Phantom

I'm using the Spicer "Brute Force" half-shaft universals with my R200 LSD & LS1. RAised the Diff about 5/8-3/4" to help with contact patch when car squats but still get the 'hop'. Just not quite as soon.

I would also get the radiator cooling fans & shroud. It will allow you to just recore your Z radiator to 4 rows, trim the shroud a bit and bolt it to the radiator which will be bolted to the stock mounts. Then just plug the power leads into the LS1 harness and you're in business. If you want, you could also run a 280Z fuel tank which is designed for fuel injection and then you can use a stock level sender and your stock fuel gauge. Be sure to keep your Z engine temperature and oil pressure senders if you intend to keep the stock gauges. Other than that - engine, transmission, driveshaft, wiring harness with OBD II connector, cats & O2 sensors & ECM. Check http://www.johnscars.com if you haven't already for components for the LS1 swap.

Juan, What is the offset or backspacing on your 15" wheels? It sounds like they are 0 offset? If they had a +10-12mm offset or around 4.0" back-spacing you wouldn't have fender clearance problems with either size tire. What is the actual tread width and section width of the 15" tires vs the 16" you used to have? The taller 225/60-15's are probably a bit narrower thatn the 225/50-16's so they may not have a problem. A 225/50-15 will certainly move the tire further from the lip and reduce the possibility of rubbing. What's amazing to me is that you're running the 12.2" rotors with 15" rims? Wow!

On the track: 1) Got wasted by ZFAN, and a Big Block 68 Chevelle 2) Beat Pontiac GTP, Twin turbo Z32, Mustang GT, Subaru WRX On the street: Mustangs & sport compacts by the gross. Camaro Z28 & Firebird T/A Corvette C-5 Messed with a Z06 & Viper - draw in each case. The Z06 was really fun though 'cause he got frustrated that he couldn't blow me away and just quit.

Look around. I got mine about 18 months ago for $500 - installed.

Shucks. : Tweren't Nothin Glad to have been able to help.

Tim, The problem is the size. Almost no one makes a competition tire in the 225/50-16 size except Yokohama, Kumho & Michelin. The Yoko's are pricier and very noisy and the Michelins are just plain expensive. Not sure if anyone else around here would have better prices than Discount but I'm sure open to it.

Yeah - but I didn't have to spend all the $$$$ on the coil-overs. I can just spend the extra $250 over and over again on the tires!!

Dang!!! Got some pricing on some 225/50-16 Kumho Ecsta V700's today. $705.20 with tax, mounting & road hazard from Discount. Double dang!! And that's with a UTOG of 50AA/A!! I may save the S306's until after I see how long they really last.

Terry, The original tires on your 280Z were 195/70-14's. To maintain the same diameter you could upsize to 205/60-15's; 215/50-16's or 225/40-17's. If you want to stay with 15" rims you could try for 225/55-15's to maintain tire daimeter or 225/50-15's with a smaller diameter which would help with fender well clearance. A '0' offset means that the mounting surface on a 7" wide rim is dead center or has 3 1/2" back spacing. A +12mm or 1/2" positive offset means 4" backspacing on a 7" rim which moves the tire 1/2" closer to the center of the car - toward the strut and away from the fender lip. I assume you are looking at 7" wide rims? If so, 23mm backspacing is over 7/8" which is too much and will put your tire into the strut if you go 225 , or even maybe 215, in width. If you get a 10-12mm spacer to move the wheel out a bit you should be fine even with 225's. Ross Corrigan at http://www.modern-motorsports.com can help you out there. I bought my wheels from Center Line and had the bolt pattern and offset made to my specs which was the 4-bolt, 114.3mm circle with 0 offset on a 16x7" rim. In retrospect, I wish I had gone with a +10mm offset. that would have allowed me to consider 235 cross-section tires. Hope this helps

Terry, My LS1 is running 311 rwhp (365 flywheel hp) & 326 rwtq. It weighs 3,085 lbs with me in it and turns 12.9@110 in the quarter. I am tire and exhaust restricted at this point. So many factors on 1/4 mile times - gearing, tires, car weight, type transmission, altitude, etc. - it would be very difficult for me to guess what you would do in quarter.

On the 280Z a '0' offset wheel, which is what I have, puts a 225 wide tire out to the very edge of the fender well. With a +10mm offset it would move a bit closer to the center of the car which would eliminate the occaisional rubbing I get. It would also allow me to push the envelope possibly to a 235 width. It will require a custom wheel or a FWD wheel with spacers to do that. The Yokohama S306's that I have are excellent everyday tires. They are 'V' rated and are indicating that I will be able to get at least 50K miles out of them. The problem is that they don't even come close to handling the power of my LS1. At this point, after kicking out the Yokohama A032r's because of their road noise, I think I'm going to settle on some Kumho Ecsta V700's. They are a DOT legal competition tire. They will have a lot more stick than the Yoko's. We'll see if it's enough.

