Mike C

Hollander manuals are expensive, even old ones. Late model ones are ridiculous. Try calling a local dismantler and see if they will answer your question.

Transdapt makes a universal engine mount cradle. It uses the through bolt style mounts. I don't know if it would cause exhaust routing problems, but it could easily be mounted to the stock or existing frame rails by either welding or designing your own end brackets that rest on the frame rail and can be bolted through the frame rail. I think you are going the roundabout way. How often are you going to be dropping the crossmember? I would buy a universal engine support that is designed to support the engine or trans on the fenders, or design one of my own that rested on the frame rails while the crossmember was out.

While not quite as neat and orderly as some of those, this one's the ultimate because its mine! 34x40 with 3 doors on the front, a single door on the rear aligned with the lift for ventilation. 2/3 of the ceiling is constructed with scissor trusses for a vaulted ceiling while the other 1/3 is attic storage. It has 9 foot walls with 7' high 9' wide doors. The right hand side is 34 feet of 24" deep cabinets closed with bifold doors so they can be opened with cars parked inside. What you can't see is the 34' long 16' wide lean-to on the right side for storage as well as my ski boat. Just to the left in this photo is a 10' x 16' "clean room" with my machine tools.

As noted, the JTR mounting system does not use the through bolt mounts like the 60's and early 70's passenger cars, but it uses the 67-72 small block truck mount. This style mount has a single large bolt that threads in perpendicular to where your Nova's mounts bolt. Buy the JTR book because you are going to need it.

If you don't have one yet, I would buy an aftermarket scattershield that adapts a Ford WC T5 to the Chevy engine. Both McLeod and Lakewood have them. Not only should a performance car run an explosion proof bellhousing for safety, then you can run the significantly cheaper Ford T5 or you can buy a brand new one from Ford Motorsport through SUmmit for $1200. The bellhousing price should be the same for the regular GM/rotated T5 pattern and the adapter bh.

Both are good transmissions. The TH200 4R is a little smaller than the TH700R4. It has less first gear but more overdrive. The 700 has more first gear, and less overdrive. Both can be built to be strong, but neither is up to 400hp stock IMO. New maybe, but not used. If you get a 700 you want an 87 or newer (late 86) as they are stronger stock. The TH200 is the Buick Grand National Trans but was common in other early 80's GMs.

Hey Steve, there are 2 different versions of the "late" 4 speed. One has the same gear spread as the "early" 5 speed and would be referred to as the "late" 4 speed. Found in cars where the 5 speed was optional so the only difference is the OD if you got the 5 instead of the 4. The other one piece case 4 speed should have a 3.5 first gear which SHOULD be in that car. Ever learned if it has 3.54 or 3.90 in the R200? Let me know when you want that other stuff. I sent you an email last night.

I live in Texas and drive my Z almost daily. The rear window louvers are the best invention EVER. Only way to keep the sun from absolutely destroying the inside of the car. And the only way you can go grocery shopping without having everything melt before you get home! AND in no way does it interfere with the operation of the rear defogger. IMO, everything called "Ricey" has no function. Giant wings on front drivers, clear taillight lenses, underbody neon, 4" exhaust tip with 1 1/2" inlet. Louvers don't fit that at all, but I will agree the cars look cleaner without, but function makes up for all that!

Good thoughts. But no matter how benevolent we get, I'm still going to poke fun at the ones over the top! But I ALWAYS appreciate a well executed, thoughtfully constructed car, regardless of it's origins. I'm with you Pete on handling, I was building Pro-Touring in the 80's! So it's not exactly a new phenomena. Even Dodge is poking fun at its heritage with the guys in the Duster in the "Gotta' Hemi" commercial. I don't know where they found those guys, but don't they just scream 70's Mopar?

I agree guys that most people want to know how WIDE a tire will fit, but more contact patch can be gained with how TALL a tire will fit. Especially true when reducing inflation pressures as the tire bows a little, but the length of the contact patch grows exponentially. So in order to maximize traction, you want to maximize tire height as much as possible and as little tire pressure to maintain at speed stability. A 275 60 15 would be optimum for the drag strip, but most likely it will rub on the inside of the outer fender, but much higher up. They BARELY fit on my 69 Camaro and rub on the inside of the passenger side on a left hand turn. So if you really want max drag strip traction in the Z, look into a 255 60 15, but that kinda' defeats the purpose of your 17" rims, huh?

Front diff mount, mustache bar bushings, control arm bushings, loose gland nut on the strut, worn axle bearings are most of the areas where clunks might occur.

Awesome James! I love looking at your work.

IME, porting the intake on a turbo motor is a waste compared to the exhaust. You can always up the boost to help overcome intake flow, but exhaust is a different story.

The block has the most value of all for a restorer of a 70. The rest of it, not much. Anybody building an L6 wants more displacement, or if they need 240 rods, they want the later 8mm ones. You might luck into somebody wanting to build up an L24 and need a donor shortblock so they can keep driving their car., but with L28 flat top motors reasonably priced and reasonably common, probably not.

Not as much is required on an IRS setup since the arc of the suspension travel isn't trying to pull and push like it is on a solid axle. To some extent, depends on the yoke you use. 3/4" is a good number to use IME. The fore and aft movement of the motor and trans as well as the diff on its mounts needs to be accounted for.

