spantini
COO of me, inc.
To me, one of the coolest sounds were the loping exhaust notes of a performance cam. I could just listen to a car idle for hours.
Those were the days
- Thread starter spantini
- Start date
LazerBeakShiek
Tell Tony, Eddie an the Cruises IS here
I loved the sounds of the real factory muscle car camshafts. So up to about 30 degrees of hyd/flat tappet overlap...I'm with you. I pulled cams out of performance models at the junkyard..Soon all the engines in the pile were out of something special, The junk man caught on, .and doesn't seem to have a conscience.
I listened to records of HUGE engines, going right to left in a stereo sound field. Cams and engines were my music! I still got them' LPs. Was I messed up or what?
great...now there's Bearsharks?..it aint easy out there..
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spantini
COO of me, inc.
When I was staying with a friend who put me up my first year in Florida, I'd use his surround sound system when the Gatornationals were broadcast over FM radio. I'd have it on TV with the sound muted and crank it on the stereo. Top Fuel Funny Cars and Dragsters make the most beautiful music while idling at the tree. Then . . . WOOOOOOOooooHOOOOOOOOooo!!! Alex Van Halen does an excellent rendition on drums.Now we know what you're dealin' with
LazerBeakShiek
Tell Tony, Eddie an the Cruises IS here
Simulcast in stereo!
LazerBeakShiek
Tell Tony, Eddie an the Cruises IS here
They screwed that up too .. Car exhaust needs a resonator, then a muffler to sound proper. The built up engines have much larger gas emissions, the exhaust system needs a larger volume to control the pulses. Most don't even try make the exhaust kit correct and throw the worst, smallest, muffler in it . Because they are cheap asses and wont do it right. The big bad muscle cars had a resonator and a muffler. Rumpity rumipty, rump, rumpity rumpity.. Resonator makes what? Sound.
Place the resonator closer to the collector for loud(hot collector exhaust jet hits the tube wall perforations), and farther away for soft. Turning it around makes a different sound too.
carb was part of the sound too.
Thermoquad carb's had limited performance value..Holley's had horrible driveability issues. Tuning issues. Carter's were popular on the classic muscle cars. AFB and AVS were rebuilt by Edelbrock for use with their version of this 4-4-2 cam/ Performer cam (420/442 lift). AVS and AFB were mechanical secondary 'air door' carbs, but man, they sounded great. The best 'driving around' carb was the QJet out designed by the GM team. Could cover the widest range of conditions. When you opened all 4 barrels, everybody knew it.
Every baker has his recipes for success. There is no right answer. This is how I would do it.
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Seeker of Rock
The One and Only
My first guitar was a beautiful triple sunburst fake strat from sears catalog. I took a testers model paint and fracked Fender Stratocaster in the headstock 
I forget the amp I had but low level Sears 3 knob 8” speaker I’m sure. My first REAL amp was an’83 peavey Bandit 50 watt combo. First car a hand-me- down Pinto wagon.
First job at 18 was McDonalds. I had a very unexceptional adolescence, but was lucky to find bands and jam with some cool cats locally
I forget the amp I had but low level Sears 3 knob 8” speaker I’m sure. My first REAL amp was an’83 peavey Bandit 50 watt combo. First car a hand-me- down Pinto wagon. First job at 18 was McDonalds. I had a very unexceptional adolescence, but was lucky to find bands and jam with some cool cats locally
Seeker of Rock
The One and Only
The pinto wagon was eventually replaced by a 4 door ‘79 Chevette. I upgraded the bandit in HS to a Peavey Musician head and a WAY oversized Peavey 4x12 cab and then got lucky in 1985 on trading that rig plus $600 cash for a used ‘82 Marshall 2204 half which I still have today. A Charvel Model 3 came after then an ‘88 Jackson Custom Soloist. I still have both.
After I got married in 2001 and had a little cash, far removed from the band scene, I started picking up new music toys. Taylor 414 then a used ‘98 LP Std, then a bunch of analog/outboard recording gear and built a stand alone (small 14x16) studio in my backyard, treated and per John Sayers’ concepts of detaching floors and walls best my budget would allow. Then my LP bug flared up again and ended up with an ‘85 Custom and ‘86 prehistoric and more studio gear. Divorced in 2017 and still can’t figure out why
Now the discretionary funds are gone but I still have a lot of stuff that the wife’s lawyer never found out about in discovery because I listed stuff as “old used guitar”, “old used effects processors”, etc. and neither one of them knew enough to know the value of a bunch of old used music gear. That was merciful Justice right there. House with studio was sold from the divorce but every piece of equipment (except for drum PDP drums but kept the vintage Zildjian cymbals) is in my expensive ass A/C storage unit. Lexicon PCM70, 60 and 91, Fletcher Joemeek pres, Groove Tubes MD3a and Model One mics, Shure 81 matched pair with extra Omni capsules, the Tascam 24.8 board (nothing top shelf but it’s still a decent board), Alesis HD24 I tracked to, Tascam 22 1/4” half track, other stuff I don’t recall right now. All eBay or Craigslist and relatively cheap as studios sold off their gear and went ITB.
