4/3/06 Ok, I'm dumb. Friday night when I check my e-mail, I get an out bid notice on the headers and the Super Six two-barrel manifold. The header auction was about to end so I re-bid. I sat for the next hour watching it to make sure I didn’t get sniped. I didn’t. After winning, I sent the seller e-mail and asked about shipping charges. I knew from the original auction listing that he was going out of town and wouldn’t be able to ship it until next week but I wanted to have it all taken care of, monetarily speaking. He shot back pretty quickly with a reply stating that if the money were in his Paypal account by morning, he’d drop the package at FedEx on his way out of town. I hit the Paypal account and shot him the money. I got another e-mail from him Saturday night saying the header was on its way. But that’s not why I'm dumb. I'm dumb because after talking to y’all, I did go shopping for a Slant Six cylinder head. While looking for that I found a guy selling oversized valves with new guides and retainers. I bought one of those kits. Pretty soon I found a guy selling new valve spring kits. I bought one of those as well. Finally I found a guy with a 1967 Valiant head for sale. He said he replaced it with a newer model for the hardened seats so his wife wouldn’t have to add lead to the fuel all the time. That gave me pause until I remembered I would be putting oversized valves in and they would require new seats anyway. I bid on it. I bid a bit too high, on reflection, but I'll get to that in a bit. So, now we jump back to Friday night. I've been outbid on the intake and start to re-think that idea. I'm not sure I want to spend a ton on an intake. Oh, speaking of which, I got e-mail from the dude with the Torker II I ordered, it is finally on its way. But I digress. So, I'm not sure I want to buy an intake for Mr. Wiggly after all. I shop a bit for one-to-two-barrel adapters and I think I might go that route instead. At this point I'm thinking I probably shouldn’t have bid on that head. I go back and check on it and it is sitting at $49.00 with a day to go. I think I can blow $50.00 so what the hell. I go off to sleep. Saturday evening I went back into my account and discover that someone else has bid on the head. Unfortunately they bid it up to my maximum bid of $75.00 and gave up. Now I'm stuck with a head I don’t really need. Worst part, shipping was another $68.00 for that heavy assed thing! Of course I then remembered the valves and springs on their way and figure, “What the hell, I'll have a spare.” So, this morning I went shopping for a one-to-two-barrel adapter but as soon as I got to the Clifford page I got kicked off the internot. Now I'm talking to y’all. Well, I've got to go to the TOB for a bit. I may be back later and I may not. I am back. I know I'm going off the deep end with Mr. Wiggly, but if I don’t do it while I'm excited about it, the vehicle will sit for a few years and then just have to be sold off. Kind of like what happened to Killer. Hopefully the header will arrive before Robert has finished with what he’s doing and I can get him to install it. I'm not sure what I'll do about the intake though. Ok, I'll go over my list of preferences for intakes again. First choice would be the Clifford reproduction of the Hyper Pak manifold with a four-barrel. Since it won’t fit under the doghouse, I'm going to have to let that idea pass. Second choice is the dual one-barrel Offenhauser from Summit. Other than initial expense, I have no reason to not do this one. Third choice is a stock Super Six two-barrel intake with a stock carburetor. It would be better than what is on there now but I'm finding that manifold to be spendy and I really don’t want a stock carburetor. Fourth choice would be the same Super Six manifold with a Weber. That should be the best setup for a two-barrel, I'd think, but see the last reason why not. Fifth choice, and the most likely, is a one-to-two-barrel adapter with a Weber. This should run pretty well and won’t be too tough to install. Finally, there is the stock one-barrel. Well, we can’t have that, now can we? You may have noticed that I didn’t even mention the triple DCOE option. I really don’t want to spend that kind of money! Besides, that would be a total top-end setup and would be lousy for towing. No, I think I've convinced myself to go with a one-to-two-barrel adapter and a Weber. I was reading on the Redline Weber web site about the debate between 32/36 versus 38/38 on a Jeep 256 engine. They said that the 32/36 would run fine, give some improvement in power over stock, and have good mileage. They went on to say that the 38/38 would be the better choice for modified engines to extract more power and torque at the expense of some mileage. I think I'll go with a 32/36 for the torque of the progressive carburetor. On the other hand, I just thought of a way to remove almost $300.00 from the dual one-barrel system! I have three Weber 34 mm ICT carburetors at the shop. I'll need to think about that some more. I'm intrigued. I wish I could find a picture of that manifold. I think I might go back to the internot and look for an Offenhauser web site. I'll talk to y’all later. Oh man! I should never have done that! The dual one-barrel manifold is so cool! I want it more than the Hyper Pak now. I may have to get one with my next paycheck. I've spent way too much from this one already. It is going to be like Christmas at my house for the next few weeks though as packages arrive! The headers will be in a big box that doesn’t weigh much. The Torker II will be in a medium box that will probably weigh a bit more. The valves and springs will be in small-ish boxes that will be pretty dense. The cylinder head will be in a medium box that will weigh a bunch. Did I mention the shipping on that was almost what I paid for the head! Well, perhaps if I don’t use it I can sell it with the big valves and springs and make a buck. Juan never knows. Then again, and now is the time you all need to start worrying, there were a few Lotuses powered by Hyper Pak Slant Sixes back in the sixties. Perhaps I'll find a 170 cubic inch bottom end and build a replica of that car. I'll need a Hyper Pak intake for that though. I'll try to find the link to that car for you. [ Click! ] In fact, I've surpassed my usual quitting point so I think I'll be off again.