grumpyvette

http://www.crower.com/misc/cam_spec/cam_finder.php?part_num=00240&x=39&y=14 if I was building that ID use this cam, its a compromise but it should give decent low and mid rpm power and work with the dual quads and 2.88:1 rear gears , provided you can tune the carbs well, Id strongly suggest setting up the linkage so the 4 seperate sets of venturies come in progressively, Id set it up, like described in this thread http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=444&p=5682&hilit=quads#p5682

interesting , especially the plumbing on the turbo using rectangular tubing

JUST A BIT MORE , CHECKING TRUST BEARING CLEARANCE , PICTURES

please don,t think I have not made HUNDREDS of mistakes in the last 45 years and done my FULL share of things,that were not well thought thru, but EVENTUALLY I learned to step back and look at ALL the options and my budget and make semi-rational decisions. I did almost the exact same thing you did back in 1968 with a camaro, and a 454/th400/4.88 rear gear, quite a few years later I helped install a different transmission with an overdrive installed in the car, and it made a huge difference (even thou by that time the car was owned by a friend)he still drives the car and we both are amazed at how much better the combo is with the od transmission

just a question? why, would you choose to install a th350 with no overdrive when a 700r4 or 2004r would basically give you the top end speed and lower rpms your looking for and still retain the 3.90:1 rear gears off the launch gear advantage with a 3.90 rear gear ratio and an over drive transmission, a sbc that pulls 6300rpm, and makes 500 plus hp with a 26" tire should in theory, far exceed 160mph, in a 2400lb z with a 200r4 your able to cruise at about 2600rpm engine speed at 70 mph vs about 3500rpm with a th350 at the same speeds, with the same tires and rear gear ratio. 200-4R 2.74 1.57 1.00 0.67 700R-4 3.06 1.63 1.00 0.70 http://www.thirdgen.org/calculations http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=555

if IM reading the post correctly your concerned, that if you just install the upper distributor band groove and O-ring ,to prevent oil escaping into the lifter gallery area, that the lower band without an o-ring, won,t leak enough oil to lube the cam/dist gear contact area if thats what your worried about , don,t its rarely a problem, but if you want extra oil flow, you can use a jewelers file and cut a shallow groove the the block, adjacent to the lower distributors oil band, above the contact area to provide more high pressure oil spray, just keep is small, as you'll be surprised what even a .005 deep x .010 wide groove will flow

http://www.gixxer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=242261 read thru this, as its a good reminder about thinking thru the potential results of working around power tools, running engines etc.

I see the PROBLEM as more a LACK of easy access to an engine crane and perhaps a common and understandable reluctance to jump into projects your not familiar with...which once overcome will be to your benefit If your going to be working on cars you EITHER need to join the local car clubs and make contacts where you can borrow one when needed,or you can BUY an engine crane that will do a decent job, but keep in mind that for about what you can RENT one for over 3-5 days you can BUY an engine crane, so it hardly makes sense to rent one,, Id suggest borrowing or buying one, but you NEED ACCESS TO one to work on cars, if you look on craigs list , listings or the local bargain trader, news paper,I see them all the time for $80-$100, if you catch one on sale,at HARBOR FREIGHT( just don,t get cheap and buy something thats not safe,) EXAMPLE these work and go on sale for $148 occasionally you can always buy a used one off craigs list,( TEST IT WORKS BEFORE YOU PAY FOR IT, BY LIFTING SOMETHING HEAVY) use it and resell it, for little or no true cost, http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=7620 If you were local Id suggest you swing by and Id show you how its done in a couple hours, Id be thinking about doing the job correctly and hopefully making the local contacts with car guys that are willing to help you in exchange for you helping them,and that way both guys save cash and gain skills

I don,t see why removing the engine to replace the oil pan gasket is not your first option, theres really not much more than at most 3-5 hours work even with just hand tools if youve got an engine crane and engine tilter,and can get a friend to help, during the process to pull, replace and re-install a sbc in a (Z) , with the car up on (4) 12 ton jack stands and air tools and an experienced friend, I bet less than 3 hours from drive in to drive out. but even if it took a full 10-12 hours, doing the job correctly beats patching the oil leak in a slip shod manor, USE the one piece oil pan gasket as the instructions indicate, don,t cut it up http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=699&p=972#p972 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=206&p=1154&hilit=+synthetic+gasket#p1154

IM always glad to help out you gentlemen, Im sure the new oil pan will prove to be an improvement!

looks good, and IM sure it will help. my only question?, why didn,t you get a larger sump design" http://www.midwestmotorsportsinc.com/order_part.php?item=7101R&line=WYS

the 5.7 are the easiest to use and generally provide decent clearance, the 6" require the piston pin be located up into the lower oil ring and whiles its do-able its not ideal. the 6" in theory provides a couple extra high rpm horse power if the correct cam and headers are used, to maximize the high rpm cylinder scavenging, due to its longer dwell time near TDC and the piston can be made shorter and lighter in weight, and theres a very slight reduction in friction, but in the real world the rod length, is a flip of the coin decision, but ID suggest you use aftermarket rods with 7/16" ARP rod bolts in either case,and spend a good deal of time thinking thru your valve train clearances, and geometry, and lube system as its the rod bolt strenght, or a valve train control issue, or lack of pressurized and cooling oil flow thats the critical factor in many engine failures read these http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=510&hilit=+rods http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=1168 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=1110

it might help if you told me the year and brand and displacement of the engines that your referencing too? especially since you hint strongly its not a chevy engine, but don,t give other info??

