jt1

We have a pretty good robo deer program in NC. They raise and turn their head, flip their tail, and walk. A friend who is a game warden says they catch a lot of road hunters with them, which I think is great. That's a beautiful deer. Damn shame he was taken by a drive by. John

Helix, did you measure your bumpsteer before beginning this? It would be interesting to know how much you're able to reduce it, hopefully close to zero. jt

I hate idiots like this. They give ethical law abiding hunters and shooters a bad image, and give the anti hunting/antigun crowd more reasons to get worked up into a frenzy. I hope they get the full punishment allowed by law. John

Anybody recognize that crossram? jt

I would set the rockers and pushrods up on the engine stand, before it goes in the car. That's a real PITA to do leaning over the fenders. jt

You missed an important one, John. If I had been there, I would have kept him up in the 1:50's, where us mere mortals run!!!!!!!! Maybe I will get my junk running soon. jt

Mark, congratulations on the FTD. You've got a beautiful car with a lot of nice work and spectacular details. It's nice to see you get a big trophy to go with it. For those who don't know, a 1:40 at CMP is faster than race prepped C6 Z06's, Vipers, and GT3's. The only cars faster than that are tube chassis full bore race cars, and only a few of those. For instance: The SCCA SPO record is 1:40.263, set by Mark Starr in a Nascar cup car, complete with the 850 hp motor. GT2 (Z06's and GT3's) is 1:42.48, and T1 is 1:42.876. Congratulations again, well deserved. John

With that big a cam in a 283, 20 deg BTDC is quite reasonable. A little more, 22-24 deg won't hurt if it cranks OK and you can keep the total advance where you want it. jt

I will add this for the sake of discussion. When we were doing the wind tunnel tests, we had a good many conversations with Bob, the fellow who ran the tunnel. He is very knowledgable, loves to talk aero, and it would be quite interesting to buy him dinner and a few beers. Maybe we'll get to do that someday. One point he made very strongly was to not make the same assumptions for blunt object (car) aerodynamics, and aero for streamlined shapes (planes). Because of the vastly different shapes, coefficents, and characteristics of the airflow, what works with one may be totally wrong for the other. jt

You really need to decide which head you're going to use, iron/aluminum and chamber size being the two main factors for comp ratio, then choose your pistons to get the compression you want for what fuel you're going to run. Larger compression height puts the top of the piston higher, good for quench and higher compression. 0.004 isn't much, maybe .2 - .3 point depending. Pick fuel> pick head> pick piston> pick deck height. jt

Project is still in the works, but has slowed. I hit a major snag when I found the valves on the 292's were too short to allow the installed height I need for the cam I want. So, this was gonna require new valves and retainers, $$$$$, totally defeating the what-I-had-laying-around concept. About that time I blew a head gasket on the 358 in my Z, and a head gasket swap turned into a major rebuild with a bore, new pistons, new main cap, and new rods. This diverted some attention from the 302, but that sub-project is nearing an end, so hopefully I'll get back on the 302 pretty soon. John

That bearing doesn't look bad at all to me, just normal wear you expect to see in a fairly high mile motor, say 100K. No major scuffs of marks, just a touch of copper showing at the upper right. For a mild build, I would have probably polished the crank, checked the clearance with new bearings, and let 'er rip. jt

Charlie, check with City Auto parts in Kings Mtn., NC. They handle a lot of heavy duty truck parts and aren't far away from you. jt

Jon, I've been running the 1 3/4" 4 piston superlites on my car for several years, mostly using PF 01 pads. My experience is that you will see a slight amount of pad taper, but it is insignificant. When the pads are at the end of their useful life, you might see 1-2mm of taper, although I suppose this could vary with different pads. I have not had any issues with scuffing the pistons or bores. Another thing to consider is that the 6 piston calipers have less piston area than the 4 piston 1 3/4" versions. jt

You might try reading thru the Rota wheel 16x8 thread. There was a good bit of discussion about what tire sizes would work. jt

It's close, it depends on your ride height and suspension travel. I have used 16x8 with +12 offset, and 245/45/16 tires on my car. With 275 rear springs and 5 1/2" ride height at the rear of the rockers, I had only very minimal rub, but any lower would have rubbed badly. There is also some variance in different tires of the same size, so that is also a factor. With the zero offset on the rear, you're going to have to stay pretty close to stock height to prevent any rubbing. I also rolled the lips on my rear fenders pretty heavily. Lots of variables, no set answer. jt

The Vic Jr is shorter than the RPM, so that will help with hood clearance. jt

Here you go: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=494395 I want to ride. jt

You can check out Ryan's stroker page. Lots of dyno'd combo's there, you can get an idea of what it will take to meet your goals. http://ryanscarpage.50megs.com/combos1.html jt

Quaife's are a great diff, but they have more internal movement that say a clutch diff. It's pretty normal for mine to make some clunks. It might be a good idea to drain some oil and see if it shows any metal, and check the front diff mount too. jt

The GT3's are double-drop-dead-awesome cars. They offer stunning performance in probably the best balanced package on the market. However, the red wheels, mirrors, stripes, etc, just don't do it for me. Kind of gives it a garish appearance IMO. The car, however, is amazing. jt

The most important part of any project is to: 1) Establish a realistic budget; 2) Establish a realistic timeframe. Then, start working on the details. jt

I double checked my car, a 73, and it has the pin between the clevis and pedal. Was the arrangement changed sometime later? jt

It should have a pin that passes thru the clevis (the U shaped piece) and a hole in the brake pedal. Yours has probably fallen out. It's a round pin with a bobby pin style clip on the end. Did the new master solve the brake problem? jt