If I had that kind of money that I had in 2000s/2010s when I was 18 (1985), I’d be dead right now I’m pretty sure, either car wreck or overdose
After I got married in 2001 and had a little cash, far removed from the band scene, I started picking up new music toys. Taylor 414 then a used ‘98 LP Std, then a bunch of analog/outboard recording gear and built a stand alone (small 14x16) studio in my backyard, treated and per John Sayers’ concepts of detaching floors and walls best my budget would allow. Then my LP bug flared up again and ended up with an ‘85 Custom and ‘86 prehistoric and more studio gear. Divorced in 2017 and still can’t figure out why
Now the discretionary funds are gone but I still have a lot of stuff that the wife’s lawyer never found out about in discovery because I listed stuff as “old used guitar”, “old used effects processors”, etc. and neither one of them knew enough to know the value of a bunch of old used music gear. That was merciful Justice right there. House with studio was sold from the divorce but every piece of equipment (except for drum PDP drums but kept the vintage Zildjian cymbals) is in my expensive ass A/C storage unit. Lexicon PCM70, 60 and 91, Fletcher Joemeek pres, Groove Tubes MD3a and Model One mics, Shure 81 matched pair with extra Omni capsules, the Tascam 24.8 board (nothing top shelf but it’s still a decent board), Alesis HD24 I tracked to, Tascam 22 1/4” half track, other stuff I don’t recall right now. All eBay or Craigslist and relatively cheap as studios sold off their gear and went ITB.
If I had that kind of money that I had in 2000s/2010s when I was 18 (1985), I’d be dead right now I’m pretty sure, either car wreck or overdose
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Gtoboy
Well-known member
This cracked me up. Back in the early 80s I had a buddy who inherited one of these and stuck a 4v 302 with a top loader 4speed and an 8.8 mustang rear in it. We use to build monsters. My GTO is set up for torque cuz I always build motors to last and that means keeping the rpm under control. I'm pushing ~490 ft lbs. Clutch ripping, diff distroying, tire shredding, suspension twisting torque.
I have to beg to differ on the carb opinions however. Rochester quads have vacuum secondaries meaning you cant "open" all four barrels, the secondaries have to be properly set up to open at a rate that works best for the stall speed of the converter , the GVW etc. and they are pretty useless for manual gearbox cars.I have had to repair plenty of these that had been 'modded" to make the secondaries open manually -normally, the modder's 'mod' wouldn't allow the secondaries to open fully or at the correct time anyway, causing all kinds of reliability/drivability issuss. I can get a Rochester two barrel to perform as well or better than a Q-jet off the line/0-60 MPH and I can make just about any carb of any kind sit up and beg. But my secret weapon has always been knowing how to properly match and tune a carb to a specific application.
Holley carbs come in so many different styles that claiming that they had drivability issues seems a bit disingenuous . The standard 4150 style carb was designed for WOT operation which made it perfect for man trans cars but it was not optimal for auto trans cars and IME the drivability complaints I heard were all related to slapping a 750 4150 series on an auto trans car.
I tuned many of these for local dudes who insisted on using these "wrong" carbs, but for the smart kids I would talk into putting a 4160 style instead , they were very drivable and when I had set them up, would perform just as well or better than asbuilt Q-jet. Any carb needs to be optimized for trans type, cam, intake and diff ratio, tire size, GVW and if you learn each carb mfg's design choices, any one can be set up to be both high performance and reliable, though there will always be a 'best suited' carb for a particular combo. Say a Dominator style for Pro Stock or circle track.
Also a Q-jet is a spread bore style, and that design is inherently less effective in certain flow ranges, especially in stock style and open plenum manifolds. They do best IMO on dual plane design manifolds. It is a GM carb and was only ever offered on their vehicles. Holley was a provider to Ford, Carter sold carbs to both Mopar and GM and are super reliable when set up correctly. But it's always about the combination.
Back East the State Police drove Big ass Dodge cruisers with Hemi’s with 3/4 race cams in them. Those were pretty intimidating, especially when you were at a stoplight and he was right next to you just idling away. You couldn’t help but look over at him, and he’d look back at you.
