strotter

I fought with my 327 as well (it was quite "wired"). The shroud thing turned out to be important. I initially tried using a fan out of a 3rd gen Firebird, which also didn't cover the whole radiator. What happened was, with the fan "on" the airflow took the path of least resistance, from engine compartment through the gap between shroud and radiator and then back through the fan. Get a little bit of speed on, the flow reversed, so it was OK driving (even stop-and-go) but heated up quick when stopped. You might try an experiment with a bit of thin particle board or something: try blocking off the bottom of the radiator entirely - tape the material to the shroud and the radiator support. Even though part of the radiator will be "ignored", I'll bet you'll see more effective cooling at idle. Best thing, of course, is go to the local junkyard and find a Taurus two-speed. They may not be sexy, but they work like a charm and shroud will cover virtually your entire radiator.

Saw this one. I feel bad for the families of the deceased - seems though that the guy wasn't wanted for anything, and was even detained for some time while the Border Patrol tried to find any way to keep him out - Associated Press report 06/07/05: "At a time when the United States is tightening its borders, how could a man toting what appeared to be a bloody chain saw be allowed into the country? Bill Anthony, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said the Canada-born Despres could not be detained because he is a naturalized U.S. citizen and was not wanted on any criminal charges on the day in question. Anthony said Despres was questioned for two hours before he was released. During that time, he said, customs agents employed "every conceivable method" to check for warrants or see if Despres had broken any laws in trying to re-enter the country. "Nobody asked us to detain him," Anthony said. "Being bizarre is not a reason to keep somebody out of this country or lock them up. ... We are governed by laws and regulations, and he did not violate any regulations." Anthony conceded it "sounds stupid" that a man wielding what appeared to be a bloody chain saw could not be detained. But he added: "Our people don't have a crime lab up there. They can't look at a chain saw and decide if it's blood or rust or red paint."

Mmmm - bacon. "If God hadn't meant man to eat animals, He wouldn't have made them so tasty"

The feet aren't mounted to the floor of the tank - it isn't necessary. They're held there (gently) by the flex tubing used to hook them up. What you do is cut off the original pickup fairly close to the top of the tank, attach a short bit of fuel hose, insert a "Y" fitting, attach enough flex tubing to the Y's to reach the desired positions, then attach the pickups. The "Y" is aligned and so that flexible fuel hose both positions the pickups in the correct quadrant of the tank, and gently keeps the on the bottom. They work as advertised, took about an hour to install and debug. The biggest problems I had came from undoing my previous attempt (mimicking something I saw in the JTR fuel injection book). I was also pretty anal about making sure they sat flat and were pretty much in the back corners of the tank (mirrors, flashlights, squinting, cursing). The pickups only really need to be gently coerced into position for three reasons: 1) the fuel being sucked through them keep them pretty firmly attached to the bottom of the tank in some general area; 2) if they move around a bit, let 'em: if they are exposed momentarily to air (such as at speed bumps or a big whoopty), they close; 3) if you have them held in the corner of a rectilinear solid (the tank) by an only somewhat flexible and only moderately compressible member (the hose), there isn't much anywhere they can go anyway.

Excellent!

Bringing this thread back from the dead, 'cause I made the modification mentioned above (along with replacing some components) which pretty much eliminated the "darting" situation and I thought I'd share. I started out by replacing the steering assembly from steering wheel to rack. Yeah, it was extreme, but some time ago I took a very close look at the little teeny bearings in the steering universals, and they were just too loose for my tastes. Thought I'd replace the bearings, but they're an odd size (10mm x 15mm, iirc) and I guess impossible to get. Reassembled and lived with it until I found a '78 2+2 at the local pnp that looked like it had lived indoors until junked, so I ripped the entire steering assembly out. The universal bearings were much fresher than those in my car, and after some gyrations under the dash I managed to get it to bolt into my '72. The teeny little bit of free play I had was gone, but the rack still moved about quite a bit. For the runaway rack, I fabricated a spacer out of some 20 gauge steel sheet - just a rectangle long enough to fit around the periphery of the outside of the upper bushing, and wide enough to form a saddle for it on either side - perhaps 4" x 2 1/2" (who measures?). Made cuts into both sides about 1/2" deep every 1/4", bent the whole assembly so that it mated to the outside of the bushing, reassembled and tightened it down. Voila, no more wiggly rack. Note that I only did this for the driver's side - the passenger side was snug as a bug in a rug, no need to fix what wasn't broken. As a result, it feels like a new car. Very precise steering, no more "dead zone", much less darting (though still a bit), yet road vibration is well damped. Downside is now I can feel the vibration from my front tires due to the flat spots sustained during the panic stop avoiding coyotes on the road on my way to work. Sigh. Time for new tires...

'72 240, injected crate 350 with iron heads & water pump, duals, T56, 15x7's, about 2640. Distribution 48/52.

