Phantom

Internals of the engine have not been touched. It is from a '98 Camaro Z28. The ECM has been "tweaked" by http://www.chipsbyal.com; it has a K&N filter on a very short lead from behind the radiator (see photo in my album) and a set of Sanderson custom block hugger headers that have 1 1/2" primaries into 2 1/2" collectors that 'Y' into a single 2 1/2" pipe behind the transmission and out through a single 2 1/2" muffler. No other modifications to the intake, heads, etc. Car dyno'd at 311 RWHP & 326 RWTQ. I would expect numbers to go up by about 10 each when I open up the exhaust, but 311 RWHP maths out to 366 flywheel HP assuming a 15% loss in the drivetrain.

Thanks Tim. I think the stock spring is at least 1/2", if not a full 1", bigger in diameter than coil-overs? I'll check into it.

Mike, I took another look at Tire Rack. Your 275/40-17's are about 1.5" taller than a stock 195-70-14. There is minor variation from manufacturer to manufacturer but it is not more than .1" on diameter on the same size. If you vary the rims and go from a narrow to a very wide that can affect it but if you use the specified rims the numbers come out. Tim, Stock springs? no flares or rolled fender lip? front and rear? If so - what backspacing/offset are you running? I want to go there!!

I got mine for about $250 from MSA. It is a 4-pt. and a bolt-in but it is SCCA legal and helped stiffen my car up.

Hey - 195/70-14 = 205/60-15 = 215/50-16 = 225/40-17 when it comes to tire diameter. Just depends on how low of a profile you want. Without modifying your suspension or body, if you want to be able to rotate your tires, then 225 width is about as wide as you can go. If you install coil-overs then maybe you can get to 245's. If you add flares then you can really get up there. Just depends on how far (think $$$) you want to go.

Mike, What do the NHRA rules say? They've got them onthe Ennis web site. I know that at 12.9 on street tires I'm not even required to have a roll bar. How quick doyou have to go to get to an 8 or 10 point cage requirement? There are also many other requirements in the way of clothing, etc., safety cut-offs, when you start going that fast. Dang - the faster you go the more it costs because all the safety stuff makes the car heavier and then you have to add more HP to keep it competitive! Also, contact Larry at http://www.LNJStreetRods.com or (817) 207-0707. If you can get the cage he can give you a quote to weld it in. He does everything you can imagine and quite reasonable. He is in Fort Worth, though.

Add Accessories, intake & exhaust and it hauls it down to arond 325 RWHP & 340 RWTQ. If Hot Rod just dyno'd the engine itself then 376 HP sounds about right for a flywheeel HP. Mine has a very restrictive exhaust and, with accessories, it is running about 365 HP at the flywheel.

I wonder what affect the headlight bucket asembly has on aerodynamics of the 260Z they show? I wonder if they are still around? I'll have to check into it. It might be an interesting compromise between the stock front end and the G nose.

There is a scripture in the Bible that says to "count the cost..." which is also a basic rule of project management. There is also a saying: "Ignorance can be fixed but stupidity is forever". A newbie that asks questions is trying to cure his ignorance - that's smart. If he gets good information in return then it is up to him to make wise decisions based on his interpretation of that information. That is why I think about anything I do to my car - literally for years - and evaluate the advice I receive because it is tempered by the givers personal experience which may not directly apply to my specific conversion or long-term goals for my car. Considering the fact that my local Nissan dealership confessed to me that they thought that they probably couldn't get parts for my car and definitely had no one that could work on it it should come as no surprise. There is a tremendous amount of ignorance in respect to our vehicles. As HybridZ masters/guru's/whatever we have a repsonsibility to do what we can to alleviate that whenever someone asks sincerely. If it is a hassle to do it for the 20th time then just don't answer - let someone who's not burned out on the question yet do it. mIght even give a relative newbie a chnace to impart a "lesson learned".

Nic-Rebel450ca - It's rotating mass. Reciprocating is going back & forth, not round and round.

My car was the prototype that the John's Cars LS1 kit was developed from. If you want to go SBC then the JTR manual is by far the best way to go. If you want to go LS1 and need a manual like the JTR manual then you're in trouble. John sells components for experienced mechanics/electricians. He does not provide information support. Don't get me wrong, though. His components are very well thought through and well made. I've been very pleased so far.

I think this guy is going to eventually qualify for a Darwin award for killing himself (hopefully not someone else) in an unbelievably stupind way.

