dr_hunt

Glad you made it ok! So, now that we have you as an infiltrator to the junkyards and whole rice situation there, I guess we need to find out how to get funds to you in order to ship us "stuff". If you think we can whip some bootie at the track, see if those rich ricers will ship their cars over for some match racing! Instead of a SEZ, maybe we could have a Western z shootout, or a western rice massacre, whichever the case may be!

PECO Industrial Equipment 1521 2nd St NW Albuquerque, NM 87102 - 1444 (505) 243-3736 Well, here in NM anyway, nothing rusts. I got a '33 dodge truck yesterday. New project, work it baby!

Hey y'all, I built my fuel system using aluminum AN fittings at a cost of about $350. Then I found PECO, a company in Albuquerque, NM. Stands for Plant Equipment Supply Co. There I found the same fittings in steel for $3 to $5 each. I don't care about the weight, but the cost of the fuel system for the z was Less than $50. Just food for thought!

Well, what does the owner say and what does the insurance folks say?

Since I worked on one of the Ford Explorer/Firestone tire accident reconstruction and tire failure analysis project for an insurance company, I can tell you what we came to as a conclusion on the tire failure. Bottom line is that the tires were constructed of "old rubber" and/or "inferior rubber" to help Firestone's bottom line at the expense of john Q public. The tire in question in the accident that I worked on delaminated the tread from the carcass after the vehicle went sideways. The tire actually had a nail in it and it was going flat while the driver and his pregnant wife were driving at very high speed (approx 90). He lost control of the explorer causing it to go sideways and roll killing all three. The tire delaminated after the vehicle went sideways, so in reality the vehicle was more responsible for the accident than the tire IMHO. However the tire did delaminate when subjected to transverse stress. Soft rubber can also be torn from the carcass at high speed. I think Michelin was covering their blankety blank and the opposite side of the coin was simply driver safety. However the teams didn't respond appropriately IMHO.

I dunno, you can size up the competition any way you want, and they can size you up any way they want, math or no math, formula or no formula. But I've put faster cars on the trailer cause I tree'd them or they broke, or they broke out or they red lighted, or the best of all, cause I'm faster. I like the old tried and true method of racing to see who's the fastest, which combines driver skill and a good consistent car. My buddy Joe Saavedra runs a blown alky dragster on a 7.70 index, typically he can run a 7.70 right off the trailer or at least in the 7.70's no matter where he runs. He's tough to beat and so is anybody on any given day. It has been said, repeated by myself, "It's better to be lucky than good".

some of the early sbc's had pressed on harmonic balancers, didn't work very well, so they went to the bolt addition. I've had several early cranks drilled and tapped for the bolt, no biggie. If GM went that route, then it's an easy fix. At least that way some dummy wouldn't try to tack weld it like I've seen done a time or two.

Question for grumpy. I've never used the tall deck blocks for a foundation, what type of clearancing is needed to add stroke to those blocks?

Alky it is, keep in mind I have the leftover, (doesn't sound right) 357 cubic inch motor for a backup. It only dyno'd at an altitude corrected 600+HP I can't remember the actual number. The 406 made 690 altitude corrected, so I'm picking up about 90 or so HP and about 50 tq. The turbo engine is in the works.

Removed the 357 this AM, Removed the 406 from the Monte early PM, installed the 406 late PM into the z. Had to go get a load of rock and piddled around for about 3 hours to get the truck, hook up the dump trailer, flat tire, yada, yada. Rather be working on the z. 406 is bolted to the motor mounts and trans, headers are bolted on, starter is on, actually left it on, swapped torque converters, I like the Torco 4K stall converter better than the redneck 4500 stall, besides want it to stall less since I have monster torque anyway with the 406. A few minor things to finish on Wed, and then we'll try to get the rotor phasing right on the distributor and fire that puppy up. Can't hardly wait. Then better tear down the 357, change cam, springs and oil pan, got a B&B pan, if you need one for your z, check them out on ebay, pricey, but a quality piece. We'll see if we can get it going by Sat, and race it on Sunday, should be good for some mid 10's here. Cross your fingers and we'll look for a new timeslip in the database on the 4th of July!

Well, converter bolts are yet another issue. 3/8-24 x 1" with lock nuts, no lock washers, you can get them at checker or autozone. Some HP converters like mine use 7/16-24x1" with lock nuts, but depends on the HP rating of the converter. There are 6 mounting holes in the flexplate, 3 large diameter pattern holes for 11-12 inch converters and 3 small diameter pattern for 9-10 inch converters. You can use either if your converter tabs or ears line up, it matters not. The torque converter bolts are a grade 8 for good reason, it is the sole connection between the engine and trans, now that's alot of HP and torque being transferred to the bolt.

I hear garrett is the cream of the crop in gas, Holset rocks in diesel applications. I just got a new Holset 4 series high altitude mapwidth enhanced turbo for my 400BCIII and it rocks baby. Of course my engine is turned up, but it's making 30psi boost and planting 550HP and over 1800 lb-ft to the ground. The old turbo wouldn't make over 21psi.

Chevrolet bellhousing bolts are 3/8"-16 x 1.25"

Mike, I guess nothing beats a good DUMP!???

Back in the 60's and 70's we were taught to "Just say NO to Fords" or was it drugs? No, pretty sure it had to be Fords cause drugs, peace signs and free love was in!

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this is just the beginning of the loss of freedom in a big big way. They say history repeats itself, I hope that isn't correct, The boston tea party was to prove a point, I don't think you can prove a point in the same fashion these days but it'll be interesting. This is why I enjoy living out here where my closes neighbor is 1 mile away.

