Mike C

The L98 heads are funny, but there are some shorty headers that will work with the GM angle plug heads. The M21 will work, but IMO it is not the best choice unless you are building a road racer. The M20 or BW Super T10 are much better suited to the 3.54 gear set. The Lakewood scattershield with the Camaro slave is a good choice. Another option is the 84-87 Corvette bellhousing with integral slave. It too is written up in the JTR manual. At least in my older ones. I would think a Hurst Competition Plus for a first gen Camaro would work. THe hurst has removeable sticks and you could find one of many that would work from their catalog if the first gen stick didn't. The first gen moves the shift handle towards the center of the trans where the Z hole is while the 2nd gen offsets it to the side. The 68-74 Corvette shifter is well centered also.

I'm with Mike. I expected the car to go shooting off the back of the trailer and slam into the tow vehicle! Bit anticlimactic when thta didn't happen.

I would not be surprised if the Summit starters were made by Powermaster. They seem to be a featured manufacture to some extent. Summits house brands are manufactured by major companies usually. I'm not sure if BBC ever came with the small flywheel. Obviously, with the small 'wheel you would need more torque. I would guess any of the gear reduction starters are more powerful than GMs old style starters. I would not be hesitant to use a Summit brand starter.

You cannot change the input shaft unless you change the gear ratio. As the input shaft gear and the cluster gear combine to give gear multiplication. This puts you right back where you were. What might be possible would be to completely disassemble the trans and have the longer shaft shortened and splines turned down to make a new pilot. Don't know how hard the input shaft is and how much that would cost. Not sure if the trans case is the same either where it bolts to the bellhwouing. The easiest solution might be to have an adapter machined to adapt the trans to the L28 bellhousing. BUT, if you are going to that trouble, I would buy a brand new Ford Motorsport T5 and adapt it to the L28 bellhousing. You would have all of the World Class upgrades and closer ratio gearing as well. All for $1200. Check out Advance Adapters and see what sort of Transmission or Engine adapters they may have for Nissan. Transdapt might be another good source.

The input shaft is longer on the later trans. Won't work.

Lockup converters have been around for over 20 years now. The Th700, Th200 used them exclusively in OEM versions. Their were some lockup TH350 trans as well. You cannot lock the converter from a dead stop, the engine will die. You need converter slip for idle. Some trans lock the converter up in higher gears, but the bottom line IME is that the lockup clutch is the weak link in the auto trans. Usually a failed clutch comes apart, clogs up the trans and converter passages, and takes out the drive clutches, etc. You might be able to use a diesel clutch the way you say, especially the aftermarket extra plate converters, but adapting to a gasoline motor would be difficult and would leave you with a ridiculously low stall speed.

Maybe my numbers are off a little, but a performance cam and lifters from Clifford will be $300. Valve springs $100. $500 to rebuild a head is high, but not a high perf one. This is the same argument people have about hot rodding an L6 or doing a V8 swap. If cheap performance is the goal, I still think this is the wrong way to go about it.

That's what the TKO is. The Tremec 5 speed. But this can get confusing since Tremec now owns the T56 as well.

Not being difficult, but trying to reinvent the wheel. Caprice LT1 are less than $1000 in the junkyard now. You would spend $1000 on valvetrain and camshaft just for 200 hp from the 292. Not to mention all of the specialized fabrication.

Great news Tim! Congrats and more updates!

The 300ZX came with an inliner motor in Japan. But the stroke isn't the killer with the GM inline motors, but air flow. Getting the heads to flow enough air to break the stock parts is number one. If you want a high perf big 6, go BMW.

I had trouble with squealing brakes on my pickup truck. To alleviate I chamfered about a 1/2" wide strip at 45 degrees using a grinder. Wear a particulate mask. I am not sure if the squeal will return when pad wear reaches the end of the chamfer.

The 292 was first and foremost a truck engine. Small bore, long stroke. A very antiquated design, but a very durable engine. While there are speed parts and some hi perf 292's out there, it is not cost effective. And it is heavier than a SBC.

