Competition Products sells them sperately.

http://www.competitionproducts.com/products.asp?dept=560

You can call their tech line and give them the measurements off your old ones so they can sell the right ones. A dial caliper will get you close enough. Their tech line is actually staffed with coherent car persons unlike Summit/Jegs.

http://www.competitionproducts.com/products.asp?dept=560

If you want to buy from the technically inept ones.

http://www.jegs.com/p/JE-Pistons/JE-P ... iro-Locks/753431/10002/-1

http://www.summitracing.com/search/?keyword=spiro%20locks&dds=1

Will

Spiro locks do normally get screwed up pretty bad when removed. People tend to pick the outer edge of them up and then take needle nose pliers or something smiliar and just pull them out of the pin bore groove. This streches them all out and makes them completely unsuitable for use again.

While I have very careful removed them so I could re-used them occasionally in the past - I won't recommend anyone else follow that practice.

They are pretty inexpensive and most people only remove 1 side when changing pistons/rods (no one wants to fight with them more than they absolutely have to) - so you should only have to buy 8 new ones.
Will

1995 was a very eventful year for me.

In March 95, I graduated Marine Corps Boot Camp, Parris Island SC.

After 10 days leave I reported to the School Of Infantry, Camp Geiger NC.

Upon completion I was living the good life stationed just down the road at Camp Lejeune, NC and spent the rest of 1995 (till Feb 96) on deployment to Guantanamo Bay Cuba (Operation Sea Signal JTF 160), picking Hatian "refugees" out of the water and keeping them under control in the camp until we could process them.

It was good times.

Will

Quote:

Every engine builder likes to run their clearance differently, espc on the rods and mains which correlate directly to the type of oil, oil pan and oil pump they like to run.

1. .0035 - .004
2. .003
3. .002 - .0025
4. Top .018
Second .020-.022

4032 is a very forgiving piston alloy. It is low expansion and a good choice for street cars and part time DP cars. I personally think SRP's recommendations on piston to wall is a bit tight, espc for something that is going to get run on a road course or used in a drift competiton where it's hung on the rev limiter for a while. Thats why I'm recommending and extra .0005 of clearance over what they say.

Keep in mind - this is how I like to set up most of my DP SBC engines. I prefer to run 15W40 oil, I use a good Road Racing 7qt oil pan (Competition Componets or Champ) and lately I've been using the Milodon PN 18750 oil pump which gives me 70psi sustained oil pressure at RPM and 55-60psi idling (both hot).

Quote:

It means you place the mic, to measure for the piston's dia, .500 up from the bottom of the skirt. They have a diagram on the spec sheets - which you can download and print from here:

http://www.jepistons.com/dept/tech/dl/piston_instrc4032.pdf

It is identical to the paperwork they send with the pistons new.
Will

Quote:

Your wrong. :tongue:

There is no difference in 5.7L Vortec and a L98 (or any post 86 SBC) short block wise. The difference is the cyl heads. The Vortec cyl head has slightly raised intake runners, a high swirl combustion chamber and an odd (SIMILAR to LTX) intake flange bolt pattern. Back in the day we would drill and tap the intake pattern to the std SBC bolt pattern so we could use the Vortec heads on our limited class oval track engines.

Matatk -

Ask the guy to remove the head gasket and take a pic of the deck surface....

That engine detonated it self to death. Looks like they ran it until it broke the rings on those 2 pistons and it then blew the head gasket between those 2 cyls. I also see water intrusion from the blown head gasket, which may equal bent rod(s).

The cyl walls will probally clean up at .030 but if the deck surface is burned/scored between the 2 cyls (and it is very common) there is no fixing the block.

I think he is trying to hide the damaged/non repairable deck surface by not removing the head gasket for the pics....

Will

Dan
Thanks for the invite, but I won't be able to make it.
Will

Quote:

What? No love for Chris Christmas Rodriguez?

Christmas is just around the corner you know....

Quote:

Pete
Adding up cost is never a good thing to do.

On a second note:
I'd like to thank you for the tuitoral. I've never seen some of the aftermarket hard parts (like the Beast reactor shell) that are availiable for the 700/4L60 before.

I can now see why every one of the 700's I had built by local tranny shops in the past wouldn't stand up to mild street engines (mild IMO anyway) for very long.... Sprag failure in every one of them.
thanks
Will

Speedway Motors. They have everything you need. Kits, individual parts, whatever.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Street- ... egory_root|225=Street+Rod

Will

Last Sat I took the 92 for a ride down to the Burger King in Manassas where everybody gets together for impromptu car shows here.

Car ran great everybody there looked hard when I idles it in and parked. I popped the hood and people started going gaga over the sheetmetal intake, fabbed rocker covers and stuff. I got a lot of positive comments from folks and a lot of good questions about the car and engine.

After about 2 hours we loaded up and headed home. Once I got off the on ramp I layed into it pretty good from about a 4000 RPM roll in 1st gear, pulled second, ran it up to about 6500 RPM, kicked it over in 5th and started riding.... then I noticed the rear end was roaring like a SOB under light acceleration. I pulled off the side of the road looked under the car and since nothing was falling out of it I limped it home (7miles) as easy as I could.

All week I pondered what I was going to do. Since we are moving in to our new house in a couple of weeks I didn't want to take the car apart, as I knew depending on how bad the rear end was hurt I wouldn't have it back together in time. I really wanted to know what was broke since the rear end was just gone thru by my brother during the new engine install with a new 4.10 Yukon R&P put in with all new Timken Brgs and he even rebuilt Positraction unit....

