wfritts911

Ah I thought those manifolds looked a bit different, guess your safe on the copyrights lol. That explains why you didn't have to hack them up to flip them upside down. I actually had to cut the flanges off of mine and turn the manifold upside down leaving the flange rightside up because the early C5 manifolds have an EGR tube across the top, which blocks the spark plugs and hits the head bolts. Keep up the good work, there is a light at the end of the tunnel now. Nice "shop" by the way! P.S. The flames are awesome at night, I'm pretty sure I scare people if I pass them in the dark. It throws flames like crazy at night. -Will

I understand on not wanting to break, I definitely agree that breaking is no fun(Been there a lot lol), I just can't seem to stop pushing the car to try and get those lower times. Guess thats why I finally said forget the IRS after reading everyone elses issues. The only way to go fast reliably is a solid axle, and I'm tired of always worrying about what is going to break next. Dropping a tenth is a lot easier when you are running 13s instead of almost 10s. Ya I'm glad you didn't come up to autocross this year, my exhaust would not have flown with an actual SCCA event. The one they do up in Rogers, AR no one cares, everyone thinks its awesome lol. It will be quiet before next season. I'll have to see how my solid axle setup can do compared to a IRS LSx Z car. Snailed, I don't think Anti-squat is definied in the Z car dictionary. -Will

First off, amazing car! Second off, great first post! I also agree with the guy above me that some video of this beast on the track would be awesome! Looks like you put a lot of work into the car and it all paid off in the end. It is definitely beautiful and I bet it will do some work on the track as well. P.S. Welcome to the forum! Don't be a stranger! -Will

So did I mention I copyrighted my design? I'm going to have to sue you now and take your car as evidence . Glad you got the header situation figured out, can you believe I have been running with my exhaust like that since March?? And the u-joint shafts will work ok depending on the shape of the joints, just don't shift very hard. You will have it done in no time now, once you hear that start you realize "Damn...this is actually gonna work!" Don't be afraid to hack those flanges off and weld some pipe up til your headers come in, it doesn't scare people too bad. Although the Cali emissions laws might not like them to well -Will

If they run from yours...I'm in trouble lol. It does attract every redneck within a 1/4 mile radius though. Its too bad I'm on Linux and don't have any software to play those videos. But you were so close to 10s. I think if you could launch a little harder you could get it, one really hot burnout and a good launch and shifting. Definitely looks like you have some serious squat/camber going on from that picture. Were you spinning any with the 2 step at 3500? I bet you could have just turned it up and either ran 10s or broke axles like the rest of us lol. And I am jealous of your weight, the guy I bought my car from said he weighed it in a 24xx when it still had the L28 turbo in it. I figure I have lost a bit of weight from that point, but not much. Running 11 flat on a stock LS2 is awesome. Unfortunately I'm not sure I will be doing anything but adding more weight in the future. Is this going to be your last time running this year or are you gonna try to squeeze in another visit or two before the season comes to a hault? -Will

I think the tranny will fit with a bit of banging and obviously cutting out the stock crossmember brackets. It doesn't appear to be much bigger than a T56. The shifter does look kind of far back though. Length wise like you said should have plenty of room. Width wise it might be a tight fit, but thats nothing some "clearancing" can't take care of. If you have the resources, make it happen. It would make for a wicked Z. -Will

Pfft you guys live in the wrong states. I have 3 inch exhaust pipe sticking through both of my hood vents. Not even sort of subtle. I have only been pulled over once in my home town for going 40 in 55(Cop was behind me, no speedo, hometown cops are rediculously bad). Fortunately it was dark out so I don't think he saw the exhaust. But other than that I have drove by numerous cops and nothing(Knock on wood). Living in the southern "we don't care about emissions" states has its perks. -Will

Ya I realized after I posted that you weren't the average person wondering about LSx motors, nor were you building a street car. I know Pat G had a thread over on LS1tech about a 500whp LS1, and it took a lot of work. Don't know what your current shortblock entails, but if its stock cubes, upgrading will probably be the way to go. The bigger bore LSx motors would be a better starting point if you don't want to pay the price for a sleeved block. Where you going surpasses my LSx knowledge though. -Will

What are you trying to get out of it motor wise? If you have a shortblock thats ready to go, just bolt some 243/799 heads on, stick a 228/232 cam in it, and go make ~400rwhp. Unless you are going for retarded power, I think sleeving is overkill. It costs a fortune and the stock LSx(especially the iron ones) blocks will take plenty of power. Once my LS1 finally gives out I plan on doing a 4.8/5.3 truck motor with one(or two) turbos. The iron blocks love boost, are only ~60 pounds heavier, and are cheap. There is so much room in the front of the engine bay in these cars with the small blocks it is just begging for some boost. A truck motor on 8-10 psi will make ~500 wheel, which is enough to put the hurt on most cars when you only weigh 2500 pounds. On a side note, where are you at in Virginia? My brother is stationed in Norfolk so I was out there for the 2 summers before this last one.

