Pop N Wood

but unfortunately if you went to sell it on ebay you would be lucky to get $7k for it... The car is only worth what someone will pay for it, not what you have invested in it. That statement works both ways. Old Ferrari's that originally sold for several thousand dollars are now worth millions because that is what they have been selling for. Modify them and they lose most of their value. Old Z cars with bitchin V8 transplants and over $10K in mods are selling on this site (and slowly I might add) for 4 to 5 thousand bucks. Don't get me wrong, fight the insurance company for all it's worth. But just don't take it personnaly if it doesn't turn out the way you think it should. Also follow the advice posted above and buy the salvage rights to the old car.

Are you guys pulling our legs? I am looking on ebay and seeing heads that cost more than $850 and T56 trannys for $1500, and none of those are installed prices. If the engine is rebuilt, ask to see the receipts. At 500 HP there should be a huge number of name brand parts. Then talk to the machine shop. See what type of guarantee will transfer from the machinist. If there are no reciepts, then check with your local law enforcement agency to see if they know where the 500 HP, freshly rebuilt 350 came from.

Just read your post again. Are you doing a V8 swap, or a stock L6 swap? If it's a stock engine that you are sure will fit, then there is no sense taking it apart twice. Now if your are fitting a V8 (like me) then do all of the fabricating with bad paint. BTW, good luck on the insurance thing. As we all know, the value of a car is MUCH less than the sum of it's parts. If you can buy a decent 240Z for $4000, then why would they pay you for 10 grand worth of parts? What were the particulars of your 240 that made it worth 10 grand?

There is a wealth of knowledge in the archives. Just do a search on LS1 in the Chevy V8 forum. Phantom recently had one done using a conversion kit from John's cars. Made it sound like all of the kinks were worked out and the overall installation was truely fine. Here is the post http://www.hybridz.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=003039#000001 jeromio has a truely entertaining web site detailing his conversion in progress. Check it out: http://240z.jeromio.com/

Personnaly, I plan on doing the engine swap first. Once I am happy with the install, then I will pull the engine and do the paint from the inside out. I mean, what are you going to do with fresh paint and need a little sheet metal clearance in a spot or two?

I think you should post a copy of the tape on line so we will know better how to help you. Also a BIG magnet will do the trick.

I put a Jacobs Electronics ignition box on my stock 240 many years ago. Jacobs sells a tach amplifier that installs in the ignition circuit to allow the early 240 tach to work with modern electronics. Super easy to install and mucho less work then gutting a tach.

The flat tops were emission carbs and reported ran like s**t and tended to vapor lock. Swapping them out with early SU's is what everyone does. The early SU's are sweet carbs and probably give the best overall mix of performance, economy and drivablity. Can be a little expensive to rebuild properly since the 20+ year old carbs develop vacuum leaks through worn throttle shaft bushings.

???? Horsepower has a well defined meaning, work per unit time. Agree there are many different ways to measure it, but it is a measure of a physical entity. It is very real.

JTR claims they are cast iron. Fool proof way to tell: use a magnet.

Then yet one more solution: Modify Paul's design to take the rubber out of the stock mount (the rubber above the cross piece). Could then lower the front of the diff more toward the cross piece since all of the isolation is coming from underneath. Ground clearance should not be an issue since you will lose the exhaust first.

Looking back, I didn't mean to disrespect the urethane idea, just taking a SWAG at it. If someone has one that works, then by all means share it. Looking at a different site I came across this idea: http://zccw.org/Tech/Differential/MysteryClunk.html Add this to the JTR suggestion of wrapping some wire cable around the diff and cross member and we are up to 7 suggestions. Trouble is past posts have said the cable will stretch, so one of the many top mounted designs look more permanent.

Thanks PaulR, now there are 4!

Yeah, an "unbreakable" diff mount would be much aapreciated. Unfortunately, I don't think making it out of urethane will make any difference. It is the adhesive bond cementing the isolator to the top and bottom plates that fails. What needs to be done is to redesign the mount to put int under compression instead of tension. There have been at least 3 different designs on this board for doing so. All require bending and welding some metal.

I've sent cars to salvage yards and they weren't too concerned about titles. Of course mine were real pieces of junk when I scrapped them.

Where did you get the rear brake kit? Is that an Arizonia Z car kit? Love the clean look.

My first guess is insufficient fuel flow. Low speeds (engine load) need less gas, higher speeds more. If the fuel delivery starts to lag, the float levels get low, engine goes lean and starts to stall, this uses less gas so, float level starts to catch up, .... you get the idea. Checking the fuel filters is the right place to start. Doing a general engine/fuel system inspection is also needed. Look for kinked lines, leaks, dirt, bad vacuum lines etc. Check the carbs, make sure the oil level in the SU's is good with the proper weight oil. Also make sure the (I forget what they are called) CV cylinders move smoothly. Check ignition as suggested above. Could be a vacuum advance issue, but my guess is fuel problem. A general check out is good practice anyway. If all good (and fix the tank leak for God's sake) then check the fuel pressure at the carbs, especially with a partially full tank. If you can mount the gage where you can see it while driving, then you should be able to tell if it goes low when the engine is stalling. But my guess is the fuel pump isn't getting it done. Do a flow check on the pump. My guess is one of the above will find the problem for you. Also the postings have been pretty slow lately. My guess with the holidays and cold weather, not many guys are working on their cars.

If you want a bigger radiator, then just take your stock one to a local radiator shop and have them recore it with a 2 or 3 row core. Will cool fine for a nissan 6 and most V8's. if not then you probably have something else wrong. The only problem with the stock radiator is weight. A Griffen aluminum works great at a fraction of the weight. Summit has them at reasonale prices.

I'll bet old Evel would like the full inch of chop back about now.

Yeah, don't hammer it The weak link in the R180's is the spider gears. Weld up the spider gears (using the proper alloy welding rod, the JTR manual has the correct one) and the only thing you will have to worry about are the U joints.

Had sort of come to the same conclusion. Would be nice to have the 345 HP that the LT4 are reputed to have vs. the 270 HP of most LT1's. Plus I have always loved the look of roller rockers. My goal is to eventually get AFR heads, so I might consider an iron head LT1 (saw a number of them advertised on ebay) for the initial swap. But the big thing is I can't see paying a premium for the ZF tranny when it looks to be not as suitable for a Z. Could only find one guy in the archives who tried to install one and he was trying to figure out the shift linkage.

What do you guys think of this deal? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1872867714 An LT4 with ZF 6 speed transmission. This place is within driving distance of my house. Doesn't look like there is too much interest (0 bids with 12 hours left). I assume the reserve price of $3450 is the minimum they will sell it for? What is the deal with the ZF transmission? Can't remember but I thought they didn't fit the Z too well.

If I am reading this correctly, it sounds like the LS1 swap is now even easier than the JTR classic 350 swap? True? Too good to be true?

I swapped from an R180 to an R200 in my 70 Z and reused the front diff mount. So see no reason why an R200 diff mount won't work on an R180. In fact, I didn't know they were different. For butt cheap I like the idea of welding some steel plates between the upper and lower metal pieces. I don't think you will be able to get the cable tight enough to stop all the clunking. Besides, if you have access to a welder the plate method should be a zero cost option. Long term look through the archives for alternate diff mount solutions. The stock unit is truely a bad design. Glad to hear some people can get away with a solid mount. I had one on my Z for 10 minutes and the car was so loud it physically hurt my ears. No exageration.

Bike cable, zip ties and hopefully heavy return springs in case something slips.