Paz8

Kuntry, I in no way meant to offend anyone, I know full well that with age knowledge does not always follow. I'm happy to hear that some folks are still passing down years of know-how to young people, I'm just stating that it's not done nearly as much as years ago because of the fast pace of daily life today.

Another great thread from Grumpy, I guess us OLD GUYS had it easier, life was simple, less distractions, no video games, DVD or on demand movies. We learned how to spin wrenches by hanging out with older guys and watching how it was done. When we were 16 or alittle younger we bought a clunker for a couple hundred bucks and everyone helped out to fix our first car. We learned how to rebuild parts not just replace stuff because we never had enough money. Later as we got older and out of school we had jobs and money and then built drag or circle track cars, our daily driver cars were newer and faster, but we still worked on them every chance we could get. And that is how we obtain the automotive and mechanical knowledge we have today. Can anyone else relate to this???

JTR mounts work perfect for the ZX swap, How the engine can be too far back is strange, the farther back the better, not just for weight transfer but space between the radiator and front of the engine allow the use of a engine driven declutching fan, far better than any electric cooling fan and very simple.

There is a large connector in that fender opening, shine a light in there and you will see it, it powers everything inside the car and operates the horn, headlights,parking lights, turn signals, etc., leave it alone. I can't tell from your pics, but the solid red wire I used was in the harness that runs across the top of the firewall and goes to the driver side fender, I also used the Blue/ red wire in the same harness to pull in the existing fuel pump relay. Like I said my ZX is an 83 the wiring may be different on yours, I not sure. The only advise I can give you is that there is a lot more wiring in a ZX than a Z, don't just cut everything and worry later. I have 30 years working with electronics and it no big deal for me but if you have to pay someone to figure out were everything goes it will cost ya big time.

Two relays in that fender hole, the small metal one is the horn relay, the other relay was the EFI relay to power the computer when the ign. key is on or crank, I kept the relays and used the red wire from the EFI relay to power up my electric choke on the carb (solid red wire). There is also a large wire connector plug in that hole that goes into the interior of of car, don't mess with it you'll need it as is. Wouldn't hurt to spray all the connectors with electrical cleaner, mine were a little corroded.

I did an 83' and left the relay box and fuse links as is, I would NOT suggest removing them unless your VERY good at wiring things from scratch. As mentioned the relay box controls the headlights, parking lights, A/C, bulb check, and neutral start if an auto trans. The fuse links will stop your wiring from melt down if something goes wrong. This stuff does NOT need to be removed for your engine swap.

You can build almost any engine to do whatever you want, the bottom line US Dollars. Light weight high power engines to pull cars along cost real money, something us regular guys actually need to work for. My 2 cents worth.

May be that you need a set of "header" spark plugs, short plugs made to clear tight header fit. I'm not sure about this just thinking out loud.

Bartman, your ride should really fly, much better traction with the LSD rear, should slam you back into the seat when your on it. I have been waiting to score a LSD r200 to throw into the car. My ZX is a Sunday driver for me, just a toy, if I had to start all over I would opt for a LT or LS injected engine, I like the high tech look under the hood. It sure feels good to make a great car even better.

Been meaning to start an album of pics but find something else to play with on the car, about out of work on the ZX for this winter so I guess I'll get around to postings some pics soon, thanks to all for the kind words.

Can't say for sure I didn't keep close track on the money I put out but engine and trans ready to go about $2500, thats all the little stuff also, mini geared starter, alternator, headers, PS pump, all the drive pulleys, etc. I'm not a dyno kind of guy just an old gear head, the car pulls hard, with the 4 speed auto and 3.54 rear I can't nail it from a dead stop it will just lite up the tires until I leave off, if I pull out and then nail it , it puts down about 5 feet of rubber when it shifts to second gear. You got to remember this is a ZX which is heavy compared to a Z car, but I think also stronger frame/cross members up front, I'm going to have it weighed this week. I took alot of weight out of the front of the car, A/C gone, battery in rear, alum. intake, headers, geared starter, thats about 100 pounds.

It took me about 8 months of on again off again work, but I redid the entire car not just an engine trans swap, here is a partial list of work performed: New inner and outer tie rod ends New struts and frt springs New ball joints New control arm bushings New brake hoses (6) New urathane bushings front and rear Rebuilt brake calipers (4) painted New master cylinder Installed line lock frt brakes Rebuilt steering rack, painted Replaced floor pans and support rails Fabricated sub frame reinforcements front and rear New rear shocks and springs Inspected and painted rear diff. and half safts Mounted battery in spare tire well New fuel line tank to carb New fuel pump Fabricated radiator mounts Install trans cooler Entire interior removed, cleaned and painted Engine: 73' Vette block, high nickle, 4 bolt, 350 ci 67' fuelie heads double hump 2.02 valves 64CC Crane hyd street cam Edelbrock performer intake 750 Holley vac sec. Holley blue electric pump Chevy HEI dist vac adv JTR headers 700r4 trans: B&M shift kit B&M throttle valve plunger Single wire converter lockup All this work performed by me, myself and I, only things not done by myself were the exhaust system and driveshaft. I'm sure there are alot of things I left out but I have about $5,000 in the car, but many items I had before I started or had friends give to me.

