Mike C

The TH700 auto trans has a MUCH bigger case than the manual trans (especially the T5) and requires removal of Datsun trans mounts. The TH350 is somewhst larger, but should fit without mods. The extra work comes with the clutch linkage not really any additional mods to the car.

I assume you mean 87 Chevy 5 speed? If not what kind of tranny is it? I am NOT in favor of the 'vette diff in high powered cars. The half shaft is a locating link, the virtual "3rd link" in the 3 link suspension or 4th in the C4 setup. If you break a half shaft you can lose control of the car. In the Datsun setup, if you break a half shaft, the wheels stay pointed forward. I broke a stub axle clip on my '84 'vettes Dana 36 and nothing was visually wrong, but driving down the road and the car would attempt to make a sudden lane change with no input Spooky. In theory, the 'veet parts ARE stronger than the Datsun parts, so you should be less likely to break parts. There have been several Z's running in the 9's with r200 and u-joint halfshafts, yet Stony can't even get in the 10's because of broken half shafts. Interesting. The 'vette and jag rears are also why NHRA and IHRA outlawed IRS in cars running faster than 11.00. Unless you are running sub 11 second times, I think the CV/Quaiffe setup in an r200 is the best way to go. Now as far as the "cool" factor, the 'vette setup is over the top!

My suspension techniques 1" lowering springs came from Summit for $139 for the set of 4 and my KYBs from the local parts store at about $50 each. That is $339 and I did the labor myself with a set of $15 Harbor Freight strut spring compressors.

We did my buddies '55 ford Custom line. $600 windshield... We used rubber cement for the lubricant/glue/sealer and used heavy cotton twine similar to how Steve325 did. Glue the seal to the windshield, then put the string in the body channel of the rubber. Liberally apply rubber cement. Then lay the assembly on the car where it goes, and from the inside pull the end of the string which pulls the rubber into position. I have heard people do it with out using the rubber cement, but most of them end up pulling it back out because of leaks. Now would be a good time to clean and put rust converter/sealer on the body seam under the seal.

I must agree with not using bolts to pull the trans up. If it doesn't go relatively easily, something is out of whack. If you do the clutch, get a plastic disc alignment tool. MSA has one for ~$10. If you want to get some waterpump bolts and cut the heads off, then thread them into the block they will help hold the trans up while you guide it in to make it easier on the arms. You will probably miss the deep first gear of the 4 speed. Is your 5 speed early or late? (3.3 or 3.0 first gear? they also have different overdrives, the earlier one is less. zhome.com as a ratio chart) I have a late one and swapped to a 3.54 r200 which helps a little. You may want to find a 3.90 diff, but I thought it took away too much of the gains of OD. You will love having the extra gear on the highway! I am REALLY looking forward to my T5 with it's deep first gear AND overdrive, almost as much as the late 5 speed but much better get up and go.

Pete, not all of the small journal cranks were forged. Later ones, 65-66-77 might have had a cast crank, but MOST were forged.

All small block Chevys are physicall the same size... The 4" bore of the 302 is the same as the 327 which is the same as the 350. They all used the same block in 68 and 69. Not in 67 where the 302 and 327 were small journal while the 350 has always been large journal, no difference in block rigidity since block casting and bores are all the same.

Thanks for the info Tim. But to add, if the date stamp is "outdated" then they will not refill/exchange the bottle. May be a way for them to make more money...

Hurst Dual gate is the one you are thinking of. I have a B&M Quicksilver ratchet shifter for sale. Shifter, both round and a T handle, console from a Star shifter, and the cable. You will need trans bracket an shift arm. I'm asking $50. Email me I'll send you a pic. If you want to go junkyard and have a 3 speed, the 73-81 Camaro shifter is pretty decent, cheap too. It is a "slapstick" shifter. Push it sideways and forwards and it only goes up one gear. Pretty cool. Also found in Vegas and Monzas. (I am assuming you have a V8 car? Othewise, a newer Z shifter might work.)

Lower the front. Actually, even better, take advantage of the situation and get yourself some aftermarket lowering springs all the way around and new struts if you haven't done that yet. Makes the car drive SO much nicer.

In addition to the Monte Carlo, other G bodies as well. (Cutlass, Skylark, GN, Hurst/Olds, 442)You should also find one in Oldsmobile, Pontiac, or Chevrolet midsize cars after 83 I believe. (Like the Malibu and El Camino, I can't remember the model designation for the other brands.)

