Inexpensive 350 Build

[Dave B]

like i told my neighbor kid ,in 3 passes you should have a good looking sparkplug.
Then quit dicking with engine. 90 percent of guys mess with rear of car when front isnt free or right. Good trans and converter will outshine anyones tune ability. Getting proper frame rake and pinion angle on low power stuff is huge too. I would say 80 percent of cars i see on scales are all screwed up too. Great place to start and learn. I would say almost same percent of cars are way over sprung also

Post a picture of it, I want to see it.

i found couple in my phone. Poor car been in skirmishs with deer, in ditches and s10 blazer fell on it after tornado knocked it off hoist. Everything on it been replaced many times. My 10 yr old nephew back into it with tractor and grain cart.lol.
Current neighbor kid drives it every where. He lives about 1 mile out on gravel. He street races anything that moves.lol. He says dirty eng bay gets him races, because nobody take it serious. Its just basic run of the mill turd that has taught several kids how to drive and race. He doesnt drive it daily with those wheels and tires. Every kid that learns in it picks through our leftover junk and learns how to work on,scale car etc. its had 4&5 speeds , autos etc. blowers,nitrous,na . It has bolt in 8 point cage that is about wore out from going in and out of car.etc

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[vortecpro]

like i told my neighbor kid ,in 3 passes you should have a good looking sparkplug.
Then quit dicking with engine. 90 percent of guys mess with rear of car when front isnt free or right. Good trans and converter will outshine anyones tune ability. Getting proper frame rake and pinion angle on low power stuff is huge too. I would say 80 percent of cars i see on scales are all screwed up too. Great place to start and learn. I would say almost same percent of cars are way over sprung also

Post a picture of it, I want to see it.

i found couple in my phone. Poor car been in skirmishs with deer, in ditches and s10 blazer fell on it after tornado knocked it off hoist. Everything on it been replaced many times. My 10 yr old nephew back into it with tractor and grain cart.lol.
Current neighbor kid drives it every where. He lives about 1 mile out on gravel. He street races anything that moves.lol. He says dirty eng bay gets him races, because nobody take it serious. Its just basic run of the mill turd that has taught several kids how to drive and race. He doesnt drive it daily with those wheels and tires. Every kid that learns in it picks through our leftover junk and learns how to work on,scale car etc. its had 4&5 speeds , autos etc. blowers,nitrous,na etcIMG_20240312_173551645~3.jpgIMG_20240312_165516180~3.jpg

Thanks for posting, very nice! Now I just need to get mine to leave.

[Dave B]

i bet you will get it. I know thats what we will work on this spring too. This car works better with alum heads ,weight wise. He really doesnt want alum heads because he really likes factory stuff that somewhat came from time frame of car. He has big heavy chevelle or impala bb radiator in it. So many things could be gained. i just suggest stuff and let him pick his poison.lol

[Dave B]

Vortecpro
Do you have a certain starting line ratio that you have worked with in past at similar weight? Is there a time it becomes to much at similar weight and power you now have? Can you give your take on that ?

[vortecpro]

Vortecpro
Do you have a certain starting line ratio that you have worked with in past at similar weight? Is there a time it becomes to much at similar weight and power you now have? Can you give your take on that ?

The low HP stuff likes a 2.91 low gear. I bought the entire drive line engine trans out of a D/SA Nova hoping the trans would have a 2.74 low gear with some light weight parts, so I took the good trans out of my car with the 2.50 low gear for the new trans, well when I got on the scales somehow the car was 15 lbs heavier than with my old engine and trans, so I'm thinking there's no low gear set, no light weight parts, so I screwed myself there. My Chevelle use a 2.32 low gear, higher HP. My Camaro has a 7.5 rear end and you can only get a 4.56 gear for that rear end, so the 2.91 gear will get it going.

[BobbyB]

Vortecpro
Do you have a certain starting line ratio that you have worked with in past at similar weight? Is there a time it becomes to much at similar weight and power you now have? Can you give your take on that ?

