post me some questions

[grumpyvette]

sorry, it should read,"your engine shops correct, .... at some rpms, under some conditions ,the gear drive does, on occasion make the knock sensors crazy, ".

[rsicard]

Grumpyvette: Another couple of questions, I now have a cometic head gasket and am using head studs. What sealer if any should be used on the cometic head gaskets? The block of course is iron and the heads are aluminum. Should I use Hylomar or a thread sealer on the upper portion of the stud threads that go into the block and Blue Loctite on the lower portion of the threads that go into the block to lock the studs and to seal up the water jackets?

 

I plugged the LARGE coolant holes to the heads and drilled 3/16" in the plugs for coolant flow. Should I have the block surfaced AGAIN after installing the LARGE coolant plugs. Tryed to level the outer portion of the LARGE coolant holes in the block with the remainder of the block. Please advise. Thanks.

[grumpyvette]

 

IVE always dipped the threads on studs that go into the block in this just prior to installation, and used only oil on the upper threads, Ive always installed head gaskets while damp on both sides with this

 

http://www.smallparts.com/Copper-Ounce-Aerosol-Spray-401612/dp/B00030BFKQ

or

http://www.vhtpaint.com/coppergasketcement.html

 

 

 

on the plugs, ID suggest asking your machine shop for advice after careful inspection

 

 

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=805&p=1171&hilit=+sealant#p1171

[chris51608]

hey grumpy..i wanna put a 350 on ma 280zx and i wanna build a nice horsepower engine on a budget of $2000..i don't have a engine ..i was thinking of getting a engine for a junkyard but idk..what engine do u recommend me getting..and what should i do to it thanks..

[grumpyvette]

thats a very low budget,but given an option ID suggest looking for a chevy vortec 350 or a 5.3 LS series truck engine from a late model wreck,you can probably find one for under $500-$700 if you shop carefully, if you can get it with a matching manual trans for under $1400 or so thats a big plus and yeah it can be done, craigs list , salvage yards, insurance adjusters can be good for info and leads ,what you do once youve got one depends on which choice youve made and the price

Edited April 29, 2009 by grumpyvette

[chris51608]

i bought a 71 350 from a monte carlo with 60k...ima put a top end kit ont it wat u recomend also i was wondering i have a 790 280zx and i wanted to see if the stock diff will hold up with the motor or wat will u recomend me swappin it for....thanks

[mrw]

What spring rates do you recommend on a 73 w/ a Chevy 350 (iron head) t56. I want to drop the ride height slightly. I do not race the car and I would prefer to keep a somewhat reasonable ride. thanks

[Gixxer Squid]

Grumpy,

 

Going to be installing a methanol injection on my car this next month(Z). I have been reading conflicting information on whether I should run 100% methanol or a 50.50 mixture water/methanol combination.

 

Here are the cons from SP:

 

• Safety: Pure methanol is easy to ignite and burns with an almost invisible flame.

• Performance: Water absorbs twice as much heat as methanol in the intake and inside the combustion chamber. Water cannot be flash-ignited, so has what is almost an infinite octane number. In the government studies for WWII piston-powered aircraft, 50/50 water-methanol was found to be the best fluid to use for auxiliary fluid injection.

• Tuning and Engine reliability: Injecting 50/50 water-methanol will prevent over-injection. If too much is injected, it will quench the flame front and the engine will bog and lose power. If too much straight methanol is injected, this will not happen, as methanol is very forgiving of rich mixtures. This could instead lead to explosive backfires, cylinder wash, etc. which will not happen when 50% or more water is in the mixture.

 

What are your thoughts concerning this? I am looking from a performance and somewhat longevity standpoint? My car is currently turbo-charged with air cooler(for street). Also, from a performance standpoint, would you be getting that much additional horsepower by running pure methanol instead of the mix or would it be negligible say not <5% or less?

 

Thanks,

 

J

[G-rib-73-240z]

hey Grumpyvette

 

I took forever to actually get it done but i finaly pulled the motor appart mostly looks like a simple rehone and new pistons will make it good but my co workers telling me to go .0030 just to have it .0030 over, what is your opinion on this?

 

I was also relooking at cams and i was wondering would this cam me a little beefier they stock ,CCA-CL12-224-4, i was going to have the motor carbed and was thinking about a single plane intake with a 800 or a 825 (i think it was 825) cfm carb. Also, would that be a big enough carb for that cam?

 

i know thats alot of questions with not alot of info, the car will be used for daily use im not really going to worry about gas mialage i mean hey, it's a 350. The car will also be used for crusing and what not.

 

thanks for any and all advice you give me.

