Dan Juday

Rick, I've got them. They clear everything on the car fine. A little tight around the plugs and very tight around the water temp senders in the heads. They are not top quality items. What do they say? "Ya gets whats ya pays fo". No regrets, ceramic coated, delivered to my door, total $197. If you have angle plugs they may not fit. I believe I've heard others say that.

I was going to actualy measure the pressure at which the valve opens. But it's dark and cold out there dinner will be ready soon. Maybe tomarrow. You could always get one and pressurize the tank and see how much it grows.

Ok, I'll bite. How'd they hold the pulley on?

Welcome Nick! Today is the day for newbies. The JTR kit is for the small block chevy. SBC's from way back when to almost now just bolt up. Your motor questions I'm not quaified to answer but many on this board are and I'm sure will jump in and help. I know Chevy changed the angle of the heads where they bolt up to the intake but I don't know when.

I want to chime in and agree with Tim. A drill motor will spin the pump much faster than the starter will. I doubt you will see enough pressure to register on your gauge by just cranking. When I changed my pump I primed it by hand in a bucket and was surprized by how long it took. Once the pump was primed it pumped great, but I would never start a new motor unless I was absolutely sure the pump was doing its job. Even if I had to wait a few weeks. I've seen what loss of oil will do to an engine.

Tim, another note on venting. Take this with a grain of salt, I'm no expert and I'm not making any recommendations. I just tried to keep the fuel system from the tpi as stock as posible. I ripped out the stock tank and installed a smaller one off to the passenger side for exhaust clearance. Pic of tank installed The TA had a stock vent valve that I got from the wrecked car. It's a little bigger than a walnut. It allows the tank to hold about 5psi before it vents out, but opens to allow air in under a very small vacuum. In between it stays closed to save fuel and smells. I mounted it between the stock rear fender and the fiberglass over-fender about level with the fill tube in height. If I didn't have the fiberglass fenders I'd mount it in the fender well above the level of the fuel tank. Just thought I'd share my solution. If you wanted to get one of those valves I'm sure you could find one at the JY's cheep. They're probably not very spendy new either.

Ross, you have mail.

Wow. Looking forward to hearing about your results. You may have a marketable product on your hands when you're done.

Save your high speed driving for the track or sparsely populated areas and you won't have to worry about having your picture taken. Sorry, gettin' old. Lots of people die in car crashes in my neck of the woods. Mostly due to excess speed for conditions. My only connection to those things is through my nephew. He is not a speeder or aggressive driver. He's a bad driver. Hit a PARKED car once while fishing a cassette tape out of the glove box! But he's not a speeder. So when he got a photo radar ticket for speeding and swore he wasn't I believed him. He fought it and won. The judge was old (like me ) and wasn't convinced of the technology I suspect.

Something else to consider, and I noticed this of a Scarab conversion resently when surfing ebay, is that depending on what tranny you use the shifter can come up through the spot were the fuse panel is due to the forward location of the motor. (Is that a run-on sentance?)

Here's a shot of mine. Amazing fit, easy to fab brackets. more info

Very slick! And tell me more about that hatch. Did you buy it or make it? Is it steel of fiberglass? Plexiglass window or glass?

Very nice Terry. Is that going to make your hatch non-functional?

Not meaning to pic a nit here, but... Yes, some were metal, some were plastic. My car came with one of each. Not from the factory I'm sure. Probably replaced one from an accident. The plactic ones are that, not fiberglass. Kind of a strange fiberous composite like material. It was probably going to be a big advance in material science back in the early '70's. Then someone discovered it really wasn't any better and scraped the whole idea. Making them out of metal I'm sure proved cheeper. I'll be filling in my seams as well. But I have fiberglass fenders. My bodyman told me to get another plastic one. He's not sure what it is either, but believes it will bond better to fiberglass than metal would. Hope he's right. I'll let you know.

Don't feel bad. We're not ignoring you. We're just waiting for pictures! Actually, I'm quite interrested. Yes, what did you pay? Is there a tube or ring or something you can attach the rubber hose to? Or will you have to weld one on? When will we see pics? Hopefully the pics of my cap will be up soon. I've also heard about your good looks. I've heard they are only surpassed by your modesty!

