1 tuff z

more pics!

first drive this past friday evening on the way home from the welders where we built the exhaust [follow link to pics in my gallery] http://album.hybridz.org/showphoto.php?photo=6706&cat=500 about 50 degrees and rainy, i didn't push too hard as i didn't want to loop it and have to start over. took evilc out for a ride on saturday afternoon, i can say it feels like the fastest/quickest car i've ever driven. let me quantify that though, i've driven the following; dodge viper, detomaso pantera, 300zx tt [modded ++ hp], lotus elise, lotus esprit turbo, formula ford, ferrari f355 [exhaust & chip], acura nsx, porsche gt2 club sport [430 hp tt]. nuff said! i'll let evilc chime in with his perspective... to do; dyno & tune pcm, finish gauge install, put together interior, adjust brake bias, get quieter muffler, work out any other bugs that come up... david [can u see me smiling?!]

comon, by now everyone on this forum knows that horsepower is an addictive drug, get some, gotta have more! ps-love the landau vinyl top! david

found the covers brand new on ebay, i think they were $70 shipped. then another hour to cut for throttle cable bracket [pass side] and throttle cable [driv side].

county sheriff stated 'she was clearly at fault' and his report reflects that. she has insurance, waiting ot hear back from them. i'm asking for; check for totalled zx, coverage for rental car [prob couple weeks], cover chrio bill. had sold the zx to a friend last week-he wanted it for the engine & tranny, called him yesterday and told him i totalled his car-he still wants it as it runs great and has only 58k on the odo. went to the chiropractor yesterday-sore neck, feeling better today. i had sold the car last week to another z friend-wanted the engine as it's only at 58,000 miles [called him yesterday, he still wants the car!]. still runs great but i won't fix it as there's quite a bit of rust underneath...now just another donor car.

the donor car is evil c's. we'll begin stipping that car saturday.

stock ls1 [no cam or head work], open shorty headers from jtr. hope to have exhaust done in the next week or so and get it out on the road for it's first shake down drive. just got the insurance and plates back on today!

click on link, my daily driver zx was totalled yesterday... http://album.hybridz.org/showphoto.php?photo=6572&cat=500

clive, the 2 ls books i let u borrow have the way to id the block/heads in them somewhere. it is definitely the ls6 intake, not sure on the block & heads. no egr, but has air pump [mike from new era will be able to delete that from the pcm when he flashes it for you as he did mine]. david

mike [from; neweraperformanceparts.com] came over yesterday to flash my pcm. he'll also be joining me at the dyno to do the tuning when the exhaust is complete. anyway, [if memory serves me correctly] he modified the following; delete-2nd oxy sensors, air pump, vats, other stuff he said i didn't need, lowered 'on' temps for fans, input proper rear end ratio, asked me if i wanted to change the 160mph limiter [like my z will ever see that speed]. we then fired her up [ahh, the smell & sounds of open headers!!], and he said [while viewing stats on his laptop] that everything looks great!

thanks for all the encouragement. i now realize that there is NO way i could have done this [successfully] and pushed this project to the point that it is without the hybrid braintrust! i'm constantly humbled by those of you who have a much deeper and innate understanding of how our cars work than i. it has also dawned on me that 10 years ago, i wouldn't have had the patience to plan, work on or complete a project like this. not to say that i'm done...yet. i'll keep u all posted and thanks for all the help and advice along the way! put the car down on all fours last night-no longer a member of jsr!!

did some wiring, mounted fan & fuel pump relays, positioned diagnostic port, mounted pcm last night and quit as we were getting tired and it was late. home from work today, connected a couple more, put on the + batt terminal, pulled the fuel pump fuse, turned the key [now holding breath of course], key to acc-all ok, to on-eng check light on [i used the choke light] and i hear a relay click-still ok, bump key to start-she fires right up! then within about 1 second dies [no fuel]. so, i had to put in the fuse to hear it again-music to my ears! i'm pretty pumped now hearing it for the first time-albeit open headers in my z. next-finish wiring & mounting gauges, put interior back together then get it off to the welder to build the exhaust. ordered t304 16 ga stainless tubing & bends. will be a dual 2.5 to single 3" [just after tranny]. then off to dyno to tune and finally get to drive. i'm hoping by the end of the month she'll be on the road.

like quick240 mine never hit the reserve on ebay. called the seller, negotiated the price and pulled the trigger. $5900 shipped from iowa to rochester, ny for my 01 ws6 ram air trans am. ls1 t56 with just 20,044 miles on it-totalled of course. i then proceeded to completely strip it and sell all the parts-save for the following; engine, tranny, fans, pcm, battery cables & heater hoses. thanks to ebay and f-body folks that need parts, i was able to recoop all but $144 of my initial outlay [excluding my labor of course-actually had a good time stripping the car]. i'd suggest you see if there's a local f-body club around, good source for a 'donor'.

i think u mean; http://www.powertrainindustries.com/search.htm Speaking of adapting the 6 bolt R230 300ZXTT, You do not have to machine your own adapter. There is a nice one you can get from Powertrain Industries. They are used to convert to a one-piece driveshaft, (the ZX had a 2-piece with weird joint in back). However, they are always backordered and takes about 1-2 months. Plan ahead and order it early in your swap. EDIT: Uses a 1310 series U-joint. Here is the contact: Part #3102-42 www.powertrainindutries.com (714) 893-4585 7532 Anthony Ave. Garden Grove, CA 92841 Price is steep at $116. You will also have a hard time finding 10 X 1.25 X 25 Allen head bolts. The round head is necessary to clear the yoke. I searched everywhere and finally went with Gardner Wescott 1-800-521-9805. 10 X 1.25 X 30 Chrome grade 8 was all they had and were $2.46 each! But they look cool!

fortunately evilc came over another time to help out [last weekend my entire family was overcome by the flu and i had to put all work on hold]. we got the clutch slave in, lines attached, tranny reinstalled. driveshaft in, clutch bled [i was pleased that my custom clutch bleed line worked great] and it now has a nice firm pedal [with no leaks!]. connected heater hoses, upper and lower rad hoses, steam hose. headers on [i had my jtr sanderson's coated-swain technologies white lightning ceramic]. fluids filled-engine oil, tranny fluid, coolant. put my kirbin shifter in, adjusted the 'stops', checked the throw and it looks good. will test fit the console then get knob. jimmy z from z-tekmfg is going to turn a custom titanium knob for me. probably just go with the usual teardrop design. i've posted some new pics in my gallery, check them out when u get a chance! next, get the gauges wired and the final wiring to tie the speartech harness to factory datsun harness, add some fuel, crank her over to get pos oil press, flash pcm, hold breath and...fire in the hole! once running, i'll order the exhaust piping then off to the welder to build the exhaust.