Phantom

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.

Another bay in the barn had a lift in it when I bought the place but it was portable and didn't look safe to me. I made the PO take it away. The Zedshed only has an 8' ceiling so I really can't put one in there. I do have the other bay but it's currently filled with other stuff. Imagine having a 3,000 sqft barn and being short on space. That's my world right now.

Are you sure you want to go through a Y pipe to a single exhaust? Unless you run a 3 12" exhaust you'll be giving up some HP. I went from the headers to an X pipe through dual 2 1/2" exhausts. I ran the stock route on the drivers side. On the passenger side I ran the same route but used a round to oval to round section to get past the differential cross member. I then rolled both exhausts over to the drivers side between the R200 and the gas tank to the stock muffler location. I used a Magnaflow muffler that had dual 2 1/2" inlets and a single 3" outlet. There was a noticeable increase in power over a 2 1/2" Y pipe set-up. Food for thought. I have photos of both set-ups if you'd like to see them. Love the TTT stuff. I have their coilover Koni shock set-up. Seems to be performing really well. I'm now looking at their Willwood rear brake kit. I currently have the 240SX / 300ZX caliper/rotor set-up in the rear and it seems too weak - especially since I have a 3,000 lb car. My car is designed to be a sporty daily driver so keeping the brake function has always been important to me.

On the left is my 1977 280Z. It is the car that was used to develop the conversion components from JCI (John's Cars Inc) back in 2002/03 to install the LS1 into an S30. The car on the right is my son's (DarthZ) 1973 240Z. It is the car that Grenade300 used to develop the "how to" manual that is a sticky in this forum. Both cars have been sitting side-by-side for almost 4 years now. The 280 is continually getting "tweaked" here and there while the 240 has been partially torn down and is getting a wide body kit installed.

Body & Paint last is definitely the right way to go on a highly modified car. With those tire sizes I assume you're running flares. ZG or SCCA style? Or are you thinking about a wide body kit? Suspension wise are you looking at TTT, AZ Zcar, other? Are you contemplating the adjustable LCA's & T/C rods? If you're sticking with the stock gauges you might want to get the light bulb upgrade from MSA that has higher wattage bulbs for a brighter dash. You'll have to remove the green lenses as the bulbs are bigger but I wanted to do that with mine anyway. Also went with the white faced gauge kit from them. 275's on the rear on a 240 won't hold unless you get some really good tires - as in super sticky. I assume you have front and rear strut tower supports since you've already been competing. Are you going with the adjustable strut mods on the towers? Weld in or bolt in? Since you're doing body work last I'd opt for the weld in. One last question: Why did you go with the CX Racing stuff instead of another LS conversion kit? just curious.

Mike, I have never had an overheating issue - even in Dallas when it was 100 out, my AC was running full bore, and one of the cooling fan relays went out. 280Z radiator recored to 4-rows and '98 Z28 fans and shroud under a stock '77 louvered hood. Doesn't matter if I'm in stop-n-go or barreling down the freeway.

Pair of LS1 T-56 Z's just 500 miles north in Yakima, WA. You're going to have a great time. What are your plans for the car besides the LS1 and the T56?

Pair of LS1 T-56 Z's just 500 miles north in Yakima, WA. You're going to have a great time. What are your plans for the car besides the LS1 and the T56?

Definitely will be posting photos. I took a video of my stock rear turn signals in bright sunlight a couple months ago and you couldn't tell they were flashing unless you looked very closely. I hoping that the new ones will be "In your face!" One of the few things I really miss about living in Texas was the Z clubs in the DFW area. Lot's of stuff to do and a lot of guys that truly love the Z. Loved harassing Mad Mike with my V8 because he is such a purist. Over in the Seattle area there are a lot of guys but that's a 2.5 hour drive each way through a mountain pass that is very snowy in the winter. Not a good combo for a LS1 Z with high performance summer tires.

