lilredZ

Ok I know when I am not wanted. My picture was pulled for being too large and I received a personal e-mail saying I was in violation of rule #5 regarding punctuation. Really? See you guys around...maybe on facebook or something...

This is my "crawling under cars" attire...I'm an Engineer not a gangster...lol

my 60' time all depends on my start and hookup. it's usually between 1.7 and 1.85 seconds. the 0-60 is between 2.2 and 3.5 seconds depending on how well it hooks up and when i shift into 2nd. if i shift at about 45 mph i lose out on the 60 ft and 0-60 time. if i hold it to 60 its hard on the motor but 2.2 is possible. i have to learn to drive the car and continue to pull my g-tech data and analyze it. this car with the former 425 hp motor ran 11.8 second 1/4 mile and had a 1.75 second 60 foot time at the track in sacramento. my new block is heavier and it has an overdrive unit...adding another 60# so my net HP gain will be only 50-75...i have to see what the overdrive unit does to my performance etc... in any case the trick with these light weight cars is hooking them up. i have to do a roll-off start or it just spins...i don't want to tub it out but do want wider tires in back...well see how this evolves... attached is a full 1/4 mile run g-tech chart...with old motor (~450 hp)...but i shifted to 2nd at ~45...

Finally (after 2 years and mucho $) this engine is race ready (after breaking in the new cam)...will be installing for the next month or so...should be running in the 10s after it is complete. The engine is a 370 cube punched out 302 Dart Sportsman block running brodix 195 heads...estimated 500 HP. it is blueprinted with a zero bal. internal running solid flat tappet lifters and a carb. i could have gone for 600 HP with larger (205+ ported) heads but wanted to see if 500 isn't already more than enough. the prior edition of this motor was running low 11s with a 0-60 (MPH) of 2.2 seconds with a good hook-up. hooking the 240z up is the challenging part so 500 HP should be plenty if i want to run in the 10s. this block will handle 1200 HP so power will never be a problem...it's keeping the other stuff in-tact and functional that will be the challenge going forward. Edited: http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/98611-posting-pictures-please-read/

I just got my ford motor back from the machine shop. i will be spending some time on it over the next couple of months getting it ready to drive. once it is done, i am happy to meet somewhere or you can come see it...

I have a mechanical in my car....fits no problem....but my block is the old 289/302 based block...not sure if that makes a difference. I don't have a good picture of it unfortunately and my engine isn't in the car at the moment... Rusty Here are some pictures: http://osgoods.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-1973-datsun-240z.html

I would ask an expert...some pins are meant to be pressed in ONLY...some won't matter as long as they are seated. I am guessing you know this much. When in doubt, get the right data...a good tranny expert would know...

I'd love to know what wound up working best...

What headers (diameter?) did you use?

I have 6 wires going to my engine so unless you're running EFI or something wiring the motor is as easy as pie...The power to the distributer, the oil and temp sending units, the RPM {coil} and alternator are the only motor related wires you should need for the 289 (I just pulled a 289 out). The starter wire should be hooked to a simple $10 12v solenoid (my solenoid is hooked {heavy + wire} to a battery switch). I may be adding a fuel pressure gauge in the future. I don't know if your differential is the short or long nose version but since it's a 280 I think it should have an R200 in there already...read up on this (elsewhere in the forum) since it's important. I am running a C4 and I have a Gear Vendors O/D unit in there. This car ran 11.8s all day long on RA1s and out handles a 300zxt (I know cause I raced a friend in his). Now im running a 370 (build Dart blocked 302). It's faster. As far as a daily driver...If I didn't have to drive 32 miles to work you bet I'd drive it to work! I have a slightly stiffer (than stock) Tokiko suspension and a B&M shifter with the C4 built for torque and manual shifting. I love to drive it and it gets around town just fine. Brakes are very important. My car has willwood all the way around but they are older willwood and need to be upgraded. I'd say it stops as well as the original 240z but that's not good enough for a car that goes 0-60 in 3.2 seconds. I need bigger front rotors and calipers. Motor mounts are critical. I have posted pics of mine in here. The placement is as close to perfect as you can get because I just have 1/4 to 1/2 inch clearance at the front of the oil pan and about the same on the bellhousing in back. Some people have cradlesd their motors (recommended if you are going to run high HP and a stick). I personally don't feel it is necessary if you're running 425hp or so with an Auto tranny since my car ran this way for 12 years with regular trips to the track. One of my mounts started to crack at the weld seam because the metal was not a heavy enough gauge. I just reinforced the seams and seems to be holding up fine. I am currently using off the shelf (Tri-y) headders but am upgrading to custom headers when I put the new heads in next month. 74_50 has very good and realistic feedback. You have to really want to do this and be passionate about it before you start....because it takes alot of work. If you want a car that just looks good, stick with the stock motor etc... If you want a car that is pretty fast and fun to drive drop in a modern Nissan motor. If you want to be able to smoke anything that comes near you, you will need a strong american V8 or one of several key Japanese mototrs (sr20det, 1JZ-GTE.. etc...built to the hilt with 20+ psi of boost). I like the V8 because it's cheap (relatively), sounds great (I get lots of thumbs up) and is easy to work on. But most of all you will need money, time, advice, intelligence and patience to do it right.... my $.002 worth.

I'm probably going to get slammed but: All else being equal (which it never is) I'd pick the Chevy simply because it's cheaper to build and easier to get parts for. Just pick up a Summit catalog and look for a good set of heads... I have built both motors and the Chevy is much easier to build cheaply and quickly and (perhaps) more reliably. That said, the reason my car has a Ford motor is that (back when this car was built) it was the only option for going low and back in the engine compartment. Engine weight (CG) has a huge impact on handling. I thought the extra 60 lbs from the recently added Dart block (and forged internals) would not be significant but it did change the handling...its only a tad bit harder to steer going slow but it dives in (oversteer) to turns and has deminished what use to be fantastic handling. It still handles good (I'd say a modern Civic or TL) but the change is noticable and if I were all about handling (I'm more about who wins at the red light) I would not have added the weight. PS with my new (Brodix) heads, cam and lifters I should be running about 575 Hp with plenty of torque (Naturally Aspirated)...

My Z with the new block already has some sort of noise...I hope it isn't anything in the lower end...seeing as how I just spent a gazillion dollars on it. This DART block with forged and ballanced moving parts was professionally assembled and is not supposed to fail...especially with the relatively mild cam and 10.2 compression. I also have a rev limiter at 7K... The noise comes on at 2.5K to 3K rpms and it is loudest when floating...not accellerating or decellerating...it seems too high of a pitch to be a rod but the behavior is rod'ish in nature...that whole floating thing... These cars are very special and are lots of fun but it seems i work on mine for 2-3 hours for every hour of fun...

Some may disagree but I read a recent article where they swapped a carb on and GAINED HP. Parts = intake, carb, and air cleaner etc... If you want I can try to find the article (magazine) but it was in a recent addition. A properly tuned carb with a good intake will outperform an FI system if it is not tuned optimally. I would not argue that an optomized FI system should out perform a carb system simply because it is dynamically adjustable and distributed to each cylinder directly. Some of the old school methods actually work well and may end up being better in certain cases. FORD RACING has just (this year) released a 500+ HP 331 crate motor (not a stroker but actually a bored out boss block) with solid flat tappet lifters. This crate motor sells for $10K. This is similar to my configuration. The reasoning for the solid flat tappet is that they wind higher (im also running a forged DART SB assembly) and the solid flat tappets are less likely to float and more relaiable at severe RPMs (7K +). Your Z sounds real nice...hold on to that factory air. It is hard to find. I am looking to AC my car but it's not easy.