Drax240z

Well chrome-moly is actually the exact same weight as mild steel. But it is stronger, and therefore rules allow you to run a thinner wall thickness on chrome-moly cages than they do with mild steel. I believe it was john coffey (I could be wrong) that told me somewhere that he saved 45lbs by going with a chrome-moly cage over a mild steel one. I've seam welded parts of my car, but haven't driven it yet since then. I doubt it would make a huge difference by itself though.

Hey Greg. I wrote a FAQ just for people like you. Check it out, its one of the links in my signature at the end of my post. Give it a read and then feel free to ask any more questions that come to mind.

Naw the reason I wanted duals was that I was thinking if I split from 3" to duals around the rear of the tranny I'd have a really nice exhaust note. Plus I like the looks of a pipe out on either side. (or 2 in the middle) It would be a totally aestetic mod, I doubt it would gain any power over a simple 3" system. Either way, I'm not even close to thinking about it yet.

Looking good now. Not much smoke, coolant level is steady, timing is back to the point where I have power. Wheeeee!

The guys name was Sisyphus. Actually the legend of Sisyphus is quite interesting! Try finding Albert Camus' paper on the myth.

Chin splitters... Basically a flat sheet of carbon fiber or any other material, that bolts to the bottm of the air damn, with a sharp edge forwards. It 'cuts' the air, forcing some under, and some over it, but doesn't allow it to creep from above the splitter to back under like a stock air dam would. Basically it reduces the amount of air flowing under the car slightly, thus giving lower pressure under the car, and thus creating downforce. (slightly)

I love the sound of supertrapps too. Actually I am hoping to put one on my turbo car once the time (and money) comes for my 'ultimate exhaust system'. (that will likely be a 3" mandrel bent system splitting to 2 2.5" pipes, no resonator, and dual supertrapps, one on each side of the fuel cell I don't have yet)

Looks like it might just be the coolant left in the exhaust system from when the gasket went... we'll try it for a couple days and see what happens.

OK, so as some of you know I blew a headgasket (or so I thought) last friday. After running around like crazy trying to borrow tools from people, I just finally got it going today. Changed the oil. Screwed with the timing a bit. Moved the cam timing advanced 4 degrees. (from the #1 to the #2) New plugs. New headgasket. Just took it around the block and its still smoking white and running like crap. I guess I mis-diagnosed the problem. Strange, because the headgasket looked like it was blown at number 6, and the compression was 125/125/125/125/125/45 before the headgasket swap. I looked at both the head and the block for cracks but couldn't see anything. Ideas?

Oops, my bad. I thought it was you. Ah well, I'd still prefer bolt ons.

I think I like the bolt on method better myself, but I've had a really hard time finding people that are competant to work on my car. (in my opinion, of course) After hearing the fiasco Mikelly went through I'd be leary of letting anyone but me weld it, and I don't have a welder that I feel is good enough for something that heavy, so... Bolt on sounds good!

Yeah I'm letting that bolt soak overnight. Did the hammer and chisel trick allready. I used to work in a chemical based refinery where we used some heavy acids, so rusted bolts is nothing new... Hopefully a good soaking and a pair of vice grips are all that is necessary.

Got it. Borrowed a breaker bar and a 2.5lbs hammer from a guy, it didn't have a chance. On the lame side, about half my head bolts were rusted in. SCREECH! As I loosen them. And of course, one of the damn things broke. Gonna have to walk to the store to buy a can of oil and some vice grips, and maybe a propane torch and hope to hell I don't have to drill it and easy out it. On the bright side, I have a head sitting in my living room floor!

Definately the cam sprocket bolt. What a stubborn old bastard. Its coming off one way or another tomorrow. I guarentee it!

At this point in time my resources include -a 79 pc socket set (3/8 & 1/4 drive) -a set of metric wrenches 10mm-18mm -a 1/2lb hammer -a multidriver -a pair of needlenose pliers -a roll of duct tape -a package of bubble gum My tools are 210km away as I said, including my air compressor. Believe me I would've had this done in no time were I there... Looks like a buddy from my car club is going to make a trip into town to give me a hand though, and bring some tools. Hopefully we can get it.

