deja

I agree with grumpyvette. When I started my LT1 project I had only pulled an engine on a VW and that was many years ago. But I have a friend that has swaped so many engine he's lost count. It really isn't rocket science but having someone there that is experienced is a must. I had my Z prepared on the morning of the install and it only took a few hours and that included the massaging we had to do in the transmission tunnel for the transmission to clear. Wiring, and plumbing of course take a lot of time, that's where the research and reading the books takes over. If you keep your swap simple it won't take too long and the JTR manual will make it relatively easy. Like the grumpster said you won't be able to take a HybridZ to you local garage for service so knowing as much as you can about your car is necessary. And there is no way better to know about it than to build it and document everything you do for future reference. It can be frustrating at times but at the end of each step you'll feel very proud of your accomplishments. I just had the thrill of that first time the engine started, trust me I'm still grinning. Do it yourself man, its totally worth the effort.

Check Shoe Box http://shbox.com/ if you haven't already. There are a lot of wiring schematics there. I bought the factory shop manual for my donor car, its been a huge help. I am using the entire z28 harness and have had some issues wiring the Datsun controls to the Z28 harness. So far the engine stuff all works, gauges work, lights work.I still need to wire in the turn signals and brake lights. Problem there is the Z28 runs everything through the hazard switch which is in the steering column and I'm not using that. I think I have it figured out using a 4PDT switch, we'll see. I also totally wired in the wipers wrong, gotta investigate what I did there. The engine stuff was pretty easy since I'm using the Z28 interior harness all I had to do was plug it in and fake out the VATS resistor. If you have any wiring questions PM me maybe I can help. I have made some simplfied schematics for the way I wired stuff. But again I'm using the Z28 harness so they might not work with the Z harness.

After I posted I looked at your website and saw the mods you were doing up front. 1/2" isn't much, but I've got thing closer than that in my LT1 swap. Your car should fly that's for sure!

I am surprised by the number of "old geezers here". I guess hot rodding is like many other hobbies, it takes money and old geezers have more expendable money (if there really is such a thing) than young people. I know I sure do. One of my friends had a 396 Camaro, scary fast car. We had a lot of good runs but he mostly took me because of the AMX's lack of dead stop traction, at least that was my excuse, LOL. I could almost always take him in a 30 mph kick down, that was right at the AMX's torque peak. I got the tranny line leaks fixed tonight. Tomorrow I will install the diff flange and attempt to measure for the driveshaft. Good luck with your project, it sure takes some time!

Very cool. That is going to look awesome in the sun.

Wow, nice work. Is that really going to fit in the Z? Looks like there will be no room for the radiator.

Congrats, cool car, cans of Bud and a beautiful blond, life is good!

I had a friend reprogram the PCM, what a guy. He did some tweaking, don't have the info here, I will edit this when I get home. Changes made: WOT blocker This is a tuner trick used for modified cars, but also helps with stock programs. It locks the BLM's at 128 at WOT. Keeps idle corrections in BLMs from altering the entire range of fuel correction. Performance shift points were enabled (some of the F-body cars came with a performance shift switch, it just holds the lower gears a little more on hard acceleration and bumps the line pressure a little. This is not anywhere near a shift kit level of performance, it is just a bump in stock performance) EGR, CCP, A/C sensor pressures, traction control were all disabled Raised the rev limiter to 6400 RPMS Gears 3.54 and 215-50-17 tires programmed Lowered the fan temps to 179 and 197. This is usually where the fan temps get programmed to when you add a 160 thermostat, which I highly recommend you do. I installed a new optispark just before I pulled the engine from the donor car, I have new spark plugs and wires and added a cold air system. Other than that its totally stock with over 100K on the engine. Long term plans are to build another engine for it with maybe some goodies. I just picked up a LT1 scanmaster I will be installing which will give me to see if the car is rich or lean, monitor knock, and look at 25 other parameters (including trouble codes) that the PCM controls. This unit also has a recall mode that will record the lowest O2 reading, (lean spot), and the highest amount of knock that happens during a run. It will also tell you the MPH that these two events occurred at so you have some idea what to do to correct the problem. This unit is designed to work on 1994 thru 1997 LT1 powered cars (no trouble codes on 1996 version).

