Phantom

Are you talking rear wheel HP or flywheel HP? If rear wheel and If you need the type of reliability required for daily driving you will probably be over the line on either option. A 300 HP stroker L28 will be definitely at the extreme of what the motor can do and the guys I know that have turbo'd L28's that are near 400 HP all use them for fun, not for daily driving. I researched this site and others for nearly 5 years before I determined what I would do. My goal was 250+ RWHP and absolute reliability for daily driving. That's why I went the way I did.

In over 40 years of driving I've had to deal with the obnoxious tailgater just a few times and I've learned that the safest & cleanest way to solve the problem is to just coast slower and slower until he passes me. I'm much safer with him in front than behind because then I have more control of the situation. If he cuts back in front of me and slams on his brakes I'm already going slower and am prepared for it so it's not an earth shattering event. Let the other guy be the fool and don't get sucked into his game.

Back to my original statement - I'll clarify it a bit for you Naviathan since you seem to be pretty quick on the BS button. If less than 200 HP is ok then that can be done relatively easily and inexpensively. More than 200 HP starts to get much more complicated, expensive, and potentially less reliable from a daily driving standpoint. That is why my emphasis was to first determine the end goal and develop a plan on how to get there BEFORE buying parts that may not work out in the long run - like so many people on this forum, including myself, have done.

Before you do anything you need to decide how much HP ou really want and what you're willing to spend to get it. That will be a factor of intended use of the car.. Is it going to be a daily driver where reliability is a major concern or primarily a track car? Are you looking for more than 200 HP? If so you will definitely have to either boost the engine or go with a different one. Decide ahead so you don't end up spending a lot of money on things you won't need later - like an aftermarket intake & exhaust if you end up doing an engine swap. Search this forum thoroughly with each idea you have and read what others have encountered. You'll find that if you are thinking about it someone here has probably already done it.

I think I'm with John. From the looks of the hardware on top of the truck it looks more like the suspension is designed to support somehting on top of its framework rather than the axle. Put a big camera pod on it that is attached to the "turret" on the roof and you've got a pretty good non smooth terrain camera vehicle.

Get a set of salvage arms and just try them - or - if there is a return policy - buy the new 240 ones and try them. If they don't fit - take them back. You could already have this resolved - weeks ago.

Correct - my car was the source of the infromation on the JCI website. Let me fill in some more numbers: 1977 280Z - 3/4 tank of fuel, spare tire, jack, full interior with AC, L28 & T5 with an MSA aero kit - 1400 lbs front, 1400 lbs rear. Same parameters but with LS1 & T56 with LSD version of the R200 - - 1400 lbs front, 1430 lbs rear. At one point John weighed all four corners of the car and it actually was about 130 lbs heavier on the passenger side - battery, fuel tank location, etc - with the LS1 & T56. The driver weight - per the same truck scales I weighed the car on - is distributed 25% front and 75% rear ( with the seat in the full back position) so even if a car starts out 51% front and 49% rear it will rear bias with the driver in it.

Well, I've got you hammered below 5,000 RPM. Guess I need to get the LS1 to where it will rev to 7,000. Very nice numbers.

When I first got my 1977 280Z it had fume issues. I drove it about 10-11 years with the fumes and then I went after it. I replaced all the seals in the car - hatch, windows, doors, etc and then I sealed the back deck area where the access to the fuel level sender and the fuel injection hoses pass through. I no longer have fumes. For them to get inside there must be passage somewhere. If you smell exhaust fumes there is a leak somewhere. Find the leak - stop the fumes. Z32 - I've had a 1993 convertible automatic for nearly two years now. If you want something that is easy to drive and a lot of fun to tool around in it is your car. It has decent accelleration, handles very well, excellent brakes, a fantastic AC system, and an ok stereo. The convertible top is easy to operate and pretty weather tight - but not car wash tight. Downside - forget working on even an NA version unless your lifes dream is to work in hot, small places knowing you'll have to disassemble several items to get to the one you need to work on. Also - there are no new spare parts for a convertible top mechanism. You break a part and you'll need to try to track one down in a slvage yard - if you can even find one in a salvage yard. There were less than 3,800 Z32 'verts made. Celica - nice car but not as nice as the Z32. It will, however, be esier to work on. Ford Falcon - Classic - parts are available and they take well to V8 install - but it's still 60's technology. Ford Mustang - what can I say - they are everywhere.

Contact Motorsport Auto in Orange, CA and get their catalog. www.zcarparts.com or (800) 633-6331. They will have a lot of stuff that you're looking for and you can drive over and get it.

Hollywoodman, Sources of parts / info would include Motorsport Auto in Orange, CA - www.zcarparts.com, John's Cars for LS1 conversions, www.brokenkitty.com, Jags That Run in SCal somewhere for V8 conversions, Rebello Racing for L28 work, www.racetep.com and the list goes on. You really need to spend some time searching this forum and you'll find huge amounts of resources in Southern CA.

