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I very much hope that Eric continues to do exactly what he thinks will allow him to continue to provide the best, (I think he’s the best !) “how to” auto maintanance and repair advice in the F*****g English speaking world (!)
I think you young fellows are a little naive. (That”s what old dryed-up farts like me say when we mean “very naive”)I would love to have an early Fiat X/19 (ex one nine). I have driven several of them years ago. The engineering was excellent, but rust was the big problem. Most of the Italian “production” cars of that era were made from re-cycled Russian steel (rust was built in), Most old Alfas, built by PininFarina or Bertone, were built from virgin steel and had similar quality to Ford and GM.
Proof positive that you get what you pay for.
I have owned 2 Fiats ( a 124 Spider and and a 128 SL coupe) and they were worth what I paid. (!) I hope you have as much fun as I did as a young and dumb and full of c** youngster in your life with today’s cars! Really, I so hope, but I doubt you will.I went to high school with a kid > his dad owned the Buick dealership in town. (I graduated high school in 1968) The Buick dealers carried Opels (German) and they were very good cars, and then they carried Opels “by Isuzu” ( not so good). Then they carried the Renault “Le Car”. My friend’s father, when “Le Car” was discontinued, hauled the entire inventory of Renault parts to the dump (Even though this inventory was valuable) and threw the “Le Car” spares into the trash pile with much enthusiasm.
I checked the price of NGK iridium spark plugs for my 04 Acura RSX at Auto Zone the other day. They were $10 per. That’s the lowest price I have seen. They always have very good prices. Wal Mart has oil in 5 qt containers cheaper than others, but I’d rather shop somewhere else.
I checked the price of NGK iridium spark plugs for my 04 Acura RSX at Auto Zone the other day. They were $10 per. That’s the lowest price I have seen. They always have very good prices. Wal Mart has oil in 5 qt containers cheaper than others, but I’d rather shop somewhere else.
Can you afford a pair of ramps? Sometimes a car is too low for ramps and sometimes they get in your way.
You can go to Google Images and find “Chevy 283” and “Chevy 327”. Lots of pics of older small blocks, stock, race and show. Most show the breather tube up front of course. Some show aftermarket breathers, but I couldn’t find any with PCV
You can go to Google Images and find “Chevy 283” and “Chevy 327”. Lots of pics of older small blocks, stock, race and show. Most show the breather tube up front of course. Some show aftermarket breathers, but I couldn’t find any with PCV
The early valve covers have no provision for PCV > no hole for the grommet and PCV and worse, nothing to prevent the PCV from sucking oil into the intake manifold. If you turn the later covers upside down and look inside, you see a metal enclosure that fits between two rocker arms. There’s some material inside that collects the oil and allows it to return by gravity before the PCV sucks it up. There are several “fixes” for this problem and they don’t work.
You can use old valve covers ( like the early Corvette finned aluminum sans PCV, or old Mickey Thompson aluminum) if you use an old intake manifold. They have a breather on top of a tube located next to the thermostat housing. I think you can buy the breather that accepts a PCV (a hole in the top for the PCV and no holes underneath. You may still be able to buy an aftermarket intake manifold for the old 265-327 which bolts onto the 350 and allows you to set it up to look like an older small block. P.A.W. used to carry an Edelbrock Performer that had the provision for the breather tube. They may still make these. I have seen these mounted on 350s and was told they work fine, but I wouldn’t buy one without asking Edelbrock if they work on a 350.
Also, you can get finned aluminum valve covers for early 1970s Corvette that look great and have the provisions for the PCV.
Bottom line is you ought to run the correct valve covers unless you have money to burn and desperately want the 350 to look like an old small block with that big breather tube. There are a lot of aftermarket valve covers for your 350. Check out Summit, P.A.W. and the Chevy High Perf catalog.
BTW I did try to use old M/T valve covers on a 350 so I know a lot about what doesn’t work. Been there > done that. I sold the old M/T valve covers for$50 and bought nice new ones that worked fine.The early valve covers have no provision for PCV > no hole for the grommet and PCV and worse, nothing to prevent the PCV from sucking oil into the intake manifold. If you turn the later covers upside down and look inside, you see a metal enclosure that fits between two rocker arms. There’s some material inside that collects the oil and allows it to return by gravity before the PCV sucks it up. There are several “fixes” for this problem and they don’t work.
You can use old valve covers ( like the early Corvette finned aluminum sans PCV, or old Mickey Thompson aluminum) if you use an old intake manifold. They have a breather on top of a tube located next to the thermostat housing. I think you can buy the breather that accepts a PCV (a hole in the top for the PCV and no holes underneath. You may still be able to buy an aftermarket intake manifold for the old 265-327 which bolts onto the 350 and allows you to set it up to look like an older small block. P.A.W. used to carry an Edelbrock Performer that had the provision for the breather tube. They may still make these. I have seen these mounted on 350s and was told they work fine, but I wouldn’t buy one without asking Edelbrock if they work on a 350.