It does seem like the gearhead bug never leaves. Mine took a few years off when i started scuba diving but resurfaced about 2 years ago. Nice red Z, I've been thinking about adding those Corvette louvers to mine. Wasn't it Harley Earl that said something like "someday all cars will have holes in their fenders" when someone asked about the Buick fender portholes?

Thanks for all your help Jody. I have a Camaro question. There are 2 switches which I think were both run off the brake pedal. Yeah, yeah, label everything and take pictures, LOL. The blue one with the 2 connectors and a bunch of wires I understand, but the other one (its white) I have no clue. Is it for the cruise control? I have a couple more "mystery" wires as well.

ROTFLMAO...27??? I have socks older than that! When I was 27 I had a '70 390 AMX and street racing every Friday night in Dayton Ohio.

Yeah it is. I'm going to get on the driveshaft ASAP and go terrify the neighborhood, LOL.

No doubt there will be a smokey burnout soon. I warned my neighbor last night I was going to fire it up so he didn't think the world was ending from the noise. He's an old car guy too so I knew it would be cool with him.

LOL, some days I feel like I'm too old to be playing with hotrods, but its still fun and that all than matters.

Thanks John. I still have a lot of work to do but it will be there in March, too bad the Sept event won't happen this year.

Nope, standard body. Seems like silver was a very popular color. Mine was repainted when I got it but I don't know if the color is Datsun or not. Honda touch up paint is very close.

Thanks Warren. I had issues this weekend even getting the starter to kick. Seems I didn't fully understand the GM anti-theft system like I thought I did. Anyone want to buy one of those EBay vats bypass modules? If you still use the vats box you don't need that thing. LOL, I've been called worse by much lesser people!

Hey, thanks man. Your ride as been inspiration for me from the start. Still have a pict of your engine on my garage wall!

Thanks. Oh yeah, I'm older than water, LOL.

After 4 1/2 months I finally was able to attempt starting my LT1 swap. Oh sure, its still on jack stands, there is no driveshaft or exhaust, the heater hoses go nowhere, the complete Z28 wiring harness is lying on the car floor the whole interior including the dash is out of the car........but it started!!!!! I am sure you guys know how I feel right now. But this undertaking has been something of a learning curve for me. I haven't done anything quit like this before. I've played around with cars a lot and even built a kit car, but this was over the top for me. I choose to do some things I probably shouldn't have attempted, like using the Z28 fuel tank and wiring harness and building a custom dash all of which have unique problems. But its all coming together at long last. Now I need to get that driveshaft measured and installed so I can see if this thing will drive and hopefully meet my expectations. For those who don't know my car is a '77 280Z and the swap is a '94 Z28 LT1 and a 4L60E tranny using JTR stuff. http://www.dejavideo.net/280z8/280Z-LT1-starts.wmv Please right click on the video link and download it, I have limited bandwidth on my site.

Congrats. Sounds like a beast for sure. Looking forward to some picts.

Speaking of being out of gas. In 1965 I bought my first new car, a Sunbeam Tiger. Anyone who has owned a British car know they can be a bit problematic, especially with anything electrical. This car had an SU electric fuel pump that was very temperamental, it even caused an engine fire once. One day my roommate and I got in the Tiger fired it up and got about 100 yards, it died and would not start. We checked everything and decided the engine wasn't getting fuel. Since I had issues with the fuel pump before we concluded it was not working. W pulled off the output hose and sure enough nothing came out when I turned on the ignition. So in the middle of a shopping center we decided to take the pump apart and "fix" it. Of course we found nothing wrong and it took many attempts to get it back together. Then I looked at the fuel gauge…oh yeah we were out of gas. We pushed it to a gas station, not very far, and filled the tank. Even before I tried to start it gas was pouring out of the fuel pump! The gas station owner told us to push the car out of the station before we all got blown up. It took about three attempts before we finally got the pump sealed. I took it back to the dealer the next day telling them the pump had just started leaking for no reason…hey I was young and broke and the car was still in warranty.

Have an awesome b-day.

That's good to hear. Yeah the neighbors can be a PITA to a hot rodder. Sometimes they just don't understand!

Congrats, I am so jealous I'm still weeks away. No clue on the clutch question but allowing that fan to run all the time will shorten the life of the fan. You should think about getting a contoller fo it.