pparaska

Another thing to consider is where the USABLE rpm for the application (street, hot street, etc.) and where the USABLE power band of the engine is. If the engine doesn't make much torque before 4000 rpm, you'll probably get tired of it on a day to day basis. Lets keep it civil, guys.

I have one like Mike's - Upright 6 hp 60 Gallon oilless Crapsman. LOUD as hell. Takes 6-7 minutes to go from 0 psi to 120 psi. I rarely crank it up because of the noise. I'm going to a 2 stage non-oilless type next time too.

Ryan, thanks for the tip on the Competition products site! Also, you have a good point on the cam rpm range. Remember that they usually use a 350 to come up with those, so it'll slide down a little bit with the 400, but not more than a few hundred rpm. I agree the 236/242 will probably be a better fit, but I'll see how the 114681 does in this app. The light weight of the car, gearing, etc. may allow it to work o.k. at lower rpm. The real test is, after the TBI and Megasquirt and Ignition are optimized for the 114681, will it pull cleanly from 2000-2200 cruise in 5th. If not, I'll swap in the smaller cam/lifters.

It seems I have a vote of confidence from grumpyvette! The shortblock is being assembled soon. All the parts are in to the builder - including the 114681 Crane cam I sent him. Unfortunately the 400 main internal balanced crank is NLA where the builder was buying (although flatlander had two a week ago or so, I found out), so he's going to internal balance it himself. He has a nice riciprocating balancer setup with calibration jigs. BTW, that crank part number I had in the post was wrong - its for a 350 main crank. Anyway, I figure with these rods and light pistons, the balancing may not be too bad, as the pistons are 440 grams as opposed to the typical 600 grams a 5.565" rod 400 piston weighs. Oh well, Mallory metal isn't cheap, but it's cheaper than a new balancer and flywheel! Based un grumpyvette's, Crane's advice, I am starting with the 114681 cam. It's probably as big as I'd go (never say never!) and wanted the rods clearanced for large end of where I'd go. Of course if I went to a roller later, I'd have to re-clearance check the rods. Grumpyvette - Do you think there's enough difference between the Holley 300-36 (copy of the old LT-1 High rise dual plane) and the Performer RPM to make it worth getting the Performer RPM? That's a few hundred bucks I could save. I'm still up in the air on the heads. Pro Top Line heads are tough to come by in the US, unless you can find someone with them in stock. Summit Racing for instance is no longer stocking or ordering them. Pro Top Line didn't even answer my email about where I could find them in stock. I'm thinking the Canfield 195s (aren't these the same as the "Jeg's" 197 heads?) or the AFR 195s. I'll either clean up the bowl area (just get rid of any ridge) myself or have them bowl ported. Unless someone has any advice on where to get already professionally ported AFRs or Canfields without paying AFR CNC porting type prices. I figure $300 or so to have the bowls cleaned up is what I'm looking at.

Yeah, a few shops around do actual high speed balancing. A local driveshaft place near me does mostly big trucks. They said their machine only goes to 3000 rpm. I had my done by ITT/Dynotech near Detroit MI - Jim Biondo sold me and old shaft he had and had it shortened and balanced by them before it was sent.

Tomahawk: I like the idea of higher compression and that engine's supposed high detonation resistance. But that engine gives up 50 cubic inches and 1/2" of stroke to a 400. Sure, the higher compression might be worth a few ponies, and the much higher rod/stroke ratio may even bring some small amount of power increase, but I think you have to measure that on a per cubic inch basis. 400 cubes at 1.2 hp per cube is 480hp. 353 cubes at 1.25 hp per cube is 440 hp. I gave the higher compression and higher rod/stroke ratio a 0.05 hp per cube advantage, and I bet that's generous. The 353 still loses, for the same level of build (head, cam, etc.) I just don't see any reason to leave stroke (torque) and cubes on the table by decreasing the stroke of a 400. Especially on the street where it'll be below 5000 rpm most of the time and never rev above 6500 at the drags. Like lethal280Zchick points out, I'm near the ragged edge of a streetable compression height on the pistons even with 6" rods. 1.125" compression height, 1/16",1/16",1/8" rings and the oil ring package is still in the pin hole. 6.209" rods would not work, without giving up a compression ring, etc. NOT streetable, IMO. To use the 6.209" rods, you'd need to use the 1/2" shorter stroke 3.25" 327/307 crank. You could do it with a 3.48" 350 stroke crank also, but with short compression height pistons, around 1.2". fast240: What cam are you running? Also, how does it run down in the 2000rpm range. That's my cruise rpm in 5th. Yeah, I'm thinking of trying the dual plane first and then the Vic Jr. I have both. My cam is a 280/288 (244/252@.050) .518/.536 solid flat Crane 114681, and I'm concerned about the low end response from 2000rpm. No worries, I have a Comp Magnum 270 solid flat (224/224 @.050) and a Comp Xtreme solid flat (236/242 @.050) cam also if that's too much. 11.90s sounds like a blast! What tires are you running?

DS. You can use SNOBALL too, but I use that already Check my avatar...

"Lifted" from a Z car mail list:

Mudge, there are quite a few of use old-school musclecar guys here. Myself included. I had a 70 Camaro, and a 68 Nova, both with (the same) warmed over 327. Then a buddy let me drive his Turbocharged 280Z. I was hooked. Around 1981 I, bought a 240Z, drove it in stock form (except some suspension mods and big wheels/tires) for many years, parked it for a few, fixed it up a bit, drove it, spent a decade+ taking it all the way apart and re-engineering much of it as it went back together. The Cobra was my initial inspiration. Then the October 1980 Hot Rod Magazine I read when I was in my freshman year of college showed me that a cheaper light car with a big engine could be done without going broke putting a kit Cobra together. (well, I blew that budget!). I still have that magazine!

