Mike C

I looked at the B&M shifter, but while I was still deciding, they changed it. The early ones had a bolt on stick, so you had lots of options, but the new ones the stick is fixed. I bought the Hurst Comp Plus for my ZX T5 just for that reason. Something to consider...

Depends on the motor to a significant degree. If your peak power is at or below 6500, I would run the air gap unless you plan fuel injection. In which case the Victor Jr. makes a better conversion intake. Overall power in the 2500-6500 rpm is very similar. I love my Victor Jr., but will probably do regular Performer RPM for my next intake.

Gearzone.net is main page for 5speeds.com. Same guy. Good info on manual trannys.

They are not complicated as you noted, but reasonably precise. Have you measured backlash on the two before disassembling? The Nissan shop manual tells how to R&R the carrier and the availability of shims to adjust backlash and pinion depth. If you are just chaniging the carrier, life is much easier than having to set pinion depth. I don't see any reason to change bearings as they last virtually forever. Inspect them for wear/heat damage however. The manual calls for something like .013 t0 .018 backlash (don't quote me on that, I'll double check for sure if you want.) which is "loose" compared to other diffs I have serviced. Note that the carrier should fit with a .010 or so interference into the case. This preloads the carrier bearings. I'm interesting in seeing your pics if the shims are laid out the same as mine. It looks like one side uses one large shim and one small. I think the larger one may be used on either side depending on what gear ratio the diff has, and the smaller ones actually are used for setting backlash.

Greimann is exactly right. The Mustang shifter will work on the Nissan T5, but not the GM one.

Check out the Driveline board for all sorts of info on r200. But in my experience, it is plenty stout for roadracing and street driving up to 500 hp. At least. Drag car a different story, but several guys have run 9's. See thread in this board. If you break it, it's most likely because you have torn up spider and side gears because it is an open diff. You really need to go with a limited slip of some sort.

Thanks Don. Looks like the break is somewhere between 83-85.Eventually we get enough of them taken apart, we'll know!

Thurem has you headed in the right direction. They even sell a video showing how to do it. I have not rebuilt a T5, but because of the caged and tapered bearings on the WC, it is much easier than the loose bearings found on the cluster in a Muncie and T10 which I have done.

GM has offered crate engines forever, and definitely you could buy a 327 from GM in 78. Wheter or not it was new or rebuilt is a matter of debate. If it was new, the stamp on the deck right in front of the passenger side cylinder head will most likely have the CM code along with a serial number. If it was a reman I don't know if they would have re-stamped it or if they even would have decked it.

Anybody checked out these headers? Patriot Tight Tuck http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=102154&prmenbr=361 They were in my last paper copy of the catalog. I really like the ball and socket joint on the header instead of relying on a collector gasket. They are reall close to the block as well. 16ga 1 5/8 with 2 1/2" collector, ceramic coated is $229. They even have the option of standard or D port flanges, straight or angle plug heads. This looks like an awesome setup.

No, you just have to have a reducer sleeve as I suggested above several times and Ross does as well. Easy, inexpensive solution to the problem. Especially compared to the difficulty of finding an LSD of any bolt size that is a reasonable price.

Yes. With no torque to speak of as you rotate the tire, no bias.

Starting in 1973 the 240 got provisions for the OEM bar. My 73 parts car has the early car suspension techniques uprights with sway bar mounts, but the sway bar on the car is mounted to the OEM location. Weird, but the nature of a 30+ year old car that people monkey with.

You may want to put SUs back on your car to see if you can improve mixture distribution and throttle response. How important is $? You can buy a NICE 95-96 LT1 and T56 for the price of the engine and trans you have selected ($7800 at those prices.)And you can unload what's left to help offset some cost. That is what I would suggest, and that is what I would do. BUT if you are going for MAX effort/MAX $... I guess I am of a different mind set than everyone else. I think the T56 is ridiculous as a performance trans. With that said, it is the best thing going for OEM used stuff. A first gear that is not low enough and an overdrive that is too high, and two of them at that. Especially pointless with a carb as you have to gear up so high to get the engine to turn a reasonable rpm number in top gear at a legal speed. Almost everyone with a performance F-body and the T56 switches to 4.11 gears. With the early .5 ratio sixth gear T56, with 4.11 gears it's only turning 1775 rpm at 65 mph, too slow to be able to just stomp on it and go, so a shift required but first at least has a reasonable 10.93 deffective ratio with the 4.10. But more gear means more gear speed, which means more heat. Really hard on deep gears to drive really fast relying on OD. Best to have moderate numbers on both ends. As far as the Richmond goes, it is an excellent trans with a nice gear spread. Just too much money. And too big, too. And in addition to the trans which DOES come with a shifter, you still have to buy a bellhousing, and a serious performance car should have an explosion proof one. While "close ratio" is the buzzword, you just don't need that with an engine that has a broad torque spread, which your interest in the RamJet seems to suggest, and any V8 in a 2600# car means. Since the availability of a gear lower than 3.54 is virtually unobtainable in the Z r200, you do need a trans with a reasonable OD, but even the .76 will be quite acceptable. 3.54*.76=2.69 or a perfect economy gear. My opinion is the Tremec is the best choice, or a Ford World Class T5 using an adapter bellhousing from McLeod or Lakewood if you don't plan on hardcore rev it up/dump the clutch drag racing. Personally, I like as much gear as possible. It really allows you to apply the throttle linearly and to modulate wheelspin with your right foot. The 3.27 first gear of the Trecmec coupled with a 3.54 rear gear gives a 11.58 overall first gear (compared to 9.4 for the T56) and a 2.41 effective final drive in 5th (compared to a useless 1.77 for the T56) Brand new the WC T5 is $1200 and the conversion bellhousing $400. This is the cheap way to go and get new parts, but Ford T5s are easy to come by used. You just need to ask your wallet what IT wants.

