I did a loop for a few months and hated it the entire time. Found a manual rack a local salvage yard and will never look back again. Tons easier and a lot more user friendly.
The fp3 cams work great in my setup. They have ramp profiles designed for the stroker motors. IMO the 272 or 280 are more for topend (high rpm) usage 7000+ something the stroker motor will not be seeing a lot of.
You should check voltage at the battery with the car off and cranking voltage and then running voltage. That will tell you a lot on the status of your charging system.
I have had no problems with ebay gaskets kits EXCEPT using the head gasket that came with the kits. This is a very vital piece of the motor I would use nothing but oem either composite or multi-layer.
Its seems that everytime someone wants to get something other than an ACT clutch people jump all on them. Does every DSM'er except me work for ACT as a sales rep? I personally thought that ACT were great coming from a Centerforce D/F. My first one lasted about a year and a half then starting...
If you get them out cleanly be sure to run a thread chaser or a tap in the turbine housing to make sure the threads are clean and straight. Also on the reinstall anti-seize is your friend for future uses.
My have been replaced. New motor had about 15k miles and developed a rod knock. Dropped pan changed rods and mains. Being doing fine a for over a year now.
that box would be a good base for moving the battery to trunk area it has the correct vents to make it track legal. the kill switch is the other thing that you need to track legal though. a ground in the back would be sufficent as long as you ground the starter up front also.