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.

click or paste this link...the photo insert didn't work: http://bp0.blogger.com/_lfWLCQRZJiU/RhiScEZ6v0I/AAAAAAAAACc/oE6pGzTBhoc/s1600-h/240zengine20070307.JPG

What knid of HP and weight do you have? I've been tossing around the 4.11s for a while...with the GV overdrive it might work! I don't need to go over 140mph...ever.

What the heck are you talking about..?This is every bit as exciting as my airport video...I can't wait to go to the track...Thanks for the post! I want to see more video posts!!

Oh yea...I almost forgot to mention that my car is in "Hot Rod" magazine's HomeBuilt heros (Spring 08) that just came out...page53. Dave sent in his pics right after I bought the car...he deserves the credit for the beautiful car and the excellent job on the motor and tranny etc...

Well...the carb isn't tuned correctly, the headers are too small but she's pretty fast. I hooked up my buddy's g-tech pro and went and ran some laps near the airport last weekend... The trick was learning not to pre-load...for my car I can't rev the motor with my foot on the brake (stall rev) at all. If I do all she does is spin the tires...spin...spin...spin. However if I just step on the gas and let off the brake at the same time she launches with minimal (if any) tire squeel and gave me a best run of 11.595. The 11.595 was at 108 MPH (which doesn't add up) so I pulled the data and found my problem: The G-Tech doesn't rely on position at all so I was guessing where th 1/4 mile mark was. I overshot the mark and then had to brake pretty hard to stay safe etc...aparently I was not going far enough. The good news is that even with the obvious decelleration at the end I still ran solid 11.6s to 11.8s all day long. Once I learned how to launch, it was easy as pie...until I broke a u-joint in the drive shaft. I had to nurse it home. Here is a video of a few launches (link) you can see run or 2 with tire squeel and most without...then a little showing off: http://my.break.com/content/view.aspx?ContentID=450381 lilredz

What are the details of your motor? What kind of times have you run? I took my z to the tranny shop and asked them to fix the leak. I have had it back aftr the $1800 rebuild 2x. I will look into the overflow sump idea. Wher (on the tranny) is the vent? I felt around for it but since I can't see anything without dropping it I couldn't find it.

It wasn't raining yesterday but i spent the day hooking up the heater and finding the leaks...then this morning fixing the leaks...just in time for more rain. that didn't stop me i tested my heater and new wiper blade (only 1 wiper) and it ran pretty good. the only motor issue so far is the slight hesitation just after i accellerate...it seems to power up to full throttle without any hesitation if i mash the throttle all the way (hard to do in the rain). if i throttle up slowly it rumbles past the transition then smooths out. i need to check the transition circuits in the carb. i haven't had it much past 80-90 MPH since it has been raining pretty solid...i was getting on the freeway on friday night and tapped the accellerator to merge (the way i drive i don't yield unless i absolutely must...but i wont cut anyone off either)...and she started to spin out immediately...i guess going 50-60 in the rain then smashing the throttle isn't a great idea...lol i forgot to mention the tranny leak. every time i get on it, the tranny (C4) leaks then fill the cockpit with nasty smoke (and it's embarassing). i checked the coolant lines...no obvious leaks from what i could see. since i just had the tranny rebuilt and had the leak (supposedly) fixed once before i guess i'll just drop it at the tranny shop again tomorrow. i am going to set up a Thunder Hill day in March. i have about 10 guys from work SO FAR: 2 vettes, BMWs (M5), 1 Porsche, 1 Acura, 1 roush stang and a few other guys saying they want to go but i don't know what they drive. they all will do as well as the Z at TH because TH is all about handling and has little to do with straight up power. the Z does very well for a 73 car but not compared to those cars. it will kick all their asses in a straight line though...at any given red light on any given sunday!

thanks... yea whats up with this weather? global warming? hmmm seems like global freezing at the moment....and this rain sucks. i am going to set something up at thunder hill for some buddies at work...this March. I will post something here to see if we can get a full track...that way it's cheaper. thanks for the nice compliments

Well I finally got the new Dart block in. I could do a significant write-up just on this past weekend but I'll give the skinny version for now. The block was a steal from e-bay. I lucked out and found a guy selling his brand new forged short-block kit...Dart block, Ross Pistons, scat crank and rods wtc...for a .155 over bore 369. I used my top end, flat tappet cam brodix heads, g williams 820 cfm carb and vic jr intake and strapped it in. I also did some interior work... it ran 11.8 /119 1/4 mi with the old 337 with about 435-475 HP (guess) I hope to be in the 11.0-11.5 range now. oh yea i installed the tokiko suspension also... i am too tired to write it all up now but may do it in the future. the weather is supposed to be terrible here in N. Calif (SF Bay Area) over the next 2 weeks and I'm a fair weather driver...oh well... by the way, if anyone knows where the heater hose is supposed to come through the firewall i'd appreciate your input here are some pics shot today:

my old motor was 337 cu in and ran 11.8 / 119 with open headers...