010 is the last 3 digits of the casting number. There are another occurrence of three digit numbers behind the flywheel or timing cover. Two occurrences of 010 010 is a 1% tin 1% nickel block. 010 020 means 1% tin 2% nickel. This is the "high nickel" block. 3970010 was available either high nickel or regular, either two bolt main or four, so you have to pull the pan to verify bolts and look behind front or back to verify nickel content. The high nickel blocks are more wear resistant than the standard block, but both will work fine.

Congratulations! All of your hard work is really paying off!

Unless it is a damaged open diff, or a worn out limited slip. Positraction is GMs trade name, TrakLok is Dana's and Traction Lock is Ford's. They all mean the same thing, Clutch pack limited slip. Only way to know for SURE is to pull the cover... But since the LSD is most uncommon, I would assume that you have reason to believe you might have one? If that is the case, then most likely Mark's method will confirm/deny that.

Check out this month's Popular Hot Rodding (or for that matter, www.enginemasters.com) and the winning Joe Sherman 365 ci motor. May sway you away from a 383 and just build a 358 (.040 350). Over 600 hp and 500 lb ft on pump gas with a hydraulic roller 284/284 232 .569/.535 (1.6 rockers on the intake, non-split pattern cam) 108 LSA. Spend all the extra money you saved on a crank on lighweight pistons and rods and killer heads. Shermans used AFR 215 that he bought unfinished (190cc but NOT the 190 head, just an unfinished 215) Centerforce and Hays both offer a 153 tooth steel flywheel, but not sure if they have them for external balance. Check with CAT also.

Large journal block for 302/327/350 1969 only, can be two or four bolt. Use same numbers as above to see if casting is high nickel or standard. Don't know of any durability problems with it. It and the 3970010 fit all of the same applications. The 010 block soldiered on until 1980.

Found this post over on www.240z.org of another LSD. Australian guy said he has one in his first gen Z, but the list on the site doesn't show it as applicable. Anybody else familiar with this? http://www.kaazusa.com/ Here are some links to his site. Appears to have RB motor in his car. http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=1898&thumb=1

Ok, pulled the cover off of my '85 300zx turbo diff. It is an open carrier (we knew that) with a gear set manufactured 5 3 21 or the 21st day of the 3rd month of the 5th year (March 21, 1985). And it has 12mm ring gear bolts (11.98mm on my Mitutoyo digital caliper). I'm quite pleased with that because that is why I bought it since I already had 3 or 4 10mm 3.54 geared r200s. Does anybody have an 83 diff to take apart? In talking to Reider Racing in the past, the diff they had showed 82 and up. Anybody with an 82-83 diff they can pull a ring gear bolt on and measure? Turbo or NA?

The PG powerbrute is made by Tochigi Fuji. Who also makes the Reider Racing diff. Who makes the Nissan diff. Who makes the NISMO diff. Who makes the CalMini diff. And none of them can get it... Calmini quotes $449 and Reider $519. Either way, I would be willing to spend that. Neither can get it. I've been on the Reider backorder list for 9 months (May of last year). I've tried to contact TF directly, but can find no contact info. If I could verify 100% that the Xterrra front diff was exactly like the R200 rear diff, I would order from Calmini and get on their wait list... I had found a guy with an Xterra who said he would ship me his OEM open diff since he had installed an air locker. But it fell through.

You may also have a blown or wrong powervalve. This really makes it run lean at higher RPMS, by a factor of almost 10 jet sizes.

If you will do a search for ring and pinion install on google, you will be swamped. Tons of four wheel drive spots. Might get lucky and find a guy doing the CalMini in the R200 front of his Xterra. They are out there... Ok Mudge, another $200 then.

No reason to. The Jeep motor makes good torque but lousy HP. It weighs a ton. The Nissan motor will respond better to mods than the jeep motor. Because of Jeep CJ's, you can adapt almost any trans to the AMC motor, but a SBC will be cheaper, easier, faster. Or the Nissan motor will be a lot more fun with a 6000 rpm redline instead of 4.5k, unless you spend big bucks with Clifford 6=8.