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The modern center float Holley's fit just fine.
No modifications needed.

Looks great Greek.  Cant wait to see it done. Hopefully well get ours together soon.

No. Z Ray would put a bounty on my head if I ever did that!

that's right. From the grave if necessary.

Z

PS:  I have the original shift knob to your car. If the cars been painted you'll never get it.

Always wondered about this:  The driver's side tailpipe is parallel and very close to the side of the gas tank, much more so than the passenger's side.  On a long drive and especially in Summertime, you would think that this could lead to a dangerous increase in gasoline temperature and the potential for cavitation/vapor lock.  Opinions from our learned members on the Forum?

it's even closer when you put in a 2.5" MagnaFlow exhaust system.  As long as there is no contact, there are zero issues with the close proximity. My opinion based on over 200,000 miles driven during a 30+ year time frame,  all in  GT-350's and K codes, running the same 2.5" exhaust system.
note:  A skinny pinky wouldn't fit between my gas tank and the exhaust pipe.

Z

205/60R15

Many  tire / wheel compatibility charts do list 205's as the maximum widfth on 6 inch wheels. However I had fine results with the 215/60-15 Avons on the 6" Ford steel wheels. The backspacing was 3 7/8". The tire contact patch was identical when compared with mounting the tire on a 7" width wheel, and no perceptible sidewall bulging.  I put about 15,000 miles on those tires and at that point they were a little more than halfway worn.

Z

I used 215/60-15 or 225/60 Avons on the K code,




Z

I tried the Autolite 4100 HiPo carb on my first couple of Paxton cars. I was never able to totally tune away the fuel (starvation) issues which were evident going around a long sweeper. That issue was part and parcel of the limitations a carb with side-hung float, which is one of the reasons why the early GT350's did not use the otherwise  excellent HiPo Autolite carb. When I went to a center-hung carb such as the Holley Street HP 650 shown above, those fuel starvation issues went away.

Paxton now sells an air diffuser of their own to be used with their gear drive supercharger for carb'd engines applications. I have the part number for it somewhere, but years ago when I tried to order one, it was always N/A or backordered.

I've never actually seen the Paxton brand diffuser. But interesting they did come up with one of their own.

Z

Focusing on camshaft selection certainly is important. However, it won't matter which one is selected if you neglect coolant selection, coolant temperature, and airflow engineering, or airflow tuning if you will.

The vintage Paxton is much maligned due to longevity issues using the basic Ford type F ATF.  These days we are in a much better position to run a vintage Paxton, and have it last tens of thousands of miles. If I can accomplish that, anyone can. My latest vintage Paxton installed on a '66 Shelby was removed after 20,000 + miles of extremely hard usage, like running the Big Bend Open Road Race course flat out numerous times (off -season). The bearings, balls, and races showed no wear.

All thats needed to have legitimate vintage Paxton longevity are a few intelligent decisions made possible by advances in synthetic Type F ATF, and the use of an external fluid cooler.

After some experimentation I settled on the synthetic version of B&G Trick Shift.  It is not an additive, but a stand alone transmission fluid that is correct for any situation where type a F fluid is specified.  Next up is a fluid cooler. Craig C. sells a nice cooler kit, but if you can fit a larger cooler than he has in the kit, then do so.  The fluid cooler mounts in front of the engine radiator, and in my experience, has little effect on engine water temp. from it's blocking of the radiator airflow.

Once those items are in place start thinking about making an air diffuser to put on top of the carb (inside the Paxton bonnet). Without an air diffuser you will never get the most out of the Paxton and always be chasing down the inconsistencies in performance. I made mine out of a marine spark arrestor designed for an inboard V-8 using the 650 Holley. I removed a few layers a steel mesh, and drilled a few holes in the top of it. Eureka ! No more tuning gremlins and the performance improved from an inconsistent+ 50 HP to a reliable  +80 HP.

Getting 75-80% from a vintage Paxton is pretty easy. But getting the last 20-25% is hard to come by, but not impossible.





Z

A stock hipo cam is probably as radical as you want to run with a stock c4. Maybe just go to 1.7 rocker arms? Maybe a C90Z-C?

A supercharger is supposed to eliminate the need for more camshaft. In fact at some point the supercharger starts blowing out through the exhausts.

You might want to investigate cam company offerings showing a specific cam for supercharged cams. They offer them for Webers on IR manifolds. Probably for supercharged as well?

