Phantom

JohsB - so you're the guy that cleaned the inventory out just before I called. Kidding

Karl, The biggest contributor to safety in an old Z is the driver. The Z does not have crash bumpers, crumple zones, air bags, door safety beams, ABS, traction control, etc. It barely has safety belts. That being said I've put around 150,000 miles in mine and have not had so much as a scratch. There were opportunities for much worse but defensive driving skills saved the day. Note the word "defensive". A V-8 Z will be much more powerful than 90% of the cars on the road. You have to fully comprehend that and treat it appropriately. That will require resisting a lot of temptation. The first three cars my son got were two 4 cylinders and then a V-6. I credit that with helping him to still being alive today. He wasn't very good at resisting temptaion. A 5-spd. will be fine with the V8 conversion - especially with around a 3.54:1 rear end ratio. Keep reading the posts and doing searches. You'll do fine.

I guess the good news is that most of what they can bolt on a C-5 I can bolt on mine. Not sure what I'd do with it once it was there but, daw gone it, I can bolt it on too!!!!!

Get the AC compressor from Johns Cars. It is not a Sanderson like so many people have assumed and, with the bracket John supplies, will mount beautifully on the drivers side and allow you to use the stock LS1 belt from a Z28. It is a very compact Japanese unit that is high effeciency and pulls only a fraction of the HP a Sanderson would require. Well worth the premium.

Nope - mine was for the highly modified version I have with an estimated value of $25K. That was a few years ago so it has probably gone up some. I do love USAA!

Double hah! I can get that kind of coverage for $165/year but I want to be able to drive the car more than 2,500 miles/year and park it somewhere other than my garage. Full liability, uninsured motorist, medical, and $200 deductible collision and comprehensive are running me about $720/year.

Magazine reports indicate that a stock Z06 runs 12.4 while a stock C-5 runs 13.2 at sea level. I can beat C-5's all day long but I have to have a running start to beat the Z06. I just cant get the traction to get out of the hole as fast. Well set-up Z's running automatics, drag radials and the right differential can beat them all day long.

My car carries full insurance. The advantage of even large deductible full insurance is that the insurance company will represent you in an accident but will not if you only have liability. Also -you should carry uninsured motorist - that is as important as liability. Depending on your driving record and age it shouldn't be too bad - maybe $125/month?

Well, I've run one from a stop and I've run one with a running start at about 60 mph - same results in each case. I will admit I pulled the one from a stop much faster but even at 110 I was still walking away unlike a modified Z28 Camaro I got all hot & bothered this morning, That guy was really fast but never found out just how fast beacause we were behind one of Arlingtons finest and I don't think he would have been happy with us.

The huge disadvantage the SRT-4 guys have right now is my single exhaust. They don't look hard and notice the duals gong into the muffler and evidently can't tell the sound difference between an I6 & V8. They look at me as an easy kill and are a bit sloppy. On the track where they are really serious it is closer but still the same result. The only time the car lost to an SRT-4 was one with nitrous at Texas Motorplex and my son was driving for the first time and he botched both the 3rd and 4th gear shifts. The SRT-4 was running 13.2-13.3's all night and I was running 12.9-13.0's.

Iwas going to see Jerry at All Z Car Specialist yesterday and, as I was entering the off-ramp from Loop 820 South, another new shiny red SRT-4 goes buzzing past me. He was going to make a left at the light but I pulled up next to him with my window rolled down, gave a long sslloow LS1 rev and then smiled at him. Evidently that was more than he and his buddy could take so, when the light turned green, they came off the line in a big hurry - headed straight. Once again I really wasn't planning on this happening so he got the jump on me. BUT - I pulled past him in first so I was slightly in front for the tire bawling 1st-to-2nd shift and then just blew him totally away. Never did see him again. Too bad he had to go out of his way to get so badly embarrassed!!! That makes four in the past 8 days. I need an SRT-4 kill sticker and a series of hash marks for my fender.

Ok if I pass your email on to John at Johns cars? He may want to contact you directly on your conversion.

click on link in my signature. I can also take some digital pics of specific areas and email them to you directly if you like. It may take a couple weeks as my email functionality at home is currently waiting on a boot disk from AT&T.

Dennis, I guess we should have a run-off since I also turn 12.9 on street tires. I'm still checking my schedule. Don't know yet if I'll be able to make it. Probably a last minute decision.

Only time I ever hear my fuel pump is when it pressurizes my lines just before I start it up. Got it from Johns Cars.

I've got the T56 behind my LS1 with 3.70:1 differential gearing. I have no problem with 6th down to about 1200 RPM on level ground. That's about 45 MPH. It obviously won't accellerate or climb much of a hill at that point. Above 1500 rpm (60) it seems to do fine in 6th. Conversely, first gear is a real rush and is begging for more in the way of traction. I do not dump the clutch off the line as all I would do is a drifting exhibition. Probably not a good idea on a 1/4 track. Other than th e initial launch, first gear is useful and provides some fantastic accelleration. Be sure to have the rev limiter though as the shift point arrives VERY quickly and it's hard to be ready for it when you're concentrating on traction control.

Yeah - but I already have my headers.

Thanks Mike. I actually did a search and that is one of the threads that came up. Also located one other Subaru thread that was informative and a couple Ford conversion threads that even had some good photos and details. Just thought I'd throw it out in case someone has a successfully completed conversion that is relatively simple and tested. Then it would just be a matter of tying an LS1 PS pump system in and we'd be in business. I forwarded the links I found to John. He is going to continue the project and, assuming the price is right, I'll probably have him do mine. Customer service for Hybridz so they can have real time feedback

Well - there's this guy in the DFW area that has a Honda Civic that runs a 10.6 quarter mile. The only real clue that it's a bit more than the average Civic is the 14" wide slicks sticking out of each side the front fenderwells.

I talked with John Radevich at JCI today and he is (by popular request) working on a power steering kit for the LS1 conversion for the S30 Z cars. He's well along on the engine side but, when he mentioned to me today that he needed the S30 power steering rack, I knew the project had just gotten more complicated. I know several folks have done power steering conversions on their S30's. What rack is basically a drop-in for the existing manual rack? I've heard of Ford units and Subaru units but I am not sure of all the details entailed. If he can work this out mine may end up as the test bed once more for a new product.

My Z is set up with the dual fans and shroud off a '98 Camaro Z28. With just a bit of trimming it fit the stock size radiator perfectly. Yesterday, one of the relays decided not to function and I ended up running about 130 miles in DFW traffic at 100°F with the AC running full-bore on a single fan. Obviously everything was cool (literally) at 50+ MPH but even in the stop & go it never got above about 205-210°F. This morning I found the errant relay, unplugged it and plugged it back in, and it started working again. I think I'lll still get a spare. 8) Update - got the spare, it's installed, and I'm keeping the flaky one for a while as an emergency spare.

Tried to order the list of parts I need for th eJSK Willwood upgrade on the front of my Z today and Pitstop has a 4-5 week backorder on th eHawk pads and 2-3 weeks on one of the 32 vane rotors. They have one side but not the other - doesn't get me there .

And if you talk with Opthamologists they'll tell that sight loss is higher in the left eye of people who drive with their window down all the time. Guess I need a set of goggles with ear plugs

It's been like a scene from "The Three Amigo's" this week. Amigo's falling from the sky - except it's been SRT-4s. I just messed with the third one this morning. I've also revised my route to work in the morning and now it takes me right past a Lincoln Tech facility and I get to mess with all the "mech's to be".

So Phyte - does that mean you'll be rethinking the V-8 vs the turbo L28? :flamedevil: