Brad-ManQ45

Great news! Looking forward to pics and progress reports...

So Garretts' gone from talkin' smack to spankin' people! Excellent results Garrett! Look forward to seein' you at SEZ.

Which TCI converter did you get? Already got the 3800 stall part...

Agter I saw Warren's car, I knew that mine had to be white....

Congrats on having the stones to do it yourself. I too am going to paint my '83ZXT white - totally. I am currently building a paint booth and fabricating a fresh air system for the paint process. Before I paint I have one rust through area that needs a patch and the windshield area has some rust. Will have to remove all glass and door handles, bumpers, etc. before painting. This will be my first time also - glad I picked white. What paint did you use?

You may have to roll the fenderwell a bit. I am thinking of using some 14x7 Western Cyclones (0 offset) and 234/60's on my ZXT (road car/daily driver), and it looks like I'll have to roll'em. I currently have 16x7's with 336/60's on it, but have ~20mm positive offset and it is fine, but a wider tire and less offset could cause problems. Since I am about to repaint the car, I will go a head and roll the fender well lips and not worry about it any more.

240zwannabe: You weren't very clear on who is the owner of the '78 - you ar your buddy? You also haven't stated what your goal is for the car you will be building. If your grandfather wants the car out of the garage - what will you do with it? I personally wouldn't put 240 suspension pieces on a 280 - Datsun made 280 pieces (struts, etc) bigger, because there is more weight for them to control. Help us help you by clarifying what your goals are and what all your options are as you see them.

I took out the "than" in my statement, so it now reads correctly - thanks. Got in a hurry.

I did a lot better on the Pro tree - avg .482 than the Sportsman - 536.

Not necessarily. You could go from a 20" wheel with 275/35 tires to say a 15" wheel with 275/60 tires and I guarantee you that the weight of the wheel and tire will be a lot lower with the smaller wheel/taller tire. The diameter would be .4" larger. The car wouldn't have as good steering response, would feel mushier in corners, but would ride a lot better and get better gas mileage in stop and go driving - while accelerating quicker. The reduction in rotational inertia aids in acceleration. Gas mileage improves because (assuming acceleration at the same rate) you don't have your foot in the throttle as much with the smaller wheel. Ride is self explanatory.

Why was the blond college coed sleeping with a mexican? ------------------------------------------------------- Because her English professor told her she had to do an essay...

I would suspect that the longer tubes are good for the smaller turbos building high boost, and the shorter tubes for bigger turbos that don't heat the air as much....

Sorry for your and his families' loss. Will say a prayer tonite.

Let this phrase become your mantra when dealing with the insurance company: I don't care what your book says it is worth - you owe me exactly what I HAD before your insured driver hit me - find me another car like mine in the same overall condition - that is what I had, and that is all that I want and will settle for. I doubt very seriously that they won't total it - unibody is really tweaked. Sorry for the accident - I posted a long time ago about the one I was in - and my mantra worked - they repaired it. All my receipts helped.

I don't think a 2004R will handle a built big block torque - assuming you have the traction...

The 4L60E that I have has mounting holes on the transmission case underneath just in front of the tailshaft housing. The Caprice tailshaft housing has the holes on it so the t-mount is further back, allowing more room for the exh pipes to get closer to the tranny.

I doubt very seriously that Nissan would have put injectors whose best spray pattern at a psi the ECU wouldn't allow them to achieve. I have heard the opposite as far as spray patterns and higher fuel pressure go - I heard they get worse and inconsistent. Size your injectors according to the many calculators out there, and leave it at that. The stock injectors are good to ~ 260 HP at stock FP levels.

I am planning to do my mounts something like original - braces on the sides of the tunnel and a bracket from there under the tranny.

Congratulations Mike!

Great minds... If you lived around my wife, you'd understand the practice I've had in boiling things/concepts down to their simplest/fewest word form...MANY years of practice - no native intelligence involved.... Should be sweet!