the larger torches provide more heat and can do so over both a larger area and for a longer time,keep in mind its not just the weld your heating with a torch, and getting the welded area up to temperature, to make a solid weld ,that temperature in the area adjacent to the actual weld can be critical to success on some applications like welding aluminum, with a torch,or when even welding large thick components like the 14" long 5/16" thick brackets on a 4 link to a rear differential when your building a 4 link suspension, welds that appear to be solid that won,t fully penetrate are common on larger components if both parts act like heat sinks, now with a MIG or TIG heat is localized and higher in the weld area itself, but with a torch it takes a good deal of heat to actually get metal flowing correctly, in the weld itself

looks like a well thought thru install, congrats

any truly dedicated/ and persistent hot rodder with a goal will find a way to build darn near anything he sets his mind to, and if youve got a decent welder and average skill thats a huge plus heres some tools to help http://www.metalgeek.com/static/cope.pcgi http://pipemastertools.com/store/page1.html http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=260&p=315#p315

http://www.racepages.com/parts/headers/nissan/280z.html

some of the better distributors with o-ring grooves have a small oil hole drilled between the o-rings that allows a steady stream of pressurized oil to enter the lower distributor shaft, the upper bearing is sealed so oil can,t exit into the upper distributor, but oil is routed to lube the lower bearing in the distributor, the oil exits to spray over the cam gear/distributor gear contact area, look closely at yours non-o-ring distributor base , that relies on tight clearances to limit oil flow from the blocks oil passages notice the o-rings on these distributor bases used to limit oil loss from the oil passages in the block,

http://www.tradebit.com/filedetail.php/5519172-1978-nissan-280z-workshop-service-repair-manual owning a shop manual would sure help! but heres links that might help, Im fairly sure your looking at about 15 ft lbs,for both,bolts, but like I stated, owning a shop manual would sure help! http://www.datamanuals.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=46_62&sort=1a&page=2 http://www.bevenyoung.com.au/prdt1589.htm http://torquespecs.tripod.com/sentra_82-94_eng.htm http://www.olddatsuns.com/620tech4.htm#TS2 http://www.phase2motortrend.com/nifasemaf.html

im not sure of current pricing, but a few freinds have and LOVE these,...worth a call. http://www.htpweld.com/products/tig_welders/tig160.html http://www.htpweld.com/products/tig_welders/tig201.html you might want to look at the local welding shops ,larger manufacturers maintenance departments, and auto body shops as most want to either sell or upgrade equipment occasionally, and I frequently hear about real good deals on used equipment examples in my area http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/for/1436088692.html http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/tls/1433632209.html http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/tls/1465304006.html

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=343&p=1170&hilit=+redline#p1170 an engines red-line is the rpm limit where the stress is approaching the strength limitations of the weaker components in your engine, in most cases that's the rod bolts, rods, or a valve train control issues, on most engines. on most American V8 engines that's reached at about 4000 fpm (feet per minute) in piston speed, with high quality forged components and a solid lifter valve train, thats at about 4500fpm,now Id point out Im not about to suggest that at 4100 fpm a stock engine self destructs,because theres a wide variation in components, and different engine designs but stress is cumulative, and those are reasonable limits as a guide, now your engine may exceed that limit hundreds of times or only a few times before problems occur, but exceed the limits and eventually youll over stress components until they fail.

Ive built 383,396,421 and 427 SBC combos and used both the 195cc and 210cc AFR, brodix 180,200cc , trickflow, 195, 215 and dart 200cc,-230cc heads,and Ive used the 750cfm and 850cfm carbs. ok theres very little gained with swap between the 750/850 cfm carbs in either direction, both are almost interchangeable with the correct tuning in my opinion, but ID prefer the 750cfm about 90% of the time, as its slightly crisper in the throttle response and Id doubt youll give up 3 hp at peak with the small rated carb the 195cc class heads produce slightly more low rpm torque, the 210-230cc slightly more peak hp,in a combo thats set up correctly to take full advantage of either heads characteristics, again the difference is more in the intake, cam, compression and exhaust tuning, but given a choice id select the 210cc heads about 75% of the time if the peak hp was the goal and the 195cc on a car used mostly on the street, as a general rule if I use a single plane intake, and a cam with about 240 plus duration,and 10.2:1 or higher compression, I tend to select the 210-230cc heads, on a dual plane intake , with a cam having under 240 duration,and 10.1:1 or lower compression, Id select the 195-200cc class heads, keep in mind its that total combo with the rear gearing, exhaust and transmission taken into the calculations that matters not a single component http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=796 http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=333

not being there I can,t tell you exactly the required clearances but what I would suggest is having a buddy use a long ratchet to slowly turn the engine as you try to remove the pan as in many cases the counter weights on the crank , if they are in the lower 180 degrees of rotation,prevent the oil pan from moving to the rear, thats necessary to get the oil pan off on corvettes and it might be on your car, unless the counter weights on the front cylinders are in the upper rotational location, Id also suggest removing the distributor before you go loosening the engine mounts and lifting the engine slightly if you go that route to prevent damage

"I don't have to pay someone to screw up my car, I am perfectly capable of doing that myself" LOVE IT

IM always ,always glad to help! I wish many of you gentlemen were closer, so you could run over to my shop, because, about 80% of the problems I see posted are easy to diagnose or correct if you have the experience, and tools i have, but it takes years to get a feeling for whats wrong and you learn mostly from your own screw-ups and watching others who know what they are doing , (I KNOW thats how I learned) so I try to pass on what info I can. I know how frustrating it is to have a problem , especially when your not sure of the cause, thats one reason I started posting info in a data base, resource, thats there for you guys to access, so youll spend less time beating your heads on walls, and throwing tools, and pulling your hair out. when you get my age you want those tools and hair back, and your not up to banging you head on walls any more http://grumpysperformance.com/