Then a very curious thing happened. A semi local board member got word of my broken rear end. Without any hesitation, without me asking, without him even really knowing me he offered to loan me a spare center section (with a 3.90 gear) he had laying in his basement so I could continue to put miles on the new engine and send my center section off to my dad/brother to be fixed.

I started on it about 6PM last night. Keep in mind this on jack stands in my driveway with only hand tools and an electric impact that’s too big to remove anything except the rear wheels/tires.... By 8PM I had it completely apart. I then talked to my brother for an hour about how it looks like the gear was set up wrong. By 1AM it was back together except for the exhaust. I got up at noon this afternoon, checked the C Beam bolts and batwing bushing bolts with a TQ wrench and put the exhaust back on it. At 1 PM I fired it off and ran the gear in on jack stands for about 15mins.

Good news is I can still drive the car. Bad news is once my gear is fixed I'll have to do this again.

I also noticed while I had the entire rear of the car tore apart that both rear shocks are leaking like crazy and every rubber busing in the rear suspension is destroyed.

I've learned a few things.

First. There are people willing to help anyway they can. The loan of this gear is something I could not fathom when he first offered it. I am humble beyond words to the man.

Second. I've got a lot more work to do this car before it's ready to do any serious racing with. There is so much work still to do (bushings, coilovers) I wonder how long it'll take.

Third. I hate not having the faculties of my dads shop at hand anymore. Crawling around on the ground with the car barley high enough to slide under it, no air tools... This is a bunch of crap. I don't know exactly how I'm going to equip my new 24X24 garage but you can bet some these deficiencies are going to get addressed.

So next week it looks like I'll box the diff up and ship it to GA. Call Randy's and order a new R&P and install kit.
Will

Quote:

Brad Penn makes a very good product. I know a lot of racers that use it. Only problems I have had with it is that it's not availiable every where. If it is readily availiable to you, good on you for supporting a local product.

Of the common stuff you can find in Autozone/Advance Auto/Walmart I prefer these.

Rotella T 15W40 has already changed its formula. The old formula is still made but not widely distributed. You can tell by looking at the container. The new formula has the "energy star" on it. The new formula still has more ZDDP than most regular passenger car oils.

Mobil Delvac 15W40 is another good diesel oil with high ZDDP levels (equilivent to the old Rotella formula)and they have no plans to change it. Volvo also re-lables this oil and sells it in their big truck dealerships.

I run either of these oils in my bikes (Triumph Speed Triple & Yami YZ450F), both of my Corvettes and my Jeep Cherokee (194K and still going strong).
Will

Trying to get the plants as much carbon dioxide as possible so I drove the 92 to work every day this week (Friday is CWS for the Govt, so I'm done for the week today).

I ran the tank down to 2 bars today and looks like it is getting about 12mpg around town. Not to shabby considering how radical the engine is, 4.11 gear and an open loop tune. It's never getting above 195*F sitting in DC gridlock and running down the road in clean air the temp is hanging around 170-180*F (stock replacement GM Harrison radiator, Hypertec 160 stat and Mezier elect WP). The SPEC Stage 3 clutch is doing great for me, even in traffic.

People around here are still giving me some pretty strange looks in traffic or at lights.

I haven't been able to get up with Ed to re-tune it yet. My work schedule and his availiablity just arn't lining up yet. I did make some pretty hard pulls on the street with it the other night and the plugs actually look a bit on the rich side.... I'm contemplating buying a wide band, making afew more hard pulls and if it's safe on the AFR just taking it to the track as is. I'm sure its down on power using the old engines tune but time to re-tune is hard to come by.

Will

Guide plates are the prefered method for most hi-performance engines.... however if the engine is fairly low RPM (less than 7000RPM) and has modest spring pressure (around 350lbs open), SA rocker arms will do the job fine in my experience. You just have to be careful of valve float as it can/will cause the rockers to come off the valve stem and unlock a valve spring retainer.

If I were in your situation (and I have been), I'd want to utilize the SA rockers I already had - vice buy a new set of rocker arms.

It all comes down to the valve stems "tip" length. If the tip lenght is sufficient to keep the SA rockers "guide ears" off the valve spring retainer and locks I'd run them.

The problem is that some SBC valves have really short valve stem tips and the guide ears on some SA rockers can actually ride on the retainer or the locks which is bad. It's very easy to spot once a rocker is mocked up. If they hit you have to buy non SA rockers, run hardened pushrods and use the guide plates.
Will

Shouldn't have to drill any holes in an AS&M Mono Blade to get it to idle.

My car idles at 980-1100RPM with the idle screw barely 1/2 turn off full close. Now I had to drill one .100 hole in each blade of my 58mm TB to make my car idle without the blades opend up 1/4".

My Mono Blade works perfectly, and it is the only one I have ever fooled with. I know alot of folks have problems with the Mono Blade getting hung up and their motor is stuck on "high idle" when driving. I thought that phenomon was only on forced induction cars thou....

If I were you - I would check the alignment of the throttle blade in the housing and make sure it is centered properly. Make sure the screws holding the blade to the throttle shaft are tight and the blade is tight on the shaft. You stated it was rubbing the bottom of the housing... that is the first indication that one of the above is wrong. Find out why it is touching the bottom of the housing, putting screen door closer springs and sanding the housing is just masking the real problem.
Will

Gotcha. I knew the 200R4 tail housing would be a PITA to fabricate up for a C4, but I didn't know the planatery gear sets were so weak in them.

