Paz8

As I stated in my post this is not the correct way to do this, but it works. I guess it takes up the wear in the pinion bearing and restores the preload on the bearing, I'm talking about a rear with lots of miles on it. I am not an expert, but I did say to tighten the pinion nut SLIGHTLY. If I was building or racing a Z car I would do it the right way. I don't want to ruffle any feathers here but I do know what has worked for me.

Remove the drive shaft and tighten the pinion nut slightly, will remove some of the "play" in the rear. I know this is not the proper way to do this but it will buy some time until the rear is repaired or replaced.

You said your pretty sure it's a R200, If it's a R180 that drive shaft play can be adjusted out. Look at the differental were the drive axels go in, are there five bolts here in a star shape, if so it's a R180 rear.

Try doing a search about your rear end gear, I seem to remember someone explaining how to check this. The other way is to remove the rear cover on the differental and look at the ring gear, will have a number like this H39:11. 39 divided by 11 = 3.54. Look close the numbers are stamped small, and don't forget to drain the gear fluid first. Sorry about the mix up I thought you knew for sure about the ratio. You don't need to replace the tail shaft for a gear larger than 39 teeth, just the holder (bulllet) that the driven gear fastens into the trans tail shaft, the round part that your speedo cable fastens to.

Are you sure about the rear end ratio, the speedo shouldn't be that far off. I think the drive gear on the tail shaft of my trans is red in color 17 teeth.

Your going to also need a lock up torque convertor if you don't already have one. The lock up needs to be working if your going to drive at interstate speeds or that 700 r4 will over heat.

A 700 R4 has a higher first gear than your 350 trans, will shift to second quicker than your current trans. If you need top end the only way out is a rear gear change and a overdrive trans. I'd replace the rear first with a r200 3.54 ratio and see how it works out. The flange on the rear of the drive shaft may also need to be replaced.

Well, think I'll chime in with my view on this site. It's a great resource for those of us that love Z's and quick cars, but I think anyone wanting to complete a V8 swap should at the least have some basic automotive knowledge, so they don't clutter up evrything with simple questions like "should I remove that thingy on the firewall with the yellow liquid in it." As Grumpy stated everyone needs to start somewhere, but I feel a V8 conversion is not the ideal time to "learn" about cars. I may be out of line here and I don't mean to offend anyone, just my slant on this.

R-180's have five bolts in a star pattern were the stub axls plug into the rear, easier to look at when the rears are not side by side, R200's have no bolts in this area.

#4 is the relay box, has about five relays that control various things like starting the engine in neutral, behind door #10 is the horn relay and the EFI relay. There is alot of wiring in a ZX, unless your rewiring the entire car ( costly if you can"t do it yourself) why remove them.

Number 6 in your pics is the heater & a/c vacuum tank, if your going to connect a heater back up you will need this. #7 is the a/c dryer, remove it. #9 is the cruise control actuator, remove it. #11 is the windshield wiper motor, leave it alone. #13 is the ign. coil, remove it. Don't just chop all the wiring off, disconnect it and mark it, you will need to reuse some of it and modify some of it. You can remove some of the stuff one part at a time and paint under it and bolt it back together, I guess it depends on how much work you want to do, how much money you want to spend, and to what degree you want the finished car to look like.

Keep all the circuit board componets as tight to the board as you can, less chance to shake loose. After you test your boards and know they work you could glue down some of the larger peices with silicone sealer or clear epoxy, this probably is a little (over kill) but has worked for me in the past.

I have seen gland nuts that were fairly thick at the top were the strut rod comes through, why couldn't you remove an 1/8 of metal from the inside of the nut, that would make it seat deeper. It will make it weaker also, so start with a heavy one, just an idea.

The idea is to power your relay from a battery source fused to the load intended, the power for the switches can be from any source under the dash (assy. terminal of the ign switch) as the switches only pick the relay coils at a small amount of current. I don't understand your thinking on resistors, they are not needed, your over thinking this thing. Automotive switches and electrical parts are designed to work in vibration, heat, damp conditions, etc., home electronics stuff is NOT.

Any good auto parts place will have fittings, I used SAE thread adapters in both of the solenoid ports and cut the brake lines and flared them, you need a DOUBLE flare tool. It's far from being "easy" if you never done this type of thing, I fab brake lines for all the Harley's I build so I have some experience. Also I use LOC Tight thread locker on all the fittings.

The solenoid goes close to the master cylinder on the front brake line, by the way the line lock solenoid is SAE thread 1/8 NPT and your master cylinder and everything else is metric, mix them up and it will leak brake fluid. If you mount it close to the master cylinder you can buy a short lenght of brake line (metric)with the flare nuts on and a adapter to go to english thread. You need a push button switch to activate, most people mount them on the shifter.

I'm about finished replacing floor pans and rails on my ZX project, lots of welds, using a MM135 with gas and it works perfectly. For body work you need the voltage adjustment feature, I used other migs and the Miller makes them look like toys. As for a larger welder, most guys don't need to weld heavy steel that often, if you need to you can make several passes with the smaller welder. Go with the Miller.

As for the motor, an Edelbrock performer dual plane intake and a holley 650 carb, or an Edelbrock spreadbore carb should do you fine. Check around and see if you can score good used stuff, alot of SBC is setting in garages. If your unsure about the mileage on that $100 350 I would replace the timing chain, or at least check it. Good advice on the beer and slowing down, no need to do things twice because of rushing. You don't need a "Killer" engine to haul around that Z, that can come later. Just my opinion here.

If it passed Calif. emissions testing why mess with the carbs? Drive the car, only way your going to know what it needs, welcome aboard.

39 tooth gear is GM part# 1359273, thats for a cable drive system.

Start by pulling the speedo gear out of the trans to see what color it is, I am assuming you have a cable driven speedo and not electronic. 34 teeth Light Green, 35T pink, 36T white, 37T Red, 38T Blue, 39T brown, 40Teeth and up requires you to change the trans bullet that holds the gear into the tailshaft. Go to a Chevy dealer and get a 39 tooth gear (about $6.00) see if that helps.

Are the push rods new? If not, did you check them for a bent rod before installing. I doubt if a new lifter is bad, when adjusting you need to turn the rocker nut down very slowly to allow the lifter to bleed out oil, you can hear the engine slow down a bit. Recheck the ones that are clacking, no point in doing them all if you did it right the first time.

I'm planning on using a single wire O2 sensor on my carburated 350 to help in setting up the carb. I will read the sensor with a digital multimeter while driving. A couple of questions: has anyone done this and is it worth the effort? What type of sensor to use (part number), need one to screw into chevy manifold, looks like 3/8 inch pipe thread? The old sensor was made by AC spark plug with number 20 stamped on it. Thanks

I agree, go for it, put in the 350 and t56, it will have plenty of power to pull around that Z, and having that donor car will make life a little easier knowing you have a working combination. Putting in the engine and trans is the easy part, I have had the engine and trans in and out of my project ZX three times to check for the usual interference with the trans tunnel and exhaust system, I can now install the engine in about 15 minutes by myself. If that Monte SS is in good shape sell the complete car after your done with it, don't "part it out", takes too much of your time. Just my opinion.

I don't think there is a really big difference in street performance between a "block hugger" header and a cast iron factory manifold, a full length header yes big difference, the rest of the exhaust system to the back of the car is more important in street applications.