Phantom

Heard from Samuel yesterday and it looks like my lights will ship next week. Front turn signals and side marker lights are done and he's working on the tail lights now. Getting pretty excited.

I thought they were pretty nice when I ordered them from Centerline in 1997. They have about 100,000 miles on them now and are still looking pretty nice. I have a feeling they'll be up for sale this next spring. Thinking about Watanabe's like my son has on his '73. Hmmm - maybe I'll get him to swap with me.

Jim, My son put a 16 gallon fuel cell in place of his spare tire well and ran the filler neck out behind the license plate on his '73 240Z. It's a nice installation. If you're interested I'll see if he can give me the MFG/model number.

Yeah - MSA sells remanufactured clocks for $312 - when they have them. Got the clock back from the first clock repair guy this morning, super packaged it up, and will UPS it out this afternoon. Also got word from Samuel at ZLEDslights that my front turn signals and side marker lights are done. He's now working on my tail lights and expects to have them done the end of this week. Dash is going back together and OBDII connector and Check Engine light wiring is getting done. Reviewed the location with it today along with the modification details for the adjustable proportioning valve. That and HID headlights are supposed to be done next week.

Turns out that during "show car season" APT doesn't take on any "unusual" repairs. They referred me to The Clock Works, www.clockwks.com. They will do a quartz conversion on the clock, polish everything up, give it a 2 year warranty, and turn it around in 48 hours normally. Once again, mine isn't normal so they're saying a week. Cost is $199.95 plus S&H each way. Now I need to go get the clock from the other shop and get it mailed off.

The stock T56 handle didn't bring the shift ball to what i considered to be the right location for my right hand so I took my 280Z shift lever and modified it to attach tho the T56 and come further aft where my hand rested. It put 3rd gear in reach without having to reach.

Mine arrived today!

Yeah, your fan clutch should be mostly disengaged by around 2500 RPM. If it's still spinning hard at higher RPM then your clutch isn't working right. The higher RPM will cause the fan to try to pull more air which will overseers the plastic and pull it toward the radiator. I'd still check out motor/transmission mounts but the fan clutch could easily be the culprit. Easy test. Rev the motor to about 4,000 RPM and hold it. The clutch should disengage and the fan should start slowing down. If it doesn't look at how much closer it is to the radiator at that speed.

Now starting to lean toward reprinting the car gun metal gray metallic with ZG flares, red brake calipers, and SCCA racing stripes on each fender in contrasting colors like red & silver, and "LS1" integrated into the stripes. I'd leave the engine bay red and contrast it with metallic gray. Thoughts? I'd definitely have to change out. The wheels and tires if I do that as the current ones wouldn't look right with the color or the flares.

Yes - alignment can contribute to vibration - especially if you're running wheels/tires bigger than the stock 195/70-14.

Had a chance years ago to do a " drivers education " event at Texas Motor Speedway. It was put on by the Panoz driving school. It combined the oval and the infield track so had high speed banked turns and also sharp twist ices. Four 30 minute sessions. My son video'd me so every now and then I pull it out and have nostalgia time.

Ditch it. The LS alternator has an integral voltage regulator.

Hmm - I have a 2002 Suburban 1500. When not towing it gets 13.5 to 18 MPG depending on the driving with the 5.3. When towing it Gets about 12. I have towed my Z (5,000 lbs including the trailer), a 24' pontoon boat, and my utility trailer and never had any problems with stability, braking, etc.

Heater temperature is controlled by the temperature control valve that regulates radiator water flow through the heater coil. That's what the slide switch on the bottom of your climate control panel controls. The slide bar that goes from vent to heat to defrost controls a series of vacuum operated damper valves that open/ close to direct the air flow coming off the heater coil to the cabin or the windscreen. When in the vent mode it closes off air flow through the heater core and direct a the air straight into the cabin. If all the vacuum hoses are intact and your controls are properly hooked up you may have some faulty vacuum actuators. Only way to fix that is to replace them. Mine are now 38 years old and still working fine. Then again, it also helps that the vacuum is being provided by an LS1.

Mike, In reading your post again I think you better pull your thermostat and take a look at it. They sit low on the LS motors and are prone to accumulating debris out of the radiator. A thermostat stuck partly open would explain your symptoms. I had that happen to me when I had a leak repaired in my radiator. Evidently some solder came loose and ended up in my thermostat. I replaced it but when I later took it apart to check it out I found the solder wedged into it.

See. It just took Phantom's magic touch!

Got a notification from FedEx today that my clear headlight covers from MSA have shipped. Who'd you guys piss off?

