Phantom

Shows what true duals and aerodynamics can do for you. My car was loaded that day so, with passengers, it was about 3,325 lbs.

I think I have finally established a fuel economy range for a stock LS1 in a Z. At Texas Motor Speedway running pretty much full out I ran 118 miles on 12.1 gallons of fuel for an average of 9.8 MPG. On the other end of the spectrum, I had a short highway run where I was able to constant cruise at about 70 MPH with the windows down and AC off. The car ran 60.5 miles on 2.34 gallons of fuel for an average of 25.8 MPG. Kind of brings home the effect the foot can have on fuel economy.

Jeromio, I don't think that it's a driveshaft issue. This vibration occurs in all gears around 2,500 rpm. It is an engine speed realted issue, not a drivetrain speed related issue. I'll get into it sometime in the next few weeks.

The '97 & '98 LS1's were basically identical with the exception of the air inlet and exhaust and the ECM tuning. They changed slightly in '99 and then again in '01. Some of the later model Z28 and TA LS1's actually had LS6 blocks & intakes but they were a minority. If you can find one with the LS6 block and intake you'll have a stronger, slightly more powerful engine in stock form. also remember that the Corvette has the transmission integrated with the rear axle so it has a torque tube from the back of the engine to th etransmission where the Z28 & TA have the conventional bell housing or torque plate and transmission.

Send John an email and let him know about the condition of the packaging. Believe me, he'll appreciate it and correct it.

OK - pot calling the kettle black - when are you getting yours installed??

At 6'4" I found that I don't fit in one. I was also disappointed in the 215 HP in a car that cost more than the 287 HP track version of the 350Z. I used to be a MOPAR fan until I had some problems and D-C wouldn't make it right. Personnally I just don't see the value in the Crossfire. I think it is a neat looking car but it ends there.

It's amazing. I open up the Factory Service Manual and it actually tells me that I can adjust my rear drum brakes by cycling the hand brake several times. I pumped it up and down about 8-10 times and I'll be darned - they worked better. Drove it a ways, did it again and the seem to be fine now.

My LS1 powered '77 280Z has front and rear strut tower braces and a 4-point roll bar. I've been driving it for a year now (7,000 miles) - including two trips to the dragstrip and one track day at Texas Motor Speedway. It seems to be holding together OK.

Ok - I'm confused. I have essentially stock brakes on my 280Z. Disks in front and drums in the rear. To keep the rear drums properly adjusted one of the ways is to brake when the car is moving backward. I did that at a decent speed today and got a surprise. When I hit the brakes going in reverse they were firm and braked well. I stopped, shifted to 1st, drove forward, and braked again. This time the brake pedal was soft and required more travel to brake. Any ideas??

John and I have exchanged a few emails on this subject today. He is willing to powder coat (black) all future units - just ask that he do it when you order. For those of you that have kits already and have a lot of chipping - contact him. He is willing to exchange parts if you desire.

I emailed John earlier this morning about the chipping paint issue. He admitted some of the earlier components were painted with a spray can but he has since switched to black zinc. If your sets are arriving chipped give him a call. He is willing to replace them if you desire. I also have refrained from posting pictures of Johns compnents for the same reason. He did a lot of work - multiple variations of each design - until he found the one he liked and worked well. He deserves to not be "knocked off" by someone who hasn't paid the dues.

I am going to put the intake heat sheild back on, mabey insulate the fuel rail. Plans are to ceramic the exhaust manifold next year. You betcha!! You wouldn't be able to run down south without that intake heat shield. That's what allows us to suvive without extreme case of vapor lock in the summer months. THe heat off the exhaust first bakes the manifold and then the fuel rails. The shield reduces that siginificantly.

After reading a couple posts here I don't feel too bad in some respects. If you guys were experiencing brake fade during 20 minute sessions think what the 30 minute sessions were doing to my car. 50% more time! In other respects, though, I don't feel so good. I went through the brakes last night with the following observations. Front brakes obviously had seen some very high temperatures - the rotors were blue and the pads were half gone and looking pretty rough. Also have grooves in the rotors I didn't have last week. Not serious but not good. Here's the really bad part - the rear drums look great. No obvious signs of overheating at all. Pretty obvious they weren't working as hard as they should have been and the fronts were carrying more than their share of the load. Bled the brakes thoroughly last night and they are better today (drivable) but not what they should be. May have to spend a little more time on them if they don't straighten up in the next couple days.