So far so good, already have carb dialed in jet wise and electric choke set up, been bumping up timing a little at a time, plugs look good. One small oil leak at of all places the block off plate for the mech. fuel pump. No fuel or coolant leaks, car runs at 170 deg. never higher, guess I'll have to wait till next summer to see how it cools in 90 degree weather. It's cold here in the AM also, been going down to 30F at night. I just came back from a ride, put about 60 miles on the Z, I feel like Dennis the Menence driving it, it's alot of fun.

After driving around on back country roads for a week or so I finally have a street legal ZX SBC. To all you guys with projects in the works, let me tell you that it is worth all the time, money, and skinned knuckles. This car is FUN to drive, it puts a smile on your face. It is fast, handles curves flat, sounds good and did I mention FUN. So "getter done" you won't be disappointed.

Very nice, impressive track times, how are the street manors and handling, must be a hand full on the street just keeping your foot out of the throttle. Rock on!!!

What heat range are the spark plugs and how do they look? Had same problem, stumble off idle, went one heat range hotter on plugs, stumble gone, latter when the carbs tuned and everything else is set up you can probably go back to a colder heat range. I'm using an O2 sensor and digital meter to tune the mixture on a 750 Holley, warm up the car connect the meter inside and drive off, read the meter while cruising about 60MPH works really well. I went DOWN from #72 primary jets to #68 and the sensor reads .620 volts (standard sensor 0- 1 volt range) I didn't know how this would work out so I didn't spring for a wide band sensor. More fuel is not allways the answer.

You guys are paying way too much for drive shafts, look in your phone book and find a truck drive line shop, I had a Camaro DS shortend, balanced, new U joints, and a new rear yoke for 1310 U joints, he also installed my JTR rear flange for the rear, $180.00, it has even painted, two day wait. You just need to measure it carefully.

You mentioned that someone had the wrong pistons in the engine, how do the cylinder bores look?? I may be wrong but 60 over is about the upper limit for a SBC, if the cylinders are not good your sticking money in a bad block, not trying to be the bearer of bad news but trying to help you NOT make a expensive mistake.

Forces, if your SBC has a carb the by pass really isn't necessary, I did not wire one to my chysler sw., you will find that the engine builds enough oil pressure with a few turns of the engine to turn on that sw. To test your set up, turn your ignition sw. to the on position (run position not start) touch a jumper wire across the terminals on the oil pressure sw., you should hear the fuel pump run. This will also fill up the carb float bowels for the first time, check for fuel leaks from the tank to the carb and your good to go.

Modify a stock Z auto shifter as per JTR manual, unless you really want a rachet type. I installed Honda Accord shifter switches mounted at the shifter for neutral start and back up lights, I have pics if intrested.

I also used a Omni pressure sw to pull in the pump relay, forget the wiring to power the pump when the engine is cranking (if it's carburated). There is plenty of fuel in the fuel bowels to give the engine a squirt of fuel to start. My 350 seems to build oil pressure about a second after the key is turned. I know some people here that have wired switches to operate the pump from the dash, very bad idea, I wouldn't want to be in an accident and be unable to shut off that fuel pump, to me it's a safety measure.

Yea, the fourth gear pressure switch is self grounding, it's a simple series circuit, the LU sol has resistance, not a dead short to ground. The brake pedal sw opens the circuit when the TC is in lockup. I made my living for 30+ years by doing electrical/ electronics work, this is simple sh*t, no need to make it complicated. The trans is rewired at the valve body.

No computer, installed a new N.O. 4th gear pressure switch (grounding type), +12-V runs through brake pedal switch, not brake light sw, seperate sw, to lockup sol. and then to pressure switch. Trans sat around for a while and I think the sol. may have been a little sluggish to blow fuse first time, had no fuse problems since. I installed BM shift kit and TV valve in the trans also, trans works perfect nice and crisp shifts. Still doesn't answer my ?

Running a 700r4 in my ZX, just got it on the road, before installing the trans I modified the lock-up TC to single wire operation were it will lock up in OD only. My question is this, by using the fourth gear pressure switch to lock the TC does it lock up at the same time the trans shifts into OD? I drove Camaro"s years ago and seem to remember that the trans would shift into fourth gear and then I could feel the TC lock up after that. I know that the single wire mod is working because the first time it tried to lock up it blew a 10 amp fuse, I just can't feel it lock up.

Too bad that the JTR mounts for Z cars are NOT made like the JTR mounts for ZX's, they are adjustable front to rear, left to right with the engine and trans in the car. Something along these lines would make engine position changes easy.