEADS ANDASTOCK EXHAUST, but lets say your at 90%, thats roughtly 630 cfm the engine could be useing with a 383, given the fact your even thinking about the hot cam or any cam in the 225-235 duration range youll never come close to those figures. thatswhy the stock tb. will work just fine and why a 58mm won,t do much but reduce the crispness in the throttle responce http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=641&p=859#p859

we used to build a lot of 327-331 engines when I first started hot rodding 327 sbc engines really do like a mild solid lifter cam so they can both rev freely and pull decent low rpm torque, if you had higher compression and a 3.73-4.11 rear gear ratio, you could use more cam durration,like the isky z25, but the z20 isky does a decent job as a street/ strip cam, and its better matched to a car engine used for transportation heres iskys ph# phone: 323.770.0930 If you can live with A LOT less low rpm power and mostly a free reving high rpm combo with that t5 trans an isky z25 will be alot less street freindly ,but youll certainly get the low rpm lope and more high rpm peak hp. http://www.iskycams.com/onlinecatalog.html the isky Z20 solid lifter cam ..."chevy section,pg 86 " and a decent dual plane performance intake like this http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=WND%2D8501&autoview=sku http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=TFS%2D30400001&N=700+115&autoview=sku I would NOT SUGGEST YOU GET PROCOMP heads , I keep hearing about variations in quality control issues heads like the BRODIX IK 180cc or TRICKFLOW 195cc designed for a combo like your building should work out fine,with that manual transmission provided you add decent full length headers and a low restriction exhaust the cams reasonably mild but if you had much more durration it would raise the low rpm power bands torque curve to far to be easily use as transportation vs a performance only combo that a larger cam would transform the combo closer into being

yes please let us know , Ive got a MILLER MIG, that has a optional aluminum spool gun available as an option for welding aluminum, and altho Ive got a TIG it would still be interesting to see the results on aluminum. btw Always think thru your goals when you purchase equipment,the rough rule as a guide is youll need about one amp per .001 inch of material thickness to well aluminum effectively, IE youll need about 250 amps to weld 1/4" thick aluminum, now that is based on the idea of near constant use, naturally you can weld thicker material if youll allow less than a 70%-100% duty cycle, and as a general rule a 250 amp rated machine will operate at 70%-100% duty cycle at significantly reduced amps (lets say 180 amps as a guess) from its rated 250 amp max. heres my mig http://www.welders-direct.com/merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WD&Product_Code=907321

It would help a good deal to know the compression ratio, and the cars rear gear ratio, and any other info you can supply, those older 327 were quite varied and knowing the head casting numbers would also help! If performance from the 327 sbc is the goal,In most cases ID strongly suggest a solid lifter flat tappet cam be sellected to take advantage of the engines potentialy high rpm power band, but unless I know the rear gear ratio and the cars intended use,that might not be a good idea.

thank you gentelmen thats very useful info IM sure many guys on the site will benefit from!

PLEASE post all the basic info, tips etc. you can gentelmen because theres alot more guys reading this than just myself.Ive used several milling machines in the past but its been a couple years since the last time and I might have forgoten something, I never mind looking dumb, but I sure don,t like screwing something up thur lack of a simple bit of info OH! BTW I bought the keyed drill chuck that holds 5/8" or smaller arbors with the R8 arbor and the splash/drain pans and coolant pump, cutting oil, drain lines 6" vise for the table and a few other necessary basics

save your money! swapping to a larger 58mm tb on a mildly modified LT1 won,t do much but make your wallet lighter. the stock tb easily supports 550 PLUS hp if you want to boost hp get a better cam installed, its will do alot more for the money spent in hp that results. http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=641&p=859#p859

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Shop-Fox-Vertical-Mill-9-x-49-/T20828 I just bought this, with my mechanical engineering back ground and experiance I doubt ILL get too far off course, but any hints or info about milling you guys want to add will be most helpful, your never in a position where you can,t learn more!

wow! the quality of the welds and careful routing allowing that turbo manifold to fit neatly into that confined space obviously took a great deal of thought and effort

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Shop-Fox-Vertical-Mill-9-x-49-/T20828 the more I shop around for a used one the more total ,rusted, junk IM finding, so talk to me about tooling and what to look for here, IM not exactly unfamiliar with a milling machine as IVE used several in other guys shops. but IM always open to learn new things or take advice. I want to mostly modify EFI intakes and make brackets, make a few custom parts, etc. so I don,t need any CNC controls etc

anyone know where I can BUY,LEASE or RENT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a decent used MILLING MACHINE in the south florida area, MY shop NEEDS a decent vertical mill, and ID rather get a USED AMERICAN MADE MILL IN GOOD CONDITION than a new chinese knock-off

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=1477 http://www.crower.com/misc/valve_timing_chart.html

