Phantom

My '98 LS1 out of a Camaro with no internal modifications put 315 HP to the rear wheels through a T56 and an R200. GM rated the engine at 305 HP at the flywheel. They lied. You need to get with your dad and plan the build. Not a good idea to just throw a V8 in the car. You need to evaluate the condition of your suspension and brakes and decide ahead of time what you want to do there. If the car has it's original springs then it's time to replace them with new ones and probably new shocks too. You can do that on the cheap with stock components but, if you put a coil-over kit in you can fit wider tires with the right wheels - which means then you'll need to get new wheels and tires. After that you may decide you need to improve your brakes and when you do that you'll see kits that have five lug options vs 4 lug. Then you'll go, crap - I should have done this first so my new wheels would be five lug. See how it goes? At some point you'll also have to make a decision on gauges. Do you spring for all new gauges or do the build to use the stock gauges? New gauges are more compatible with the LS1 electronics but will add more expense, time, and planning to your project. I've had my car 22 years and so far have invested nearly $45K in it - and the list goes on.

Your stock heater will be plenty for where you live. Mine is more than sufficient for up here in WA. The issue you will have is AC. The original Z AC's are insufficient and the controls are not configured to allow you to run the AC with the defroster. Simple fix but has to be thought through.

Looked at his kit and it looks very attractive. I'm not ready to jump just yet as I have so many other things to sort out first. Had a panic stop yesterday - woman pulled out in front of me and I ended up sliding to a stop. Noticed that all the blue smoke seemed to be coming from the left front at the time. I hope that was the result of a crosswind blowing the passenger side smoke under the car but I'm not counting on it. I need to double check everything in that brake system and get it as balanced left-right and front-rear as I can before I spring for another rear set-up. Adding good stuff to a bad set-up just ends up with a more expensive bad set-up.

Mike, Sorry - all I have are pass slips and my own observations plus the math I ran on my set-up to confirm it. I've found stock Z speedometers to have a fair amount of error in them at higher speeds while the tach seems pretty reliable. Since my speedometer is driven by a CableX box it seems to have less progressive error in it. No idea why but it tracks with the tach really well. My tires/gearing would have given me about 8.3% more speed or about 12 mph at 6,000 RPM in 5th. If I could go back I think I would have opted for the T56 with the 2.66:1 first gear vs the 2.97:1 and the overdrives at .85 and .66 vs the .75 and .50. Then again, I don't really ever exceed 120-130 so running out of rpm or HP is not an issue. For your application of wanting a top end around 180 that might be a good. The goal would to be sure you're solidly into your optimum torque and HP range in 6th at that speed. I'm sure you've probably thought this through 100 times by now so I'm not telling thou anything you don't already know. That being said I really am looking forward to you getting your car on the track. These builds are always evolutionary. So many things in a cars build affect it that, once you start shaking it all out, things start to change. Don't let the comments on mere get you down. We're all pretty passionate about our hobby but none of us are certified KIA's (know it alls) even though we like to think we are. I've been running my LS1/T56 combo for over 10 years now and I'm still figuring things out and refining the car. Another 10 years and I'll be ready to do another car - except by then I'll probably have to learn how to incorporate a flux capacitor.

Mike - saw the "longer term". I wasn't, however, using a calculator. My numbers were based on the real world RPM vs MPH with my LS1/T56/3.70:1 R200 with 225/50-16 tires. My car redlines at 6,200 RPM so my experience has been based on that. I've gone to 6,000 RPM in 1st-4th and they were basically 30, 60, 90 & 120 MPH. Once into 5th I recomputed and it still held that I could reach 160 at 6,000 RPM in 5th if I had the HP and the balls to go there in a 37 year old street car. Yes, I did the math as a comparison and it confirmed what I was seeing in the car. I will admit, however, the fastest I've gone is 135 MPH at Texas Motor Speedway but that was limited by pedal pressure, not HP. I guess the question comes down to the actual speed range that you'll be experiencing on the track and what will keep the LS motor in its power band the best. When I was at TMS I used 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th depending on which part of the track I was on with fifth being the .75:1 overdrive.

Reading what you said in your post it really sounds like a vapor lock situation which the earlier FI Z's had issues with. Does your engine still have the metal heat shield between the exhaust manifold and the fuel injection rail? Sometimes folks remove those to "clean up" their engine or just don't put it back on when doing some work on the engine. It is very important that it be there. It probably occurs after the car has been sitting about 20 minutes, correct? If it sits for about an hour you shouldn't be seeing the issue. The 280ZX addressed the issue with a cooling fan that blows air on the injector rail after the engine is shut down. I drove my 1977 in Texas for 14 years and only had that happen once or twice because all my shields were in place.