The Turbo Buick guys I know are all bunch of lying MFer's... They tell you they are runinng 30+lbs of boost (all on dead stock 120K mile bottom end of course), never burn pistons, never blow head gaskets, still running the stock 200R4 and 3.42 10 bolt both of which never grenade...

Will

This is a mighty expensive option just to keep a 4L60/700R4.

Besides GM already made a 4spd auto overdrive trans with a close ratio gear set.

What's wrong with building/running a 200R4 Pete? Is it just the fact that the 4L60 is the factory desgined unit for the C4?
Will

Quote:

I did want to make the tube 2 pieces and have it bolted together (maybe with some way to adjust it) but that was going to be a bigger job than my chassis builder could accomplish in the time alloted so we went for the fixed length welded in deal.

Pro/Cons:
I think big draw back is you pretty much have to have a roll bar to do it at all. The floor pan isn't very thick or rigid in that location so just attaching it like the old MOPAR's had, isn't going to be very strong. Maybe you could do something from the frame rails on either side of it from underneath but I didn't look at that.

As far bolting it in. I don't know how rigid it would/could be. Since I had already pretty much irreversably modified the car by welding the roll bar in it.... I figured the pinion support/snubber bar should be part of that package and welded in so it would be as strong as possible.

There is some additional driveline noise transmitted into the cabin. Not a big deal in my car since the motor/exhaust is so freakin loud but someone's honest daily driver you might want to be able to take it out for cruisng to work and road trips.

That's about all that comes to mind.
Will

What if you bought a set of "used cyl heads" from someone?

I sometimes ship parts to Canada and on the Customs forms I always state "USED AUTOMOTIVE PARTS FOR REPAIR".

This helps on the taxes.

Shipping is going to cost whatever it cost but I think there are more cost effective methods than doing all that work to a set of 113 castings.
Will

Quote:

I supported the pinion/C-Beam attachment point on my D44 case with a bar off the shoulder bar on the roll cage. I have pics is my various roll bar threads. IMO this is the strongest way to do it.
Will

Quote:

This is true.

When I put my Corsa on (the first time) I gave the stock LT1 cat back away - to a guy from Raleigh NC with an L98 car. He drove down picked it up at the shop and got to spend the weekend with his GF at Atlantic Beach. Shipping was just too much hassel and $$$ for an otherwise free stock exhaust system.

Shipping just the mufflers and under axel pipes is much easier. When I bent my first Corsa up (loading the car on fricken trailer), I sold the bent up stuff to a guy in GA on CF. Shipping cost was fairly reasonable since it was a box and not a 10ft long 40 lbs section of welded together pipes and mufflers.
Will

All of the external stuff is far stronger than the ring/pinion, carrier and case of a D36.

You will grenade the ring and pinion or break the carrier or housing in half before you can do any damage to a stub axel (spindle) or halfshaft, considering you have a small stall convertered, foot brake, automatic trans.

There are things you can do to keep the rear suspension from squating too far and getting negative angle in the halfshafts that will help prevent breaking stub axels and half shaft u-joints. The best solution I saw was a very fast 6spd car a few years ago. Bill B at the ZF Doc also suggested that I do the same thing to my car in addition to all my roll bar/pinion bar work. Basically the guy had built spacers for the rear suspension snubbers so the rear suspension would only squat enough to allow the half shaft to get parallel with the ground and not get any negative angle. A simple bump stop extender nothing more.

More involved solutions/additions are solid bat wing bushings and pinion snubbers to keep the C-Beam from flexing and busting the pinion nose off the housing.

If you wanted to try something I would suggest you get some tubing and 1/4" X 2" plate to build the bump stop extenders to try. But I personally don't think you can launch it hard enough to break anything other than the D36 itself, and there is not much you can do to make it stronger as the weakness is inside and IMO the $$$ you would spend to upgrade a D36 would be better spent towards a D44.
Will

Sounds like most likely the Harmonic Balancer's outer ring has slipped on the hub.

Most SBC's TDC mark are at 2 o'clock althou some are straight up at 12 o'clock, so you have to be careful that you have the correct timming cover/tab/harmonic balancer combination.
Will

When I was younger my driving style was definatly reckless as was most everything else I did in my life to say the least.

I was looking for an email address back 1997 or so (hotmail was becomming in-vouge) and during a drunken game of Gran Turismo one of my buddies came up with rklessdriver.

I'm still pretty young at 34yrs but the screen name really dosen't fit the man anymore. I drive like an old man most of the time... I still keep it because I've used it so long and change is hard.
Will

Keep in mind my cubic inch calculations is with the common 4.030 bore but most Gen II LT1 blocks will bore 4.060 without a problem.

3.75" stroke cranks (382 inches) are a dim a dozen and require little to no grinding on the lower water jacket depending on what rods are used.

3.875" Stroke cranks (395 inches) are getting almost as common and require a little bit more grinding. 1.050 compression height piston has proven to be relibale in most street cars with good machine work but your getting tight on the ring stack.

4.0" Stroke cranks (408 inches) will fit with even more grinding on the lower water jackets of the block. Depending on the rod used you should pour the bottom of the block because at 4" you can hit water pretty easily. Some people use small journal (2.0) rods to give more clearance but with a 350 main and common imported 4340 forged cranks - this is not a good solution in a high HP car because the reduced journal overlap makes the crank to weak IMO. A 1" compression height piston can be made reliable on the street but your going to really have to have good machine work on the cyls and they will be custom pistons as I don't know of any off the shelf small bore pistons with a 1" CH.

