pparaska

I dunno ?

Larry, where were you a few weeks ago when I needed a good 650DP!! Just kidding. In the past month, I've had a 750 vac sec (3310), 600 vac sec (1850), and a 650DP on my 327. The 600 vac sec was a very sweet, responsive around town carb. It had NO problems. I never did fully tune the secondary opening, but it was coming open too soon and even still, it never had the top end power that the 750 vac sec carb had. But the 750 vac sec had a HUGE off idle / off cruise hole in the response. It might have been that the idle fuel restrictions were too small, I dunno. Mostly, the primaries were just too large (venturi diameter) for the motor. Today, my boss told me to stay home (putting in WAY too many hours) so I took the 650 DP I just got in the mail from a nice Chevelle dude up in Canada, and tore it apart. Lot's of cleaning, etc., spent the whole day cleaning and working on it. I set it up with the jets, etc. that it would have came with from the factory (71 primary, 76 secondary, 6.5 power valve) Got the DP on the car this evening, tuned the idle mixture and speed. I thought to myself "I wonder if that hole is gone?" and hammered the throttle very quickly full open then closed, with no stopping. I about had to clean my pants out!!!! After that I rushed around getting tools out from under the hood, put on the air cleaner (and a stub stack I got of ebay). I could hardly wait to get it out on the road. I have three words for you: DOUBLE PUMPERS RULE!!!! Note that it's only a 650 DP. It drives almost as nicely as the 600 vac sec when taking it easy (I probably need to lean the jets down, and open the PVCR's to help around town character), but man if you're in the first 4 gears above 2500 rpm, hit the pedal ALL THE WAY TO THE FLOOR, there's just no comparison between the Double Pumper and the Vac Sec. It's a light car, with a big engine. PUT A DOUBLE PUMPER ON IT. Just my opinion. Vac Sec carbs are for bigger, heavier cars with low numerical gears and automatic trannies. Mike, Jamie, Dave - thanks for continuing to preach the Double Pumper gospel to me. I know I'm hard headed, but I finally listened and I'm in love with the DP!! I have a feeling I'm ready for the test and tune at 75-80 Dragway (Monrovia, MD) this Friday! The INSTANT kick in the back and the torque that I gained was nothing short of INCREDIBLE. (Note to self: Hmm. Where is that Road Dyno thing I bought anyway?) Sorry so long, but DO THE DOUBLE PUMPER!

Wow! ~500 flywheel HP! Awesome. I can't even imagine how you can get that to hook up. My measly 350 or so flywheel HP from my V8 is overpowering my 255/45-17 Pilots. Of course, they are a bit old and hard . Congrats!

Curtis - I'm anxious to see that setup! Tim - you don't WANT them perfectly aligned. The u-joints need at least a degree (yoke to driveshaft angle) to keep the cross from getting brinnelled (?) - not good.

Wow, looks great - that's a real eye catcher! Great looking work!

Sometimes there is air trapped in the last few mm of travel of the MC that you can't get to if it's mounted in the car. This goes for brake or clutch MC. That's why it's very important to BENCH bleed the MC before installing it. Run tubes from the outputs of the MC to the resevoir and keep pumping with the full throw until the bubbles stop.

Hi Pete- this is Pete I wasn't allowed access to the link in your post. Make sure to get the rails square in the car in the horizontal plane as well. I did this with a plumb bob, taped marks on the floor, tape rule, etc. Make sure the mounting points for the T/C brackets are square with the rest of the car, as well as the holes in you rails for the engine crossmember. Make marks on the floor that are directly below the rear suspension points - the holes for the front diff cross member is a good place. Then measure diagonally (i.e., from the left rear point to the right front point) to the points up front that will position you frame rails. BTW, look at the structural mods page on my site for some ideas on subframe connectors. Hope that helps.

Sweet motor! BTW, I have the solid flat tappet version of that cam (PN 12-677-4) in my little 327 (9.7:1 compression) and it's just on the edge of what I'd call streetable - any more and it would be too much. I'd think it'd seem a bit more docile in a 383, and with that much compression even more so. I think you could easily go for a bigger cam if this is a drag-mostly car.

Oh shoot this weekend. Well, I checked the site. I doubt that I'm going to do it. Another day away from the family AND $85 to enter my car so people can look at it. They ought to allow you to just do the car show for less and forget about the banquet, etc.

I used 2 gage battery cable (from the Taylor kit) for the positive, and 2 gage welding cable for the ground. I ran the battery cable through a cut-off switch (the type I used is not NHRA legal), then to a Ford type solenoid. I ran the ground cable to the bellhousing/block bolt right near the starter. I haven't had a problem with starting the car yet. I would go with 0 or 00 gage next time, I guess. But 0 gage has 2/3 the resistance of 2 gage, not a huge difference. I put my battery up on the package shelf, right behind the passenger seat. I wanted it more near the center of the car, for polar moment of inertia reasons. That's kind of a dead space there anyway, so it worked out well. I used the Summit AL sealed box.

