JMortensen

Terry, your car is already cool regardless of what some website says. Popularity =/= cool. Taking a project from concept to completion learning and utilizing the skills to get it done, and then contributing your knowledge to the community as a whole is what makes the car, and you, cool. I just can't bring myself to give a crap what cardomain has to say about anything at all.

Never seen the Isle of Man before I guess? If you have HD Theater they show the race a lot. Even though they're slower, it's the sidecars that freak me out... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaEx6N4uVGE

Any word on this? I'd like electric power steering, but not if I lose all feeling through the wheel.

One last note, Tilton came back and said they don't have a hydraulic release bearing that would work. Here's Tilton's quote:

Word of warning, I realize now that what we were talking about was neither a Tilton or QM clutch. It is an Ace Racing Clutch. Looks the same, parts interchange, so I'm going to give it a try, just wanted everyone to know that it wasn't what I thought.

Sure thing. Forgot to mention the ebay guy is selling me the bearing for $199. I had planned on about $1K for an aluminum flywheel and clutch, but I feel that especially for the intended use, this discussion has led me to a better clutch setup for about $400 less, so thank you again.

QM suggested their "race bearing", P/N 710-100 which retails for $242.48. They said it would need to be shimmed, and all the instructions are included, and it works with a 3/4" master. After talking to QM I think I'm going with the 2 disk setup. He said I could go with the 3 and get less wear, but the 2 should be more than capable of holding down the power that I'm figuring on making.

For a street car, you might want adjustment to make the tires last longer. For a race car you might want adjustment to make the car handle better. There is no one point at which adjustability becomes a requirement, but it is nice to have the option.

205's are ridiculously narrow tires for a 9" rim. I think you'll find that there isn't much available in the correct width, which should be around 245 - 275 depending on tire manufacturer. Stock Z suspension has one adjustment. Front toe. You can shim in a tiny bit of caster too, but that is it. If you want to adjust camber you'll need camber adjusting bushings, adjustable control arms, camber plates, or some combination of those three.

The QM LS1 flywheel is ~$175. So if you pay (guessing) $250 for the clutch via ebay and $175 for the fly, why not just get a brand new QM setup for $475? I guess I'm glad I didn't win the auction on the Tilton setup because for just a bit more I'll have all new parts. Am I missing something? EDIT--Just found the QM fly for $130, but still you can probably figure on $100 more for new stuff. To me that seems worth it. If we're comparing against the $800 Tilton setup, no, but against a $475 QM setup, I think new is a good deal. http://www.hrpworld.com/googlebase.cfm?key=QM%20725%20Pro%20Series%20Button%20Flywheels&form_prod_id=,88,_583&action=product

Tilton has discontinued the LS1 button flywheel. I was outbid for the OT-II setup. Looking now at the QM 2 and 3 disk setups, have a request for a quote in to the guy who was selling the flywheel in the link above. Tilton is also helping with the throwout bearing, I'll post the end result of that discussion when we get it figured out.

Mine required about 95 octane. So you can figure one gallon of 110 and 5 gallons of 93 would give you 95.8 octane. 110 + 93 + 93 + 93 + 93 + 93 = 575 / 6 = 95.8 gallons of fuel. I'd start there and work it down to see if you could use less. I think my motor was a little higher compression than a bone stock L28/E31 would have been.

No, I figured I'd ask Tilton about that when the time came.

Thanks for all the help. I have a pretty aggressive bid in on one of the clutches that's up now. If that doesn't work out the guy who was selling the flywheel says he can get the whole new triple clutch setup for the the LS1 for $475, so I might just go that way and have brand new parts.

Honda Express was my first vehicle ever. I got it when I was about 10. Used to ride the crap outta that thing. Then I got another one when I was 15 1/2 to ride to school. [oops comment deleted] I loved mine, pea green both of them...

Be careful when driving at first, just be sure that the gas pedal doesn't get wedged down. It happened to me a number of times because my aftermarket carpet kit didn't fit quite right, basically because there was a lump where the floor transitioned to the firewall. Not saying you will have the same issue, but if you do be prepared to put your foot under the gas pedal and pull it up with your toe, or put it in neutral, etc. Just a couple months ago there was 4 people in a Lexus where the gas pedal got stuck and they called 911 and couldn't figure out what to do. They ended up going off the highway, rolling and they all died. I still can't believe they could figure out to call 911 but not to put the car in neutral or turn the engine off, but anyway I thought the word of warning was in order... http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2010428811_apusrunawaycarcrash.html?syndication=rss

Common way to get a restrictor in the system (common enough to be shown in Honsowetz's book anyway) is to put a large flat washer in the rad hose where it connects to the thermostat housing. I think the idea is to prevent cavitation in the water pump usually, not really an attempt at reducing preignition so far as I've heard it discussed. Higher pressure coolant I don't believe is really the answer for preignition. I think the answer is a bigger cam, higher octane, or lower compression. I think John's engine at 12:1 with a large cam and race gas would have run just fine with a lower pressure cap and no restrictor. That in mind, what did you do to raise the pressure and why did you think it was worthwhile to do it, John?

It is NOT the correct one, according to the seller. Still, I'm sure the right one could be ordered through QM or Tilton.

You mean like this? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/New-QuarterMaster-Button-Style-Flywheel-for7-25-Clutch_W0QQitemZ160387421481QQcmdZViewItemQQptZRace_Car_Parts?hash=item2557d5d529 Still not sure which flywheel fits the LS, I'm sure a call to Tilton or QM would figure that out...

Yep, that's what I'm thinking. I just looked up the OT II triple in Coleman and it is ~$900. I didn't see Tilton flywheels, but they do have Sonic in Coleman (I would guess they're compatible... ???) and they look to go for $175. So used clutch for $150ish, flywheel for $175, and it's looking like a pretty good deal. Even if the clutch disks needed replacing at $300 you're still coming out ahead by a couple hundred bucks. Just need to figure out what if anything needs to be done for the hydraulics. What's your opinion on running the triple vs dual. It seems like if I could get the triple cheap there wouldn't be too much harm in running it...

Just looked up clutch spline count, appears to be 26 on the T56.

I assume that the bolt pattern on the crank is different from Chevy to Ford to Chrysler, etc. so it is important to get the right one. Looks like the one in the picture is drilled for a pin, I don't seem to recall a pin on my crank, but I wasn't really looking for it when I took the plate off, I was just looking to get the engine on a stand. I've seen 510s and other cars with Tilton and QM clutches before, so I get this part. Quicker shifting, faster revving, seems like it would make for nice heel toe downshifts too. Did you have to up your idle speed? Most of the cars I've seen with race clutches had that fast lope at about 2000 rpm or higher.

70's Nissan gauges give only a general idea of what is going on. When I put an aftermarket gauge in my car it went from warming up to the middle and then never moving to my being able to watch the thermostat open and close. I ran a 195 as well, based on Honsowetz's book IIRC.

So treat me like a 4 year old, because I know very little about the V8 world. I presume that the 7.25 clutch setups are basically all the same, except single disk, dual, and triple. Presumably there are different materials for lighter weight, etc. I assume that not all of the disks are the same. Surely Ford has a different spline count than Dodge and GM, and a T10 probably has a different count than a T56. Also I would guess that the flywheels are different diameters, no? I thought one piece rear main or two piece had to do with the older SBC's, but I don't see LS flexplates advertised, just one and two piece rear main as the distinguishing features... ???

I actually have the stock flex plate from my 5.3 too...