Pop N Wood

I literally have had women throw themselves onto the hood of my Z. Good looking blondes too.

Well since no one seems to be ponying up with the exact answers you are looking for I will tell you what I know. First off, the "flat bar" MikeJTR is talking about is just that, a flat bar bolted to the underside of the floor pans. I guess JTR doesn't sell a T56 specific bar because they probably rightly figured that no one was going to send them money for something they could get from Homers or their local steel yard. As for the transmission mount, I have two copies of the JTR manual and neither one has a page 5-11. But I do know you can go on Summitracing.com and search for transmission mounts. Go though their search options until you find one for a manual V8 chevy. They will cross reference it to a 2000 whatever Camaro with V8. You can get a nice energy suspension urethane one for ~$27. Or hit the local Autozone and buy a stock one from a 2000 Camaro with a manual and V8. Finally to drive line angles. IMO unless someone with the exact same set up comes on line to tell you exactly what they did, you will need to wait until you actually get the engine in the car to measure them. If I were you I wouldn't let making the Ron Tyler diff mount hold up your swap. The RT mount will let you lower the front of the diff maybe a half inch before it hits the stock cross member anyway. Just get the engine in there and make the mount later. My guess is you will have enough flexibility in mounting the back of the tranny to do the alignment. 1° is a nice goal, but when you figure how much the back of that diff is going to lift under full throttle I am not sure how much you should worry about it. And even if the alignment isn't perfect, the vibration is more of nusiance than a problem. It is not like you are going to damage anything if it takes you 6 months following the swap to put one in. The stock mount might break, but it is not like anyone has ever driven around with one of those broken before. One other suggestion, go to the FAQ section and look at the thread about using laser pointers to align the diff. Makes the whole process a visual one and very simple.

Phew. And I thought I was going to have to take a loss on it.

Check out this absolutely bitchin radiator relocation http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=114152 Notice the X braces and what looks like a sheet metal support following the contour of the front fenders.

Mas280 has one in his RX7. He has done LS1 and LS2 swaps into Z cars, so you might try asking him. FWIW, externally the LS7 is the same size and shape as the LS2. There are some subtle difference between all the LSx variants, especially in terms of accessory placement. But I don't see why you couldn't use the standard LSx mounting kits on an LS7.

You guys aren't making me feel very good about the prospects of selling the one sitting in my driveway.

I am not sure how anyone can answer this without knowing when you plan to sell. Any time soon? If you are looking at an immediate resell, put carpet back down. Few things boost the resale of a place like fresh paint and carpet. Hardwood or laminate you risk getting less out of it than the cost of putting it in. Basically you just want to put in something that shows well. Also how old and/or upscale is your place? You don't want to put in something that looks out of place. If it is brand new in a yuppie part of town then lead toward the hardwood. If your place is a little older or needs touching up, then new hardwood might make everything else look shoddy in comparison. Is your townhome complex full of young single people or families with young kids? With children it is hard to beat the durability of laminate. What do you think someone in your area would want to see?

http://www.borgeson.com/products.htm I also noticed MikeKZ put in an extra u joint. Might try contacting him. A couple of other guys said speed shops and/or tractor supply companies carry steering shaft U joints. summit carries steering joints and support bearings Shouldn't be hard to figure out how to do it once you have the hardware. Just make sure you solid mount the support bearing. Look at the tech info on the borgenson site.

Damn. Nice unit. Let us know how it welds. Might want to rethink that statement about powering the whole house. 9000 watts is not an overly large generator as far as house loads go. Also unless it has an electronic voltage regulator it could be unsafe to power electronic stuff with. Unless it is specifically rated for computers and such don't use it that way without some type of UPS filter.

I agree with 240hoke. If you are comfortable with the price then go for it. Ebay the hubs and extra bumpers. You mihgt get him down some more if it has been listed for a while. All I was suggesting is you might be able to find a better deal price wise looking for a 280.

That car looks fairly priced for what it is, but you are paying a premium for a bunch of stuff you won't need or can't use. Bumpers are expensive on the 240 cars, as is an uncracked dash. For some reason known only to God himself those ugly ass hubcaps can sell for a lot if they are in good shape. I have personally thrown a set in a dumpster so I guess I have added to their rarity. Being a 240 and especially a 70 adds even more. If you want a V8, then look more towards the cheaper and more plentify 280's or 260's. The 260's are the red headed step child of the Z world, but if you go V8 it won't matter. The 280's are heavier, but they are arguably stonger and usually come with the stronger R200 rear end and stub axles. Happy Hunting.