 

Thomas Gribble

[rsicard]

Grumpyvette: Would like to get your comments on this situation. I have a 1 piece rear main seal SBC 350 stroked to 383. Ordered received replacement hyd roller lifters, also ordered and received Compcams 875-16 hyd roller lifters and lastly purchased 818-16 solid roller lifters. On the solid roller lifters, consulted with Compcams before purchasing same and 818-16 was recommended. Ordered and received same, tested them and the link bar on the lifter at the base circle of cam lifts slightly when the other for the same cylinder is lifted by the cam. Related this to Compcams via Email and NO REPLY!!! Not good. Then ordered the 875-16 Compcam hyd lifters and received the following instructions: "As stated before the best setting is ZERO to 1/8 of a turn". Hmmm, normally the instruction is to 1/2 turn after adjusting/tightening lack of vertical slack. Your comments PLEASE.

 

Would greatly appreciate your comments

[grumpyvette]

What spring rates do you recommend on a 73 w/ a Chevy 350 (iron head) t56. I want to drop the ride height slightly. I do not race the car and I would prefer to keep a somewhat reasonable ride. thanks

 

 

ID suggest talking to a local shop, I can honestly say THEREs no way to suggest the correct spring rates with out meassuring what youve got, the clearances and discussing what your trying to do, but coil overs an air shocks will normally help.

Edited May 1, 2009 by grumpyvette

[grumpyvette]

Grumpy,

 

Going to be installing a methanol injection on my car this next month(Z). I have been reading conflicting information on whether I should run 100% methanol or a 50.50 mixture water/methanol combination.

 

Here are the cons from SP:

 

• Safety: Pure methanol is easy to ignite and burns with an almost invisible flame.

• Performance: Water absorbs twice as much heat as methanol in the intake and inside the combustion chamber. Water cannot be flash-ignited, so has what is almost an infinite octane number. In the government studies for WWII piston-powered aircraft, 50/50 water-methanol was found to be the best fluid to use for auxiliary fluid injection.

• Tuning and Engine reliability: Injecting 50/50 water-methanol will prevent over-injection. If too much is injected, it will quench the flame front and the engine will bog and lose power. If too much straight methanol is injected, this will not happen, as methanol is very forgiving of rich mixtures. This could instead lead to explosive backfires, cylinder wash, etc. which will not happen when 50% or more water is in the mixture.

 

What are your thoughts concerning this? I am looking from a performance and somewhat longevity standpoint? My car is currently turbo-charged with air cooler(for street). Also, from a performance stand, point, would you be getting that much additional horsepower by running pure methanol instead of the mix or would it be negligible say not <5% or less?

 

Thanks,

 

J

 

IVE used BOTH methods in the past, personally I prefer strait alcohol , because I don,t want to throw another un necessary variable (mix percentage of alcohol/water) into the tunning calcs ,but either works fine, just be aware that your spark plug color and heat indications change a great deal, so youll need to compensate while tunning, now IM not an expert in this area so youll need to experiment some, but alcohol has both coolant and high octane factors added into the prevention of detonation so its allowing you to do things that strait gas woun,t allow you to get away with, but don,t shut the engine down untill its burnt off the alcohol and your running on gas ONLY or youll very quickly find out about the corroasive effects of alcohol on aluminum

Edited May 1, 2009 by grumpyvette

[grumpyvette]

hey Grumpyvette

 

I took forever to actually get it done but i finaly pulled the motor appart mostly looks like a simple rehone and new pistons will make it good but my co workers telling me to go .0030 just to have it .0030 over, what is your opinion on this?

 

Id never sacrifice cylinder wall rigidity or thickness for a near meaningless boost in displacement

 

I was also relooking at cams and i was wondering would this cam me a little beefier they stock ,CCA-CL12-224-4, i was going to have the motor carbed and was thinking about a single plane intake with a 800 or a 825 (i think it was 825) cfm carb. Also, would that be a big enough carb for that cam?

 

even a 750cfm carb if easily big enought, I would not go larger as it sacrifices crisp throttle responce for minimal or non-existant upper rpm gains, ID also suggest staying with a good dual plane intake, the cam youve listed won,t work well in the rpm range that the single plane intakes designed for, youll generally want to have about a 240 duration at .050 lift and a dynamic compression ratio near 8:1 and a minimum of a 3.54:1 rear gear before swapping to a single plane intake

 

i know thats alot of questions with not alot of info, the car will be used for daily use im not really going to worry about gas mialage i mean hey, it's a 350. The car will also be used for crusing and what not.

 

thanks for any and all advice you give me.

