wfritts911

The track isn't in Branson, they go up to Ozark Raceway Park( http://www.ozarkracewaypark.com/schedule.html ). Z-Fest is scheduled for the 31st of May. I've heard the track is mediocre. I would assume if you make it up for Zfest we would be able to get a big Z car bracket race going, not sure how they do the track event. Maybe its just a combination of a lighter car, a tuned LS2, slicks growing at the big end, the fact that it has really low miles on it, I dont know. But it sure traps a lot higher than mine does. I wouldn't do a bigger burnout for every run, just on a couple runs to see what it can do. I bet you could go 6.9x in the 1/8th and 10.9x in the 1/4 with a bigger burnout and a harder launch at a good track no problem. Don't worry about the solid axle swap, I'm going to get my IRS setup done and I will make you the same setup. 100% bolt in. I'll make you a good deal to be my 240Z guinea pig. I think the solid axle swap would require notching the frame rail in the rear in order to prevent the LCA from hanging down too low, or at least that's how I had it planed out in my head. The watts link and the coil over mounts might have required some cutting as well, never looked too hard into the mounting for those. The solid axle swap is a viable option, but it would require a lot more money to do that my current plan. -Will

I never saw the doors fly open, but one guy I worked the last heat with was telling me about it. Apparently it was a cheaply made kit. Couldn't make a solid axle swap bolt on, could be close but would require some welding for the lower control arms and the coil over mounts. The watts link setup would require some welding as well. I knew I could make the solid axle handle well, but then I figured out my current plan would keep the IRS, be cheaper, and should be just as strong. Not sure they would do the dial in for just us too, but they might have if I went and talked to them. We will have to see next time. Those runs are either out of order or you are missing some time slips, probably the latter. I watched you run within a hundredth of a second 4 runs in a row. It was a 9.11,9.12,9.11,9.11 or something like that, dead on consistent. You need to bracket race that car. You could have dialed in a 9.10 and done really well in a bracket race. SunnyZ, he was bogging every run I watched him run. I am willing to bet had he done a bigger burnout and launched higher(4500+) without breaking, he could have pulled a 1.4x sixty. Speaking of burnouts, what gear were you doing a burnout in Keith? Cause when you stop being afraid to break, you need to do a bigger one and launch harder. That car could do a 6.9x 1/8th or a 8.9x 1000ft no problem with a harder launch. If the track wasn't as busy in the beginning we could have played around a lot more and tested out new things. By the time it wasn't busy I had called it a night and we were ready to go. If you decide to get a new set of slicks I'll take your old ones off your hand. I think I'm going to go E85 with a small(75-100) dry shot this summer. Now that i've ran my 9 second slip I want 8s lol. Next time you come up I'll talk to the tower worker to see if we can run a dial in between us too, or I'll just have to be faster before the next time. Oh ya, on another note, Keith's car picks up a lot of mph on the big end. For comparison I was consistently trapping 93/94 in the 1/8th and trapping 106/107 in the 1000ft. Keith was going ~96 in the 1/8th with a few odd balls a couple mph higher than that, but in the 1000ft he was trapping 115. He goes from trapping 2-4 mph higher in the 1/8th to trapping 8 mph higher in the 1000. I think you need to put your car on a dyno Keith to see what it puts down, I'm really curious if that's a stock LS2 or not. Either way it is FAST! SunnyZ what were you trapping in the 1/8th and 1/4? -Will

Ya it has been on the list of things to do ever since I bought my firebird. Amazingly it hasn't got much worse in the 30k miles I've put on it. Usually shifts great at WOT, its just really notchy driving around town and such. And I can't downshift to first at all unless its rev matched perfectly, so I never even try. Need to build a good press before I rebuild my trans though, the last transmission I did I ended up having to take the mainshaft up to my old work to get a gear pressed off, my habor freight special wasn't cutting it. And ya, my trans isn't as bad as yours was. Alright July should work for me. Lets kind of plan on meeting up that weekend then. Autocross and some drag racing. -Will

It isn't a clutch issue, my clutch takes a serious beating and keeps on asking for more. My transmission really needs rebuilt(And has ever since I've had it, that's why you have to go 2nd then 1st otherwise it grinds). Think it just got hot on those last couple runs and I was driving it hard trying to beat that cobra and get my 9 second slip. I don't plan on putting my car down all summer, my axle swap shouldn't take long once I get the custom parts made(Which won't require my car being down). If I do decide to build new motor mounts and fab new headers that will take a while, but once I get the first set built the rest can be built on a jig. Thanks for the offer on the Z31 axles, but I don't think I will need them. I plan on having my axle swap done before Z Fest in Branson(Which is the end of may/beginning of June). Even if I don't get my axle swap done as early as I would like, I'll continue to race on my ujoint axles like I always have. Spares are easy to swap in, and at least I know what I'll break so I can have spares. My car has yet to need trailered home from a motorsports event, I don't plan to start this summer. The problem for me is summer is the only time I'm home for an extended period of time so I have my shop to work in and I actually have a job so I have money coming in. So I can't just take it down in the winter. Josey, you need to come down for that this year. I don't want to be the only LSx car there this year. Going to try and actually make it to the track day this year as well, just made it up for the car show last year. You should definitely try to come down for that. Get that brake issue fixed, that's worse than that cobra kit car that was pouring out gasoline while autocrossing! I need to get some suspension work done to mine this summer as well, I'm tired of plowing the front end. -Will