Ah..... the memories of those terrifying moments.
A bag of weed, Jethro Tull playing in the 8 track of your stupid hand me down Ford Pinto, you, with your long hair. And right next to you you was Mr Crew cut eyeballing you in his monster machine. Almost as if he was a character in Mad Max.
Most times the windows of the Pinto were always rolled down. Of course! You had no Air conditioning and you had to get the smell of the reefer out of the car.
But the windows down proved to be a life saver. While waiting for the light to change, you broke eye contact and purposely looked over his car. Then you looked back at Mr. Crew cut, gave him a thumbs up, and said “That’s a badass car”! He knew it. He knew your Pinto was a piece of shit, but simply the act of complimenting him was enough to stoke his ego and have him knowing he’d won.
It was always such a relief when the light changed and he lit that motor up and drove away in search of his prey.
Mick Doobie
Resist We Much
I put a starter in my "95 Chevy Suburban yesterday. 90 something K miles on her, 7.4 L engine. She's a beast. It was tight in there, virgin territory, but I got 'er done.
Working on your own vehicle is awesome fun, when it's over and you key that ignition. Fingers crossed, and she turned right over. I might be getting too old for that crap.
Working on your own vehicle is awesome fun, when it's over and you key that ignition. Fingers crossed, and she turned right over. I might be getting too old for that crap.
spantini
COO of me, inc.
I did that with my '76 CJ 304-V8. This was a new Jeep, only had it about 6 months. One day, I had parked it in front of my business and when I went to leave, the starter died. I was fortunate in that my business was an auto parts store. No jack required as I easily slipped under and removed the starter - which, oddly, looked exactly like a Ford starter. Jeeps were made with parts from all the other auto makers, so I grabbed a Ford starter off the shelf and it bolted right in - perfect. Hit the key and WHAM!, fired right up, no problem.
Mick Doobie
Resist We Much
I'd hit the ignition a few times and nothing happened first go 'round. Second time she'd start right up. Uh oh. Had folks in from out of town, she's big and roomy enough for all of us to take a ride in the mountains. Inside my stomach was a little nervous, should I, or should I not. Coming off the mountain stopped for gas. Hit the ignition, once, twice, 3rd time, nothing. Damn! Gambled and lost. Everybody got reeeeal quiet. Got out, rocked 'er a few times, crawled up under there and tapped on the starter with a crescent wrench. Crawled up into the driver's seat. Casually, " What do y'all wanna have for dinner?" Cranked 'er right up. Voice from the backseat, "How'd you know to do that?" "Do what?", I says.
Oh, also in a new place sort of out in the boonies, haven't established a good trustworthy mechanic yet. I'd had eye surgery not too long ago, so wasn't thrilled about the idea of crawling under there and looking straight up at removing/replacing the starter. Safety glasses over readers, everything went okay, eye wise. Kicked back later on the couch and, bam, I guess something in my hair landed right in my damn eye. About a quarter inch long, thin. Panic struck, but was able to wash it out. Eye a little red, scratched today, but I think everything is going to be okay. Strange how life works.
Oh, also in a new place sort of out in the boonies, haven't established a good trustworthy mechanic yet. I'd had eye surgery not too long ago, so wasn't thrilled about the idea of crawling under there and looking straight up at removing/replacing the starter. Safety glasses over readers, everything went okay, eye wise. Kicked back later on the couch and, bam, I guess something in my hair landed right in my damn eye. About a quarter inch long, thin. Panic struck, but was able to wash it out. Eye a little red, scratched today, but I think everything is going to be okay. Strange how life works.
Mick Doobie
Resist We Much
^^ Also, in the new location haven't established a good, ahem, hairdresser. I reckon I ought to get on that.
Won’t that lovely hat, like in your avatar, suffice?
Mick Doobie
Resist We Much
That's only for days when I can't do a thing with it. And truth be told, I'm starting to see evidence I might have to sport that hat when I have to do without it. Hell, at 60 this year, this year I turned 60....have to say it again for it to actually sink in, 60, I'll probably be dead way before then. I'm not sure which would be worse. I kid! Vanity is in large part in the rearview for this one. I mean, I got a woman, and I ain't never gonna let her go. Never. And she knows it, I tell her about every single day. Never. Bwahahaha.
BTStudio
Active member
Ya I’m the same. 3/8” and go
Gtoboy
Well-known member
I have the same model.
As to starters, I couldn't count how many I have pulled. We used to rebuild 'em and stick 'em back in. But my most memorable was replacing the one in my 64 in the dead of winter with ~9-10" of snow on the ground.
Once replaced an automatic transmission in a 69 Sport Fury in the same kind of weather.