3/29/06

I've got nothing. No really, I've got nothing. Feh! Maybe I'll have something to say later. I'm back from lunch and I still have nothing to say. I was reading about the Slant Six on the internot yesterday. Apparently it is relatively easy to put a four-speed on one of those engines. They even told how to use the three-on-the-tree lever and linkage with the four-speed to make a four-on-the-tree! The problem lies in the fact that you have to make a separate lever to actuate reverse and there is no provision for a lock out. That means accidentally grabbing reverse while cruising in a high gear is a distinct possibility. They also explain about the overdrive four-speed that was available. Apparently what the engineers did was replace third gear in the box with an overdrive set of gears. The external shift arm on the side of the transmission was flipped upside down so that the thing went from second to what would have been fourth when rowing through the gears normally. This was the same one to one ratio as all other transmissions. When you went for fourth gear on the shifter, the upside down linkage shifted the transmission back into what would normally be third. I think it is pretty elegant in its simplicity. Now, having said all of that, I think I'm going to stick with the three-speed for the time being. If I need more cogs later I'll look for a four. Robert spoke to my mom this morning and is getting the Subaru finished up so I guess I'm buying it back. That’s cool. I really like that car. Perhaps now it will get the turbo! Not likely, but possible. We’ll see. So I'm hearing predictions of rain for the weekend. It doesn’t matter; I'm booked to help mom with some stupid party anyway. I wouldn’t be able to hoon in the Seven even if the weather were nice. Back to Mr. Wiggly, I really want to order the dual one-barrel manifold and a header for him! I've found several different cam grinds for it as well. I wish I knew how to “read” grinds. I mean, I know that the smaller the duration number the lower in the rev range the power is made, but, well, I guess I kind of do know how to read them. Never mind. I mentioned the dual one-barrel manifold, what I'd really like to have is the Clifford knock-off of the Mopar Hyper-Pack four-barrel manifold! Thing is, I don’t know if it will fit under the doghouse. Well, that and it costs twice as much. Wait a moment, I wonder how the cost of two new one-barrels and a manifold compares to the Hyper-Pack manifold and one four-barrel. I think I need to go to the internot. Well, that was enlightening! The difference in price is only $1.19 between the two. Granted, that was the cheapest four-barrel I could find on Summit. I'm not sure if 450 CFM is enough. I'd have to do some more research. Another interesting thing I discovered, the headers are cheaper from Clifford. If I have a “low starter” the price is $289.00 whereas a “high starter” header is $339.00 from Clifford. Summit’s headers are $389.00 and don’t specify high or low starter position. I think I'd go with the six-cylinder experts and buy the lesser-priced headers. So, for $853.88 I’d have the Hyper-Pack manifold, 450 CFM carburetor, and “low starter” headers versus $855.07 for the dual one-barrels and the “low starter” headers. Add $50.00 to each of those if I need the “high starter” headers. Let’s say for around $1,000.00 I'd have a pretty sweet setup. No, I need to run the damned thing stock until I need to add more power! Not that the mileage is going to be great stock, but I'll bet it would really suck with either of those setups. Speaking of mileage, I wonder how $1,000.00 worth of new stuff on an old engine would compare to finding a 318 and four-speed for it. I remember we had a driver back in my Formula Continental racing days, who had a Dodge van with dual exhaust and Flowmasters on it. I think it was a 440 though. Thing is, it sounded like a GT1 racecar! It had that hollow, tinny, rumble that too large of an exhaust gives. You know, like most hot rod 5.0 Mustangs you hear. But it sounded pretty good actually. Ok, on that note I think I'm going to call it a day. I'll shoost this off to Spiderman and see when he’s headed for the shop. Y’all have a day.