A. G. Olphart

I know they are trendy, but the bluer the light, the more they screw up your (and the oncoming driver's) night vision. That is the reason astronomers read their charts with red filtered lights. <>

Aluminum castings can be pretty porous... IIRC that was a problem with the original GM 215 V8. <>

Forces, your #3 (case study) seems to indicate that you are planning a track car. This is for others reading the thread whose cars will see road time... High stall (loose) converters can develop a lot of heat on the road, shortening transmission life. The 1/4 mile setup Dr. Hunt has described would also be a bear to live with on the highway. These problems may be avoided/ minimized, by running an overdrive and a lock up converter. (Sorry if this seems to be stating the obvious:oops: , but we have a very broad range of knowledge and experience in our membership). <>

You're ready for 'Fast and Furious' #5. (A bit overbuilt for any earlier sequels- out of their class). <>

With a dual plane manifold, this sounds like a great 87 octane street cruiser. If you are running forged pistons and decide you want more poop, Pop's suggestion has merit. PS: Since you've got it built-- drive it! If it boils the tires with the single plane, you're done. <>

To my knowledge, there is no formula or calculator. Guys on the turbobuick board are always asking what to run, and the answers vary with the engine's torque curve and the intended usage. A really high stall converter can feel strange on the street, with the engine winding from a stop before the car starts moving... the Z's light weight may mask this a bit. A 1200 RPM stall should be a dog off the line, but if it worked for the heavier Chevy, it will cause fewer problems in a Z. Costs nothing to see... Opinion: for a mostly street car with a stock/mild cam, I'd stay on the low side of the range you gave. (Changing stall is all about letting the engine get into its' torque curve off the line). Fortunately that trans has a lockup converter, so whatever stall you choose won't be a heat or mileage problem on the road. <>

Retired. (Well, what did you expect)? <>

You haven't mentioned what your heads are; they are the key to power. These are nice, but you'll need to compute your CR: http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.asp?Ntt=BRO-1021001&searchinresults=true&N=700+400033+316186+115 You are running a pretty healthy cam already: http://www.holley.com/data/Catalogs/SysteMAX%20Engine%20Kits.pdf It does have 112 degree lobe center separation, so you could get more lope (and maybe less gas mileage due to increased overlap) by closing that a bit. I've not looked closely at the overlap figures you provided, but they seem way low... the need to be figured from advertised durations, not .050. This is a Harold Brookshire (was Ultradyne) design with similar .050 and tighter centers: http://holley.com/60104.asp I think they are the newest designs that Lunati/Holley has. If you are all about sound, Check out the "Thumper" cams. Not for me. I'll back off and let the experts give you a hand. <>

Oldnrusty, it seems that our vision of a nice reliable driver (that just happens to be a bit quicker and better handling than most new cars) is not shared by the hard core 'kids'. Fine by me... they are welcome to the hassle and expense of all out engines (and kidney bruising racetrack suspensions as well). Guess it takes time (and a few blown engines?) to gain perspective and an appreciation of goals other than one's own. <>

Magnum, Ya caught me... I've owned both small and big Mopars (we still have one of each), but was thinking of the distributor placement on my wife's wagon. Oops... Its a big block. <>

There is a really nice link to an SU rebuilding page in that history... http://www.jetlink.net/~okayfine/sutech.html <>

Just looking at that ad, I'd run the other direction... a spun main means machine work on the block and a new or reground crank. The pictures show rust on the outside to about the crankshaft midline-- Rust inside as well? Although the pictures show a fully dressed engine, text says all he is selling you is the blown up short block. All engines were once newly machined, most ran well... current condition is the key, and that one looks OLD. If you want the distributor in front, have you considered Ford or Chrysler small blocks? (My impression is that Ford is the better fit for a Z). What of the recent SBC's with the weird ignitions? <>

In General, I don't consider radiators a good junk yard item. They tend to crud up and corrode, so a person can add the price of having it rodded out to whatever the yard wants; then, if it is more than a few years old, one still wonders how long it will last before cracking/leaking. I don't think the plastic tanked ones can even be rodded out. A person can sometimes see enough tubes through the radiator cap fitting to guess at condition, or even luck across a fresh replacement. YMMV. <>

