martybose

I've been setting mine at .010" intake and .012" exhaust COLD, as I haven't worked up the enthusiasm to try a hot adjustment with my header setup. No problems so far! Marty

Well, this woudn't exactly be a cheap solution, but you could buy my complete setup for Stromberg 97's and use your carbs. It's a welded up and remachined Offenhauser manifold. The entire setup, from manifold to air cleaners, including every piece of the throttle linkage system and the entire fuel system from fuel pump to hard lines, is sitting in my garage. I'm now using an Edmunds manifold with Carter-Webers on it. Marty

When we were evaluating my 230 block for what turned out to be a .072" overbore, my machinist used an ultrasonic tester to check each cylinder at the top, middle and bottom of the bore, taking measurements every 90 degress at each location. that works out to be a total of 72 measurements, and all of them were well over the .100" that he considered to be a minimum acceptable finished thickness. If the folks more familiar than I with the big block are correct about the common casting for all variants, I'd bet that you won't have a problem. Marty

You might want to consider getting a 6V headlight relay and run some heavier leads to the headlights. When I installed my 6V halogens they were much brighter, but the headlight switch started to smell from overheating, so I installed a relay to take the load off of it. Marty

My 802 worked fine for several years using a 5th Ave. neg ground 6V alternator. I was warned that if the vibrator had been replaced with an electronic one it wouldn't work, however. 5th Ave. does have the correct pulley for their alternator; you just need to specify you want the wide groove one. Marty

Most alternators that are one wire units are set up so that when the engine is first started you have to reach some RPM above a fast idle before they will start charging. You can get a gizmo from the 5th Avenue Garage that adds a diode-equipped exciter wire to the alternator, then it charges as soon as the engine fires. That said, mine doesn't charge until I've warmed it up for a minute or so and am willing to rev it a little, and it only takes maybe 30 seconds before the current comes down to a "normal" level, so I don't worry about it. Marty

I'm not that familiar with the 998's and 999's; but aren't they some of the Mopar trannies that were electronically controlled? the 518's aren't! Marty

,,,,, and if a 904 would fit, then an A-518 would fit as well, since the 518 is a 904 with an overdrive section in place of the tailshaft. There are two variants of the 518; an early one that uses a standard torque convertor and a later one that has a lockup convertor. In either case, the OD unit can be controlled by a simple toggle switch, or there are aftermarket computers that can shift automatically. Marty, thinking of the possibilities .......

Allan, Sorry to highjack the thread, but your signature was too good to pass up. Here's my take on an update to the next generation product from the Evil Empire. Marty, Mac user Windows is a 64 bit adaptation of a set of 32 bit extensions on a 16 bit shell for an 8 bit OS using a 4 bit kernel made by a 2 bit company that can't stand 1 bit of competition

Some of you may remember the oiling system I installed on my 230 engine, which uses a stock pump modified to feed an external full flow filter, then goes through an external oil pressure regulator, then back into the engine. The first time I fired up the engine that stock pump made over 100 lbs. of oil pressure. I've turned down the pressure a bit, but it still makes 75 lbs. of pressure cold using 10-40 weight oil. Hot at highway speeds it makes about 50 lbs. So the limiting factor isn't the pump, it's the in-block pressure regulator. Marty

I was under the impression that using Ethanol wasn't so much of a "savings", but it could significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil. But who really knows anyway ..... Marty

There's no need for a longer stud with the type of spacer that Reg is talking about, as it doesn't even use the OEM stud/bolt to mount the wheel any more. Marty

Boy, would that have been a neat drivetrain combo to put in your Studie! Sorry to hear it got away! Marty

The big difference is that Toyota has only been building cars here for a relatively handful of years, so there aren't a lot of retirees to pay pensions to. Plus I'd be willing to bet that their deals with the unions doesn't include anything near what the retirement packages for the Big 3 are. Marty

That's GMAC the finance company, not GMC the auto manufacturer ...... But it might make for the possibility of buying a Mopar with GMAC financing! Marty

Make sure that if you use dropped spindles that you convert to disk brakes at the same time. I can confirm if necessary how poorly they work with OEM drum brakes! Marty

In my bored out 230 I used cut down 350 Chebby exhaust valves in all positions. They were cut down to basically stock valve diameters. Marty

I put a set of three lap belts in my Bizzy. If you are adding belts, I strongly recommend the special seatbelt anchors that Juliano sells; they have radiused bottom edges so that they can't slice through the floor during impact situations. Marty

Since you've got some compression it isn't likely to be a head gasket. And from your description of what you did, I would thnk it is more likely that the rings are dead, since it ran for a short time after you put oil in the cylinders; putting oil in wouldn't have improved valves sealing. Marty

No; mine look almost exactly the same as the first photo link in Tim's posting. Marty

I have to agree that I don't like hidden reserve prices. If you have a minimum price that you will accept, why not just show that as the starting price? Marty

Interestingly enough, right after I posted my reply I decided to Google Sta-Kon, which turned out to be a registered trademark. I soon found that my original tool was in fact made by Thomas & Betts, who are still in business. Specifically, it's their model WT111M. Here's a link to their 54 page PDF file of their first-class electrical terminals and tools: http://www-public.tnb.com/contractor/docs/stakon.pdf Marty

Tim beat me to the punch in mentioning the Sta-Kon crimpers. The biggest source of unreliability in crimp connection is that most crimpers are poorly designed. If your crimper is basically two flat (or slightly round) surfaces that just squash the connector flat, you should throw them in the nearest trash can. A Sta-Kon crimper jaw has one side that is semi-circular to match the radius of the connector; he other side has a much smaller protrusion that actually crushes a small portion of the connector into the wire bundle. The crushed portion really locks the connector onto the wire. I have never had a reliability issue with any connection that I made with the Sta-Kon. I've had my Sta-Kon's for over 40 years, after I learned about the use of them while working summers for Pacific Bell while going to college. I believe that Klein still makes the machined steel Sta-Kon's like my original one. Marty

My mechanic maintains a roadster that was made from a 1908 LaFrance fire engine; looks like a Mercer Raceabout, complete with the chain drive from the rearend to the drive wheels. The engine is a BIG flathead six, and stock it had a magneto ignition system and a separate points ignition system. Thw owner runs it in events like the California Mille Miglia, a multi-day event driven over public roads. It had a tendency to foul plugs and be difficult to start. So my guy converted it to a dual plug magneto system AND a dual plug pointless system using dual MSD units. It now has four sparkplugs per cylinder, but it starts much easier and it doesn't need new plugs in the middle of an event. Marty

You mentioned a Fatman dropped spindle; are you converting to disk brakes as well? I can tell you from first hand experience that you really don't want to use these spindles with stock brakes unless you have a high frustration tolerance. You will have to modify the spindle to even bolt the stock brakes on, then you will find you lose about half of your steering wheel turns unless you radically grind on the lower A-arm and/or the backing plate. Not recommended! Marty