If you're looking for basic education, we'd recommend starting with the standard small-block Gen I Chevy. More has been printed on this engine over the 52 years of its life than on any other engine. The fundamentals will carry over to any dead dinosaur- eating internal combustion engine. That said, we'd start with How to Hot Rod a Small Block Chevy, originally printed by HP Books but now owned by Penguin Group. Then, from SA Design is the must-read Smokey Yunick's Power Secrets. Smokey tarted working with the small-block for GM back in '55. If it's been done, he did it at some time. Other good reads are The Step by Step Guide to Engine Blueprinting, High Performance Chevy Small Block Cam/ Valve Trains, and Small Block Chevy Performance 1955-1996.
This will give you a good foundation and answer many of your questions. Also, don't hesitate to contact your manufacturer of choice for the components in questions. They have great technical service lines and can help eliminate some of the confusion.
Sources
cartechbooks.com
us.penguingroup.com
Steering Gear
Q I'm swapping a big-block into a '78 Chevy Nova. What Chevy is a good donor for a manual steering gearbox? And what is the total mechanical advance built into the GM Performance HEI that JEG's sells under PN 809-93440806? Great job helping us readers out! Thanks.Tee ShartownTucson, AZ
A There are many manual donor cars out there. However, I just went through the same process with my '80 Malibu wagon, converting it to manual gear. All the manual boxes I found were either too worn to use or the gear, worm/sector was rusted from moisture getting into the boxes. An easy donor is an early- to mid-'90s S-10 truck manual steering gear, if you wish to look for used units.
I picked up one of the new boxes on the market from my pal Ken Casey at Burt Chevy for my Malibu wagon. It was a 525 Saginaw manual box and fits all '60s and '70s GM cars originally equipped with a 605- or 800-series Saginaw power box. The 525 manual box's very slow 20:1 ratio makes it quite easy to turn, but it keeps your arms in exercise! Both Summit and JEG's also sell the Flaming Riverreproduction pieces, which are quite affordable if you compare how much you're going to pay in core charges before finding a good one.
Sources
flamingriver.com
jegs.com
summitracing.com
It's An Emergency!
Q I've put a set of rear disc brakes from an '86 Camaro into my '70 Camaro. Does someone make emergency brake cables for this conversion or offer individual parts so I can fabricate them myself?
Sonny LindamoodVia e-mail
A Check out Lokar Performance Products' universal E-brake cable system. Several universal sys tems are offered, based on the clevises and brackets you have on your disc brakes. Also, for the rest of you guys, Lokar offers cable kits if you're using '84-87 or '88-and-up Vette, Baer Brakes, Wilwood, or Stainless Steel Brakes rear disc kits...and also parts for those F-word brake systems if you decided to go that way.
Source
lokar.com