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A big thank you - 240 LS Conversion


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The JCI trans mount would have worked well with a 6 speed in terms of exhaust clearance.  I didn't like the clearance with the auto trans so I broke out the MIG and added a "bat wing" modificaiton to the JCI unit.  Not pretty but effective and solid.   

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Edited by Mikey303LSZ
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Did some research on sectioning struts.  Came close to doing my own and then took the easy way out for time sake.  Looked at different brake options.  I liked the Silvermine setup because of price, the use of OEM parts, the parking brake feature (which works great and worked with the OEM P. brake cables).  Installed new bearings, races, seals.

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Cobbled up an exhaust system using old pieces of C6 Corvette exhaust, a few 3" mandrel bends and a heavily modified y-pipe.  It's not pretty but it was cheap, works well, sits nice and tight and doesn't leak. 

 

After a 9 day 4000 mile road trip on the Hot Rod PowerTour I've decided it's a little too loud - this winter I'll tweak the exhaust to eliminate some of the drone.

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Custom fabbed a mounting plate for the external fuel pump.  Added geometery to the plate to make it rigid & a few radii to make it sexy.

 

The setup worked okay to date - no issues on a maiden 9 day, 4000 mile road trip.  If God built the car he would put the pump in the tank - this is where it's going this winter.  

 

For you geeks doing risk analysis I rate this as 9 for severity, 6 for occurance, 8 for detection for an RPN of 432.  I'll detect it at the last minute leaving me stranded on the side of the road (and the wife will be with me utimately driving up the severity score).

 

I've been lucky to date but the setup is not ideal for long term durabilty.  I can tell the pump is working hard sucking fuel and the pump will run cooler inside the tank.  Fuel slosh will be reduced/eliminated if done right too.  I put a different pick-up tube in my factory tank so I didn't experience fuel starvation unless it was below 1/8th of a tank.

 

 

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If the dead rat wasn't exciting, the car was also loaded with Mud Daubers.  According to Wikipedia; The Mud dauber (sometimes called "dirt dauber," "dirt digger," "dirt dobber," "dirt diver", or "mud wasp") is a name commonly applied to a number of wasps from either the family Sphecidae or Crabronidae that build their nests from mud

 

Many times nests were located in hidden areas making it difficult to remove ultimately requiring creativity such as long picks, scribes, 12Ga. solid core wire, to break into smaller peices and blow out with compressed air.  If not removed the heavy mud nest would rattle around the car.  I could of easily filled a 3 gallon trash can with mud nests (seriously).   

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I had the tank modified with a larger dia. feed, return and better pickup.  I found a radiator shop willing to mod. the tank and seal it for a fair price.  Scuffed and shot it when I painted/sealed the bottom of the car.

 

This winter I'll tweak the tank for the in-tank pump.

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Found some good LS1 wiring references on-line so I built a harness from the Camaro.  It was a good learning opportunity and gave me a reason to invest in a weather pack connector kit, crimp tool etc. 

 

Integrated the car and PCM harness with a Current Performance relay/fuse module. 

 

Ran out of space in the garage so I setup a make-shift temporary bench using a piece of law furnature that arrived in the mail only to take up space in the garage until spring. 

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Edited by Mikey303LSZ
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Found a long nose R200 on Craigslist.  The guy was awesome - drove it all the way to my place (~50 miles), and hand delivered it straight to the garage.  I tried to give him a $20 tip for fuel and hand delivery - he wouldn't take it.  Awesome Z guy from CO Springs...

 

Opened it up, nice and clean, didn't want to drop $ on a high end LSD so I opted for Phantom Grip.  Spent a few evenings at work dusting off the spider gears on a surface grinder (following Phantom Grip instructions).  So far I'm really happy with the setup.  The posi seems to work just fine for my application.

 

Phantom Grip had mixed feedback from feeds I read on-line but mine works as advertised.  I could see where it wouldn't work well if someone didn't have access to precision equipment (surface grinder or mill) to setup the spider gears.  I would have gone a different route but there's a big $ difference between this and other options.  I figured if it didn't work out I wasn't out much $.  Rear diff & Phantom Grip combined was ~$450 including mustache bar.

 

Used a TechnoVersions diff. mount.

 

My neighbors love me. 

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Edited by Mikey303LSZ
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Very well done.  You will have many trials and tribulations once this gets on the road.  Just stick with it and you will have a car that will easily trump your vette any day of the week.

Thanks.  Yes, it's more fun than the Vette.  I put 4500 miles on the Datsun this summer and only 500 on the Vette.

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Grabbed the cruise control off the Camaro and wired it up (works great - worthy upgrade). 

 

Bought a Lokar auto shifter - wanted something short to make it look similar to the factory Datsun stick shift.

 

Sent my tach. to John at JCI for the 8 cyclinder calibration/update - no issues, works great.

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Replaced the 240 brake booster & master cyclinder with a 280 booster and a 1" bore Wilwood.  Added a proportioning valve too. 

 

Spent a few minutes ensuring the master c. rod gap was set properly with the booster.  Setup the Wilwood as shown in the photo to work properly with 4 wheel disk brakes.  If I was using drums it would be different.

 

Found a brake pedal setup from a Datsun with an automatic. 

 

Didn't want to weld up the clutch master cyc. hole in the firewall so I fabbed a bolt in block off plate.  I change my mind I can easily go back to a 6 speed trans.

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Edited by Mikey303LSZ
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Used the stock Camaro fans.  Modified the plastic shroud to fit the contours of the aluminum radiator.  This radiator and fan setup works excellent.  The car runs really cool even during the last stop on the Hot Rod PowerTour in Lousiana this summer.  We sat in stop/go (mostly stop) traffic trying to get into a venue in Lousiana for over 45 minutes - no overheating.  Most of the time only one fan kicks in to take the edge off the temperature during the summer.

 

Made a few custom brackets from sheet stock for the condenser.

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Edited by Mikey303LSZ
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I started to run out of time for my deadline of the maiden voyage (Hot Rod PowerTour 2015).  June was approaching quick - lucky for me between my wife, brother-in-law and two friends of mine they knocked out the installation of RAAM Mat (similar to Dynomat).  It took a long time but the end result was worth it. 

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