First off, let me say YOU ARE CRAZY. And that you have found the perfect spot, with others just like you. Really the swap shouldn't have huge differences from the 302 swap into an early Z, and thats been done a couple of times. I would start by reading through some older articles here, and then checking out www.jagsthatrun.com and ordering their datsun V8 conversion manual. It covers only the SBC install, but everything you'll need to address is allready done in that book. Basically you need to consider that you will need to make your own motor mounts, transmission mounts, get a custom length driveshaft made, adapt the ford clutch to hydraulic, and in the end do the wiring. Don't let the wiring scare you too much though, proving you found a 302 still in a car, you should be able to swap all the controls over at once. As for legality, you'll have to ask some of the other guys here what is go/no go in the US. Happy reading!

Evan, that bad boy is really on there. I had me and my roomate both cranking on that sucker to the point that we were spinning the engine in reverse and forcing the car up a hill. I think I need to go with a pair of vice grips between cam lobes to keep it from spinning (unless someone else has a friendlier idea?) and get a bigger breaker bar. Unfortunately I am 210km away from my tools or this would be done in an hour. Oh yeah, first thing I tried was the old hammer/impact route, no dice. Its really on there.

I'm doing the same thing on my 74 this weekend. Blew the gasket at #6. I can't for the life of me get the cam sprocket bolt loose. Hope you have a big breaker bar ready! Evan were you running a FelPro headgasket before?

Well lets throw in my costs here too. Suspension, chassis, brake upgrades aside. (in canadian funds) $1200 SDS $1200 Junkyard engine with full rebuild $450 Clutch/flywheel $225 MSD Box $100 60mm TB $400 NPR Intercooler & piping $100 Fuel system -------- $3675Canadian (~$2300US) If I had my way, I'd have 6 new injectors, a t3/t04 turbo and forged pistons as well, adding probably $1800US to the cost. Grand total for a 350rwhp turbo engine/tranny, $4100US. Remember we don't have to spend big bucks on a tranny because the stock ones can be sufficient. So there is $300-$1800US off what a chevy swap would cost with a manual transmission. I'm with Evan though, I really learned a lot while doing this swap, and would do it again just for the LCF. (looks cool factor)

Sweet, thanks Scottie.

Oh yeah Datto, have any pics of the BOV's and what would you want for one? I'm having a horrible time trying to find one without spending $200US on a Greeedy one.

Well datto I wouldn't, but if you are going to give it a shot, let us know how it goes. I'd stick with 2.25" stuff, since more than likely you are going to have fairly restrictive corners. Don't be afraid of using solvent cement either, it doesn't lose adhesion when heated, it just gets soft in the same way the piping will. (It actually WELDS the pipe together, not GLUES it together) Let us know how it goes. Oh yeah, I'd keep an eye on the PVC/CPVC for bulging for the first while too.

Doh, mail them to me! (got a scanner right here) I'm planning ont he cut/weld route too, then the anal grind/sand bit too. (that didn't sound quite right) I think for materials its less than $100canadian (~$65US) to do it in mild steel. That includes a can of spraypaint for afterwards too.

Mild really shouldn't be too expensive. You don't really have to use mandrel bends for your piping (though its obviosuly preferred) so you could likely get a muffler shop to bend up some pipe for you. If you have a welder handy, an feel like taking the time to do it extra nice, buy some mandrel bent piping (I got mine from summit) and cut & weld a nice mild steel setup like what scottie had on his L28 Z.

Did a brake job on a friends 86 Rx7 yesterday, and as we were doing it I thought that those would be awesome calipers for an early Z. (the front ones) 4 piston caliper, and the beauty compared to something like the 4runner swap is that it'll also mate with a .81" thick rotor, has around the same pad size, but its aluminum. I think it would be fairly easy to adapt to the Z strut. Has anyone looked at these calipers for this purpose? Can anyone thing of Pro's or con's that I might be overlooking?