Mike C

My experience is a little different since I have an NA motor with the T5 and a 3.54 diff. I find the combo near ideal with nearly as much first gear as the lower numeric NA trans and 3.90 gears (12.95 first with the early 5 speed 3.90 rear and 12.4 with the T5/3.54) For comparison, the BW Super T10 2.54 first gear in my Camaro with 4.10 gears only has a 10.4 overall first gear. And SUCKS on the highway even with the 28" tall tires. The same benefits of the T5 and 3.54 are true with overdrive. The late 5 speed and 3.90 gears has an effective final drive of 2.9 while the T5/3.54 setup is 2.76. This is the best of both NA 5 speeds IMO. I can cruise on the highway 70 mph at about 2400 rpm with my 205 55 16 tires. It also allowed me to dump the Nissan shifter for a Hurst Competition Plus which is amazingly slick compared to the OEM POS.

I'm near chris5564552

Everything I've heard about the 180/200 Syncrowaves has been good. They are a dandy little machine for steel, and they will do aluminum. But if aluminum is your primary goal, I'd look at a 250. I did some repair on a wheel, and it took 200 amps just to get it to melt in well. I've got a Precision TIG 275, so it would hold 200.

I wrote up the swap when I put the Precision Gear LSD in my 85 turbo diff. It had the 12mm bolts. But IME, most places CAN'T handle the shimming. I did not have to do anything with mine as backlash was perfect after swapping. I pulled the OEM bearins off and reused them.

Switching polarity helps a ton. Once you try the gas, you won't do it without. Save your nickels for the bottle and switch to .023/.024 solid wire.

Holding one tire works OK if you have a 2:1 spider gear ratio. You can then do double the turns and that should give you the ratio. If your spider/side gear ratio is different, will give you different results. Easier would be to find an internet gear ratio calculator. Plug in your RPM, MPH, and tire diameter and get #. Or if the diff is out of the car, just pull the cover. Going to need an oil change, gear lube, and axle seals while it's out. Chances are your 2 to 1 is really closer to 4:1 which would be a 3.90 gearset, but that's just a guess.

My experience is repairs are easiest when metal sizes are the same. The sides on my M38A1 jeep are 18 ga, but most cars are 20-22.

I have a 327 in my Jimmy. Actually, a 331 now. It is a full point lower than the motor you are discussing, but basically the same heads. A 186 on one side and an 041 on the other. Both have non-hardened seats. It's not the first set of heads I've had on the 100k mile motor, but I had a bronze guide fail in the first set and it allowed the valve to wallow around enough that the seat could not be cut back far enough for an insert before it hit water. The rest of the seats were fine using springs with about 80# on the seat. BUT, the second set of heads has at least 50k miles on them with no additives running cheap gas at 5000# of weight, with quite a few of those miles pulling a 4000# boat and trailer along with 35" tires. I would not hesitate to run an 11:1 motor with good gas in a light car. Just be careful with mixture, total timing and spark curve. Reduce weight, add gear, or increase overlap on cam will all help with spark knock as well. A good set of composite head gaskets instead of the OEM gasket wouldn't hurt either.

Great job, Terry! That's awesome looking. You are a sucker for punishement, though with all those carbs...

I think it was to Torquflite 727 that has a 29 spline output? But the seal diameter is too large so it needs to be reduced in OD on a lathe. Pardon my uncertainty, but it was several years ago I had my shaft made. Check with Wenco! I was happy with their service and would buy another shaft from them.

Sorry for the delay... Mine was the Competition Plus in the kit with boot and trim pieces. I swapped handles to one that was the shortest I could find. You might want to look at some other options, but it works great. A little shorter is what I would be looking for.

I swapped in a 78 R200 in my 72 240 in place of the R180 and I used the stock driveshaft.

I had my driveshaft made by Wenco in California. It has a Nissan front yoke, which is unique seal diameter for the output spline. It is not the same as the other Nissan driveshafts. I had a 1310 (Chevy) u-joint put on the rear of my custom shaft and use the Neapco adapter. If you want a 1310 joint in the front, Wenco will turn down a Dodge yoke which has the right spline count to the Nissan seal diameter. With an NA 2.9l motor, I saw no need for the bigger joints. I replaced the clutch, flywheel, and pressure plate with all turbo car parts, so not sure if you will have problems there or not. I ditched the incredibly crappy Nissan T5 shifter for a Hurst. Many other options available as well.

I read that article with great interest. The two cams they chose are on either side of my Comp 280SR (236 @ .050, .540 lift). Currently I am running a Victor Jr. with a 1" spacer, and if I was confident I could have their results, I'd jump on it. I run a 1040 cfm Barry Grant Stage III Holley that I got long before the Demon carbs came out.

I have a set of Mitsubishi Eclipse seats in mine and I had some Talon seats before that. They are pretty easy, and leaps and bounds above the stock seats. The Eclipse seats have the same shape as the OEM seat. I think zhome has a write-up? I Googled real quick and couldn't find anything. But in a nutshell, front of track lines up with stock holes. Rear of track needs to be cut off and a bolt welded to the track lined up with the stock rear 240 mount. Put seat in car, Talon or Eclipse bolts in the front and a nut and washer on the welded bolt. Done. Note: These seats are too tall if you are taller than 6' or if you have a rollbar depending on where it is instaled.

