Mike C

The jag rear axle suffers from the same malady as a 'vette. It uses the half shaft as a locating link. This can causes all sorts of evil things to happen when and if a half shaft breaks. They were all the rage in street rods at one time, but nobody really uses them much anymore. The gear ratios suck unless you want to go to Bonneville. SOmething like 2.86. You cannot get a limited slip either except for the Dana 44 center section that was found in some mid 80's XJS. IMO you should spend money/time elsewhere as your 300ZX setup is better than the 1950's design of the Jag rear end.

Just hard to say without looking at the car. Examine the area around the battery carefully. If that has rusted away it could well have caused the strut tower to move. Maybe somebody mixed and matched an older strut housing and newer one at some point in its life? (240 vs 280) Probaly would be best to have somebody check it out.

I rebuilt the front end on a '69 camaro last week. Same problem. I just removed 1/4" from one end of the "spacer" between the washers. Worked great on his car. I was cussin' up a storm at it though. Just could NOT get the darn nut started. I fixed HIS little red wagon, though.

Glad it worked out. I highly recommend this piece to lots of people, but most shy away from the price. The base costs as much as a complete aftermarket air cleaner, but hey, get what you pay for! I like Rick's, too. My only complaint is they don't send me a new catalog every year.

Lower your idle speed and lean out the idle mixture. This should help significantly. Also, a switch to colder plugs can make a world of difference.

Isn't the optispark pretty much setup the same way? Seems like a reasonable idea, but in practice it doesn't seem to work too well. Also makes getting a cap locally a pain in the arse. If you have to buy plug wires, get the ready made wire for a 67-72 GM truck with small block. These have straight boots on the distributor so they don't lay over on each other at the cap and they have 90 degree boots on the other end. They route down the back of the block, along the oil pan and come up to plugs from the bottom. Works quite well, and the ready made wires are actually cheaper than the cut to fit sets which you can't get with straight distributor boots.

I like the Centerforce II pressure plate. I've had one in my Camaro since '88. Not a lot of miles on it, but they are hard ones! I have the 11" one, but performance with the 10.5 (or is it 10.2) should be more than acceptable in a light car. I like the pedal pressure. It is stiff, but not ridiculous like the McLeod Long style fingers in the Borg&Beck hat. I have the McLeod street disc. Series 200 I believe? I ran the fiberglass "racing" disc with the B&B/L pressure plate, but it was a little grabby for a daily driver. I bought the '82-'83 280zx turbo CF II for my 2.8l motor as well along with a turbo flywheel. If you need to get into one cheaper, go for the Mcleod diaphragm pressure plate. Especially with the 400 since the rpm range is lower, the weights won't make as big a difference.

Stupid edit, keeps getting Internal error message. If it's not in the JTR V8Z manual, it is in their How to swap GM tpi tbi engine manual.

I believe the rule on cats is they are part of the emissions equipment and as such must be installed with an engine swap, at least in CA. Just like the charcoal cannister. The JTR manual talks a little about passing smog requirements, particularly those in CA. If it'll pass there, it'll pass pretty much everytwhere!

Thanks Pete, I'll be watching! Let us know what you find with the cap.

I have 16x7 Centerlines on my car. 4" backspacing 0 offset. They have 205 55 16's that are almost exactly same height as stock. NO clearance issues with stock diameter springs. All 4 tires same size lets you rotate tires as well. I am super pleased with this combo and highly recommend it.

You can get 300 hp from your 305. Pocket port the heads and have a good 3 angle valve job done. Get the compression around 9.5:1 and run a cam with 210 degrees of duration at .050. Add a medium riser 4 barrel intake and some shorty headers and you should be there. At the flywheel. I have a friend with an '86 TPI 305 in his '74 Corvette convertible. It ran 13.97 at 100 mph in Houston. Not too shabby for a 305! (flat tappet hydraulic SLP cam, Edlebrock intake only because the OEM intake was warped, and a set of 1 5/8 blackjack headers with an 02 bung added. It does have a first gen DFI and harness. Car has 3.07 gears and a 2000rpm converter. ~3700#)

Me too! Fortunately mine are the #3 starters, same ones they used on the 454's. I figure the 9.5;1 pressure from the 454 is equal to the 11:1 of the 383 since it is spread over a larger surface area. I;m glad yours is working well now.

The Buick pretty much drops right in. Confer with Scottie GNZ on details. I would use the GM driveshaft and the Neapco adapter. I would buy a low mileage 96-97 3.8 from the Camaro/firebird. Add a cam and good exhaust and you should be able to get 230 hp or so. Very reliabley. In 1998 they swithced to drive by wire, but the earlier motors use a cable. Get the JTR manual, because throttle, driveshaft, exhaust, suspension, etc. are all pretty much the same for a small block. The book is well worth it for all of the other stuff.

Usually rotor failures are a cap problem. If the spring and the contact in the cap are not making contact with the center of the rotor then you get arcing everytime the coil fires. Pull your coil (if it is internal) and check the bushing and spring, or go buy a new cap and rotor with brass terminals/contacts. I was NOT happy with the quality of the Accel parts. Either MSD or even Blue Streak is better IMO. (I had an accel cap that destroyed several rotors, the spring clamps were so weak, that when I grabbed second gear hard, the cap wiggled enought to contact the rotor tip, immediately turning it 45 degrees. POW! take the cap off turn it straight, drive home slow, buy another rotor. MSD cap and rotor solved ALL of those problems.)

