jt1

Good tires and aluminum tape will go a long way. Thanks for the compliments. It was a nice weekend except for the heat. Good guys to hang out with, and the car ran well except for a nagging rattle, got to check that out. jt

No functional speedo here, but according to the datalogger 152 on the front straight, don't know on the back. Mark is faster than I am. Available R200 ratios force the use of an overdrive trans, which eliminates a jerico type. My TKO has the 0.83 OD, and I haven't found the end of it yet, I think it calculates to 172 or so. jt

That guy sort of has a Beavis look to him. [beavis]Bottle rocket for my bunghole!!![/beavis] jt

When I bought my car, it still had the drums on the rear, and I had the same symptoms you did. I would start a track day with good brakes, and have no rear brakes by the end of the day, despite adjusting them between runs. I upgraded to rear discs, and they are consistent thru the day now. You will most likely need an adjustable proportioning valve. jt

Check the casting and stamping numbers at mortec.com and nastyZ28.com. jt

How about making a spacer out of exhaust tubing, roll bar tubing, or something similar? jt

Tom had a good day overall. I don't know how he wound up in the standings, I didn't really see who was in which of the four classes. It was hard to get a clean lap, they started all 40 cars in one run group. Archer in the World Challenge Viper pretty much lapped the field, and there was a C5 that was probably second fastest, and a turbo Noble that was quick. Tom's car ran well, he did a nice job driving, and Roddy, Mark. Shaun, and myself provided spectacular support from the pits. We loaded up and left after the last run, and the final results weren't going to be announced until later. One of the GRM guys said Tom's car was one of the most popular in the voting, that was pretty cool. Maybe GRM will post the results. John

THANK YOU RODDY for your valuable input!!!!!! jt

Make certain that the radiator is sealed to the rad support, the support is sealed to the hood, and that the bottom of the support is COMPLETELY sealed to the air dam or valence, what ever you're running. Wash the system out a couple of more times. Leave a little soap in it or run some water wetter. 13.5 is pretty lean for a circle track or road race motor. Watch your plugs closely. jt

The cracks aren't in exactly the same place, but they all originate in the lower right hand quadrant, usually somewhere below the starter bulge. Polishing the whole bellhousing sounds like a lot of work. I'm eyeing a Tilton if the visa will stand it. jt

To the word, that's why I sold mine. Plus, I was always scared of the first door ding or gravel chip. I almost never drove it. That car made me realize I'm an enthusist, not a collector. It sure was pretty though. John

Oh, THAT f-word....I'm a little slow this morning. I agree that's been beat to death many times. jt

Huh?????? jt

Ron- The engine is on the 70's GM rubber truck mounts, and the trans in on the generic rubber 350 trans mount. No alignment issues that I can detect. Alan- The lakewood does not have teh liTen3ss. The GM one is 8 #'s. jt

Everytime I pull the motor or trans out of my car, I find a cracked bellhousing. This current one is the 4th. I previously blamed it on the block, but this time it's a different block, and I had the bellhousing surfaced and wet magged for cracks, and indicated it true to the crank within 0.005" TIR. It doesn't really seem to hurt anything, but it can't be good for the long term. I'm using the GM 3858403 bellhousing, and all the cracks have been in an area not supported by the block, i.e. below the crank centerline. Anybody got any idea what causes this, and how to fix it? It's getting harder and harder to find these in the local junkyards. John

245's usually show a little bulge in my experience. John

The one I owned was 903 blue. I think Courtesy sold about 12 or 15 of the Vintage cars, well more than any other dealer. John

Check to see if the mark on the damper is in fact at TDC, and that it isn't moving. I would also try another dist., a known good one if possible. It sounds like the weights aren't pulling the timing down correctly. John

I used to own a 71 VintageZ. It was a very, very, nice restoration with a ton of attention to details. It literally looked like a brand new car. When I picked it up at Courtesy Nissan, they had it in the center of the showroom, and it looked right at home. The Vintage cars aren't perfectly correct restorations, that is not everything is just like a new 71 was delivered, but they are nice cars. John

Sounds like you're right where you want to be. Did you spin the diff and trans to see if the laser stays in one spot or describes a circle? If you get a circle, the center of the circle is the point you use. jt

All the spark plugs OK? edit- Probably not, wrong side of the motor. jt

Let me back up a little, and say 70's 2wd smallblock trucks. All those I've seen used the same mount. I think they changed in the late 80's when they went to the roller cam motors, and the magnum engines use a different mount. Post some pics of that bad boy when you get it in. I like mopars, and would like to do a mopar swap someday. John

With a timing gear bolted to the cam, and no lifters in the engine, you should be able to turn the cam easily with your hand, not even close to having to put a wrench on it. Check all the cam bearings for any burs or lips. Sometimes there is a small lip from installing the bearings. If so, take it back to whoever put in the cam bearings. jt

I think you'll find that as long as it's a smallblock 2WD truck, they are all the same. John

Damn John... I don't reckon you're interested in my pic of how I duct taped the laser pointer to the trans yoke. I don't think the error introduced by the pointer not being at the hinge point (if any) is enough to worry about. My driveshaft isn't quite perfect, I think I was about 1/2" off, but it doesn't vibrate enough to notice, at least not with all the other commotion going on in my car. It's tough to be real precise picking the center, although the smaller the circle the easier it gets. jt