John Scott

Mike is getting married Mike is getting married! Congratulations! When's the date! JS [This message has been edited by John Scott (edited August 11, 2000).]

Guys, I'm truley impressed by the information being given on this topic. I'm feeling pretty primitive with my limited knowledge and hacked up carburetor. Where is a good place for the "need to know" novice/enthusiast to start learning about F/I? I know this is the future. I should be catching up . Now, if you'll excuse me, I going to drag my knuckles back to my cave and bang on some rocks and sticks! JS

Usually the standard is a little quicker due to more ratios, lighter, and less parasitic hp loss.This will also depend on the driver. With High stall converters, trans brakes etc, you can make one heck of a drag set up. Personally having run high stalls, shift kits etc, I'd prefer the stick for street driving and automatic for consistant drag racing. The standard will give you better milage. I got 25+ with my 700 with a .7 overdrive, but it is much heavier than a standard. The T5 isn't good for high hp motors, but plenty of them out there living in Camaros, Firebirds, and light weight Zs with moderate hp. JS

I also had the belt toss syndrome. Agreed, check the alignment carefully. Some pulleys can be out of round, alignment, etc as well as minor diff. in the water pump shaft lengths. Another cause is flimsy alternator brackets. Sometimes by shoring these up you can minimize the flexing. When I changed my alternator braket, the belts quit flying. Seen 8000 rpm a couple of times, ooops! JS

Ahem..Scottie? JS

Head light covers. I love the look of them. My wife bought me a set a few years back...the ones with the no-drill nounting kit. AHHH!!! never could get them to fit the contour or the body and couldn't force myself to drill into one of my favorite areas of the Z's body. Ended up badly scratched and in the trash! Found the comment in Automobile magazine on the BMW Z8's aeros entertaining. "We didn't go into the wind tunnel. With 400 horsepower, we didn't think we needed to."... I guess with a weenie 155mph speed limiter. I've heard it more than once, when you get much above 150, aerodynamics can get pretty interesting. Anyone have ideas about the neg/pos airflow around the Z's hood louvers? JS [This message has been edited by John Scott (edited August 06, 2000).]

Now you've all got me wondering. The Stock driver's side louvers on the Z hood I'm going to use ( can't remember what year hood I bought 280?) are directly over my air filter for the procharger. Its been sucking air right over the exhaust, so I thought I'd do some heat taping and maybe build an air box to take advantage of the cooler air from the vent. Is this a high or low pressure area? Also, if anyone sucessfully pilots thier Z into the 170s and beyond. I'd like to know what other aero tricks can be done to help glue these over powered land rockets to earth. I feel many cars here will be airborne long before the hp runs out! JS [This message has been edited by John Scott (edited August 06, 2000).]

The 700 is a heavy transmission, but I think you'd enjoy the low 3.06 1st and 2100 @ 60 instead of your 3000. I think quite a few are running it. Find a Vette, or Z28 if you want a 4th gear that can be run wide open, otherwise you'll have the downshift to 3rd every time you floor it. I thought mine was by far the best auto I'd ever run. (87 vette). Probably need a few different wacks from undrneath compared to the standard, cooling lines, shifter etc, and PROPER TV cable set up. It will self destruct if wrong. The T5 is good for moderate hp. Really light and great over drive. JS

McLeod is also working on a mech clutch and scatershield, adapters for the T56. Its too good of a trans. for the aftermarkets to ignore. JS

BorgWarner was recently acquired by Tremec. My aftermarket T56 says Tremec on the side, Rob's, same model, says BorgWarner. Perhaps this is one of the newer models made after the acquisition. If it has the 2.66 1st gear, should be good for 450 lb/ft. If its the 2.97 1st, good for 400 lb/ft. If you found one of these for a good price, then your lucky. They're usually pretty expensive. JS

I know bigger is better, and I would err on the side of safty for a expensive big V8, but just how much gas do these engines pull at WOT? I'd love to find a table for a hp vs. fuel line size, flow, etc. I tapped 1.5 gallons from my Z yesterday (stock lines) for the, ah-hem, lawn mower. It took a little under 40 seconds to have it overflowing. At boost the pump will run lots harder. I don't know what this all means for hp requirements, but it seems like it would satisfy a pretty healthy motor. A big pump will make up for smaller lines, to a point. I'd just like to see it broken down in hard figures. JS