The low HP stuff likes a 2.91 low gear. I bought the entire drive line engine trans out of a D/SA Nova hoping the trans would have a 2.74 low gear with some light weight parts, so I took the good trans out of my car with the 2.50 low gear for the new trans, well when I got on the scales somehow the car was 15 lbs heavier than with my old engine and trans, so I'm thinking there's no low gear set, no light weight parts, so I screwed myself there. My Chevelle use a 2.32 low gear, higher HP. My Camaro has a 7.5 rear end and you can only get a 4.56 gear for that rear end, so the 2.91 gear will get it going.

Vortecpro,

What brakes are on this car? How good is the car as far as rolling resistance? Sorry if you already answered this and I missed it.

[vortecpro]

It's not that good, but better than Dave's 69 by far. It has factory front discs, I'd like to figure out how to anti drag them, anyone? Good question, and on my list. Just remember 305 stockers have gone 10.60, do we want a 305 stocker out running us? No I don't, we will be working on it.

[BobbyB]

It's not that good, but better than Dave's 69 by far. It has factory front discs, I'd like to figure out how to anti drag them, anyone? Good question, and on my list. Just remember 305 stockers have gone 10.60, do we want a 305 stocker out running us? No I don't, we will be working on it.

Thanks for your reply. I am in the same situation...trying to improve rolling resistance with disk brakes...on all 4 wheels.

[vortecpro]

Springs between the pads?

[BobbyB]

Springs between the pads?

Not yet. Gotta work on it. Lots to do though.

For a crude test, I tested my 95 corolla coasing from a hill that is 1/2 mile from my driveway... had to apply brakes to make it in the driveway. My 63 Comet hotrod would did not make it to the driveway without a little gas... My 83 ranger 4x4...required mucho gas to get to the driveway.

What about front wheel bearings and grease?

[steve cowan]

It's not that good, but better than Dave's 69 by far. It has factory front discs, I'd like to figure out how to anti drag them, anyone? Good question, and on my list. Just remember 305 stockers have gone 10.60, do we want a 305 stocker out running us? No I don't, we will be working on it.

I have got my front brakes and bearing turning pretty good.
With a moderate push my front wheels with everything assembled will spin for around 30 seconds which was a surprise as I thought they were good before.
I rebuilt brakes about 10 years ago and used silicone brake fluid, over Xmas I pulled calipers apart and they are like new inside, I wanted to try a o'ring instead of the square seal but couldn't get anything to match.
I put a kit through the calipers, greased slides.
With the brake pads I chamfered pads and sanded on flat plate.
Repacked wheel bearings using synthetic wheel bearing grease.
MOBIL 28 synthetic aviation grease.
Expensive but made a big difference.
I run a tru - trac 9" rear with drum brakes,cleaned and chamfered shoes and light on the adjustment, I have adjustment on brake bias with willwood proportion valve.
I also set my front alignment to near zero camber and a couple of mm toe in.
I looked at photos of my car on the track and looked at front wheel alignment on launch etc.
Lucky for me as it rises it goes 1 deg negative then 1/2 deg at full extension so it works well.
I lowered engine 1.5" a couple of years ago looking at crank centreline and pinion angle.
It all helps as previously mentioned.
Mark -
I appreciate your information and testing as that's what I am interested in.
Thank you.

[steve cowan]

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Pistons after 10 years with silicone brake fluid, I changed fluid twice in that time.

[BobbyB]

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Pistons after 10 years with silicone brake fluid, I changed fluid twice in that time.

I have been using Mobil shc100 grease for wheel bearings for 30 plus years…wonder how much better the mobilgrease 28 is as far as rolling resistance? McMaster Carr says mobilgrease28 is NIGL 1.5, while SHC100 is NIGL 2.

[Dave B]

My dad used to just put a smidge white lithium grease and then sprayed really light moly chain lube on bearings and run it. Granted this was drag car only and he had it apart before every race day iirc.He had a bitches brew for rearend grease that really helped it move easy. But he constantly changed that also. Price of going a little faster. lol

[1980RS]

Mark, I had trouble with my front disc brakes dragging on my Camaro years ago and rebuilt the calipers twice, no change. It wasn't until I talked with an old tech at work then he told me to get some rebuilt ones. I asked why and he was telling me that newly refurbished ones will retract the piston slightly when you let off the pedal. So I got a new pair and put them on the car, you know what? he was right. The front wheels now move free and almost 0 drag, my car picked up 1mph but for what I paid for the parts was worth it. This was some 15 years ago and the front wheels still move freely.