grumpyvette

yes your correct, from what Ive seen, the quality of the components in some of those lower priced EBAY crate motors EBAY , alows to be sold from less well know sources, keeps dropping LOWER AND LOWER as they find ways to use more, refurbished and imported components of questionable quality. you might be surprised at the difference in components and quality spending a few extra hundred dollars buys you. heres a few decent sources http://www.ohiocrank.com/chev_sb_shortb.html http://www.lewisracingengines.com/ http://www.sallee-chevrolet.com/Crate_Engines/performance.cfm http://www.dougherbert.com/bigperformanceenginesfontcchevysmallblock-c-614_615_748.html?osCsid=fa48658a46563cfa5aa3d67f5e61d9da http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.asp?Ntk=KeywordSearch&DDS=1&N=700+115&y=11&searchinresults=false&Ntt=crate+engines&x=15 but with careful parts selection you can build a really nice combo yourself

http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/131229/tp/1/ theres a good deal of info here you can use

look around carefully for used commercial welders, theres some great deals as a few shops are closing due to several factors, if I had some extra cash Im sure I could pick up some good deals on a used 250-450 amp tig

crane had some of the highest quality equipment designs and best durrability in the industry they will be very deeply missed I bought fully 50% of my shops cams from them, as Ive never had one fail

about a 210-212 duration at .050 and not tighter than a 112 lsa is about as wild as most TPI and stock converters will handle well

February 24, 2009 Crane Cams shuts down, workers laid off By JIM WITTERS Senior Business Writer DAYTONA BEACH — Crane Cams, a 56-year-old auto parts manufacturer, closed its doors this week and laid off its employees, a worker said today. The news took Volusia County’s top economic development officer by surprise. City, county and state officials were working with Crane Cams and officials from its New Jersey parent, Mikronite Technologies, to keep the company open and in the community. “We were trying to help them through this transition,†said Rick Michael, Volusia County economic development director. “They were considering a transfer of ownership. We were not expecting any closure.†An automated voice mail system at Crane’s plant on Fentress Boulevard announced at midday today the company was closed and suggested calling back during business hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. A call to Mikronite’s New Jersey offices produced similar results. Six cars sat in the parking lot early this afternoon at the local plant, which employed 220 just three years ago. Inside the lobby, a reception desk sat empty. A call from the lobby phone got an answer from Dennis Burgess, who declined to comment and said no one at the plant could provide information. In the parking lot, 14-year employee Ronald Dorn was leaving the plant for what he believed was the last time He said workers were told during the past week that layoffs were likely, but he didn’t expect the plant to close. Mikronite received approval in 2006 to receive tax rebates from the state and the county amid discussion about moving its New Jersey operations here. But the company ended its contract with the state in 2008 due to nonperformance, Michael said. “Crane has gone through a series of small layoffs recently,†he said. Crane Cams and Crane Technologies Group were founded by Harvey J. Crane Jr. in 1953 as Crane Engineering Inc. in Hallandale. The company is well known in high-performance and racing circles for its line of camshafts and engine valve train components. In 1979, Crane Cams became an employee-owned company. Some operations moved to Daytona Beach in 1981, with the remainder of the operation and employees relocating here in 1985. Mikronite, an industrial technology firm, bought Crane in 2006. In March 2007, Mikronite sold its property on Fentress to STAG Capital Partners of Boston, then signed a 10-year lease.