First of all Turbo/Supercharging a 4.3 is not going to be cheap. Forged pistons, custom ground cam, conversion to 4 bolt mains,(highly recommended from my twisty main caps) rod work, etc, etc, Perhaps a complete Syclone motor, intercooler, with computer would be the ticket for a turbo set up. Unless you're planning on running a roots style blower, low end will be similar with a supercharger (centrifugal) to a turbo. These have little or no boost off the line then increase with rpm. Great for the light limited traction Z. I can launch mine w/o much more than a squeak from the tires. At a 25 mph punch, its a different tire melting story. The Turbo will be more complicated, but probably yeild more hp throughout the rpm range. I don't what you'd be facing with the Ford turbo. Do they make a rear wheel drive platform? If so then its just a matter of fabricating some mounts, cross member, driveshaft, shifter and some of the usual wiring headaches. On a budget? The 4.3 with it's roots to the sbc would make a good non supercharged motor as well. This is a sizible displacement motor with 262 cubic inches. Save on the price of supercharging and go with a healthy cam, good manifold, and even the stock 9.3:1 pistons can yeild pretty good perf. I had a great 150K mi time on my '74 Hilux P/U with the same 4.3 I'm running now. Only a custom ground comp cam and 700r4. I wish I could post the pictures (on video) of its funny car burnouts. Really torquey with its 3.06 1st and 4.11s! Let me know if I can help. JS

Paradox, Thanks for inflating my ego!! My wife would surely boot me out if I had any involvement in the Z beyond this site. Someday, I'll get around to putting up at least a webpage. I'm not familiar with the engine bay of the ZX. My hours, days, perhaps the best years of my life have been spent solely in the bay of a 72! If you use the JTR mounts on the 4.3, then yes it will put the engine one cylinder forward of the firewall as compared to the sbc. If the ZX firewall is 3 inches forward, then it should be a pretty easy, fit. SBC is 21.78" 4.3 is 17.38. Difference of about 4 1/2 inches. If 1 1/2" is crucial to your sense of vehicle balance, with a little tweaking of the JTR mounts, you could probably push it somewhat closer to the firewall. If not, then you'd probably cuss a lot less than the rest of us when you go to work on those &%$!! bellhousing bolts. JS

I have to agree with Scarp. I get mid to high 20 mpg. The V8 swap is a clean and relatively easy transformation... and kits/ manuals are availible. The engines you mention would be unique, and if that's what your looking for, then by all means do it. I put mine together w/o any reference to a kit or book, and believe me there was a lot of problem solving to do. You will have more hurdles to jump than I did when it comes to unique transmissions, drivelines, mounts, wiring etc. Again, it could be done, but it won't be as straight forward as the V8 conversion. Also, since the Ford and Dodgeturbo engines aren't very high on the hp chart anyway, why not just replace it with a complete turbo Z engine? They can make lots of power and everything would be a bolt in. JS

Another point to consider is the metalurgy of the newer blocks. I've been told the new blocks have a higher tin content making for more durable cylinder bores etc. If any one can add too this...? JS

CC/June/2000: " '94-95 Ford inputshaft is about 7/8" longer than the 83-94....The correct bellhousing or adapter plate is required. Dimensional data: GM: Bellhousing depth: 6.290" Input shaft length 6.66" Ford: Bellhousing: 6.78" and 7 11/32", Input shaft 7.18"/7.85" Case to mounting pad are in different locations too. I've seen the Tremecs used too. Maybe I'm wrong, but I just don't think its a direct bolt in. JS JS

I've been living with a monoxide buzz for years Good tip! I tried sealing every hole from firewall to floorboard. If I can cure the exhaust in the cockpit like you did then maybe my wife will ride with me again! Thanks Drax! JS

The input shafts are of different lengths, with the ford being longer. Even different year ford T5s had different lengths. Splines on input and out put shafts are different than Chevy as well. I would suppose with the right adapters....all for 25 lb/ft or so more torque capacity? JS

One last post and I'm outa here. I had a 4.3 from a 10K astro,$450. Stock quadrajet, 159.00comp cam custom grind, $xxfresh valve job and thats it. Put it in a Toyota Hilux. Much heavier than the Z. Could beat any stock 350 Camaro in town. Only the Vettes could catch me after 90 mph. 150,000 miles later and lots of abuse, not one engine failure, I decided to go supercharged Z. The low end on this engine was incredible. JS

