Mike C

Great. Glad I could be of help.

The cheapest (arguably best?) route for the front on a STREET car is the setup that Terry (Blueovalz), Pete P, and Scottie GNZ (used to) have. It uses the Z32 4 lug vented front rotors with 280zx floating calipers on your scalloped 240 hubs. You need to reduce the OD of the rotor by ~ .25" then just drill the strut tube for the mounting bolts to pass through since they thread into the caliper on the ZX instead of the strut tube like the Zs. I bought Ross rear brackets and will do discs swap when I do the CV swap (as soon as my turbo ZX parts car comes through) and will do this same swap to my 240 in the front. Remove all proportioning devices from Nissan and run an aftermarket prop valve (~$40).

My Suspension Techniques bar comes with new risers for the back of the control arms. This puts the bar BEHIND the differential. Mine were a matched set from Summit Racing. The 73 240 DOES have the factory mounts to use the 260/280 rear bar but if your 72 is like mine, it does not. 275 50's are HUGE...

Some of it depends on the offset. I have two sets of 14x7. One set of Western "Hurricane" style wheels that have 215 60 14's and one set of Centerline Auto-Drags with 205 60 14's. 215's is about as wide as you want to go in the front, but 235 should work in the rear. I like having the same size all the way around in order to rotate tires for max longevity since my car is my daily transportation. I personally wouldn't even THINK about going 14's after doing my Centerline 16x7's with 205 55 16's. Hold out 'til you've got more money, it's worth it... The 25" height of this combo makes the car ride, steer and handle SO much better IMO. I paid $150 each for my wheels (4" backspace) from Summit and got the tires through Tire Rack for $58 each. Dunlop 205 55 HR 16 D60s on clearance. Total with mounting and balancing and new lugs was less than $1k.

The 4 bolt main large journal 327 (331) currently in my Jimmy took nearly 2k miles for the rings to seat up (4 valve relief forged flat tops). I don't know what was up with that, but 17 years later it's still going strong. 80k miles in the Camaro including at LEAST 200# of nitrous and another 100k in the truck dragging all sorts of stuff around.

I drive mine everyday and it only makes 145hp so think about that...

I have 2 LT1s. First was a 30k mile motor with CNC heads from a 96 Camaro SS (supercharged motor dropped a valve and he built a 396ci LT1 supercharged ~ $15k, he then had the CNC stock heads repaired). Second was a higher mileage motor from a wrecked Caprice cop car. I bought both from a friend as a package, but he bought the second because the fuel rails and accessories were more expensive than the complete junkyard motor ($800) The junkyard motor came with EVERYTHING. Exhaust manifolds and Cat converters, all accessories (PS, AC, alternator), all of the intake stuff (MAF, airbox, ducting), computer and complete engine harness. Just keep that in mind as you look at what everybody else got for about the same $ as you are talking.

For your 325-350 hp combo check out the hi-perf rebuild kit from northernautoparts.com with hyperutectic pistons, rings, bearings, gaskets, timing set, oil pump, Crane Energizer cam and lifters, only $299!!!! Add $150 if you want forged pistons. A set of SCAT rods with ARP cap screws is $250 (my choice over rebuilt stockers) add an aluminum intake, 650 double pumper and a set of 1 5/8 headers for an EASY 325hp. I'd also add the Vortec head conversion package from a GM dealer like Scoggin-Dickey with all the bolts, gaskets, intake and self aligning rockers. $1500 in parts and another $500 in machine work should net you closer to 400hp.

Compression will be about 10.5 on a 350, too much for iron heads IMO. (Corvette L98 aluminum heads are also 58cc chambers, but the alloy makes all the difference) You are giving up a LOT of power by staying with the small bore. Dare to be different by painting the motor PINK but for the about same amount of money you can build a 383 with Iron Eagle 215's that will make at least 100 more hp.

The Ramjet IS upgradeable, but you have to go DFI or something similar for a controller. I know the marine guys who have similar controllers in boats have figured a way to mod the motors, but those guys some to have dollars falling out their a$$. I would go the GM route if I weren't going to rebuild myself, but moving to the ZZ430 is crazy since the extra 80 hp costs $4000!!!! (Scoggin Dickey sells their version of the 430 since the GM was limited edition, only 430) Either the Ramjet if you'll be happy with 350hp and FI or the ZZ4 if you may want to stretch it later. 350hp in a 2500# car can be a handful, so remember to consider your abilities while building the car. Try and meet some guys locally for trans info. You can mail order, but IME, you'll have better luck finding a local Guru. There's a guy here in Austin who builds nearly bulletproof TH700's (only way to go IMO) for about $500 plus a converter.