Also, you can get finned aluminum valve covers for early 1970s Corvette that look great and have the provisions for the PCV.
Bottom line is you ought to run the correct valve covers unless you have money to burn and desperately want the 350 to look like an old small block with that big breather tube. There are a lot of aftermarket valve covers for your 350. Check out Summit, P.A.W. and the Chevy High Perf catalog.
BTW I did try to use old M/T valve covers on a 350 so I know a lot about what doesn’t work. Been there > done that. I sold the old M/T valve covers for$50 and bought nice new ones that worked fine.I’m unable to cut and paste your links, but I’ll tell you about my own experience with PU trucks.
I’ve “built” (rebuilt and modified) several V8s for heavy cars and PUs I’ve owned and I had many friends, some of whom I have helped, who have done the same. I had a ’57 Chevy street rod PU and a ’72 Chevy 3/4 ton capable of carrying two tons of material. The 57 was probably overpowered with a 350 V8 (about 320 hp). The 72 with a similar 350 V8 and a 4.11 rear end was fast, but not overpowered when unloaded, but needed that 4.11 rear end when loaded. Without that 4.11 it would be a good idea to forget the 350 and step up to a “big block” for more torque.
If you’re building the 318 for hauling light loads, and the PU is a light weight 1/2 ton, that’s probably a good engine size. Old Dodge PUs have some peculiarities. They made a few that were rated for very light loads, 1/2 ton PUs that were rated at well under a half ton, and that includes the passengers. Do you know what the “payload” rating is for your PU? (GVWR minus the curb weight). The rear end ratio? What load will you haul ordinarily?
There’s a lot of variation in Dodge V8s. When I was a teenager in the late 1960’s, a fellow with a 59 Plymouth and a 318 two barrel carb would run away from Fords and Chevys and Pontiacs with 4 barrel carbs and dual exhaust. There are bigger Chrysler V8s that are total dogs. The difference is cylinder head design. Some Dodge V8s are worth keeping if they run, but not worth rebuilding, and certainly not worth the additional expense of modification.I’m unable to cut and paste your links, but I’ll tell you about my own experience with PU trucks.
I’ve “built” (rebuilt and modified) several V8s for heavy cars and PUs I’ve owned and I had many friends, some of whom I have helped, who have done the same. I had a ’57 Chevy street rod PU and a ’72 Chevy 3/4 ton capable of carrying two tons of material. The 57 was probably overpowered with a 350 V8 (about 320 hp). The 72 with a similar 350 V8 and a 4.11 rear end was fast, but not overpowered when unloaded, but needed that 4.11 rear end when loaded. Without that 4.11 it would be a good idea to forget the 350 and step up to a “big block” for more torque.
If you’re building the 318 for hauling light loads, and the PU is a light weight 1/2 ton, that’s probably a good engine size. Old Dodge PUs have some peculiarities. They made a few that were rated for very light loads, 1/2 ton PUs that were rated at well under a half ton, and that includes the passengers. Do you know what the “payload” rating is for your PU? (GVWR minus the curb weight). The rear end ratio? What load will you haul ordinarily?
There’s a lot of variation in Dodge V8s. When I was a teenager in the late 1960’s, a fellow with a 59 Plymouth and a 318 two barrel carb would run away from Fords and Chevys and Pontiacs with 4 barrel carbs and dual exhaust. There are bigger Chrysler V8s that are total dogs. The difference is cylinder head design. Some Dodge V8s are worth keeping if they run, but not worth rebuilding, and certainly not worth the additional expense of modification.I have a 2004 Acura RSX with 74K miles on the clock. It has always used a little oil. I think I add a third quart at 2K miles. The VTEC system doesn’t use any oil. Some high performance engines are designed to use some oil past the valve guides for cooling purposes, as much as 1 qt. per 1K miles. The Honda K 4 cyl. shares a number of features with engines from years past that were designed to use a little oil. I’m not sure, but I think high RPM especially in racing, would use more oil.
I think VTEC could not be said to resemble anyone else’s variable valve timing. VTEC is far more sophisticated and effective than older systems. Alfa Romeo had variable valve timing in 1980. It added overlap at higher RPM. It was centrifugally controlled and worked just fine. Today, we have E controlled devices that do the same thing as the 1980 Alfa, but adjust timing when the ECU says to do so.
BMW has variable valve timing that accomplishes more than VTEC, and the new Fiat MultiAir system accomplishes what Honda and BMW would have if they had the ability when they designed their systems. Nissan also has a VTEC competitor, but I don’t know what it does or how it works. It looks “Rube Goldberg” to me.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_tbksFYhl4&feature=related
Did you perform the comp test correctly? Did you use a “screw-in type” tester? The “push in” type can be very hard to use on some engines. If your compression was really 40 or 50 lbs/cylinder, the engine would have very little power when it was running, and the spark plugs would show gross oil fouling.
Did you really mean to say that you performed these tests, THEN drove the car home, and it wouldn’t run the next day?