jt1

Calico does radiators for the nascar guys, supposedly the coating improves the heat transfer. You might give them a call. http://www.calicocoatings.com John

I used to run the Hooker block huggers with Trick Flow angle plug heads, and the S&S's work on my current Canfields. It's just a try and see deal, because different manufacturers put the plugs in different places. John

No. Like mark said, most batteries are at least 800 amps, a lot are over a thousand. Put a good battery in it, make sure the cables and ends are in good shape, be sure the grounds are good, and give it a try. jt

You can weld on them, I had to do some repairs to mine after I damaged them. I used a sandpaper disc to remove the coating, but some of it remains, and the welds don't look as good as a weld on uncoated metal. It seems the coating keeps the weld puddle from flowing like normal. Structurally they have been OK, but not as pretty as you would like. jt

One hole is for the bolt that secures the pump to the rear main cap; the other hole is for the oil to flow into the rear main cap and on up into the block. jt

Glad you had a good weekend Tom. Maybe one of these days I will get enough sack to give Rockingham a try. jt

The cowboy loads are the lightest 45 colt loads you can buy, use them for practice only. I would use the Super X 250 grn load for hunting deer, it's all you need and will let you learn the gun without getting beat up and develping a flinch. Muzzle velocity is measured a few feet in front of the muzzle. Some manufacturers interpolate back to the muzzle for advertising purposes. You need to check and see how Winchester defines it, but usually midrange trajectory is the amount the bullet rises above line of sight if the weapon is sighted in at the range listed. It varies a little depending on the gun, so check it for yourself. Both are nice pieces. Learn to shoot it well, get plenty of practice, and have a good time. John

On my car- Canton RR pan with kickouts, mini starter, S&S headers- dropping the header is necessary to change the starter. You don't have to remove the header, just drop it down some. PITA but fact of life. jt

Wife?!!?!! Well how about that. Congratulations Bob. jt

MSA 501401. Totally Awesome Sig. jt

Is that the 280ZXT setup? Or the 300ZT? John

Dillon is the class of progressive reloaders. High quality machines, and their customer service is excellent. http://www.dillonprecision.com So far as dies, going from 45 Colt to 454 is just an adjustment of the dies, since the 454 is a lengthened 45 Colt. Get a carbide sizer if you go with a progressive press. On a progressive press, you will have to adjust the dies, adjust the expander/powder funnel, and change the primer feed. The 45 Colt uses a large pistol primer, the 454 a small rifle primer. To change to 44, you switch the shellplate, the dies, powder funnel, and the primer feed if necessary. An extra toolhead makes this real easy, you just switch toolheads with the dies in place. When learning on a progressive press, be sure to use a slow enough powder that a double charge will overflow the case and be obvious. Don't use light charges of fast powder until you've got some experience, because a double charge isn't easy to spot with light charges. jt

I think she's selling car parts to pay off her bill with silicone boy. First time in my life I've been jealous of a Jeep exhaust header. jt

Standard 45 Colt rounds are pretty sedate, 250grn bullets at about 800fps. They would be a good starting point to get used to the gun. Buffalo Bore offers a "heavy" 45 Colt load, 255grn cast at 1000fps, and several 45 colt +P loads at 1100-1300fps that are pretty potent loads and a good choice for hunting. http://www.buffalobore.com/ammunition/default.htm Shooting the shorter 45 Colt cases in a 454 chamber can result in an accumulation of fouling in the area where the chamber tapers to the throat, the "leade". It won't hurt the gun at all, but it means you may have to clean the chambers more often and better than if you were firing the longer cases. Handloading is the ideal way to approach the 454. You can taylor the loads to the power level you're comfortable with, and some combo's will have much better accuracy than others. Maybe since 80LT1 and his roommate are new big bore owners, they can go together on a handloading setup, although handloading is another addiction just like cars and guns. Recently I've been shooting my 454 with a 260grn cast Lyman 452424 and 9.5 grns of titegroup. It's around 1100fps, very comfortable in the FA83, and groups less than an inch at 25 yds. John

