defrag010

what part of the drivers side header does the big gearbox block? I was looking at some S10 swap headers and some 3rd gen Fbody headers because those are two cars that are a biotch to fit headers into as well.

I have read about how the gearbox for the steering on zx's gets in the way and prevents the use of a header on the driver's side head. I would like to use some shorty headers at least on my motor, so what are the options as far as steering goes to let me use off the shelf shorty? I have read about people swapping mustang, subaru, and miata racks in the Z's, but the ZX has the rack on the rear of the xmember vs. the front like the Z. I'm not worried about having a manual rack because I plan on using power steering... I just don't want to have to use manifolds because the damn gearbox is in the way.

I see threads like this all the time, how many of you have ever had an exhaust valve burn up or crack from ambient air getting into the exhaust port? I've started up alot of brand new motors with open manifolds, and some even without manifolds.. and never had a valve break or crack. I wouldn't worry about it in the least bit at all. It will just look like this. There's no way air is going to make its way in the exhaust port with the gas flowing out like that.. even on decel. The only time ambient air will make it to the exhaust valve is on engine shut down, and it's not going to do anything.

no, if you do the extra coolant passages on the heads will dump coolant right into your lifter valley. Also, you will have to use the coolant ports on the front of the head as the crossover, because the LT1 heads don't have the crossover in the manifold. read this thread and do everything he does: http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/tpi/178262-completed-lt1-heads-gen1.html

I'm wanting to use my stock speedometer, thus I need to get a cable gear for my 4l60E.. I read the article on JTR's site about moving the reluctor/VSS and putting the cable gear where the VSS was, but I don't want to do that if I don't have to. I stumbled across this on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TPI-Lt1-700R4-4l60-Cable-drive-speed-%20sensor_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33553QQihZ002QQitemZ120053954877QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW Is that just a VSS simulator (doesn't actually send a speed signal to the ECU), or is that thing really a functioning VSS plus cable?

Not sure about that because mine is going into an RX7, but the drivers side exhaust manifold is shaped differently to clear the steering rack on the Q45 so I don't see why it wouldn't clear one on a Z. The motor is actually just a cunthair over 26" wide, I was holding the base of the tape measure a little bit too far out on the picture.

This is my VH45

I'm not putting a LS1 in mine, just a 4.3 vortec v6. One of the main reasons I want to put the LS1 tank in there is so I can take my stock one out and not have to worry about cleaning or repairing it, and not have to replace my broken stock external fuel pump along with that. As far as the low gas goes, 2 things.. 1 - you don't drive as aggressively when you are low on gas, so it saves me money because I get better gas mileage from driving like I'm about to run out. Whenever I do actually have a full tank, I'm more likely to put the petal to the metal a little more so my mileage sucks. 2 - My work/school/home travel distance is about a mile and a half every day, so 5$ in gas can last me a week if I don't go anywhere. I live in a neighborhood where getting your gas syphoned out has happened before, so I don't like my truck to sit at the curb with 25 gallons of fresh gas in it.. lol

Thanks. From what I've seen, the ZX doesn't have a sunken down spare tire well in the middle of the hatch like the Z does. The ZX's spare sits vertically on the passenger side of the hatch. I'm not worried about capacity, the ls1 tank is rated at 16.8 gallons, so it's not that big of a difference to me. The only thing I'm worried about is cost - my ZX is on a budget. The cost of buying a new external pump, plus fabbing new lines from the tank, etc will cost alot more than the LS1 tank option that has presented itself to me. Also, the whole rearend of my car is a rust nightmare, so I would rather just swap the stock tank out anyway to alleviate any worry spots. The LS1 pump assembly is already fitted for 3/8 fuel lines, and the stock LS1 pump is going to be able to give me way more than enough fuel for the power level I'm going to be at. I have been running both of my daily driver (intank pump setups) at between 1/8th and 1/16th of a tank regularly (I'm a cheapass w/ gas, and I'm famous for it.. people call me "Gas light" because the gas light in my cars is never off.. LOL) for over 5 years and about 170k accumulated miles - all still on the stock fuel pumps... so I don't belive that running a low tank level is going to guarantee a pump failure!