I agree with Jim. If you can't get a mechanical fan to work, or just don't like the idea of the mechanical fan, do your homework and get a very good electric fan. The car manufacturers build all (maybe not trucks?) cars with electric fans. FWD kind of forces that! Even so, many if not all new RWD cars have electric fans. The Mustang is one. Think about this for a second. The Mustang doesn't have a huge area for a radiator either. And the hopped up ones (from the factory) pull some decent horse power. They also have A/C. And their designed to be able to run in the hottest possible climates without causing their driver's trouble. Do you think that just maybe they did their homework and designed an electric fan that pulls alot of air through that small radiator to NOT have overheating, in the hottest climates, with the A/C blasting? Of course they did. They don't want the headaches of having to replace engines that were overheated. What I'm getting at is that the OEs have much more of a reason to design a good fan than "Flex-lite", etc. I've also heard stories of the Flex-lite 150 "black magic" fan not cutting the mustard. Try a Taurus fan, or a Lincoln Mark VIII or a Mustang GT fan. Look for other big engined cars with small radiators and check out their fans too. My guess is that if you DO have an overheating problem, which I'm not convinced of yet, then the FAN you have is NOT enough. The Black Magic fan is NOT the end all to electric fans. The Mustang fan I have supposedly pulls as much through the radiator on LOW speed as the Black Magic fan does. BTW, my Mustang GT fan on that dinky little Camaro radiator is enough to keep my car below 215 on the hottest days yet (110 heat index) with the A/C blasting. Of course, it's just a little 327 though. I run the fan on high speed whenever either the A/C is running or the temp fan switch (from JET) says the water temp is above 210.

Most people lose sight of something when they think of the "worth" or "value" of something like a V8 Z. Sure, you pour X dollars in and, if you sell, get X/4 to X/3 dollars back "out of it". The rest of the "value" was the fun you had acquiring it (most likely building it), and having it, and showing it off, and taking all the comments about how cool it is and DRIVING it. That's hard to put a price on! It's the same kind of value that you lose when you buy a new high-priced car and take a bath on it a few years later through depreciation! But how many of you that are building or have built these cars ever THOUGHT you were building it to recoup any of the money? No, most if not all of us, build these cars because we like the process and the result. Sure, it's a HORRIBLE investment. But just about any car is. Go buy a new $40K car and tell me what it's worth in a few years - alot less! As someone on this site has in their signature: " Build it , Drive it, Enjoy it" (or something like that!) If you really feel you must sell it for financial reasons, but you still LOVE the car, think twice. The money, time, etc. that you'll lose can NOT be replaced. I've seen this happen way too many times and it always seems the first owner that sold it admitted that they should have found another way to find the measly few thousand bucks they sold their pride and joy for. I sure hope I never feel I'm in such a predicament that I HAVE to sell mine. More likely is that I'll not be able to use it or I'm just plain TIRED of it and want something else. Neither of those are on the horizon for me.

Lone, I don't care for the box flares either, but to each his own. I don't find it hard to believe that $55K was spent. And if someone loved that car and was thinking of building one like it, $18K would be a steal, IMO. That thing has been touched EVERYWHERE to maximize performance. Fiberglass doors, hatch, hood, fenders. 2400lbs. I like the door bars - I was thinking of doing that at one point. Jim Biondo once told me he had way over $35K in his car. (I don't think the number was for public consumption though - so I won't report it.) Had the receipts to prove it. Ouch. BTW, Jim recently sent me pics of his Dad's (used to be his) V8Z. He wanted me to scan them in. I also think he wanted me to post them somewhere. If so, I'll make a post about it. He has 5 lug Integral SRR wheels, and his own design of Wilwood brakes/brackets, on and used Corvette stub axles to do it with. I also have details of that swap.

Yeah, it was somewhere around 1968-1970 that passenger cars started using the long WP. Vette's kept using the short one for years. BLKMGK went through this. He started with the short pump but had so much trouble finding pulleys and brackets that he liked for it that he went to the long pump. It's easier to use the long one, so start with that.

I agree. Measure it. I did what Lone did, but I just pushed the slip yoke all the way into the tail of the tranny, and measured from the forward-most edge of the U-joint hole in it to the forward-most edge of the U-joint hole in the flange yoke that bolts to the diff flange. Measuring to the edge of the U-joint hole was easier than trying to keep both ends of the stick/rule/tape in the center of the holes. You can of course use either the forward-most edge of the hole, or the rearward-most edge, just use the same edge at both holes. After I had that measurement, I subtracted 3/4" to get some play in it. I think I came up with 19.75", but that's for my 240Z with a SBC and a Tremec 5spd and R200.

Sam, I can't imagine what would make me do such a thing, but I guess anything's possible. If I get tired of it, I'll just change something on it!

I'm the poster boy for "it may take forever, but it CAN be 'done'" The worst thing to do is get discouraged that it's taking so long. If you want the car to drive and not the experience of building it, then it's best to either forget it, or pay someone to do it for you. My Z sat for a year and a half while I moved, set up a garage, house, etc. Then, I'd get burned out and discouraged (Lots of rust will do that!)and not touch it for months (sometimes 6) at a time. But I kept at it, while hearing TONS of people who had no idea of the amount of time and effort it takes to do something like that always ask "When's it going to be done?" Non-car people. With other things pulling me away (family, work, THE INTERNET, etc.) it really stretched the project out (11 years start to finish). But in the end, it was worth it. The thing that many people didn't understand was that I was (usually) having a great time DOING the project, and the final outcome is kind of like icing on the cake. Now, I'm having so much fun driving it, that I don't work on the stuff I've left unfinished!

