Wheeler

Here is a link to one of the many universal mounts that I am talking about: http://http://carshop.carshopinc.com/product_info.php/products_id/86960/2350

I have looked but have not seen anything on this, has anyone used a universal or custom LS1 mount in their S30? I, like many others have replaced my frame rails and front subframe as well as changed my front T/c pickup points so Johns kit does not work with out major modifications in these applications. Some of the universal weld in Ls1 mounts look like they might work nice, but also might hit the steering shaft. Looking for experience or picture of non-jci LS1 engine mounts. Thanks

Looks great, where did you get the brake lines and clamps for the brake lines -looks very clean.

which carpet kit is that, looks nice. Does the carpet cover the trans tunnel or is that area cut out?

Update, I contacted John and he has given me a UPS account to send the headers back, he has been great to deal with. I'm not sure that he knew the quality of the headers, as they were dropped shipped form the manufacturer, who is slickfit - never heard of them... Anyways John's other parts that I received were great, and so far he has very fair. -Colin

Couple of questions that I could not find much on, how and where are any of you with an LS conversion mounting the engine ECU? My ECU does not have any holes in it to mount to, in the stock GTO it slipped into a plastic "case" which then was mounted to the inner fender. I dont want to use that setup as the plastic case is big and has very limited mounting possibilities. I have heard of people drilling holes in the flanges of the ecu to mount it by. Any thoughts on this and or location to mount the ECU? Pictures would be great as well. Thanks

Ok, so I just received my JCI headers.... not what I was hoping for, but maybe they are alright. What do you think, I've never really looked that closely at other headers? I am questioning two things, 1) the bend on the main tube, looks like Midas did it... 2) the bead of weld inside the flange restricts the header primarys ID to 1.410" and the exhaust ports on the engine are 1.540". What am I missing here? Are these OK or should I return them (if I can) and go with JTR headers, are JTR headers that much better?

I really like the taillight resesses and the smoothed out look. What tail lights will you use in there?

Here are a few pictures of what I did with my front sub frame and TC mounting points. The TC mounts are just 1/8 wall rectangle tubing that was cut on a angle and drilled. After I welded them in place at added a couple of gussets to each for additional strength.

Ok, not to derail this thread any further (as it is about battery rating / size...), but I wanted to add that with respect to PMI and vertical CG location, I don’t think you need to know where you are at before you make changes. In both cases you want them reduced / lowered, I have not heard of a case where some one had a car with too low of a CG or to low of a PMI - so, at least in theory and regardless of where your car is currently it makes sense to pursue reducing these. Now anyone can argue that the difference made by relocating a battery from the stock location to behind the pass seat will not make any noticeable difference - but lowering the CG and reducing PMI certainly won’t hurt. As far as moving the fuel tank forward I agree that would help but I have to ask how would you do that, safely and reasonably (allowing a passenger seat and not raising the CG)? Phantom, your point about weight distribution is well taken, however. One really should have an idea of where you are at prior to making changes.[/size]

Well a couple of reasons really to consider moving the battery. 1) As mentioned weight distribution, now per some conversations here, I agree this may or may not improve things as the weight distribution of these cars seems to be pretty good. 2) Moving it will free up room in the engine area that I think I need to mount the ECU 3) Maybe this is the biggest reason (and most hard to understand) but moving heavy items like a battery as close to the center of the car reduces the car's polar moment of inertia, which intern makes it easier for an object (car) to rotate about a vertical axis through its CG (turn). I took the below quote from this site http://www.siu.edu/~ritzel/courses/302s/vehicle/vehicledynamics.htm. It might explain better the concept. "A very important handling concept, which dictates the willingness of a car to change directional position if called Polar Moment of Inertia. “Poles of inertia” are just another way of saying “center of weight concentration”. The “moment” in this concept is determined by the front-to-rear location of the center of gravity. The car turns (changes direction) about its center of gravity in a corner so the further away the centers of weight concentration are located from the center of gravity (which is their common center), the bigger the “moment”. A high polar moment of inertia is present when the weight concentrations are heavy and are far apart. The low polar moment of inertia is found when weight concentrations are light and are close together. In other words, it is easier to steer a vehicle with a low polar moment of inertia. A vehicle with a low polar moment of inertia gives a quick response to steering commands. A vehicle with a high polar moment has high directional stability (meaning it resists changing its direction). "

Hey, I'll say it... even though it may not comply with SCCA rules. It still looks like excellent fabrication, clean and neat.

