SpeedRacer

You might try Eric over at Z Parts http://www.jps.net/zparts/home.html since I know he has taken a few pictures of them. There is a picture of a red and a black one on his site. He might be able to help.

Motorsport Z http://www.zcarparts.com/ sells Eibach springs that are progressive but they only lower the car about 1". I've got them on my car and they are really nice. Good ride going down the hiway but not to much lean in the corners.

I used the 18 circuit in my '71 240 and it was no problem. I did the same as Owen and mounted the fuse block above the dead pedal on the drivers side and ran the wires from there. I bought new connectors for one side of the Datsun steering column so it looks like a factory installation. Because my car is a GTO kit I removed the "Stalk" and installed switches on the console for my lights, wiper, etc.

Hi again Mike - yeah I built almost all of it myself except I had one of the guys in the Kit Car club help with the body. The body was a real mess and took hundreds of hours to fix. The kit came from Joe Alphabet but Ferrari put him out of business. These days you can pick up the body from Jeff Krekeler at Stable Autoworks http://www.zcarkits.com/ or Tom McBurnie at Thunder Ranch http://www.thunderranch.com/gto1.htm I'll have the car over at the Meadow Brook Concours d'Elegance tomorrow (Aug. 5th). http://www.mbhconcours.org/ Of course it's not invited but they have club parking and we will be in VIP Parking Lot #2. The club is GTSCA if you stop by. Anytime you are headed down this way please let me know. I'd love to show you the car and take you for a ride. Andy is right - if you get a chance to check out Jim Biondo's car you should jump on it. It's really an amazing one of a kind Z. His ride has been in quite a few magazines. Hey Andy, are you planning on attending the Woodward Dream Cruise?

Hi Mike - I'm just North of Detroit in Rochester Hills. Not only do I have a SBC in my car but it's got a GTO body on it, (check out the "Featured Cars" section on this site). I'd love to show it to you. Are you coming down for the Woodward Dream Cruise? It's the largest one day automotive event in the world. Last year's cruise saw more than 1.4 million enthusiasts viewing more than 45,000 classic vehicles! http://www.wxyzcars.com/cars/wdc2001/ or the offical site http://www.dreamcruise.org/ I'm entered in the Ferndale car show which is held on East Nine Mile Road. Stop by if you can.

I think we need a little more info. First, what ignition system do you have (HEI, points, MSD, etc.) Second, when you say hard starting, is it turning over fast enough, starts but sputters, cranks for a long time but nothing happens, etc. Third, what makes you think it's ignition and not fuel?

Here is a quote copied right from Trick Flows own web page "TFS-30400001 TrickFlow 23 degree cylinder heads for small block Chevy." "The fully assembled heads feature 2.02 in./1.60 in. stainless steel valves, premium 1.25 in. diameter valve springs, locks, retainers, studs, and guideplates. The heads also have hardened exhaust valve seats for use with unleaded pump gas." "California Air Resources Board Executive Order #D-369-4 for Trick Flow Specialties 23 Degree Aluminum Cylinder Heads for 262-400 c.i.d. Chevrolet Gasoline Engines, Part Numbers TFS-30400001" And yes Lone, I belive it's the slightly off center stagger of the valves and slight angle of the vavles that allows them to clear the cylinder walls on a smaller than 4.00" bore. I just though some of you with smaller bores might be interested to know that there is an aluminum head that you can use. I have these heads on my car and they are really nice but I didn't do a before and after dyno run so I can't tell you how much power I picked up. I will tell you that I am at 10.6:1 compression and I do not have any problem with pre-ignition on good 93 octane gas. Also, I do not have a 302 but a 327 and have never taken it over 7,000 RPM.

Needing a 4.00" bore for 2.02" intakes may be true for stock heads but I just checked the specs again on my TrickFlow 23 degree aluminum heads and it states 262 - 400 CID SBC.

Robert - how about posting a pic of your GTO? I use Hooker block hugger with ceramic coatings coatings on my GTO with a 327 SBC, (see "Featured" cars off of main page here). Of course you must be using the JTR or similar method that places the engine back near the firewall. As Lone said, ceramic coatings really do help a lot. Also, make sur you run enough timing advance because retarded time will cause excess head in the headers. You've seen the pictures with the engine running on a dyno with glowing headers - it's done by retarding the timing. Also make sure it's not running to rich. Quite often an extra rich mixture will continue to burn after it leaves the cylinder and cause excess heat as well. BTW, Sanderson http://www.sandersonheaders.com/ makes about 30 different headers for a SBC so I think you can find one to fit.

Do the 302 man - they are awesome mouse motors and rev like mad!! BTW, I think you will find that the TrickFlow 23 degree heads will work on a 283. TrickFlow

Wow, how did I miss this thread – pretty ingenious I’d say and quite well done or at least so it appears. You sure would fake out a lot of people and cause many a double take. Obviously with a light Z car you would smoke most C4’s and Vettes in general – hmmmm. However, I would prefer a 250 GTO and can prove it! Why copy a $5,000 car when you can copy a $14,000,000 one?

