They definetly changed the look of his car. If there was anything I would have changed right away...it was the funny looking tires it came with. Now it just looks plain mean!
Yeah, the 295's should be on a 10" rim....but we just couldn't pass up the deal Eric gave us on these.:TU: I was also worried about the backspacing, which is 5"...but they clear everything just fine. My son is so excited to drive it again, he worked on putting more of the engine back together till after midnight last night. I think he really got bit by the bug now.
Now looking for a complete exhaust system from the headers back. Talked my son out of the 3" exhaust, down to a 2.5" And if we are lucky, find something reasonably priced with a cross pipe in it. I don't think any shop in town has a mandrel bender, so every bend would be crushed...so going aftermarket. Who has used what, from where, and how do you like it? What mufflers fit the best under these cars, and sound good? Anyone remember their "Package" they bought?
It seems pypes makes a good exhaust system. I bought a dynomax aluminized h pipe exhaust 5 years ago. The exhaust is now all rusted, it fit horribly when I put it together and I hated the sound of the turbo mufflers. 5 years later I hacked the h pipe out of it, put cutouts in and swapped out the mufflers. So needless to say my next exhaust will be pypes with a set of magnaflow mufflers.
I run an older (2001) 2-1/2" Flowmaster American Thunder system. It is mandrel bent, came with long case 3 chamber mufflers, H pipe, all aluminized, two tailpipe options, and was $285.00 complete, from headers back. They still sell it but for around $500 + now. Yes, got caught in rain a few times, No rusty pipes yet after 15 years!
Yikes! $500.00+ Then to have it all installed on top of that. May have to order pipe/bends from my "Go-to" shop...Columbia River, and build it ourselves.
Call Flowmaster, or look on evilbay. You may find a better price, with free shipping. They have stainless($$$) option now, and looks like the aluminized pipes/muffs are still available. They should be less. My long case back then were I think called 30 series. The long case 3 chambers are now the 50(Delta) series. All I know is my buddy's 350 Chevelles had the 2 chamber shortys, and they were much louder.:3gears: Don't buy crimped pipes, it's like trying to push a golf ball threw a garden hose, it's NOT gonna happen!
Summit racing has their own brand kit for exhaust pipe. For about 200 for 2.25 no muffs and 2.5 is Alittle more. American thunder from flowmaster no muffs may still be reasonably priced. A lot of other kits are stainless and are H and X pipe setup. I have magnaflo myself but prices has gone up since I got mine. You could check pypes. Might be better price. I think torque tech may still be in business.
The summit mufflers sound the same as flowmaster for half the price, that's another place for some savings
Well...back from work again, and the saga continues... My son had a small coolant leak off the thermostat housing...found the bottom bolt cross-threaded. Explained what he had to do to repair it while I went back to work. (Last week) He drove it to school today...came home sayin it wasn't running right. Told me he had changed the oil and filter as well. We take it up town to buy a new pet cock drain for the rad, as he broke the ears off the old one....and found out the thermostat housing is STILL leaking.:rant: I drove it home to see just what is going wrong with it... So it has a slight stumble off idle. (We really never set the carb up, as I was going back to work....set the float levels and idle, that's it.) Tried a brake stand with it...one wheel peel, after it got over having a bad off idle hesitation/bog. Got it home, used a vacuum gauge to set the idle mixture screws. (The primaries were only turned out 1/2 a turn.) The mixture screws on the primaries ended up at 1 1/2 turns out. (About 16" vacuum.) Secondaries are only backed out about a 1/4 turn...anything more, and the car stumbles bad. Idles at 800 in park, 650 in gear. Snap the throttle, and the bog is gone. (Parked) Seemed like we finally got it ironed out....so we thought... Walk around the passenger side of the car, and there is an oil film on the shop floor.o No: Look under the car, and it honestly looks like it's coming from the rear seal of the engine.:rant::rant: There is no cover on the front of the transmission, and the ring gear is soaked...and the oil was being flung off of it, onto the floor...with a puddle directly under the front of the torque converter. What a let down.
So...oil leak was most likely caused by overfilling the crankcase when he changed oil. Thermostat housing leak again....and again after I had a go at it. Found the housing has a pinhole in the side of it....so needs a new thermostat housing.
That would be nice, but I'm pretty lery about trying another used one. Thought about that too...and it would help develope some skills of fixing things, instead of just throwing new parts at it. Also...weird how the only two places I seem to deal with, (TA Performance, and Opg) their prices are $20.00, and $42.00????
My son started to tear down the spare engine he bought awhile back, and we noticed that the rocker arms were barely touching the valve stems. Is this a common issue? The side load must have been crazy on the valves. Is there any way to fix this, or do you just switch to roller rockers?