I got out the JTR book to look at your starter. According to them, number 7 is a heavy duty GEAR REDUCTION starter. Most of the ones I have are like number 3 in the photo. The number 3 is available with both noses (straight and angled bolts) for both flywheels. My '96 LT1 came with a starter like that. I don't know if it was the original or not, but with only 30k miles on it I assumed it was, but who knows? I bought the starter that looks like #8 for both of my trucks. Cast iron bellhousings have a bellhousing mount starter like the Datsun and the regular nose won't go in the hole. The books says it won't work on the V8 Datsun, but doesn't somebody here have that one? Also, the JTR manual (the bible, right?) says that #3 and #7 are the best of all the starters. I am assuming that yours is just worn out? Brushes and a new solenoid should fix it right up. I took two apart and combined the pieces last week to get it working. I am going to put it on my camaro eventually and will post results.

I thought long and hard about doing the 3.8 v6 from a 96-97 Firebird or Camaro. 200hp and they are available with the world class 5 speed. The buick makes more hp than the chevy, but displacement is in the chevy's favor. It was not available in cars with a manual trans, but it was in S10 and fullsize trucks , but the shifter is in the wrong place. Besides, with the Buick you get SMPFI vs. either TBI or CPI injection with the 4.3. You also get the Electromotive style 3 coil ignition.

Ratio should be same as well. ALL of the '87-89 LSD equipped cars have 3.70. The LSD was a running change and the early '87 cars didn't have it. Look for the finned aluminum cover. Also, the all white '88 SE has a visous diff and requires different half shafts.

If you believe the dyno tests on zhome.com then you may want to just put your cast iron manifold back on. Check it out under Modifications for Road & Track. I decided to keep my 240 manifold for my 2.8l motor with triple Del'Lortos. If I ever get it in the car, I'll let ya' know what's what.

I'm not sure how well the Mustang shift handle will fit relative to my position in the car. I did not buy a Ripper because they no longer have a replaceable handle. The Hurst still have the bolt on stick, as well as some others like BBK. The Hurst Billet and Competition plus are about the same price, but the Comp came with upper and lower boots and retainer. They were designed for the mustang console, but can be installed below the Z shift boot and keep you from having to buy something else. Mine is for the 83-85 mustang and you will NEVER regret that purchase. The stock T5rt shifter is a serious POS.

As Pete noted, larger displacement engines have more torque. More displacement is usually more money. I am cheap. A 350 can make good power for much less money than the other motors. As much power? Not unless you turn it to the moon. But the forged piston rebuild kit for a 350 with EVERYTHING from Northern auto parts is $450. The forged pistons for one of the other motors start at $400 and go up. I would rather have a forged piston internally balanced 355 than a hyperutectic externally balanced 383. Also, you have to use the balancer and the flexplate/flywheel from a 400 either the 383, 391, or 406. Most of the other larger displacements use internally balanced aftermarket cranks in the $750 range. Bottom line is YOU have to decide what YOUR goals are, and mine are to have a nice car that's fast but didn't preclude me from doing other things as well by eatin' up all my resources. (I have NEVER regretted buying cheaper car parts so I could put more money in my shop, my tools, my house and etc.)

As much as I would like to be the devil on your shoulder and get you into a V8Z, I can't. Being involuntarialy retired and back in school, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to have a "nest egg" for so-called emergencies. You are really lucky to have that money and not only can it keep you out of debt but may well turn into a down payment on a house or as noted above, a retirement nest egg. Buy a $2k dollar 240 and drive it while in school. Apply what you learn in school to modding the Z's 6 and suspension, then when you get a job, buy tools with some of your money, buy a house and keep a little for a rainy day. Save a little here and there for car parts and eventually you'll get all the stuff you need without breaking the bank. Taking it slow lets you wait for really good deals, so in the end the $10k you would have spent up front can be duplicated for $5k over time. Now I'm off the soap box.

Not a disaster. Wish I had one to give, but I know your local dealer will. Shouldn't be more than a few dollars.

Thanks Tim. I'll shoot some photos of the 3 different starters I have so far and share what I know about them. I have rebuilt one with the parts from two and it bench tests fine. The little starters I have don't just have a stamped plate over the end. There is the nose, then a permanent magnet "stage", about 2" long, then an end cap. The end cap is kind of a one piece cylinder about 2" long instead of just flat. This makes the disassembled starter have 3 basic "stages" as I saw it. The end cap houses a pretty neat 1 piece brush assembly, and the middle piece is just some enclosed permanent magnets. The armature has a bushing in the end cap and in the back of the bendix. The shaft that goes into the bendix has 3 small planet gears that engage with it, then they all fit into a sun gear approx the size of the case. The bendix then has a roller bearing on the end where it is supported by the case. Very nice little starter, but it sounds different from the one most of the LT1s have. I'll get pics and start a more relevent thread...

I feel your pain. I have found a guy in Oregon who is going to send me his OEM front diff from his Xterra (he put an ARB in it) and I am going to pull apart the 85 300zx turbo diff I have and try to find out if these things are the same. You can buy the Xterra front LSD diff for $450 brand new. I am willing to spend that, but not the $750 that Nismo wants or that most of the used ones seem to go for. I've got my fingers crossed...