4.125" Stroke cranks (420 inches) are availiable that can be made to fit. You will have to grind the main journals down to fit in a 350. It will be expensive. You will have to pour the block. Again custom pistons and bigger dollars.

A 3.875 stroke motor is probally the biggest you can get using all off the shelf parts. If your willing to spend $650-$700 (or more depending on the mfgr) for custom pistons and pour the block to the bottom of the freeze plugs you could easily go bigger.
Will

On Friday's I usually drive one of my Corvettes to work if the weather is nice.

For the past year to year and a half I haven't been doing that because the 92 has been on again off again broke and I've never got around to putting a new rear bumper on the 76...

That all changed today however. Since the car runs decenet enough for cruising around in the dark of night on deserted roads, I figured I'd take a chance on NOVA/DC traffic. I live about 10 miles from my work. Usually traffic is "light" in the mornings, taking me about 15-20 mins to get there using the surface streets and I had no problems.

As a bonus the Marines in the program office were having the annual car wash to help pay for the Marine Corps Ball. I didn't need it washed but they always need money for the ball so at lunch I took it around the back of the bulding. It was great to let one of the junior Sgt's putt it around the parking lot thru the car wash. I rember doing that stuff a few years ago when I was still active duty and everybody had crappy ragged out Hondas and Toyotas for us to wash. He was happy as a lark to be able to drive my car albet at a reduced pace... we all joked that he was going to have to clean up the drivers seat real good afterwards.

Being a Friday traffic in the evening is a killer. Usually everybody is trying to get off I-95 and snake it around on the surface streets to get out of the grid lock. 45 mins to 1 hr is the normal on Friday evening for me.... so I was kinda scared, but figured what the heck the car deserves to be driven.

The car did great. Never got above 196*.

The sheeple in their Range Rovers and Benz's all give me the "WTF" look when they have to sit next to me in traffic. I guess for them personal expression with your vehicle is limited to the latest blue tooth head set, a Range Rover African Safari off road app for their I Phone and maybe (if they are really feeling froggy) rollin on some 26" Asantis...

At any rate, I'm looking forward to being able to drive it more often. Take it easy and enjoy the weekend guys.
Will

The Brute Force U-Joints are pretty good and also mfgr by Neapco. They are solid and the cross is a very beefy forging.

I've used them for years in 4WD stuff mainly because they are easy to get and have a lifetime guarentee. I won't say that I've never broken one but IMO they do hold up very well.

Some people say they are brittle but I haven't seen that in my useage. The ones I've seen break were in very high powered Mud Racers that bumped a wall or launched off bump/landed under power or something like that and I've seen that kind of stuff break even those billet high dollar U-Joints....

As for use in Corvettes. I'm confident in them. I put 6 of them in Nolands car last year and just put 6 in my personal 92.

Stuff breaks man and when it rains it poors. I've been there, got a box of broken and used up parts to prove it. All you can do it take it one part at a time and move on.
Will

Quote:

Sure Brian,
Look under my "Roll Bar Pics" and "Rollbar Pics II" threads.

http://www.corvette-guru.com/modules/ ... t_id=93363#forumpost93363

http://www.corvette-guru.com/modules/ ... t_id=94250#forumpost94250

The bar comming off the shoulder harness bar going thru the floor pan (at the storage compartment)is the "snubber bar". If you look at the pic from under the car you can see the 1/2" plate weled to the bottom of that bar sitting directly on top of the pinion to C-Beam mounting point.

As the C-Beam tries to deflect (and the pinion tries to rotate upwards) under acceleration it pushes up on the snubber bar. Since it can't bend or compress that 1 3/4" DOM seamless tubing it's upwards force is transmitted to the chassis by way of the roll bar.

Like I said it's main purpose was to prevent the C-Beam from deflecting allowing the D44 housing to be ripped apart and nothing else.

It just surprised me the first time I stood up in it and the headlights were suddenly aimed at the sky. The car did not have this kind of front end lift or traction even on Drag Radials before. It squated down a little in the rear (like all C4's do) and once the rear suspension bottomed out on the bump stops it would spin the tires. Now the rear suspension does not hit the bump stops and it does not spin.
Will

Quote:

My goal was 500RWHP but I'm realistic and know anything over 470ish is going to be gravy.

Quote:

It is currently a hyd roller, however if I break it again I'll seriously consider going to a mech roller.
Will

Quote:

It's a fixed length right now.

I thought when I first conceived this idea that someday I may want to be able to adjust the "preload" on the pinion. Honestly once my chassis guy got to actually building it... making it adjustable just made things so involved that he wouldn't have been able to get it done in a timely manner.

Its first purpose is to keep the C-Beam from deflecting and the D44 housing from ripping itself in half. The fact that it transmits lift to the chassis is just a bonus IMO. It just sits on top of the C-Beam plate barley touching with no pre load at all right now. You can see a few little scrapes in the paint where the housing has been pushing up making hard contact on it.

Down the road I may modify it so that I can fool with the pre load on the pinion and C-Beam if I feel it can make a difference.... but the other side of me says "if it keeps doing a good job, why mess with a good thing?"