Wow, how did I miss this thread – pretty ingenious I’d say and quite well do or at least so it appears. You sure would fake out a lot of people and cause many a double take. Obviously with a light Z car you would smoke most C4’s and Vettes in general – hmmmm. However, I would prefer a 250 GTO and can prove it! Why copy a $5,000 car when you can copy a $14,000,000?

It might not be to big a problem because Summit or Jegs sells a breather rubber grommet with the baffles built in. There is a lot of oil flying around inside an SBC valve cover so I would use a baffle.

As Pete and a few other said you can get the weight of a SBC within a few pounds of the original Z motor. You said you track it and it will spend a bit of time at high RPM's so I will assume that you are not drag racing so handling matters. If you use the JTR method the engine will be back against the firewall and completely behind the front axle. Remember that the Z engine is very tall and long where as the Chevy is quite short and low because of the V configuration. This means that you will also have a lower center of gravity and improved polar moment which will improve the handling of the car. I wonder if what engine is in this one? http://www.reinaintlauto.com/gto413.html

I used the complete Precision kit on my car and it all worked great except I had a difficult time closing their doors. I have since found out that many people had this problem. Switched the door weatherstrip over to Nissan and all was OK. The glass is really easy to install if you know what you are doing however I wouldn't bother. Guardian Glass here quoted me $106.84 for a tinted windshield - and that was installed at my house!!! SOLD The rear glass is a different story. They wanted $614 so I opted for a perfect one out of the junk yard and the same guy from Guardian Glass came back and installed it for $50.

As long as you keep the motor under 300 lb. ft. of torque you should be OK. I would recommend that you don't rev it up and side step the clutch though.

Remember that you may ground the battery to the engine but that doesn't ground the rest of the car. You have to ground the body to the engine as well. The engine is usually mounted via rubber so the current has to find a different path, (fuel line, shift cable, speedo cable, etc). BTW, GM had that problem one time and the engine was grounding through the driveshaft. This caused a magnetic buildup (i.e. electromagnetic) around the transmission rear housing bearing, which in turn attracted metal particles that then ground everything up.

It's probably that the oil pump drive shaft is not aligned. The shaft has a slot in it that has to line up with the drive tang on the bottom of the distributor drive gear. Use a long screw driver to turn the oil pump shaft so it lines up and then move the rotor back and forth a bit as you slide the distributor down.

FYI - I run two 31" staimless steel glass packs, one down each side of the driveshaft. This is about the longest glasspack I can fit in the car. I picked them up from Summit but don't see them in their latest catalog. The fact that the glasspacks are not very large in diameter makes for a pretty simple and clean installation. Of course, because of my kit, I also run twin ANSA tips on each side that have resonators in them. It ends up with a pretty decent sound but not to loud. The noise level in the car is very reasonable through the full RPM range.

Ron, The new "Clean Air" fuel has alcohol in it. You didn't hear it from me but I'd plug the vacuum line going to the EGR valve, run the timing up to about 14-16 degrees, run it hard and take it back through. I think it will make it. Sounds like the converter is a bit weak but you should still be able to make it.

Ron, If the NOx numbers still aren't very high try advancing the timing. Advancing the timing causes the combustion temp. to go up which lowers both HC and CO. Just don't run it up to high so it fails on the NOx level. The problem is that it's like a see saw. HC & CO on one side and NOx on the other. BTW, preventing the EGR valve from opening will drastically lower both HC and CO but watch out for the NOx level.

I put one in my kit car last year and think it's great. No fuss, no mess. The problem with having a kit car is that I don't drive it that often (couple af nights and on weekends) and it sits in storage all winter. It sat for just over five months this year and started right up. I was amazed that the battery didn't lose it's charge.

Interesting Ron - do you have the readings for all three? HC - is unburned fuel (Hydrocarbon) CO - is partially burned fuel (Carbon monoxide) NOx - is caused by high combustion temp (Oxides of Nitrogen) In general, high combustion temps tend to lower HC and CO2 but raise NOx. So a lean (but not to lean) mixture and advanced timing tend to lower HC and CO2 but raise NOx. Since and EGR valve allows up to 15% of the exhaust gas (considered to be inert) back into the intake mainfold it essentailly leans out the engine and reduces combustion temp thereby reducing NOx. Sounds like you NOx number is OK so the EGR is probably working. I'd do the normal tuneup and filters, run the timing up and take it back through. BTW, replacing the O2 sensor wouldn't hurt anyway since the new ones (consider a Bosch) are much better that the original ones anyway. Don't put gas in the car the day you are going to get it tested and make sure the Evaportive Canistor is purged. Run the car hard to make sure the Catalytic Converter is fully lit up just before you get it tested. Good luck! [ May 06, 2001: Message edited by: SpeedRacer ] [ May 06, 2001: Message edited by: SpeedRacer ] [ May 06, 2001: Message edited by: SpeedRacer ]

You could try one of these instead http://www.reinaintlauto.com/65gto811.html kinda like the ultimate Ferrari GTO kit.

Remember when almost all the race cars (except maybe dragsters, GTP, etc. with big air scoops) ducted air to the carb from one or more of the front headlight openings. NASCAR, IMSA, Bush, SCCA et. al. but now almost all of them duct to the air cleaner from the cowl - so why is that?