This.

^^^^^^^ +1

I had a cam specialty ground for a '66 GT350H with vintage Paxton. For the same reasons ShelbyDoug outlined, it had no no more duration than the stock HiPo cam, but more lift.  The specialty cam performed no better than the stock HiPo cam. However, It did sound more aggressive at idle.

Z

"...........  Your repeated advice is understandably an annoyance.

you think you're annoyed now, wait 'till later when you don't take the good advice FREELY offered, and you're driving that LeMan's (or worse) cammed K code in heavy traffic.

Best of luck in your quest to find a high rom cam that doesn't take away badly needed  low rpm torque. Now that I think about it, there  might be such a "defying-the-laws-of-physics" camshaft  buried in my back yard, right next to my hoard of Spanish gold.

Kind regards,

Z

What ? The answers on the VMF to the same question are lacking in...... something ?

As already pointed out over there, many people, myself included, have tried many exotic cam profiles in a 289 K code engine, with many different induction systems. Including vintage and modern Paxton's, 4 Weber 48 IDA's , etc.

The consensus was, and is, full race cams provide an abysmal street driving experience. The 289 K code does not have an abundance of low RPM torque anyway. Start camming it up and you lose even more low end torque. Not a factor on the race track, but a very big buzz-kill for street driving .

Z

Have you tried joining a classic car club in your area ?  Those people are going to be your best source for recommendations of  local or nearby shops who "are in the know".  Also will be able to help you locate parts, etc.

Z

Try Flying Fred for quality restored HiPo fuel pumps.  PM. contact info if needed.

Z

Zray, that isn't quite right.  What a 190 deg thermostat does is allow the fluid to stay in the radiator longer which cools through convection due to the forced air.  Now before you doubt and come out swinging :-) think about what I am saying, the coolant is cooled and isn't free-flowing into the engine block because the thermostat is a barrier and the coolant is forced via the increased pressure into the engine.  In your theory that once the thermostat is opened, it doesn't matter would be true if the thermostat opened to the diameter of the inlet or the hose, but it doesn't. A 190 deg thermostat will always allow an engine to operate cooler which is why I am sure FORD spent many $ evaluating it in the 60's. 

Greg

I never said a thermostat opens to the diameter of the hose.

I did say a 160 and a 190, when fully open, have the identical effect on the cooling system, which is, zero. As pointed out already, at the point a thermostat is fully open, it's up to the rest of the cooling system to keep the dad blame thing from overheating.

Not many mechanics today were taught by a mentor, or mentors, as through as mine were, RIP, Uncle Hobart, and Leroy Y. 

To diagnose a cooling problem, don't start at the thermostat, or radiator, or water pump. To have a methodical approach, always start where the heat is generated. In our case this will be the cylinder head and cylinder block. Does the head have heat holding deposits, or other issues ? If not, proceed to the engine block. The block is without doubt, the MOST overlooked component of the cooling system. Having a professional flush your engine block always always will cure an overheating issue. Not a home flush either.  But a real, take out the freeze plugs and really get the crap out.

Who teaches this anymore ? No one I know.

Z

PS  but to the OP's issue. I don't advocate the use of Evans, so I'm not up to speed on diagnosing overheating when Evans is used.  No help here.

PPS  the only thing a 190 has going for it is that it will get the motor hot enough to burn off sludge making moisture in the oil . That's it. And that's plenty of difference, enough a difference that I'll never put a 160 thermostat bandaid on a car and think I've fixed something.

"..........Well you have moved from never ever   to conceding that it works in some situations. That is the point I was trying to make by suggesting it wasn't prudent to eliminate that switch all together as a possible remedy in some cases (not all).  I rest my case your honor.  

I do love a parade.


Z

Bob, this isn't the first time we are at odds with each other  over the 160 degree thermostat use, and I imagine it won't be the last time. Our positions are very unlikely to ever be modified by what the other guy is saying.

So lets shake hands, and come out swingin'

with limited running time, like in a parade, yes a 160 might help.

But in 99.99% of all cases, once the thermostat has fully opened, the engine doesn't care if it's a 160 or a 190. Overheating at that point has nothing to do with the thermostat, (and you know it). 

Thermostats only set the low point of an engine temperature, never the high point. That's been true since the first one was used, long before either of us was around to observe the results.

Z.