GAZRNR

the dud abieds

I am using the same setup and had to use a longer rod by about 3/8 inch and had to bleed the slave with the back of the car jacked up to get all the air out. I am using a T56 and very happy with the clutch action. Hope this helps

Thanks Any fitment issues with the hood or opening it without any kind on springs in there?

I recieved my 2" cowl hood from the people who used to supply JC Whitney. The invoice is from Kuston Creations but these are the same people, I worked with Larry T: 267-221-6648 and it was an easy process. $375 hood, $29 packing (very well done) and $94.02 shipping to terminal NE of Atlanta. The finish is the best out of all the fiberglass parts I have purchased. I have a question for anyone using a figerglass hood. The stock hood springs seem to be way to strong for the way the hood hinge brackets are secured to the hood (3 pop rivits). The hood is about 1/2 the weight (or less) of the stock hood so I was going to remove the springs and work out some kind of hood prop to hold it up once opened. The stock hood prop seems to short to support the lenght of the hood with no springs. What have you guys done? Thanks Rusty

I use a B&M Ripper shifter and a hurst white Q-ball knob with the 6 speed shift layout and it looks very cool with the white face gauges. I thought it was a lot of money until I drove the car, then I really appreciated the short firm direct shifts. There are 3 sets of washers that allow the shifter to be moved slightly forward, centered or set back. I used the setback position and for me it is a very comfortable feel. I got my setup from Summit Racing.

Yes the T56 will work with the JTR transmission mount. I had to use a 4lb hammer to solve some clearance issues in the tunnel. Took 2 test fits of the motor & trans before final fit. Funny how much you learn as your car comes together.

Sounds like you have bad battery cables. Replace BOTH pos & neg, verify that you have a good ground & charged battery and your car should start. If it still dosen't turn over try having someone turn the key so you hear the clicking and tap on the starter body with a hammer. You do not have to pound it with the hammaer but may times it has worked in the past on old chevys. Good luck Rusty

Thanks Ryan, I just got off the phone with Larry and ordered the hood. The process was quick & easy. Hood $375, packing $29, shipping to Atlanta $75-$95. It will ship in 3-4 weeks. Hope mine looks as good as yours! I'll post an update when the hood arrives. Anyone interested they will make your hood when payment is recieved and ship to where you live freight collect.

Has anyone bought a hood direct from Legendary Cars Inc.? If yes, was the price $375 and how much was the shipping? Did it arrive in good shape? How was the quality and fit & finish? I test fit my stock hood and found that it will not quite close before it was on the air cleaner. I'm using one of those small triangle edelbrock air cleaners so a smaller air cleaner is not an option. I have a 78 hood so I have limited options with my current setup. Thanks, Rusty

Has anyone made a heat sheild to divert the heat from the right side header away from the battery? I notice a lot of heat on the left side of the battery and it is very warm. Right now I have no hood on the car so heat has an easy exit but I don't want to melt my battery once I get everything buttoned up. Thanks

The first thing I would do is verify that you have a stable 6-7 PSI of fuel pressure at the carb. Your float needles can't take more than that. Then make sure your firing order is correct (no miss connected plug wires) verify that you have the correct spark plugs gapped at 45 thousandst and verify that none of spark plugs are fouled. Then start the motor and give it 10-12 degrees timing, set your idle & have fun.

Congradulations on your first start. I had my 1st start 2 weeks ago after an 18 month project so I know how SWEET IT IS!

I started the V8 conversion on my 78Z October 02. I went with a GM crate long block, T56 and the JTR conversion kit. I sourced the parts (over the years), did the prep, test fitting & reworking as I had the time & money and resisted the urge to "get it running" before I had what I needed. Last Friday I started it for the first time, it fired up with almost no effort. After breaking in the cam, letting it cool, checking for anything loose or leaking I took it for a short test drive. No hood, fenders or front end parts, it felt like driving a modified thru the neighborhood. Still lots tuning and adjusting to do but the car felt strong, shifted smooth and is how I envisioned it would be. Thanks to everyone who posts & responds as I used your trials to help me thru mine. If all goes as planned I should have it "streetable" by August...of this year! Rusty

I'm using the JTR T5 slave cylinder converted per JTR on a T56 with 7/8 master. I had a problem getting the air out of the system...your problem sounds like air in the system too. I solved my problem by jacking the back of the car way up to help get the air towards the bleeder in the slave cylinder. Once I bleed this way the clutch was right where I wanted it. Give it a try.

