Just Jim

The R200 carrier bearings are part number 30209C. The bearings NAPA gave you are for a R180. I haven't bought any yet for my Power Brute install. I asked for a good place to buy them and what they should cost but got no reponse here on Hybrid Z. Somebody must have a good source.

Good going on getting it to run better. I guess being 3 teeth off wasn't enough to bend any valves?When do you get to take it for a ride? Maybe a longer flex hose will work with no splicing?The hardware store should have some type of tubing that would work for a splice though. The '69 and before small blocks used a passenger side inlet water pump which would allow the use of the Chevy style radiator. The timing marks and pointer need to be moved to the drivers side to use the early water pump though. That's what I did on mine and found some nice preformed radiator hoses which fit good. I'll look up the hose numbers if anybody wants them.

Actually it would be the norm to differentiate the 302's as roller or non roller and leave "HO" out of it. The earlier non factory roller motors can be converted to roller cams using a retrofit reduced base circle cam which uses stock type roller lifters,dog bones and spider retainer.Link bar lifters could be used also but are more pricey.Today,the '85 and up roller motors are readily available and cheap to buy but this wasn't always the case.The yard sale 302 in my 240z has a non factory solid flat tappet cam,aftermarket aluminium heads,aftermarket intake etc and really doesn't share much with it's "HO" origin other than the basic block and rotating assembly.It will run away and hide from a factory roller HO motor.

The '83 302 HO in my 240Z has a flat tappet cam. '85 and newer 302 (5.0) HOs came with a roller cam as did some other non HO motors.

If by "upsidedown" you mean the cam sprocket dot was pointing up ,not down to align with the crank sprocket dot, then yeah you could have installed it upsidedown. If that was the case my guess is there are a bunch of bent valves. Check that the distributor is installed correctly and the firing order right before pulling it apart to check the cam timing.Maybe you'll get lucky.

The later 5.0 roller motors had standard and H.O. cams just as the earlier pre roller motors. If your motor is a roller then you can run either a standard or H.O.firing order cam but must use roller lifters on a roller cam or flat tappet lifters on a flat tappet cam. If the motor has a roller H.O. type cam and roller lifters then it should have the firing order you listed(1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8) Take off the passenger side valve cover and crank the motor over until both the exhaust and intake valves are closed on cylinder number 1. Make sure the timing marks are about 10* and set the distributor rotor towards number one of the distributor cap.The distributor might have to be removed and reinstalled in the correct position. Route the plug wires per the firing order remembering the distributor rotates counterclockwise. It may be confusing but both firing orders can be used with the same crank as the cam dictates the firing order. If you installed a roller cam and used flat tappet lifters then both the cam and lifters must now be changed.

The cam doesn't need to be changed but the firing order needs to match the cam. The so called HO(pre roller lifter) used a 351W firing order vs the standard motor which used the earlier 289/302 firing order.Either cam can be used if the firing order matches.Post the part number of the cam and maybe the firing order can be determined.

zgeerzers example of his brothers '62 Falcon with a 351W got my attention because I have one. Per the quoted CARB info a '65 and older vehicle is considered an "uncontrolled vehicle" and is exempt from regulations except if the original car had a PVC then it still must have one. So the 351 in my '62 Falcon is legal because it has a PVC valve . But the other stated laws are quite contradictory for a controlled vehicle. If the engine must be of the same "family type" then just replacing a 6 cylinder with a V8 wouldn't be legal to begin with. I still stand by my original post on this matter. If a car is '75 or older smog checks aren't required so feel free to swap whatever engine you like into your pre '76 Z and not worry about it. I sure won't but then I'm an old geezer myself.

I don't have a video but my friend watching the car said the tires weren't hopping. Hopefully new poly rear suspension bushings will fix the problem. It didn't show up until the car had a few runs on it so whatever was worn must have worn more.

Hey Dave, Sent you a PM about borrowing the tool. Thanks, Jim

Thanks. Are stock replacement bushings OK or are poly ones that much better?

