gene_w

Now that's just wrong! Gene

That extra line is for the carbon canister that's in the engine compartment. It is used to purge off excess gas fumes by running them back into the engine and burning them. As for what it hooks to in the rear of the car, I'm not positive. It probably either hooks to the top of the gas tank or, more than likely, hooks to the small tank inside the car near the fuel filler. Gene

The reason you don't hear much about it was because it had a reputation as being sort of a dog. I'm not exactly sure why this is considering the later FE engines were quite impressive. I don't know how good a choice the 352 is seeing as it has near the weight of a 390, with many less cubes. I don't mean to discourage you, I just want to make sure you're not doing it just because it's an uncommon engine. To each his own, and if you do throw one in there, tell us about it and show lots of pictures! Gene

I honestly can't say as I've seen an FE in a Z before! I would love to see some pictures if you manage to shoehorn it in there! It's a pretty heavy engine and is fairly wide, so I'm not sure how good a match it is for a Z for anything short of drag racing. Probably the next problem after stuffing it in is trying to get traction. The FE's are capable of a LOT of horsepower when properly built. If you wanted to really go crazy with it, you could go for a 427 cammer. They are very rare, but there is a company that is supposed to be reproducing the block, and another company making reproduction heads in both iron and aluminum. If you're not familiar with this engine, it had overhead cams and was factory rated at 658 HP! Gene

Don't do both the spacer and raised CA points. Do one or the other. Both are designed to counteract the geometry changes that are a result of lowering the car. If you do both, you are overcompensating and my guess is you will end up with a car that handles pretty strangely, though I've never actually tried it. This has been discussed numerous times on this forum, so keep searching if you're not satisfied yet. Gene

One more thing I forgot is that the Ford in/outlet locations are all wrong for the L6 and require lots of extra plumbing and puts the lower outlet right into the A/C compressor. Mine is currently a mess with long flex-hoses running all around. Once the 302 goes in, radiator plumbing will be a dream and everything will be in the right place. The Chevy in/outlet locations are better suited to the L6 engine. Gene

Boy, I guess there are some differences in these cars! I measured and test-fit my 26" radiator in both an early '74 260 and my '75 280, and it was perfect in both. Both cars measured just over 26" between the frame rails. I guess I was wrong in ASSuming they were all the same. And yes, my radiator is at the widest at the lower part where it sits between the frame rails. And I don't think I would call it "shoehorned" in, as it seems to be a perfect 'drop-in' fit and the use of a couple thin rubber pads allows me more freedom in my lower mounts. The lower mount simply had to hold the radiator up without the worry of centering it as well. I guess in the end, you provided the best answer to the original post. I got off track and now see that he was asking about an L28et, which if he's using the stock EFI, the 26" will not fit without unbolting the AFM and pushing it to the side a bit. This is not a good idea for long-term use. Mine is only like this temporarily. Gene

Hey, now...that's not exactly true. I've got a 26x19 Griffin(Ford in/outlets) in my '75 and it fits beautifully. I am assuming that the side tanks are the same on both the Ford and Chevy radiators; I don't see why they would be different. It does interfere with the stock L6 equipment (AFM and carbon canister), but that won't be a problem once I install the 302. For now, I've unbolted the AFM to give the 1/4" clearance I needed there and moved the carbon canister temporarily by tieing it back to some other bracket on the side. I haven't got any pictures of my install yet, but the 26" radiator fits perfectly between the frame rails with approx. 1/16" clearance on each side. Nice and snug with a thin rubber pad slipped in there. Lower mount is made of part of a bed frame and two highly modified Z motor mounts (hey, it was all free and you can't say I'm not resourceful!). Upper mount is a "custom" designed (with a bench vise and hammer) 1/8"x1.5" aluminum bracket that bolts on with one bolt in the center and hooks over the top of the radiator with a rubber insulator. I am very happy with the install and found that that extra couple inches made any sort of shrouding unnecessary, as the radiator completely fills the opening in the front support. I drive my Z every day and believe that having this larger radiator will help tremendously in slow traffic once I swap in the larger engine. Gene

I feel I must help defend electric fans. A couple people have touched on this, but seem to ignore it nonetheless. The electric fan does not run all the time! If your radiator and engine compartment is set up correctly, the fan is only necessary when sitting at a stop for a long period of time, as in traffic jams. I don't know about anybody else, but I really don't mind losing a HP or two while in rush hour traffic. Not an issue! Now, I'm still an inliner, but I've only had my electric fan kick on 2 or 3 times in the entire last year of driving it every single day, to and from work & school. And that's with the stock 280 radiator. The only time I mind losing HP is when I'm racing. With the stock L6 in my car now, I have to sit perfectly still for probably 4 or 5 minutes before the engine temperature even starts to rise. After that amount of time, I expect the racing to have started! So when I need the power, the only thing I lose at all is just the weight of the fan and its wiring. No horsepower! Now with a mechanical fan, that's another story. I realize that the fan clutch saves a bit of horsepower over a direct coupling with the fan, but the fact is, you're having to drag that thing up to speed after each and every shift, whether you need the airflow or not. From my experience, the airflow is not needed as hopefully you are moving! I do plan to do a 302 swap in the near future, so my overheating (or lack of) experience may very well change. But I don't plan on it. A couple weeks ago, after sticking a jack through the bottom radiator tank (long story), I swapped in a Griffin 26x19 radiator. I have yet to reinstall my electric fan and probably won't bother until I swap the engine. My reasoning: I was held up in traffic the other day because of a wreck and the temperature went only slightly above normal operating temperature for my car during the entire delay. The short bursts of movement between stops was sufficient to keep the stock L6 cool. Just my $.02 Gene