I've got the same truck, '04, but without the dump bed. The 305HP is awesome but the mileage sucks compared to my '99. The '99 gets 20 to 22 and the '04 gets 14 to 17 depending on whether or not I'm pulling my cars. "04's have a 4 inch exhaust already, a 5 inch might help, but from what I've read the power tuner and other mod parts from Pittsburgh diesel is the way to fly, they can be found at http://www.dieselinjection.net check them out. I buy my cummins diesel parts from them and I have my 400 Big Cam cummins turned up to 550HP and it smokes cat's all the time, these guys have been doing cummins diesel performance for 17 years! I guess the hotrodder in me extends to just about every vehicle I have, shame on me! Shame, Shame!

could be off of a 13 or 18 speed, 18 speeds can split the low side as well as the high side and is the ultimate of transmissions for heavy hauling, wish I had one in my truck, but the 14-6-13 is really the second best transmission. The problem I see is where are you going to get air to use the shifter and what are you going to shift with it? Trucks use air assisted shift and have an air compressor to provide air. I guess you could use vacuum, but what are you going to switch with it?

'85 wasn't alb raceway closed then? By '85 I was gone, I graduated in '80, spent alot of time there in the 70's. Did you get to see much of that action? It was way cool.

When I was in high school, I drove my mom's '73 Maverick 4 door with a 302 V8 2bbl and an auto. Ran a whopping 70 mph in the quarter. We didn't do time, just heads up racing and we went by mph to judge how fast a car was. I didn't have any money to have anything closely resembling a nice ride, in fact my first vehicle was a 1964 international scout with a 4 banger. Eventually, I got a 1973 Chevy 1/2 ton that I built a nasty little 350 with a solid lifter cam, ported heads, 12.5:1 pistons, and whipped some camaro and mustang bootie. Don't be put off by naysayers. It was a rush then, it's a rush now and it's what drove me into the relentless pursuit of going faster and having a nice ride. Press on man!

Value and warranty I would assume, not to mention decent HP.

I'm vehicle poor, NOT! At the house I have three trucks, 2004 Dodge diesel 4x4 4 door, 1999 Dodge diesel 4x4 extended cab, 1992 S-10 short bed regular cab 2wd for beebopping around town, 1985 Monte SS, and my boys z, 1973 KW dump truck, 1984 Peterbilt Tractor. So the answer to your question, is that I really don't care if the Monte runs or not, I'm thinking I'm going to put it back in street trim, taking off the slicks and putting a mild hyd roller cam in it with some AFR heads. It has cruise, ps, pb, tilt, AC, PW, 4 wheel disc's, 9 inch ford, detroit locker,, SSM lift bars, weld prostar wheels, nice cadillac pearl white over a blue base with Spectraflair flames from the front to the doors including the hood, complete new interior. The reason I raced it is cause every time I drove it somewhere and left it parked, somebody tried to steal it. In fact it has been the "victim" of supposed thieves no less than 6 times since I've owned it and they've never been able to get it. Battery disconnect and ignition disconnect. They usually find the battery disconnect, but they can't figure the ignition disconnect. The z is another story, I really like the z, but I dont have it registered and insured and I don't think I'd drive it much in the summer cause it's so hot and it doesn't have AC. That's why I'm thinking monte to get the motor broken in and then building the twin turbo setup and adding it when I get 1000 miles on the engine. I've seen too many ricer buddies start nailing the boost right away on their new motors only to knock the rings out cause their not seated yet. This is the first step towards achieving that goal of the twin turbo z. Besides, I was going to pull the z engine anyway to change valve springs, cam and pan, and I had to pull the monte motor to put the turbo motor in anyway, so might as well, stuff the 406 into the z, so I'm not racecarless in the meantime. As you all know, this takes alot longer than we'd like it to since money is involved and of course thinking about parts compatibility and the fact that the turbo arena is new to me. In any event I'll still have one spare haulin' butt motor in the wings.

overheating is attributed to a few things, inadequate water flow, inadequate readiator, or inadequate air flow. From the sounds of it it is airflow, so the shroud and fan are what you should concentrate on based on your description of how it's acting. Why the different rad caps? Both should be the highest pressure you have on the car now.

Ok, guys, this gets complicated. Taking the 357 out of the z, replacing it with the 406 out of the Monte. Going to change the cam, springs and oil pan on the 357 and save it for a backup motor to the 406. Building the turbo engine and going to put it in the monte to break it in before adding turbo's, since it's licensed, registered and insured and the z is not. The 406 is a 14:1, Eagle rods, Eagle crank, dart block, AFR220 heads, Comp roller .645/.645 272/276 104.5LSA, Victor E, thumps pretty hard, the 3800 lb Monte SS with all accessories PB, PS, AC, Power windows, Alpine stereo, you know the works, goes 11.70@115 at 6100 Density Altitude. Going to rob the Torco 4000 stall converter out of the Monte to replace the 4500 stall that's in the z now. Now, SEZ6, hmmmmmmmm................

Hydraulically speaking, yes, however getting the pump to pick up can be a problem. It is better to have the pickup exit at the bottom of the tank. I modified my Monte SS gas tank to run the holley black pump with a 5/8" copper pick up tube that I made fit the stock pickup plate on the top of the tank. Worked ok, finally went to a cell though cause the 18 gallon tank is just too big to try to keep at least half full so I didn't starve for fuel on the launch. 1.58 60' times ya know can play heck with the fuel in the tank.