Yup, think you're both right... Considering strange omissions from the cartoon hall of fame, how about Li'l Abner? He didn't do much for me, but I loved it when the runty Indian and his hairy pal checked a new batch of Kickapoo Joy Juice (also, just seeing Daisy Mae could brighten a boy's day). http://www.olive-drab.com/gallery/description_0037.php <>

Fairly simple... when I finally decided to try posting, like DavyZ, I couldn't think of anything. For some reason I was feeling old that day, so A Grumpy Olphart came into existence-- or Acerbic G. Olphart if you prefer. Was Popeye the strip with a really ugly being in a long straight dress named the Sea Hag? (No, not speaking of Olive Oyl). <>

1) Pogo 2) Danger Mouse 3) Jessica Rabbit... just for looks. <>

The numbers are the rim width in inches; that's the extent of my expertise. To learn about JJ (along with gobs of other minutae) go here: http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html JJ related is about half way down the page. <>

Come on, Van, Say it isn't so! All these years I've been hoping that it would only take longer. (Pete's record? time-- not the quality of his construction-- may yet be surpassed). <>

This is the first forum I signed into, and it took me a lot of months of lurking to do it. Still about the only place I post. (Might have signed up sooner had I known it could have earned bragging rights). I miss Lone's contributions--- he was mechanically creative and had a nice writing style. Too bad his world fell apart. <>

Most mechanical things built on the same design tend to fail in similar patterns (develop common/generic problems). Odds are good that if you call the guy mentioned in my first post, he would be able to tell you exactly what's up. Personal opinion: Things mechanical should not be run dry... I put everything back together lubed. <>

Yup, not normal. My interpretation of what you were saying was that it only made noise as you were shifting it. I'm afraid JBC3 has the right of it. <>

Sounds like you have replaced all the offending parts, which leaves possible assembly problems and clearances. The expensive stuff is hopefully taken care of, only frustration left to deal with (some time and a couple beers often helps me with that). I'll assume that you bought a small parts package and changed out any needle bearings involved. Since the trans uses tapered roller bearings, is there a procedure for centering/ setting end play? I did a few minutes web cruising on T56's, and there is a lot of stuff out there, including this article.. http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/148_0405_tough_t56_transmission/photo_04.html This forum.. http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-2774.html Which includes this recommendation: For future info here is the # to Westech ask for Norm he is really nice. They can blueprint your tranny and put in strengthend parts/synchs. 262-889-4346 ask for Norm Could it be that what you are feeling is normal? As things come together, there is a moment of first contact; If a person feathers from gear to gear, there would be little pressure on the synchro rings to bring the gears to speed. (Also, I don't know what you mean by 'dry'. Dry will not act like lubricated). As to the PO's complaint of it falling out of gear- that problem should be gone with the new parts. The article referenced above shows a Viper gear with longer dogs to alleviate a breakage problem. Note how short the dogs are on the stock gear. Lots of shifting tends to wear the sides of these into a ramp, at which time the trans pops out of gear. Wish you luck. <>

At the time that deal went down, I'd not yet found one of the fabled diffs... One has since finally come through the tear it apart myself yard that I frequent. <>

I would think that if the "PMOI" gets too small (everything concentrated around the CG) in a short wheelbase car, that it would be a real handful to drive hard. Should snap spin in a fraction of a second. The most comfortable road car I've ever had was a 58 Desoto (the Chrysler sized model). Whilst traveling from Montana to Texas, I drove it through Kansas (top to bottom) on glare ice. Had the roads pretty much to myself. Nice long wheelbase, lots of time to catch a skid, and there weren't many of those. (You can tell I've not owned any recent vehicles). <>

It was and likely still is the predominant LSD swap. For quite a while it was akin to the holy grail (until a few high HP guys started twisting the ears off the factory clutch packs). Check out Jon's sticky for the full story. A source of inexpensive clutch parts for these would be very nice; factory parts are said to be exorbitant. I wonder if they are any cheaper through 'Power Brute', which Jon says is the same diff? <>