Tim_C.

Glad it is working good now. There's nothing like protecting your investment with superior parts! Flushing radiators is for ones that are only a few years old. Ours almost always need rodded out at a minimum. The shop I take mine to will normally suggest putting in a 3 row core to replace the 2 row and that works very well for about $125.

The 4:22 may look smaller to the eye due to less teeth. You should check it when you get it all apart.

Did you used to live in Denver or Castle Rock? I seem to remember?

Revving shouldn't have that much affect on it. The water pump doesn't have that much power. That indicates cylinder pressure getting into coolant passages. You should do a leak down check with a compression check again. Could be a clog, or TStat not opening, but most likely a larger problem such as wrongly routed hoses, etc.. Even if I don't use the heater, I like to keep it all plumbed as stock. The heater core is basically an emergency added cooler for the system. Run the heater if engine is getting hot because it helps to cool it. If the timing is not advancing, it will run extremely hot through the exhaust and heat up the engine. If the new ring seal is a bit too tight, it can heat up until they seat and loosen up a little especially on engines that are bored out.

Good find! Lots of good parts to save! Anyone near there should pull the window regulators, steering column (if the coupler is in good shape), steering center link, and anything else that is NLA.

Yeah, it looks to me like there may be some ring land damage with small pieces of aluminum loose in the chamber. Forged pistons are very resilient, but they can crack a ring land, or even crack a skirt if they detonate. The sputtering is something that is very easily mistaken for something else, such as the BOV, when really it is a subtle detonation. These engines are known for that. You should really do a leak down test first, so you can either rule in or out leakage to certain areas such as chamber to oil pan, intake, exhaust, other cylinders, etc... If it doesn't leak into the pan, then the rings and ring lands should be fine.

A stock coupler does not give 'loose, unpredictable steering'. A bad one can, but not one in good condition. What will this one do when it gets worn, and how long will that take? I have stock ones in great shape with 150K+ miles on them. That said, this is definitely the best alternative one I've seen pictures of. At least it swivels, and thus will not directly transfer impact energy in a linear fashion with the column like a welded stock one will. This one is much safer than that, and won't transfer near as much vibration either. I'll bet it is quite tolerable considering most of us are already putting up with opened up exhaust, no balance shafts, upgraded cams, stiffer suspension, etc.. I'd have to think I wouldn't notice much difference, and maybe a preferred difference if any. A little tighter feel should be expected (although stock is not 'loose' in my opinion).

Good topic with positives on both sides about the drain location. My experience in a general sense, is any time a change is made in respect to the factory oiling, you should do so with care, considering all options, and keep a close eye on it. In this case, you may want to pull the VC every so often to see if the guides are staying oiled well. Of course that is up for interpretation too. How well is well enough? The chain does not get much direct oil on it otherwise. Maybe some from the overflow hole in the pump, and the little block oil squirter up front there (if I remember right). If we are concerned about the oil being too hot, then I think that is a secondary issue from another and greater problem elsewhere, like the boost is turned up too high for the efficiency range of the turbo, the timing is too retarded, clogged oil cooler, etc...

I wouldn't get your hopes up about swapping it in 4 hours to think you will be driving it the same day. If you need to remove one and install another, it will take most of the day, especially if there are parts that need swapped from one motor to the other. Take your time, do it right, etc.. You might want to have a new clutch disc at least ready too.

So, did 'Paradise' originate from the words, "Pair Of Dice"? Or is that just the city in California?

I've always thought the most of you Shelby. I am praying for you. We need you, so don't check out on us!

Yes, you can run shims, or, like many cams, you can install custom valves which aren't nearly as expensive as they used to be. You can also get custom length valves hardened for much cheaper now than before too. I had custom stainless valves and the company said they could not get them hardened and said I had to use lash caps. So I did, but it was a very professional set-up that I don't recommend for any hydraulic head. Custom valve lengths with hardened tips will yield a set-up as good or better than OEM.

Sounds like a plan. I'll do it. Thanks!