Dang! Is that a chromed grille? And I thought I had the only one! Beautiful car!

Yup - sounds like vapor lock to me. How long after shut down do you have the problem with the restart? If it's just a few minutes you shouldn't have a problem but if it's about 10-20 minutes and you're having the problem it's vapor lock. Fuel injector rails are being baked by the exhaust manifold and vaporizing the fuel in the rail. Is your heat shield in place between the exhaust manifold and the intake? If it's not - there's your culprit. Otherwise - you may need to install additional shielding of some kind for the rails. The 280Zx cured the problem with a blower that blew air across the rails for a certain amount of time after engine shut down.

Thanks Ross. Since this car is going to get driven to work a lot the noise and dartiness are not two things i really wanted to hear - but needed to hear. I guess I'll keep looking for a while. I noticed the Michelin Sport had pretty much equivalent performance but was rated as being a lot quieter on Tire Rack. I'll look at them a bit harder too.

Is your fuel rail cooler blower functioning properly? You're not vapor locking are you? There is a shop in Ft. Worth, TX (too far, I know) that does a "fuel-injection tune-up" on old Z cars. Basically he goes through all the electrical connectors and cleans them up to ensure they are making proper contact. Then he checks the sensors to make sure they are giving the correct outputs and all the emmission control devices to ensure they are operating properly. After that he adjusts the TPS and AFM as required. The point is - somewhere in all that he would find your problem and fix it. That is what you need to do - or have done. Then the engine will run fine. When I had it done on my '77 he charged me $165. It was worth every penny.

I've seen them the shape of the Chevy bowtie and also of the state of Texas so far. First critter one I've seen, though.

Check with hardware store or pharmacy and get some desiccant - like those little packets you see in pill bottles. Ensure your parts are dry and seal them in plastic along with the desiccant. You need to wrap them in several layers because most plastics are not totally impervious to air/moisture migration - think about how food wrapped in plastic or in tupperware will still eventually get freezer burn. The desiccant is very important to nsure the preservation of the parts. Oil soaked paper would be another option - with desiccant inside.

No one out there is driving on the Yokohama A032's??

As someone whose conversion took 11 months

Know what you mean about the shifter. THe problem is that the aftermarket smooth move ones are like $200. I just can't bring myself to spend that kind of money yet. Too many other things I want first.

Jeromio - I was looking at the Richmond website the other day. It managed to confuse me on the gear ratios. I also wasn't quite sure if it was a dimensional clone to the T56 as far a length, shifter location, bell housing bolt pattern, etc. I just didn't have that information available at the time. Also got confused on the gear ratio's and the way they did them. It didn't appear that they really had many more options than the standard T56. What have you been able to decipher?

The A032r comes in both a 225/50-16 and a 225/55-16 - both of which I think will fit my car. The really neat thing is how square the tire is. 8.9" wide at widest and 8.3" wide tread. The 225/50-16 Yokohama S-306's I have on the car now are 9.2" wide at widest and 7.9" wide at tread. four tenths of an inch more tread width for the A032 and two tenths narrower which means they probably won't scrape my fender well lip like the 306's do. Two questions: 1) For those of you that have them - are they worth the extra money over a Kumho, are they going to hook up a lot better than my 306's? 2) Pro's & con's of the 50 vs 55 aspect ratio. I think I would like the 55 for the larger tire diameter which should result in a bigger footprint and slightly taller gearing but I'm concerned about cornering ability vs the 50.

When I first started driving my car I seriously thought I'd made a boo-boo with the T56. With 3.70 gears in the rear I just don't need 1st gear in normal daily driving and 6th has me cruising at 60 at 1,500 RPM. The culprit is the 1st gear ratio - about 2.66:1 while second is a distant 1.78:1. I would be a lot happier with a 2.3:1 1st. tighter gearing and more useful 1st. I thought - why not get a 5-spd with about 3.45 gears in the rear and it would be about right? Then I took the car to the track. I'm definitely glad I have the T56 now. The first 4 allow me to really haul - I just need better tires - and then I have the last 2 for quiet cruising and good fuel economy. If I had my druthers I'd probably put in a 3.36:1 gear set in the R200 and call it good. I'd then be cruising at 60 at 1,360 RPM but the LS1 will handle it fine. PS - I saw a used LS1 style T56 advertised the other day for $700. I really don't think the prices are all that bad now.

Now if you could just get a T56 you'd be turning 1500 at 60mph with a 3.70:1 differential in 6th (.50:1)