Jarrid; All my Rootes stuff is in Denver in storage and not readily
available. You could find Venolia in CA and call, using my name or the name
of my firm (RPM LTD or RPM Services Inc.) and see if they can dredge up my
last order approx. 1989 as I recall. I have no problem with you using this
die but suggest they fax you a drawing of the top dome to make certain you
would not bump valves.
Let me know what happens. Last price back then was about $110 each ,with
pins and rings.
I never used 6" rods and the Chevy worked great at lower costs and also fit
the pistons we used.
Re. making holes in lifters...I used a 1/4" bit and ran through the lifter
while supporting on a V-block. Start approx. 1/2" above base line and make
your hole all the way through, then turn the lifter 90 deg and move UP
about 1/8" and drill all the way through, then turn another 90 deg and
repeat...and so on until the last hole would be about 3/16" below top edge.
With a dremel stone, chamfer each hole inside and outside. This removes
significant weight but does not appear to weaken the lifter enough to cause
breakage at high rpm.
In your comments on Weber carbs....I had assumed this to be as you earlier
wrote..a non-streetable engine designed mainly as a full race engine having
it all at the upper rpm ranges. You now mention desiring low or middle
power to be reasonably good. Without a V-Tech cam system, this would be tough.
I tell you frankly, Considering the costs of Webers and the box of jets and
chokes etc. to properly set them up...I would NOT build an engine today
with carbs of any type (unless required by the club rules).
Fuel injection is the answer ! With the junk yards full of all sorts of
Bosch injection cars, I would go for something off a 2.0 litre car and I
would play my games on the control box (where the wiper contacts live) and
make this puppy run "rich". The stoicheometric mixture will indeed give
nearly full power and once we fool the system into going a bit richer, we
get IT ALL ! And we get it all AT ALL RPM ranges, not just top end.
Even the lovely Weber has to run stupidly rich to make full power at mid to
high rpm. Its ONLY advantage over most other carbs lies in the fact that
its internals can be changed easily, and thereby custom tailor the set up
for a particular engine, altitude, humidity, temps. etc. etc.
Air flow through a Weber is not without its losses, just like other makes
of carb. Most FI manifolds are neat and clean, with few bends. Airflow is
also taken from a cool source or can be made so. Remember the rule..for
every 10 deg F. you can lower the intake temp. you gain 2.0% BHP.
When the car does not have to deliver normal fuel economy or pass
emissions, the FI would in my opinion deliver all the possible power and
also would be very light weight and reliable.
The hot rod type Hillborn system cranks out vast power with huge fuel
waste, but who cares on the track or strip.
The Bosch (and other) systems would not waste much, even when set to richer
mixture ratios. Perhaps you might give this consideration and try it
yourself. If I had a current shop, I would be using FI, not carbs on race
engines....if the rules allowed it.
Dick T.
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