Keith brags on me way too much. Great weekend, way too busy though. Drag racing on saturday night, then smashing some cones Sunday. The thread title is a joke, wasn't really much of a fest lol. I didn't have time to round up the videos off the GoPro onto a hard drive that I could take back to school, so it will be a while before I can get the videos unless I can convince my brother to edit them for me. The first run at the dragstrip when we got to actually race each other(Keith's second run of the night), he red lights by almost 4 tenths. I knew I wasn't going to stand a chance anyways but him leaving a half a second before me really didn't help lol. The track was crazy busy(First night races, stick shift shootout). Too busy in truth, we were stuck waiting in line a lot. I finally got my 9 second run in the 1000ft. Ran a: sixty: 1.93 1/8: 7.83@94.56 1000: 9.94@107.7 In comparison Keith's LS2 car was running 9.1x consistently(I watched him run within a hundredth of a second 4 runs in a row). He let my race his car once, I bogged it bad but could tell had I not it would have felt amazing lol. In 3rd gear the car started to sway like crazy. I'm sure it was a combination of me never having raced on slicks before and I probably over corrected once and it sent it into a sway. I tried to ride it out but ended up just shifting to 4th and cruising through the finish. Almost had to change my boxers after that, probably felt worse in the car than it really was though. Still ended up running a 10.1x, that car moves out! The run after my fastest time I decided to ditch racing Keith to run a 03/04 Cobra that ended up next to us. Should have been a pretty close race(With him winning by a tenth or so). But my transmission apparently wasn't too happy after my fastest run right before this and it locked me out of 3rd AND 4th(I might have drove it a little hard the run before hehe) so I lost by a lot. After that I decided to call it a night before I push my luck. I have decided the U-joint axle that is in there now is made of something really strong. I have been to the dragstrip on it 4 times now without breaking. And I haven't been driving it easy either. The car is starting to wheel hop a lot, think the stock struts in the rear filled with power steering fluid are finally giving up. EastTnZ, Don't know where exactly you are in Tennessee(Assuming East Tennessee for some weird reason), but some friends and I are planning on making at least one trip out to Memphis this summer to race the 1/4 mile. Still a long drive for you but closer than Little Rock is for you and Keith. Autocross wise in LR you're looking at: May 19th, June 15th, or July 27th . I will probably be out to all of those unless my car is down for modifications. We could drag race all of those weekends too. I wouldn't worry about trailering, especially if you are coming to LR. My house is close by and we would be able to fix anything you will probably break. -Will

Need. More. Boost. But seriously, I can't any useful info to this thread, just wanted to throw that out there. -Will

Maybe it's just the angle, but your motor must sit really far forwards for that driver's(American) side header to fit. It looks like it curves back at least a couple inches behind the end of the block. -Will

Ah ok, I bet it will go 1.4x if you can get it dialed in without breaking. What gears did you go with? -Will

Was the 1.55 spinning at all? Or was it limited by breaking? -Will

Gears for the 8.8 are pretty cheap though. Think I paid 150 for my 4.10s and the install kits arent bad either. Plus then you know you will have a solid diff, .022 backlash probably wouldn't have lasted to long with some hard launches, and probably whined like crazy. What gear ratio are you going to buy? -Will

I'm gonna have to work a lot this summer to keep up with you guys. I see a cam/E85/and a dry shot in my future lol. Im waiting to see what kind of sixty foot SunnyZ can pull without having to worry about breaking axles. I bet it will go low 1.4s at a decent track(Not sure what you were pulling before you started all this work). Keith, I'm pretty sure the two-step is fair game. The delay boxes as I know them are for autos with transbrakes, that let you react off the first light then it counts down to cut a better light. Not sure how it would work with a clutch car unless it was like a line-lock on the clutch. Hurry up and finish that axle swap SunnyZ, I need motivation to get mine going. -Will

