hpfiend

Ok- I went with the 270exii and I love the size. It makes my low lit shots look better- especially with the stofen diffuser but I don't know if it expanded my iso range? Is that possible? I don't think I know how to use it yet... I want to be able to shoot in a dim room at iso 400 max not 800 or 1600. I using f 1.8 but ideally would like 2.0 or 2.2 as the lens is ideal one or two stops from max. If I need to return it for the 430 I will but I really hope there is something else I can do as I know I will use this one with its size- it seems like I can get a shot now at the low end of 1600 or almost 800 where I was stuck deep in 1600 before - shots were coming off overexposed until I turned down the flash compensation but I wonder if there is another way to adjust the light meter and shoot without flash compensation at smaller aperatures and or iso... oh yeah I also got a tulip lens hood and you were right the uv filter was hurting me slightly and it was a moderately expensive one... thanks!

Hold out for a coupe- May have to pay 500-1000 more but IMO worth it for weight and rigidity... I will have another someday. Unless you are going to be a restoration snob and want an E-code VIN why not get a clean 4 banger coupe and swap? I spent a lot of money on my v8 car replacing everything anyway and your more likely to find a straight/not molested/intact torque box model...

lol ask S10 matt about how slow carbs are... right now its one and only pass has been a 14.0 --with a good launch probably mid 13s -

You aren't kidding- the estimated 8:1 compression doesn't help either- supposedly it has dished pistons!!!- It probably needs a 450 cfm vacuum secondary the way it sits now actually... Right now we think the strong hesitation is likely a result of timing as we discovered the previous owner pulled the vacuum advance off of a venturi vacuum instead of the manifold vacuum source. Also have some bigger shooters to try and need to find out where the overall timing is. The previous owner mentioned something about mix-matching springs in the mechanical advance of the dizzy so we need to look at that as well- and with the way this baby eats gas and smells the jetting has to be way rich as well- Tested the alternator and with the low idle to prevent creep (automatic) it wasn't even working- also it was only putting out about 10 amps just off idle. I got a reman setup from HITE that puts out 30 amps at the low idle speed and 100 amps at its current winding but I can have it rewound for 300 I think he said- the original alternator was chrome and would overheat if rewound according to the guys there and was one wire- figured out the wiring for the excitation circuit (3 wire) and dash wiring for the gremlin warning light just need to finish the custom bracket needed to get it back on... Future plans are to fix some rust issues in the floor, get the bench seat and carpeting back in, get rid of the extra gauges/switches to make it look less like a race car and awkward to operate, put an explorer 31 spline 8.8 lsd setup in, make it a full frame through the floor where the front and rear subframe break, and add some sort of roll bar/cage to stiffen it up this winter. I forgot to mention it came with 10.5" slicks and rims that supposedly fit under stock fenders- hopefully I wont have to do too much work after putting the new rear in--

We ended up fitting the stock hood on the car as our plans are to make it as surprisingly fast as it is surprisingly ugly- This required a 3" filter and some creative work on the hood with a nibbler... You can also see the hitch receivers installed and painted in this picture... http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj162/hpfiend/Gremlin/IMG_2468-1.jpg

We were looking for a project ;-) In order to avoid the same disastrous outcome next track outing I got out the Tig welder sourced some steel and got to fabricating... http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj162/hpfiend/Gremlin/HitchDonovan015.jpg http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj162/hpfiend/Gremlin/HitchDonovan007.jpg http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj162/hpfiend/Gremlin/IMG_2463.jpg http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj162/hpfiend/Gremlin/IMG_2464.jpg http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj162/hpfiend/Gremlin/HitchDonovan011.jpg http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj162/hpfiend/Gremlin/HitchDonovan012.jpg

We finished the wiring and took it up to Marion to see what it would do. To make a long story short we only got one run (14.0 @ 95)- It has a terrible hesitation at any acceleration beyond 1/3 of the way down. So easing it out of the hole and realizing it has no top end- shifted at 6000 rpm that was that(surpising considering the lope of the cam- maybe its one of those thumprs cams by comp cams- all show and no go. We would have had a second run but I forgot to switch the msd on and cranked and cranked befoe I realized it and the battery died. We pushed it away amid the jeering (#1 its a gremlin- no 2 it wont start) and jumped it with my dads explorer. Well it was about 1AM so we decided to head home. As we drove the headlights gradually got dimmer and the tach was reading funny- just as it started to miss I pulled over and it stalled out. The alternator could not keep up with the fans/msd/headlights/etc apparently- so we flat towed it 35 miles back with a tow strap and no lights in the middle of the night.

