Yes, I installed those during my previous re-build about a year ago using some sweet billet adapters from Cobra Engineering. They made some for terminators and 2 valves, nothing for 3 valves of course but they sent me the plates for both 4v and 2v and I was able to make them work by drilling a new hole or two.
Okay received my latest block today from JDM and I must say I was very impressed how well they crated it up and shipped it out, like they've done that once or twice before lol! All bores are STD 3.552 +/- and both decks are perfectly straight, probably dont even need to be resurfaced, shout out to Jim at JDM! for selling me a great block!
Got it on the stand and started to race prep it tonight, will finish over the weekend and drop off at the machine shop on Monday, here we go again!
Then comes the hurry up and wait part... the machine shop I use is so backed up they're not accepting any more work but since I'm already a repeat customer (not sure if that's good or not lol) they agreed to take care of me but it will be a while no doubt.
Then comes the hurry up and wait part... the machine shop I use is so backed up they're not accepting any more work but since I'm already a repeat customer (not sure if that's good or not lol) they agreed to take care of me but it will be a while no doubt.
I used Lamonts many years ago for my pushrod motors in my fox mustang then when I went to do my first mod motor a couple years back I talked to Lamont personally and learned he doesn't have the torque plates for mod motors and he won't buy them, I even offered to pay for them and he still wasn't interested in doing it so I moved on. I found a real high end shop. It takes very, very long time to get your stuff through there but there's nobody else in the area I trust to do the work properly and it's better than having to ship everything out.
3v motors don't need a lot of things people do to them. But we get caught up in the mindset of doing everything we can even if it's a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. I think it's part marketing, part paranoia, and part old school fixes that were needed 20+ years ago.
We put so much time, effort, and money into a build that it's hard to let go of things that were needed to fix issues in the past imo. Modern motors work pretty well, it's hard to believe but the technology keeps getting better.
An example would be that we still get questions on how much power a stock 3v block can take, about girdles for the block, things like that.
Well I worked on some other stuff today, a project I was planning to do before my latest engine issue. I ordered a pair of Vorshlag CC plates a few weeks ago so I could add some caster and have more camber adjustment. I finally installed them along with the adj BMR a-arms set as far "in" as they would go. I got everything installed and started to set up the alignment then ran into a snag. Since I narrowed the front wheel track so much when I was done the toe was way out, so far that I adjusted the tie rods in as far as they would go and it's not far enough so I gotta figure out how to deal with this issue now. I'll pull the outer tie rod ends and see what the deal is, not sure if they bottomed out or what, maybe tap them deeper or maybe remove some of the thread on the tie rods we'll see. Here's some pics:
Vorshlag vs. J&M. The Voshlag piece is sweet, very high quality.
CC plate installed on the strut ready to be reinstalled
New a-arm installed, adjusted as narrow as possible
After removing the tie rod ends I found there isn't enough room inside to add any threads so I ended up cutting off about 4 threads on each tie rod. This opened up plenty of adjustment where I was able to get the front end back into spec right where I want it at +7.9 & +8.0 caster, -.4 & -.5 camber and 1/16" tow in, should be good to go. I set everything up about an inch higher than idle so it's more accurate while making a pass. Here's some more pics:
Would this qualify for one of those you might be a redneck if situations? I had to add some weight to get it at the proper height before I could do the alignment. There's two old blocks, stock crank, battery, pistons and rods, and my heavy ass set of 20's.
I just used a regular 3" hand held cut off wheel with a thin disc, nothing fancy. I wrapped some blue painters tape around the tie rod so I had a guide when I made the cuts and it worked like a charm, nice straight cuts that didn't even need to back the nuts off to clean them up! I should have taken a couple pics but didn't feel like stopping the work in progress..
