grumpyvette

it takes a certain mind set to drive an older muscle car or corvette, its just a fact that when a cars 15-40 years old it WILL require some occasional maintenance, and it WILL be a P.I.T.A, to own at times. if you want to drive the older corvettes or muscle cars,as a daily driver it will require constant maintenance , inspections,and occasional repairs that's why almost everyone I know that's a corvette owner also owns a second truck/car that's used just as often, or more often than their muscle car or corvette. I own a couple c4 corvettes and have for many years, ,Ive owned several GTOs, ROAD RUNNERS,CAMAROS,a bbc chevelle,a 1965 lemans and every one of them occasionally needed repairs,the best second vehicle in my opinion is a pick-up truck or larger SUV that can tow a car trailer,something like a CHEVY AVALANCHE is about ideal if its got the right tow and suspension options, simply because theres times you'll want to transport 4-5 people, go get or deliver parts or shop supply's or tow the corvette some place. now If theres one thing Ive found out its that you can,t depend totally on a single car or truck, over the long term if your into hot rodding simply because theres ALWAYS going to be times when you need to go get parts while your working on the car! there will be times when you need to transport a new tool cabinet, or new air compressor , or a buddies car breaks down 30 miles from home, , occasionally you'll find a great deal on a spare engine, or a welder and you can,t generally just use your hot rod as the only vehicle you own , long term, if your transporting large & heavy components to your shop. I can,t even imagine how you can get bye without at least occasional access to a truck of some kind if your into hot rod cars. I bought a chevy avalanche for my most recent parts chaser but my youngest son seems to have adopted it and its rarely available since he moved out and bought a house across town, now its my truck legally but getting it back for more than a day at a time seems to be all but impossible lately. now this is ESPECIALLY true if your main car is a corvette, or a cobra or some other two seat car with very limited trunk space, now for many years I had a DATSUN 4x4 pick-up truck I used for local trips to salvage yards and auto parts stores and machine shops, I know lots of guys that own corvettes, cobras,t-buckets, and similar cars and almost without exception they also own, or at least a family member owns an SUV or a pick-up truck, thats used to transport parts or in rare cases a car trailer is used behind the second family vehicle to transport the larger bulky items we all occasionally need to transport. I don,t care if its 6 bags of groceries, a spare dana 60 rear axle, a set of spare tires or a floor jack or engine crane,or the family Christmas tree, theres going to be items you would rather not try to transport in your hot rod so what do you gentlemen use for your parts chaser? Ive used a chevy avalanche and a 20ft long 4 wheel car trailer for my shop for the last 5 years http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/index.php http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=845&p=9228&hilit=trailer#p9228 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=3508&p=9249&hilit=trailer#p9249

"grumpy,I have some local car buddies but it seems not many of them are around when I need them just when they need me." unfortunately that attitude is far more common than it should be, Ive always tried to make a point out of helping other guys with their projects, but its only a few guys that will return the effort expended, on their car, when you want some help or only someone to bounce ideas off of on your projects. Ive build dozens of engines (at my cost, in parts and free labor) for close freinds, and many dozens more at very low profit margins, sometimes just to see the results and power they produced ,sometimes just to see if you can exceed 500 or 600 hp on a limited budget, and sometimes just to see the expression on the cars owners face when a car, that could barely spin the tires can now leave long smokey burn-out at will) but only a couple guys are likely to come over if I were to call up and request help with some project, so just realize that many guys won,t feel obligated to return the time and effort expended on their cars on yours and look at it as a learning experience, to some extent and pick your friends carefully, and you better enjoy working for lunch,beer, and conversation http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2709 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2834

how many guys still have several local car buddies just curious , as to how many guys currently have at least two local freinds with a similar interest in cars, that they can call up and reasonably expect to have them show up when they want help working on their car and need that help to do something. now when I was younger, and single, Id say that was hardly an issue, cars and engine builds and racing were nearly a religion at times, I spent may a day helping build cars in freinds shops and they spent lots of late nights in my shop, but as guys get older and have families and wives, and kids and grand kids, getting the spare time and money to work on cars usually needs to be planed for ahead of time. Ive still got several 100% gear head buddies, that I depend on and several recent converts to the hobby, but time and disposable cash seem to be limited recently. now I still have guys wanting me to work on their cars almost daily, and Ive certainly got far more skills, tools,knowledge, etc. but the days of a couple guys just deciding at the moment over a couple beers that they can or will go pull and rebuild an engine, or drive over to the local salvage yards and buy hundreds of dollars worth of parts without needing to discuss it with their wives seem to be a thing of the past.