I am totally in for at least a short sleeved and long sleeved T-shirt, possibly some stickers depending on how they turn out(At least one for the tool box). Definitely keep us posted! -Will

Think I'm giving in and going solid axle. 8.8 out of a foxbody will fit stock length(Only an inch or 2 wider), so 8.8 with a torque arm setup like the F-bodys, Watts link for lateral location, some universal(QA1 probably) coil overs. Should fit with minimal body hacking, and should still handle well and launch good. Plus without the strut towers I will be able to tuck a WIDE tire out back(Can you say don't dig race me on the street?). I want to stay with the IRS setup, but it just costs too much to make "strong", the solid 8.8 can be made "bullet-proof" for pretty cheap. Plus I already have a 31 spline trac-lok and some 4.10 gears. The only thing I absolutely don't like about the SRA is the unsprung weight compared to the IRS goes waaaayyyyy up, and with a light car like the Z's, I'm hoping it doesn't try to through it around too much. Either way I'll be able to dump the clutch at 5 grand on some slicks and that will make everything else ok . -Will

Lookin' good! I'll be coming for you and Sunny next season after my winter no more breaking axle project. -Will

What gauges are you trying to mount? I ended up using the clear plastic lens on all 3 gauges, painted them black and drilled a large hole in the middle for the gauge to fit in. Then I glued the lens to the housing and oriented the housing so it tilted the gauges towards the driver. I think they turned out really well and lets you avoid having to find 3 clock housings. Might not work for slightly larger gauges, mine were the 2 1/16th gauges from speedhut, might not work with the 2 5/8ths ones. -Will

Lookin' good! Was that in 2nd gear? -Will

Not all of us from the "Video game" generation have to be spoon fed. I couldn't agree more on asking stupid questions though. Some people seem to think it's faster or easier to ask a question on a forum when I google search will get you the answer to your question 1000 times over. That is the glory of the internet, the "Video game" generation doesn't have to learn from working crap jobs for previously mentioned old cranky dipshits . I learned 95% of what I know from the internet and turning wrenches by myself. I never had a mentor to teach me things, I learned from the internet, and that learning wasn't from posting grade school questions on forums, it was from reading forums and research, research, research. The amount of information you can find just by researching is amazing. Also, backspacing(Or offset) isn't rocket science, it's a pretty straight forward concept. Like John said, a simple google search will show you what how offset works, and then a tape measurer or ruler will do the rest.

Man you snapped it in the middle of a gear? Mine usually broke from shock other than one fluke of a failure. You should definitely be able to get 12s out of it depending on what 60ft times you are pulling. These cars are light! You do need some fatter tires(Or stickier) though. -Will

Welcome to the club! Your still a couple behind me though, I go through halfshafts like beer. Did you even manage to make one pass? If not that is disapointing. As far as options, I think your choices are as follows: 1. Spend a bunch of money on the Nissan IRS to make it "bulletproof". If I decide to stay with the Nissan setup I will be going with Porsche 930 type CV axles, and I would imagine the billet stub axles would follow shortly after getting stronger axles. Don't know where the weak link would go to after that, maybe the inner stub axle. 2. Swap in an auto. Probably the easiest and cheapest option to make your rear end last. Plus a stalled auto will get down at the track. 3. Solid rear axle swap. 9 inch, 12 bolt, 8.8. I will be going solid 8.8 if I decide to not stay with the Nissan setup, I'm still 50/50. I think I solid axle with a torque arm setup like the 3rd and 4th gen F-body's have would fit with minimal body hacking and the setup works decently, not as adjustable(Or as good) as a 4 link setup, but would fit the chassis much, much easier. 4. Alternate IRS setup. Cobra/Explorer IRS 8.8, probably the best option as far as alternate IRS goes. The C3(I think) vette IRS is also an option, but needs shortened considerably and takes a bit more effort than just shorter axles to shorten. The cobra IRS would be work with just a custom diff mount and custom axles(This is the setup I believe Sunny is pursuing). 5. Always carry around a spare halfshaft and a 14mm wrench. Also always have another spare halfshaft(Or two) at home so if you have to use your spare you have another spare that can go in the car lol. This is my current setup, it works well to avoid being stranded or towed by V6 mustangs . I think the Duralast Gold u-joints are the strongest joint you can find, the body of the joint is really beefy so it doesnt shear down the middle like most of the joints, the ears will break off on a good 1-2 shift though lol. Pretty much all of your options require a decently deep pocket book, aside from option 5, its pretty cheap. Car looks good, only thing I will say is where is the seagull swallower(Or two). The 4.8/5.3 truck motors love the boost! -Will