One of the best opportunities is with the 280Z. The leads to the fuel pump are under the carpet behind the passengers seat. Put an easily accessible switch there and you can kill the fuel. It may start under residual pressure but will die within seconds. If you haven't done that and are somewhere that you're worried about the car just lift the carpet and disconnect one of the bullet connectors there and you will have accomplished the same thing. It's a little more hassle but effective if you're worried about your car.

Took the poll. Guess what my vote was!?! Waiting anxiously on my copy of Sport Z!!!!!

I have full coverage just like my other cars through USAA. It runs about $400/year and all they ask is that I keep the receipts and have plenty of photos of the car in case of loss. I had one stolen in '89 and they reimbursed me for $800 less than my total investment ($100 less than original purchase price) and I had been driving the car 3 years.

Briguy, It's not real clear from the pictures but it looks like you can hang a left coming out of the MAF and go under the upper heater hose to the hole on the drivers side of the radiator, out through it, and then in front of the radiator. On mine the turn was made before the MAF and the MAF was installed on the length running crosswise toward the drivers side of the car. The HP loss is about 1% for each 20°F so 90° would be worth about 4.5% or around 15 HP on the LS1. That is really cheap HP.

Terry, Thanks for the offer. I'm actually running 16x7 Center Lines now with 225/50-16 yokohama S306's. It's just that they have a '0' offset and I'm going to have to go to a +10 mm offset if I go to larger tires. That's why I'm going to try a very sticky set of 225/50-16's first. The S306's are OK V rated tires with a high mileage rating but they don't stick for do-do. Probably Kumho Ecsta V700's.

MSA has one for the Nissan T-5. NOt sure if it works with the turbo 5-spd. though.

Mike/others, Try http://www.cachassisworks.com/cages.htm They seem to have some reasonably priced cage options fo rthe Z car.

Labrat - Another Bill from Texas. We definitely have to stick together. That was first concern on my car. Reliability & simplicity in parts. I chose the LS1 because the power came with the engine stock so I could concentrate on...you guessed it!... reliability and simplicity!

Thanks for the dimensions Danno. That 5/8" eats up the 1/4" clearance that Tim has and then goes into the tire. The good news is that I can get to 245's if I go to coil-overs without having to do body modifications - I just have to buy new wheels - OUCH! But then again - if I flare the rear I can probably get to 275's. Decisions, decisions. This one will take a few years. I need to put the car on the track with some good 225 width tires first and see what happens.

FWIW - THe LS1 is aluminum block with sleeves and aluminum heads. Actually lighter than the L28. Saw an LS1 with T56 for sale a while back for $1700. Look around a bit before you make the final decision. Johns Cars does supply all the coomponents you would need for an LS1 4L60E conversion but not a manual. If you are a good mechanic then you can probably figure it out along with some help from the forum. There are getting to be several LS1 Z's out there now.

Go to my album, link below, and see the way my LS1 is laid out. The intake doesn't come through to the front of the radiator but you may be interested in the location of the windshield washer bottle which is now mounted opposite the overflow bottle in front fo the radiator. Careful locating of either of these bottles allows routing through either side of the the radiator - you're choice. Then again - I used the Datsun radiator so the radiator hose routing is different. That's the difficulty in these conversions - everyone does things a bit differently and it's difficult to use one for guidance unless you've done the same. Oops! Just looked and my foot blocks the view of the winshield washer bottle in the engine bay photo. Sorry.

Mike, Why do you need an aftermarket fuel level sender? Are you installing different gauges? If so, you should check with the gauge manufacturer about the required specifications. If not, you can still get an OEM sender from MSA or your local Nissan dealer. I've got a spare functional one in a box in my garage if push comes to shove. It's used but it was working when I replaced it with a new one thinking it was my problem when it was my guage. I'm using Autometer gauges.

Demidion, I am 6'-4" & 225 lbs. There is a little latitude in mounting the roll bar. Mine is mounted so that it is just a fraction of an inch from the interior panel that runs across the leading edge of the hatch. I am able to put my seat all the way back but, at that point, it is hard against the seat restraining strap that is part of the roll bar. I don't expect to have any more hassle than I already have when wearing a helmet since I have to tip my head to one side anyway. I have to move my head back about 3" to actually touch the roll bar with it when I'm in my normal driving position.