Mike C

You are on the right track. JTR is an abbreviation for the company Jags that run. Do a google search and buy their Z car v8 conversional manual. It's $35 and will answer just about any question you could have and save a lot of fingers...

Wow! 235 at the wheels with an NA motor? I don't remember specs on your engine Dan, would you refresh me? I'm going to drop my L28 and triple Del'Lortos in my 240 in the next few weeks, I hope.

I think there are a couple of reasons you don't see the LT4 and ZF swap. Price and availability. They just were in a few 'vettes and SLP Firehawks relative to LT1s. The ZF trans are usually snapped up by 'vette guys. Most of us Z car types are cheap skates, looking at best bang for the buck which will be LT1 6 speed or LS1 6 speed. As far as swapping goes, the T56 is easier and cheaper, quieter and you don't have the goofy dual mass flywheel that is needed to minimize gear rattle. (Gear rattle? In a $5000+ tranny? In a $40,000+ car? How long have they been building manual trans? What's up with THAT?) It's possible to get LT4 power out of an LT1 with the LT4 HOT cam and CNC ported stock heads. The LS1 rocks, though. I'd love to have one, but now we are back to the cheap thing.

Coolant does prevent corrossion, it just doesn't "stick" to the parts as well. How can oil in the tube contribute to suspension damping? The strut insert does that and is completely self contained. The insert is solidlly bolted into the housing if installed correctly it has zero movement, thus nothing to be damped.

What's your goal? A 255 hp L-98 from a 90-91 'vette or 245 hp motor from an F-body (same motor, different rating...) would be great in a Z stock. Pocket port the heads, add a cam and lifters along with a spring upgrade and you should be near 300 hp with small tube headers. That should make for a low 13 sec Z car. You really don't HAVE to do anything to put a supercharger on it but buy the kit... With the 9.5:1 compression you would be limited to about 6 psi.

I don't know what part of the state you are in, but I have a complete r200 changeover setup in Austin. Diff, mustache bar, and rear crossmember. $200 and they are yours. All parts came from a '78 parts car I had and it is a 3.54 geared diff with 10mm ring gear bolts. If your car is a 70-71 I have a driveshaft as well.

The engine driven fan was OPTIONAL on the iron head LT-1. Most likely in a cop car or station wagon, but it could have been had in an Impala SS. Regardless, 1996 was the last year of the LT-1 in the big cars and 95 and up had the modified optispark, and the engine is the same regardless of which platform it was installed in. More important is its condition rather than its source. I have two LT1s. A '96 Camaro motor with CNC ported heads and a '95 cop car motor. The Camaro motor is going into my '68 convertible and the cop car motor REALLY wants to find its way into my Z...

The cases of the T5 are the same. (I have two regular, 1 wc and 1 Nissan on the floor of the shop right now.) WC has different alloy gears and paper cone synchronizers and requires ATF. Early brass ring synchro trans used 85w90 but I have heard that they last longer with ATF because it is better able to get into some of the tighter areas of the trans.

You definitely got a Impala/Caprice/Roadmaster motor. The engine driven fan is a cool deal and not easy to come by. Desireable for someone wanting an LT-1 in a tow vehicle. Rumor has it that the cast iron heads flow better than the aluminum ones. I have two buddies with Impala SS. One is a high mileage '94 he pocket ported the heads and put a small crane cam in it. Cat back exhaust and it made 297 hp at the wheels. My other friend had a low mileage 96 he put AFR heads on and ASM coated headers and a full exhaust. Dynoed 265 at the rear wheels. Just to show you the potential of the non F-body/'vette motor, but I would ask for a couple of hundred bucks back...

Sequential setups are effectively batch fire above 3000 rpm. Just like an MSD box that goes single spark above 3k or so.

At least the Toyota is water cooled is it not?

Hey Tim, even my '86 TPI had an 80 amp alternator. Your LT1 one is at LEAST 100amp, probably more.

