Brad-ManQ45

I will NEVER do business with that junkyard again...

I have workedc on my cars in the past, but with my acquisition of my '75 V* project car, I started accumulating air tools, a compressor, welder, took welding classes, bought tubing and made a rotisserie, bought tool carts, made shelving in garage and uin basement, run air piping from compressor in basement to woodworking workshop in same and garage upstairs, run wiring for welder and more electrical outlets in garage. This is before I've done much more than remove Engine, tranny, hood, valence windshield, hatch glass and gas tank. I am continually trying to find better ways of organizing the samll garage space to provide the maximum elbow room and have tools close at hand - did I mention multiple carts? I bought a couple of those wheeled 3 tray carts at HF for $30 apiece, 4 pieces of steel angle w/holes and added pegboard across the back of both of them to hang tools on, and have space to have air tools on without having to walk across the garage for a tool. The money I have soent on tools for this project is nothing comparted to what I have to spend on her every time the better half starts in on the mess I make. Most of this mess was in cutting and drilling metal and welding the rotisserie, but every time she she's me come in after taking off parts of the car all sweaty and dirty I go through a mini version of the taming of the shrew - as opposed to the full blown version that I still don'twant to repeat. (My wife is anal compulsive about a clean house - I try my best, use mats to wipe off feet, wear latex/nitryl gloves, blow dirt off clothes - but of course nothing is ever good enough). The nice part of it is that I have impressed the neighbors with the other projects I have done efficiently because I have these tools and know how to use them. I rarely have to buy drinks because I'm able to fix stuff for them with just a little time and energy and they never complain about the noise from the tools because thay have all benefited from my having them.

I have been to LS1.com and have perused LS1Tech.com, but am finding it a little daunting to find the exact differences in blocks and heads between the engines after the LT1. I am particularly interested in any differences between aluminum and cast iron blocks. If someone courld recommend a couple of good sites for me to learn more about these engines and blocks, I'd certainly appreciate it. TIA

Plus, don't forget that the stock ECU starts going leaner around 4000 rpm. Honestly, the first thing (aafter exhaust) would be to put an aftermarket ECU in there with bigger injectors to make sure you don't lean out. I have an '83 ZXT with T3/T4 S-Trim T04B w/clipped stock turbine (put on in '94 before all the new stuiff was available) and 3" mandrell exhaust w/stock downpipe. I haved been battleing the stock ECU shutting down when really getting on it, and the engine shutting off when underhood temps get hot at idle. I don't want to throw any money at stock stuff any longer - I'm waiting for UMS to come out, then I'll get bigger injectors and do a good downpipe and upgrade the turbo to a TO4E w/stage 3 or 5 turbine and external wastegate. I do have the advantage of not needing it or the '75 V8 project car for a daily driver though. You may want to consider simply going with the 300ZX computer and mass air stuff with stock injectors - you'll probably get better gas mileage too....

No pics of zxt until I get windshield removed and take care of rust in its' framework and then get it sanded and painted - the clearcoat is peeling off. I also need to recondition the ttops. I wish I had some old pics of it to post, but hard drive crash got'em. The rotisserie is for my '75 TT V8 project...

Get a 1600 short windshield roadster and have fun with it! My brother and I did a ground up on one w/200 crank and cpistons, 5 speed and 4.11 rear - it was great until a dumb biatch in a Nova hydroplaned into it and totaled it...

In '94 whenI had to replace my turbo, Turbonetics set me up with a To4B S3 Trim Compressor section, a watercooled center and clipped stock turbine. I have noticed no difference in WHEN it starts to build boost, but it does build faster and harder, with more power on top. When I go UMS and bigger injectors, I will get a To4E/T3 Stage 3 or 5 exhaust, since I will be putting in an external wastegate and 3" downpipe. I don't want to choke off the upper end.

There is a big difference in duty cycle between the Hobart and Miller 210's. You are much better off with a Miller. Check out http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/ There IS a difference between Hobart and Miller. Miller is more for constant use, Hobart for hobbyists. I have an MM175 and the extra $ spent was definitely worth it in materials for the drive and transformers. They are both built in the same facility, but on different lines, with upgraded parts for the Miller brand.

If yours is a manual ZX or automatic turbo, the stock R200 will work fine. You might want to add a Limited Slip...

Since I have the dreaded fenderwell rot there, I believe I'll go that route also and drop my battery down. Great idea, no matter WHERE it came from! I love this site...

If you PM me, I have the article I can email in 6 parts.

I built the one MikeKZ has the link to. I used 1/4" tube for where the 11 guage tubing was spec'ed because I'm paranoid and also wanted one for a bigger car later. I also fabbed a jack platform for each end to utilize bottle jacks to raise the car. I believe I have posted a thread on this. I guess I should load some pics onto the site for people too see - they appear to have gotten deleted in the past...

I built my rotiserrie with provision to use two bottle jacks to lift the car off my jackstands. All's it took was some 1/4" plate andan extra 20" of tubing. Made platforms for the bottle jacks to sit on and used gussets underneath these and on each side of pivot to keep jack from sliding off.

The small journal blocks were all 2 bolt. The Z-28 blocks were large journal 4 bolt.

Lack of low end torque? For a given displacement and horsepower @ the same rpm, the smaller # of cylinders will have more low end torque. Whay do you think that Mistubishi (and Porsche - who licensed the balance shaft technology from Mistubishi) utilized 2.6 and 3 litre engines? Do you think Porsche would do this if a 6 cylinder was better? (remember that no other cars utilized the engine in the 944/968's) I had a Conquest w/HKS intercooler and later a Starion ESIR and they were all ABOUT low end - even before the turbo kicked in. They both would stomp my '83 ZXT (intercooled). Same amount of boost. Off Idle to just shy of boost - no contest - they'd just SQUIRT through traffic. Remember too - the Mitsu's had THROTTLE BODY INJECTION - not the individual port injection of the ZXT. Of course the lousy MCA Ject heads are prone to cracking...

What Tim said...

Spork's right - make sure it is a MIG welder - not just a flux core. Also, as you don't have much experience, I would recommend usung Harris Twenty Guage wire. This is witr that is not solid, but has powder in the core designed for use with gas. It's real hard to burn through with this stuff if you are stiching like has vbeen recommended. It costs, but the time and metal you save...