What are you looking for in top speed? Assuming a stock diameter tire a 6,500 redline will give you a top end in 5th of about 170 with 3.70:1 differential. If you go to a 3.54 the top end will be around 180 in 5th. Sixth gear will put you up around 250 MPH and I don't think you're looking at speeds like that unless you're at Bonneville. It sounds to me like you'd be better off with a 5-spd if the car is strictly for racing and no highway use. If you're planning on driving it on the road then keep the T56 for making it easier on the motor at highway speeds.

T-6061 is a very common machinable aluminum alloy with good strength and weldability. I have a set of Centerline wheels on my car that I bought in 1997. They are doing fine with nearly 70,000 miles on them

1. Clutch and shift lever on the transmission are not connected other than to the transmission so , if you put the shift lever in neutral, you should be in neutral no matter what the clutch does. If the car still moves with the transmission in neutral then you have more problems than the clutch system. 2. Have you had someone work the clutch while you observe the action of the slave cylinder? If not - you need to do that. The hydraulic system that actuates your clutch is not a complex system. If the master and slave cylinders are the proper units and are mounted correctly with the hydraulic fluid properly bled then it should work fine.j If it doesn't then one of the previous things is incorrect.

Ken, Yes - really enjoyed the day in Benton City. Don't know when the car will see a track again. Waiting to see how much the various governments leave me after tax season is over to see what I can spend on the car. I bypassed my heater yesterday to stop the drip-drip in the cockpit but the drivetrain still has an issue somewhere. I noticed it has some slop when lifting off the throttle and then hitting it again. Could be fairly normal or another indication of something going south. It's the noise & vibration that really has me going. I emailed Silvermine and their stage 4 rear brake kit retains the e-brake option and uses a single piston caliper that's a whopping 46mm in diameter. First thing I need to do is get the adjustable proportioning valve installed. After that can look at the brake upgrade. Adjustable LCA's in the front and back and adjustable TC rods in the front would give me all the camber/caster/toe adjustment I should need if I decide to go that way. The problem always comes back to the fact, though, that the car is primarily a daily driver.

I've emailed them. The one kit they have that says it incorporates the ebrake looks a lot like the one I already have. We'll see what the response is.

Checked on it. Thanks. I'm still trying to opt for something that has the e-brake capability and the JSK doesn't. I notice MSA has rear brake set-ups that incorporate the e-brake but they look like they are the same 240SX/300ZX option I have on the car now.

Good idea! Should have thought of that.

www.centerlinewheels.com

Good suggestion. The sound/vibration I get doesn't sound like a differential issue but it needs to be eliminated as a possibility. I'm really thinking it's a half-shaft u-joint. A slow failure is difficult to detect in those things based on the last failure I had so I'm going to really dig into them over the next few weeks. It's tax time and I want to be sure I still have some money left after I pay the feds and the county property taxes.

Theatriks - thanks - I'd spent time searching the suspension FAQ's and previous suspension posts and hadn't found this thread. Looks like ST is the way to go. I just want to recheck my rear sway bar mounting.

Summit Racing advertises the ST 52095 kit as having a 25mm front sway bar. MSA advertises a 1" front sway bar. Basically they are the same size. The 240Z installation requires more hardware than the 280Z - compare the two kits available at MSA. The ST kit is advertised for 240Z only. What are the issues involved with putting it on a 280Z?

So is there a reason that ST is worth $100 more than the MSA sway bars?

Rebekahsz - Absolutely not. Spare tire well is padded and has nothing in it. The noise is RPM related and has a vibration associated with it. Having detonated a halfshaft u-joint in the past I'm getting pretty paranoid about this. The car got home from tri-cityies (about 90 miles)last Saturday but I was nervous the whole way. I need to get under it again and do a more serious inspection. There has to be some kind of indication of what is going on.

Jon - Thanks for the additional input. AZC does have a parking brake option right now but it's pretty expensive. I'd be out nearly $1k with the 4 piston rear brake kit and the e-brake adaptors. I actually considered putting an adjustable proportioning valve on the front brakes just to try to balance things. I know - bad idea. Suspension wise I have only the front toe adjustment. No camber plates or caster adjustment although I have considered that. The main thing is to get the car as predictable and tame as possible since 95% of the time it's just an around town driver. I originally built it to be able to enjoy my commute to work through the Dallas-Ft. Worth traffic. I definitely achieved my goal there. I'm hoping that putting in heavier sway bars and setting my shocks stiffer next time out will give better handling - but that may be next year. Question for everyone - what makes the ST sway bars worth $100 more than the MSA sway bars. Willing to spend the money but don't want to pay and not get any benefit. Thanks, Bill