Check out: "The Immobiliser" Get inventive with the way to arm it. Use a relay (who'd a thunk? ) that is activated by the ignition switch to arm it, and hide the magnetic reed switch to disarm it (allowing the car to be started). You could use a the Normally Closed (not connected to the arm when the relay is energized) to short out the ignition coil like discussed above. I'd be leary of that though - for the reasons that Terry brings up. Just cut power to the ignition with that last relay in the circuit:

BOGUS! The ad says it's out of an 82 280ZX! I emailed the seller to tell him so.

There's a recent thread in the Polls forum on this. Also, check my site for the "Stupid Moves" page. Nothing to hide!

John, all, One of the AL radiator brands claims that it's not the material's thermal conductivity (i.e., copper/brass are better than AL), but the conduction between the better AL radiator fins and tubes. Some of the AL radiators have the fins and tubes adhered and/or welded together, making the radiators actually cool better than copper/brass radiators.

Opinions are like, well, you know. But just becuase you hava strong opinion doesn't mean you get to throw dispersions one someone for having a different one. Realizing that and acting on it is call: Common Courtesy. I'm really disappointed in this thread and other stuff related to it. The real problem lies in the situation that we can't all agree on what's civil and whats too aggressive for language. (I don't care about spelling guys, I'm on hour 11 at work today with more to go.) Bottom line. The moderators and administrators have last say on what goes and what's too agressive of a post. We police it, we judge, and we lay down the sentencing. VERY far from a democracy, but nobody EVER said this was a democratic site. People shooting from their keyboards are too hard and expensive to consult with, investigate, hold court, and put in jail - our budget is next to zero, so you get none of those bennies. I'm very disappointed... Back to work.

HotRod, Car Craft, Chevy High Performance, GM Hi Tech Performance, Popular Hotrodding. I subscribe to all of them. Heck, they're cheap if you shop around, you shouldn't be paying more than $10/year for each of them. Hotrod annoys me with the incessant Chevelle-based mind set for everything. Chevelles are cool, but the world does not revolve around them. All of their advice is based (even though they don't come out and say it) on a heavy car like the Chevelle. Jeff Smith was "Chevelle or nothing". Car craft is much the same. Cases in point: "Vacuum secondary carbs are the only way to go in the street." That's the sentiment anyway. Well, if you have a 350 in a chevelle with 3.08:1 gears, I agree. But some of us TRUE hotrodders (the ones that take a light car - much like a fenderless 31 Ford and put a bigger more powerful engine in it!) don't only have big heavy American cars that we hotrod. And therefore, the Vac Sec 4 barrel is NOT the only way to go. A 2700 lb car with a V8 and decent gearing can use and probably SHOULD use a double pumper. I listened to their bull for years and started out with Vac sec carbs that limited my performance (the punch anyway). Cams. For YEARS all I heard was "Don't go over 225 deg .050" duration on the street!" B.S. Once again, a light car with mid-short gearing can live with more. Just not a heavy Chevelle. My 236/240 @ .050 pulls cleanly from 1500 rpm. It rumps and romps at idle and keeps pulling past 6000 too. Oh, don't even get me started on the hydraulic vs solid lifter thing. For years the mags and cam manufacturers have pushed hydraulic cams only for the street. This is just not beginnng to turn around. Yeah, that BS about the differential not being up to the task was pretty stupid. It WAS the GM tranny that barfed on the track, not the diff. You guys should try Popular Hotrodding. Those guys ACTUALLY own and race fast cars, and they're quite open minded. They seem to go after the alternative cars as well. No doubt they all bow to their advertisers. GRM, on the otherhand, is a bit more above board, from what I can tell.

If scca-Mike is out, I bought one I probably won't use (already have an LSD). Same price as Mike did on the GP (what I paid for it) $300 US plus shipping.

Hey, I like those wheels - I wonder why!? Check out my page on wheels and tires. The drum will have an effect on the backspacing. My 17x9s are 149 mm backspacing. That works well with stock fenders (rolled fender lip), 8" coilovers (mounted high, with shortened coilover sleeves), and 1/2" thick rotor hats. You'll have to take the difference in the drum face thickness of your drum and the 1/2" thick rotor hat I have to come up with the right backspacing. In this range you might end up with thin slip on wheel spacers. I'd think the difference between the drum and my 1/2" thick rotor hat is about 7-9 mm. Add that to the backspacing of my wheels to get in the ballpark, and you'd have about 156-158 mm backspacing needed. If you could get 150mm backspacing, you could use a 1/4" spacer and be close, I'd imagine. Definitely try to mock up things before you buy, but the above should be in the ball park - no gaurantees! Don't weld the perches in place until AFTER you have your wheels and tires. The clearance up there is MINIMAL and you will want to fine tune the placement of the coilover tube.