I think they missed...the catalog page for air struts still says 'coming 2001'. Gene

Wow! A 27 inch wheel? Impressive!! Gene

Holy crap, he's not kidding! See them at: http://www.superbuytires.com/wheels_by_brand.html?stage=2&brand=Johnsons&model=Nine I can't believe anybody would buy such a thing! Gene

Ross, How thick does the spacer need to be to use the 300zx hubs & rotors with 4runner calipers? Do any other modifications need to be made for this setup? I have been planning on using 280zx calipers as per Terry Oxandale's writeup on zhome.com, but it requires me to grind off 1/8" from the outer edge of the rotor. Is this modification necessary with the 4runner caliper? Thanks Gene

Would you mind telling me a little more about how you smoothed off the rear end like that? I've also got a '75 and have been debating for some time now over how I should go about smoothing it all off. Your car looks awesome! Thanks Gene

If you could get pistons to keep your compression down, that would be excellent. As for your intake idea, you might just be on to something. I think you can get just the lower intake from Trickflow for a 351. If not, I know for sure that ford motorsport sells lower cobra and gt40 intakes. Who knows, if you get to doing all that machining, it might be easier to just use a 4bbl carb intake and mount your injectors to that. You can get throttle body plates specifically for this purpose(in place of a carborator), and surely mounting the 'charger to that would be very easy. Gene

It can be very dangerous to run forced induction on a very high compression engine. If you plan to stroke a 351 and still 'charge it, you need to be very careful of the parts you choose when building the engine. Keep compression ratios down as much as possible. We're talking dished pistons, heads with large combustion chambers, etc. You also want to use a very good forged piston. Anything less probably will not hold up to the kind of pressures you will end up with. Also, with the power that you would end up with, you want to really pay close attention to the bottom end. Make sure everything is very straight and true, use bearings designed for hi power engines, and even install a main girdle to keep things from moving around. Gene

Holy cow! I would guess so! Gene

I definitely agree with that! Keep us updated on how that works out. If it works, then I will probably do the same when I build up my 351W that I've got laying in the garage. I can't see spending a fortune for an aftermarket unit when a similar (if not better) unit can be found easily for less money. Gene

I don't have any personal experience with rear disk brakes (hopefully not much longer!), so take this with a grain of salt. I have seen a tool that you can get that hooks up to the grooves in the piston which allows you to use a wrench to screw it back in. I'm not sure where to get these(autoparts store maybe?) or even if it's absolutely necessary. Hopefully somebody else out there will be willing to share their experience. Gene

Any particular reason this is posted in the FORD V8 forum? Gene

I just looked it up, and summit carries the Trickflow upper and lower intake for $549 (currently on backorder). See http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=23079&view=2047&media=2 . I imagine the throttle body would do great on the 351. I'm not sure if you'd have to do much to the trickflow intake or not. I seem to recall you used to be able to get an 85mm throttle body from Ford. If you do have to modify the intake, I'm sure it will work great, provided you don't introduce any rough edges or anything. If you bore it out, use a grinder or something to make a smooth transition from the end of your bore to the intake plenum to make it as smooth a transition as possible. I think your biggest issues would be first getting the throttle body to bolt up, second getting the throttle cable to hook up, and third adapting the throttle position sensor. You might measure the resistance on the terminals of both over the entire range of rotation. If you're lucky, they'll match and then it's simply an issue of splicing the ford plug onto the tps. Gene

Not much of a problem there. Firing order is the same between 351w and 5.0 (earlier 302 was different). The only problem you will have is that the lower EFI intake manifold won't bolt up. The 351 has a taller deck height, requiring a wider manifold. I think you can get a lower gt40 or cobra for a 351 from Ford Motorsport. For that matter, you can spend just slightly more and get a full upper and lower from trickflow. I think theirs runs a little over $500 for the entire upper and lower intake. Electronics wise, you should be set to go. You might want to consider a larger throttle body, MAF, and injectors to match the higher flow of a 351, especially if you build it up. All the standard mustang upgrades all apply. Like I said, only difference is lower intake manifold. Gene

Hate to sound picky, but if you look at ZR8ED's signature, it says it's a '78 280. Gene

Shouldn't be a problem. From the looks of that engine, it wasn't fully prepared for that kind of power. It didn't even appear to have a main girdle or anything which is critical on a high-horse 5.0. Plus, we don't know what kind of compression that engine was running, either. See http://www.toohighpsi.com/ for successful build-ups of several 351 twin turbos. Gene

What size/profile tires are you running? The height of the sidewall makes a big difference in wheel-hop when cornering. Now that your suspension isn't giving in like it used to when cornering, it could be your tires' turn to give in. I noticed a world of difference on my car when I went from 195-70-14 to 195-60-14. No more hopping in corners. It just holds up till the breaking point and finally gives in at a much higher speed than before, in a smooth slide instead of a hop. Just a thought. Gene