I'm putting about 8,000 miles/year on my 1977 280Z and closer to 10,000/year on my 1993 300ZX convertible. The 280 has 225,000 miles on the chasis but a lot less on every other component. LS1 only has about 25,000 on it now. The Z32 has right at 115,000 on it and is pretty much original except for some cosmetic stuff.

But on the other hand you can say the same thing about 1/4 mile times which we do have posted here. They are affected by the driver,track surface, altitude, weather, type of tires the car is running etc., etc. Those are probably even worse for comparison - which is done all the time.

I find it interesting that there are about 8 bizmillion photos of the garage & a bunch of the outside of the house and essentially 3 of the inside.

Go to www.zcca.org and you can locate all the zcca clubs in the area.

And itf you are doing an LS1/T56 swap and doing it properly it will take about 40 hours of mechanical work and about 40 hours of electrical work - if you know what you're doing. If you don't the sky is the limit because you'll be doing things several times.

I ran the MSA oil cooler kit with thermostat on my L28 for about a year before I pulled the motor for the LS1. Never had any trouble with it but I'd definitely use something other than a standard band clamp to clamp the hoses it I were to do it again. Evidently even in Texas I wasn't loading the engine up that much heat-wise because I never saw any benefit for the cooler. For all-out competition applications it might be different.

Oh yeah - I forgot to mention the wood working equipment I lent to my older son a few weeks ago, the camping gear in the shed, the lawn equipment I finally gave away because I've completely ladscaped my front & back yards with no grass anywhere, the paint sprayer I'm trying to find to help paint a house in a few weeks, etc. Dang, and I was thinking it was just cars.

Hmm - reminds me a bit of my closet.

If I can drive the 680 miles from DFW to Pensacola in a day with 5 other people including a baby in a Suburban you should be able to make an extra hour. Start early and you'll get there that evening, check the car out, and then be set to come back the next day. Heck - you might as well make it a real buster:icon54:

Several things. 1) The idea of an electric water pump has it's pro's & cons. They would include: a) More complex and potentially less reliable system. Less efficient theoretically because of mechanical losses from generating the elecricity and then converting it back to mechanical pumping vs. just straight to pumping. c) Does allow to not run the pump at initial start-up as engine is warming up thus having less overall drag on the engine/fuel consumption. d) Does allow for circulating water after engine shutdown to cool the engine down. 2) For optimal cooling you want turbulent flow in your piping. Laminar flow reduces the heat transfer rate so you want the water to move at a brisk rate. 3) For those concerned about residence time in the radiator and cooling effectiveness that is controlled by: a) the face size of the radiator - height x width the number of rows - the more rows the slower the water moves and the more effective the air cooling. c) The the capacity of the fans. There is a minimum and maximum water flow velocity based on tube size to get the most effective cooling out of a radiator. 4) A variable speed water pump controlled by a temperature sensor with an output range based on temperature would allow the water flow to be varied based on maintaining a set temperature. That is esentially what your thermostat does now but it varies the water flow based on variable back pressure determined by the valve position. The electric pump would vary the flow based on the temperature feedback. In low load conditions this would result in less energy consumption but probably slightly higher in extreme heat condtions.

Bigbaz, Cheers mate - yes - it's been done. A gent on this forum has a bunch of posts and, at one time, even had a manual for sale for $45 US. Search in the Chevy V8 forum and you're bound to find it.

My son and I spent three hours in the driveway Sunday afternoon putting an alternator in his 280ZX. Had big jugs of ice water, a fan, and a live oak tree and and 11' umbrella to work under and it was still pretty miserable at 102° & 50%. Mostly I just hole up in weather like this. It's got me looking hard at relocating north. So far I have possibilities in Mass., Wisconsin & Oregon.

Yeah - but it has an automatic! That is fixable, though.

Your receipts, that is. In April of 1997 I had my car windows tinted. Fairly important in Texas with the heavy sun combined with the noroiusly mediocre A/C in the 280Z. D&D Auto tint in Arlington did the work and I had them use what was then their top line Madico product with a lifetime warranty. Cost was $125. A few months ago I noticed I had some film separating from one of my quarter panel windows so called them up to see about getting it fixed. I figured I could run by over my lunch hour and that it would be a quick fix. Imagine my surprise when I found out from my new friend. Bobby, that he would need it for an entire day. Turns out the tint material wasn't as good as the manufacturer said it was and tends to fade badly over time. Since I still had my original, 9 year old receipt, they are going to completely replace all my tint at no cost to me with another, superior, product. Turns out Bobby is an old hot-rodder and is almost willing to do the work just to get a good look at my car but the receipt was the key to the whole thing going smoothly. Save those receipts!