You know you own a hybrid Z when - - you wait a couple of extra seconds to start the car, just to make sure people walking behind you hear the V8 sound clearly. - you're driving the Z looking at the vehicles around you, and in the back of your head you're thinking, "I can take that Mustang ... and I can take that Corvette ... oh, I can for sure take that Audi ... I can take that van ..." - you look at an old car in the junkyard and think "Hey, that'd be cool with a smallblock in it ..." - you don't pick your nose in traffic, because *for sure* everyone's looking at you 'cause you car's so cool... - you just have to grin when the parts-store guy asks "what kind of car is it?" - you feel a flash of fear when the parts-store guy asks "what kind of car is it?", because you forgot what year and model used that particular piece... - you used to like the rain, but now it just means you have to be super-careful with the throttle... - when you get pulled over by the police, and he says "That's a neat little sports-car, is it fast?" you have to decide real quick if he's a gearhead in a uniform, or he's trying to get you to incriminate yourself... - when somebody on TV who has had a life-threatening experience says "I had a moment of clarity as my life flashed before my eyes", you realize you can have that experience any time you want just by stepping down on the throttle ... - when a show on TV has a middle-aged guy buy a sports-car as a symptom of mid-life crisis, everyone in the room turns and looks at you and grins... - you used to hate it when somebody at work asked, "My car's in the shop, can I get a ride home?", but now you just *love* it...

Scottie, have you worked out any details yet?

Well, this thread begs an interesting question - what modern car *is* the spiritual descendant of the 240Z?

Ok, I've found a reference I've been remembering, but couldn't place; In Wick Humble's "How to Restore Your Datsun Z-Car", he mentions the bushings and the steering rack: on page 88, he talks about the bushings themselves, "Many drivers complained the 240Z's bushings allowed too much lateral steering-box movement, especially as the rubber aged. This was corrected by *shimming* and stiffer replacement bushings" (My emphasis). I'm wondering if mention of these shims strikes a bell for anybody - has anyone ever seen a picture, or heard a detailed description, of them? If so, GIVE! Elsewhere, there's a mention of the little "keeper" I was talking about earlier. It's actually called a "Rack Stopper", and it's installation is mentioned on page 90 of the same book: "Rack Stopper - Install the little stabilizer that fastened to the steering-gear housing. Load the rubber bumper firmly against the surface of the suspension crossmember. Tighten the Nylon locknuts. Reference the marks you made to align it to the gear." Now, I'm wondering just how critical the angular alignment of the steering rack really is: perhaps there's something to do here regarding hard-to-track-down vibration and vague steering? BTW, if you don't have a copy of this book, get one. It's got restoration details galore, is well laid-out, and is an easy, even fun read for any gearhead.

Good save on the vent. Spotting things like that is non-trivial. After doing a V8 swap, tranny swaps, paint, bodywork, suspension, all the "big" things, I've discovered it's the little stuff (like steering problems, an intermittent short, an impossible-to-find rattle, or a malfunctioning vent) that takes the joy out of the day-to-day driving experience. Well done.

Hegen, mine's a '72 and I've noticed the difference, too. While installing the poly bushing kit last year, I *often* wondered if there were other dimensional differences between my year and whatever the kit was designed for. Perhaps that's our problem with fitting these bushings - they're all designed for "some other" year models. Something else that bothers me about the rack bushing is that they were snug when first installed - rubber hammer kind of snug. Now they drop in and out. Sure, they got oil soaked once, and fuel soaked another time, but I've have started closely checking any poly bushing in sight whenever the car is jacked up.

Matt, I've *tried* to place a picture here, it may or may not work - note that this is *strictly* an experimental procedure. I just loosened the "keeper", spun it 180°, and butted it up against the horn coming out of the crossmember. I preloaded it pretty good while I was doing it by cranking the steering shaft over whilst snugging the bolt. I'll be coming up with a more permanent solution shortly - probably an aluminum spacer framing the bushing.

Something new to worry about with the poly bushings - recently I've been concerned about my front suspension's tendency to tramline excessively (track road irregularities). Looking at all the slop in the rack & pinion with the poly bushings (a good 3/16" in either direction), I decided to do something about it: loosened the "rotation limiter" (or whatever it's called, the little clamp-on arm that straps to the steering rack and rests against the crossmember), moved it so that it jammed upside-down against the rack mount, limiting the rack's movement. Took it for a drive, and the tramlining is *gone*. My interpretation: the poly bushings for the steering rack are too *narrow*, allowing far too much lateral movement. Another Quality Control problem? I'll be fabricating some aluminum spacers to jam the rack in more tightly.