I think mine was offset towards the passenger side just a little bit. Don't over think it though, unless you have scales and are trying to position the engine to even out the side to side weight balance, offsetting it any amount is just guessing. I posted a link to my custom mounts in the mentioned thread. Don't worry to much about meeting some "requirements" about the engine position. If it fits its going to work. I think the only measuring I did on my engine position was to make sure it was straight in the engine bay and the crank pulley wasnt hitting the rack and pinion(Your pinky finger works good there). What it comes down to is put it as low down and as far back as you can get it, maybe offset it a 1/4 inch to the passnger side and make sure its straight, and make sure the shifter fits. Get to welding! -Will

Here is mine. http://www.supermotors.net/registry/24480/78972 Don't mind the fact that it says its a 300zx, supermotors doesn't know what a 1978 280z is. They definitely were not designed for header clearence though(In fact these mounts are part of the reason why my car attracts more rednecks than a saturday night dirt track race). Had I been thinking about headers when I built my mounts, I would have built them differently(Especially on the passenger side). The JCI setup where it mounts on the front part on the passenger side is the way to go I think. Mounting in the stock firebird position leaves very little room between the mount and the starter. The main reason I built mounts would be because they only took about 15 bucks in metal instead of 300 dollars, and I'm a huge "Built not bought" guy. If I have the tools to build it, its probably going to be built instead of bought. Oh and don't be afraid to solid mount it, vibes aren't much(If any) worse than poly mounts, and you can make really tight clearences because the motor wont be moving. -Will

Well eventually I will be painting my car and am just wanting to see what colors everyone drools over. Not looking for stock Z colors, any color on any car, just whatever you think is drop dead gorgeous, nasty, mean, etc. Ill start and say I'm between Atomic Orange and Electron blue(Both happen to be vette colors) right now, but am also a fan of gunmetal. But anyways, lets see some pictures! If I end up with going with either of these, the fender flares and the tail light panel and maybe a couple other pieces will stay black(Gloss,semi gloss,matte dunno yet). So lets see em guys! -Will

What is this exhaust scraping problem yal speak of??? -Will

Custom mounts ftw! Then you can build them however you want them! Spend the 400 dollars you would spend on mounts on a welder, well worth the investment. I haven't heard anything about the BRP mounts, but if it puts the engine 3 inches further forward than the JCI mounts, I would steer way clear of them. That is the glory of the V8 swap, is you can keep the weight balance good and the COG low. Plus you have a 5.3, which automatically means you need all the room in front of the engine for a set of seagull swallowers(Or just one). -Will

280zcar, I think those are 98-99 F-body manifolds, the newer ones were cast iron instead of the stainless steel. Cant really weld to the cast iron unless your a welding wizard. I do believe those F-body manifolds would fit though, thats what I was trying to find until I purchased some 98-99? vette manifolds. I will say the vette manifolds will not clear the stearing shaft on the drivers side even if you make them into serios block huggers. They do however, fit really well through the 280z hood vents -Will

Make sure you wire a resistor between 12 volts and the alternator. Or if you are stranded somewhere about an hour from home, the fasten seat belt light works as well . I think all the white/red wires on my car went to the maxi fuses coming off of battery 12v. Although I think the Z goes from the battery to the starter, then the starter to everything else, or at least thats how I was told. Also make sure you check what wires you are using to feed the PCM ign power, make sure they don't lose power when you turn the key to "start"...cause if they do you will spend forever trying to figure out why it doesn't start . Also I'm pretty sure the PCM doesn't need to see a "start" signal, just make sure the 5 or 6 wires are getting fed positive "ign" power(Plus the one BAT wire). And ground everything out and turn the fuel pump on, and it should fire right up. -Will EDIT: If your PCM is 99+ your alternator wire should be in your harness coming from the PCM, so you shouldn't need to do anything but plug the plug in. If its a 98, don't assume you can just plug the plug in and be done, it goes nowhere

My Z also gets compliments all the time even though its looks are subpar, I think it has something to do with 3 inch exhaust pipes sticking through the hood vents . It might not get the ladies, but it pulls rednecks like crazy lol. Didn't actually get a compliment, but I was sitting at a stoplight one time and there was a walgreens at the corner. Walking into the walgreens was a young kid <10 and his mom and dad. I see him pointing towards my car and tugging on his dad's shirt trying to get him to look, I couldn't help but to smile and wave to the kid. I can second the stories about peoples mothers/fathers/uncles/second cousin twice removed's Z car, it seems everyone and their grandma had an old Z at one point. I also had some old guy at a drag strip tell me he used to race a SBC Z and that an 8.8 out of a foxbody practically bolts right up because the Z is a factory 4 link car just like the mustang. I just shook my head and said "ya I'll have to look into that..." -Will