congrats!, now work on keeping them from touching ,or barely skimming the track surface for the first 15-30 feet. and dropping the 60 ft time to well under 2 seconds

running the torque up to 65lbs may or may not have pushed the bolt past its elastic limits Measure each the fastener length prior to starting, and monitor overall length during installation., bring the bolt up to torque specs and relax the torque a minimum of three cycles, then measure the bolt length after relaxing the bolt torque the third time, When the bolt has stretched the specified amount, the correct preload, or clamping load, has been applied. if you maintain a chart of all rod bolts, and copy down the length of the fastener prior to and after installation, youll see any deformation, If there is a permanent increase of .001Ë in length,when the bolts relaxed or if there is obvious deformation, the bolt should be replaced. http://www.arp-bolts.com/Tech/TechTorque.html http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=99&t=3511&p=9253#p9253

theres almost always times when you really don,t want to disassemble an engine to verify what you suspect is causing a problem,or you want to verify something, well heres a real time saver at times http://www.toolrage.com/prodView.asp?sku=SLI-PV618 http://www.toolrage.com/prodview.asp?sku=SLI-PV300 a tool like this, with its 1/4" lens and cable lets you remove the spark plug and lets you closely inspect the piston and valves at least giving you some better info on the condition in the combustion chamber, its also good once the oil pan plugs been removed to inspect what you suspect to be lower end rotating assembly conditions in many cases. I bought one and while its not used daily its a great help when you really want to inspect things before dis-assembly, as for example if you want to know if a salvage yard engines a two or four bolt block, without pulling the oil pan

I was recently asked about a Lincoln ARC welder a guy found at a yard sale for only $200, the answer to which welder you'll want depends on what your intended use for the welder is, most guys understandably want to get into welding as cheaply as they can, and they see a 220volt 230 amp arc welder for less than $400 and think thats a great idea, but you mention auto body work, that generally involves thin sheet steel and an ARC welder like your talking about is a rather poor choice for that, that welder is fine for welding up car trailers or brackets on rear differentials or most things made from 3/16-3/8" steel but it will be a P.I.T.A, on thin 24-20 gauge sheet steel fenders and doors etc. compared to a decent MIG or TIG Id suggest you take the class BEFORE you buy a welder and if its body work your intending to do a small MIG or TIG is a far better choice read thru these http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=72 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=1669 since your looking for a basically do everything auto body and frame welder, Id suggest this, as a great choice http://www.welders-direct.com/merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WD&Product_Code=907422 if your ONLY doing sheet metal body work and on a limited budget http://www.welders-direct.com/merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WD&Product_Code=907335 btw if you check your local bargain trader and Craig,s list or EBAY theres a good chance you can find a used miller,Lincoln or HTP TIG WELDER that would do an even better job that would normally cost several thousand dollar$ for a similar cash out lay something like these used TIGS can be less than 1/2 price and a screaming deal, keep in mind a decent TIG can also do aluminum just stick to name brands LINCOLN,MILLER,HTP and do the research to verify its still got parts availability (LESS THAN 10 years old usually) its a great idea to take a welding class before buying a welder pay attention when they start talking and TIG welding,water cooled vs air cooled,torches, shield gas,,ceramic gas shields,selection,electrode selection, and MIG welding about shield gas,wire size,,wire speeds, etc. because those will become important to your results http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=530 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=72 a good quality MIG will work ok,on thin body panels BUT a good quality TIG is even better! giving better heat control and better weld quality I can,t see how you can get by without at least one decent welder in your shop, Ive got 4 welders, arc,mig,tig,and a gas torch, but I could easily get by with just both a good 300 amp TIG and an OXY-ACETYLENE welders, the migs faster and easier but not as versatile in my opinion, the arc welders fine for frames and heavy steel but its not much good on the delicate things look around your area for a deal with a complete used 250-300 amp tig system like this with water cooled torch,pump,welder and your thousand$ ahead of buying new in come cases

my wife drives a 2003 mercury grand marque and she recently busted the whole slide out ash tray and cup holder assembly that slides into the lower dash, its (COLOR DARK PARCHMENT), any way I go to the local dealership and they look it up on the computer and its indicating its discontinued so thats as far as the parts guy looks, I call a few salvage yards with no luck, so I post a request on the salvage yard network and get back two reply's stating they have it, and can ship it for $89.00, GREAT,but theres no phone number to call to verify, its color or condition, I look at the address its only 40 miles from here, so I drive down to find its a private, u-rent it,post office box in a place that rents post office boxes for businesses that obviously don,t want to deal directly with customers (OBVIOUSLY THIS LOOKS LIKE A SCAM)so I look into the other reply, its a similar deal(A POST OFFICE BOX) not a salvage yard, auto parts store or dealership so now what? IT LOOKS VERY SIMILAR TO THIS BUT ITS NOT EXACTLY THE SAME any suggestions, any idea where I can find a part for a car thats only 7-8 years old?ld?