The struts have new KYBs front and back. Not really hi tech but for a mostly drag car they are OK. The rear has coil-overs with 250lb 8 inchers and barely squats.

Sure, go ahead and use the line since your car is probably numbers matching also. I didn't mean to hijack the thread with talk of Morries and Falcons. Can somebody please help me with this: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=117215

Yeah,the Morris V8 is all "original". My Falcon and 240Z are both numbers matching cars: the front license plate matches the rear one.

This post is an interesting read. I put a 302 Ford in my 240Z because flat tappet push rod carbed Ford V8's are what I know. I found out pretty quick when ordering parts from England for my Morris Minor that the Brits were pretty cool until finding out it has a Ford V8 in it. Damn purists. Chevy guys can be just as bad. When seeing the Ford V8 in the Morris or Datsun I've had Chevy guys look in amazement and say "I thought you had a small block in here?"My reply is "Why ruin it and put a Chevy in it?" Really,not being loyal to any brand I just do it just to piss them off. Here's my favorite shirt:

Just curious if worn outer control arm bushings will cause wheel hop? My 240Z is getting decent 60 foot times (1.65) at the track running small 215/60R14 BFG Drag Radials but there is a hop or shutter off the line. The tires don't appear to be bouncing but the rear end hopping can be bad enough to shake the horn button loose from the steering wheel. The R200 is mounted with poly busings at the mustache bar and modified front mount . The control arm bushings appear tight but are probably 34 year old originals. Does it need new bushings? http://images20.fotki.com/v369/photos/4/42437/4361118/IMG_3213-vi.jpg

Prior to swapping a 302 into my 240Z I used the search function and found very little hard info on small block Ford swaps.Lot's of good info on other stuff though. The car's been to the track 4 times now and made 14 passes total without any parts falling off(not counting losing a freeze plug first pass). Going to run the car again tonight at Irwindale. Last time out it ran a 7.80/86.5MPH in the 1/8 (about 12.20 1/4).

I picked up a 3.90 R200 out of a '83 280ZX at Pic a Part yesterday.Is there an easy way to tell prior to installation if it will be noisy or not? The yard also had a 300ZX with a 1989 build date and a finned rear cover on the rear but it was a short nosed R200. I though I found an elusive CLSD R200 but guess not.

Yeah,those numbers seem about right. The base setting for the idle mixture screws is 1.5 turns out so 1 1/4 is good. The 4.5 PVs are a good choice also based on using about 1/2 the idle vacuum. 15lbs seems a bit low for cruise but may be normal for a tunnel ram. I bet it runs better now,right?

Turning the idle mixture screws on the side of the metering block, out,counterclokwise,will richen the mixture.Turning them in will restrict the flow of fuel to the idle circuit and lean the mixture.Only the odd ball Holleys made for fuel economy work by turning in to richen. I don't think your tunnel ram was made for economy.

I used the drivers side shaft with splined ends that fits between the CV joints, not the complete CV axle assembly.Actually I put a passenger side splined part that clips into the diff onto a drivers side axle assembly and used it on the passenger side,the drivers side wasn't modified. So both sides are now the same shorter length and clip into the diff.

Nice pictures. Sure makes it clear on what needs to be cut to remove the boot. It isn't fun crimping the new boot on. I ended up using a drivers side splined axle on the passenger side 280ZXT CV assembly due to the shorter length. Works good with no bindng on either side.

Did you use the same Summit brand headers I have on my car?If so your motor must sit lower than mine. To relocate the steering shaft I think the shaft is cut and the u joint welded to the shaft so it doesn't matter what the spline count is only the diameter.

The motor is a freshened up junkyard refugee, original bore, non roller cam 302 with new rings and bearings on stock pistons/rods,E Bay aluminium heads,240* @.050 solid flat tappet cam,Performer RPM manifold,750 vacuum secondary Holley and 1 5/8 street rod headers. Some of the parts were left-overs from my other cars.With some tuning and higher shift RPM it should run somewhat quicker.It's a fun low buck car.