I'd be willing to dispute Scottie's cost prediction of $5000 for a 300 HP 4.3. I can break all this down dollar for dollar, (I have a dyno build test article from Katech pushing close to 300 hp, stock 85 engine, w/o even touching the recip. assem.) but that's not the point. First of all, for 300 hp you don't have to use a turbo, or supercharger. (yes I know the Sy/ty is rated at a paltry 280 hp, but it has a ton of touque throughout the rpm range from the turbo. THAT is what makes them fast. The only thing a Syclone ENGINE has going for it is a really sophisticated FI turbo/intercooler/computer set up. Their camshaft is really a stick with pimple size bumps on it and a rev limiter that keeps everything around the 5000 rpm mark. From a performance standpoint, nothing but hypereutectic pistons and a cool fuel injection system have been added to the engine. There are so many other ways availible for the 4.3 to make more power. High RPM, higher compression, and bigger cam will give you some pretty good HP#s. I will agree that it won't be a cheap engine to build, especially if you have naturally aspirated, or supercharged needs WAY over the 300 HP mark. Along with every other cost of building, you'll need aftermarket heads. Brodix ready to run are about $1700. OUCH! Also requires a BIG nasty cam. Aftermarket head prices are the reason I went ATI. For the same price (back then) I knew I could have more TQ/HP. This is all going to depend on your power needs. For high HP the 4.3 is not a budget motor. For moderate power, it doesn't have to be that expensive. w/ better pistons, bigger cam, a little head work, manifold, etc, it can be a great street motor. All this talk of HP figures is relative. We're all putting way too much emphasis on a #. I have a friends running 11 flat 1/4s in a car weighing 3300 lbs, 800 lbs. more than a Z that will tell you it has a honest 380 hp. Most of the serious engine builders I know don't give the hp #s too much weight. How and where an engine make the power will mean more than a single peak hp figure. Do the math on what it takes to make a 3300 lb or so Viper push 100 mph (still haven't seen one break 100) @ our 6000 ft dragstrip and you'll see how exagerated that 450 hp figure is. Hmmm only 255 HP? How'd we lose the other 200? Boy, the altiude really must sap those V10s! 120 mph would only take 440 hp. JS [This message has been edited by John Scott (edited July 16, 2000).]

CDG, I think the gear ratios for most GMs are as follows: 2.95, 1.94, 1.34, 1.00, .62. Go with the V8 T5 for sure. As usual, you'll hear that you should get the 88 and up Worldclass T5. The six cyl T5 has a really low 1st. Better for a truck than a Z. 3.76:1. Torque rating is also way below the V8 T5's. I have the same questions and feelings about big HP little displacement motors. 4-500 hp hammering through 4 or 6 pistons/rod bearings, and only 4 main bearings is going to take its toll. I love the giant killers, but a durable piece will cost some $$. I can't believe they will outlast a similar output v8. BTW, since you're in the business, just how much is a salvage yard 4.3? (85-92) [This message has been edited by John Scott (edited July 15, 2000).]

Matt, If you decide to go the 4.3 route, Let me know. There's lots of good HP there. Doesn't need to be supercharged to make 300+ hp. Personally, I like to be a little unique with my 4.3. There's many small displacement engines that would be great in your project. Look at the 60 degree, too. The 4.3 is pretty wide (same as the smallblock V8). JS

The 4.3 is finally back together. Found some new evidence of detonation on closer inspection of the rod bearings. They're a great indicator. Need to address that problem before it becomes too severe. Nothing will melt down a charged motor faster. Had a @#$%^ of a time finding rod bearings. Federal Mogul discontinued their line, but not until I waited 3 weeks on Summits back order list. Some SOB there told me they were there and shipping out the next day! Had to call Fed Mogul myself to find the snag. 3 more weeks to order Clevites! The guy who does my engine balancing found the bearings in 5 minutes (What a cool shop! Out in the middle of a farmyard way, waaaaay out in the country....Beautiful equipment. He's a true fanatic/professional.) Had them to me in 2 days. Any way, had to rush to get the thing back together. With my wife and I counting the last couple days before the newest arrival, the Z will again take the back burner for a bit. My engine and I'll feel better knowing there is a little more life with the new bearings. Next step is hooking up the new T56....well, someday! JS

The sound is usually followed by AAAIEEEiieeeee. @#$%%!!! Broke one @ 90mph in my Olds...two days after installing a safty loop. Still ripped up the tunnel. Knocked my console right off the mounts into the air! Myron with your HP, and if you have sticky tires, make sure you have a driveshaft saftey loop. JS

ZD, I answered right after your first post on the question. "... couldn't afford the raw cast forged crank" This is the forged oddfire crankshaft offered by Cheverolet. Allows use of smallblock rods. I'm sure this would be pretty pricey to have machined. In other words I have the stock crankshaft. Haven't run into anyone who has used the oddfire. JS