BuckeyeDemon

the dual planes will typically have a slight angle built into them like ~3 degrees carb pad to cylinder head. the Victor jr does not (0 degrees). measuring the carb pad without a reference only gives a partial answer.

thank you for the comment. the block seems fine. you'll need to finish the decks and bores . I changed to main studs so he honed the mains. I'm confident that they would have verified those regardless though. I bought it from summit.

they are 295/55 (28x12.5). not a huge tire, but given I don't have it jacked up in the back, it's pretty much maxed out for a Falcon considering worst case suspension travel (e.g. full compression on one side) and the fact the housing has about 1/4" clearance to the floor. …..also a few more engine pics if anyone is interested.....

a few status updates.... engine has been at the shop since mid November. the pistons were spec'd out and made very quickly which helped. It looks like it will end up in the 13 to 13.5: 1 range as hoped. A lot of the machine work on the block and work/balancing on the rotating assembly is finished (need to rework crank snout/modify damper). he is working on things like clearancing pushrod holes, etc. I think it's likely to have the engine running in a month or so. a lot of work to get the undercarriage and trunk into the first coats of primer.... started hanging the panels to see how bad things are (not too bad). The original hood is just to help align the fenders, then I will put on the teardrop.

start with a heavy bodied filler like a USC Duraglass and Finish with a lighter weight filler like Rage Gold or Extreme.

Actually stainless has a much lower thermal conductivity versus steel (a lot lower than aluminum). It's one reason people like to use stainless for headers as opposed to steel, because it doesn't transfer heat as well.

you must have a highly modified build? the heater hoses on mine are just the normal rubber type hose. in any case I've bent 1/2" stainless in a hand tube bender and that was pretty easy to do and they looked great. I have a 5/8 tube bender used for aluminum and it had longer arms, so likely it could do stainless also.

I don't believe it's fair to call a company such as Centerforce simply a "clutch assembly company". some engineer or many engineers had to design the clutch package for a specific application which contains a lot of piece parts (e.g. lubricants, fasteners, carriers, hubs, rivets, clutch fingers, etc) or subassemblies.

the "aftermarket" companies are likely trying to use as many "off the shelf (OTS)" pieces to build their clutches as possible while trying to offer packages that may not be readily available. as an example, if a particular OTS piece (like the fingers) from LUK is adequate for the particular clutch, then it's likely cheaper to purchase that piece (high volume), than it is to make and design their own. as the demand on the clutch changes, they likely mix and match parts to fit the need for the application and maybe offer something not readily available. in some instances, maybe there isn't a particular piece of the clutch/pressure plate available that meets there design needs and requires them to design their own piece. my Mccleod and Ram both use clutch materials from Miba…. most companies don't redesign every piece part for a total product package they sell. i'm an engineer at a company who designs/manufacturers transmitters. we don't design every integrated circuit from scratch. only when something isn't available or there isn't a way to do that, do we invest in designing a new piece. your new Centerforce has Luk parts just like my Centerforce I posted pics of....what a surprise....

I can't remember if those are small slotted holes, but if not, consider putting in a rivut nut (or equivalent) and a matching fastener.

definitely consider going with something like Centerforce DF. It in general has pretty good reviews.... ...and in case someone can't see the photos, this Centerforce DF has Luk stamped all over it.... I'm still trying to understand what about a clutch can make it considered cheap? materials? design? heat treat? balance?

just throwing out some thoughts. are all of Luk's clutches cheap, or just they ones they sell branded under their own name? what about the clutch makes it to be considered cheap?

I personally think it's in the noise. if you look at comp's dual pattern cams, they don't specify two different springs (and I don't have two different springs in mine with lobes that have two different lifts). I guess if you really wanted you could shim up the valve with the less lift.

sometimes the spring catalog will group associated retainers with the valve springs. spring cup/locators are needed for aluminum heads so they don't eat up the soft aluminum. iron general can take it. locators/cups are also needed in if you use a smaller diameter spring than the spring pocket in the head was designed for. you should also consider your valve length when choosing a spring. it could impact your selection of a retainer or the spring.

the gray/silver was raw metal after blasting/sanding. the flat black was two coats of reduced DP90LF Epoxy Primer the yellow stuff is a lightweight body filler (Rage) epoxy is a sealer so it's about 1 mil per coat. a typical primer/surfacer is about 1.5 to 2 mil per coat. there are heavy build primers available. when imperfections are deep (say 20 mils), it can take a lot of coats of primer (which is expensive) to fill those imperfections. I've seen countless cars at shows where you can see they likely blasted the parts and then painted and they show all of the damage left by the rust and just doesn't look good to me.