Georgia Flash

Alpha now come on. Would you ask preacher to give up his bible? You probably will not have much luck getting a manual from anyone on this site because most folks are like me and their project is always evolving. Therefore, we always need the bible…um manual to reference to when we dig into the Z. For instance, I just pulled the engine and transmission back out of my Z this weekend and used the manual a couple of times on the reassembly. The best place to get a JTR manual will probably be on EBay or you could get yourself a brand spanking new one from JTR, Summit Racing or Jegs. Good Luck.

Hi folks, Well after about a month or so of driving my Z around the block and so forth I have decided to do the unthinkable. Yes, I am going to pull the engine and transmission this weekend. The main reason for my insanity is that I have decided to get rid of the junkyard torque converter in favor of a unit from TCI. I will also tidy up a bit under the hood as far as my wiring goes. Some of it is still too uncomfortably close to the passenger side header for my sanity. Having the engine out of the way will give me plenty of room to correct the wiring issues as well as allow me to possibly fabricate a heat shield for my brake and fuel lines. While I have my engine and transmission out I also want to make doubly sure that I have everything in order like my transmission lines going to the right fittings on the JTR radiator. I thought that I read somewhere in the JTR manual about what line went where on the radiator when I hooked them up the first time. However, I have looked through my notes and read the JTR manual and I cannot find any reference to which connection is the in line and which is the out line. Finally my question: I did a search and came up with one thread that briefly mentions that the top fitting may be the out fitting. Does anyone know for sure? I also need to make sure that my heater hoses are routed correctly. Oh for those who do not know I have a 76 280 with a Chevy 350, 700R4 Transmission, Taurus two speed electric fan and JTR radiator. Thanks in advance to any help that I may receive on this inquiry. Safety Lesson: Beware of the Mr. Gasket glass inline filter. A couple of days ago I decided that I would drive the Z on its longest journey to date with the 350. I had planned on driving it to work some 45 miles away to show the people that yes, I really do have the car running now and it really does have the V8 installed. Anyways, I cranked the engine and went back inside while the car warmed up. It seemed to be doing fine. I could hear the glass packs rumbling through the walls of my house as I finished off my cup of coffee. When I went back outside to leave, I was horrified to see what looked like tons of gasoline running from under the car in the engine bay! There was a long trail of gas running down my driveway and into the street! I shut the car down immediately and raised the hood. One of my earliest biggest fears had come to fruition. The Mr. Gasket glass filter had somehow loosened (unscrewed on one end) allowing massive amounts of fuel to be pumped onto my hot intake manifold. The gas was in puddles and bubbling as it sat on the hot manifold. Needless to say, the folks at work did not see the Z that day. I pushed it back into the garage and drove the truck to work. Folks big lesson learned here for sure. I shudder to think of what might have happened if I would have made it onto the highway and the filter would have let loose. I have replaced the three-piece filter with a solid metal stock type filter from Napa. Again thanks for the help that I know I will recieve:)

Just experienced it myself recently for the first time and it is a rush. Congrats on joining the Z8 club!

Edelbrock 1406 600cfm.

JTR or MSA for sure will help you out. I used the MSA kit and my dizzy sits pretty close to the firewall. Also it looks like your airfilter sits right on top of your distributor. I have the same Edelbrock air filter and it doesn't sit like yours. I have a little more room between the two.

I see that you are from Georgia, what part? What mount system are you using JTR, MSA, Scarab or homemade? If you use the JTR or the MSA you can get it further back. I can't really tell how low it is already from your pictures.

Rod, On my 76 280 the oil pressure sending unit on the passenger side of the engine had a green wire running to it. Things like this confused me when I started wiring up my 350. The JTR book specified using the "yellow/black" wire that went to the oil pressure sender. However, once I traced the green wire back into the harness to a connector with a few prongs on it, I discovered that it turned into a yellow/black wire on the other side of that connector. I simply hooked up the Datsun sender to the brass elbow that I had bought from the hardware store (see page 3-9 in the JTR manual) and then hooked up the yellow/black wire to that. It works fine. I hope that this helps. It really is very simple to wire once you get started. Believe me I know because I was very nervous about this when I began. Let me know if you have any other questions concerning the wiring on the 280Z while it is still fresh on my mind.

Yeah tell me about it, there were plenty of times when I thought about scrapping the whole deal and finding another hobby. Now if I could just have a few days off from work so I could finish her off. By the way thanks for all the great comments guys, they are much appreciated I can assure you.

Thanks guys, Mike the tranny seems to be holding a little long in first gear so I probably do not have the linkage adjusted just right yet. However, I can say with confidence that I will not have any burned plug wires since the install of a simple shield and better fitting spark plug wires:icon54: I also took your advice and moved my wiring harness up and off the front frame rail so that it could be away from the intense exhaust heat. The Taurus fan that I got from a local salvage yard is working great and looks good mounted to the JTR radiator. I ordered two Thrush mufflers from Jegs and they arrived late yesterday afternoon. I will be putting them on for the time being until I can get it to a muffler shop to have a proper exhaust system put in. As for doing a video, I would love to but do not know how to get it on the computer. I have a very old video camera.

