Blinkrazy

Thanks for the replies guys, sorry it was so broad of an intro I don't mean for my questions to seem completely sporadic. I plan to build this engine before I have money to put toward the diff which leaves it open for discussion. 3.55 or steeper and I'll have a 3200~ stall, too high, not high enough? Let me know your op. He said he was going to pull a cam card for me so I'll be able to see what he's thinking, but in the meantime, Hypotheticals are with the edelbrock 7182 cam to match my intake, I'll do lifters push rods rocker arms. What do you recommend for springs? Mine are fairly new as are my heads are refurbs. With what I believe are 68cc heads???, if I have him work on the heads what is the usual expected gain? What kind of change have y'all seen and are there any rules of thumb you wish you would have known? Main reason behind the engine talk is I want to make sure that this builder isn't using cheap parts compared to what I can supply for him to install. I haven't used him before but he is recommended by a few people around. I definitely plan to have my components match, can you give me some tips and advice so I can be able to understand the direction he wants to take my engine. I understand the basics of engines and assembly but I'm bad with the numerical side. Last question, I know your tired of reading my ramblings but I really do appreciate any help, How would you build this motor? Thanks again, Jimmy

Ok I'll ask a few specific questions then, Is it possible to run a higher compression ratio and be able to use e85? Ok if not, what cR should I have the machinist attempt to build my engine to? I don't plan on stroking it yet but I'll be doing pistons, what are your suggestions? What is a good cam/spring combo and should I be looking to upgrade anything else I'm forgetting?

Come on guys I know y'all have some opinions out there!

Alright, I've had the car for going on 4 years, built slowly and I've had to go back through things I'd already done due to my initial inexperience.:euro: I've contacted some friends of mine that have just finished building a couple 240sx drift cars to help me finish my body work. Mostly tieing sheet metal together and I might add a partial roll cage if we go crazy:thumbup1: So that saves what would have been 2 grand from the quotes I've gotten, and now I have some extra cash I'm looking to put toward finishing up this monster. Goals? Nasty road race machine! Why? Because, Racecar! I have contacted my machinist and we've discussed building my 351 mild/wild to be able to run at 5000+ for extended time and still make a decent power curve so here's my first question:helpsmilie: what is my best cam option to pair to a performer intake, ~700 carb long tubes and ported iron heads? I know this won't be a 500 hp high rev monster but I figure 1 hp to engine cube is realistic and the rest of my help will come from weight reduction and maybe I'll have her down to 2700 lbs after its all said and done. Secondly, I have a 9 inch in the rear with 5 lug disc breaks all around, I plan to keep the rotors and replace the lines/discs/and pads, but is there a cheap upgrade? Maybe cobra calipers or new edge gt calipers? Also I was thinking of doing the Shelby drop? Before I went full coil overs, I'd like to try to keep it stockish suspension so, what are my definite areas that need improvement? I have a new sway bar and I'll do both montecarlo bars and possibly flsfc's to tie the body together, any other advice would be greatly appreciated! I tried to give y'all a good idea of where I'm at in this journey, sorry it's so long but ask any questions if I left something important out, thanks- Jimmy

Thanks for the input, that's what I was leaning toward, will I adapt it to my cash cluster harness or does it have it's own section?

Could this be caused by my msd box going out, broken or touching wires in the harness, a incorrect wire placement, or an incorrect alt/reg or solenoid? At this point all the grounds I can see are solid, but I'm running out of things to try, For those of you who have gone to an aftermarket harness, what seems to be the most straight forward and adaptable kit? I have seen aaw and painless. Let's keep brainstorming but I plan to pull the trigger on a harness in the next week so let me know what yalls experiences have been, thanks Jimmy

Personally, I'm a fan of the afr 205 heads, but I've heard good things about the tfs and supposedly the edelbrock packages claim 400hp with their top end kit. My heads were beginning to umbrella my valves so I just got a set of refurb ones with a port and polish, not sure how the performance changed, but she hasn't been running consistently for me to get her dialed in all the way.

Ok yea I have that grounding setup and they are all clean shiny metal and it's all tight. I'll have to wait till later to get back out there, it's like a hurricane showed up out of nowhere, gotta love south east ga!

Will you be putting aftermarket heads or at least springs? And hardened rods as well?

Yes, they checked it under load and the starter worked. Could you explain how to much amp draw could be caused by internal problems? And in case I've done something wrong with my solenoid ground, can someone spell out in simplistic terms where my grounds need to be to and from?

It seems to resemble the rock guard chrome piece, I'll look through my piles and see for sure, is it the only piece y'all have or can you figure it's model from other parts lying around?

Ok, I'll check all the grounds again, yet I just re did all of them to no avail over the weekend. Yes, the system shorts out every time I try to crank it. The starter was fine when I took it to autozone to check it and it is new but I did have a starter wire melt the end closest to the starter... What could have caused this besides the starter sticking? Does anyone have a clue why I had to smack the solenoid to cut the starter off? Btw I could take to key out and the starter would still be stuck until I hit the solenoid... Is it crappy repro solenoids or signaling a more serious wiring problem? Thanks for all the help, hopefully we can figure this out, oh it's a 351w if I hadn't mentioned that.

I've switched the battery to my other car and it cranked and I had it tested just to make sure and they said it was fine.

Volts at the batt and solenoid are 12.6~ when I tried to jump the solenoid last, it sparked but nothing happened, grounds- batt to engine mount, and another strap from the intake manifold to firewall, all other grounds in the engine bay have been redone and sanded in the last week. After I try to crank it and it pops, all the power is drained and the inside light comes back on slowly but it won't let me try to crank it again till I take the battery - off and wait

Hey guys, I've been around for awile and I've learned quite a lot from y'all. It's really been great to be able to rely on the tips and info on the site and my 3+ year resto has benefited a great deal. With that said, I've been fighting electrical demons in the coupe since day 1 and it's gotten to the point where almost everything has been replaced aside from the oem dash harness and the ignition switch. I'm running a msd6al and corresponding dizzy. Aside from that it's the various auto zone solenoid, starter, battery, coil etc... Well my starter used to stick sometimes when it would fire up and I'd have to smack the solenoid for it to stop..... Never figured out what actually caused that, but new solenoids helped, 10+:surrender: Now, it will not fire at all, the starter isn't even spinning and the power is instantly drained when I turn the key to the start position and it pops once at the battery terminal. I've checked the wiring diagram multiple times and everything seems to check out, the battery and starter checked out, the solenoid and volt regulator are new, and I have several coils I can swap out to check At this point I'm about to throw in the towel and grab a painless kit:helpsmilie: What can y'all come up with for me to try, she got new exhaust recently and I really want to be able to cruise her around and I'm to the last of my patience. Sorry for the long post I tried to include all the info I could, ready set go!