Gasoline containing ethanol is like Kryptonite is to Superman in any vehicle not made for it at the factory. Here in Michigan ethanol free gasoline called "recreational gas" is generally available at 91 octane. I use it in everything I own with an internal combustion engine that wasn't made to use ethanol, including the lawn mower! You will never find that crap inside your carburetor with this fuel. I am aware ethanol free fuel is not available everywhere in the country and will not pretend to have an answer for that.

Brent, can't argue with your comments. I currently have a full groove main 390 crank in my 427. I am using half groove bearings. Is there a history of bearing failure or breakage with said crank? Also my interest in the forged crank is, I think I can swap a pair of valve covers for it and probably pass it on.

   What was the mix (cast vs forged) crank used in regular 427 production? Did all of the forged cranks have the hollow crank pins and plugs? Ballpark value for a std. std. forged crank. I have not seen it yet so wondering.

Thanks for the reply guys...sort of what I thought. I advised a friend who at the time was building a top oiler 427 to not use the Lemons rods. He used them anyway and is now on his second build because of...you guessed it, rods. So now his builder is talking hydraulic roller. I tried to tell him, we'll see.

  This info may or may not be helpful. These transmissions use GL4 lube made for brass blocker rings. The synchros do not want synthetic gear lube (hard shifting).  The detent thing can be very confusing (they changed the design at least three times). Take photos as you disassemble the various pieces, keep them in order, you'll be glad you did.

I'll check into it, thanks.

   I have a set of PROMAXX heads on my street 427 Starliner. I've had zero problems with them. Valve train geometry came in with minimal shimming. 72cc chamber with the smaller of their valve size options. Compared to the big "H" low riser heads with larger valves I would say I now have an extra 1,000 very strong RPM.

   In your book, pertaining to the Edelbrock Performer RPM you note that this intake reacted differently to carb. spacer changes than did the other dual plane manifolds tested. Could you elaborate specifically what these differences were?