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would NOT suggest using the even less expensive pro comp heads

I take it those are the ones I've read about that have a problem holding on to their Valve Seats?

So whats the deal with Patriot's heads being so cheap? Anybody have any experience with their products?

Specs on the "Big Mutha Thumper" cam are showing that my worked-over stock heads aren't going to be anywhere close to handling the lift (.533) for that Cam. Been wanting better heads anyway, so if the Patriot Heads are decently made, that looks to be the cheapest route for me to go.

Their Vortec Heads claim .575 valve lift at $629 a pair fully assembled (Jegs). The prices on their aluminum heads are so cheap, it almost seems suspicious.

And would the Vortec heads work with my LT1 intake Manifold? I have two Action Plus intakes, one that I saved from my last SBC, and the other on the LT1. (Different bolt angles or something like that. All I remember is that the old intake wouldn't match up to the heads on the LT1 so I had to buy a new one.)

The track was a test n tune night only....

I wish we had a strip. The closest one we had was the old M.A.R. track in Wentzville, and its covered over with subdivisions now. Only tracks we have left around here now are Dirt.

Hi Sean.   Comp Cams website lists the Thumper cams under hydraulic roller cams on this page http://www.compperformancegroupstores.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=CC&Category_Code=RFHRT .

I'm running a Comp Extreme Energy XR270HR cam in a roller motor and reused my stock roller lifters.  I think I had around 3 or 4K on it at the time.  It's got a good lope at idle, strong at mid and high rpms, and I've got over 20 mpg with it on trips.  I like it a lot.  I don't think I'll ever go back to flat tappets.

Thanks George. Long time-no see. Last time I was on here regularly, your computer had self destructed or something like that. Apparently you have taken care of that problem.

I didn't want to shell out the money for lifters if I didn't have to, and since I've already got rollers, it didn't make any sense to me to step "backwards" by replacing them with flat tappets. The biggest one they list says "Street/Strip, needs 9.5:1 CR , 2800+ stall, intake, gears, and headers, very rough idle".

Sounds right up my alley. According to my friend that built the motor, the compression ratio should be 9.8:1, according to the parts he used to put it together. I've got the headers too, but I only have a 2500 stall and 3:90 Gears with fairly tall 295/60 15 tires.

I'm not racing anybody, and 99% of the time I just drive it around in town. I think I can stand to sacrifice the low-end torque to get that "slobber" back...    

I still haven't gotten around to swapping the Drums for Disc's yet either, so a loss of performance would actually be a plus in my case. It looks like I'm getting ready to be 'retired' against my will, so I should have plenty of time to mess with it now.

Some of you may remember that around 5 years ago, I had to have some of the vertabrae in my neck fused from a work related accident. Turns out, over the last five years, pain in other areas of my spinal column have steadily increased to the point where I was living on Percocet and muscle relaxers, even though all I was doing was supervising on construction jobs.

I finally went back in to run the full gamet of tests. MRI's, CT Scans, Contrast Dye injections into my spinal column, etc. Turns out I have degenerative disc disease and severe spinal stenosis. Three of the discs in my lumbar area have deteriorated to the oint where they are allowing the vertabrae to press directly on the root nerves that exit the spine in those areas.

They say they can stabalise it by fusing all 5 of my lumbar vertabrae together. But if they do that, they say it will only speed up the degeneration of my remaining disc's because they have to make up for the 5 that are fused together. So both Dr's suggested applying for full disability in the interest of saving the rest of my back as long as possible.

So thats where I'm at now. Waiting for SS to make their decision. I'm glad I spent all those years in the Union though, because they base your benefits on your wages. The estimate they gave me at the SS office was only $100 less than what my "Take home" pay for a month added up to when I was working full time.

My wife has about two years of college left, so since I worked the first twenty years of our marriage, she can work the next 20. Bonus for me, because all the kids are old enough to take care of themselves now...

They widen the lobe center to about 106 degrees so there is more overlap.

But is it designed to be used with roller-lifters?

I tried finding the info on their website, and although it did mention the LT-1, it didn't say anything about whether it used the original hydraulic rollers, or if you had to swap the rollers for Flat Hydraulics.

From what I understand, you can re-use roller lifters, and the ones in my engine only have around 3-4 thousand miles on them.

