You do remember I build my own headers, right? I actually really enjoy doing it - so why would I pay someone else to do my fun work - pay people to do what you hate to do, not what you love.
While we are on a pause on this , I was just looking thru the pics again and was wondering about the red on this shifter plate . Did that come red or is it supposed to be black ? And are you keeping the luggage rack on the back ? I prefer them without but my daughter is looking to get one someday .
The way I see it (and, just the way I see it), if you use updated suspension, to where you have to use those new-style very negative offset rims, you're good with the LS update too. Kinda works as a package. An old-school Rat motor car should have the old-school positive-offset deep-dish wheels in which case your stuck with the antique rear-steer-frontend suspension or some variation of it. You could use the old suspension and new motor, sort-of, with some conflict, but why? as the old suspension is the first thing you would normally think about getting rid of (I have verified that the seventies 'Vette a-arms are the exact same stampings as the '59 Impala, turned backwards...sorta ugly-weird deal) . I shouldn't talk because my car has been sitting there unloved for years, but my choice has been to go old-timey w/ the 8" Rallys (and old suspension) and the Rat and suffer the consequenses, it won't be as fast or get much mpg but for a chrome-bumper car I'll like it more and I wanna hear that 454 thump. If it were a '75-up car I might be thinking about it differently. Of-course the rear end could be made to work with either type wheel but up front, if you want the front-steer and rack-and-pinion, you have to use the new-style wheels then as I said at first you might-as-well go whole-hog with the LS.
go old-timey w/ the 8" Rallys (and old suspension) and the Rat and suffer the consequenses, it won't be as fast or get much mpg but for a chrome-bumper car I'll like it more and I wanna hear that 454 thump.
this gets my vote as well. if not rallys, then period correct types
like welds or centerlines, no billet bling things... on the other
hand it is your car, so....
as for the motor, a first gen SBC will be the cheapest while still making
good power, and they are reliable when built right. plus there are probably
more power "recipies" for this motor than all others on the planet combined...
the new LS motors are incredible, but MAN are they $$$$ to build/buy.
the old school rat mark IV (my personal favorite, guess why...) will cost
a bit more than the SBC, way less than the LS, make awesome power
AND has the benefit of being a 100% bolt in swap. also very well sorted
out as far as available power combos, and like the GEN 1 SBC when
built well are very reliable.
the C3 has almost perfect weight distribution front/rear even with an
all iron big block, they drive really really well. cooling is the issue but
there are ways around it- 4 core radiator, good steep pitch flex fan,
flowkooler pump, a bleed/vent in top hose to get air bubbles out,
correct pulleys (faster ratio) etc...
my 2 cents i would run a mark IV BBC everytime. i LOVE the 461" in
the white vette in my avatar, its a daily driver, reliable as a rock, gets
almost 15mpg @ 55mph with a carb / no overdrive, idles like a prostocker,
and when you stick your foot in it.....WOW...... tops out the front
suspension and keeps it there and pulls to 6500+RPM in every gear
so quickly its scary.
its got a GPS speedo with a 1/4 mile function on it, i tried it at the bottom
of the H3 freeway one night-- it broke the 3 bolts holding the converter to the
flexplate on the 1-2 shift, and still coasted to a 15.03. that tells me a 3 gear
full throttle pass would come up in at least the low 12's/ high 11's.
and all for $5000 or less !
Last edited by fatguyzinc; May 21, 2017, 03:56 PM.
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