Thanks Gary for the info, that helps alot, that is one of the batteries I was looking at. Did you fab a bracket to mount or did you buy it? Also welcome to Hybridz. Thanks again

I'm looking to relocate my battery for a LS1 install for better weight distribution and to remove items from the engine bay. Anyway I'm going to relocate to behind the passenger seat. I want to use as small of a battery as possible but dont want to go too small... I saw some light weight racing batteries that are very small and light that would fit nice but they only have about 350 amps. Is this enough for starting the LS1 temps above 40 degrees? Any thoughts guys?

I bought the B&M Part Number 45052 and it does move the shifter location so that it lines up will with the hole in the tunnel. Quality looks good as well - Thanks for all the help. PS any one want to buy a GTO shifter?

JTL, Do you have any bigger pictures of your process there? I really like the outcome and would like to see some bigger pics if you can

Evan: I'm not sure what you would mount them to. In one of Sparco's emails they said that they were intended to be used with custom mounts but the installation manual shows and talks about using the stock locations. Even with custom mounts I don't think this would be a good installation. Jung: It is not really realivant why I bought them, or if a 5 point is better than a 4 point. However belts like these are much easier and quicker to get into and out of and are not as restrictive to movement as a full race belt would be so for a street only car I felt they had a slight advantage over a race belt. I have since bought a set of CROW race 5 point race belts (and they fit great). Again, this is not the point of the post.

Tom, My first contacts with Sparco and Cyberauto were very cordial and it was not until I got the run around for over a month that I changed my tone. The first document in the attachment was a explanation of the problem that was sent to cyberauto.com and they forwarded to Sparco (they would not give me a contact at Sparco). The emails below that are in reverse order and as you can see the first emails I made (last in the document) were very nice, i think. Whether I went about this the best way or not though is not the point of this discussion (however your point Tom is well taken). The purpose of the post is to: 1) Let users of this site know that the Sparco Tuning Belt will not fit in the S30 chassis or any vehicle where the lap belts get bolted to the chassis in a similar manor. 2) Let users of this site know how they might expect to get treated by Sparco in the event that they are unhappy with their product for any reason.

Here is my Sparco saga: I purchased two of the Sparco Tuning Belts for my S30 and they don't fit properly in my car, or any S30 chassis, or for that matter will not fit properly in any car that the lap belts mount to the chassis rather then the seat base. No where on the Sparco web site does it say this or even show a picture to imply this, and Sparco will not refund you. I now have two new belts that I can not use. Attached is both the orginal letter I sent to Sparco requesting my money back as well as later e-mails between myself and Cyberauto, who is the dealer I bought through, (racingseats.com) and Sparco. You can judge for your self if you think Sparco is a reputable company you wish to deal with. Sparco Tuning Belt.pdf

Boy from OZ, I believe and may be some one else can get my back here... That the other fuel line that goes to the engine bay is not a fuel return line but, I'm guessing for a cold start injector in the TB. Good info on this thread .

Lake, How did you do that? looks good so far.

Does any one know if the shifter location for a T56 from a 2004 GTO is different than a T56 from a Camaro? If so, what is needed to relocate so it aligns with the hole in the chassis tunnel? Are there any other significant things that I need to do to perform this swap? Thanks for all the help guys

like the lights, would like to see it when its smoothed out.

My weight saving are not all that much as I still have a steel frame underneth the dash panel (3/4x3/4x0.6ish), but I'd still say its a savings of 10-15 comparing dash to dash and another 5 lbs becuase of the eventual reduction in wires and uneeded circuits. So 15-20lbs total is my estimate for the TOTAL reduction in weight. If I think of it I will try to measure and come up with a actual number.... that would be interesting.

I have a steel frame as well, and the dash gets screwed to it