Not a bad idea actually. I had a gas grill with cast iron burners and they said to do just that to the burners every other year,

Try this link http://centuryperformance.com/fuel.asp Pretty good info, but I think their recomendations on fuel line sizing runs a full size larger than any other place I looked at. I plan on running a Mallory Comp 140 pump. According to the link above, I would need 1/2 supply and return, yet Mallory recommends 3/8 inch line with the pump I mentioned.

I know the F body belt is 3/4 of an inch farther from the block than the vette stuff because I had to solve that problem when I tried to put an F body alternator bracket on my LS2. But in researching alternator placement I read that the truck belt runs even farther out than the F body belt. Is that a truck WP and crank pulley on that engine? Just want to know. Also the carb is one way around the tall truck FI intake. I thought someone once posted the truck intake will not clear a Z hood. BTW, Lason, what carb and jets are you running? I would love to ball park my carb set up before I try to start my engine.

What I wrote came off badly. Like I tried to say, not casting any doubt toward turbomeister and I apologize a thousand times if it came off that way. I simply didn't realize the two sets of threads were related. You have to admit it would have been pretty weird if you had done this now out of the blue.

I know turbomeister is a well respected member here and I am sure he is 100% on the level. But damn it is funny this thread comes up now while there are two very similar threads in the tool shed. Some funky mojo here.

The truck engines are good choices, BUT keep in mind the accessories are wrong for a Z car. you will need to switch to an F car oil pan and intake for sure. Also the routing of the alternator, water pump and PS pump are different and will most likely need to be redone. Truck engines only come with automatics, so if you want a manual you will still have to source all that stuff too. I can tell you first hand that F body accesories are non-existent in the JY's in my area. Getting all that stuff off ebay or from gm direct can get pricey. Just so you know....

MBA's are good for resumes. If you are hiring into a big corporation, the degree is worthwhile simply because none of the other MBA's will want to admit they could have better spent their time doing something else. But if you are going to run your own buisness, then who do you have to suck up to? Real world experience and good trade connections will take you much farther than some yuppie badge of accomplishment. Besides, as a fellow engineer who has had friends go to buisness school following engineering school, I can tell you first hand that you will not find an MBA program challanging. Your math background will quickly make you wonder what all the fuss is about. MBA students are much more concerned with interviews and scoring that next big job than attending class.

Looks like my post crossed blueovalz.

There was a recent thread where someone cut out their top bar. Do a search. The last 3/4 of the thread is him trying to correct the mistake. I think Jon was being kind in how he phrased his answer. Z’s already flex a lot in that area. Ideally you want some type of X arrangement to keep the left and right halves from scissoring up and down. The farther out on the frame rails, the more leverage you will have. I consider both cross pieces structural. If they weren’t then Datsun wouldn't have double lapped the pieces as heavily as they did. The only way I can see to get an X arrangement at the strut towers would be to solid mount the engine making it structural. Even that would be less than ideal. If you look at a picture of a Zed with the front quarters removed, you will see a box structure going along the top of the fenders. Sort of looks like a truss to me. The box structure is tapered and curves towards the front of the car where it attaches to the radiator cross member. That tells me the part was designed to accept loads at the end and not necessarily the middle. One option is to replace the frame rails with heavier steel. This could undoubtedly be make strong enough to prevent the scissors motion, but it will weight more than a structure that uses geometry rather than shear mass for strength.

Do you know what the $1.50 a gallon guy made the ethanol from? It can be made very cheaply if you get a good source of otherwise waste farm products. Orchards with a lot of half rotting fruit is a good example. Even wood can be used to distill alcohol, but the process is very inefficient compared to sugary substances. But one would need a very large and reliable source of waste product to justify investing in a large processing plant. If you look at just how much oil we consume and want to produce enough ethanol to influence the price, then you are forced into some type of large scale production geared specifically towards the ethanol production. This means tractors and fertilizers and bureaucracy etc.

Maybe the people viewing the thread are just like me and only opened it to see if someone listed a good source for body panels. I just need the doglegs myself.

When you get right down to it, all common energy sources are solar power. The only possible exception is nuclear energy. Oil is just processed vegetation. Only real difference between it and ethanol is the distillation process.

Corzette summed up what I was trying to say. May be able to bolt the same motor mounts to the big block, but that doesn't mean the engine will "bolt" into a Zed. I don't have a BBC Z, but I do read about them alot.