alainburon

Sunny, How much shorter is the LS3 oil pan vs the LS1?

Yes sir

This car is awesome, by far the best S30 build I have ever seen. The pictures do not do this car justice at all. It is impressive to see in person. From the wheels to the engine, everything looks like it was put together by a professional and no short cuts were taken. Rick, Thanks for taking the time to show me your car and go over your build experiences with me. I hope that someday soon I can represent our Z community as good as you do.

Looking forward to seeying you there.

Kevin, I saw your car at coffee and cars last sat. It is looking good, glad you could represent the Z community. You should have parked by the 350 and 370Z section with all the Asian guys. Are you sure you are not holding back on us regarding what's in that motor? I know you are close to some guys that work at Late Model Racecraft and everyone that knows LS motors knows that those guys are surgeons when it comes to extracting horsepower out of an LS motors.

His car sounds good too and as you mentioned it looks great. It has a really nice stance. David, There is a guy in town that can build you anything you want for your turbo set up and he is not super expensive. You may know of them already, the shop is called Specialty Metal Craft and it's off 290 past the belway. The owner's name is John Harrison and they can build anything you need. I would take him some pictures of what you are looking to do and he can give you some sort of idea of what it may cost before you get into it. He did my frame rails, fuel tank and other modifications as well. I will be taking my car back to him when I have installed the motor to have a dual 3" mandrel bent stainless exhaust made and a custom intake for the air cleaner. There in nothing this guy can't build. Good guy to deal with too.

Way to go, can't wait to see how it runs when you get it set up how you want it. Don't forget coffee and cars tomorrow. You see all kind of nasty rides out there. From GTR's to twin turbo lambos. Got to get there early though, by 9:30 they all roll out.

Thanks, to be honest the deciding factor for me was that I don't have a core from a donor car and when I started looking into the price of a good core it was between $1500 to $2000 plus another $2000 or more to have it rebuilt the way I wanted it. I just figured why not spend another $1000 and be done with it. Like you say it has triple cone synchros and Tick upgraded the fork pads to bronze from plastic as well as adding carbon blocker rings to 1st, 3rd and 4th gear since 2nd comes with it from Tremec.

Today felt like Christmas, I got home and there it was….. My transmission came in. I ordered the Level 4 Magnum TR-6060 from Tick Performance. They basically take a new Tremec TR-6060 and modify it to fit and F-Body Camaro, while they are at it they make a few upgrades that takes this transmission from handling 700RWTQ to 900RWTQ (like I would ever need that but what the hell). I also had them powder coat that case and bell housing to match my drive shaft, axles and R200. For a small fee they also threw in a new GM Slave Cylinder & Throwout bearing. This transmission looks incredible, the pictures do not do it justice. I just hope it performs as good as it looks.

Thank you, a lot of my ideas have came from this forum. I'm glad I could inspire you as I have been by reading other's build threads. Thanks for the compliment, I can't wait either. I hope to be done this year as long as the engine price does not keep going up. It has gone up $2K since I started my build.

Sounds good to me, your car should run great after you do all the upgardes you are working on, it already looks bad a**. The only reason I'm doing an LS3 is because I'm starting from scratch. If I had a set up like you I would not do an LS3.

Mike, it was very easy for me since I bought it already converted to fit an S30, the master cylinder modifications are done already and it bolts right in place of the old one. I bought it from www.datsunpartsllc.com. Good guys to deal with. Since you already have one I believe there is a thread in the brakes section on how to modify the 1" Wilwood MC to fit the S30.

I just picked up my leather wrapped rear speaker panel from the upholstery shop and installed the 6X9 JL audio speakers. Not much progress as I'm running out of things I can do without the car body. I just got a email from Tick Performance stating that my transmission shipped out yesterday. Will post pics when it arrives.

Got my twin disc clutch and Hurst adjustable shifter from Tick Performance. I like the quality and I hope it works just as good as it looks. I decided to go with the McLeod RST twin disc set up with their steel flywheel as it is supposed to be very street friendly and good to 800 ft/lbs. It took a little longer than usual to get it because I had McLeod balance the clutch and flywheel together. No hurry anyways since I have not even ordered the motor yet and my car still a couple of months from being back from the bodyshop. I also got the 1" Wilwood brake master cylinder fitted to the brake booster.

