jt1

Aux, the first thing to do with the mauser would be to tear down the bolt and make sure there isn't any grease/dirt/gunk that is slowing or cushioning the firing pin. After that check the firing pin protusion, if that's OK check the headspace. If it all checks OK, you might need some different ammo. Some of the surplus stuff has some super hard primers. John

Nice. Mosin-Nagant? jt

gvincent, those pics are exactly what a factory 400 balancer looks like. If it's an internally balanced 383, it will have a regular damper on it, and using Grumpy's method, or pulling a head and measuring the stroke is about the only way to be sure. A 383 should have some clearancing on the bottom of the cylinders like Forces mentioned, right where the rod bolts are closest to the bottom of the cylinder. jt

I don't know where I came up with that garbage. The 400 damper has an indention on the outside of the outer ring, which goes halfway around the damper and is about 3/4 the width of the outer ring, about 3/16" deep. I found one in the shop, but my camera is at home so it will be in the morning before I can post a pic. Sorry for the bad info, I guess it's been a while since I looked at one. John

There are some very expensive gauges that some racing organizations use to measure CI, but not many people have one. Really the only way to know for sure is pull a head and measure the stroke. The 400 damper is a good sign, but you can build a 383 internally balanced, which would look just like a 350 from the outside. The 400 damper has a counterweight on the inside of the inner hub, on the backside towards the block. I may have one laying around, if so I'll put up a pic. John

Toyo RA-1. About as good combo tire as there is, some streetability with good grip at the track, should survive several HDPE's with some street miles. 245/45/16 will work on 8" rims. Try neg 2.5 camber and 34-35 psi hot. jt

Either the fuel pressure is overpowering the float, the needle and seat isn't sealing, the float is binding or hanging on something, or the float has a hole in it. It's just a process of elimination to find the problem. If it's pushing fuel out of both vent tubes, that's a good chance it's too much fuel pressure. jt

I used the ARP flywheel bolts with my AL flywheel, no issues in about 4 yrs now. John

I used the 90's F body Canton road race pan, and got Canton to cut 1" off the right hand kickout. jt

Contractors are a real PITA in any circumstances. If they had any brains, they wouldn't be contractors. jt

Pretty cool test!!! jt

The Valvoline race is a synthetic. I like the diesel oil + EOS combo. Easily available, fairly cheap, and is proven to work well. jt

For break in of a new flat tappet cam, I would only use the Joe Gibbs breakin oil, Valvoline VR1, or diesel oil with GM EOS added to it. You must have a high level of ZDDP for a flat tappet cam to break in properly. None of the modern auto oils have the ZDDP. John

In my experience it takes a really tight, fresh motor to leak down at 5%. After one has been beat on a while, 10% is pretty good. So my opinion is that yours is pretty good, and whether it's a problem depends on how hard you've run it those 6K miles or so. If it was mine, I wouldn't think about rebuilding it unless the performance dropped off. Also, the valve condition contributes to the leakdown as much as the rings. jt

$196?????? Dude, I will let you have some of my good aluminum duct tape. jt

Congratulations!!!!! More help to work on the car!!!! John

Yeah, you're going to need a new/rebuilt master cylinder. If it's leaking fluid out it's almost certainly getting air inside too. Leaving the caps off or loose is a good idea. John

I've pretty much concluded a quart of fluid gives a good system flush, starting with a wet system with no air. With a dry system, 2 or 3 quarts would not be unreasonable. Like Johnc says, start with the MC first. Getting all the air out of a dry system usually takes several trips around the car. John

About a year ago I was buying new calipers for the front of my car, and whatever the piston sizes in the 6 piston caliper were at that time, the 4 piston calipers had a good bit more piston area than the 6's. I don't recall the actual numbers, but it was by a pretty good amount. John

The wind tunnel has the capability to measure pressure at any point on the car. But you have to drill holes at the points of interest, mount a nipple, and run tubes thru the tunnel floor to the basement below the tunnel, which is where the sensors are located. Pressure gradient along the hood would be interesting, but would require a sacrifical hood and eat up a good bit of wind tunnel time setting it up. jt

That's detonation damage for sure on the head. Did you have anything shot peened or shot blasted? The shot blasting I've seen used a lot smaller shot than the dimples, but there may be different sizes. Was the other ceramic coating OK, or was it coming off too? John

Looks to me like a little ball of weld metal from the IC, manifold, or piping. How does the ceramic coating on the other pistons look? The top rings being stuck makes me think of detonation collapsing the piston crown down on the rings. Check the lands very carefully. John

You can use the ZX booster. It's larger in diameter than the 240 one, and will give a lighter pedal. jt

I'm pretty sure Mark's car makes more than 525 rwhp. A lot more!!!!!!!!! John