jt1

Sounds to me like the piston in the prop valve is stuck. Mine has noticable resistance anytime you turn it. I would try bypassing it and see what happens. John

On my Wilwood valve, screwing the knob clockwise increases rear brake, CCW decreases rear brake. If you can't get the balance right with the prop valve, you can use different compound pads to change the balance. If that's not an option, you will have to change caliper piston sizes. Are you using the datsun master? Have you removed or gutted the stock proportioning valve? John

Uhhhh....Maybe I'm not up on california-speak, but just how many planets are there on Earth????? John

Generally you can remove the distributor, exhaust, driveshaft, and trans mount, then lower the trans to tilt the engine/trans assembly back enough to get to the bellhousing bolts. Then support the engine and remove the trans. This worked for me when I had the 700R4 in my car. I used two floor jacks, one under the oil pan with a large piece of wood to spread the load on the oil pan, the other under the 700R4. This means the trans comes out at an angle, so another piece of wood was used under the front of the trans pan to get the angle right. You will also have to loosen the motor mounts a little to allow the engine to pivot. Watch the radiator hoses and wiring to make sure you don't strain anything. Getting the engine to TDC on compression before removing the distributor makes putting it back a lot easier. I also had to remove the driver side header to keep the header from hitting the steering shaft when tilting the motor. Doing this is sorta tedious, but not nearly as bad as pulling the engine and trans together. John

Congratulations Mike! I hope everything continues to go well. John

Small diameter clutches are a high maintenance item, period. When I was circle track racing, we were lucky to get half a season on a triple disc Tilton. 10 or 12 races, maybe 40 or 50 engagements per race, and they were worn out. There's just not enough material there to last a long time, and I was as easy on a clutch as anybody could be, because I was paying for them. John

Yep. All 327's were internally balanced. Is your 68 327 a large journal steel crank motor? Fairly rare item if so, 67's were small journal, 69's they went to 350's. It probably is if it came out of a camaro. How do you have it set up? Those are great motors, I had a 68 vette with a 327/350 and it was a honker. John

Not much difference really. My aluminum one has a steel insert for the clutch disc to mate to, and a steel ring gear for the starter, so the aluminum doesn't gain you a whole lot. GM made a few nodular iron flywheels that were pretty light, maybe 18-20 #'s, but they're scarce and I'm not sure what application they came in. I think a lightweight steel one would be fine. They take some getting used to shifting, or at least for me it did. John

Cool Pic. The two best things for cats are: 1. A 22-250 2. A 225/50R15 John

The benefit is the motor will rev a lot quicker. Some of the horsepower the motor makes goes to accelerate the moving parts of the motor, so when you make the parts lighter, it takes less power to accelerate them. This means more horsepower is available to accelerate the car. The motor doesn't make any more power, just more of it gets to the wheels. It won't necessarily help a drag car run any faster, since traction is usually the limiting factor there, but it might. It will almost certainly help a road course car be quicker. Negatives are cost and you have to be VERY precise with the throttle when shifting. Otherwise your shifts will be rough and jerky. I mostly do open track events with my car, and run a 15# aluminum flywheel. It really explodes out of a corner, but if you're not just right with the gas pedal you get a very rough shift, because the motor rpm changes very quickly. John

With the engine in the JTR position, a GM 3858403 bellhousing that is 6 1/4" deep, TKOII trans with the ford toploader output yoke, R200 diff with the JTR setup, NAPA 353 conversion u-joint, and 1/2" freeplay on the trans output yoke, my driveshaft is 19 3/8" center to center of the ujoints. http://www.fortesparts.com/tremec/tr3550-2.html shows the 3550 rated at 425 ft-lbs, the TKO at 525 ft-lbs. It really depends on what you're gonna do with the car. IMO slicks and hard launches are what breaks transmissions. Pete's 3550 has held up well with his strong 327. We'll see how it does with the 406! What do you plan to do with your car? If you like road racing stuff, CMP http://www.carolinamotorsportspark.com/ is only a couple of hours away. Mark and I do open track events there a good bit and have a ball, you need to come check it out. We have given people there new respect for old Z cars. John

Mike that's great news, I'm glad you're not selling the cars. Everyone around here who does cages seems to take about six months to do it, I hope your guy is quicker than that. John

Hubert, that's a heck of a price for a TKO. Are you sure it isn't a 3550? That's about what they go for, but the 3550 torque rating isn't as high as a TKO. Check http://www.fortesparts.com/index.html and http://www.hanlonmotorsports.com/ Both of them are pretty good places to deal with. At the time I bought mine, Forte's had the best price. The TKO II is about $100 higher than a TKO. Forte's has a lot of good tech on their site about all tremec's. I'll measure my driveshaft and let you know how long it it, I had it fabricated. I used an older GM bellhousing, nothing special. John

