Suggestions for my senior project

you should be able to move pretty fast. I think I seen a website, or on old mag section on a 69 z28, they dropped in some low low gears, it seemed to be around 5.89 or so and shift at like 7500-8000 rpm and was running 10's  

Yeah, that's my mentality.  I mean, think about it: you have an engine putting out a butt-load of power either way, whether by tons of low-end torque or high-end horsepower.

In my opinion, 10 second 1/4 mile times make an awesome street-wise, naturally aspirated car.  

Oh, crud, I totally forgot.

Since I'm in Indiana, I was planning on using E-85.  It's everywhere here.  I was looking at using QFT's sexy new E-85 carb.  

Be  sure to up the compression to take advantage of E-85's higher octane (108-110?) and reduce its disadvantage of fewer BTU's (30%).  
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The Silver Buick- '77 Skylark coupe w/ a Fuel Injected Buick 455&TKO-600, '72 Centurion Conv't - 455w/TH400, '67 T-bird 4Dr (suicide) w/428&C6. Needing to replace a '69 Firebird 400.

http://www.bangshift.com/forum/index.php?topic=6189.0

Hm.

+1 pt.: Ceramic coated piston domes
-1 pt.: Flat top pistons w/ 4 valve reliefs
+1 pt.: Small AFR combustion chambers (56cc?)  

What about this:

Tuning a carburetor from the seat of your car.

I could strap a couple worm gears and servos to the screws that adjust a carb's performance, then run some wires to a dash-mounted panel with some knobs so that you can adjust the carb without opening the hood or getting out of the car.

Like having EFI and an in-car computer, but way less work and money.  

Only problem I see with this is the adjustments are all to control idle (mixture screws and idle speed) so sitting in the car will have limited benefits. The slight exception would be with an externally adjustable float carb, that may work some how to improve performance since float level has an effect on mixture ratio.  Otherwise I think it is impossible to adjust jet size from outside the carb unless you modify an electronic Q-jet to electronically manually control the air/fuel ratio. Which actually might be useful with an air/fuel ratio meter.  
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The Silver Buick- '77 Skylark coupe w/ a Fuel Injected Buick 455&TKO-600, '72 Centurion Conv't - 455w/TH400, '67 T-bird 4Dr (suicide) w/428&C6. Needing to replace a '69 Firebird 400.

http://www.bangshift.com/forum/index.php?topic=6189.0

Actually someone has recently released an "adjust-a-jet" system for holley carbs. Works in much the same way as the idle mixture screws...just turn a screw and the needle either closes or opens the passage a bit more.

I think that would be cool.  
68 Olds Cutlass ~ 350 Rocket
85 Delta 88 ~ 425 Rocket
02 Silverado 4X4 ~ 5.3L

Percy makes them.

http://www.summitracing.com/streetandstrip/tech_content.asp?ID=%7BA1875D3E-BB1A-41FE-8CDD-4243D3B3CEE8%7D

Maybe this has potential.  I had a feeling that the jets would be a limiting factor, but this sounds cool.

I've actually never done carbs, just mechanical fuel injection.  How many adjustments are there to make?  

Been thinking more about the camshaft damper to help out with high revs.  I think I have enough room between the sprocket and the timing gear cover to make it a bolt-on part.    I need to decide which type of elastomer I want to use.  Maybe I can use liquid silicone like Fluidampr.  

This would make dyno tuning go a lot faster, too.   You could tune the carb right from the control room.

I can do timing advance, too.  Not the advance curve, but the overall advance.  

I think I'll want to hide the dry sump tank somewhere to keep things sleepy.  Has anyone had any trouble routing one to a trunk?  

About the changing the timing advance, I know that very old cars had the cable adjustable advance, but an on the fly way to change an ajustable vacuum advance I think would save tuning time.  Having a vacuum gauge hooked up, adjusting the total advance while cruising down the highway to maximize vacuum and in effect mileage.  I know I'd find use for it. Just an idea  
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The Silver Buick- '77 Skylark coupe w/ a Fuel Injected Buick 455&TKO-600, '72 Centurion Conv't - 455w/TH400, '67 T-bird 4Dr (suicide) w/428&C6. Needing to replace a '69 Firebird 400.

http://www.bangshift.com/forum/index.php?topic=6189.0

Hmmmm.  I'm also working on a device that lets you progressively ramp your water pump and radiator fan between two temperatures that you decide.

It sounds like a lot of devices could make use of a common input panel that sits in the cabin, allowing you to control things in the engine bay via whatever means are practical.  

Pictures!

One of the most frightening things I've done on lathe thus far is cut a huge chunk of aluminum at 1000 rpm without a center.


Scat rods, Sealed Pro pistons, factory forged crank. Hand-made oil filter adapter.


AFR heads, Aluminum rollers, Comp Cams Beehive springs.  195cc heads aren't ideal for a 283, but they may come into play at high speeds, where this engine is going to operate.




I cannibalized air cleaners from the 50's and 60's to make this artificially tall (3.5") air filter assembly. I slapped a $2 sticker on there to make it look official.