I agree TIm- a 1-day gas-out is ridiculous. It accomplishes absolutely nothing. However, if everyojne would change their driving styles (slower and lighter foot on throttle) we could have a long-term redctionin fuel consumption of 10-15%. I proved this in my 280ZX by using 2,500 as a shift-point which, combined with a light foot, netted me a 17% improvement in fuel econony. That was about $2/week that didn't go to the gas companies. Multiply that by 100 million drivers and they would notice a $200 million/week drop in revenue - especially when it continued across several months. One day, you must be kidding, especially since everyone will just fill up the day before or the day after. The system can easily absorb a 1-day reduction in consumption.

OK - I'm not too sure I like being referred to as car #2 here. I usually had a bunch of cars behind me which generally made me car #1. Let's not discuss why so many cars were behind me - oh yeah - BRAKES - or lack thereof. I also will have to add the tires because they didn't help a lot compared to what the other cars were running. Bottom line, at 3,100 lbs the brakes just don't hold up without me being perfect and the maintenance being perfect - neither of which is going to happen. Look at it this way - for the safety of all the other cars & drivers on the track it would be best if I had better brakes. I nearly ate the back end of both the Lotus and the RX8 because I was catching them - and then catching them too fast when they braked and I couldn't even come close to matching them. Their cars were lower, wider, lighter than mine. They had wider, better tires and they had 4 wheel disks, vented, and ABS - and I was keeping up with them. Actually I was overtaking them until my brakes faded away. I have video of the Z repeatedly closing the gap in the straights and then losing it going into the corners. My speed through the corners was actually pretty close to many of the other cars. I just lost it having to brake so early and, in some cases, not being able to accellerate to even higher speeds because of the condition of the brakes. I would have really eatenthem on the oval if I'd had more confidence in my ability to get stopped. I could easily carried another 15-20 mph by moving a bit higher and using 4th gear instead of shifting from 3rd to 5th. I just couldn't afford to be close to anyone coming into the hairpin turn into the infield.

Yeah - better for the fronts to lock and start to plow than the rears to lock and swap ends. Right John? That seemed to be the way it worked at TMS this past Friday!

Look at all the good information I've gotten with my "Datsun Brakes Suck!" header. I'd hoped that would garner some attention and it did. A little more feedback from my part: 1) My car, with me in it weighs 3,100 lbs - a veritable battleship compared to an ITS car. 2) I'm running 215/55-16 Kumho Supra 712's - not the greatest track tire and they were new so had full tread depth. To add to the comments already made - I caught and could have passed a Mustang Cobra, an RX8 and the Lotus Esprit - but it would have done me no good as I would have exited the next corner in the wrong straight line. Straight into the gravel!! I had one straight I would run out in 3rd (about 90) and then COAST for about 75 yards rather than nailing 4th for a little more because I didn't have the brakes to bring it back down. Same with the oval sections. I held myself to a comfortable 115 because of the braking problem at the entrance into the infield plus I wanted to extend the brake cooling time. I could easily have moved up the track a bit and run 130+. That would have had me pulling away from the Panoz GTRA and running close with the Ferrari. The key thing to remember about my car is that it's my daily driver - full interior, nice stereo, air conditioning, spare tire, etc. The 4th session I even added another 200 lbs with a passenger and probably had my best session ever - if I hadn't run my tank too low and started suffering fuel starvation coming out of the corners I might actually have gotten the RX8. Yet another lesson learned.

Looks like a decent spoiler for the track. I certainly wouldn't use it for the street unless it was urethane. It would get totalled within a few months by curbs, speed bumps, or parking stops.