It all boils down to what level of swap was done to the car. There are some that put a 100K plus miles drivetrain from a junk yard and there are some that go all out like gt40rick (he has over $60K in his). I have seen decent LS Z's for under $10K. I think you should be able to find one as long as you are patient. Let someone else lost be your gain as most of us will never get back what we have invested in our builds and wind up loosing our a**. That's why I would not sell mine, I would sell my house first and live in the Z.. LOL Anyways good luck on your search and if I come accross any LS Z's for sale I will send you a pm.

Thanks for the help Keith. Your posts have helped me out alot during this build. I agree, racing is addicting that's why I'm going to try and stay away from bringing my car to the track. I used to go on a regular basis with other cars I owned and not only is it addicting it gets expensive because you will eventually start breaking things or you just want to make the car go faster and faster. Like they say, he with the deepest pockets wins..LOL I guess I can say that I got most of my drag racing out of my system already, now I just rather take my car to a car show, set up a fold out chair behind it with some cold beers, relax and talk about cars. I have met a lot of interesting and passionate people that way. Damm, does that mean I'm getting old? Say it isn't so....LOL Don't get me wrong I still love to go fast or I would not be sinking all this money in my S30.

Please post an update with your findings on how short of a sump is safe to go. I'm having my motor built this summer and I can have them fit any oil pan I choose.

Thanks for the advice Keith, I agree with your comment about the LS9 slave. I had a bunch of clutch problems with my Z06 and the dealer replaced the salve with an LS9 set up thinking that would fix the issue and it did not. Still was having dirty fluid and the clutch pedal sticking when you ran it hard. The only fix I found was to bleed it regularly. It sucks to have to do that but that was the only thing that would work for me on that car. I will install a remote bleeder on my 280Z to make easier because I'm sure I will have the same problem again. I was going to use the steel bellhousing but the guys at Tick Performance talked me out of it since I won't be taking my car to the track. They also talked me out of using the Mcleod slave cylinder, they claim nobody is making a better slave for this application than GM which is pretty sad. I will follow your advice on welding a SAE nut to have the proper adjustment. I will be using a 7/8 Wilwood MC for the clutch. I'm a long way from putting all this together but getting the parts ordered as I can.

Thanks for all the input guys. I have decided to go with the Mcleod RST twin disc set up instead of the LS9. Seems like a lot of people are using it and it works well for what I'm looking to use it for. I was never too crazy about the spacer idea.

My car will not put down anywhere near 900RWTQ. I'm expecting around 525 on motor and 650 on the gas. The reason I went with that transmission is that I don't have a T56 core to send in and have rebuilt. It appears the cores are now between $1,500 to $2,000 plus a stage 2 build at Tick Performance is around $1,400 without all the extras I'm having done like podwer coated case, new slave cylinder etc.. I just decided for a $1,000 more I can have something brand new that even the Viper spec T56 can't touch. Also I had a 6060 and it shifts so much better than the T56. As for the driveshaft, I may replace it depending how the JCI one does. I looked at Monster clutches as well but my experience with them is that they are awesome on the track but not very street friendly. I'm now thinking about a Mcleod or Spec twin discs set up but open to suggestions as well.

Any suggestions on a twin disk that has good street manners? I have been all over LS1 tech but some of those guys are all over the place on what they think works well. I just don’t want any chattering or noise coming from it. I hope the drive shaft holds up, I wont be doing any drag racing at the track. just running around on the street but if it breaks I will just have to have one built that will take the extra torque.

In that case I may need to consider another clutch. I just want a twin disc that does not chatter or make noise at idle. I have the same car as Joe (rags) and if says it might be tight I may need to go another route.

I need some advice from guys that have a T56 with and LS motor in a S30. I have ordered a level 4 Magnum TR-6060 transmission from Tick Performance. It’s a direct fit into and F Body Camaro but good for 900RWTQ. I’m looking into using the Katech LS9X twin disk clutch which is a ZR1 clutch modified to be used on an F Body Camaro. The clutch kit uses a ½†spacer between the transmission belhousing and the engine in order to accommodate the extra depth of the ZR1 clutch. My questions are Is there enough room to move the transmission back ½†without causing any major issues? Will the shifter be ok being moved back ½� Last but not least, does the drive shaft have to be shortened or is there enough play in the yoke to accommodate the extra ½� Your help would be greatly appreciated.

So just to make sure I have this right. Anti-sieze on the splines and loctite on the threads right?

Thanks for the advice guys, especially using anti-seize.