Well, I cut the power steering belt off of my '85 today. It must have seized the pump because it melted a new belt! I forgot to check for sure because I was in a hurry to go pick up my daughter. This stuff always happens around tax time. Fortunately, I was at the alternator shop where I have my Mirage parked, so I just hopped in it until I can fix this. My wife's supercharged Buick sprung a fuel leak all over the top of the engine too. So I replaced the cheapo hard plastic fuel line with a regular fuel injection hose for $7 instead of whatever the dealer would want for theirs.

I ordered the 4 engine one. There is a sucker born every minute, and this time I was it! LoL! It sounds good and I have some fairly new builds, and some higher mileage ones that I hope this will help both.

Make sure they send the rear steel backing ring too. It holds the seal in place. It takes both parts to hold the seal in.

What exactly is for sale? I assume 4 engine connecting rods? They are bushed for floaters. Is that all that was done to them? Are they balanced? Have they been shaved? Normally, it is best to go all out and get the full race treatment if you are spending the money to put the floater bushings in.

I'm at about 6,000 feet. I think I blew the lower downpipe gasket. I heard it blow out soon after it started with the new head, and now a major exhaust noise is there. Other than that, it is still running great! Very fun in the snow too! It actually does good for rear wheel drive. I have snow tires for it too, but haven't put them on. I'll probably leave them off since winter is almost over. Drove it this morning in a few inches of snow. We had about 2 feet of snow last week and I couldn't get the car up my street. So I did a 180 and put it right back in its parking spot! I could have got up the slight incline if it had the snow tires on it. My one-legged '83 will get up the hill in snow easily too. The '85 posi with snows is a bit better than the '83. The key is to keep narrow tires on them. The narrow tires will drive up most any snow road, one-legged or posi. Wider tires will just sit and spin.

So far so good on the new set-up. Drives very nice with a very responsive snappy throttle even under load. Lots of off boost power. I don't need much throttle at all to drive the speed limit. That's exactly what I hoped for with this auto car. At high altitude, the stock boost level is a few pounds lower, or so PQ said is the reason. Everyone at low altitude says they get 7+ lbs. of boost, but I only get around 4.5 or so on my non-IC cars. I can bring it up easily, but it tends to heat up more up here too. I'd say 7 would be the highest I can go safely non-intercooled.

I met a machinist who hates the G54B. I think due to a moron customer he had who kept blowing the engines up. He said he had more than 10 good blocks that he 'threw out' because he refuses to machine them. Then he told me he would do mine with extra care but with no warranty. LoL! The big bore and long stroke with balance shaft chains isn't too good for much over 5500 RPM, if that, but it can rev higher and with those heavy flywheels, the engine doesn't respond as fast to deceleration. It can continue to rev a little more to throw the owner off without realizing he is taking it beyond the red line. I think the engine is very good when you do things 'properly' like I'm sure Gibby is doing.

Actually, there is a different cam that is better for low end torque. Some cam grinders will have a hi-torque, low rpm range cam that would be better for a 4WD application. There was a hi-demand for them because of the many forklift 2.6 liter engines that weren't doing so well with the stock cam. You had to rev the engine more while lifting, in order to not die out.

