pparaska

Looks great Phil! Nice work!

Glenn, I know whatcha mean. I love the sound of a good exhaust system, etc. But I like the idea of a totally flat torque curve too! I might be able to get used to 500 ft lbs from 0 to 8000 rpm. I guess I'll need quite a few motors for that, and a fusion reactor to power them

The larger 73-78 booster won't get in the way of the clutch master on a 240-280Z, obviously, but the larger 280ZX one will on a Z.

Tim, I haven't used Hammerite, but I have used POR-15 and Hirsch's "miracle paint". Both are moisture cured urethanes. I'm wondering if Hammerite is also?

Check out the Mr. Gasket page for it - they have bundles that allow you to buy other stuff at a discount (Cam disks, Desktop dragstrip, etc.) many times.

Anything on this site that I write, draw, or photograph, or on my site, is free to copy. I do think it'd be a good idea to cite the person and at least their present email, website, HybridZ handle, etc. when info is copied to the FAQ. This gives the person credit, and more importantly gives readers a place to go look for further clarification or to comment on errors, updates, etc.

Desktop Dyno says 403 ft lbs at 2500, 295 hp at 4500. Looks like it needs more cam! OR better heads. If you want those kinds of numbers (mid 300s hp). That will be a very torquey motor around town but will give up at around 5000 rpm the with that cam. With the Comp cams Xtreme Energy XE274H (hyd flat tappet, 12-246-3) I get 397 ft lbs @ 3500 and 320 hp @ 5000, that with a 750 carb. I used the published 462 double hump stock head flow numbers that you can find at www.chevyhiperformancemag.com

I'd think if you didn't have to crank it forever, but only a few revolutions to get it started, AND it was getting good voltage from the alternator, even 6 miles would be enough. But if you have a slow draw on the battery, it may be bringing it down low enough that 6 miles isn't enough to keep it charged up. Do that drain test and see exactly how much is being drawn from the battery when the car is off.

BLKMGK, grumpyvette, thanks for the responses. I'm going for the Vic JR! Now if I only had more than 0.003" crank endplay, I could get this thing together!

Guys, this is someting I'm going to play with - spring rates in the rear. I agree that 300 sounds like alot. But going solid on the coils is not nice and can be dangerous (you get infinite spring rate all the sudden and the tires can wash out if in a curve). If it rides too rough, I'll back down to 250 and see how that works. The thing that can get you is a large dip in the road at speed.

I don't remember where the strut housing is stamped, but it's somewhere on the cast part. The spacer is stamped at about half length. The B usually looks like an E, since the stamp they used was flat. Yes, use the spacer that came with the strut housing.

Paul I agree. This is exactly why I have 300 lb/in springs in the rear. To fit my wheels and tires under stock fenders, an 8" spring was needed. And the guy at Carerra suggested going to at least a 275 lb/in spring to keep it from coil binding on bumps.

Rick, make sure you have 14volts at 2000+ rpm AT THE BATTERY. No sure where you're voltage gage is hooked up. 4 gage is plenty for charging, but what size is the wire from the alternator to the 4 gage?

If a lead acid battery is allowed to get too low on voltage, it shortens it's life considerably. This is even worse with low to no maintenance batteries. How much voltage do you get at the battery when the alternator is charging it? I've you've relocated the battery and the wire is too long and not of a sufficient gage for the length, it won't get a full recharge from the alternator.

I have the nice Holley Dual Plane (300-36) that's flows pretty good up top. As tested in the magazines against the Vic Jr. , it loses 10-15 hp above 6000 rpm for many warm (224@0.050") builds. My dilemna with my motor is that I'll gain top end HP (18 according to grumpyvette's computer) but DD2K show me giving up 25+ ft lbs at 2000, using the Vic Jr vs. the dual plane. It's still at something like 320 ft lbs with the Vic Jr (as opposed to 345ish with the dual plane). Sounds like plenty of fun, but what I'm concerned with is 70mph 5th gear cruise at 2100 rpm and throttle response. For people who've run similar cams (say 228/234@0.050" hyd. flat - mine's a 236/240@0.050" solid flat) to mine in a 9.7:1-ish 327 with the Vic Jr., can you comment on this situation (2100 rpm cruise throttle response)?

The machined spacer is for the 240 and 280 stub axles. The housing is stamped with an "A" "B" (usually looks like an "E") or a "C" denoting which spacer to use. I've never seen anything but a "B" on 4 cars. The bearings and spacers are the same for the 240 and 280Z stubs.

You can stack steel metal shim gaskets. I think the thickest is 0.022" Also take a look at the copper sheet gaskets. You may be able to stack those as well.

Yes, if you go Holley, get center hung. The new Avenger series has this. It's basically a jazed up 3310. I'm using a 3310 750 vac secondary carb. You can get this same type of carb in a 650 I believe.

Oh, I almost forgot - blueovalZ (Terry) wrote some great stuff and it's hosted on Zhome.com also: http://www.zhome.com/rnt/FordPower/index.html

Thanks for the mention of my car and site in "how long does it take?" in the V8 Swap section . The FAQ is looking great! Paul Richer wrote an FAQ many years ago on the Chevy V8 swap. It'd be a good place to start. Some of it is obviously dated, as new hardware and ideas have come about since then. It's on Zhome.com, you could link to it, or Paul R (member here) could give you permission to copy it. http://www.zhome.com/rnt/v8.html If any of my wheel fitment, structural mods (like drawing of a subframe connector), etc. is useful, steal it.

Chevsun, The heavy steel pipe is exactly what the NHRA say you need if the fuel line goes along the tunnel. I was glad to have a Blowproof bellhousing for my Tremec. I've seen a really nice 57 Chevy torn up really bad (frame rails crushed, came through the tunnel, cowl, etc. chopped through the headers like a pair of scissors on paper.) by and exploding flywheel. Luckily it was forward of the driver's legs! Wasn't Mcleod talking about making a blowproof for the T56?

Yeah, I imagine I'll be investing in a radar/ladar detector soon. BTW, I've seen a (VDO?) volt meter that plugs into a dash mounted cigarette lighter hole.

Slide Hammer on the lug nuts. I hope the swelling goes down soon .

I've had TRW forged flat tops milled about 0.005". Not sure if 8 times that is possible without them getting too thin or breaking through. I'd bet that's a signficant portion of a flat top's thickness.

Makes perfect sense to me. The issue is that the pads will always move back away from the disc. A larger caliper total piston area requires more volume of fluid to move the piston(s) and pad(s) that distance and start to apply force. If the front brake piston area goes up but the rear doesn't, the rear brakes will take up the space (whether between shoes and drum, or pad and disc) sooner than the front take up the clearance. So you will start to develop friction in the rear first. Added pedal travel to get the fronts to start to produce friction (take up the clearance) will mean more force on the rear before the fronts start to have friction.