Doc, do you have a 686 converted to 44? Give up some details on that bad boy! Custom cylinder? John

Can you really expect a V8Z guy to buy anything besides a boomer? Nah, ain't going to happen. Recoil with full powered 454's is substantial. I've got a FA 83 7 1/2" 454, and it's a handful. Probably your best best is to start off with 45 Colts, cheaper and less recoil. The 454 is just a lengthed 45 Colt, so it will fire the 45's fine. You can step up to hot 45's, like Buffalo Bore, then try the 454's. Best hunting load is a cast or JSP, not JHP, bullet at about 1200 fps. These normally give a bullet exit, which means the deer stops quicker and leaves a better blood trail if you have to track it. Let us know how it goes when you shoot it! John

Side to side, I don't think any of those are off enough to make any difference. They're not perfect, but close enough. A little side clearance is normal and necessary, say 0.020 or so. The pushrod adjusters won't change the wipe pattern. The only way to change the wipe pattern on a shaft setup is to adjust the height of the shaft, or the height of the valve tip. jt

I can say pretty confidently that most 1st gen SBC blocks, bare with main caps and bolts, weigh 163# +/- 1#. Anybody know what a bare LS1 block weighs? jt

Tom, I haven't seen one of these taken apart, is there any way to shorten the axles some more? I would think you need about 1/4" additional compression beyond what the axles are when installed. jt

Mike, you need to do some research on valvetrain geometry before you put that in service. Just looking at the pic of the roller on the valve tip, it looks like the roller is going to be very close to the edge of the tip at full lift, which is undesirable. You may have to adjust the height of the shaft and then determine pushrod length. Try a search on "valvetrain geometry" or "rocker arm geometry". We have discussed it several times before, in much greater depth than I can go into. Not trying to be an ass, I just suspect that's not a bolt on and go deal. John

If you're interested in the UltraShield seats, contact Herbert at Screen Printers Unlimited, 336-667-8628. He is a distributor for them, and has some good prices. He tracks a awesome Porsche 930, so he knows about road racing seats, and is a first class guy to deal with. jt

Tom, Fluidyne makes some nice integrated cooler/fan units you might want to check out. At one time, somebody posted that tilton made a suitable pump, but I don't have any info on it. I've been kicking around an idea for a resevoir/check valve/cooler deal that uses the g force of the car to circulate some oil, but haven't quite got it worked out. If I ever get to making as much HP as you, I'll work on it some more. jt

I've got the Design Products Racing brakes on my car, which are essentially identical to the AZ setup, 12.2x1.25 rotors/Wilwwod Superlites, and the 15x7 Panasports clear just fine. John

You're ahead of 80 or 90% of people aready. Just try to develop good habits from the beginning, and you want have to break a bad habit later. The basics are: Sight alignment, know what your sight picture should look like and acquiring it; Holding the weapon steadily and consistently, to maintain sight alignment; Trigger squeeze, firing the weapon without disturbing the sight picture; Follow thru, managing the weapons recoil without affecting the bullets impact. Shooting is a fascinating sport. Learn and enjoy. Always practice good firearm safety; treat every gun as if it's loaded, and always keep it pointed in a safe direction. Use hearing protection. As a younger man, I thought everybody who wore HP was a complete puss. As a middle aged guy, I have a 40% hearing loss in my left ear. Nice ghille BTW. John

For a first timer, with iron sights, that is a really good target. The main thing is you're getting to the range, shooting, and having a good time. The three shots dropped low and to the right sorta indicate you need to work on your triggger squeeze, it appears you might have jerked those a little. To give you a idea of what's possible, with a well tuned AR-15, good ammo, a 10 or so scope, shooting off bags, and no wind, you can drill that quarter 10 times in a row. The best way to improve your trigger squeeze is to have a buddy load your mag with a mixture of live and dummy rounds, so you don't know if you have a live round chambered or not. Then shoot normally, when you get a dummy round you can tell if you jerk the trigger or not, without the noise and recoil to affect your perception. When the gun snaps on a dummy round, and you don't flinch or jerk, you're getting there. Good shooting. John