After driving it home 3.5 hours we found that in its current state of "tune" 8 gallons of gas doesn't get you very far. We also discovered that it had a starting issue in that it would require several clicking attempts before the starter would turn it over. Apparently the previous owner had put a charger on it before we picked it up. We discovered that the battery relocation had been performed using 4 gauge stereo wire and questionable chassis grounding. Further, the "kill" switch didn't kill the engine. We ran 1 gauge wire all the way to the starter and a dedicated 1 ga ground to the engine block and then redid several chassis grounds. We eliminated the alternator feed-through so that the kill switch is now legitimate.

Hey all- Got this car back in May as a project for my dad and I to work on. Here is what it looked like then: http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj162/hpfiend/Gremlin/Gremlin3.jpg http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj162/hpfiend/Gremlin/Gremlin2.jpg http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj162/hpfiend/Gremlin/IMG00045.jpg Here are some specs the way I bought it and according to the previous owner: 1970 AMC Gremlin 355 SBC 1.94/1.50 fuelie heads with comp cams roller tip rockers edelbrock air gap intake holley 750 double pumper with HP main body K&N 4" tall air filter and Xstream flow top MSD pro billet distributor and 6AL box Holley 130 GPH mech. fuel pump with -8AN/-6AN Lines and a return style regulator Alum. cool can 8 gallon aluminum fuel cell 3/4 length headers with 2 1/2" exhaust and purple hornies glass packs Jegs aluminum radiator and aluminum water pump, mini starter Jegs built TH350 transmission with manual valve body Jegs 10" converter ford 8" rearend Comp. Engineering drag shocks all around Lakewood traction bars driveshaft safety loop Flex-a-lite 210 Dual electric fans with thermostat control, Autometer gauges, 5" tach with shift light, Moroso battery box and trunk mounted battery with kill switch plastic race bucket seats. Car weighs 2730 lbs. with out driver.

I think he intended to type "genius". or maybe genus species?

...

+1 but.... if I can get the gremlin back together my dad and I will bring it out to see what it will do...

wasn't there a guy on here with a 10 second turbo RSX-S -OSU something for his name?

I don't know if they are still good but goodale transmission was supposed to be the place to go back in the late 90s. They are no longer on goodale btw.

Matt- looks good! I take it your not using a stock hood? Where did you get that intercooler- it looks like a big one? Do you think you will need to upsize the electric fans with that much frontal area loss for the radiator? Is that a master power turbo?

called MPEX they don't rent anything but the 580-thanks! going to google columbus camera group- lensrentals.com (the place I used before) wants 80.00 to rent both for 4 days including their 2 day shipping policy... which is a chunk of the total price for sure... I may just buy a 270 exii used and then if I don't like it resell it for most of what I paid for it....

I think I am going to try and rent both from lensrentals.com if the rental isn't that bad- I rented an L 70-200 a while back and it worked out pretty well- is that where you guys rent from? Can you buy these used or do they get weak over time? Do they have counters?

is this because of a risk of damaging the shoe mount? Do you also unmount your lenses?

I shoot in jpeg and RAW and do always turn up the saturation and sharpness when I have time to mess with the RAW files.... you know what you are talking about bro. Do I need to do the photobucket routine or can you hotlink in this part of the forum if I wanted to share some shots sometime?

hmm now that makes sense I would have just passed on the shot once I saw they were silhoutted. For something like this I see needing the bigger flash... thanks

I think that is why I am leaning towards the 270 its cheaper and more compact if I don't leave it mounted it won't happen. I am more of a point and shoot family photo kind of guy that likes the flexibility and image quality of the SLR. I am no pro and beyond the basics of depth of field and stopping motion with shutter speed I could learn a lot- but just like my corvette- it's dirty as hell- I drive it daily in anything and love every minute of it- sure it would look better clean but I just don't have the time or discipline to polish it every weekend.

Thanks on the UV filter tip- I will give it a try! I originally bought them so that I wouldn't scratch the lenses as again I usually put the covers on quickly after shooting but sometimes between shots I might brush against something- not a concrete wall or anything but in case I did I would rather ruin the filter than the lens- I will def try it as my images do seem soft in general- good for portraits but sometimes I wish I had a little more punch. maybe the filters are the prob.

again it looks as if the 430 is the winner- what do you guys use as a carry setup and can you carry it with the flash installed and ready?

Thanks! I had never heard of Gary Fongs- I will look into them- I had already found the sto fen for the 270 on amazon... I like photography a lot but I just don't have the with my time becoming less and less available the more complex I make it the less I will do it-... it seems as if the 430 is the right choice- but knowing myself if it is as bulky as it looks I probably will never use it as I will have to carry a separate bag for it- heck even if I had more lenses I probably wouldn't use them unless my kids get into sporting events and I need a zoom as I use the 50mm for everything- I love how compact it is and I am pretty quick to move back and forth physically for framing- I may get an L series one down the road (if they make it) or at least the 1.4.