nullbound

That's how it always starts

Thanks, man. No real updates, unfortunately. One of my hold-ups has been to get my driveway extended, which just got done on the 8th of this month: I had to do this so I'd have somewhere to park the wagon so that the neighbors/HOA wouldn't/couldn't complain. Otherwise, I would only be able to park it in the grass next to my driveway (where that new paved area is in the pic above). The neighborhood fashion police didn't like it whenever I parked my 280Z on the grass. I'm not part of the covenants in my neighborhood and have politely given them the finger for their past complaints, so they've turned me into the county code enforcement for any complaints they've had since then. The county code person came and saw my 280z in the grass and said I had to park on a hard, treated surface or get fined if they came back to find it still sitting there in the grass. They also verified they only come out if someone complains. Otherwise, they have better things to do. So it's now paved and I can park there and continue giving our HOA reps the finger(s). Other than that, it's been too hot until recent weeks and work has been keeping me too busy. I've got a few small projects to wrap up on my 260z. Once those are done (hopefully in the next few weeks) I can then get the goon in the garage and get started on the upgrades. I've got almost everything I need for what I plan to do (brakes, suspension, motor and transmission swap, some interior work). I'll take plenty of pics

I have about 6 freestanding, heavy-duty plastic shelving kits that I store most of the lighter things on, some in boxes labelled with their contents. I also have a large wooden shelf setup that I built for some of the heavier things (differentials, suspension parts, etc). I have most of my engines on engine stands that I can roll around. No matter how much I try to organize, though, there always seems to be something that I waste a few hours trying to find when needed. And my garage is slowly running out of space, so some things are bleeding into a spare bedroom.

Yes, crossflow are considered to be better than downflow. See here (though Cross is misspelled as Gross): http://www.stewartcomponents.com/tech_tips/Tech_Tips_5.htm Here's a crossflow option for you: http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Parts_DATZ_Radiator_Kit.html A lot of guys here are using the same radiator for cooling V8's with no issues.

The wagon is ready to be worked on, but it's been too hot to think about. I did, however, manage to get another set of rear leaf springs off a parts car that qwik240 has at his place. It was so hot that day... but sawzall, some shade, some cold bottled water, and I got the springs I'll need later for when I get around to the suspension work on my car. Dave's Rusty Turd: Any shade was good shade: Spoils: I plan to combine one flipped leaf from these springs into the pack that's currently on the car. This was covered in a Dime Quarterly article for lowering wagons. Another future consideration came from jmortenson in using a set of leaf spring sliders: leaf spring sliders I want to lower the wagon without using lowering blocks in the rear. I'm just not a fan of that method. If necessary, I'll have the springs re-arched.

Looks great!

Very cool, especially in 17's.

Cutoff wheel, either on the spoiler or on the metal parts that are blocking it. Here's a 280 I used to have that I installed a 240 Kaminari spoiler on: And the red circles below show what I had cut on the car so I could mount that spoiler on that car:

C6 Z06 per the video title.

The Scarab and Hooker install kits are the same, not sure about the Nordskog. The C chanel Scarab/Hooker engine mounts are angled slightly and the holes for bolting to the cross member and the motor mounts aren't lined up directly to each other. You can install the mounts such that the engine sits slightly forward of the crossmember, or slighly rearward. Most of the ones I've seen are installed with the engine mount slightly forward in relation to the crossmember. Paul Corson uses these kits on his cars and mounts them where they angle back from the crossmember. He usually removes the hood latch bracket in order to do this. You can see in the second pic below where they angle slightly rearward in his install.

Bummer... this requires me to back out.

Good info on the tank and definitely a nice exhaust. I just had a similar exhaust system done on my 260, but without the mandrel bends. I wanted to do the mandrel bends, but that made it considerably more expensive. Very cool.

