jt1

Beginning at the front, the drivers side is 1-3-5-7, the pass side is 2-4-6-8. The rockers don't really matter as long as they are all the same ratio. You said head nuts, are you using studs? Anyway, I'd follow the manufacturers recomendation. If they are of unknown origin, spring for a new set, and be sure and use the lube they recomend. John

What size and lenght, and I'll send you some. I'm pretty sure mine were 5/16, but not sure. I used a little longer bolt than needed and cut it off so the unthreaded shoulder would be at the shear plane between the yokes, not the threaded part. I also used self locking nuts. jwtci@rfci.net John

Mike, I'm putting a TKO-II in mine right now. 500+ ft-#, 0.83 OD, about 103# wet. I'm losing 50# from the 700R4! The bad news is I'm a little past the $3500 mark. The only Q I have so far is the shift quality, and hopefully I can let you know about that this weekend! John

Why turbo it at all? 750hp naturally aspirated SBC's are no big deal anymore. Race gas only, not too street friendly, but the same probably applies to a turbo 750 hp setup. John

Try switching them from side to side. The lenghts are different and the grooves for the snap rings are different depths, so if you've got'em switched, the clips can't engage. I don't understand how they could come completely out of the diff, though, unless you also have some halfshaft problems. John

I've got a 24 x 19 Griffin in my car, with a black magic fan. Been working great, although the taurus fan flows more air than the black magic. There was a post a while back about which vehicles were donors for the taurus fan, you might turn it up with a search. I think with any alum radiator, you're going to have to fab the upper and lower mounts, but it's not a bad job. Mine was a little over $200 IIRC. Some other options are Fluidyne or Ron Davis. The Fluidyne's look the nicest, but are also the most $$. John

WOW! Talk about some rear suspension setups. Thanks Chris. John

I'd budget another $1500 for a pretty basic swap. You're going to need a radiator, trans, motor & trans mounts, driveshaft, exhaust, & misc plumbing and wiring. I don't think you could do it for any less than that, it may take a little more. But how many people have a 375 hp Mopar Z? John

I'm currently in the middle of swapping my 73 from auto to manual. In my car, the pedal supports were already in place. All I had to do was rob the pedals from a donor car and bolt them in place. One big bolt to swing each pedal, springs and pushrods and that was it. The donor car, a 71, had a clutch stop welded to the floor that my auto car doesn't have. I don't know yet if I'll need it or not, I'm getting my hydraulic TO brg worked out right now. It wasn't bad at all. John

Any tips for removing the dowels in the rear of the block that locate the bellhousing? I'm installing my TKO, checked the bellhousing runout, and need to correct it with some offset dowels. Motor is still in the car. John

That's a good one Scottie!!!!

It can be done pretty cheaply, but if you're like most gearheads, while you're at it, you'll........... I'm way past 12K.......and counting. I don't add it up that often. Welcome to HybridZ, you've found the right place. There's lots of good info in the aforementioned thread, read it thoroughly. John

I live 3-3 1/2 hrs west of Fayetteville, so I can't recomend anyone in that area. Good to see another Hybrid Z guy come to NC. Did you sell the car you had on ebay? If you enjoy open track events there's a good track, Carolina Motorsports Park, not far away. John

ZX Driver: WOW!!! Look at that chick! Is she awesome or what????

John: 1. VERY nice car. 2. Great story. 3. Put the carbs on, get out the sawzall, then SHOW US SOME MORE PICS! 4. I love it! John (T)

I had a flat one day and what came out of the tire was.....a spark plug! The amazing thing was the plug still looked pretty good, probably good enough to run. John

Congratulations on a great deal. Pick the heads you want to use, then get some lightweight forged pistons to get the CR you want, then get it rebalanced. You'll have a better setup, thicker cylinder walls, and be bucks ahead. John

Take some serious advice here. If you wife will buy you something like that for your car, PUT IT ON THE CAR, I DON'T GIVE A #@#$$%&* IF IT'S EXACTLY WHAT YOU WOULD BUY FOR THE CAR OR NOT. Buy a spare hood, cut a hole in it for the carbs, get it painted, and act like it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Remember that you've probably made a lot of compromises on the car about other things. My wife is very tolerant of my crack-like car and gun habits, but not to that extent. I constantly hear friends talk about their wife's complaints "too much money on the car", "too much time on the car", "you love the car more than you do me", etc. You are a lucky man. Buy her some roses, take her out to a nice dinner, and PUT THE CARBS ON THE CAR. Besides, I think they would look great. No scoop, show 'em off. John

You've either got tuning issues or trans issues. Any decent running 350 Z should blister the tires. Are you getting all 4 gears? I'd look at the shifter linkage first. It may not be going into first gear. Also check the TV cable adjustment. The rear is an unlikely problem, it's probably a 3.54, 3.36 max. John

OK, I give up. How do you paint the inside of a car white and a welded-in cage red? Regardless, that's a nice car, very nicely detailed. And a pretty nice house, too. John

PB Blaster is good, but Kroil is the best IMO. If you can't find any locally, you can get it from Sinclair International, a shooting supply place. http://www.sinclairintl.com/ John

Mudge, my HPS pads have black backing plates with "Hawk Performance HPS" on the back of the plate. John

Mudge, before Hawk started making the compounds with the numbers, (HT10, HT15, etc.) they had HPS, HPS+, Black, and Blue compounds. The HPS is a full street pad, then increasing hardness & temp range to the Blue, which is a full race pad. All the pads pretty much looked the same, except the harder pads had a little more "silvery" look to them (higher metallic content?). The Hawk pads are pretty hard to identify if you don't know what compound they are. The backing plates are painted when new, but that burns off pretty quick. John

I've got the Carter also, and have been pleased with it. About a steady 6 - 6 1/2 psi, no regulator required, works great. You don't need any of the big pumps unless you're drag racing pretty serious. John

Ianz, I wound up going with Performance Friction pads, 01's up front and 97's on the rear. I woulda went with Carbotech, but they didn't make anything for my Superlite/Dynalite combination. The PF's work great on the track, but dust heavily. After a track day, you can actually SEE the dust on the side of the car, not just the wheels. It doesn't seem to hurt the paint, but is making a mess of my nice Panasports. The PF's work great hot, but squeal pretty bad cold. For street use I've got Hawk HPS's. They work GREAT cold, but are too soft for a track pad IMO. No squeal and super stopping, with minor dust. They are not the same as the Hawk Black, which is a harder compound in between the HPS and the rock-hard Blue compound. I've never heard of the brake true deal. I would be very skeptical it would true up a rotor, but it might work good for breaking the glaze on a rotor when changing pads. John