Like everything else, it depends. Depends on which crate you buy, depends on the amount of power you want to generate, depends on whether you have connections for parts and machine work. If you want a mild motor and you want it complete, GM sells one that comes with everything but an alternator for about $2800 but it's only about 300hp. If you want FI, the Ramjet looks like a good deal, but it's only 350 hp. If you want to go 400+ hp, I'd build my own so I knew EXACTLY what was in it. As usual, "Speed costs money, how fast do you want to go?" Define your goals and objectives and that will should answer your question.

I think the T5 is the best trans as its first gear is the closest to the 4 speeds and it has the most overdrive. 22% I believe. With 3.36 however (If your 240 rear is stock, I would have thought rpm would have been a little lower. Mine is about 3000 at 70 with an 80 model 5 speed and 3.54 gears. I have 25" tall tires which can make a difference as well. Sounds like you may have 3.90s in your car?

If you alternator is a 3 wire, one of the two smaller should still be a field wire and the other an indicator wire. Separating the two and installing one at a time should see which identifies the field wire. Actually, with the ign switch off, they should both be dead, and with the switch on, the field wire should be hot. I'm not sure what sort of feedback is used for the indicator but would assume it is LACK of voltage that triggers idiot light so that one would be dead with engine not running. Check out Powermaster's web site and see if they have instructions for their alternators. They allow 1 or 3 wire hookup on most of them and that should help you id the field wire.

The stock LT1 heads have a coolant line off the back of the heads that is the crossover. From there it runs to the throttle body. It is even smaller than the -6 lines on the LT1 intake conversion, so should be fine.

Limited slips require a friction modifier to keep the clutches from chattering around turns and there is a Motorsport one that is good. An open diff requires nothing but hypoid gear oil as noted above.

Try getting one from an 84-86 Camaro with the 305 HO carbed motor and TH700.

I assume you are trying to free up a few extra ponies at WOT? It may be in your best interest to NOT disable the field as you will drop from 14.4 volts or so down to 12.6 (fully charged batt) which can lower your electric fuel pump and ignition output significantly costing way more power than switching the alternator would allow.

Pick up the phone and make a call. Like I said before, Northern cam help you out, but later model stuff isn't what ANY rebuild companies specialize in. It's easy to get spoiled to the web thing, but they do have an 800#. Most guys here with LT1 have bought low mileage wrecks and haven't need to r&r their short blocks.

I've got a set of the made-4-u looms on my Jimmy and my Z/28. I use 72 truck wires that have conventional cap connectors but run underneath the manifolds. I used the looms that are made for the valve cover that mount the wires vertically but I attached them to the oil pan. Nice product.

One of this months car rags talked about crossflow vs. top tank rads. They said one of the drawbacks to the top tank is the cap is on the pressure side and exposed to the max pressure of the system while in the crossflow it is on the suction side and sees less than the max pressure developed in the cooling system. With the stock pulley ratios you may have to go crossflow and 25lb cap to precent blowing the cap.

Great! I know from experience it will quickly turn into the best thing you ever did. Keep suffering through since the payoff is worth it!

Carabiner is the clip that rock climbers use to attach themselves and their ropes to things.

Ugghh. Have you got the slab poured yet? I can't tell you how happy I am to live in TX after hearing that horror story. Six inches into virgin soil and 6" above grad is all that's required for our temperate climate and soil. Once the concrete is finished, things should happen pretty fast. If you can get away with it, go for 9' walls instead of 8' and buy scissor trusses for at least a 12 foot width so you can add a lift someday. Also put doors on opposite sides of the building for ventilation. Not quite as big an issue where you are at, but without them here the shop is virtually unusable.

Have you done back-to-back tests to see what the gains are by cracking the hood? Sounds like a nice solution, and I believe it's a carabiner

One of this months car rags had a cooling info and explained why a side tank rad is better than the old top tank. The side tank has the radiator cap on the suction side and doesn't expose the cap to as much pressure as the Z top tank rad. If you had to spend the $, I'd go for a side tank setup whether the Griffin or the GM radiator is a personal choice as they both seem sufficient.