Will

Thanks Josh
How much is left on yours?
Will

I have been taking the car out during the weekends at night just to put easy miles on the motor with lots of acceleration/deceleration in 5th and 6th gear to make sure everything is A-OK when I bring it to him. I've got about 200 miles on it so far.

I did have the oportunity to get on it a little last night. WOT from a 5mph roll (in 1st gear) thru middle of 3rd gear keeping the revs down to about 5500-6000RPM on the shift.

First - if your considering MT ET Street radials, you should buy them. If I just roll on the throttle easy like the car just hooks and pins you in the seat. I don't know how they will hold up to a standing start yet.

Second - My snubber bar is acting as a lift bar. The car lifts quite violently under WOT acceleration. It also tracks strait and true. Before it always wanted to turn right under acceleration so the ZF-Doc beam plates are helping as well.

Third - The motor feels very strong. Pulls like a freight train once you get it past the 2500RPM part throttle timing stumble. Despite backing the camshaft intake centerline up 2* and porting the crap out of the intake monifold it dosen't seem to have lost ANY bottom end TQ. Seat of the pants is all subjective but throttle response is as good as it ever was IMO.

I'm very pleased so far. Bumping the compresssion up to 11.6 SCR was probally the best thing I could have ever done to this thing. Seems to have totally negated the loss of bottom end power I was kinda worried about. Hopefully the other stuff (ported intake/retarded camshaft) will pick the top end power up like it should.

We will all know once Ed gives me a Dyno appointment.
Will

I sent you a PM about the roll bar.

I'm orginally from around the Atlanta area and know several chassis people who can help you if you can't find anyone.
Will

Mop and Glow has a bunch of other uses.

I used Mop and Glow on my boots for inspections back in the day. You shine them up normally with regular shoe polish and then take a little Mop and Glow on a q-tip and apply it. The boots would look like you spent hours spit shining them. Marine Corps kinda got away from those stupid parade dress type inspections after the mid 90's and now everyone wears the swead brown boots so I haven't done that in quite a few years now. Cool while it lasted thou.

It's meant for use on Liniolium floors so it's not corrosive to plastic and shouldn't harm your inner fenders.
Will

Quote:

Yea, those 3V Ford Mod motors are famous for that crap. I refuse to work on those SOB's because of that very reason. Anything you have to take a punch and break/knock the spark plug guts into the cyl before you can use an easy out to get the rest of the spark plug shell out of the head is not meant to be worked on by humans.

You had a good point about the Titan I forgot about.

Namely the rear doors. They do open all the way back against the bed almost. Real easy to get in and out of the back seat.

The gas mileage... your right its no diesel. Seems like gas trucks all get about the same.

I'm looking for a new truck right now. I would like a diesel for the pulling power and mileage but really it's not practical for everyday and hopefully I'll not be needing to tow the Corvette across 3 states again anytime soon. The race track is only 7-8 miles from my house up here so the Jeep will suffice for the race days when I'm feeling froggy about dumping the clutch hard. Probally just end up to continue pulling with the Jeep until I finally kill the AW4 in it.
Will

2spd or hi-range only???

In the 1980's 4WD Nissian trucks had a very small divorced transfer case that is very popular with light class Mud boggers. Its also fairly strong.

The 4WD S-10 transfer cases will bolt up to a Th350 or 7004R/4l60 but even thou its a gear drive it is not very strong. Very popular with light class mud boggers as well that don't want the hassel of fabbing up drive shafts for a divorced transfer set up.

On the hi-range only spectrum. The Olds Bravado had a full time hi-range transfer and it is the same on used in the GMC Syclone and Typhoon but much easier (and cheaper) to find in a junk yard.

If you want small, lightweight and indestructable there are these.

http://www.scsgearbox.com/default2.asp?active_page_id=142

Will

One of my best friends races an AMX in IHRA Stock Eliminator (Crate Motor). He used the rules to his advantge and runs a 360 Magnum based engine. Very easy swap into that AMX so it would be the same in a later model Javilen.

Plenty of performance availiable out of the small block MOPAR too. Stroker kits availiable to 400+ inchs with the stock 340/360 block. No more expensive to build than a SBC or Ford.

I have built ONE AMC V8 in my life. A 390 for an AMX I built for a fellow Marine over in Cherry Point NC. I had to get some custom piston built to lower the SCR down under 10.5 but other wise it had Eldebrock intake, 750 Holley DP, 220/230@.050 hyd flat tappet camshaft, some minor bowl porting to the heads (yes they were the dog leg ex port ones). The car was very fast considering it was just a "regular old mild build" when comparing it to every other SBC street motor I build. You could have knocked me over with a feather when the first time to the drag stip that car went 12.30's on regular old street tires. There is definatly potential with the hi-performance AMC v8's but parts were hard to get back in the 90's when I built that one and I guess Eldebrock has helped out some with their new alum heads but factory hi-performance blocks, cranks, rods are still in short supply and expensive if you need anything.

Last but not least. Ever thought about how cool an retro rod would be? Drop in a modern EFI 5.7L-6.0L Hemi and overdrive auto...

I love the SBC but something about putting a SBC in it just don't sit right with me.
Will

I guess this is gonna be a bash post on Jap trucks... but not really.

One of the Marines that works for me was cool enough to loan me his 2006 Titan 5.6L V8 truck to drive to Ga so I could trailer my 92LT1 6spd back up here to NOVA. Now I've towed my Corvette to and from my dads engine shop in Ga about 4 times since building the engine in it due to various crap you would expect with releation to the failure of engine parts being pushed past their limits.