My shop is 34x 40. 40 wide. 32 deep was not sufficient to get two cars in end to end and still walk between them. My solution to more wall space was to build a "clean" room that is 10x16 in the left rear of the shop. Because I have 3 doors in the front and one in the rear, the outside wall were monopolized. adding the internal wall added a lot of space for cabinets, benches, chests, welder etc. in two different rooms. I park 4 cars on the right 2/3, leaving a 17x24 work space on the right hand side for projects. My lift is in the middle bay at the rear so I can pull my long bed truck in underneath my Camaro. The right hand wall is 34'x2' deep cabinets. I used scissor trusses on the right 2/3 for clearance, but I used conventional trusses on the other 1/3 in order to have attic storage. I used 9' walls and recommend that over 8. Mine is conventional wood frame construction to match my house because it is right beside it and right on the road.

The ones I have seen have used a trimmed plate welded to all 4 of the tubes on the end, then the tubes are put into the collector and the outside welded. Bill, I have a set of Heddmans if you want to look inside them. Did you ever find a T5? I had responded to your post in parts and never heard back.

It is a long exposure. He exposed for the car and background. This causes the signal to look brighter than it is. Nice photo.

On the front of the motor, passenger side, the block deck extends past the cylinder head. GM stamps this part with a block suffix code and a partial VIN number. Post these numbers for further decoding. Note, if your block has been decked, these numbers may be gone. The 3970010 can be either 2 or 4 bolt main, but all are 4" bore. It is a good block and fairly common. In the bellhousing area as well as under the timing cover will be some 2 digit numbers as well, either 10 and 10 or 10 and 20. These are in reference to the amount of tin (1%) or nickel content (1% or 2%,10 or 20) The 20 blocks are high nickel content blocks and are most desirable for wear resistance).

Reverse is unsynchronized. That is why it is possible to get it in the other gears but with difficulty. Still sounds like you are having clutch disengagment issues. Especially if this just happened when you noticed your MC was empty...

Should be one on both, but not always. No such thing as a little leak or one that quits! I would replace them. Beats walking one day...

IF you don't see it leaking from the slave under the car, inspect the rear of the clutch master under the dash. Or just pull the master off the firewall, remove the dust boot and examine. My guess is you have a leaking rear seal in the clutch master most likely.

Why not run a full race 200R4? THey take 1400# ft in monster turbo GN's. A completely built trans should run about $2000 or about the same as just the 4L80 trans WITHOUT the $1000 controller needed to run it. I agree with you completely on the 4L60E/700R4. And the gear ratios of the 200 are almost the same as the 4L80. Little more first gear and little more OD both I believe.

Bummer. But they will take it back. The Energizer cams are about the best deal going IMO. The 110 degree centerline is excellent as is the reasonable ramp speed. The 260 is 210/210 @ .050 and .440 lift. Nice lift figures for the short ramps. Mine is in a 4 bolt main 327 in my Jimmy. It pulls HARD from just off idle to 4500 rpm. In a less than 5500# vehicle without the 35" tires, it should pull to near 5k, but no need to turn it that high. FWIW, I ran the Energizer 284 cam in the same motor (228/228 .480). With more compression and better heads than your goodwrench motor but 19 fewer cubes, it never ran right. It would pull 6800 rpm, but I am firmly convinced the car would have been faster with the smaller cam. WIth 4.56 gears and stock converter in ran 14.30's at 3500#(circa 1985) and 98 mph with 4.10 and 2800 converter it ran 14.0's also at 98 mph. All on plain jane street radials however. Send it back and get the Energizer 266. As noted it is effectively the same size as the Comp 260 but for the same price as just the Comp cam you get the lifters as well. I think it is interesting that you asked for advice then did something completely different!

That being the case, just a cam and lifter swap would be OK. Just stay reasonable in cam size. Nothing bigger than the Crane 266 IMO (which is compareable to the Comp 260) Otherwise valve springs are mandated. WIth the compression and heads on that motor, anything bigger isn't worthwhile IME. You will like the prodigious torque output of the 266.

Yep, the Olds and Chevy are COMPLETELY different. But not a bad motor. Local guy who worked at the Olds dealer here had an 84 Hurst Olds with a built 307 that ran 13.50's.