Pop N Wood

Man, you are giving me ideas. Something tells me a dealer who doesn't know you personally would be REAL reluctant to hand out $50,000 vettes for all night joy rides. I know I'd be do more than "sleep on it". Minivans maybe. But an LS6 vette?

OK now you guys have me nervous. My Z is sitting on blocks, with no plates, and a complete set of 4 wheel disk parts sitting in boxes next to it. Since the car won't be road worthy for another year or two (or three), what would you recommend I do with my JY calipers? They are full of clean fluid with the inlet tubes crimped tight, sealed in zip lock bags and stored in a dry place? Suggestions? Would it be better to put them on, even though the car will still sit? BTW, don't dis jeromio. It was through his web site that I was first introduced to the maniacs that frequent this site. I have read enough posts by both of you guys to know you both have valid things to say.

I know MSA sells rebuild kits. Don't know how good they are or if you can get better. The BIG problem with rebuilding old SU's is they tend to wear out the throttle shaft bushings causing vacuum leaks. In fact, the carb bushings will wear out long before the engine rings will!! If the carbs are original, I would plan on having a shop replace the bushings. Two problems with this, first you need to find an experienced shop and second it ain't gonna be cheap.

From reading Ron's write up, I think the weight of his car is more the norm than the exception. Other than the fuel cell, he really hasn't done much to concentrate on weight savings. The aluminum drive shaft he credits with reducing drive line vibration. His brakes are JY type swap items, not Willwood superlights. Of course the LT1 has alumum heads and intake, but that massive T56 more than makes up for that weight savings. Run an LT1 with an automatic, or better yet a Ford/T5 or LS1 engine and the car's weight will be less yet. BTW, when I use to drive my dead stock 240 to the recycle center, I seem to remember weights more on the high side of 2300#. Maybe you cut more weight from your car than you think?

I think there are very few (if any) V8 Z conversions under 2,700 lbs. Looks like someone is trolling. Ron Tyler's LT1 Z with bigger diff, bigger brakes, way bigger trans and buffed up suspension comes in at 2400# http://www.home.earthlink.net/~rontyler/lt1specs.html So my guess is most V8Z's will be well under 2700#. I have heard very few people complain of 500# weight gains. As for L6 vs. V8 track times, well as Mark Twain said it is a difference in opinion that makes a horse race.

That could be anything (I know, big help I am). My truck once did the same thing, turned out to be a clamp connecting the intake snorkle to the air flow meter came loose. Could also be a bad TPS sensor/conenction. I find it best to start simple on these things. Do a complete visual inspection first before thinking too much about cause and affect.

See if it is under warranty. If not, then contact the manufacture and complain. If they won't replace it, then they can sell you a new one. Just make sure you unplug the compressor, then changing it should be no different then putting a new condensor in an old points type ignition. Any good electric supply store should be able to sell you one. BTW, the starting capacitor should only prevent the motor from starting. If it is safe to do so, you should be able to energize the motor and get it to start by spining it by hand. Once you start it rotating the capacitor is no longer needed and the motor should run fine. If not you have other problems.

Clean your battery posts and fully recharge the battery before replacing your starter! A dead battery (or bad connection) will click the solenoid but not have enough umph to crank the starter.

Is this it? http://csce.uark.edu/~jgbertr/rb/4th_gen_tech1.html Bookmark

I have known other people who have given up on synthetic oils for the same reason. Their cars drank up the synthetic but not conventional oils. The viscosity might have something to do with it, but I know both of my cars run fine with the factory recommended 5w-30 (or is it 10w-30?). Either way much thinner than a 15W-50. I have read that you are not suppose to break in a car with synthetics. Anyone know if this is true? But my buddy's car had 20K miles when he first tried synthetics, so there is something else going on. I think there is an issue with synthetics. I am curious to hear whether anyone else had consumption issues with synthetic oils.

I think Mayhem was saying the voltmeter in his dash is showing a voltage reading with the key off. If true, then I don't think pulling fuses will disconnect the problem. Something is getting past the ignition switch to power up the dash. Could be a bad switch, or could be a chaffed wire contacting another chaffed wire to bypass the switch.

