Quick How-Tos

Quick How-Tos

Here at Car Craft, we cover the big-ticket items all the time. Every month we have at least one engine buildup. You'll regularly find trans rebuild and installation tips as well as hard-core rearend tech within these pages. But sometimes we go over center and can't see the trees within the forest. There's plenty of in-depth tech and lots of bolt-ons, but what about "the rest of the story?" For example, once you've bolted on the carb, how do you get that choke working, hook it up to a late-model trans and safely feed it fuel? We get lots of reader letters asking for detailed solutions to commonly overlooked (but nonetheless vital) tech problems. In this section, we address six of the most popular questions.

For the ubiquitous Holley carb, we'll walk you through the sometimes-confusing electric-choke conversion. There are at least three different conversion kits available, and selecting the right one for a particular carb can sometimes make the best of us choke.

More and more readers are swapping in late-model automatic overdrive transmissions into their early musclecars.

Until recently you had to watch the TV (cable, that is) to pull this off. Holley carbs weren't compatible with late-model TV-cable linkages and required custom fabrication. Now Holley has designed a new bracket that solves the problem. We show you how to install it.

Plain rubber gas lines don't cut it anymore. Not only are they unsafe, but the NHRA says they're fuelish. We show you how to avoid gas pains by upgrading to sano stainless-steel braided fuel lines.

You've changed that worn-out clutch and throwout bearing for your T5 manual trans but still experience hard shifting. Don't beat the shift out of it--it's probably only a scoured aluminum bearing retainer. Get a collar on the problem by upgrading to a steel version.

Tired of the same old starter grind? Don't moan--good starters should be seen, not heard. Here's how to eliminate starter noise so you won't mesh up the flywheel.

You've installed that trick engine, trans and rearend, but your U-joints are giving you the shaft. We tell you how to upgrade to high-perf joints without getting crossed up.

All teched off with no place to go? Check out the subarticle listings; this section is for you.