The Virginia Muscle Car

My Charger makes a pinging noise sometimes when I get on it hard.  
There is a guy here who drag races a 1967 Chevelle and his father 
works on old cars so I ask him a lot of questions concerning 
engines and transmissions.  At first I thought it was valve 
clatter but he said that it was pinging according to what I was 
describing and he said that today’s gas is not as good as it used 
to be and that I might need some octane booster.  Well, I put in 
some octane booster which raises a tank full of gas one octane 
level.  I only use Amoco 93 in my cars because that is supposed
to be the best but he said that wasn’t good enough.  The octane 
booster appears to have gotten rid of the pinging but I hate to 
have to put it in the car every time I fill it up.      

Fitting New Weatherstripping

Below is Goat Farm's answer to fitting new weatherstripping (Good answer) 
and I used ArmorAll and rubbed it in with good results too.
Richard can use this answer to for his new weatherstripping too.  
He thought we should share this answer with others having the 
same issues.

    Sometimes the new weatherstrip will snag against the window 
    glass when you roll them up and down. This is usually just  
    a temporary inconvenience that goes away within 2 - 3 days. 
    You may try a lubricant on the rubber seal.  I use Lemon 
    Pledge furniture polish for this.  Wipe some over the seal 
    with a clean cloth, just enough to dampen the surface. 

    If you feel the weatherstrip is the problem, I would be glad 
    to replace it for you. Thank you, Bob. 

    Respectfully,
     Ed Cutshall

    Weatherstrip Special 
    A division of Bethel's Goat Farm...GTO
    1449 Pomona Avenue
    San Jose, CA 95110
    (888) 999-7876 Toll-free
    (408) 295-7611 Voice
    (408) 295-2015 FAX
    Mastercard Visa American Express Discovercard PayPal

    See our weatherstrip site at http://www.weatherstripspecial.com


Outstanding Company ~Bob

In addition, here is Randy's helpful comments on the Subject:

    Hey, Bob-
    How long has that weatherstripping been in place?  I've seen 
    some that had to 'form' to its surroundings for awhile before 
    allowing the doors to close easily and windows to work properly, 
    etc.  I even saw one case where the owner actually adjusted the 
    striker plate in the door jamb out some, and allowed the door to 
    close and then every few days he took it in a little until the 
    door was flush on the outside.  Of course, when new cars are 
    built, this isn't an option.  Maybe some aftermarket / repro 
    stuff's more dense than original?
 
    Have fun,
    -- Randy

C4 Radiator and Leaves

The other day the radiator in my 85 vette cracked in two places.  A guy 
came out to help me replace it.  He said he had never seen a radiator 
crack in two places and he had been in the business for over 20 years.
"Leave" it to me!  I had previously read where vettes of this era 
collected leaves in front of the radiator so I had crawled under and 
cleaned the leaves out that were in front of the AC condenser.  The AC 
condensor is mounted in front of the radiator in a cowl. This article 
mentioned that I needed to take the top of radiator cowl off, which
at the time, did not make sense - if I could clean out the leaved in front 
of the condensor - what was the problem?  It became quite appearent when
we replace the radiator and why the article was advocating to take the 
top part of the cowl off.  Needed to take the cowl off to replace the 
broken radiatior anyway.  When we took top of the cowl off we saw 
that there was a stash of leaved in between the AC condensor and the 
radiator - never seen before - actually blocked 75 percent of the
air flow to the radiator - no wonder it was running a little hot in
warm weather.  Now with tne new radiator (minus the extra weight of
the leaves) the car actually stays very cool even in hot weather -
live and learn. 

C4 Modifications

   http://vette.ohioracing.com/mods.html

Distributor Information/Parts

   http://www.kendrick-auto.com/ignition.htmhttp://www.msdignition.com

Chevy Part Numbers

SB Head

   http://www.auto-ware.com/techref/castnum.htm
   

BB Numbers

   http://www.nastyz28.com/bbcmenu.html

Cams

   http://www.compcams.com/Community/Articles/Details.asp?ID=1178497322

   http://www.popularhotrodding.com/tech/0601phr_performance_intake_manifold_comparison/
 
Lots of GOOD articles here:

   http://www.compcams.com/Community/Articles/

Intake Manifolds

   http://www.popularhotrodding.com/tech/0601phr_performance_intake_manifold_comparison/

Very Interesting Valve Springs

   http://www.compcams.com/Base/MultiMedia/Products/BeehiveVsStandard_Low-Res.wmv

AC Cobra Kit Information

   http://www.cobracountry.com/home2.html

   http://www.factoryfive.com/images/videos/ffr_short_intro-256k.wmv

   http://www.factoryfive.com/videogallery.html

   http://www.factoryfive.com/images/videos/david_run-n-gun_road-course_practice.wmv

   http://www.factoryfive.com/table/ffrkits/roadster/roadsterkit.html
   

F-O-R-D 302 Information

   http://www.popularhotrodding.com/enginemasters/articles/ford/0611em_ford_302_engine_build_up/

   http://www.barrygrant.com/demon/default.aspx?page=10

Engine Comparisons

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Hemi_engine#Modern_Hemi
 
In American Muscle Car episode 'The Fastest Musclecar Engines 
of All Time', a 1966 Dodge street Hemi engine, built and tuned 
under the factory stock condition, produced 820 HP and 689ft·lb 
of torque...at least this is what Hemi supporters would like to 
be carved into stone as gospel truth. In actual fact, Darren 
Tedder who works at Engine Systems in Tucker Georgia, and who 
worked with the producers of the show had this to say about the 
episode:

   We built 3 motors for the show titled “the fastest muscle 
   car engines of all time”. We did an L88 Chevy, a 427 tunnel 
   port FE Ford, and a 426 HEMI for them to dyno test. The 
   motors were to have things done to them that would have been 
   done by places like Yenko, Mr Norms, and so on. I have no 
   idea what kind of spin will be put on this show, but I can 
   assure all you guys that MOPAR will be properly represented. 
   Though the Hemi is a pump gas motor, it may have a couple 
   more twists of the wrench than the others, but don’t tell 
   any of the Chevy or Ford brethren. Everything had to be put 
   together from the parts we had available. The end result 
   should please all you guys. Yes that motor has more work in 
   it than it should, but we used what we had at the shop for 
   motors in progress. (note: a 500 cubic inch short block was 
   in the shop at the time...) Remember television is for 
   entertainment, much like the internet, so don't read too 
   much into it. Also, it's not like it was a secret kept from 
   the production. I worked most of my life in underwater 
   production. Every thing I've ever shot has had some 
   unrealistic spin put on it by, post production, or an 
   executive in the production. Unfortunately in most cases 
   (not saying this is the case here) the people in post don't 
   know the first thing about the subject matter. It's just a 
   fact of TV. Two of the most discrediting things said about 
   anything are: I saw it on TV, or read it on the internet. 
   Enjoy it for what is, have a good laugh, and be glad YOU 
   guys know something the VAST majority of viewers don't.

~George

Sounds

nice sound

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx7qOE9kfPM
   
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz8HdTCzQIE

cam/car sounds

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc-fLY-a0Us
   
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1kOYoaLBCU
   
Turn up sound for this one

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtl6Y7FmUdg
   
This one too

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu0riEjjT-o

even better

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQRutykXE1w
   
maybe best ... adjust bass settings

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQBk48Uo-1I