Some people are worth the effort. Others aren't.

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

As a relatively new member myself, I wanted to chime in here.

Let me FIRST say that this forum ROCKS as do the people on it--- it has (from what I can tell) some of the MOST KNOWLEDGABLE and SEASONED slant 6 folks around giving advice -- for free!

Even with the vast expanse of the interweb these days, there isn't a lot of GREAT advice out there sometimes. It is hard to know who is really an expert. ANYONE can have an opinion, but the GENUINE experts are tough to really know for sure. After spending some time here, its clear we have true experts here.

I have been participating on various online automotive, motorcycle and other topic BBSs and forums for almost 30 years. I have seen more than my share of "flame wars" (that the nice way to say it) The WRITTEN word is a very difficult thing to master and how written word is interpretted is ALWAYS causing issues on the web these days as in the past.

That said, I too have noticed snarky replies --- but not just from newbies like me.

Unless posts have been removed in the thread above and the duplicate on by the OP, all the OP did was restate what he was trying to do equipment wise. I didn't see that as disregarding anyone's advice -- he is simply restating what he THINKS he wants at this stage, in answer to someone else's question about what he was thinking he wants to do.

Saying to someone "Which part of 'Define what you want the car to do and how, and your budget in money, effort, and time, before you even start to think about picking out parts' is not making sense to you?" comes across as ...well...snarky and condescending.

It probably wasn't MEANT that way...but that is how *I* read it too.....and had someone else on this forum long ago not told me offline that "some folks here can seem abrasive sometimes but they don't mean it", I probably would have reacted just like the OP here did. We lash out when we feel like we have been lashed out upon. Human nature.

Publicly lashing a new guy..."setting him straight" as it were.... for feeling that way seems a bit harsh too. Would have been better reserved for a PM maybe.

We are ALL enthusiasts of the same critter here....the "leaning tahr of pahr"(in my worst Pittsburgh accent)...LOL.....some of us are much greener than others here......and while I am sure its frustrating for the experts here to keep answering the same questions over and over, it's new blood that keeps places like this forum worth visiting because it brings up new case studies to think about. Otherwise, what would all the been there, done that experts here talk about, right?

Many of us have visions of what we think we want to do...some are better visions than others from a practical standpoint.

It doesn't do anyone any good to come across as ridiculing or being "mightier than thee" even if that is not intended....remember that many of us have never met in person each other so we cannot temper our reading someone's posts with that knowledge.....the written word is all we have to go by.

Just because someone on a forum says they are an expert doesn't mean they are --- to a new member here, everyone is equal until that person can see the patterns of who seems to have genuine knowledge and who is just blowing smoke. I am sure we can all relate to that.

To be frank, I have noticed that some of my posts have now seemingly gone unanswered by certain experts after getting replies from that person for every question prior ---- Is it all in my head? Maybe. I hope so.

Or is it because I pissed them off somehow? If so, I wish they would PM me and we could work it out.

Is it because they are tired of answering a question they believe they have answered and I am not worth the reply? Well, maybe I haven't UNDERSTOOD your previous explanation.

Is it because I offered a counter-opinion or counter-question to theirs? What good is a forum if we cannot bounce ideas and concepts off each other.

NO ONE here is the BE ALL END ALL EXPERT that knows EVERYTHING.......Certain folks here are CERTAINLY eons more knowledgable about the slant 6 than someone like me, for instance...but that doesn't mean I or those like me are complete idiots who can't have an independent mechanical thought. We just need help.

No one should have to feel like they have to walk on egg shells to get help.

Someone being on the forum for just 16 days doesn't mean they have no background in engine building....that person may be an expert on building big blocks but they have never TOUCHED a slant 6, so they are asking questions here. Or maybe they are a complete newbie to engines. No one should assume EITHER.

Questioning stuff is how I learn...it is not meant to offend. I rarely take ONE person's advice at face value , at least until I know them well and until their advice has proven valid in the past.

The times I have made the exception, I have been burned so now I "question everything from everyone". Cynicism I guess.

I wish we could all just remember that we are all working toward a common goal here---working on a slant 6...those with great experience are looked up to as such but we are ALL human here and we all want treated politely and not talked down to.

Hope no one is ticked off at my writing down my thoughts on this...I have seen many good forums be decimated by this sort of thing. And I am open to any and all thoughtful replies.

I agree. Being thin skinned and snarky is annoying to me and many others. It has happened on both sides in this case.

Slant on,

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Simon Sinek has a nice TED talk in which he makes a convincing case that you should always start by asking "Why?" He's focused on business management, but the same applies to any decision process.

Dan's point is the same--and yes he can be terse but he's usually right. He's simply saying that before you decide WHAT you want to do, you should think about WHY you're doing it. The WHY informs the WHAT.

When you start with WHAT you want to do, your decisions may not be coherent. If you start with WHY, all your decisions support one goal, and things go well.

Point taken. "why" meaning , from a practical sense, "what do you hope to accomplish in the end".

....but lets face it, "why" , relative to stuff we do to our cars, isn't always
"to get the most efficient use of gasoline to propel the vehicle at regulation and safe speed while minimizing wear and tear on the engine and provide the most cost efficient dollar-to-gain ratio" as vehicles are usually built to do originally.

If that was what it was all about, we would all have bone stock vehicles, all set up exactly the same.

