Buford T Justice -- the full tour

[andy30thz]

NICE!! It won't be long and you'll have had every piece of Buford on the ground except the engine block!

So....how do you think things would have went if you'd tried this at the strip.....?

Going back tomorrow to finish up, or are you scheduling another date?

[Brian Lohnes]

Andy, I am thinking the end of the week for the headers and then the cam maybe a short while after that.

At the strip I would have been boned by little stuff. Connector here, nut and bolt there, hose here. Being able to run into the back room at the shop was a life saver for nuts and bolts and little stuff.

Tony was the man because he lives near the shop and knows the area (including the bitchin' pizza place we got lunch from), he was flying around here and there to grab stuff that we needed and that wasn't at the shop. Dave Nutting was also a huge help and once we got our sea legs under us we were able to haul some ass.

If things had gone "perfectly" we would have been able to get the headers started before having to quit. I didn't want to overstay our welcome at the shop and take more advantage of Travis and Ben that they were already allowing! Those guys rule, especially because Travis's twin 88mm turbo drag car that has gone in the 6s (quarter mile) and their new england champion 275x single turbo Mustang were both in the shop with ol' Buford.

[Deaf Bob]

Coincidence... Watching Smokey and the Bandit 2 on tv right now!

Told ya you would have driveline spitting events...

[Beagle]

Hey Bruab, before you start the header install (and you take it up to 50, slip it in neutral, and kill it when you get close to the cops, if that helps any) .... have you already purchased the new motor mounts? If not, Rockauto those biocheees. The headers would have been my number 1, but they don't show magic magazine numbers until after the cam, then they are worth 40 hp!!

[Brian Lohnes]

They could be worth that much before the cam. Dyno sheets show a motor more plugged up on the exhaust side than the winner of a cheese eating contest.

[Beagle]

20-25 wouldn't surprise me a bit if it's got the Y pipe 1.875" into 2" single that mine had!

[Huskinhano]

20-25 wouldn't surprise me a bit if it's got the Y pipe 1.875" into 2" single that mine had!

Every one always talks about H or X pipes. I wonder how a single exhaust with a Y pipe would compare in scavenging? This wouldn't be practical on a larger engine because you'd run into problems with the size of the pipe required but on a small V8, say like around 300 cu.in made out of 3" tubing with a nice smooth transition at the Y. The single 3" is about equal to 2 1/4" dual exhaust system. The exhaust system would weigh less too. I've thought about doing this on my 66. Mr P body?

[Brian Lohnes]

Lots of 4th Gen Camaro guys run larger diameter single pipe systems with success.

The Caprice has true dual exhaust from the manifolds to the....well, crossmember now that I have hacked the pipes off.

[Barry Donovan]

Every one always talks about H or X pipes. I wonder how a single exhaust with a Y pipe would compare in scavenging? This wouldn't be practical on a larger engine because you'd run into problems with the size of the pipe required but on a small V8, say like around 300 cu.in made out of 3" tubing with a nice smooth transition at the Y. The single 3" is about equal to 2 1/4" dual exhaust system. The exhaust system would weigh less too. I've thought about doing this on my 66. Mr P body?

an equal Y is awesome..
I learned it keeps rocker arms longer if to respect scavenge time...
else a v8 really don't care. scavenge is for the rumble on the valvetrain.

I am still on two timing belts on a boxer...scavenge is make or break. big lesson little engine.

[DNut]

It actually wasn't that loud at cruising speed on the highway. I would equate the tone with a well-used Fedex truck with a small but growing hole in the muffler.

Other than the driveshaft blowing out on the first pull of the day, everything went relatively smoothly! It was great to meet/hang out with Tony and I'm sure that the headers and cam will show more gains up top to match the gains that were found below 3000 RPMs.

[milner351]

Very cool!

Will you do a cherry bomb header muffler vs. open headers pull as the final run of the day?

I still say header mufflers (from a site sponsor no less) are too cheap and easy to risk a ticket over NOT having.

Once the headers are on - I'm predicting you'll be surprised by the tuning gains you can find.... we once got 75HP from a carbed 351w during a lunch time dyno session - base timing and jets were the only thing we changed, 75HP in 55 minutes for $75 at Livernois.... I miss those days.

[DNut]

Once I remembered how to turn on the self timer, I even got in a photo!




Who thought it'd be a good idea to put me front and center?

[Scott Liggett]

I see Brian took my classes on how not to stay clean when working on a car.

[tedly]

You can still see some blue on those jeans. Must have been early in the thrash.

[Beagle]

SB Chevy headers with p/s and a/c... ah, yes. I recommend the longer bolts , 1" iirc, as the short ones seem to find their way on the floor a lot. I also had good luck with paper gaskets soaked in the tub. Well, good luck with the gaskets, not so much with the first ex... why is okay for them to wash the filthy-ass dog in that tub but I can't put clean paper in it? I *KNOW* I'm not the only guy who has stunk up the kitchen with eau de carb cleaner washing a Q-Jet in the kitchen sink because there was good light and hot water helps remove gank deposits.

oh yeah, your car. So... I was reading the Car Craft 8 heads for less than 1000.00 the other day http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles...t/viewall.html - the Dart SHP's look good, but I have a Performer RPM and valve covers already so the Vortec isn't as attractive as they appear to be. All this work and you're gonna BBC it huh.