At any rate I used my 02 Tundra (4.7L V8) once before I sold it last year and my Jeep Cherokee (4.0L I6) the other 3 times. Now it's a pretty long haul from my current home in NOVA to my dads shop in Willliamson/Zebulon, Ga. It's a very scary haul using an under powered, under braked, under suspension'd 1995 Jeep Cherokee. So I was happy I was able to use a "full size truck" this time around.

Ok now that you got the back story. The good about the Nissan Titan 5.6L.

Power. The DOHC 5.6L V8 has plenty of power and coupled with the 5spd auto tranny it pulled almost every hill between here and there 70+mph and if I timed it right it rarley kicked out of 5th gear.

Suspension. I never felt like it was overloaded once we hooked the car and traile r to it. It also rode very, and I mean VERY nice for a 4WD truck, loaded or unloaded.

That's about it for the good. Now for the bad.

Gas mileage. Sucked. 20mpg unloaded turned into 16mpg with just the 16ft open car trailer and then 12mpg dragging the trailer and my 92. Not horrid (and really good unloaded IMO) but darn I rember my dads old 77 Ford F250 (we towed our oval track cars with it back when I was a kid) got 10mpg, had a 460 with a 3spd C6 Auto and had way more power. I would think we could do better than 12mpg 20+yrs later but I guess not. Not to worry as my old Toyota Tundra only got a wopping 14mpg towing the same trailer and my Corvette... kinda down on power compared to the Titan as well so....

Brakes. Sucked almost as bad as my Cherokee. You need a brake controller if plan to tow anything bigger than a motorcycle trailer with a Titan. My old Toyota had much better brakes.

Now for the kicker.
The truck ran great for me. It cost me a fortune in gas but ran great, used no oil, coolant temp always just under half way, surge tank always half full - everything was perfect. Kid calls me yesterday to tell me the Nissan is over heating for some reason... a mere week after I gave it back to him. I go over there and the dam thing is out of coolant. I put some water in it and start it up, nothing leaking. So I fill it up with water get it hot and put the cap on to let it start building pressure. Water starts pooring out of the lower radiator tank. YEP its cracked all to hell. So the kid buys a new $180.00 radiator and I agree to help him install it. Took me about a 3hrs with hand tools (him helping was a "slight" hinderance) only thing that had to come off the engine accy drive was the fan/fan clutch. All in all not a bad job excepet for the hose clamps for the tranny cooler.... Some of those are hidden in a small crevice between the radiator and the core support and a real SOB to get off/on if you don't think to do it before you bolt/unbolt the radiator from it's mounts.

I go and do some internet research on these things today and come to find out, about everyone of them ever made bust the lower radiator tank in the same fricken place at right about 85-90,000 miles. His Titans mileage you ask... 86,096 when I returned it to him.

At least it waited and didn't strand me on I-85 in BFE.
Will

I know for a fact the Fidanza Alum, SPEC Steel and the SPEC Alum all come with a removeable weight so you can internal balance.

Yes a machine shop with a balancer should be able to trim the weight or add weight to match balance a new SM FW to your old DM FW.

I have a Fidanza Alum SM FW on my personal car and an engine I built last year for a friend over on CF, we used a SPEC Steel SM FW. Both were nice FW's, fit properly and yes the tranny noise is noticeable as compared to the stock DM espc since both of these cars have pretty healthy camshafts.
Will

WOW a 3.2 right under LAX.

Speaking of shaken not stirred.

I wonder how many 40's of Old E were spilled over near Crenshaw...
Will

Quote:

Joe
I have used this valve adjustment on hyd rollers a few times in the past - but it really only mask the problem.

With all the work I've put into mine in the past 2yrs (almost), I'm begining to dislike hyd rollers for serious hi-performance engines more and more everyday. Once you get to a certian point it is knives edge balancing act of valve spring, lobe rate and external stability. You get one bit out of kilter in any one of them and the whole shebang goes to hell....

I like mech rollers. If you have good oil supply at the lifter wheel and valve springs a mech roller will live a very long time. A tight lash lobe profile will go a long way to keeping the valve adjustment in check - which is the only other big killer of mech roller parts I have seen. With the HIPPO (MOREL and CROWER) lifters and spring oiler V/C or shaft mount rockers we have now I think one could make a mech roller live forever in a street car.

I'll tell you what... If that fricken hyd roller in my 92 eats one more set of valve springs, I'm going to switch my car over to a T/L mech roller and find out.
Will

I have never liked the 60* V-6 hy roller lifter deal. It's a neat way to use parts from an otherwise completely worthless engine family but it has some potential problems I would rather just not deal with.

Something about drilling for the tie bar retiner (spyder) and then having the tie bars (dog bones) sitting on the unmachined/as cast top of the lifter bore just doesn't sit well with me in any hi-performance application. Also depending on the base circle of the camshaft the oil band is not really in the right place and you could end up relying on oil seeping thru the lifter bore clearance to get oil to the topend...

Now add in the fact that good retro fit hyd roller lifters are getting cheaper all the time....

http://www.competitionproducts.com/prodinfo.asp?number=91164

When you add in how much labor it is to do all that iffy work to make 60* V-6 lifters work in a SBC you almost at the point of diminishing return considering the retro fit vertical tie bar lifters are a proven hi-performance part. The only ones I've seen fail were owned by morons who didn't have enough spring pressure to control the valve train at the RPM they were turning and vlave float/lifter bounce destroyed them. The retro fit lifters are heavy and in a SBC you needed around 145 lbs/380 lbs to turn 6500RPM with them on a decent cam profile back in the mid 90's. Todays hyd roller profiles have come a long way with the opening/closing ramps so you may get away with a little less spring if you utilize the newer grinds.
Will

Quote:
Thanks

I'll have to take a new film of it as it is idled down to 950RPM now but big cams gallop reguardless.

