strotter

OK, here's a question: how would the smog laws apply to a generic gen 1 crate v8? I know they're used as smog-compliant repair items in earlier cars. What smog would apply? The equivalent to the original gear in the Datsun?

I'd find a performance donor, or some kind, then swap the drivetrain in its' entirety, dead stock, including the whole donor wiring harness, no mods of any kind other than necessary for the swap itself. LS1, something along that line. No mix-and-match mechanicals. Then I'd concentrate on the suspension, rear end, and interior goodies. My car, though a hoot, is not so much happy piddling around town on a hot day - something, in my opinion, it has to do if it's going to be considered a "car". I'd probably go with an overdrive automatic (left knee has an unpleasant conversation with me after rowing the 6-speed for a while); I would probably pay more attention to "comfort" items up front (a/c, seats, suspension setup); and I'd certainly not worry about having the fastest car around quite as much ('cause it isn't, I don't really want one, and anyway there are too many guys with Vipers, Corvettes, & GT-40's around). I'd let the pros do what I don't like to do (bodywork, paint), stick with the things I enjoy. If I were doing it all over again, I think I'd stop and think more, before I jumped in.

I used one out of a mid-90's Camaro. It's not a perfect fit, but it works well. The thing to be careful of is not so much the fit in neutral, but when fully extended into both 1st/3rd/5th and 2nd/4th/6th. Too stiff, it'll act like a spring pulling back to neutral. I fiddled with a couple of them I had laying around (yeah, I know, it's weird, I had some laying around) that were nice and thick, but too stiff - causing that spring kind of action. Eventually I went to the local Chevy dealer & got a new one. It's a thin, neoprene kind of material, very flexible. The bellows part is also just very "flat", not sticking up too far (which you'll need it to do). The material is thin enough, and the base is large enough, that you'll need to find or fabricate some kind of snug-fitting hold-down on the perimeter. I fabricated one out of a sheet of 0.080 aluminum.

I have a number of these stories. One that comes immediately to mind: working on a dead electric starter of an old Honda 350. A little chain connects the clutch sprocket to the starter sprocket. The thing hadn't been working for the owner, and he had tried to fix it himself, going so far as to disassemble the starter button assembly, so the bare wire was hanging next to the frame. Like an idiot, and without disconnecting the battery, I popped the cover and started fiddling with the mechanism. The moment my fingers wrapped around the chain to check its tension, the owner leaned in to get a better look, shorting the wire. Motor spins, drawing my left middle finger into the clutch sprocket, peeling off the skin up to the first knuckle. Bone jammed into the sprocket, locking it. The starter button wire promptly welded itself to the frame, so motor kept trying to spin. Everybody freaking out, including, frankly, me, though I had enough presence of mind to not just pull it out. I yelled for a screwdriver, which somebody eventually delivered, and I rotated the sprocket backward against the motor torque, freeing the finger. It never occurred to anybody to pull the wire off the frame. The finger-meat had been peeled off all the way to the knuckle, the nail was hanging on by a thread, the tendons were all chewed up (you could see them clearly), blood was gushing (did I say "gushing"?). I figured I'd lost the end of the finger. When I got to the emergency room, they called over a vascular surgeon (who just happened to have dropped by on his day off, who'd have thought?). He gave me some novocain, popped the meat back where it belonged, threw on 15 or 20 of the most beautiful stitches I've ever seen, clipped off the nail, and told me "If it turns blue and stays blue, come back and we'll amputate at the joint". Prescribed some of the "really good" pain killers, sent me home. The thing eventually sealed itself up, the nail came back, albeit the whole assembly somewhat mutated-looking. There was almost no sensation for a long time - though interestingly, some of that has come back, over the years. This episode was one of the reasons I decided to go to college. Keyboards, after all, don't attempt to eat your hands.

I have a '72 with a small-block in it, somewhere in the 400 hp range, t56, runs in the upper 12's, original r180. Traction, what's that? Put about 10,000 miles on it like that, haven't done any chassis stiffening yet, though I hope to soon. Nothing has bent, twisted, crooked, warped, contorted, deformed, bowed, arched, curved, angled, hooked, or kinked yet. If it's a pretzel, it's a rather tasty one...

At this point, ignore the radiator. The coolant circuit out to the radiator should not even be a part of the calculation at temps less than the thermostat cut-off temperature. Confirm the function of the thermostat. ALSO, don't use a cheap auto-parts store thermostat. Pick one up at the dealer. You'd be amazed at how much of a difference such a seemingly simple thing can make. Looking at your numbers, I'd suggest you also carefully look at both your timing curves and your mixture situation. That motor is not behaving correctly, there's more than one thing wrong.

Wow, it has been a while since I saw this thread. I'm glad it helped. I ended up bolting everything to an aluminum plate, mounting it with four bolts with rubber stand-offs. With the bolts out, it "swings" down on the various hoses. Not that I've worked on it a lot lately...

Have to agree with Sideways here. I've got a pair of pumps w/ surge tank mounted in the rear, isolated with rubber standoffs. With the standoffs installed, you have to listen carefully to hear the pumps before startup (the pump noise drove me crazy - I'm a bit OCD about extraneous noises). That said, building the whole thing into the tank is a "cleaner" solution, for sure. I begs 2 questions, though: 1) Will you have access to the pump without dropping the tank? And, 2) Will you have to split the tank to install baffles? I've learned from personal experience that fuel starvation can be tough to beat, and only occurs at the most embarrassing moments...

I had a 327 in my Z, in front of a T-5, for some time. Nice combo. It was injected (GM ECM and throttle body on a single-plane), moderately aggressive cam (Comp Cams Xr282), roller everything, flat-tops, and block-huggers to dual 2.25's, ran in the upper 12's. Once tuned, mileage was in the low 20's overall, high 20's on the highway, subtracting getting goofy with it. Note that it shredded a T-5 within 5,000 miles. Actually, a couple. Then it blew up. Well, actually spun a bearing. I miss it, though.

That sure enough looks like them. There are a couple more parts in the "complete" kit, shown here. Do it.

I posted this reply to a similar question a couple of years ago. I've edited it a bit to match your situation a bit more closely.

You can focus Google on a single site by using the "site" keyword, thusly: bumpsteer faq site:hybridz.org. Try it, your FAQ is the first entry. Check this page for a bunch of options and variations.

Once fit two blondes and a brunette, plus me, in a '74 260. Blonde in the front seat, blond and brunette in back. Latter two squished up against the hatch glass, giggling and waving, and not entirely dressed. That's as much as I'm going to say... ('cause it isn't actually as good a story as the first couple of sentences would imply).

To answer the original question, no, there's no problem with turning them on their side. W/r/t reprogramming them, check out the 3rd Gen "DIY PROM" board here. There's a very good "Intro to Programming" stickied there as well. Also, the guys that did all the original PROM hacking have a library of PROMs at the DIY EFI site. Finally, some of the hardware you'll need for on-the-fly tuning is available at Moates. Very good gear, quite reasonably priced. Any questions message me, I done a fair amount of this stuff with GM components over the years.

No old Lotus, how about a recent one? You could easily pick up an Elise in that price range. Exotic, ultra-pure, and rather economical. I've been told that driving one is akin to being reborn as a wheeled being. Nothing drops the hammer on a car-bragging session like saying "I drive a Lotus". And a huge advantage: easy-to-find drivetrain components.