User talk:Dcatkin

Most people want an estimate because their state has estimated laws like Utah where I come from. These laws say that the estimate must come within a certain amount of the actual work on the car. First I will explain why a collision shop can estimate the work on your car.

I used to own a collision repair shop. They have books and computer programs with lists of all parts and labor necessary to do the job. These aren't right on the money but they are close enough to do a great job of the estate on the collision repair.

The process of a restoration is completely different, there is no standard for the time that is taken to repair rust or locate hard to find parts because it is impossible to estimate these things. To properly estimate a restoration project the shop would no doubt have to tear the car down.

Because they would need to inspect every part of the car to thoroughly estimate the restoration of your car. By the time a shop tears down your car the project is already started. They have to charge you for this and the reassembly process before you pick up the car.

It's pretty much a waste of time for the shop if you decide you don't want to restore your car. If you don't want to pay for tear down and reassembly the only recourse that the shop has is to learn your car so they can sell it and get paid for the work.

There is no way for the shop to tell what's going on underneath your car, and with wiring, mechanical and electrical just by looking at the outside of the car. They have to get it and look for rust, burned wiring, bad brake system parts, and inferior workings.

When a shop tells you that they cannot estimate a restoration project it is because they can't. There are no databases, books or any of the computer programs that a collision repair shop has. Personally, I won't even give a ballpark because most people think that it's the same.

A restoration shop will lose money on every job that it estimates unless it's just light mechanical or bodywork. Such as a tune-up, oil change, brake shoe and pad replacement, these types of things can be estimated before the work is done.

To sum it up: Plan to spend a lot of money to restore your classic car, when the shop tells you that they can't estimate the work it's because they can't. The best thing that you can do is to have a full plan to restore your car.

Most shops will help with this if they are going to get the work in their shop. I know that I am always glad to help a customer with a comprehensive plan to restore their car. It is still not an estimate but you know what's coming during the process.

It will prepare you for what is about to come during the restoration of your car. Most shops look to build lifetime partnerships with their customers and will do what it takes to make this happen. It's just good business to make them happy.

muscle car restoration

How To Decide What Camshaft To Use
David C. Atkin 16:29, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

First, let me explain how the cam lobe works in the easiest terms. What you will be looking at when you go to purchase a camshaft are lift and duration, the lift is how much the valve opens and duration is how long it stays open both of the together regulate the air and fuel that get delivered to your engine.

The higher the lift the bigger the shot of air and fuel and the longer the valve stays open the longer the fuel delivered and the bigger the boom IE more performance. If you match the cam to you other fuel system components it will do wonders for your performance.

However, there are caveats if you drive your car on the street. If you run a big cam and an automatic transmission you may need a stall converter to your you engine to launch in the power band of the cam. This is not needed if you have a car with a standard transmission.

The specs below are for a common high-performance small block Chevy engine known as an LT1.

LT1 Camshafts

3927140 1st optional Lift @0 lash Int .492, Ex .512

Valve timing: Intake Open BTC 53* close ABC 100* Duration 333* lash .022

Exh: open @bbc 101* closing @ ATC 65* duration overlap 346*

These are the specs for a 1970 LT 1 350 CID / 375 HP. They were typically underrated in horsepower from the factory for insurance reasons. With this setup, you’d need a 2500 rpm stall converter with an automatic transmission. Because the cam rpm range started at 2500 rpm.

It does take some knowledge to make an engine perform the way that you want it to. Especially when you plan to drive the car on the street. it’s no secret that the more power you wring out of an engine the less street friendly it becomes so you have to aim for a sweet spot.

This is an area where you are satisfied with the power it has, and you like the way it drives on the street. It is truly a fine line between the two. Back in the day, this engine had an 11:1 compression ratio but they also had high-grade fuels that you could buy.

The more compression you get the higher octane you will need, and yes you can buy fuel at the performance shop in your city. But back in the day, they had 100+ octane at the pump. To get the performance out of the engine you’d need to be able to put up with the lopety lope of the big cam.