I converted my car from a 700R4 auto to a straight drive using the TKO-II. I was a little leary cause I'd heard the mustang guys complain about the TKO's shift quality. This turned out to be unfounded, I used a Pro 5.0 shifter and the GM Synchromesh fluid and it shifts like a dream. It was real tight at first, but after breakin it's really sweet. No tunnel mods are required other than removing the stock trans mounts. The Pro 5.0 shifter is approx 1/2" higher than the top of the tunnel and requires cutting about 1/2" around the stock shifter opening for clearance, at the front of the opening. A yoke comes with the trans, uses a conversion ujoint. I took the JTR trans mount and shortened it to fit further forward in the tunnel and used it with the same GM 350 rubber mount I was using with the 700R4. I bought mine from Forte's, $2075 plus $180 for the shifter. If I was gonna use the car primarily for street use, I'd go with the .70 over drive. I got the .83 cause my main interest was open track events, but the .83 is a little "close" for a street car. Tilton 7/8 master cylinder and McLeod hydraulic throwout bearing. I had some problems with the TO brg leaking, which I under stand McLeod has resolved. Let me know if I can help out. John

Regular DOT 3 brake fluid is fine. John

A 300 hp 283 would be no problem at all, especially with modern heads. With the 283 power pack heads you would need to spend a good bit of money on porting; better to just buy some more modern heads. Smokey Yunick built a 450 hp 302 back in the early 70's, with a fabricated cross ram intake that was the prototype for the "Smokeram" intake Edelbrock made for the Trans Am cars. 302's can run, no doubt about it. They made the Z28's legends, but they have to turn a lot of rpm to do it. John

WOW. That was amazing. Does anyone recognize the dash on the bike? Turbo Hyabusa or something? Anybody know if our man Darius has been to Sweden lately????? John

Both the Motul and ATE are good. I use the Valvoline Synthetic blend Dot 4 with excellent results. It's got good boiling points and it's 4.99 a quart. In the NC humidity, you need to change fluid reguarly to avoid moisture contamination. I bleed the system well before each event, hammer the brakes unmercifully at the track, and have had zero problems so far. John

A 302 is 4" bore x 3" stroke, which means boring the 283 0.125" over, and that isn't going to happen. Very few 283 blocks will take a 60 bore without the cylinder walls getting too thin. If you want a 302, find a small journal 327 block and use your 283 crank. 302's can make good hp #'s, but they have to turn a lot of rpm to do it, like 7500 - 8000, and that's hard on the bottom end. You can make the same power and get a lot more durability with more cubic inches. John

Generally they just bolt to the valence. They're little, if any, lower than the valence, so clearance isn't a problem. If you do any high speed stuff, it needs to be braced. Mine had 4 braces on the bottom, but 145 mph down at Roebling broke it in two places. John

Don't you mean the "Master's" schedule? Surely the new wheels will gain some consideration, otherwise I don't know what you can do. I know what you mean, I was pumped up to go to VIR with you, and Gail shot that down with a quad 50. Why do women love the beach so much anyway? I mean, you can't drive your car up and down the beach! Mike, I might ride down to meet people and check out their cars, but doubt I'll bring mine. It's set up for road racing, stiff springs & shocks, stiff sidewall road racing tires, light weight clutch and flywheel, lots of rear camber, and 280Z halfshafts with 240Z stubs. I could probably pull a 3.0 60' before scattering the halfshafts all over the track. It would be neat to meet people and see their cars though. John

The PCA boys are gonna be there Oct 4-5. I've already sent my money for that, and T1 again Oct 17. Dyno run was last August, with the car just as I bought it from David. 308hp/354tq, peaking at just 5100 rpm. I was a little disappointed. Since then I've changed cams, added the MSD, switched the leaking bitch 700R4 for the TKO, and cut the choke tower off the Holley. It feels a good bit stronger now, but don't have any numbers. Best change I've done lately is seal the radiator to the radiator support and seal the holes in the radiator support. That cut temps at the end of a run 40*, from 240* to 200*. That's bound to be easier on the motor. John

$60 for three pulls is a good deal IMO- Last mobile guy I saw, at the track, was getting $90 for three pulls. Of course I suckered up and paid it. There's a guy in Rutherfordton who has a fixed chassis dyno, he gets $150 for the first hour, then $100/hr after that. I'm going to take mine up there and fine tune the jetting one of these days..... I'm going to the T1 deal Sept 19th. Do you think you'll make it? Still going to VIR the 5th & 6th? John

I don't think Mark's motor is stock. You should see it run on the track, I've been chasing him around CMP for a while now. The rest of the car is just as sweet as the motor, too. Those are some good numbers, Mark. Have you made some improvements, planning some and establishing a baseline, or just curious to see what she'd do? John

All the above books are great references and required reading. I highly recomend that you do some reading, then tear the engine down and inspect everything. If it's OK, you've got peace of mind and new gaskets and a nice paint job. The gasket kit and paint will only run $60-$70, and you'll know what you've got. I don't want to be negative, but a lot of "just rebuilt" engines need rebuilding. Check it out and you'll be ahead in the long run. John