Yesterday I installed the front spoiler and checked everything over to make sure it was going to be good for the drive home today. Everything checked out ok, so I took her for a spin around the block. She did great. The transmission feels weird since it's a reverse pattern shift, but it's working as it should. So, today I drove down with my girlfriend to pick the car up. First thing I did was take the car around the block one more time and stopped to get some gas. As I was pulling into the gas station, there was a strange loud pop, which turned out to be a broken rocker arm stud: Luckily, we were able to round up another stud from a neighbor and Paul had a lock. I'll try to get the broken piece of rocker arm stud out of the ARP Poly Lock during the week. After replacing the stud and doing a quick adjustment, I brought the car home. It did quite well coming home, with the temperature never exceeding 185 degrees. My gas gauge wasn't working on the way home, so I don't know yet how much fuel I used on the drive. But, everything seems pretty good. The only issue coming home was a rock that I ran over that rolled up my passenger side front fender. It left a nice, ugly scratch. Oh well, there's always going to be a first scratch on new paint. May as well get it over with. I'll see if Dickey can touch it up a little later. Here's a few shots in the driveway: I still have more to assemble, but it started to sprinkle at the house, so I just put the cover over her for the night.

Thanks! It definitely sucks that the first painter didn't do as well as he said he would.

I picked up the car today from the exhaust shop. The guy has been swamped, so it took him about 4 weeks to get started, but I wasn't in a hurry. Here's what it looked like when I went to get it today: And here's a short video outside the shop: The car isn't at my house yet, but I got it tagged and insured today. Tomorrow, I'll go wrap a few things up to make sure it will be ok to drive home on Sunday.

Wreck? What wreck? I dropped by the body shop today to have a look at the wagon. I should be able to bring it home next weekend. The front driver's side turn signal lens was busted and I didn't get the replacement to them until today. They put the lens on while I was there, but the lens wasn't lining up with the body correctly. They're going to fix that during the week.

http://www.jnjdragracing.com/ourcar.htm

Update time, though much of this has been done for over a month. Sorry if this update is rushed... All fluids are in. Battery and cables are in. The fuel cell and lines are in. My locking header bolts are in. Locking collector bolts will go in later. I also installed an in-line transmission temperature manifold for the transmission temp gauge I installed in the glove box. I also installed a fuel level gauge in the glove box. The engine startup was pretty painless, other than the distributor initially being off one tooth. When testing the wiring, I was having some problems with the headlights and driving lights. The PO had reported some occasional issues with the lights. When I tried them, they only worked once out of every 10 times attempt to turn them on. It turned out to be a bad headlight switch, but took me a little while to find a replacement... which I luckily had stuffed in a box in my garage. I'm not even sure what car it came from, but was glad I already had a part I could use. Here's some pics taken when wrapping up the above work: The front spoiler, cowl panel, and hood were the last items to come back from paint: The car is currently at the exhaust shop, getting 2.5" pipes installed with an x and magnaflow mufflers. What she looked like when she left: And a small video of the first engine startup with all the new stuff: I'll pick the car up from the exhaust shop on Friday morning and hopefully be able to drive it on the street on Saturday or Sunday

The front end is finally getting fixed at the body shop. It took a while to get all the parts needed and for my paint guy to have an opening, especially since he was also working on my 260z. I'm hoping to get the goon back within a month. In the meantime, I've been gathering suspension and brake parts for when I get the car back. And here's a little something I picked up recently, too: Once I get the car back, the L20B above is going in with a ZX 5 speed. I'm also doing front coilovers, bushings, and 280zx brakes. Now if I can just find somewhere to put my 280 that won't piss off the neighbors.

+1. LT1 brackets are needed, not just any sbc bracket. The link I provided above is a good starting point for research.

Bartman and Deja have LT1's with A/C. Look at this thread: http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/44837-lt1-with-ac-what-bracket/link

Amazing job. Wheel and tire specs, please?

Cool, what car/engine are you using this kit for? I've also been researching MS3 and am impressed with all that it can do. I'm looking forward to your updates.