The problem I have with street racing is the street is an uncontrolled environment. Race tracks go to great lengths to minimize the number of unforeseen things that can bite you, and even then racing at the track is dangerous at best. No matter how good of a driver you are or how well prepared your car is, there are simply too many things can go wrong. There is no safe place to race on the streets. I know how easy it is to take statements out of context with internet posts, but if any of you guys are trying to defend these two unfortunate souls then you need to wake up and smell the coffee. I think murder charges are excessive, but judging from some of the posts in this thread it seems like some of you guys still haven't gotten the message. Think about what you are saying. People are trying to down play this scenario, talking like what those two guys did wasn't that outrageous. And while in the grand scheme of things I agree, the simple fact remains that people are dead as a result of their actions. Think about it. Forget the courts, I wouldn't want to live that down. And one last point. IMO the girl making an illegal turn is only relevant in that it supports what I said above, things will happen that you can't control. Don't try and shift blame.

You guys are all wrong. It is the torque at the rear wheels that counts. And as Grumpy says, you build for HP so you can take advantage of the torque multiplication available from GEARING. (I hope I quoted him correctly). From a basic physics outlook POWER is a measure of the ability to do work. Torque by itself is incapable of doing work. The more HP you have at any given RPM the faster you can accelerate at that RPM. Period. End of argument. The thing that confuses people is you have to look the engine HP over the range of RPM's that it is being used. What a broad torque band does do is allow you to produce decent HP over a wide range of engine revs without constantly disconnecting power from wheels to shifting. Let me ask you a question: What is the best way to win a race, by setting up the car to keep the engine RPM’s near the torque peak or near the HP peak?

What really sucks is he can't sue the guy for printing something that isn't true

Probably the cheapest upgrade is some high performance pads on a properly set up stock brakes. I think Terry Oxendale (spelling?) had the cheapest JY option, which I think SleeperZ has just described. The only real draw back to that option is you need to drill out the threads on the caliper mounting holes since you will use the threads on the 280 calipers. Makes it kinda hard to convert to a different set up later on. Another option is getting the right year of Toyota 4x4 calipers. These calipers bolt on and use the stock, solid rotor. Since the rotor is still unvented, many people don't consider this much of an "upgrade". The good thing is I have seen used, functional calipers for as low as $85. You can also use the Toyota 4x4 caliper with a vented rotor, but you will need a different year of caliper and some wheel spacers made. This will give you a solid, albeit heavy, front set up. Do a search, many people sell this in kit form. Also this option was described in detail in a recent thread.

Before deciding a profession, you might want to ask how much overtime is needed to make that kind of cash. Also what is considered a "good" body guy. One who can do a flame job like in the current post, or one who can bang out a dozen dented Huyndi's a week? My guess is the high $$ body guys are really earning that money, either in time or sheer volume or both. Get a summer job in a body shop and see just how much work it can be. Similarly do volunteer work in a hospital.

For some reason I can't let this argument go. For the same amount of cooling, electric fans put the same drag on the engine and take just as much HP. If you want to move a certain volume of air, then it takes a certain amount of HP to do that. The alternator runs off the same pully system as a mechanical fan so all of that energy comes from the engine. Where electric fans help is they can be turned off when not needed. Also keep in mind that 35 amps at 12 volts is only a little over a half HP. Thus electric fans can't be made to move as much air as a mechanical fan, they don't have as big of a drive motor. But, like I said, if your set up only needs as much air flow as an electric can provide, then that is all you need. Electric or mechanical, if you are moving more air than you need, you will be wasting HP. Personally when it comes to cooling I would rather have too much than too little.

It is a nice piece of engineering, but it only put out a little over 400 HP. In fact a number of articles claim the LT4 engines were underrated in HP in part to make the LT5 look worth the money. The thing I remember reading is the cams were completely differenent profiles. Each cam fed a completely different intake tract. One was set up for low RPM and the other only came into play at high RPM. The computer interacted with the cam in a unique way, I think it could actually disable the high RPM cam somehow. Supposedly made the car drivable at all RPM's. The engine has come up here more than once, but like said the price and lack of performance parts makes it too rich for the Z crowd. Also Cheby really limited the numbers of ZR1's built, so the people who bought them were more collectors than racers. This ubdoubtably cuts down on the chances of finding one in a JY IMO the advent of the 405 HP all aluminum LS6 engine has really dimimished the performance appeal of the LT5. Much better off building up an LS1/LS6.