http://www.crower.com/misc/cam_spec/cam_finder.php?part_num=00321&x=26&y=11 Im assuming your trying to keep cost low ID suggest finding a set of vortec heads if possible as they are about ideal on a cammed 283, if the cars fairly light weight,get the compression ratio up around 11:1 and use headers, a 4.56-4.88 rear gear ratio, a manual transmission and a decent high flow intake, and heads with springs that will accept a .550 lift on a 283 and a cam like this will wake it up

Id need to know the COMPRESSION RATIO, the HEADS YOUR USING, the cars WEIGHT, what your transmission is,the intake and carb used, your rear gear ratio, if your running open headers, your max valve lift before reaching coil bind on the valve train,tire diameter, track length, octane of the fuel and any other info you can pass on, about the car. youll obviously want to run a flat tappet solid lifter cam simply to both keep cost low and take advantage of the 283 engines potential to produce power in the 5500rpm-7000rpm power band with the correct components.

I could be wrong, but the pictures seem to show the crush damage is low enough that theres not going to be a huge restriction to exhaust flow rates,so its probably not critical to the car, and can wait until you get long tube headers . but If I was repairing it ID cut that section out and weld in a new section, but then Id probably have used long tube headers, and you would be working on a semi-dented header collector .

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/vortec_valve_spring_upgrade/index.html http://carcraft.automotive.com/9794/vortec-valve-spring-upgrade/index.html might help

youll be pushing or at, the clearance limits of the stock valve springs, with that cam lift on most stock vortec heads. their are retainers and springs you can swap to that allow a .500 lift rather easily or you can buy heads already modified with the springs installed from several sources, and Im sure youll find people on the net who say they are running that cam with the stock heads that report having no problems, simply because many guys figure that if the engine spins with a breaker bar, after a cam install without binding your free/clear, but that's not really a reliable test route. BTW remember the stock first sbc gen I intakes and rockers and valve covers won,t work, be sure to get the vortec parts at the salvage yard, http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=401&p=6078&hilit=+vortec#p6078 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=181

the vortec heads http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-151124 with their higher port entrance angle are usually superior, and with the cam you selected I,d go that route Id suggest this intake http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CMB-03-0075/

a bit more info about the current condition of your car and drive train would be most useful, pictures of your car would help ID suggest buying these books as a start point http://www.themotorbookstore.com/resmchstvi.html http://www.amazon.com/Rebuild-Small-Block-Chevy-Engines-Hp1393/dp/1557883939/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274295954&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/John-Lingenfelter-Modifying-Chevy-Engines/dp/155788238X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274296049&sr=1-3

your choice looks good!and the price seems reasonable, if they made something similar in STAINLESS it would be about ideal. a basic exhaust laided out similar to these pictures above with headers feeding 3" exhaust and an (X) pipe tends to provide excellent results, if matched to low restriction mufflers, adding an (H) pipe just in front of the muffler entrance point can slightly further reduce noise and mellow the tone, just remember the main goal is improved cylinder scavenging and low restriction to flow while reducing the noise level, in roughly that order but obviously theres compromises that are made due to clearances and noise ordinances http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=1303 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=495 http://www.boyleworks.com/ta400/psp/exhaust3.html http://www.boyleworks.com/ta400/psp/exhaust.html

step one swap to the BLUE CAM and verify your float levels are set correctly and that you have a constant 4.5-5 psi of fuel pressure , this usually requires a return style fuel pressure regulator and a fuel pressure gauge. post clear pictures of your spark plugs with the cylinders numbered and set your ignition timing after verifying tdc at about 12 btdc at idle and verify its reaches full advance at about 36 degrees btdc at 3100rpm http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=1790 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=109 heres a cheap professional version but you can make a really nice one for a couple dollars that will last your lifetime its amazing what you can learn about engine combustion chamber conditions, air/fuel distribution and temps, from reading spark plugs

