tony-muscle

Thank you. This is great to know. I am sure that it was fun lifting those anchors while leaning over the fender.

Thanks. When I installed my cam I did the whole degreeing thing. Everything was within 1 degree. I will research the method you are talking about to double check though. Do you have a dyno run or time slip with this cam? What is your CR? I would like to have more CR so I if I end up removing the head I am thinking of a thinner head gasket. The problem is that the only thinner gaskets out there are MLS which I think they could have issues with sealing if the surfaces are not well preped. Mine was resurfaced when I stroked it so it may work.

Shifting at 6,200-6,300 Lifted at .2501 miles I measured CR in three chambers at 9.6 Cam specs in attached picture

During the HRPT I did 6 passes at three different locations. My times were very consistent at 13.5 to 13.6 @ 105-106 mph, if that helps. I was told that the track prep was non-existing which hurt everyone's time.

I am not disagreeing with the fact that something else may be going on. I was just thinking about Pence's comments since he most of times talks about unstroked 351s. I will be performing a lot of checks over the winter to see if I find something. These checks are also intended to inspect the integrity of my build and ensure it is good for many years to come. The heads porting is more of an unknown since I feel I should have done it when I put the engine together.

I was thinking about this, so I am wondering if Pence's opinion still holds true for a 408 that in theory is breathing about 16% more air than a 351, or about 1,000 rpms?

Scary to know. or worst, to not know, that's hiding under the dash or in the engine wiring.

Very doable. I did it all from the driver's side without removing the console. I suggest you remove the driver's seat so it is easier. You will have to do some of the work by feel since it is hard to look up there but your hands will get there. The gas pedal gets a bit on the way so if you disconnect it from the carb and hold it to the floor it will give you some space for your head so you can look up the dash. You will have the 3 bolts as mentioned plus the wiring connections.

Actually, good question. I checked that over the weekend and is good. Plus, the EFI data log is showing 99-100% TPS. I have a Spectra Duraspark distributor with a MSD Street Fire CDI. Spark plugs are gapped correctly. The car runs very well at WOT with no hesitation or misfire. Don, I never heard of that for mine. It was Tim Mayer's recommendation so I trust they work. I reviewed the pictures and the oil passages don't look above the lifter bore. I have the Gaterman 1014 with a Comp roller lifter retainer "spider". Interesting observation. The two runs look similar. Another dyno run is big bucks around here. I was lucky to do this one in the HRPT which was very affordable since they were doing a lot of cars during the week. I will at least remove the valve covers over the winter to check how things look. I have been wanting to do this for a while anyways. I will also do a compression check in all cylinders just in case. No money spent, just time.

I echo the comments about the MDL kits. I also used their kit for the auto to manual TKO600 conversion. It was flawless. The only thing I bought on my own was the Quicktime bellhousing. I can't remember, but I think I found it much cheaper elsewhere.

Yes, that's the problem. Basically, it shouldn't be flattening so early and @trillizo_y_uno and @c9zx may be right that it is not an issue with shrouding. Actually, when I drive the car, it feels with power all the way to 6000+ rpm. It doesn't feel like laying down. However, I don't have anything else to compare to except the Ferrari I tested the other day. EFI/fuel: @mjlan I don't believe it is an EFI issue. The AFR stay in the low 12 range all the way up to 6,000. Unfortunately with all what was going on at the dyno I forgot to turn on the data log, but I have logged acceleration passes many times before and after the dyno. The AFR stays within the 12 range. I admit it is a bit on the rich side, but that shouldn't be causing it to drop so much. After getting hammered in Facebook with comments, I have since upped the AFR target to 12.8 from 12-12.2. Headers: @Fabrice see above. AFR steady on the rich side but not totally out of whack. They are Hookers, headers to be specific. Valves/Springs/Lifters: @trillizo_y_uno@c9zxthis winter, the first step will be to remove the valve covers and intake manifold to check the valve train. My springs are allegedly those recommended for the cam, but I will double check with Comp. They are Comp 924-16 with a rate of 347 lbs. My lifters are Gaterman, which are one of the bests out there. My whole combo was sourced/adviced by Tim Mayer, who is an expert in the subject. The valves/guides/springs were installed by him as well. They also took care of the installed height, but I will double check that over the winter. That said, is there a way to check or confirm that valve float/sticking is physically occurring or has occurred? However, do you think that with a relatively low lift of 0.558" I will be having valve float so early? Air filter: @mjlan I don't believe this is an issue since we tested with the hood open on the second run. Having RAM air, the air filter is completely open at the top. The air filter has less than 10k miles on it. I welcome all your input. Thank you.

Thank you for raising all very important points. Yes, in one way I ask myself, is it worth it to gain maybe 20 more HP? I also tell myself, if ain't broken don't mess with it. On the other end, I tell myself, you should have done this when you assembled the engine? And then I ask myself, if I can gain some performance with little monetary investment, why not? All these things are going though my head. If I can remove the heads in the car I don't think it is that much work specially over the long winter months where I have the luxury of many months of not using the car. It is also true that by shrouding you incrase the chamber size and so the CR goes down. However, I don't expect shrouding to be more than 1cc, probably less, which will reduce CR by 0.1. Also, I think the most gains are from shrouding the intake only so that way you can reduce the amount of material removed. An alternative is to search for thinner gaskets to compensate. In any case, here is a recent chassis dyno sheet, which I think I have not yet published. Let's not focus too much on the numbers, but look at how the power is dying after 4,500-5,000 rpm. I understand that my cam lift is not that much but I was not expecting it to die off so early. This is one of the reasons why I think I should be able to gain some power by increasing flow by shrouding the intake valve. From my research most of the flow gains are below 0.600 lift, which is where my cam is. Yes, it is possible that I am being hopeful, but there is that hot rod mentality that pushes me to improve if within the possibilities. If not the heads, for sure I will be removing the valve covers to check that everything is good with the valvetrain. Look at @73' mach 1 dyno run for comparison. He has a very similar setup except that he has a cam with slightly more lift and some minor heads porting. Edit: notice also how the torque numbers are very similar between the two engines but my fall from the sky at about 4,500 rpm.

Vinnie, feel free to go over my floor thread which goes into details and explanations of what to do and what not to do. But to answer your question, yes, you can do one panel at the time. Plan on taking twice as long as planned on the first half, and then half as long on the second half. One important aspect, expanding on what was said above, triple check before you cut. Other things you want to be aware of before cutting are wiring, brake lines, parking brake cable and most importantly the fuel line that runs along the driver's side. Since you will have to remove the parking brake bracket "hook" make sure you measure its location and try to save it if you want to reused it. The overlap welding with spot welds works very well. Just make sure you use weld though primer near the welds at the overlap so there is some protection there and then use some good seam sealer on both sides. My thread shows my technique which was derived from the many advises I received from members.

I am starting to think about the winter projects. I want to disassemble the top of my engine to check on condition after its first 10k miles. I will also like to remove the heads to possibly do some minor porting and shrouding. That said, i want to do it without removing the engine. I have done it with the engine removed so I understand the procedure but I was wondering if there are some other issues I need to be concerned with by removing the heads with the engine in the car. Do I get enough clearance past the shock towers? I have head studs so I would need a bit more clearance than if I had head bolts. On the driver's side I will have to fight the A/C hoses but I think I can get around them after loosening the compressor. I don't want to deal with emptying the A/C refrigertant.

Any interest in these parts? Make me an offer.