A mechanical with a shroud can move more air than an electric. As such it has better cooling potential. However the right electric fan is more than up to the task. The 2 speed Tarus fans seem to be the fan of choice. Pep boys sells thermostatic control switches that wedge into the radiator fins. What ever you do connect the fan with relays and heavy wiring. Some fans draw upwards of 35 amps on high speed. This means you will probably want a 90 amp or better alternator. If your current set up does not have any cooling problems, then I would be hesitant to mess with it.

400 HP is getting up there. An R200 is easy to do and will remove the diff as the weak link. Well worth doing. I think the key here is planning. Spend time reading the JTR manual and old HybridZ postings and get everything together before your swap. And I mean everything, brackets, bolts, wiring, fuel lines, throttle cable, paint, hand cleaner etc. etc. Then if you can stick to your plan once you start it should only take a few weekends of pounding and wrenching. The things that kill you are running out for missing parts and fasteners and the "while I'm at it" syndrome. I should also add that the advice in the JTR manual to not start your swap until you have a complete, running engine and trans combo is a good one. Do you really have room for a dead car and two dead engines in your garage? I think the problem here is in your right foot and not the tires. A stock drive train will support 225 tires with no problems. Anything wider and you are looking at suspension mods and/or flairs of some sort. The good thing about using tires that are too narrow for your engine HP is it keeps you from breaking drive line parts. As long as you don't lie to your insurance company you are OK. Just like you don't have to report to your insurance company when you get a ticket, you have to answer honestly should they ask. It has been my experience that most insurance companies use standard forms to determine insurance rates. Since the agent entering the information probably isn't going to have a box to check saying the engine has been modified, you are probably going to pay the same rate with a V8 as an inline 6. The exception to this is if you want comprehensive coverage. Since the car is so old you will need a stated value policy. In this case you will need to get the car inspected and appraised. In this case you will want to point out all the high $$ mods so you can get properly reimbursed should the car get destroyed or stolen.

Have to agree with Dan. IMO the TPI set ups look great. Too bad people complain about the limited flow capability compared to an LT1 set up. Probably the only set up that I think looks better than a TPI is either a simple 4 barrel with a big arse Moroso air cleaner or an inline 6 with triple webers. The LT1 intake does have a nice, clean look. The LS1 intake performs well, but is so busy and cluttered looking that I find it totally unimpressive.

Man, those RB engines do look nice! The visible welds look pretty enough. You are probably being too hard on yourself. Not to steal a thread, but what type of camber plates do you have on the top of your strut towers? Is that a custom job or someone's kit? Nice work.

Katman, if you are around, just wondering what you think of this cage and subframe connectors. I know it is not ITS spec, but looks like a pretty good drag racing layout. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2410409395&category=6472

Look at the pictures of this Z on the ebay ad: http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=20058 People are dissing the car but I think the guy did a top notch job on the cage. If you look at the picture of the inside showing the door panel, you will see the cage bar coming down past the dash with a horizontal tube going forward from that. Then look at the picture of the engine bay and you will see two red tubes extending from the fire wall along either side of the engine that bend down to the frame rails. My guess is the tube under the dash connect to these tubes in the engine compartment. Combine that with the subframe connectors he made along the floor pans and he should have a pretty stiff chassis....for drag racing anyway. For road racing I would like to see somthing that triangulates the tops of the strut towers to each other and the cage in the firewall. The problem (as I see it) with just using a strut bar to connect the struts to the firewall near the hood latch is the weakness off the firewall. The firewall is just sheet metal at that point. Running a transverse bar inside the dash and making a V from that to the strut tops back would be vastly stronger. Also look how this guy intgegrated the subframe channels entirely inside the car rathar than underneath. Trick. Would be interesting to hear what Katman thinks about this cage. I know one thing he would complain about is the lack of a bar transversing the cage from footwell to footwell. There looks to be one on the underside of the dash, but it is probably too high for Katman's liking.