Rebekahsz - yeah -I know - car is doing what I'm making it do. I got loose in the middle of the day and then went back to working the line and staying controlled the latter part of the day and not pushing so hard. Runs were much cleaner and times got a bit better. I'm still need to do some work on the brakes so I can get better braking coming into the corners and cut my between corners times a bit. logr - I met Ken through this site and then in person about 5 years ago. Turns out I went to church with his sister here in Yakima for a while and then her new husband was the one who got me to go to the school. Brian was driving Ken's 240SX. Spent a lot of time talking with Ken that Saturday but he wasn't one of my instructors. I got good feedback from the instructors. My biggest problem is just getting the right line through the cones - turning in soon enough, and getting that rear tire across the back edge of the cone. It was a real eye opener for one of my instructors when he drove my car. The manual steering threw him for a loop and he got too hot into a corner and we plowed like crazy trying to get slowed down. Both instructors commented on the smoothness I have with the car. I get it set and hold it there and am very controlled with the throttle. 10 years with the car the way it is can do that. Won't be able to make your school this weekend. I have a coolant leak inside the cockpit which is not good news and something serious going on somewhere in my drivetrain. I'm getting a noise and a vibration that is getting worse and I have not been able to identify. I'm concerned I might have cracked u-joint or bent shaft somewhere that is getting ready to detonate.

Rebekahsz - I have the Z31 Turbo 3.70:1 LSD R200. Car understeered and oversteered. I got understeer when I was on the brakes or light throttle. It oversteered when I lifted the throttle or nailed it. I was set up with 34 PSI front and 30 PSI rear per recommendations at the track. I went there with 29 on all four corners. Sounds like I was closer than they were. Brakes basically seemed to lock prematurely. A little change in brake pedal pressure and it was the instant slide. It seems like the car has always done that, though, no matter what brakes I had. One of the guys watching me said that he would see the rear wheels lock up slightly before the fronts. That wasn't what I was experiencing in the car however because the rear never walked around on me except as previously mentioned with big power changes, not with braking. Jon - I'm handicapping myself a bit on rear brakes because I want to retain the e-brake function. Is there something else out there other than the 240SX caliper/300ZX rotor that does that? I've looked but not seen that directly addressed unless I want to spring a bundle for a secondary system. Can anything be done to affect braking with pads? I'm currently running a very hard pad in the front and soft in the rear.

jhm - I'm running 225/50-16" Dunlop Direzzas which are great street tires. Since I put the coil overs in I could probably go to a wider tire but then I'd also have to buy another set of wheels with a different offset - not going to happen. Theatriks - Thanks, that was my next step after I got the post done. Springs - they are 200/250. JMortensen - Good question - not super serious. Went to have a good time and learn some things about my car. I figure sway bars will help a lot in the cornering without stiffening up the ride too much. The car is still primarily a daily driver. If I was really serious I'd set up the '70 240Z since it's already pretty much stripped. I am, however, open to suggestions by those that are doing it. Since I like to go to Maryhill and drive the loop having a better handling and braking car will help keep me alive. Kind of a major goal on my part.

About a year ago a new problem started to appear. Whenever I would step on the gas lightly in 6th gear at low RPM I would get a rattling sound and slight vibration out of the rear end of the car. Under heavy load (full throttle) it would go away. It didn't do it in any other gear. I got under the car and went through every nut/bolt on the drivetrain and suspension and made sure they were all tight. Also looked for "shiny spots" and saw none. Even looked at the exhaust on the off chance it was involved somehow. Didn't find anything. Now the sound/vibration is worse and occurs in 4th & 5th as well as 6th. Anyone else encountered something like this? Really don't want something to detonate on me like the u-joint I lost on a halfshaft about 5 years ago. Any suggestions? Drivetrain is LS1/T56/R200 LSD w/u-joint half shafts. This is a JCI conversion the whole way. The only difference is that the T56 tailshaft is connected directly to the R200 nose with a pair of C-channel that form something similar to a Corvette torque tube. The driveshaft runs through the center of the channels. This was done only on my car because it was considered too elaborate for a kit and not offered commercially.

Went to Benton city, WA last Saturday to an autocross school put on by the Sand and Sage Sports Car Club. Really great group of guys and gals.They set up four different courses and then we got 3-6 runs on each course with an instructor on board and a good debrief at the ned. Things I discovered about my car: LS1 power is very controllable and easy to apply smoothly. Also lots of torque so it was 2nd gear the whole time. Suspension needs a little work. Not bad but a bit soft. I'm running the Techno Toys Eibach/Koni coil overs on each corner and had then set at mid range which is where I normally drive them. Thought about going stiffer but decided to stay with normal driving setting so I would get a good feel of what the car is going to do on the road. Have the stock 280Z sway bars so I probably should upgrade those a bit. Anyone with feedback on the MSA kit that has a 1" front and 7/8" rear bar? Good setup or should I look elsewhere. Brakes - Lots of braking power but modulation is terrible and they are not balanced correctly front/rear. Running 12.2" vented rotors with 4 piston Willwoods on the front and the 300ZX rotor with the 2 piston 240SX caliper on the rear. Suggestions?