 

Thomas Gribble

 

 

hope that helps

Edited May 1, 2009 by grumpyvette

[grumpyvette]

Grumpyvette: Would like to get your comments on this situation. I have a 1 piece rear main seal SBC 350 stroked to 383. Ordered received replacement hyd roller lifters, also ordered and received Compcams 875-16 hyd roller lifters and lastly purchased 818-16 solid roller lifters. On the solid roller lifters, consulted with Compcams before purchasing same and 818-16 was recommended. Ordered and received same, tested them and the link bar on the lifter at the base circle of cam lifts slightly when the other for the same cylinder is lifted by the cam. Related this to Compcams via Email and NO REPLY!!! Not good. Then ordered the 875-16 Compcam hyd lifters and received the following instructions: "As stated before the best setting is ZERO to 1/8 of a turn". Hmmm, normally the instruction is to 1/2 turn after adjusting/tightening lack of vertical slack. Your comments PLEASE.

 

Would greatly appreciate your comments

 

if the link bars upside down on some link bar designs theres a binding of the lifters to the link bar, in any case one lifter location in its bore should NEVER restrict movement of the other vertically,if it does theres an obvious clearance issue that needs correction..... preloading the lifter preload at only zero to 1/8th turn past clicking at idle will pose no problems, and it tends to increase oil flow up the pushrods to cool valve springs

Edited May 1, 2009 by grumpyvette

[rsicard]

if the link bars upside down on some link bar designs theres a binding of the lifters to the link bar, in any case one lifter location in its bore should NEVER restrict movement of the other vertically,if it does theres an obvious clearance issue that needs correction..... preloading the lifter preload at only zero to 1/8th turn past clicking at idle will pose no problems, and it tends to increase oil flow up the pushrods to cool valve springs

Grumpyvette: I consulted with the Compcams Technical representative BEFORE I purchased the 818-16 solid roller lifters. In fact there was no reply to the Email when I made them aware of the FACT!!! There was NO MENTION of interference or any machining to be done in his Email and recommended the 818-16 over the 888-16 (0.3 inches taller). Then I went ahead and purchased the lifters only to find out that the lifter OPPOSITE from the one being lifted was lifted SLIGHTLY all the time. The link bar is symetrical and can be put on either way but still causes the opposite lifter to be SLIGHTLY lifted when it not supposed to be. As for the lifter preload, it appears that compcams can get away from lifter pump-up, i.e. valve floating/lifting when not desired, by merely putting into bold print the zero to 1/8th turn preload. The same may hold true with GM factory lifters set the same way for pre-load. Get the picture?

[Gixxer Squid]

IVE used BOTH methods in the past, personally I prefer strait alcohol , because I don,t want to throw another un necessary variable (mix percentage of alcohol/water) into the tunning calcs ,but either works fine, just be aware that your spark plug color and heat indications change a great deal, so youll need to compensate while tunning, now IM not an expert in this area so youll need to experiment some, but alcohol has both coolant and high octane factors added into the prevention of detonation so its allowing you to do things that strait gas woun,t allow you to get away with, but don,t shut the engine down untill its burnt off the alcohol and your running on gas ONLY or youll very quickly find out about the corroasive effects of alcohol on aluminum

 

 

Thanks for your thoughts. I think there is an added benefit to the water but you brought up something that I had already thought of, maybe a 75% methanol /25% water rather than a 50/50. I supposed it would be easy enough to mix in the garage next to the pilot light of the hot water heater, LOL (joke).

 

Any idea of comparison gains of 100% alcohol to 50/50 mix. If its minimal I would rather go 50/50, If its a big difference than 100% would be the route I would want to go. You have any weblinks to for me to research on?

 

James

[rsicard]

Grumpyvette: Sorry for the last post. Am upset with Compcams and the tech rep that I talked to. Went to the local engine shop today and he said that the Compcams hydraulic roller lifters I bought (875-16) were specifically made for performance yet he did not offer any proof of what he was saying. To me, it appeared that Compcams was pulling a slight of hand by documenting into bold print the lifter pre-load of zero to 1/8th turn. With that pre-load it appeared that even the GM factory lifters would not pump up at upper RPMs.

[deMideon]

Hey grumpy! here is my setup:

SBC 377 - 0 deck - 6 inch rods

KB194 pistons

Canfield heads - 59.2 cc

Crane cam 114691

aluminum flywheel

 

 

I have to replace the cam (screwed up a lobe), this cam is no longer available, I am thinking about going with a Summit K1108 hyd instead. What do you think of this cam?

 

Thank you very much!!!

[grumpyvette]

the two cams are similar, but Id have wanted a 108 lsa vs a 114 lsa, in a solid lifter flat tappet cam with a manual trans in a 377sbc.

you didn,t give enought info to select the correct duration but assuming you was happy with the crane cam Id suggest something in the similar range

Edited May 6, 2009 by grumpyvette

[deMideon]

I can understand that... Do you have any recommendations? Also in going from a solid lifter to a hyd lifter.. what differences in performance do you think I might see?

 

Thank you again!!