I have searched and read forEVER, but the only info I can find on LS1 gas tanks are for Z's (not ZX's, cause the back half is different) or for all out cars that have had a new backhalf or brackets made. My question is will the LS1 camaro gas tank fit under the rear of a 280ZX without cutting out spare tire wells and what not? There is a local guy selling a tank/pump assembly for cheap, and it would help me out alot instead of having to buy a new external pump to replace my dead stock one, plus the engine swap I'm doing will be perfect with the ls1 pump setup.

you'll find alot more specs/measurements in my NICO measurement thread too that elwesso linked to (the same one where he got the pictures from)

Still have not heard back from them. I filed a paypal claim (item not as described) on them, and gave them 5 days to respond.. nothing. I escalated the claim, and paypal automaticaly deferred my claim because they "don't cover the condition of the items recieved". WHY THE HELL does paypal have that option anyways if they don't cover it? Looks like I'm screwed out of some gauges.. AVOID procarparts

well, I bought an ebay set like the one linked to earlier for .01$ and 9.99$ shipping.. lol I also have not heard anything back from procarparts, so I filed an incomplete item paypal claim and am waiting on their response.

I sent them an e-mail about 4 minutes before I made this post, and they replied with one of the "we're sorry, we have so many e-mails to look at and we will get to yours as soon as possible" automated e-mails with nothing else. Has anyone filed a paypal claim against these guys? IF they don't respond to my e-mail by the end of this weekend, I am going to file a paypal claim because that's how I paid.

what kind of problems did you have?

so I ordered the set of silver reverse glow gauges from the procarparts website. I had previously ordered gauges for my truck from them before, and they were great. The ad on procarparts shows a picture for all seven stock gauges (speedo, tach, fuel, temp, oil, volts, dummy lights, and clock) as seen here: When I recieved mine, the only ones that were in the bundle were the speedometer, tach, and the dummy lights. Not even the fuel gauge and temp gauge, which are both inside the cluster with the tach and speedo. My question: Has anyone else gotten this gauge kit from procarparts.com, and if you did, did you recieve the complete kit as advertised? If you didn't, did they send you the remaining gauges? If they tell me that the tach and speedo are the only gauges included in the kit, then I don't want them and will return them. The only problem is that their policy is that incorrect item returns are only eligible for exchange or store credit.

I use a lathe at work to polish camshafts, and an offset capable lathe w/ counterweights to grind on crankshafts.. and it's one of those tools that is nice to have and make an investment on if you do alot of fabrication every day. If you are just getting it for this project, you won't need it and it will not be an investment or pay for itself if you won't use it much outside of the car project. I thought about getting a lathe a while back, but for the infrequency that I need to use one for my personal stuff, I just decided to save the money and do whatever I need at work.

That's EXACTLY what I was going to do to my tailights! Where did you get those, and how did you make the tailight panel?

hahaha

I'm in the process of doing all the body mods to my 1980 280ZX, and I want to do something a little different. I can do all of the bracketry and mounting, but what I want to know is if the 70-73 Z aftermarket front airdam will physically fit onto the front of a ZX? One like this: I have spent hours looking at all sorts of different pictures, and the spot on both the Z and the ZX where the airdam mounts to the fender (below the headlight) look to be the same. I want to go bumperless with this, and make a grille like the one in the picture.

no offense, but I wouldn't want a guy who says a 440 crank fits in a 318 to build any of my motors.. lol

mine looks about the same, only I have progressed to the priming stage. I found a bunch of rust holes on the back rear quarter, and alot of bondo work behind the rear wheels on the quarters. I bumped up that ZG flare on a 280ZX thread because that's what I'm going to do to mine - just get the ZG flares to cover up my bondo fenders. I'm going with the color scheme that this guy did. Mine without paint: Mine as it sits today with everything primed except the bad rust spots in the back:

are you sure it's a 440 crank in a 318 block and not a 340? I'm no mopar expert, but I didn't think the big block mopar cranks would fit in the smallblocks

I browsed through that thread and didn't find anything about 280zx flares.

bump, I"m wondering the same question.