Ledphoot

Very nice job. As a body man on and off for the last 20 yrs I will say the key on alot of the less expensive paint is patience and good quality additives ( hardner/reducer ). Less expensive paints are usually thinner and have less pigment so the cover slower and run quicker. I have done some great work with what would be considered "cheap" paint. Another trick is to buy a cheap basecoat and cover it with a good clear but you have top test and make sure they are compatible so they don't wrinkle when the contact one another. I'm gonna give the old rustoleum trick I read on this forum a try on my old explorer. I'm curious to see how it holds up. Anyway...GOOD JOB!! wish people here in the east would rent space and paintbooths and such. You CA boys have all the good parts and good weather...LOL

sounds like a job for Ebay!!

I'm an old fart. I understand big cubic inches and large cfm carbs. Strictly old school. But on race day, when I have a problem, I dont have to have a laptop and a degree in engineering to fix it. Just a plug, a wire, some ductape and maybe a part or 2 I 'borrowed" from the tow truck..LOL No , really, I envy the new tech and it makes some awesome numbers and takes some smart heads and hands to create and manage these monsters. Cubic dollars don't hurt either... I graciously pass the crown VVVV

Oh BTW, an electric dual action sander ( the round disc oscillating type ) can be bought for 20-30 bucks at Wallyworld. You can do your first cut sand with it using 320-500 ( you can buy paper at the paint store all the way to 1000 grit) just to knock down the orange peel. It cuts the process in half and the sander is great for doing body work as well. I bought one to use here at home because my neighborhood of snobs made me move my compressor back to my Dads ( 100miles away) because of the noise. Damn homeowners association. I cant wait to sell this place and move to the country again!!

This method is much like that used for repainting boats. I've had good success with brushing on rustoleum and other good quality enamels. You can use good soft bristle brushes and play with the mineral spirits mix and lay it on smooth. Brush or roller method lays down a heavy build so there is plenty of thickness to sand and buff. Spraying always leaves you thinner so you have to be much more careful and you dont have the depth to sand out trash. Many high dollar cars , like the Rolls Royce were brush painted and hand sanded/polished back in the early days, but they used a lacquer based paint. I came across the idea when I was a teen and painted farm equipment one summer. the old farmer could make a tractor shine like glass...

My swap was easy and cheap, I used 2.5 in square tube welded into a solid box with a tube throught the center for the bolt to mount.. 69 GMC truck mounts with the center bolt that passes through. Grade 9 bolts and safety cables on the left side Added a 3/4 in plate steel spacer to get oil pan off suspension. This mounted on the original perches with perch holes slotted back and offset 3/4in to align motor and tranny with pinion, meant I had to remove hoodlatch but left room to clear HEI distributor. Then I took an old turbo 350 short tail shaft with tranny mount, lined it up so all was level and offset 3/4 inch to align with rear carrier, and built a spring steel tranny crossmember out of a collapsed(flat) leaf spring bolted through the floor at the frame rails. That gave me just enough clearance to use $89 shorty center dump headers and clear the crossmember. 6 of 8 cylinders are behind the shock towers. I used the short early vette water pump, a one wire hookup GM 100 amp alternator and an 89 S10 4.3 V6 with air and towing package radiator fitted by trimming the frame rails at the core support just a tad and mounted with the original GM hold down and rubbers.I use a 14 inch slimfit electric fan wired to run continuously, and a 160 thermostat. I run a 355 with double hump heads 10-1 compression, 512 lift Lunati cam , a 3000 stall throught a turbo 350 with a quicksilver shifter. Manual steering that steers great, heat works, all accessories work, thanks to a universal speedo cable with the Jap end braded on the top and US on the other with a camaro gear in the tranny it is only 2 mph off at 75mph. I have an r180 limited slip rear (which makes me nervous, I hope to upgrade). I live in the south and can sit in 90 degree traffic all day and never go over 200 degrees and stay around 165-175 degrees on the move. I have driven this car 12,000 miles and raced several weekends in the last 2 yrs with no problems other than some dash wiring thanks to 30+ yr old harness. I don't "flash" the converter so the rear is holding up and I run 93 octane gas with av gas mix or race gas at the track. I have used 89 and additive when I'm just riding around but i keep the timing back a touch. ( Makes for a nice bangin' idle too in gear!!!) Some might consider it a junkyard dog but it is faithful and LO' Buck! __________________

My swap was easy and cheap, I used 2.5 in square tube welded into a solid box with a tube throught the center for the bolt to mount.. 69 GMC truck mounts with the center bolt that passes through. Grade 9 bolts and safety cables on the left side Added a 3/4 in plate steel spacer to get oil pan off suspension. This mounted on the original perches with perch holes slotted back and offset 3/4in to align motor and tranny with pinion, meant I had to remove hoodlatch but left room to clear HEI distributor. Then I took an old turbo 350 short tail shaft with tranny mount, lined it up so all was level and offset 3/4 inch to align with rear carrier, and built a spring steel tranny crossmember out of a collapsed(flat) leaf spring bolted through the floor at the frame rails. That gave me just enough clearance to use $89 shorty center dump headers and clear the crossmember. 6 of 8 cylinders are behind the shock towers. I used the short early vette water pump, a one wire hookup GM 100 amp alternator and an 89 S10 4.3 V6 with air and towing package radiator fitted by trimming the frame rails at the core support just a tad and mounted with the original GM hold down and rubbers.I use a 14 inch slimfit electric fan wired to run continuously, and a 160 thermostat. I run a 355 with double hump heads 10-1 compression, 512 lift Lunati cam , a 3000 stall throught a turbo 350 with a quicksilver shifter. Manual steering that steers great, heat works, all accessories work, thanks to a universal speedo cable with the Jap end braded on the top and US on the other with a camaro gear in the tranny it is only 2 mph off at 75mph. I have an r180 limited slip rear (which makes me nervous, I hope to upgrade). I live in the south and can sit in 90 degree traffic all day and never go over 200 degrees and stay around 165-175 degrees on the move. I have driven this car 12,000 miles and raced several weekends in the last 2 yrs with no problems other than some dash wiring thanks to 30+ yr old harness. I don't "flash" the converter so the rear is holding up and I run 93 octane gas with av gas mix or race gas at the track. I have used 89 and additive when I'm just riding around but i keep the timing back a touch. ( Makes for a nice bangin' idle too in gear!!!) Some might consider it a junkyard dog but it is faithful and LO' Buck!

Nice set of long tube headers on Ebay right now 12/7/06 for 200 bucks for z swap. I thought about trying the s-10 swap shorties, Looks like a close fit and easy to modify if needed.

I use victor gaskets on lower compression motors 8.5-9.5 If I'm building more than that I use good Teflon coated brands, spray em with copper, add 5 lbs extra torque and roll! In 25 yrs I've never had an engine failure related to headbolts or head gaskets... If I'm going over 12 to 1 thats a whole different story... I o-ring those.

Yep, be sure to check for previous cooling issues for sure! and make sure you get the flywheel and harmonic balancer in the deal. 400s are balanced differently then other small blocks so you need these pieces if your on a budget!

I love a 400 small block. Torque of a bigblock and rpm of a small. Just have to make sure your cooling system is primo.. Take a 400 and put some corvette aluminum heads on it with a nice cam and you got a low buck Vette threat!! All smallblock goodies bolt on, same bellhousing, distributor etc. And if your lucky its a truck motor so you get 4 bolt mains...