I have collar/throwout arm issues in my car. Turns out the T5 uses a different collar and trhowout fork. One of mine is wrong, so I ordered both from Motorsport and just haven't had time to put it in. Short term fix was a slave from a 240sx, which is same diameter as early 240z. You may want to break out the credit card and get both parts for your trans/pressure plate combo. Good luck and keep us updated!

I have the Comp Magnum 280 mechanical street roller in my 355. The 282s compares favorably, especially with the 1.6 rockers. (My cam is 236 at .050 and .540 gross lift. I lash at .020.) A lot just depends on your heads. Most likely the double humps don't gain a whole lot with lift over .050. As noted above, too radical takes the fun out of it. Stick with the 282s. Many of the older cams don't suffer the failures of the faster ramp profiles of the newer cams. Compare .050 numbers and not advertised numbers. You can fine tune it with the rockers, trying any combination of 1.5/1.6 (all 1.5's, all 1.6's or intake vs. exhaust) to fine tune the cam size. The 282s would like being shifted at 6500 in a 355. Add a couple of hundred revs for a 327. My motor was in a '79 Z/28 with a 292h and an LT-1 intake and it ran 13.70's. The cam swap and Viftor Jr. put it in the 13 teens in my '69. Cold air and underdriven crank pulley dropped it to 12.7. Both cars were virtually same weight with 4.10 gears and Super T10 4 speeds. Best mph with the 292 was 101. With the 280r it's 110. I'm contemplating swap to a Performer RPM and would suggest same intake for your car based on the 2500-6500 rpm powerband. Oh, and my car flat LOVES the double pumper, I'm not a fan of the vac sec carbs, YMMV. I have a Barry Grant 750s3 that flows 1040 cfm (pre-demon carbs). No real mile per hour gain over a Holley 750, but the 4 corner idle is much smoother as well as the midrange.

Have you bought all these parts? As usual, no replacement for displacement... I ran a 4 bolt 327 punched .030 in my Camaro for a few years. I ran a Cam Dynamics 284 hydraulic cam and 4 valve relief flat tops (about 9.5:1) With 4.10 gears in a 3400# package it ran 14 teens. Your heads are way better than the bone stock 186 casting heads with 1.94/1.5 valves I had. Currently it resides in my Jimmy, replaced with a 355. The 282s is a great cam. I would run 1.6 rockers on the INTAKE and 1.5 on the exhaust. Small blocks just don't need split pattern cams with even a halfway decent exhaust system. The Performer RPM is a great intake choice as well. 3.70 with 26" tires that a Z likes will be plenty. I just prefer manual trans cars, but an auto with a 3000 rpm converter would be OK for the 282s and the 3.70 gears in such a light package.

My mistake. I remember reading that the bump in the hood was to clear an L series motor, but none were installed as you noted. But it was designed to clear an inline 6: you could get an RB20DET in the '85 Fairlady Z. Called the Fairlady 200ZR. This is from the Wikipedia 300ZX page: On the home market, the Z31 also came with a 2.0 liter motor. The 200Z, 200ZG, and 200ZS used the VG20ET motor while the 200ZR had the RB20DET. My memory has only partially failed me!

Not sure on the Z31 trans, but the L6 trans uses a unique rear seal. It also has it's own seal diameter but the spline count is the same as a Mopar. I put a new L6 yoke on my driveshaft, but another option would be to turn down the mopar yoke to the Nissan seal diameter. Any of the Ford shifters work fine (at least on the L6 trans) I have a Competition plus in mine.

Is it no longer possible to get the countershaft gear cluster? The labor is expensive compared to the parts. I think the Nissan T5 for the L6 has the same gear ratios as the Ford SVO trans. How do the rest of the Z31 gear ratios compare to the L6 trans? Was it just in Japan that the Z31 had an L6 in it? I thought the Euro cars were L6 as well and not V6?

takes a certain amount of power to do a certain amount of work. How efficient the fuel is used determines the economy. Along with friction, pumping losses, weight and aerodynamics. Maximize all of those things and you maximize economy. Friction and pumping losses can be reduced in a smaller displacement fewer moving parts engine (ie 4 banger) Throw that in a lightweight, aerodyamic vehicle and get killer mileage. Note that you have to optimize efficiency in the range you plan to run the engine. In these tiny gas motor/electric hybrids, some of them have engines that operate at a fixed rpm, one of maximum efficiency. (Gasoline engines can be tuned to produce volumetric efficiency better than 100% in small windows of rpm) Gasoline engines are most efficient at WOT (because of pumping losses and throttling) which also seems counterproductive to good fuel mileage. So hammer down (stop spinnin' those tires) and get up to the speed, then keep it as constant as you can for as long as possible.

The Super T10 is stronger than all of the Muncies except the M22 which has the reduced helical gear pitch. Other than that they have the 21 spline input and 40 spline output. (Which the M22 had as well, but most other Muncies had the 10/32)There are a couple of different first gears, but the most common is the 2.62. I have one in my '69 Camaro that was originally in a 79 Trans Am. My car with me in it weighs aroung 3500#'s and MPH's at 110 which should be about 365 RWHP. The only drawback to this trans really is the lack of an overdrive in a street car. Other than that, the are light and durable.

Pretty sure he's joshin' ya'...

I have, thanks. The two carbs just use different jets/numbering systems. I'm just looking to ballpark my setup without having to buy a ton of different jets. If I can get one set that's close, hopefully just one set more will get 'er done! I have a couple of books where they have setups on different motors. I'll find a 1.9 or 2.0 4 banger and see what the setup is for those whcih might do it.