My first turbo car was an '85 Conquest - it was my first new car also. I bought it in El Pa.so. I also had a built '72 351CJ Mustang Flatback. I used to go to Carlsbad Caverns, Cloudcroft and Ruidoso in New Mexico, driving in the mountains, that Conquest with a turbo would run away from the Mustang. This was power-wise - not handling. At sea level the Mustang had ~350 HP to the wheels, El Paso was ~3900 feet, cloudcroft and Ruidoso ~6 - 7K feet. Ever since, I have been firmly convinced that a turbo car is ideal for mountinous areas. Since I drive all over GA, NC and SC - possibly AL in the future, mountains are in the mix, and gas mileage is definitely a big factor - my business, my money. I have a friend with an '82 2.9L ZXT with SDS and stock 3 spd auto that had to take a trip to New Orleans because his father was dying. He got 28 mpg WITHOUT OVERDRIVE! This with the stock 3.54 rear gear (who can find a lower one nowadays) and an average 65 mph. I figure I can get at least 30 with my 2.8 and overdrive with the same rear gear. A few more things to think about....

I think that you need to really work on priorities and make sure you understand the compromises. If you're only looking for ~ 240 HP, thehn I would suggest the following: I wouldn't bother swapping a ZXT engine in, which you would have to buy - and then have to get another turbo anyway. Instead get the: distributor ~60 used exhaust manifold ~$75 used if you can't get one from JY a built MS kit ~$350 intercooler and piping ~$250 ebay some turbo injectors or maybe some 370cc injectors ~$125 new or cheap from JY Turbo - ~$350 - $400 Put these on the engine you already have, go easy on ignition timing and boost (10psi should do it). You will have your horsepower and off-idle response missing in the ZXT because of the 7.4 CR, have your HP and get 25mpg or better. You will eliminate buying the parts for conversion, SBC engine, and don't forget tranny and driveshaft mods/adapters/brackets. If you were to get a good deal on engine/tranny, you'd come out even as far as parts cost, but labor could get to you and there would be a lot less fabbing with the turbo route. I HAVE an '83ZXT (manual) and can tell you that off boost response down low (in town driving) is rather lackluster. The fact that you will have higher compression with your stock engine will alleviate that and also help spoolup on the turbo and provide better gas mileage than the ZXT engine. You can start off with a regular T3 for your HP goals which will aid in spoolup and provide grunt down low. Yes there are compromises - instead of 12-14MPG around town AT BEST with a carbed 350 you'll get ~ 16-18 mpg. You won't have instantaneous torque like a 350, and you won't be spending as much money either putting it together or in running it in the future. Your remark about using the car as a daily driver has me biased toward fuel efficiency while still meeting your HP goals. If you don't have alot of traffic or you only drive on highway and not much around town, the equation changes a bit. For those who will naysay converting a stock engine to turbo, citing the piston changes Nissan made to the ZXT (thinner top ring and further down the piston), I will say that this will be offset by much more accurate MS fueling and the intercooler. I am currently accumulating all parts for intercooling, MS'ing and painting my ZXT which will be my daily driver (and eventually converted to 4spd auto), but have a '75 project car that is going to be stripped and new floorpans, subchassis connectors, TTSBC (of some kind) - but this won't be my daily driver - gas is getting a bit expensive and it rides rougher. (Both cars have lowering springs and Tokico's) The auto conversion should help with around town driveability/acceleration because of torque multiplication at tip in from idle/steadystate (virtually the same 1st gear as the T5 in the car) and a slightly taller OD for the highway. JMHO

I'd think about cutting B and making it a right angle arm with the ball toward the TB, and then cutting/rewelding A so that it is not on the inside but the outside of its' arm from the TB. Playing a little bit with the length of the arm on B and the length of the shaft between ball ends should eliminate any clearance problems and allow full throttle movement. JMHO...

I'd check out a few sites like ckperformance.com and a couple others that have documented what they do to trannies that they build. A 4l65 planetary would be a good start - I understand that the TransGo valve body kit resolves a lot of ills. Depends on how much power you're making now, and what you intend to do in the future. If you're not gonna do the work yourself, pland on spending >$700 and more likely >$1200 for all the good stuff.

Same here...