Internet Lore vs Results, A few things I learned that I thought I'd share

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6. The Forward Leaning Gear Shiftier arm for the stock T5 is absolutely perfectly fine to drive with. This one I think is not so much lore, as just my paranoia. I was worried that the shift pattern not being a flat front to back, but rather a slight angled front low to back high.. would be awkward and strange to drive. I wondered if it would be easy to get used to, or if it would just feel strange going from my other 5spd car to this one. Turns out.. it's perfectly fine. In fact, I don't even notice the slight up-down to the shifting at all. I spent lots of time looking at "forward" shift linkage setups, coming up with a couple of designs, looking at the S10 tail-shaft mod... etc .. etc... and in the end just said.. "don't change anything.. just try it first". I'm glad I did. I love the look since it's more period correct, and I'm telling you, it feels totally fine to shift with. Now.. I did do a couple of minor mods to my shifter. I put in 1/2" spacers to push it a little closer to the driver, and I used the lower 2 holes to mount the F5 shifter. My not-stock shifter from D&D came with 3 holes for the shifter to bolt to. I just cut off the top hole, and used the bottom two. Not sure if that's common here or not.

7. Solid Engine Mounts don't make it unbearable. In an effort to keep costs down, and to get the engine low enough to leave plenty of hood room (these are 3/4" lowering mounts), as well as try to prevent the side-pipes from moving around.. I chose to go with a pair of sold engine mounts. Like the others things in this post... this one is pretty subjective too. I'll admit, at idle with that lopy cam, the car does shake a bit. But.. I won't say it's the kind of shake that is uncomfortable or annoying. Just something I'd say I can feel when at a stop light. The kind of shake where I notice it and say to myself "oh yeah, solid mounts". But.. once you're moving... I feel nothing. .. that is.. the rest of the ride is already so loud (wind noise) and bumpy (f5 coilovers) that the NVH added by the solid mounts.. just isn't noticeable. These solid mounts I got off of ebay for $45, so really quite a bit cheaper than urethane ones. For those worried about stressing my trans, don't worry, I'm using the stock rubber trans mount.

8. 300(ish) HP is plenty for a street driver. I'll grant that I've not been on a dyno yet, so only butt-dyno numbers to go by... but I can tell you that it's plenty for this lightweight beast. Like most of us, I'm no stranger to high-HP cars. I'll admit I didn't think 300 would be enough. Didn't think it would quite have the get-up-and-go that I wanted. I figured i'd drive it as is for a couple of years, and plan to upgrade to a 351 one day. I thought it would be fine, but didn't know it would be better than fine. Seriously.. again.. for a street car... a 302 with some trivial bolt-ons and a cam. Fun as fun can be!! I have zero regrets going with the motor combo I have.

9. You don't need an Air Pop Rivet gun or Clecos! Sure.. they do make it easier if you have them, but I can tell you now, using a medium quality hand-pop-rivet-gun and the self-taping screws that the kit comes with, works fine, and is not difficult to work with. If you're battling with the idea of spending $$ on clecos.. don't bother with them. You'll be just fine without them.

10. TBA


Ok.. there's my 02c to share. So.. what do you guys think? anybody have some good "Internet Lore vs Actual Results" they want to share?