studs are SUPPOSED TO BE INSTALLED IN THE BLOCK so they are not tightened. and yes use of the arp torque specs and instal instructions is mandatory its simple! run a tap thru the threads, test screw the clean/dry stud by hand to verify no clearance or binding then ,clean them and dry the threads on the block and studs,before you start the assembly, and just dip the total threaded surface on the lower studs course thread end of the stud that screws into the block into the correct sealant. spin it in your fingers slowly as you move the stud to the hole in the block to keep from dripping sealant on the deck, thread it into the block full depth , back it out a 1/2 turn and let it set up for a few minutes before assembling the head gaskets and heads,but assemble the heads while the sealants still fresh/liquid, torque too spec and let the engine set for a few hours (preferably over night) http://www.devcon.com/products/products.cfm?familyID=386 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=50&hilit=+studs

http://airflowresearch.com/articles/article021/A21-P1.htm

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=125130&highlight=swivel With about 1200lb weight to deal with, for a commercial TIG, welder ,that I got a deal on, and tanks for shield gas,plus the liquid cooled torch, , long electric feed cables coolant pumps, etc., building a custom cart was my only reasonable finacial option, but a custom cart has the advantage you can set it up exactly the way you want too!

its not quite that simple both welding types (MIG/TIG) SHOULD be used with a different shield gas for the differant metals, (STAINLESS vs ALUMINUM) MIG obviously requires a different wire, and in most cases a different mig spool gun for aluminum, those are usually small 5 lb rolls the stainless feeds from the welder in 30-40 lb rolls that cost nearly $200 tig requires a different filler rod (10 lb packs about $60)and electrode and shield gas .($240 or so to own) cheaper to rent but theres a deposit required your local miller welder supply will be THRILLED to point out the EXTRA stuff you'll need, example on my miller 252 it requires a different spool gun for aluminum and that alone is $1000, add the wire and ideally a different tank of shield gas adds an additional $340 or so keep in mind mig basically squirts wire that melts as it grounds to the project, you don,t get heat or an arc without metal wire also TIG is basically an electric arc you control with filler rods you dab and melt as you control both the feed of the fill rod rate and the heat of the arc and the duration the heat stays at any one point, migs generally faster once you get the settings correct and the skill to use it, tigs generally more precise and easier to hide or correct mistakes made on the first pass but it takes more skill to master and the equipments more expensive

I BOUGHT AN OLDER MILLER 330 AMP TIG WELDER AT A DECENT PRICE, BUT IT WEIGHTS 900 LBS AND REQUIRES A 100 AMP FEED I saw the price of 100 amp disconnect plugs at the local electrical supply and said thats nuts! a plug and socket costs $500??? I ran into the same problem with my 100 amp feed on my 330 amp tig, the correct plug/socket listed at almost $500 at the local electrical supply (THATS TOTALLY NUTS) so I thought about it a bit and bought three of these TWIST CONNECTORS FOR WELDING CABLES http://www.fastenal.com/web/products/detail.ex?sku=0812198 theres a MALE and FEMALE END to each TWIST CONNECTOR BTW they cost me about $20 each at the local welding supply painted two red and one green ran three feed wires in conduit to a large plastic storage box with a cam loc front pannel ran a 50 foot long tripple feed cable attached to the welder inside 2" flex tube the green is ground the two reds are power, think about it a bit, it works great, I simply leave the 100 amp electrical braker off , unless they are connected to the welder and you can,t screw it up because its both color coded and the ends won,t connect wrong physically hooked up the green one from the wall connection with the extended male side of the connector extended, ran the two red feed with the enclosed female side from the power http://www.fastenal.com/web/products/detail.ex?sku=0812198 walls got two red female and one green male connector, welders got a 50 ft extension cable with two red male and one green female connector the 100 amp breaker keeps power from the connectors unless they are connected and the connections are made in a 18" plastic water resistant electrical box with a lockable lid mounted 4 ft above the floor just use the correct ga. I used 00 GA http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm THE 50 FT TAIL ON THE WELDER ALOWS ME TO MOVE THE TIG ANYPLACE IN THE SHOP AS THE CONNECTORS ON A WALL MOUNT NEAR DEAD CENTER BETWEEN THE GARAGE DOORS NEAR THE TRACTOR IN THIS PICTURE IVE got a MANUAL DISCONNECT,in the line between the breaker and the connection box, with a big sign, (emergency disconnect) I just didn,t get into that as it seemed to complicate things in the description of the circuit