The engine is 382 inches and GEN II LT1 based. Stock F Body block w/splayed 4 bolt caps, 11.6SCR, AFR 210 Elims, custom ground Mike Jones hyd roller, T&D shaft mount rockers (1.7/1.7), converted 2925 Super Victor. The bottom end is all ultra light weight stuff Eagle 4340 forged 44lb pendlum under cut crank, Scat Q Lite rods, and Manley Platium Series pistons. It has 36lb FMS injectors, an AS&M mono blade TB and a dyno tune from Ed at The HP Factory.

I'm really hoping for 500RWHP but I know considering a small cubic inch 23* motor with a hyd camshaft, I'm doing darn good just to have what I already had.

I still have some more stuff comming down the pipe with this car even after it's re tuned. Coilovers and a complete suspension overhaul. Of course I'll have to have that hole the altenator chewed in the hood repaired...

It never ends does it?
Will

Well it was a long drive from NOVA to Williamson Ga and back but we made it ok and my car back in it's driveway and with it's owner.

I took some better pics of the new roll bar with all the interior put back in the car.

[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f303/rklessdriver/Corvette/DSC01049.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f303/rklessdriver/Corvette/DSC01050.jpg[/IMG]

I also took the best pic (I could get) of my pinion snubber. Of course you all can see the middle bar comming down (from the houlder harness bar) and going thru the floor. Here is where it butts against the top side of the C-Beam and D44 Housing mounting point.

[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f303/rklessdriver/Corvette/DSC01047.jpg[/IMG]

I'm really sorry I couldn't get a better shot but it's tight under there and all I could do was hold the camera on top of the D44 housing (pointing forward) and snap away until I got it.

Now the engine is running pretty good, even thou the tune is now off badly but only at WOT on the top end. I was not able to get the car on a dyno before we had to turn around and come home but it wouldn't have mattered as my brother left the gas cap loose and the car had about half a tank of contaminated (with H2O) gas. I've gotten all that run thru it.

Last night we stopped in Fredricksburg VA and dopped my trailer off at a co-workers house (he has a much bigger yard for storage than I do). I then drove the car the remaining 30+ miles to my home. Pretty much strait I-95 running along at 70+ mph. With my new 4.10 gears the car turned just under 2000rpms in 6th gear. No leaks, no smoke, no blowing oil everywhere. Other than an occasional part throttle snap out the tail pipe from the bad gas it ran fine. This morning I went to the gas station, filled it up with fresh 93 octane and after a few miles the part throttle snap is gone and is running as good as it did before I pulled it apart.

I'm afraid to really beat on it until I can set up an appointement with Ed to re-tune it. Until then I'm going to keep putting easy miles on it to make sure it broken in with no problems (like last time) and ready when he is.

Here is a new pic of the engine. As you can see I welded breather tubes on the rocker covers (and pointed them strait up) this time around as the spring oilers in my T&D rockers seemed to spray directly where the breather hole was located before... and those little push in breathers were always seeping oil around the gromet. All is well as it's permantaly fixed now.

[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f303/rklessdriver/Corvette/DSC01051.jpg[/IMG]

I would have made you guys a new idle clip but heck it sounds the same as before.



I will post the results of the dyno when ever Ed can get to me. Take it easy guys.
Will

Quote:

No rubber. The snubber is solid. The tube runs down and has a 1/2" plate the same size as the c beam plate welded to the end. The plate just barley makes contact with the C beam plate. I didn't want any rotational movement from the D44 housing as they tend to rip the case apart or break the pinion/snout off them in really high HP cars. I also have some solid batwing bushings in back to help it out.


The snubber bar is not removeable (at present) but the upper C-Beam plates have the bolts welded/captured in place so it is a simple unbolt from the bottom, then slide the top C-Beam plate out and then slide the C-Beam back and over like normal. I thought that sometime in the future I would like to be able to pre load the housing or whatever - so I still may modify this at a later date.

I will take some pics from the bottom and from the top (with the bar painted and carpet back in the car) this weekend.
Will

Quote:

Yes Russ plated/reinforced that triangle area a little bit. I've seen a lot of folks mount their main hoops there. He said it was a strong area of the frame and he liked how it moved the main hoop forward a few inches which in his opinion should be better if I ever get this thing on it's roof... No plans to test that BTW.

As for the snubber. I guess if I don't rip the nose off the D44 first launch at the drag strip - we can call it successful...
Will

My 92 Just got out of the Chassis shop.

As promised here are the initial pics. Nothing super special, typical 4pt roll bar. It is made out of 1 3/4" .120 wall DOM seamless tubing. The center bar going thru the floor is a "pinion snubber" I specified to keep the C-Beam from flexing and my D44 housing in 1 pc. It makes contact directly on top of my ZF Doc C-Beam Plate.

[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f303/rklessdriver/Corvette/DSCF1180.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f303/rklessdriver/Corvette/DSCF1183.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f303/rklessdriver/Corvette/DSCF1182.jpg[/IMG]

My long time friend Doug Stevens who I orginally asked to build this for me, did not have time to do it. So I tapped another long time friend to do it. I'm lucky to have been involved in racing my entire life and have so many people close to me who are able to do a first class job.