As I noted above, the paper cone synchros of the World Class T5 need ATF. The earlier NON-WC transmissions used 75w90. I have 3 non-WC trans, one Nissan and 2 GM, and poured gear lube out of each. My one WC trans was full of ATF in addition to the decal on the side that side "USE DEXRON II ATF ONLY" I have heard that it is OK to switch to ATF in an older trans, but I cannot verify that for sure. The reason they wnet to ATF was the switch to the very small bearings on the speed gears from the bushings. They needed a lighter vis fluid in order to adequately penetrate to the bearing surfaces in these very small openings. That was what I heard at least...

I have been lurking on this post for awhile and thought I would weigh in. (Sorry...)I like the idea of a "little" v8 and think the baby LT1 (4.6 litre) would be an ideal swap for a daily driver. All of the looks and drivability of its big brother but at a significantly reduced price and MUCH easier on a T5. But this is for a fun daily driver. Now, if max output is your goal, displacement is the name of the game to a point. The 302 has a very high "cool factor", but since you have to pony up big bucks for a crank and pistons, why not go bigger? You can make a 355 rev as fast as a 302 if you can keep the reciprocating weight down and flow enough air. Just run a proportionately larger camshaft and larger cylinder heads with a lightweight recip assembly. The 302 was built to fit the 5.0 rule for Trans Am racing which by its very nature keeps the engines at very high rpm for extended periods of time. This is not a problem on a street car, so a high rpm longer stroke motor should have fine longevity since it just doesn't remain at bearing damaging speeds for long. At some point there is a law of diminishing returns to both displacement and cylinder bore. Thus it is MO that THE best choice for a max effort car is this: Big bore, short stroke, max displacment. Not a contradiction! 4.125-4.155" bore 400 block with a 3.25" stroke crank. This takes advantage of the larger piston surface area of a 400 which increases cylinder pressure and unshrouds the valves. It also uses the smaller crank bearing diameter for reduced crank bearing speeds while the short stroke will reduce piston speed compared to a 355. Coupled with a mechanical camshaft (flat tappet or roller in the 260 deg duration at .050 and .550 lift to make life easier on springs on the street)This should net about 360ci and a 7500 rpm power range for well over 500hp. It could also be coupled with a 3.5" stroke crank to build a 380ci motor. As usual, the bottom line is the almighty dollar! I would build a 302 with 11:1 pistons (stock replacemts) using a small journal 327 block and a 283 crank, but for the street might as well build the 327. All things being equal, a 365hp 327 could put it on a 302, even an L79 350hp 327. 400 and 383 have become popular because they are cheap, something to consider but I am not a fan of the 3.75 inch stroke, (although internally balancing tempers that) but that is just personal as they run quite well. I still think a 355 short block coupled with the best heads you can buy is the way to go for a BUDGET max effort street motor. FWIW, the 358 ci Nascar motors make 700+hp at 8000 rpm. They also run between 7000 and 9000 rpm continuously for 500 miles at a time! They use the 4.125" block and as they overbore to repair, they manipulate the stroke to remain in the 358ci range. My neighbor owned the "World's fastest SBC powered Corvette" for a couple of years. It had a Nickens Brothers 388 cubic inch motor that made ~950hp with a single 4 barrel carb at around 9000 rpm. The backhalfed 66 'vette had a 7000 rpm converter (!)and ran 8.37 at 160+ on the ProGas 8.90 index . Obviously piston speed and longterm durability not as important in a motor that is gone through at LEAST once a year, but shows that you can get that high rpm action from larger displacements.

I believe 2 years is the period for testing. They las t forever, virtually at least. I get mine filled where I "bought" them. They don't actually fill them but swap them out. If they are out of date, they charge you for a Hydrotest when you swap. It's about $25 if I remember. The second tank I had was first Hydrotest stamped 1935. The 1937 stamp had a Swastika next to it!! I don't think I had ever seen a tank with so many stamps, but it was still going! (Wonder if it was ever a Messerschmitt Nitrous bottle?)

No. The World Class T5 was available in Ford and GM cases with appropriate input/ouput shafts. I have also heard it was the trans of choice in the 3.8 powered 93-2002 6 cylinder cars and that this GM trans is basically the Ford. Not verified. The Nissan input shaft is significantly different than the other trans in spline count, diameter, and lenth. The early Ford T5 had a 3.27 first gear while the GM had a 2.95 first gear. Smaller the number the stronger the gear. All World Class trans should have the 2.95 first gear. The Nissan T5 has a 3.5 first gear which is awesome for the NA motors IMO. Other differences in World Class vs non trans are WC: paper cone syncros, bearings under speed gears, tapered countershaft bearings, ATF. Non-WC: brass syncros, bushed speed gears, caged non-tapered roller bearings on countershaft, 75w90.