The engine was built for Street-stock class dirt track racing. The friend that built it played around with it, as far as bigger cam, different heads, etc, but the class he was racing in didn't allow for any obvious modification.  The cam thats in it now is the GM cam used in the ZZ4. He put better springs and pushrods in it too, but had to run it with iron heads and a 500cfm 2 bbl. I put an Edelbrock dual-plane intake on it, and an Edelbrock 4bbl, but haven't changed anything internally.

Compression is too high for anything other than premium, but I've figured out that running about 3 gallons of E-85 mixed with the regular Gasoline in my 16 gallon tank allows me to run it at full advance. Pretty fine line though. Too much E-85 and it doesn't want to start, and runs like crap once it does start...

Haven't been here for a while, figured i'd check in and see if all you old Farts were still alive and kicking. And WZJunk, I should have bought your Dart. I still haven't found the earlier model around here anywhere-except for a couple of 'restored' ones that apparently contain precious metal underneath the paint, judging by what they're asking for them...

I have a early 90's LT-1 in my F100. The guy I bought it from put a pretty good sized Cam in it, and it runs strong. My problem is, I miss the sound of my slobbering old 292-.505.

The Mother Thumper claims to give you the 'sound' in a roller motor like mine, but how are they doing it? Do you have to switch to non-roller lifters, or can I use the rollers that are already in it?

I am interested in putting a set of Crager S/S Alum-Black wheels on a '50 Suburban street rod but have been told they are "junk" to quote a local wheel distributor. I'm just planning on using a 15 x 7,  5 on 5. Does anyone have experience with those wheels or Crager in general? Thanks, John in Richmond

I've got Cragers version of the DragStar's on my F100. I can concur that the chrome is crap. I haven't noticed any peeling yet, but there are several thin spots that give me trouble.

Only suggestion I have is keep a bottle of Turtle-Wax's chrome polish handy. That alone isn't much protection though, so I usually wax them as well after using the polish.

My wheels are all steel though. A friend of mine has a set of Crager SS wheels from back in the eighties and every bit of chrome has flaked off the aluminum "Star" part of the wheels. He uses them on an old junky trailer now.

A friend of mine works in glass shop in Sun City AZ   area...  

My friend told me these retired folks are the most impatient people he has ever dealt with

I'll bet they are. My Grandma lives in Sun City and she's about the meanest ol' B**** you'd ever run across...

I've heard so many people complain about Bars Leak over the years, I'm surprised the company is still in business. The old Mechanic I worked for back when I was a kid claimed the stuff stopped leaks by stopping up yur Radiator and Heater Core...    He always used copper-seal. I have used both Aluma-Seal, and Copper-seal with good results in the past.

Last time I used Aluma-Seal was on the Heater Core of my F100. It held for two more winters before it started leaking again. Don't know if it would work the same with a Gasket leak or not. All it seems to be is super-fine aluminum powder.

Well, I have commited to stop smoking. I am on chantix, seems to be helping. Target day is next tuesday.

Good luck Frank. I'm smoking two packs of Pall Mall Reds a day, and have been thinking its time to quit too. My biggest problem is... I don't want to quit.

I also know a few people that quit immediately after hypnosis, but at least one of them started back up...

I use Type F in my TH350. It was built by a local guy that builds trannys for drag cars and pulling trucks, and he told me to run Type F in it to make it perform better and hold up longer.

Why? I don't know. But i've been running it pretty hard for 3 or 4 years now and haven't had any problems with it.

So im not happy lately..

So when are you happy....

Are you going to get that tattoo on the palm of your hand like Jesse has?

Sorry to hear about this. I hope everything goes well and he has a speedy recovery.

The most interesting is probably my spin from August 12

I just saw a quick glimpse of your spin on ABC Sports in the opening sequence. Sure looked like yours anyway...

[edit] Looked like it again at the closing sequence of the story. A front 3/4 shot moving towards the camera.

Any part of the tree will make the flavor. I could send you some.

                                                        Hooley

Depends on how strong you want it. Hickory "wood" gives a milder flavor, and is a safer bet for people that don't like a strong smoke flavor. Bark is stronger and has a slightly different taste to it, but its easy to over-do it.

Once you slice a brisket thin, the surface area containing the smoke flavor is greatly reduced. I like a strong smoke flavor on my brisket, so I use bark.

I have ruined some meat using bark though, so if you try it, use it sparingly. I smoked some pork chops yesterday using bark. A strip about two inches wide and a foot long, broken into smaller pieces, was enough to thoroughly flavor them.