I am assuming a Holley carb? First check clearance on your accelerator pump arm. Need to enrichen accelerator pump shot. If you have a Holley, start by moving the stock cam to #2 position. This speeds up the initial shot. If that doesn't work, go up 2 accelerator pump nozzle (shooter) sizes. If that doesn't work, get a pump cam assortment and try more. That bog is too much air without enough corresponding fuel, basically motor goes lean before the primary circuit starts flowing. For your exhaust, mail order some 3" mandrel bends and have your exhaust guy replace his compression bends with the mandrel bends.

Positraction is GM's trademarked name for their corporate limited slip originally supplied by Eaton. Positrac, Trak-Lok, Traction Lock, Sure Grip, Twin Grip, are all trademarked names for clutch type limited slips. The one from MSA is the same one from NISMO which is the same for all intents and purposes as the 87-89 turbo ZX diff. They were originally made by Fuji Heavy Industries (Which owns Subaru and why they have R diffs as well) and now a subsidiary Tokigi Fuji. This diff is also sold by Reider Racing as a Precision gear piece. They "only" want $550 for theirs however. But they seem to have trouble getting them. If you buy the bare LSD this way, you will have to have it installed professionally or do a significant amount of research and pony up for a few special tools to do this yourself. See Stony's post about swapping 3.54 into 3.70 LSD carrier.

That is what backlash is, but not measured at the yoke. It is measured by holding the pinion in place and seeing how much rotation the ring gear has using a dial indicator on the ring gear .005-.008 is normal for most diffs, but I think the Nissan manual said .010 to .0015? Don't quote that! You can't really tell anything by twisting the pinion as slop in the differential side and spider gears can come into play, you need to remove the cover and use the dial indicator perpendicular to the ring gear.

The easiest way to do this is to swap the LSD into an open carrier, duplicating the backlash of the gear set on the open carrier. Swapping gears from case to case requires setting the pinion depth. This is not hard, just requires a $100 tool. Proform makes a universal pinion depth checker that aligns off the bearing cap flanges. Since the gears are not marked, you have to measure in one case and transfer those settings to the new case. The diff is the LSD or the open differential, and the case I'm referring to is the cast iron housing. To change just the LSD from one case to the other, measure the backlash before disassembling the orignal 3.70 gearset, swap the LSD into the new case, and check backlash. If it is the same, great. If not, you'll have to adjust it by buying shims from Nissan. Expensive. If you have enough parts diffs, you may have a good assortment of shims. If you are going to put gears into your case, you need to measure the pinion depth in the original case, then match it in the new case. This is to be completely correct. I have swapped all the guts from one case to another in GM diffs without chaning anything and had them last 100k miles. The shims not only control backspacing, but they preload the bearings as well. This is something to consider when doing it. The gears are usually a slight interference fit and will have to be knocked off the LSD and open carrier respectively. I put the bearing opposite the ring gear on a piece of plywood, then use a punch in the bolt holes working across to knock it off. To put it back together, I put the diff in the refrigerator for 45 minutes and the gearset in the oven at 150 degrees for same time. They then slip together and you don't have to use the bolts to pull it up which has the risk of warping the ring gear flange on the diff. Also, replace the bolts. They are not designed to be reused and they are not cheap. If your car wasn't knocking on the 10 sec barrier, I would reuse them. It is not a hard job, just requires careful attention to detail, a few special tools, and at minimum, a Nissan service manual NOT a Chilton's, Haynes, etc.

Seems to me the point of maximizing torque is really to maximize average horsepower. Making more power through a broader range is the goal. For instance, 350ci V8 with 400lb ft at 2000 rpm is 152 hp, but say the L28 makes 100 lb ft at 2000 rpm and that is just 38 horsepower! Say both motors peak at 250 horsepower, all of the extra time it takes for the L28 to get there, the V8 is just running away and hiding. Since horsepower is a function of torque, torque is what we are really wanting to optimize. This is where the best average torque numbers will be the best performer. My "butt-o-meter" says the 331 originally in my Camaro and currently residing in my Jimmy that now has a 266 210@ .050 cam would easily outrun the 284 228@ .050 cam that was in the motor when it was in the car. Max rpm has been reduced by 2000, from 6500 to 4500, but average torque in that range is significantly higher. Just for a real world example. Weight is just about inertia. If you could take a new powerstroke diesel and install it in a 2000# car, it would absolutely scream, regardless of the "acceleration of a diesel". Actually, you would be absoutely amazed at how fast my buddies powerstroke dually is with the complete Banks powerpak on it.

In addition to the noted spline, Gear ratio. The 2.8 V6 trannys have gear ratios similar to the Nissan T5. Also, depending on whether it was in a Camaro or S series truck gear ratio variances exist. There are other differences as well like shifter location. I've seen them run behind mild small blocks, but you will break it sooner rather than later. Supposedly the 4th gen 3800 V6 F-bodies had World Class 5 speeds and I have heard (unverified!) that it is the same as the Ford World Class box.

It's not a hard swap. I think they look pretty good, but its one of those things that people argue about. Go to the http://www.67-72chevytrucks.com page and you will find this question asked quite often as well as some pics and instructions.

Nice work. You are a sucker for punishment... I like the TRACO gray paint on the motor.

Thanks. Believe it or not, that's the vehicle I learned to drive in... To say the least, it's part of the family! My Dad bought it in '76 and it already had 115k miles on it. It was totaled in '88 by a giant '74 Lincoln and became mine with 252k miles on it. Has somewhere in the neighborhood of 330k now. And the original 4 speed and t-case have never been touched! Good luck in you search for a Blazer/Jimmy. You won't regret a.) buying one and b.) spending more money up front!

I don't think VATS showed up until 1986 in the Corvette. I did a Google search and that was what I found. I know my 86 Trans AM with TPI did not have it.