Figure $700 to get a wire feed welder to use gas, it should come with a helmet. The more you spend up front, the happier you will be long term IMO. Add $100 for a small gas bottle will get you started. $50 at Harbor Freight will get you some gloves, MIG welder pliers, vise-grip style locking pliers, magnetic angle jigs, magnetic ground clamp, and a set of butt-weld clamps. Harbor Freight has the band saw on sale for $150 ever so often, or $180 regular price. Buy some good blades like Starret, about $15 each. That's about $1000. IME, you will also want a GOOD 4 1/2" grinder ~$100 and if you are welding more heavy duty stuff probably a 7" grinder as well ~$150. Beyond that, $100 worth of steel will at least get you a few different sizes to play with.

In my research, the minimum amperage was about the same on the 110v or 220v welders. I just sold my 145 amp Century 230v welder. It was a fine buy about 5 years ago at Sam's for $450. It had infinitely adjustable heat and wire speed. I found it just wasn't big enough for some of my non-auto projects. I just replaced it with the Century 250 which has a 100% duty cycle at 160 amps, 60% at 225 amps. It also has stitch and spot timers and will weld as small as 26ga and up to 1/2" in a single pass. Welder quality/features are definitely proportional to price. As well as weight. The local welding store told me horror stories on getting parts for Century, but one phone call and a credit card # and I could get virtually anything in a couple of days. I think he was just dogging them since he didn't sell them. Once you get your welder (and I highly recommend the metal cutting bandsaw that Tomahawk Z has. I have the Harbor Freight version,~$150, and will probably never use my abrasive chop saw again...) get yourself a project to practice. A hot wate heater smoker is a good place to start. I built a 24" x 84" smoker on a trailer. You CAN'T be a good redneck without a BBQ on wheels.

What do you mean by largest? As width and height are related, they are still independent. You should try to stay close to the stock height ~25" for speedo accuaracy, but width has nothing to do with it. If you have 3.54 gears, you can run say a 28" tire with the 3.36 speedo gears or if you have 3.70 you can run the tall tire with the 3.54 gears. You could go the other way as well if you were looking for more effective gear ratio.

The Crane self-aligning roller rockers fit under the stock covers fine on my LT1. Not sure on Vortec but don't see why it would be different. Check out eBay where you can get a polished aluminum center bolt cover for ~$100.

First off, buy an aftermarket shifter with the positive stops. Not only is this insurance, but it moves the T5 shift quality into a different league entirely. Depending on your time frame, I would R&R the ENTIRE trans and add the Gearzone.net stell countershaft bearing stabililer. Although it may be that the Nissan T5 doesn't have the tapered countershaft bearings and may not need them? Either way, go to www.gearzone.net and learn all about T5's. Really worth your time IMO.

I hope you'll have more pics? I run my house off my shop. It is on a single 125 amp breaker connected to the shop's 200 amp service. 100 amp service will be more than sufficient for your shop. I have only thrown my house breaker once, and was running the electric heater, hot water heater, electric dryer, computer, lights, you name it it was pretty much on... My new MIG welder draws 45 amps at 230 volts at peak output, but I have yet to throw the 30 amp breaker that I originally installed, but will pick up a new 50 amp one at the 'Depot next time I'm there. I run my compressor, welder, and lift off the same circuit, but they are never on at the same time.

Was the gear slop noticeable when it was out of the car or just in the car? In the car there is a ton of other variables that can give it the appearance of excessive play. Do you still have u-joint style half shafts, I can't remember. If so, the spline in them can introduce a lot of apparent "slop" in the diff. Also, there is just some play to begin with. .003 to .008 is significant, honestly. Especially without any fluid in the case. I'm always amazed when I set up a diff how large of a rotation there appears to be. This seems to be a perfect example of "if it ain't broke..."

Was the gear slop noticeable when it was out of the car or just in the car? In the car there is a ton of other variables that can give it the appearance of excessive play. Do you still have u-joint style half shafts, I can't remember. If so, the spline in them can introduce a lot of apparent "slop" in the diff. Also, there is just some play to begin with. .003 to .008 is significant, honestly. Especially without any fluid in the case. I'm always amazed when I set up a diff how large of a rotation there appears to be. This seems to be a perfect example of "if it ain't broke..."

The Xterra and the Frontier 4x4 have a Nissan r200 in the front. I have spent quite a long time trying to find out if this diff is interchangeable with a rear r200. Nobody knows. I had found a guy to send me his OEM r200 diff from his Xterra, but haven't heard from him in weeks, so who knows?

Pressure should be fine where it is at, but a Holley will tolerate a little more pressure than that. My Holley red pump puts out 7psi at idle, but only 1 1/2 psi at WOT Needless to say, I have never run my nitrous system... WOT is where pressure is a real concern unless you are blowing the needle off the seat.