I rolled the Z out of the garage today for its first test run. It seems like a long time ago now since it was on the road. I have been battling spiders every time I crawl underneath it to work on her and I can feel the Z project depression setting back in:frown: Anyway, I spent my two off days this week hooking up the homemade exhaust system to the headers for the maiden voyage. At approximately 6:00pm eastern standard time in a little town in northwest Georgia, it happened. I fired up the engine, shifted the transmission into drive and rolled her out into the sun. The car sounded loud and evil as I taxied down the driveway. I stopped when I reached the road and pondered for a moment. I wondered if I had all the bolts tight that were supposed to be tight and was there any wires that I had forgot to tape or cover, and what about my heat shield in the engine bay, would it work or fail. I lifted my foot off the brake and eased it on the gas. I could hear my low hanging exhaust scrub on the pavement when I left my driveway and entered the street. A little voice inside my head was saying “now take it easy for a while and just cruise the block and bring her back home safely…†As I rolled on the throttle, I immediately felt the back of my head slam against the headrest and I smiled:rockon: I never remembered my six cylinder doing that I thought to myself as I lit up the pavement. It was on now, no turning back. I drove the loud beast around my block and did a drive by passed my house so that the wife could enjoy seeing the Z rumble by. (She stayed behind just in case I needed a ride home). The car is coming along nicely but I still have some bugs to work out such as tuning the carburetor and making sure that the 700R4 is in right. Once that is done, I will go farther and farther away from home until I have total trust in my Z. I have to say that this car is going to be one fast mutha!

On a consent search, which is what you consented to, you have the right to refuse. Otherwise, the only way the officer can get into your car then is if there is something illegal lying in plain view such as dope or possibly a firearm partly concealed under your front seat or elsewhere. Alternatively, if the officer smells something like burning marijuana or fresh marijuana or whatever then he can go into your car without a warrant and search the entire car. Also if you refuse the consent search and there is a K9 Officer working then more than likely he will be called to the scene to "walk his dog" around your vehicle. If the K9 alerts on your vehicle, then the officer can search also without your consent. If you are arrested for a violation, then the officer can search your vehicle incident to arrest. Courts these days are frowning more and more on situations just like yours Mike. Whereas the officer stops someone for a seemingly minor infraction, speeding in your case, and without reason (probable cause or reasonable suspicion) detains someone for an unreasonable amount of time. To me an hour in the back of a cop cruiser is UNREASONABLE if you are not doing anything wrong! Like I said, do us all a favor and complain on this guy. Who knows you may be surprised to find that he has many other citizen complaints that have been filed against him. We have several officers working at our department that have a knack for getting complained on and a couple of them have been put on notice that the next founded complaint will be their last. Remember a consent search can be refused and nothing can legally be done to you for refusing such search.

And we have a name for these types of cops as well "assholes." Mike you cannot judge every cop by the few bad apples out there. And always remember that most if not all departments have a way for the public to make complaints against bad officers such as this one that you ran into. Next time tell him you are in a hurry and you do not have time for your car to be searched, see what he does. If he puts you in cuffs and searches it anyway then he will be in a heap of trouble. By the way most police cars especially the highway patrol have video cameras that are mandated by the department to always be rolling on traffic stops. I would file a formal complaint against this guy in a heartbeat!

Hehe we are always around;) but the problem is, sometimes there just are not enough of us around. Glad to see the tailgater got his. You would probably be surprised at how few officers actually patrol your town on a given day or night. On another note, older cops sometimes get lazy and stopping cars is no longer something that they want to do. We have a term for these kinds of officers. We call them “road officers.†Road stands for “retired on active duty.†Unfortunately, they will be that way until they actually do retire proper. However, you can run across a “traffic nazi†who will stop you at 3:00am on a four-lane highway for doing 10 miles over the speed limit even if there are no other cars on the road. These are the same cops who will write you that ticket for having a blown taillight or tag light. Most will grow out of this stage after a while and settle down a bit, and…you guessed it, one day will become road officers.

Both wires are 10ga wire. As a matter of fact all three wires are 10ga.

Thanks Mike, It was the Brown with Yellow stripe wire.

Forgive me if this topic has been covered, I did a search but could not find the answer. I have the Taurus two-speed fan and I am getting ready to wire it into the car. Can anyone tell me which wire is for the high speed and which is for low speed? There is a brown and yellow wire and a brown and orange wire. There is also a black wire, which I assume is for the ground. I have an aftermarket relay that has a wire for a dual fan set up. Should I hook this wire up to the high-speed wire on the Taurus fan? Alternatively, do I use the wire from the relay that should go to the Air Conditioner wiring? My car does not have AC. Mike if you see this I may call you tonight. I was going to call last night but it got too late.

I may go with a flex a lite fan some day but right now like some of the others have said $25 bucks for a Taurus fan is good for me I drove down to the nearest salvage yard and wallah, I had my Taurus fan in about 10 minutes. I looked at the new fan that you are referencing and I like the way it looks. When I tear down my Z in the not so distant future I may consider the flex a lite. Right now the Taurus fan will do for me.

You could also just drill it out and re-tap the hole. Be carful not to break off the eez out if you use one. I have heard that they are a pain to get out once they have broken off in a hole.

I was conducting a search for the Taurus 2 speed fan and came across this thread. I saw that Mike JTR did not have a picture of their new radiator mounts in a V8 Z so I thought that I would help them and anyone else out by posting mine. The radiator and mounts are from JTR. I used an upper radiator hose from Gates with the part number being GAT 20823. This hose almost fit with no trimming. I used a lower hose from Gates with the part number being GAT 20923. However, this hose did not have a spring inside for reinforcement so I will be looking for another one soon. The information I have gathered so far on the Taurus fan is that I need to get the two-speed fan from a 1990 and newer Taurus with the 3.8-liter engine. Does this sound correct?

For now I have left mine as is on my 76 280Z. However, I may run new lines in the near future. I have to do my homework first. Also another important thing to note is that the 240Z and the 280Z have the fuel lines running in two different locations. The 240 from my understanding has the lines running down the transmission tunnel while the 280 has the lines running along side the passenger side frame rail.

Did you notice that the guy relocated the fuel filler door to the frigin roof! WTF