A few years back I had a company car (Lumina) that was a duel fuel car meaning it ran on gas or propane. I used to run 4 tanks of propane then 1 tank gas just to keep the fuel system from drying out. The propane was higher octane but I noticed a few things. The car ran much cleaner & cooler, oil, plugs, exhaust...everything but the fuel mileage was down about 5 mpg VS gas and power was slightly down. Working for a propane company gave me easy access to propane as motor fuel but it got taxed 50 cents a gallon when used that way. The looks on peoples faces when I opened the trunk to show the tank would blow peoples minds. Thanks for the pictures!

I am in the process of installing side pipes on my 78 V8 conversion. They are the 50 inch universal patriot side pipes sold by summit. So far I have them mounted on the car and working on the pipe from the shorty headers to the exhaust inlet. I hope to start the car towards the end of the month and will know how loud they are then. If anyone wants a picture of the installation send me a PM and I will send you a picture. (still haven't figured out how to post a picture here) If anyone wants to install side pipes they will need to fab some 1/8 steel plates, weld on a nut, open a hole in the rocker pannel and weld the plates on. You need this to support the weight of the exhaust. Not hard but sonething you have to plan out.

Sherwin-Williams is selling a krylon spray paint for plastic. It works but comes in gloss colors only. Give it a try.

With all 10lbs of wires gone you have a little challenge on your hands. Do you have any of the under dash harness that used to run to right footwell and into the engine bay? To get the car running you need to trace from the ignition key/switch and find the following: 1) a black wire with a white stripe . This will go the the pos on the GM HEI. You also need to power your fuel pump from this or another keyed wire. 2)there will be a black wire with a yellow stripe, this is for your starter "s" clip and run a jumper wire across to the black wire with a white stripe to activate the F/P on start. 3) good ground from engine to body, and battery to motor 4) pos battey to starter. 5) wire from alt to battery + with a fuse in line This VERY basic but should get the engine to run and charge the battery but not give you any gauges, or other accessories.

I got a new T5 slave cylinder from NAPA for $75. I modified per JTR before the post for Ron's adaptor came on the board.

Guy, How are you using the switch in your driving. Do you run power to the solenoid only when you are about to use reverse? Have you tried driving the car with power to the solenoid, if yes how are the shifts to 5th? Can you miss 5th and gring reverse easily? Thanks, Rusty

Gentlemen, Thanks for the help. Mike, your method seems like the way to go. Where did you get the springs you used and do you remember which one worked best? Thanks, Rusty

Question for those using the T56 not hooked up to GM computer. How have you wired the reverse gear solenoid. Did you use a switch that you manually operate when shifting to reverse? Did you hot wire it so shifting to reverse is always available or do you use the "crash through" method of pushing VERY HARD to force the gate open when shifting to reverse? I am at the point where I need some help on how to address this issue. The switched method seems like a P.I.A. and the hot wire approach concerns me as to how easy it would be to grind reverse when going for 5th. Thanks, Rusty

Your 1st 2 items; heavy gauge wires and good grounds are good point to start from. Before I steer you in the wrong direction are you still using the fusable links or changed to something else? My 78 had 4 fusable links in the system, 2 in each pod. When I cut open the system to see how the links were wired here is what I found and what I duplicated using a fuse block. The solid white wire (10 gauge) from the starter branched off to all 4 fusable links. The 4 white with red stripe wires were on the opposite side of the solid white wires with the link connecting the each pair of wires. In short you have 4 soild white wires and 4 white with a red stripe wires with some type of fuse in between them. In the original setup there were 3 smaller fusible link wires and one larger one. The larger one is to handle the alternator. I would not run your alt wire thru the starter solenoid but would run it direct to the battery with a fuse in line somewhere where you can get at it if need be. How are you drawing power for the rest of your systems? Hope this helps

First you need to use the heavy gauge wires for a battery reloacation with new heavy duty connectors. Summit & Jeg's sell the kits. Once you get your gauge + & - resolved make sure you have a good couple of grounds from the engine to the body. Now-what else runs to/from the battery. I recently finished wiring my 78 for the V8 and here is what I found & did. There is a 10 gauge wire from the pos terminal on the starter that runs to the fusable links(solid white wire). There is a wire from the pos battery terminal to the fusable links. I eliminated the fusible links but used a fuse block and kept the same wiring paths. Hope this helps Rusty

Jon, I am using the JSK hats & hardware, wilwood 32 vane curved rotors, wilwood NDL calipers, wilwood "Q" street pads, wilwood adjustable brake bias valve, ZX master cylinder and had some customer SS hoses made to connect to the system. I am using the bias valve because of a rear disc conversion. The entire setup looks and fits great, I'm using a 17 inch wheel but it looks like I could run a 16 with no clearance issues. Juan is a great guy to work with and his kit is well thought out and a quality platform for your brake system. Pop me an email and I will send you a couple pics as I have had no luck posting pic's here. I can also give you the places I sourced my parts & had brake hoses made. Rusty