John D

hey I learned something new... my stock R2 Hawk might get a set of those Cobalt calipers! I want it to look stock when viewed thru the Halibrands.

my 79 came with a Edelbrock MT-1 Torker single plane manifold and older Carter AFB, no smog stuff. Distributor mechanical advance was sticky, fixing that helped a lot, the SBC likes lots of timing, full advance at RPM with vacuum disconnected should be 34-36 degrees. Biggest help with driveability was a dual plane Performer EPS manifold, especially with my long gears (3.08) you want good off-idle power and torque. I also eventually replaced the AFB with a 4150 series Holley but it wasn't to increase power. Now it's on a par with my R2 Hawk with 3.31s.

if there is any local delamination at the hinge you may need to do a ply repair. I've heard of the disbond problem and panelbond would be the right thing to use for that. on my 79 the hood hinge pad was getting crunchy. I did a 5 ply tapered repair with woven cloth and SMC resin. There was a lot of panelbond smeared in and around the damage, I ground that out.

my 79 runs pretty cool at idle with the hood closed. When I got it, the vacuum advance used manifold vacuum; when I "fixed" it by moving to ported vacuum it definitely ran hotter, and yes provided less advance at idle/steady state. I messed with adjusting the vacuum can (older MSD dizzy) but wasn't satisfied. So I've been using manifold vacuum ever since. Wondering what others use. AFB and then Holley 4150, Performer EPS, warmed over 350.

my 79, likely NOT stock, had a Edelbrock MT-1 (early low profile single plane Torker, popular among early Vette enthusiasts) manifold and Carter AFB. Replaced the Torker with a Performer EPS, well worth the extra 3/8" height.

on my 79 the front is dropped back down to Stude height, with a C4 front suspension/frame grafted to the frame and wheel arches restored to 63 cut. Hood clearance is short and it had a single plane low profile Torker manifold with an older carter AFB. Not very smooth off-idle, and that's typical of single planes. After much deliberation I bought and installed a new dual plane Edelbrock Performer EPS, which is ~3/8" taller. The change was nothing short of amazing. I did have to tweak my air filter housing, but there was room. The old AFB was still a bit persnickety (and didnt have a choke) so when I saw a Holley 4150 on sale I picked one up. I believe I'm now running the same setup as Wildfeir. It took a little more effort but I'm pretty happy with it. I may go to a different power valve but it ran pretty well right out of the box.

Gunslinger how does one get the rest of the spreadsheet?