Even with the 280Z at 3,000 lbs and a bone stock LS1 going through a T56 and 3.70:1 LSD I light up the 225/50-16's in a heartbeat. I have to launch at about 1,500 RPM, run a bit light on the throttle until second gear and then I can bury it and leave it there. My son's '73 240Z has BFG 275/40-17's on the rear and he smokes those in a heartbeat. He has a T56 hooking through a 3.69:1 R230. He also has issues with wheel spin on the 1-2 shift and then a bit on the 2-3 shift. The BFG's just don't hook well. You guys with automatics will get us clutchy guys every time in the 1/4 mile but we sure do have fun in the twisties.

Mike, I think the louvered one will do a better job of extracting underhood heat and the LS won't mind getting drenched if you're out and get caught in a frog-chocker. Will be a bit more of a challenge to wash and then dry, though.

My son did the same thing with his '73 240Z. Used a 17 gallon fuel cell that centered where the spare tire well used to be to allow the dual exhausts for his LS1. He went to a salvage yard and got a license plate holder off an older car that had the gas cap behind the plate. That was done a lot in the 60's and some in the 70's.

A couple years ago I had a guy in a Porsche 911 GT2 decide to show me how fast his car was. Short story - he got embarrassed. I thought he'd left the area because I had never seen him again. Last week, however, I was out with the family riding bikes on the greenway and saw him drive by in the same spot we'd first met up. If I can ever get my car back on the road I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for him now.

If you have an R200 diff you'll be OK for a while if you're street driving. An R180 will work but you'll get excited and bang some gears hard some day and shell it. An R200 LSD would be fine and you can even run the u-joint half shafts if you're not doing a lot of drag racing. Plan on having to upgrade your brakes. The stock ones will stop you fine in normal daily driving. Mine even did fairly well when I ran my car at the Texas Motor Speedway but I would have liked more. Look at the TTT stuff which is less expensive than the AZ Zcar stuff and also has the integral parking brake with the rear brakes rather than the additional hydraulic calipers. Put together a schedule of things you would like to do - get them into an order that will allow the most efficient use of your funds over time and then do things as you have the cash. You can always buy parts a bit at a time until you have everything you need for an upgrade and then do it.

Those are gorgeous gauges. Exquisite detail and I like the chrome bezels. Those babies definitely set you back a pretty penny. I have about $60 in mine right now but I figure it will be closer to $300 by the time I'm done. Got my third color progress bar at zledslights.com this past week so things are moving along but I'm still third on the list behind a 240Z and a GTR.

PM me the info please. It will be good to have.

Got two 280Z clocks to the clock repair guy today. He was pretty excited about working on them because he was looking forward to a challenge. Pros and cons there. Anyway, if all works out I'll end up with two functioning clocks.

I LOVE the color of the red Z. It actually looks orange in the photo the way the sun is rejecting. What I like best though is the bodywork/flares. VERY nicely done. Is that someones kit or did you do that yourself?

Yeah - the track is a great place to find the weak links/damaged parts. Although a detonated T56 could get pretty pricey. I've been driving over 50 years now and one thing I learned a long time ago is to not sweat the odd sounds if they can't be found. They'll either get bad enough to find or they'll go away. I have a about a 50/50 average with that theorem.

I would expand your area to include the SW and California. If the car is drivable and mostly rust free it might be worth the one-way plane ticket to go get it. I understand a limited budget but you shouldn't settle for a car in your immediate budget that is going to eventually drain the bak trying to get it into shape.

Take a look at pricing for 16" wheels and tires and 17" wheels and tires. You will probably find more options in sizes that fit the Z and cheaper prices with the 17".

Good move. Mine weren't insulated initially and the header burned through them in about a year. They're insulated now.

Hmmm - I had something similar to that but it turned out to be loose nuts that held the R200 to the mustache bar. Mine also was when the drivetrain was lightly loaded, started appearing in 6th gear and then got progressively worse with the noise eventually occurring in 5th and 4th also. It would go away when the drivetrain was heavily loaded. Mine did sound awfully similar though.