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HLY-9901-101-1/ ports and runners are smaller

one of my friends was recently working on an older corvette with a rather large, thin,flimsy and complicated aluminum bracket that held the air conditioner compressor and serpentine belt tension-er, to the block and used its multi bolt, secured base for its strength, during the removal he forgot one bolt and tugged hard on the bracket and twisted it enough that it broke, or the previous owner had used air tools and overtightened it,in any case it was busted when removed, pricing a new one at salvage corvette yards showed that it cost several hundred dollars to replace. SO, I got out my TIG welder, figuring even if I totally destroyed the bracket during the repair process he would be no worse off. now Ive learned years ago to do some test welds on some similar size scrap aluminum and to use the minimum amps required so as not to warp the component. he was surprised when I grabbed some scrap aluminum to do some test welds on and when I took the effort to re-grind the tungsten torch electrode, but once I worked the amps up to about 83 amps Id found the required heat, and gas flow rates and while the bracket was obviously not new , under a close visual inspection,its now very serviceable and it takes a close look to see it was welded.something I doubt would be true if I,d been testing the amp range on the weld while adjusting the welder

one of my friends was recently working on an older corvette with a rather large, thin,flimsy and complicated aluminum bracket that held the air conditioner compressor and serpentine belt tension-er, to the block and used its multi bolt, secured base for its strength, during the removal he forgot one bolt and tugged hard on the bracket and twisted it enough that it broke, or the previous owner had used air tools and overtightened it, pricing a new one at salvage corvette yards showed that it cost several hundred dollars to replace. SO, I got out my TIG welder, figuring even if I totally destroyed the bracket during the repair process he would be no worse off. now Ive learned years ago to do some test welds on some similar size scrap aluminum and to use the minimum amps required so as not to warp the component. he was surprised when I grabbed some scrap aluminum to do some test welds on ans when I took the effort to re-grind the tungsten torch electrode, but once I worked the amps up to about 83 amps Id found the required heat, and gas flow rates and while the bracket was obviously not new , under a close visual inspection,its now very serviceable and it takes a close look to see it was welded.something I doubt would be true if I,d been testing the amp range on the weld while adjusting the welder

high spring loads don,t play well with roller cams over long term use, heres a very clear example of why you should only use Billet cam cores with roller cams having over about 320 lbs of spring pressure and why you MUST verify valve train geometry and clearances. billet cams are polished/machined between the lobes, and don,t look cast these are both cast core cams (look between the lobes) the dark surface is a flat tappet cam lobe coating, the polished is a roller cam

this looks very typical of engine swap cooling systems http://www.summitracing.com/parts/FLX-440/?rtype=10 personally I think adding twin pusher fans since youve obviously got the room required is a no brainer here! Id also check the amps and voltage at the pull fan, as its very common for those electric motors to either be less than up to the job of pulling enough air flow or your alternator to be putting out less than the required power levels to spin the fan to its FULL potential, Ive cured several marginal cooling engines that ran electric fans problems with a swap to a 200 amp alternator http://www.db-starter-alternator.com/Items/ho-7888-11-200%20amp?&caSKU=ho-7888-11-200%20amp&caTitle=CORVETTE%205.7L%20200%20AMP%20HIGH%20OUTPUT%20ALTERNATOR%2088%2089%2091%20%207888-

the guys have you pointed in the right direction, but Id add that knowing how to read plugs and tune is mandatory, and use of a quality return style fuel pressure regulator and an # 6-8 lines and a fuel cell is a huge help, and road racing is mostly about power to weight,a stiff roll cage,the correct tires, a low centrally located center of mass, big brakes, effective cooling and properly set up suspension, not max peak power a really light weight car, with huge effective brakes, and a stiff roll cage, the good tires etc can do well against cars without those factors that have far more horsepower http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=773 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=1755&p=4431&hilit=+suspension#p4431 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=1961 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=733&p=6470&hilit=fuel+cell#p6470 http://www.jegs.com/p/Barry-Grant/Demon-Race-Demon-Carburetors-Road-Race/762590/10002/-1 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=773 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=1853&p=4848&hilit=ratio+meter#p4848

solenoid valves,.... since the Renault incident ? PLEASE EXPLAIN IN SOME DETAIL?????????????????????

because you obviously have above average skill at taking clear pictures a picture of the carb suspected casting (FLAW)with you pointing a pencil at both where you sprayed the air and the flaw would help a GREAT DEAL to answering your question