EDIT: Well, I'm a 'tard. I was looking at another thread, and noticed the "similar threads" line at the bottom, clicked, and then just didn't notice the date. Oh, well, I'll leave it here in case somebody could use the links. ST For a reference on what ECU is what, check http://www.cruzers.com/~ludis/ under the "C3" section. It's likely a 1227165 (the part number changed to 16198259 a couple of years ago). It was used in the 1986 2.0 L4 TBI “P†LQ5 w/ MT, the 1986-89 5.0 V8 TPI “F†LB9, the 1986-89 5.7 V8 TPI “8†L98, the 1987-91 truck 2.5 L4 TBI “E†LN8 and the 1991 truck 2.5 L4 TBI “A†L38. Try a google on "1227165". An excellent place to check out is the "DIY EFI" forum at Thirdgen.org ( http://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=16 ). There are thousands of excellent threads concerning programming. There's also a FAQ at the top level of the site, as well as several "Intro to PROM burning" articles. Also, check out http://www.diy-efi.org/gmecm/ under the FAQ and the "Papers" sections. Also, the FTP site has lots of .bins (the binary images of the eprom chips themselves, the "programming" you want to modify. What the heck, here's all my "Eprom Tuning" bookmarks: http://pweb.de.uu.net/pr-meyer.h/prom.htm http://chevythunder.com/index.htm http://www.usol.com/~okfoz/92/promcodes.htm http://www.andywhittaker.com/ecu/ http://www.akmcables.com/aldl.htm http://www.usol.com/~okfoz/92/promcodes.htm http://www.cruzers.com/~ludis/ http://wbo2.com/sw/cal.htm http://www.diy-efi.org/gmecm/ http://www.geocities.com/ecmguy.geo/ http://ecmedit.sourceforge.net/ http://www.gmpcm.com/main.htm http://www.cruzers.com/~ludis/ http://www.moates.net/ http://www.cis.udel.edu/~davis/z28/ http://para.noid.org/~lj/PCM%20Tutorial/PCMtutorial.htm http://www.seanster.com/scantool/ http://www.geocities.com/steve3034/links.html http://techedge.com.au/vehicle/wbo2/1v5/built.htm http://www.tunercat.com/ http://tunerpro.markmansur.com/ http://wbo2.com/sw/log.htm http://wbo2.com/2a0/2a0info.htm http://w1.601.telia.com/~u60113744/software/winaldl/winaldl.htm http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~davis/z28/ http://www.area51.org.il/~zaphodb/gmecm/ Have fun!

Besides those, there's also http://www.diy-efi.org/gmecm/, which has masks and .bins for most C3 and many P4 ecus. Freeby monitoring software (and very good, too) at http://tunerpro.markmansur.com/. Depending on what ECU you have, most everything except the chip burner (or emulator, as on Moates) is fairly cheap (or free). What hardware are you talking about?

So lemme get this straight about the cats on OBDII donor vehicles - is it that the converters need to be there to prevent the code (user inconvenience) or because the state wants it *because* it's throwing the code? That is, if I can live with the code, can the state live with the swap?

I have a 350-or-so hp 350 in a '72 with a T56. When launching, I'm always concerned that I'm burning up the clutch, or burning up the tires, and just generally not doing it right. For instance, what RPM is appropriate for launch? At what point should the clutch be fully engaged? How do you control wheelspin, clutch or throttle? How about throwing a drag-newby a few tips?

Do you have to wear a helmet when you drive that thing around? Not the kind that keeps your head in one piece when you lose it in a corner, the kind for when you lose it in the hallway.

I've been through the same thing. I'm currently using an hydraulic unit that came with a Weir bellhousing - a very OEM-looking part with no I.D. You know what the nicest part of the whole installation was? It was the moment when I needed to bleed it out, and I took my little teeny wrench and turned the bleeder, and 30 seconds later I was done. Oh, that was nice. Real nice. Good times, good times... JTR needs to make a hydraulic the "official" technique. Mike, you hearing this? Mike? Mike? (Is there a problem with the 'phone, or what?)

Don't know if it's a PShop or not, but it's certainly a dumb idea. Add a few hundred pounds directly over the front axle of an already front-heavy car? Can you say "understeer"? Can you say "traction"? If it's real, it's one of those things created for car shows: not really a car, but some kind of artistic interpretation of a car. Like those all-chrome monstrosities that started in the 60's & '70s with chrome everything which could clearly never be started, no less driven around for fun? I've always liked Integras, often thought they'd make a great rotary platform, but that thing is ... well, a thing. On second thought, maybe they mounted it in the "JTR position". Edit: looking at the picture again, though, I must say I just *love* the color. Not a sea-foam, but almost. Nice. Might look good on a Z.

I'd have to agree with DatsunLover, all things being equal the 280 is likely the best car for the swap. It's a bit heavier, but most of the mass is in things you'd like to have - heavier sheetmetal, reinforcement where it's needed, and whatnot. Replacing the bumpers is trivial, and some sweet hood vents (which in my opinion might actually work to cool the engine compartment more effectively than the stockers) are available from John Washington. Mine is a 240, and frankly it's a bit tinny and light - if I'm ever hit by some massive overweight undercontrolled SUV it'll ball up like tinfoil, no doubt. Not knowing NJ smog laws, though, I'd be concerned about that aspect - do they do smog checks on vehicles of that age? If not, I suppose you're golden. As an aside, I must say that you're a well-spoken young man. Polite, too. As a high-school teacher, I have to say that it's rare that a young dude like yourself plans things so carefully and so far in advance. You'll make an excellent addition to HybridZ. Good luck with your project, ask for our help when you need to, and welcome!