Wagz

Grumpy/others: Has anyone had any experience with the Holley Street Avenger carbs? I'm no carb expert, and I remember spending long hours years ago trying to get/keep a double-pumper adjusted right on a Camaro I used to have. I've been told the Street Avengers are much easier to tune than the 4150/4160 series units. I've been considering the 770cfm Avenger for my set up. Any comments?

Try here: http://www.fiber-tek.com/Bulletins/moldmaking.htm Here is a good site on Carbon Fiber panels as well: http://bryanf.com/info/carbon1.htm Good luck!

Check out this article from Chevy High Performance. http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/index.jsp?articleid=48446 At the end of the article is a link called The Sallee Solution. Sallee Chevrolet sells a retro T56 and the article states that Sallee will drill the adaptor plate to fit any GM bellhousing. The catch is they don't sell the plates separately, you have to buy the tranny from them Good Luck!

Pete - It's always good to have a mother hen around. Keeps us unruly kids from killin' ourselves. I plan on a completely bare shell. My car will be stripped of everything including the windshield before it goes on any kind of stand. Number 1: I want it to be safe, and number 2: I don't wan't to worry (too much) about keeping everything straight when cutting the chassis.

Jim - Good point. I forgot about the back two casters on the engine stand being unable to swivel. I've got the car on 'car skates' right now and love being able to move it into the middle of the garage when I want to work on it and shove it back against a wall when I'm done. All the rotisserie plans I have seen are immobile, except yours of course. Those thing look like I could put my Expedition up on 'em and spin it around!

I'm in almost the exact same place on my project. Just picked up a brand-new Miller Mig welder, cart and auto-darkening hood on my lunch break today. My car pics are of almost the same angles and my car is in about the same stage as yours. Only, I pulled the engine and tranny a few weeks back. Check out the photo gallery page My first welding project (outside of lots of practice with scrap metal) is to build a rotisserie. I was taking some meausurments and came up with the idea of using engine stands as the base for the rotisserie. That way the car can be rolled around the garage as well as rotate. My major concern with this idea is stability I could use my existing stand, since my engine is at the builder's shop for a while. All I would have to do is purchase an additional stand and fab up the connections to the car. Any feedback on this? Anyone tried it?

Z-Dreamer: MUCH THANKS for that info. I'll be calling them tomorrow myself. I've got a T56 out of a '97 FireChicken that didn't have a bellhousing with it. This may solve a few problems...

Two Words: CURB FEELERS. 'Nuff said.

It came off easily and in large chunks from my 240. All I used was an old 1" chisel and rubber mallet to bust it loose. Wasn't too much work at all.

My understanding is that you have to use the bellhousing that came with a '93 to '97 T56. It will bolt up to the older 2-piece rear main small block, but you will have to use a special flywheel (Centerforce makes one) to adapt the newer clutch to the older style block. I bought a '97 T56, but haven't collected all of the other parts so, I'm not speaking from experience... yet.

Ahhh, impeccable timing on this topic! I was just searching out the Zed Findings (sp?) site the other night looking for just this information. Thanks for scanning the article Jeff! I have Wick Humble's book, but this is more in depth.

biohzrd is right. The LS1 based ('98 and newer) T56 won't work. You need/want one from an LT1 based ('93 to '97) Camaro/Firebird. I had the same problem. No one that I could find manufactures an adaptor for it. I was able to get the guy I was buying my T56 from to swap it out for a '97 model. He told me that the later ones might work after the input shaft and a few other parts on the newer tranny is swapped with the older parts. Sorry, no good news here.

Looks like the car is coming together nicely. Gonna be a cool ride. I'm planning a Velo Rossa conversion after the V8 install, subframe connectors and the suspension and brake upgrade. One question: is that a Stable Autoworks or Thunder Ranch front end? I thought the Velo Rossa was a full-tilt front end only. Keep us posted on your progress!

Here is a link to the 280YZ gallery on John Washington's site if you haven't already seen it: 280YZ Gallery

Steven - I believe that All 240s and all (or at least, the vast majority) of the 260s came with the R180 diff. I think that some early 280s had the R180 as well. The R200 came in 280Z/ZX models. If it's stock, it should have drums on the rear. If I'm incorrect about this, I'm sure someone will chime in and correct me on this. Regards.

Someone posted this abbreviated set of instructions on ZCar.com a while back. These may be for a later version, but may help:Try this link Here is an even shorter list: Click Hope it's useful

Cool! I'll be interested in your progress on this. I was planning on swapping an R200 for the R180 in my '71. But, if you are put something together, I may just opt to go straight to the R230. They seem to be more available in the JYs I've called and sounds like they may be a better way to go in the long run.

Terry - That looks fantastic! Post some pics of the filler tube/box/flange assy. when you get a chance. Way cool!

I'll echo Tim. I thought my 240 was fairly pristine (SoCal car). Then, I scraped-off the coating on the interior floor boards and found out it wasn't very 'pristine' at all. The coatings do a great job of hiding the bad news. After that I got under the car and did more scraping. Nothing good found there either. All in all it could be worse, but I would definitly take the time to remove all the coatings inside and out, verify that things are in good shape and then repaint or re-coat. My $.02 ...

That is too cool. Great project. I'd love to be able to form and weld my own aluminum body panels. Takes more patience than I posess.

I was under the impression that Tim240Z added his subframe connectors while the car was on a rotisserie. Maybe I misunderstood what I read. I was planning to fab a rotisserie and do it that way. Maybe I should rethink it and buy more jack stands... Makes sense that you would get chassis flex while on a rotisserie though. Maybe if you only replace one at a time?.... Anyone else have input on this?

Welcome Joe! I'm pretty new to the site myself and am planning an almost identical project: '71 240Z, carbed 350, T56 and Velo Rossa kit. I just went through a minor fiasco on a T56 for my car. I bought a T56 on eBay from a '98 LS1 not thinking about the fact it won't bolt up to any older style block. Anyway, the seller has several T56 trannies (rebuilds 'em by trade)and is going to sell me a '97 that will fit. I'll find out if he has any more pre '98s available. If he does, I'll hook you up with his email.

BTW - I found two write-ups on the net that say the input shaft and the plate(?)on a '98+ T56 can be swapped out with the pre '98 parts to work. The guy I am buying the tranny from also believes that this will work. Although, he admits that he hasn't done it yet himself.

Thanks for the input guys. However, I got lucky with the seller. I let him know that I was going to send the check for the '98 and resell it on my own. He didn't want to sell me something I couldn't use. Very cool (and understanding) guy. He has several trannys in stock (mostly 98 and up) but he does have a T56 out of a '97 he just got in. It's out of a wrecked Firebird with 25k on it. He's going to go through it and call me next week when it's ready. I dodged a bullet on that one. Now, to get the motor torn-down...

Man, I was hoping I could change out the bell housing and get this done. I just assumed the T56 in 4th gen. F bodies were all the same. I didn't even consider the LT1 vs LS1 differences. Oh, well. I'm sure thats why the JTR manual specified 93-97. I paid $1100 for it. I'm not too worried about selling it. The local bone yards are asking $1500 for older trannies.