OK youve decked the block .010 durring the block machining process , how did that change the compression? if you decked the block .010 youve effectively moved the piston .010 closer to the cylinder heads unless the head gasket is selected to be .010 thicker to compensate I don,t know the bore dia. but lets assume in a calculation its 4" bore cutting a deck on a block and not compensating with a thicker head gasket on that 4" bore had about a 2 cc reduction in the total area over the piston being compressed, into the combustion chamber above it, simply because the area of the bore times the depth of the cylinder results in that volume formula bore radias sq x 3.147 x .010 x 16.39(changes cubic inches to CCs) (referance you need TO COMPLETE THE CALCS) http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/engine/how_to_calculate_compression_ratio/index.html http://www.circletrack.com/techarticles/ctrp_0505_calculating_engine_compression/index.html http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=1330 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=727 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=726

each head design has a differant deck thickness, but generally you can mill about .050 off head decks , your machineshop should know enought to keep you out of trouble, but remember the compression goes up, clearances between valves and pistons tend to get tighter and the intake may need machining to seat correctly after the heads are milled. in some cases you can vary the valve train geomety enought with valve lash caps, which are cheaper than pushrods the only way to verify the correct length pushrods is to verify the rocker and valve train geometry, these links and the sub linked info should help http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=1376

theres thousands of two bolt blocks with arp main studs running peak hp numbers near 500hp, so your unlikely to have major issues on a street/strip combo simply because the stress is maximized at high rpms, and you spend most of your time at lower rpms and stress levels and main caps don,t tend to walk around on the block much below 450 ft lbs and 6000 rpm levels, since youve already put significant time and money in the current block and your not intending to put consistantly high stress like a dirt track circle track engine sees Id just use the current block with few worries UNTILL you upgrade the components to regularly exceed the 500hp level, where it will become adviseable to upgrade, I would not be really overly concerned , occasional peak power runs on a street strip cars engine do far less total stress to the rotating assembly and block than constant stress like a circle track engine sees read thru this link http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=69&t=636&p=850#p850

YOUR NOT BEING IGNORED I simply missed your post SORRY! call me, youll find the ph# in a pm

I TOTALLY disagree! YES IN MOST CASES A CARB APPLICATION CAN RUN WITH NO RETURN LINE , BUT YOU WON,T TEND TO GET CONSISTANT FUEL FLOW VOLUME AND PRESSURE AT THE CARB WITHOUT A RETURN LINE STYLE FUEL PRESSURE REGULATOR, and you would be amazed at the number of tunning issues that are avoided with a decent return style fuel pressure regulator installed in a fuel supply line system , like inconsistant float levels, seemingly non-working fuel metering at idle, and high rpm lean or rich conditions.The manufactureres would NEVER spend the money on fuel return lines if it was not almost mandatory to getting the car to run consistantly and pass emmission testing under some conditions. its kind of like carring a spare tire , a jack in the trunk,or wearing a bullet proof vest, 90% or more of the time you could get bye without them, but under some comnditions not having them becomes a HUGE problem http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=635 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=211

CT350PC1 would do fine with the same 2800rpm-3000 stall with the listed cam OR with a slightly larger cam if your looking to run 12 second runs , http://www.crower.com/misc/cam_spec/cam_finder.php?part_num=00403&x=15&y=3 if you keep the same cam its listed with youll do better on the street with a slightly lower 2500rpm-2700rpm stall,to take full advantage of the off idle tq because of the current factory cam will be more designed for street than a strip power curve and youll be at a distinct disadvantage as far as peak power curve,at the strip, and getting the car easily into the 12 second range, compared to the slightly larger duration cam, just swapping cams should boost peak useable power enought to make a noticable differance, but youll want to verify clearances and talk to the torque converter guys and crower tech guys befor making changes

http://www.yearone.com/serverfiles/fbshopmain2.asp?hid=026DK73488&trk=12 if your refering to the 502 big block engine that I think you are ID be looking for a 2800rpm-3000rpm stall converter, now for the guys reading this not familiar with converter stall speeds that in no way means the car won,t move untill the cars engine reaches 2800rpm any more than your stock stall converer rated at 1900-2200rpm in most cars prevents the car from smoothly pulling into traffic at 1500-1600rpm, it simply means that if you run street tires,and put your left foot on the brake and stomp your right foot to the floor the engines likely to reach about 2700rpm rather quickly before the tires turn into smoke, while a stock converter would start smoking the tires at about 2200rpm, but the differance is in the power you can instantly apply if youve got decent traction, lets just use my current vettes dyno curve as a quick example(IT WAS HANDY) a stock converter would allow you to launch at about 100 hp lower on the power curve than a 3000rpm stall converter, and make idling in tracffic miserable if you use a more radical cam while the 3000rpm stall makes things work far smoother IF your building a street/strip engine combo with over 500 ft lbs and a cam suitable for the 2700rpm-6500rpm power band that most street strip combos fall into,ID SUGGEST a Precision Industries , Vigilante with a 2800rpm-3000rpm stall speed http://www.converter.com/vigilante.htm talk to these guys , get thier advice and follow it, I know from experiance they know how to build a decent converter, Ive seen several in use with no failures, keep in mind youll (NEED)to install a very effective trans cooler and a 3.54-3.73 rear gear in most cases to work correctly(YOUR 3.54:1 will work fine)

I don,t have a clue in L.A. but ID bet serious money you could buy , or at least place a large deposit on a small miller MIG welder for the cost of the install labor cost if its done correctly, so ID suggest doing it yourself, done correctly its protected with a roll cage guard frame to prevent or at least limit damage in a crash, and to support the weight of the tank and fuel and protect the fuel pump and locate the fuel filters etc. Before you drop off the car get a detailed list of costs and the work to be done, theres a world of differance between just fabricating a couple brackets and bolting a small 5-10 gallon fuel cell into a cars trunk and setting up the fuel system correctly so its safe in a roll over or rear end impact http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=733&p=3532&hilit=return#p3532 http://www.welders-direct.com/merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WD&Product_Code=907335