Wow. That guy seems to be willing to go the extra distance to convince you it's a good engine. I'd want to be there when it was dynoed.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/pparaska/wheelstires.htm

I shoulda said this too: Instead of recreating large portions of the structural areas of the car from flat stock, etc., I should have just gotten a rust free shell! I understand the desire to "save" a basket case though!

Food for thought. The TRW forged pistons in my 327 weigh 600 grams. The Probe Industries forged pistons my 400 is being built with are 440 grams. The rods in the 400 are 6", probably another 40grams over the 5.7" rods in the 327. So you see, the 400 reciprocation weight is less than the 327, in this case. The 400 pistons are very short, with 1.125" compression height, versus the longer 327 piston. TRW are typically heavy too. I don't know the weight difference in the 400 2 bolt vs 327 2 bolt block. Probably within 20 lbs or less. The upshot is, they're all going to be close to the same weight, 305, 327, 350, 400, shortblock anyway. I agree - go for cubes. My 327 is fun, but I'm looking for more streetable torque, and cubes is the easy, carefree way to do that and have the peak torque and hp be higher than the 327. Hence, my 406 build. That said, do what makes YOU happy.

Hmm. Some Maryland home boys. I like my AWD Eclipse though - never any problems getting up snowy hills, etc. But like you say, stopping is just like everybody else. It did great in our recent 8 inch snow. Many years ago (like 17) I was daily driving my 240Z (stock) to college. Parked in a lot at the library at school. Came out after many hours studying and there was 4 inches of unplowed snow. The lot was at the bottom of a steep hill. The trucks, FWD boxes, etc. couldn't get up the hill. With Dunlop Qualifier GTs (225/60-14) I was able to keep the tires spinning at 35 mph to very slowly scale the hill. I bet there were some people I left at the bottom at that hill that couldn't believe it! I drove through alot of 4-6" deep unplowed snow (the air dam acted like a plow ) with that car. It's called being young and having more testosterone than common sense . Years later I paid the price for all that winter driving in the Z - I got to take the car apart (rockers, rear 1/4s, fenders, etc.) and repair all that rust from the salty winters .

I have that problem with mine also - I haven't fixed it yet. The problem is that it's not a direct bolt in. The wiring on the Euro cars with these lights is different. The Euro lights have separate brake ONLY bulbs, where the US lights have brake/turn bulbs. So you need a new wire to the rear of the car that is hot when the brakes are on. It's not easy to explain, but I'll be working on this and post some schematics, etc.

If you see rust in those areas, I can almost gaurantee that the INNER rocker is rusted out also. And like AviatorX said, that's an important structural area. I had to hand form new pieces for those ends of the inner rocker, and they have many beads and bends to make them stiff and strong.

You have to make it exactly 48x48 pixels, and put it on a website somewhere where it can be linked to. The profile tool (top, right of the screen) has text next to the avatar section that you click on to open a avatar setup window. At the bottom, you input the URL of your avatar.

Seats. The stock ones are hard on the lower back. I have Corbeau A4s with the lumbar option. Lots of money, but they are VERY comfortable, even on all day trips. I put 2 layers of the double sided aluminum sound/heat barrier stuff that has 1/2" of jute between the foil on my firewall. One layer on the tunnel, floors, etc. Does a great job of keeping the heat and noise out. Cheap too!

You LUCKY DAWWWWGG!!! Hmm. I need to change springs and install new fuel lines and pump for the TBI soon. Let me know when to bring my Z down .... .

Thanks, Scottie. I just always thought you should have the same model/brand tires all the way around. But hey, I have different sizes, so that's probably out the window . I might go with Bridgestone S03s or Kuhmos up front and Proxes RA-1s in the rear.

Sorry I haven't been listening well enough, Scottie What's your opinion of straight line traction between the Nitto DR and the RA-1? If the RA-1 is close, I'd be going that way. The other problem for me is that I want a 235/45-17 up front and the Nitto isn't available in that size, but the RA-1 is.

Sounds Great! Got heat in there yet? BTW, the hinges finally went to UPS today.

Ross, check the review page again . Have a good one!

O is O Flip the R around A is A I is L 2 is S 3 is E X is X

Mudge, I've heard of a few people trying a reverse split cam on some engines. A guy with a Ford V8 is having Lunati doe a 235/195 @.050 custom for him as an experiment. The lobe center I don't know but basically they are designing the exhaust to open near where a 235 exhaust lobe on a 110 or so cam would, but close much close to BDC instead of 30 degrees after, for example. The theory that these guys are using is that less than 3% of the mass flow of the exhaust cycle remains after BDC, so leaving the exhaust valve open is not adding power very much at all. A recent circle track mag has an article that shows intake and exhaust port pressures and mass flow as a function of crank angle that backs this theory up to a point. The issue would be any extra intake flow brought on by the scavenging. But looking at the intake port pressure when the intake opens shows a good vacuum, and I wonder how much scavenging is really needed - especially when mufflers are involved. The guys doing this 235/195 cam are very much into BSFC, and alot of overlap due to late exhaust closing with single or regular dual pattern exhaust lobe closing seems wasteful at part throttle. These guys are into muffled street cars, cruising, with limited WOT use, so their ideas tend toward good BSFC at part throttle, not WOT dyno stuff. I'll get back to you guys on this experimental cam in the Ford V8. The guy I was talking to said -"hey, I could be all wrong - we'll see".