The Schneider roller hydraulic cams were first designed by roundy racers who basically gave the specs to Schneider to grind. The cams do require custom length valves like many race cams do. I have the 284 RH. It was advertised at .480 lift, but that is using 1.4 ratio rockers, which there is no such thing in a roller. You either have 1.5 or 1.6 ratio. (I see now that the 296 is rated for the 1.6 ratio)I used 1.5's because that puts the lift at .510, which requires custom pistons already due to the valve hits the piston. So I did that. I needed pistons anyway, so I ordered them from JE, which were already machined to clear in the correct place. Probably from the same roundy racers who further machined them to get the exact clearance they needed. Out of the box, they weren't machined enough, so I had to machine them out more to get the recommended .060 clearance that my machinist gave me. You may need just as much or more clearancing at .488 lift due to the wider duration. The lobe at full lift timing will hold the valve out there longer to catch more of the piston on its way up. At the time, hardened tip custom length valves were not available, so I had to use lash caps in junction with the hydraulic lifters, which isn't recommended due to lifters can lose their pump. However, I found caps with a special tang to hold them to the valve. I haven't had a problem with over 20K miles. It also requires 115 Lbs. of seat pressure valve springs. So you need to purchase springs with 125 Lbs. of seat pressure because all springs lose a bit after the first hour of runtime or so. I'd say the behive springs would lose less, but they need to be rated at 120+ new. You may need to raise the VC a little too. I used a cork gasket cut to fit. Your target RPM range with that cam will be 3500-7500 or so (LoL! that was an estimate on my part that I see in print now), depending on other mods. I'd say that cam is a bit more than our engines need as far as upper RPM. You will need to use lightened rods and some crank mods to run that high. Preferably a longer rod with a higher pin (less pin height distance) too. This reduces side to side movement of the rod, and supplies more time at optimal and near optimal position to push the piston more straight upward with less side load. This will increase the red line of our engines considerably, but I don't know anyone who has done it yet. One thing for sure is that cam will boost like mad in the RPM range, given the correct turbo as Scott mentioned above. The cam does one thing that you can't get without it: A wider RPM range that is more effective and usable. With a lot of top end, shifts come later, which caters to a boosting engine. It gives the turbo more time to continue boosting with less shifts. However, you need to get there first before you can stay there. Mine does fine with TBI, but would be much better MPI. I have 3.90 rear gears too, which gets me to the range faster and helps me to stay there too. I use mine just for mega highway passing power. I have a bell ported 17C turbo that is a good match with TBI, but I only run 18 PSI max and normally have it around 12 on the street. It doesn't nose over waiting to shift until well above 7000 RPM. It is basically a raped ape on the highway even with 3.90 gears. But it wouldn't be a good cam for the dragstrip on an independent rear suspension car that can't really be launched at hi-RPM. A 'regrind only' cam like that will most likely need even longer valves than mine are. Close to .180 longer. Mine was ground from a blank and it still needed longer valves. This is due to the size of the base can't be much bigger than stock to begin with. It must be smaller than stock, in order to accommodate the higher lift without the lobe hitting the head.

Yes Shelby, I pray for your full recovery too. Your wife too Scott. I lost my mother to cancer. She went through it all with the best care at the time. Was fully in remission until it came back with a vengeance that couldn't be stopped the second time.

The fuzz is from the june bugs making their nests. I see it many times in junk yard engines. Personally, I'd go with the new NJV head from Dad, but if you have the original 50K mile head, it should be fine to put in. I just don't like the protruding metal cap in the chamber, even with JV eliminators being used. I like to get rid of the balance shafts even if they are low miles and working. They will start blowing chunks in your oil system and bring death to everything the chunks touch. Better oil pressure and piece of mind is worth it. The shafts only eliminate a vibration from a small RPM range that is very tolerable to me at its worst. I would also remove the oil pump relief valve spring, and put a washer behind it, and put it back in. This works best on OEM set ups like this engine. It will delay by-pass of oil until a bit higher pressure, thus providing that same higher pressure to the rest of the engine. I usually see a 20 PSI increase from it, which is substantial, but not too much. To do it, you simply remove the large outer hex from the pump while it is still on the engine. Then add a washer that fits neatly inside of the large hex part. I think it is a flat washer for a 6mm bolt if I remember correctly. It shims it about .040". You really can't beat the ring seal of an OEM engine, so I would expect a great running engine once you get it together. Many a rebuild doesn't quite get that good seal back, and is a large reason why they don't quite run as good.

Got the car running again yesterday. New head with new valves and another hi-torque, bottom end power cam. The throttle is much more snappy than it ever was. I didn't have time to take it out for a drive yet. Just broke in the cam, but all looks well so far. I rebuilt the TB and fixed a few other things too. Can't wait to start driving it!