Guys - thanks for the suggestions! Painter and I had a disagreement about the stripe but, once it was done, he then agreed that it added to the car. I do, however, like the idea of ghosting in the stripe. How do you do that? Use a darker version of the same red? What do you think of adding SCCA stripes? Something else? Don't get hung up on the big racing stripe up the middle. Thats going to get sanded off with the repaint. Also though about ghosting in "LS1" somewhere on the hood or front fenders. Thoughts? 310Z - The muffler is a Magnaflow with dual 2.5" inlets and a 3" outlet. It is designed to have very low restriction as there is only about 4" of the 3" pipe. Changing that would gain me about a quarter HP. Used to have dual, slash cut, exhausts and had issues with the lower one dragging on steep driveways - thus the single outlet. I think a slash cut tip would look better but that's another day.

Well, the clock guy I have was a no-go on the clock repair. Evidently he really is only good on things with gears and springs. Anyone have a wind up Z clock? Guess it's time to call the APT boys and see what they can do. In the meantime the dash is going together without a clock. Lights are still progressing but still a ways to completion.

Jim, Correct about the fuel rail difference. It also has a different head design. One year newer and I would have had a better, more parts available, motor. Not unhappy with the way it works though. Glad to help out anytime. Been fooling with this car for 23 years now, 12 with the LS1, so always willing to share the mistakes.

Jim, My fuel pump is external and located in the same location as the original 280Z fuel pump. That puts the tank on the suction side of the pump so as long as the vent works there is no issue. My LS1 is bone stock so the line sizes are plenty sufficient for the fuel it requires. I have a Corvette style pressure regulator/bypass valve mounted just before the engine fuel rails in the engine bay so I utilize both the supply and return lines. Salvage parts list: Engine, Transmission, ECU Engine wiring harness, O2 sensors (2) Fans and fan shroud (they almost perfectly fit a 280Z radiator that has been recored to a 4-row and I've had 0 cooling problems. Cruise control components if you want to incorporate that function. Do you have AC? If you want to keep it then keep all the Datsun AC components except the compressor. You'll need a compact compressor if you want to mount it in the high position (above the alternator) on the driver's side. If you intend to keep the stock speedometer you'll need to get a CableX box to convert the electronic output from the T56 to drive the speedometer/odometer. Other option would be a different tailshaft on the T56 that has a mechanical output. Bill

Hmm - maybe I need to order some too to give them more incentive. Interesting though that their website doesn't say they are out of stock. Edit again - just ordered a pair of the clear ones. Let's see what their response is.

This is a photo of my car taken about 10 years ago. It still looks pretty much the same, just more road rash. It has reached the point that I'm getting ready to have it repainted and some minor damage issues taken care of. Soooo - My question is: Do I just redo the paint the way it is (which I love) or do I tweak it in some way to add a little more pizzaz?

One thing I did on the LS install is look at exhaust cross-sectional area because that directly relates to back pressure.j Correct me if I'm wrong guys, but my understanding is that LS motors really like to breathe and you can get significant results with more open exhaust systems - as long as you have the intake to match it - and don't get ridiculous. Anyway, I originally thought to go with a single exhaust but realized I'd have to have a 3.5" single exhaust to match the area of two 2.5" exhausts. That was when I started looking at ground clearance and realized that the dual 2.5" was the way to go. Now that I've said all that I dyno'd the car when it had a single 2.5" exhaust from the Y pipe, back and it developed 311 RWHP and 326 ftlbs of torque. That was on a '98 LS1 out of a Z28 Camaro that GM rated at 305 HP at the time. The ECU had been refreshed to the 2002 engine tune, though. A 3" exhaust will have almost 44% more flow area than a 2.5" exhaust so you should expect to see better numbers than that on a stock LS1 in good tune. That triangular strut bar from TTT does look nice. I have a really stout one in my car now that works well but I don't know if it will work with adjustable camber plates. One more decision to make. Sigh.

There are at least 3 other LS builds on this forum right now that are further along than you are. An easy thing would be to read all the things they are talking about and learn from their progress and their mistakes (we all make them). Like I said before - put together a plan. I did the LS1/T56/R200 LSD upgrade before I did any suspension or brake work. The car was a blast to drive and was only as unsafe as the guy driving it. The only serious mistake I made was to have the car finish painted when the LS motor went in. That will cause me issues with suspension upgrades where some welding may be required or flares in order to run wider wheels & tires. The good news (sort of) is that the paint is 18 years old and now I need to do it again. Soooo - It's time to put another plan together and get the costs associated with it and decide what I want to do, if anything, when the next paint job gets done.