Our hearts often over-ride sense.Sometimes we just WANT a big honkin 4bbl even if it makes no sense. LOL

Or another situation comes to mind --- stripping emission hoses from the late 70s/early 80's engines.......I know some here say it should never be done .....I am running a 78-ish 318 in my Cuda and it came to me without any emissions stuff and I love it...dont miss that emissions stuff at ALL.....I drive it when its 20 degrees out and other than having to wait a few minutes for it to warm up, it works fine. My sons 80 Volare, slant 6, has all that stuff and its a HUGE eyesore and mess IMHO. And since many of the parts are not available now (like the cold air flapper) and do not work anyways, stripping them wouldn't do anything besides clean up the engine bay (and cause us to fail a "visual" inspection LOL).,....and of course drive the purists crazy.

But does the car run any better now WITH that spaghetti plate full of hoses than if they were gone? How do the early 60's slants get by with none of it yet run fine?

Obviously, IMHO, the OP is WANTING MORE POWER and TO GO FASTER.

He is likely working off of some preconceptions that hold true for other engines ("slap a 4bbl on it!!") or perhaps things he has seen or heard about being done to slant 6s......he has already clearly said WHY he is considering those things even if he never verbally said it....4 bbl carb...huge valves...etc....just by saying all those things out loud he is saying 'I WANT TO MAKE MORE POWER'. The OP actually SAID he wants to make 225 HP. He also actually said " I want a good strong motor but just going to use the car for every day driver."

" Mo' PAR!" LOL

SO there you go -- he wants to build a slant 6 with about 225 hp to use as a daily driver.

THAT is your "why".

Knowing that, it would probably be more helpful to advise why those parts he named wont (or will) work on a slant 6 versus just asking "WHY" he wants to do it. I mean, how many answers can there be to that question, generally speaking?

Wow I did not know there were so many philosophers and english lit professors on the forums. I feel like Im back in college getting drilled by a professor for making typos. This is suposed to be fun, not an inquisition.

_________________
No car info 3/27/2017 Guido

Well you are correct. I only go by and ask questions pertaining to what I have read. I guess Ill start with the cam then. I like Competition cams because that's what ive used before. Ill research some more and get back to you on the duration and lift and maybe we can get this thing rolling!!

_________________
No car info 3/27/2017 Guido

You will find many folks on this forum don't have anything good to say about Comp cams for the slant 6.

Oregon cams has a good reputation with the slant crowd and they have a big list of different grinds.

_________________
--> Check out my FI Turbo build <--
--> And the race truck build project <--
--> The Diesel Corvette <--

Give them a call. They can guide you through the selection process. I was building a mid-range torque 360 and their regrind recommendations were spot on.

_________________
If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

You might look at other cam grinders and you also can have Oregon Cam Grinding regrind your stock blank for a lot less money than a new cam...

While in Iraq I took the Comp Master lobe catalog with me and sorted through their grinds at that time to see if they had a better lobe than the 252/264 common grinds, a majority of their lobes are great if you own a V-8...

I have run the 252 duration solid lifter, this will get you about 150 hp since it is a small duration RV style cam and will limit you to 9.2:1 static compression ratio... the 264 is not much more aggressive and will rake in a few more mpg (cam might be more effective if running a 108 LSA instead of the 110 it comes with...), at one time I custom ordered a CCX256 thinking that the short duration and taller lift would be good since some of the limit on the 252 was the lift... that was a mistake, it was too much lift for the duration, it probably would have made a great turbo cam, but for NA it just was miserable until 2000 rpm, then it picked up.

Sadly they just don't have a nice medium duration moderate lift cam for slants like the Erson Cam grinds RV20 and RV30.

Here again is where the DCR calculator is nice, since you can plug in your engine rebuild, and the cam, and see if it will run on pump gas or not.

A good train of thought would be to define what you want out of the build.... if going 225hp and street, you might be looking to head toward a turbo build especially if you are looking for reasonable mileage... if wanting naturally aspirated you might shoot for a bit less hp, it will still be fun and get up and go, but you can retain reasonable mileage, durability (about 180-190 using the Erson RV20 or Erson Rv30/20 grinds).... if just looking for good mileage, a better than stock "pep" you can get away with the torque build which is going to be only about 150 hp, but has the power band that applies to all street rpms... this would be similar to Ted's build and my first performance slant build.

I typically bat for the street guy, and like previously commented about previous member Bren who wanted all the power of a 360, but in a slant but it didn't all jive, and he eventually moved on to the V-8 crowd since he couldn't get what he wanted from the slant. As with any engine, there will have to be compromises when pushing each end of the envelope... at some point in one extreme you will have not so much power but really good mileage, the other end will lack the mileage get lots of power and can break parts... somewhere in between will be where you want to land... sometimes you may get both if you can handle plumbing up the turbo and doing a bunch of tuning and learning.

^^^^^ Yep......I did just that......got the RV20 grind on the suggestions of folks here, sent my old one in and not long after my builder got it back. They also sold me the correct springs and lifters at a good price.....

So far the cam is working out great!

I think a lot of guys come here hoping to find something like this.
https://fordsix.com/ci/DynoRoom-2.html

That's awesome!

_________________
--> Check out my FI Turbo build <--
--> And the race truck build project <--
--> The Diesel Corvette <--

It is an impressive compilation of info. One can readily see what combinations delivered a desired power and/or ET.