jt1

Congrats on a big improvement, that's a nice job. What heads did you go with? Your buddy takes nice pics, too. jt

The Para Ordnances double stacks do have a large grip. They don't work with everybodies hands, and makes them difficult to CCW if that's a requirement. They do make some single stacks, but I think they're all 45. Was it a single action or a LDA? jt

I agree with Doc. Nice early 1st gens are getting harder to find, it could be a good buy. jt

You need to think about your goals and priorities. With the rest of your combo, your best performance is going to be with a smaller cam, say 230-235@50 w 110 or 112 LSA. A solid will let it rev a little better than a hydraulic, at the cost of being noisier and requiring occasional adjustment. A big hyd will have weak bottom end because of the duration and overlap, and you can't turn a hyd much over 6K or so, depending on the combo, with out pump/float/stability issues. About the only thing a big hyd cam does well is sound good cruising around town, which is fine, but don't fool yourself into thinking it's the best performer. John

I'm going way out on a limb and suggest that if you compared a spool and a quaife, the amount of extra heat the quaife transfers to the diff fluid, is equal to the amount of extra heat the spool puts in the tires. The spool wins the pole, the quaife wins the race. jt

Have you checked piston to valve clearance to see how much lift you can run? I bet that's getting tight with the KB's and zero deck. Retainer/guide and coil bind must be checked also. jt

She sounds sweet!!! Cranking up is always a huge milestone. Good job!!! John

How is it running in the truck? What are the stampings on the block, right above the pass side waterpump bolts? jt

I've become a fan of the ParaOrdnance LDA's. Wonderful trigger, dependable, and available in a lot of different configurations to suit your needs. John

A Saturday morning cleanup around the shop results in 5 sets of worn out brake rotors to throw away, and a bunch of pads to boot. The bad thing is I think there are some more in the trailer. If anybody wants some of these for mock up, let me know. They're yours for the shipping. None are safe to use. jt

Tom, you can remove the rockers, retainers, springs, and check the guides and seals with the head still on the car. You will need a valve spring compressor that works with the head on the block. If the guides are bad, the head will have to come off. You can replace the seals with the head on. Maybe you should try a PCV system. It wouldn't cost a lot or take a lot of time to rig one up and give it a try. If it helps, you could build it to Redbird standards. All you would need to do is run hoses from the two breathers to the intake somewhere pre turbo. I will let you borrow some duct tape and zip ties. jt

When Tom mentioned to me a while back the car was losing water and smoking on deccel, I figured it was getting water in the exhaust. But what condition would cause water in the combustion areas, but not allow compression into the cooling system when the engine was under load? Combustion pressures are far greater then vacuum under deccel. jt

Holy Crap!!!! That's twisting the pump. Still at 25 psi? jt

I don't see how Tom could be building any positive crankcase pressure. He doesn't have a PCV system, just a hose off the valve cover to a catch can with a breather on it, then a hose off the side of the block to another catch can and breather. It seems to me it has to be valve guides/seals, or maybe the turbo seals. jt

You can drop them together. Sometimes the bushings on the ends of the bar will fall off, sometimes they are are a real problem. Give it a try. jt

Yes, that's possible, but it's generally easier to unbolt the diff cover from the mustache bar and remove the diff without the mustache bar. Unless the bar has been removed recently, it normally doesn't come out without a fight. jt

Bong? :biggrin: jt

I wouldn't reuse that caliper. When you top the hill on the VIR backstraight at 160+, that's not one of the things you want to be worrying about. jt Edit: Earnhardt was talking about the C5R's carbon fiber brakes.

That is a classic symptom of your car being too fast. If you will slow down so I can keep up it won't happen. When I get home and sober up maybe I can offer an intelligent comment. At the moment, this is about it. jt

377's were the preferrred motor for dirt tracks for quite a while. They would make as much top end hp as the 400's, but had a good bit less low end torque. This made it easier to hook up the car off, while still giving a big run down the straight. They worked especially well in mid summer when the track went dry slick earlier. The spacers were a pita. Usually you had to install them, them line hone the block to get them to last. I had one blow so hard one night that the only thing I saved was the waterpump. A piece of the cam cracked the intake, and in the big wreck that followed the blown engine, the car sitting crossways on the hood of my car ruined the carb and distributor. That was my last 377. John

A few things to note about the gnose and wind tunnel in general- Time in the wind tunnel was $$$$, and we had a certain amount of money to work with, so we did tests that gave "the most bang for the buck", so to speak. There were many more combos we could have tried with more tunnel time, but this was an attempt to provide something for everyone. The gnose was an aftermarket two piece design, and was not sealed back to the radiator crossmember. We did not have headlight covers, or an air dam to fit the gnose. It's likely that the same mods that improved the stock car, sealing the space to the crossmember, adding headlight covers, adding an air dam, etc. would also help the gnose, but we don't know that for sure. It would take more testing of the specific pieces to quantify the changes. John

If you buy a 383 crank, you will need pistons to match. You could use the same rods. I would build the 350. A 383 is a great motor, but a nice 350 in a Z can be pretty much a terror. I'll be glad to help out if needed. When you get it running, bring it down to CMP and I'll help you get it sorted out. John

Interesting. When you do the other side, can you check the back of the hub where the hat bolts up? It seems one or the other must be off to cause the runout. John

Mike, it's scarce around Charlotte and anywhere west of there, including Spartanburg and Greenville. Try to fill up around Raleigh and you should be able to get back to that area. jt

It's a long shot, but are you sure your float "floats"? I've seen one that appeared to be ok, but if you dropped it in a cup of gas, it would go right to the bottom. It was flooding the heck out of the motor too. A 390 Holley would probably be about right for the 4.3 in your sig. jt