Ok, think fast, think fast. What could I put that in, and where do I get the money? Snap out of it man!

I think Len was refering to the rubber lines at the ends (I hope!). But that is a good testamony. There have been many discusions here about line size and material, i.e. steel, aluminum, copper, 1/4, 5/16, 3/8. Nothin' like just tring and finding out. But, like James says, since he's using a carb this is all moot. Stock will be more than adequate.

I would agree with the guys here. There is a good yard in Stockton called Kennedy's. Bought my motor there, '91 305tpi. I just told them what I was doing. They said they sell to swappers all the time. They offer a package deal. One price, come back as many times as you need and take whatever you need off the car. They where very good to work with. When I wanted a small gas tank they said I could pick one out any car in the yard since I couldn't use the one in the TA. If you go there say hi to Beau for me. And yes, buy the JTR book. I would also say go tpi out of an F-body car. A lot of the carb guys here shy away from them because of complexity. But after doing my swap, and wiring with the stock harness, I found it a lot simpler that I thought at first blush. The Vette motor is more spendy and more difficult to wire if you use the stock harness. Here is a helpfull tool when picking a stock motor that must be smogged: GM motor specs Good luck and go for it.

Hey Drew, when I started planning this car I knew I wanted bulgy fenders on it. I just started looking around the net at what was available. I don't really care for the scoops and slots in a lot of the other kits. When I saw the pics of the 280YZ I fell in love. Smooth, supple curves and bulges. Lots of room for big donuts. I planned to graft the stock headlight buckets into the YZ front fenders. I took trip to AZ to see how I could do it. In the end it just wasn't going to be very feasible. The shape of the YZ, although it looks very similar, is way different. The SubtleZ fronts, while very attractive, were a compromise. I really wanted a look that is, well, not so subtle. These things tend to grow on you though and I think I'm going to like the finished product. Davy, e-mail me. We'll have to schedule something. BTW, have you found that perfect job yet? Len, I don't know what you are talking about. That's probably me showing my age. Or you drinking too much beer.

Well, I've got the whole front-end bolted back together. Very few of the parts are original and fitting all those body parts (11!) was a real pain. I've done the best I can do. The bodyman will have to massage all the seems and gaps. For those not familiar with this project, I'm fitting SubtleZ front fenders with the ends of the SubtleZ airdam to the MSA exclusive airdam to a 280 vented hood. One more odd twist, My car had one plastic and one metal headlight cone. I traded my metal cone for another plastic one. All the seems and gaps forward of the front wheels will be filled and smoothed out. The good news is that the JTR hood latch bracket works perfectly. I only wish the front of the hood lined up as well as the back. Some original parts, some new parts, some used parts. Nothing wants to line up very well. A warning to anyone wanting to fit fiberglass fenders with a stock metal hood: The extra thickness of the fiberglass, 1/8" min., takes up the space of the gap that should be between the two. Trust me, I've considered shelling out for the SubtleZ hood several times. You just trim it to fit. Can't do that with the metal one. I don't even want to describe to you how I "recovered" the gap. Yes, it resembles that other euphemism "clearancing". I know, I know, "When do we see some pics?" Well, not soon. Maybe after Christmas. These would be in Display 4. Eric still has to get up Display 3, "The Gas Cap Fiasco". It does look tough though, if you can look past the rough. One day, when it's ALL Viper Blue, it'll be worth it.

Sorry Tom, should have explained. I'm using the SubtleZ fronts and the 280YZ rears. Haven't worked out the tire and wheel sizes yet. Still ruminating over spending the extra $'s on coilovers.

I'm stone sober and I can't stop laughing either!

This is not a direct line to Rory, but, e-mail Eric at Zparts. He has connections in a round-a-bout way to Rory. Zparts

Hey if you thought those pics where bad check out these. Fender Pics Sorry, still in progress.

I have bad news for you. Your clutch is bled. I re-bled my clutch several times before I got educated. THE PROBLEM IS THE 3/4" MASTER. You need to buy a 7/8", then everything will work fine.