MoNkEyT88 check ebay theres always good deals on short lengths of , cable sizes like 2ga you can use

go to the forum index, (TOP OF PAGE) select a forum, click on the forum, click, new thread box at the top, fill in the blanks

personally Id buy TRICKFLOW OR BRODIX http://www.jegs.com/i/Brodix/158/1021004/10002/-1 http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=TFS%2D30400002&N=700+400098+115&autoview=sku yes they ARE more expensive! but I can 100% gaurantee you will be upgrading those cheaper heads far faster than you realize currently and wasteing $700 now is NOT a good long term value vs paying a bit more now and not needing to upgrade, for alot longer time if ever CHECK OUT THE DIFFERANCES http://www.purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/techinfo/heads1.html

965584 is NOT a chevy, crane,crower,blue racer,isky,lunati,erson ,doug herbert, chet herbert,or any other companys cam, part number IM familiar with

Ive never seen any yet so Im forced to with hold any judgement at this point

BUY AND READ THRU THE JTR MANUAL AS THE FIRST STEP! http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Datsun_Z_V-8.html NEXT ID STRONGLY ADVISE FINDING A LOCAL GUY WHO HAS DONE THE SWAP TO HELP OR AT LEAST SOMEONE FAMILIAR WITH ENGINE SWAPS THATS GOT TOOLAS AND A WELDER, IF YOU WERE LOCAL ID SUGGEST BRINGING IT BY AND WE COULD DISCUSS OPTIONS

sorry I took a while to get to this (I HAD COMPUTER PROBLEMS) to relieably spin that rpm level and to make consistantly better power in a first gen sbc youll want to use a semi mild solid roller lifter cam,and solid lifters designed for a hot street use, and inspite of what most guys tell you hydraulic roller cams in gen 1 sbc engines do tend to get into valve control issues above 6500rpm, in gen 1 sbc , with its smaller dia cam cores but because of the larger base circle the LS1 engines the same lifters tend to work ok to about 6700-6800rpm similar to these specs (LSA ,DURATION, LIFT) http://www.crower.com/misc/cam_spec/cam_finder.php?part_num=00425&x=13&y=9

the same company lists the shorter stroke 350-355 versions (rotating assemblies)but if it was my car ID select a 383 and change the gear or increase the tires dia,as required, its a bit counter productive to match the engine to the gearing vs match the gearing to the engine, if it means adding rpms and reducing the power curve to do so, which is EXACTLY what going for a 350 vs a 383 will do, UNLESS your racing a class based on displacement to weight ratios, where the 350 might be a slightly better choice, but its almost a (GIVEN) that a 383 will produce about 35-45 more ft lbs of tq thru most of the rpm range the 383 weigts the same as a 355 sbc, and having that extra 35-40 plus ft lbs of torques is easily enought advantage to make a noticable differance in any race provided your suspension and tires can effectively use the power(and a (Z) should easily do that) as its light enought

At that power range and with nitrous in the future ID suggest thinking 4340 steel FORGED components, (RODS WITH 7/16" ARP BOLTS) and forged pistons as a basic rotating assembly something like this with the forged piston option at a MINIMUM http://www.adperformance.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=277_278&products_id=673 better http://www.adperformance.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=277_278&products_id=975

how many guys are planing a first time engine rebuild?, that might need guidance or questions answered, assistance? ETC? anyone in south florida area?

http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/148_0506_gm_bow_tie_vortec_small_block_engine/index.html don,t ignore the far better large port versions I linked to earlier in this thread

anything over about 5"-6"in ground clearance under a car is usually ok, and under 4" will work if your careful where you drive and what you drive over in most cars

check it out very carefully, it sounds like theres at least $750 in parts, but since your not listing much detailed info and you don,t know its true current condition internally or if the guys telling you the truth ID sure want to at least look it over, hear it run or pull the valve covers and oil pan and inspect it clsely before throwing the guy my $750

I prefer NGK, and AC plugs and IVE nevers seen any plug run at .060 as well as it will at .045