^ Keith, they only do that on Sunday(The points/bracket day for the more serious guys). We are going to be racing Saturday night(5-11 test and tune). I've never been on Sunday cause its not TnT, but if I did, I would definitely pray for my poor axles(I usually do a bit of praying for those on Saturday too)! On another note, I just looked at page 15 where you(SunnyZ) posted your trap time from your last drag strip trip. I think Keith is cheating(Or his car is seriously light). He traps 126.x with a "stock" LS2, and you trap less than that with a cam(Heads too? Can't remember) LS1. i think he's holding out on us! -Will

My 4th gen firebird doors were terrible!! My Z doors with no weatherstripping and probably wore out everything barely rattle at all, and only when the window isnt fully up or down. My firebird doors rattled if you just looked at them wrong. -Will

Ya the nickel and diming at the end is where it starts to hurt. Lots of little things you end up buying at parts stores that add up in the end. -Will

If the U-joints were seized up, your driveshaft would probably end up coming out on its own before too long. Maybe he's just a Datsun hater lol -Will

Huh? I would look into a different shop. The driveshaft on Z cars is just like any other car, slip yoke in the transmission, 2 u-joints. Don't know what he is talking about being seized up. Any reputable shop should be able to do a pinion seal, its not a diff specific job. I worked at a firestone a couple summers ago and the techs there did several pinion seals while I was there. Call around to some other shops -Will

Ya but the Rotas werent really part of the LSx swap. Had i not bought a car that already had flares on it, I would have just ran some stock wheels and skinny tires for a while. I have over 4 times the amount in my wheels and tires than I paid for my car lol, but man they sure look good! -Will

Man your definition of tightwad and mine are really different. Corvette manifolds turned upside down = 75 bucks Radiatior from a Chevy G10 van with a V6 = ~60 bucks new. Walboro is a good buy though Extra stock LS1 lower hose, spliced the same halves together. Shortened the stock upper to account for radiator being less wide Quick connected fitting from parts store and some rubber fuel injection hose, stock hard lines. Stock Fbody throttle cable No mufflers Stock wiring harness not even stripped down, just ran the reds to power, orange to battery, blacks to ground, and homemade vats bypass box. Custom mounts. You need to perfect your tightwadness lol. -Will

Good looking bike! Looks like you're ready for some road trips. -Will

Rockauto has some starting at $16 bucks and sells the MOOG's for $30. For six bucks I would probably go for it if I needed ball joints bad. They are probably the same as half the other brands out there. For 6 bucks if they wear out quickly your out the price of the joint and a few hours to put a better one in. I'd rather have a cheap new one than a wore out quality one. -Will

First off, welcome to the forums! Second, read, read, read, and just when you think you're done reading, read some more. The answer to every question you asked is answered on many threads all over this board. If you feel like you have done the swap and you haven't even started yet, you are close to the point of having read enough. Any info you want on the LSx engines can be easily found over on LS1tech. Using google site specific search is much better than using this boards search function(It kinda sucks). Any LSx engine thats stock or lightly modded will drive like a stock car, get 18-30 mpg's, and be crazy reliable. If your dead set on blowing over half your budget on an LS3 then have at it, but finding a good low mile LS1/T56 pullout for much less than that would be a much better way to go. Then you could spend more money on places that the car will like a lot more(Axles, suspension, axles, brakes, axles, etc). Did I mention axles? Take RebekahsZ up on his offer if you get a chance, seeing a swap in person will really help you get an idea of what needs done. His car is fantastic(He's not too bad either) and maybe after riding in his you will grasp how quick these cars really are. I am willing to bet my car, and especially RebekahsZ's, is a lot quicker than most of those cars you mentioned driving. I came from an LS1 firebird and my Z would put it to shame in a heartbeat. If you are looking for someone to do the swap, I will be available this summer if you feel like bringing the car to central Arkansas. If all the parts were aquired before hand I bet the swap could be done in a weekend. Shoot me a PM if you want to talk more details. And I'll be a nice guy and go ahead and quickly answer those questions: -Fantastic -Strong ones. Too many options to list. Search -Stock LS1 Tranny, Bolts up, fits. The LS3 originally came with the TR6060 -Wide/Sticky ones -Can't help ya there, im on stock brakes. -Motor mounts, Trans mount, Driveshaft, Wiring/ecu, Exhaust maniolds, some other things I can't think of. Axles if you dont want to break anything. P.S. Read some more! -Will

The newer V8s don't have distributors, that is the easiest way to tell them apart. -Will

Cool photo, but thats a normal SBC...how does this fit into the Gen 3/4 forums?? -Will

Man I need to come check this out sometime, always good to meet another Z owner and a V8 Z owner to boot! That nitrous setup is sneaky! And you need to get this thing done before May so you can come out to Z Fest in Branson with us so we can rep it up for NWA. -Will

Sounds like we need to go down to Texas and do some grudge racing... -Will