Check out Chris Alston's Chassiswork web page on backhalfing a car. Don't buy a chop saw, get the little metal cutting horizontal/vertical band saw from harbor freight. They run about $159 and it is much better than a chop saw IMO. Decide what you want for a rear axle and suspension and make a good plan. You won't regret the plan... I narrowed a GM 8.5" 10 bolt from a '79 trans am for my buddies 550 hp 427 small block S10 truck using a custom built jig. He is running an Eaton diff and Moser forged axles with c-clip eliminator kit. An early jeep Dana 44 might work with narrowing.

Tony Fruzza has one in one of his 240s. Email him for more info, or maybe he'll see this post. Look in alternative engine section.

Up to 100 amp output or so on the alternator, 10 ga should be fine. If you have a 140 amp alternator, I suggest going up to 8 ga.

Oooh. I like it! The $3050 it's at now seems like a smokin' deal with the 6 speed, but who knows what kind of crazy reserve its got.

Notice that Moroso pan in Grumpy's post has a bilt in crank scraper as well. Not as effective as one that is fitted to the crank, it still catches flinging oil and directs it back into the pan. That complete pan with scraper and screen is a good deal when you figure what just a set of studs to mount a windage tray costs, and you should have a block align honed when changing from bolts to studs as the higher clamping force can distort the cap out of spec. GM does have bolts that have the standoffs built into them, but are like $8 each. For stealth, get a 69 Z/28 pan and the GM windage tray and studs.

The overall length of the 200 is same as 350, but the 200s mount is in the same place as the 400 mount, requiring a 350 crossmember to be moved rearward. But the 350 driveshaft and yoke should work fine while the 400 requires the large yoke and a shorter driveshaft.

I thought '82 was the only year of the 3rd gen with the 4 speed? 83 should have been a cable actuated T5 and 84 and up the hydraulic clutch T5. I have two '84 T5's from Z28s.

See, the ol' brain ain't completely cooked!

Bill, I'll be happy to look at your carb this weekend if you want. I have a butt-kicker of a Physics test to take Wednesday night, but maybe this weekend? Shoot me an email if you want. mc

GM used three different 4 speed transmissions in the second generation camaros. From 70-73 in high perf cars they had the GM Muncie 4 speed with aluminum case. From 74-81 they used the even stouter Borg Warner Super T-10 aluminum cased 4 speed in high perf cars. Any year could have had the iron cased Saginaw 4 speed that was not nearly as durable and optional in the base model V8 cars and 6 cylinder cars. The T-10 is still available new from Richmond. I have 26" tall tires on my Camaro with 4.10 gears and it turns 3200 rpm at 60 mph. Nnot practical for a road trip machine, it's not too bad just around town. (Actually, at 30-45 it gets exceptional mileage!)3.54 and 25" tall tires in the Z and it would be quite liveable. A non-OD manual trans can tolerate more gear on the street than a compareable non-OD auto because of the extra slippage related to the converter (excluding the uncommon TH350 with lock-up converter. Check out Gearzone.net for help id'ing your tranny.

Yoke. (Yolk wouldn't handle torque load very well, sorry.) The TH200 should lock up in OD without any extra things. The shifter you have may need some parts that came with it to work with the 4 speed tranny. Usually the 700 is considered more desireable because it does have the lower first gear. To get same multiplication with 200 you need lower gears which offsets any gains in the OD dept. In a Z with 24" tires not as big of a concern, however. The flexplate should be fine, espcially if it has both of the torque converter patterns. I think JTR says the big starter won't work because of chassis interference, and if you have it in there now should be fine. I don't recall if 200 operates in OD at WOT or not. Scottie?

The floor reinforcements that run from the back of the frame rails and the floor pans are VERY rust prone in addition to the aforementioned battery area. Seems that the roof gets damaged on most 240s as well. (Groceries, kids?) Check the fuse box as the wiring on 240s tends to get burned up.

You have adjusted the idle mixture screws? Another sign of not running under load is a vacuum leak.