As you can see Russ also reinforced the front "triangle" mounting point at the frame and cut and put all the fiberglass back to seal the interior up from road noise as much as possible.

I will post a few more pics after I get everything painted, the carpet cut and put back in the car.

BTW cost was $700.00 installed.
Will

The firing order and symetrical LSX lobe arrangment have to be custom made for a std SBC cam blank because that block has a std SBC cam tunnel. The firing order could be a few different ones with a 90* V-8 crank arrangement but it makes sense to keep it LSX for compatibilty with the LSX computer.

As for junk or not junk. I never said the LSX cyl head in general was junk. But it is no where near as good as the aftermarket heads availiable for the SBC. Heck symetrical port arrangement cyl heads have been availiable for the SBC since the late 1980's (ie the Dart/Buick). BTW the first set of those I ever saw in my dads shop made nearly 700HP on a 421 inch dirt late model engine. By todays camshaft and compression ratio standards that engine was street car material.

You have to rember that GM made one half hearted attempt to update the SBC with the GEN II LTX. The 1992LT1 and then 1996 LT4 and had to detune the LT4 camshaft so it wouldn't outshine their new for 1997 LSX...

I wonder where we would be if GM had taken one iota of a clue from the real aftermarket when they updated the SBC. Alum block, 12 or 15* heads (ala Brodix -12 or GB 2000)... and it would still have 5 head bolts per cyl and a half decenet oiling system.
Will

I just know I'm going to start a fight with this one. :thumbright:

Look I know everyone is infatuated with LSX's right now, but this just dosen't make any sense to me.

It requires special LSX pistons, special LSX headers, special LSX firing order/port arrangment camshaft and a special LSX intake manifold. The only thing SBC it uses is the crank and rods... Then you have to go buy a set of LSX cyl heads. After all that money who is going to use a set of junk yard GM factory LSX heads on it?

There are plenty of 15yr old tech cyl heads out there for the GEN I SBC that will destroy any LSX cyl head made to date. This half breed LSX/SBC stuff is just a very big waste of $2100.00.

For the kind of money it would cost to build 600hp out of this mis-matched stuff you (at least I) could build far more with Gen I stuff.
Will

If you run narrow front tires (like 165R15's) it will drive pretty good with bias ply tires on the rear.

I used this set up on my 92 when I first bought it with 26X11.5 15 ET Streets and 165R15's on the front. It drove great. Later when I went to the C5 front brakes, my 15X3" Weld wheels wouldn't clear the caliper anymore and I tried to run my regular front 275/40R17s one night... the car was really scary to drive after 3rd gear.

A lot of guys get in to trouble on the top end running their regular wide radial tires on the front and the bias ply ET Streets on the rear. It gets even worse when you lower the rear air pressure.

Case in point can be viewed here.

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/FA ... TE-DRAG-RACING_187737.htm

You can see the car drifting towards the centerline the entire pass and once it gets out of the grove it starts dancing around and then just takes off when starts putting steering correction in it.

Running the stiffer sidewall radials on the rear will prevent this. I bought some BFG 315/35R17 drag radials and the car drove good again. I also tried the Nitto Drag radials but sold them because they sucked compared to the BFG's. I have also tried the M&H drag radials but they took too much heat to work at all so I sold them as well.

Now I have a set of the new Hoosier 335/35R17 drag radias and a set of the MT 315/35R17 ET Street Radials. Once my car is back together I'm going to do a big comparison on them for everyone. Just with the limited amount of driving I've done on them, they are both FAR better track tires than the M&H, BFG or Nitto drag radials.
Will

I've had a few people that were really interested in my 44 lb pendlum undercut crankshaft. Aparantly no knows that someone makes such a crank for 1pc rear seal SBC's. I really couldn't take any pics before with the motor running in the car and the pics I orginally took I couldn't find. My little mis-fortune gave me the chance to take some pics for you guys. I had this crank made by Eagle. It took me a few mins at PRI 2yrs ago to get them to agree to build ONE for me. It's one of their standard forged 4340 light weight cranks (normally 51 lbs) that has had the extra machining steps to to remove weight in the non critical areas. Total cost was $809.00 and it took them 2 weeks to build it. Eagle will now do this weight removing undercutting to any of their crankshafts by special order.

Wouldn't you know I found the orignal pics.

[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f303/rklessdriver/Corvette/DSC00198.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f303/rklessdriver/Corvette/DSC00202.jpg[/IMG]


Well I also tried to get a few pics of the bottom end while the pan was still off. For some reason they are all blurry. My brother ain't the best at taking pics indoors with shop lighting and all but here anyway....

[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f303/rklessdriver/Corvette/DSCF1153.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f303/rklessdriver/Corvette/DSCF1154.jpg[/IMG]

Everyone always ask if all this lightweight stuff makes a big difference. On a dyno (HP wise) I can tell you it's worth excally 0.0 HP... but on the street, the throttle response and way it gains RPM is a totally different animal. Of course you have to have really lightweight rods and pistons to compliment it. These cranks are pretty common place in oval track racing (where allowed by the rules) but it is not something you see everyday in a street car due to availibility and cost. Just thought you guys would be interested as a well priced option now exist for you.

BTW the engine is now completed and next weekend it should be back in the car again.
Will