Well, I knew the heading would get a lively discussion started. In all fairness to the Datsun brakes - they did survive the day, sort of, in spite of the abuse they received. I had put Porterfield R4S pads on the front about a month before the event but i don't think that was enough time to get them fully set in and that's why the right front was smoking during the first session. They didn't do that the next three. I did go through the brakes before the event, checked and set rotors, pads, shoes, etc., bled the brakes and replaced the fluid with Motorcraft. In retrospect I should have spent the extra money for Motul or AP600. If I had been as good a driver as I could have been I may have gotten away with the Motorcraft but I have a lot to learn and boiled it. Never thought about bleeding the brakes between sessions. I had everything there to do it and definitely could have done it between session 3 & 4 but not the others. We were only sitting about 30 minutes between sessions and I didn't have a pit crew. Now back the the short comings of the Datsun brakes. Even after everything I had done to them, on the very first session I smoked them. If they had been better I wouldn't have. If I had been better I probably wouldn't have but I need brakes that can make up for my short comings until I can learn and these brakes won't do it. I was coming off turn 4 at TMS at over 100 mph and having to brake down to about 25-30 for a 180° hairpin that had a tire wall backed by concrete on the outside. This was not the time to lose the brakes and therefore I ended up having to brake twice. They had four rows of braking cones - I started before the first row with a hard short stab on the brakes. Then I'd usually have to do it again at the third row to make the corner. By the end of the session it was more like stand on them all the way thorugh all 4 rows of cones. That's how I knew the session was about over because my brakes were about over. I realize how much braking technique can add to or subtract from brake life. I also know that the guys with ABS have a siginificant advantage here. I squalled the tires many times trying to find the point of maximum braking - which was a little different on every corner of course. Like I said before - I need brakes that can survive a less experienced driver. I could have taken the Lotus Esprit but I would never have gotten the speed back down at the next corner. The car is more powerful than its brakes and that's not a good thing when road racing. FWIW - The instructors & mecahnics at TMS were all talking about the 280Z28 and it got more attention that the others because of its uniqueness. Next time I go out it will be with better brakes, and probably better tires, and maybe I can impress them with its ability to get around the track too. Don't get me wrong, I actually did OK and managed to pass a few cars but I should have done a lot better.

Well - at least the stock first generation ones do. I roasted mine part way through the first of four sessions out at Texas Motor Speeday last Friday. They are fine for drag racing or daily driving but almost worthless for a road course. I let the brakes cool for nearly an hour and then went back out again and managed to nurse them through the next three 30 minute sessions - just barely. You just can imagine the frustration I was feeling when I was in position time and again to pass a Lotus Esprit and couldn't because, even though I knew I had the power to take him, I knew I didn't have the brakes to slow it back down at the next corner. I was in a pretty heavy-duty group - Ferrari Testarossa 512, Lotus, Panoz GTRA, Z06 'vettes, Cobra's, 350Z, and then the Mustangs, Firebirds, and, of all things, an Altima SER. At least I managed to pass him and a C-4 'vette. The last sesson I was not only running with th ebad brakes but I had a pasenger and then started running out of gas and fuel starving in the corners - crap! Then I couldn't even keep up with an RX8. Time for another upgrade

A lot depends on the tire size. 15x7's with 3.5" back space and 205/60-15 tires will work perfectly both front and rear. Might even get away with 215's but somewhere around there they will start to rub the inside edge of the rear wheel well lip. If you go to 4" backspacing front and rear on the 7" rims you have to worry about the suspension on the inside. Again it wil be fine with the 205's and maybe the 215's but will be very close with 225's. Time to measure what is there and do some calculations. This all assumes that the car has had no body or suspension work and everything is in the stock locations.

As the header states, I now have over 7,000 miles on the car since the conversion. Throughout the time the drivetrain has been bullet-proof. Previous updates have documented little problems that have all been easily corrected. Things I have noted: The drivetrain sets up a harmonic in the 280Z chassis at about 2,500 rpm. It rattles the car pretty good and is iritating. I guess the answer is to get it above 3,000 fast and keep it there The electric speedometer drive randomly gets erratic. It will suddenly start fluctuating between 0 and whatever speed I'm driving. If I ignore it it will go away in a few minutes. The old 280Z body has allowed the rear suspension to get out of alignment, toe and camber. Of course neither is adjustable so the tires tend to wear on the inside. Answer there is to take all corners at higher speeds. It's starting to heat up so I've used the AC a couple times. It looks like it will be good to 90°F for sure but I don't know how well it will hang on above that temp. Guess we'll see. The cooling system (radiator & fans) have been great. The system has maintained a solid 180°F since day 1.

Good to see another LS1 swap underway too! You will really enjoy this motor. It's strong, reliable, and efficient!! Don't forget the structural reinforcing or it will pretzel the 240!

Cool, I'll pass this on at the Cowtown Z Club Meeting tonight in Arlington, TX. I'm looking forward to this summer edition as the articles will be extremely interesting - as usual!!