Pop N Wood

The owner of that tube frame car posts here all the time. I forget what his name is, but he is understandably proud of his car. I would contact him directly since I am sure he will be most helpful. IIRC he did a tube front for the same reason you want to.

Wow. Funny this old thread should pop up. I was going to order my trans today. A few updates. I found that Lakewood bellhousing but thanks for the link. Probably the safe way to go. I also found this unit from Keisler engineering http://www.keislerauto.com/gm/transmissions/bellhousing.asp At $200 including bolts it is probably a little more than your ebay unit, but still not bad. Kiesler quoted me $1800 for the TKO, including the Hurst billet shifter but no output yoke. They also have a $300 hydraulic TOB that they say will work with a stock clutch. Don't want to go through what Mike Kelly did trying to mount an external slave. I am probably going to go with an LS7 clutch (which requires an LS2 flywheel), but didn't realize there would be an issue with the pilot bearing. I will ask Keisler when I order, but let me know what you find out. I know some guy on LS1tech.com posted a picture of a Fortes pilot bearing unit. As for the shifter, even in the farthest back position it looks like the TKO will be maybe 3 1/2 inches shorter than a T56. Qwick240 sent me pics of his shifter location with a T56 and JCI mounts http://album.hybridz.org/data/500/medium/LS1_240Z_at_shop_012.jpg Not too promising. So I decided to copy Mark's mounts, which Marks says works with the JTR headers and puts the T56 at the very back of the stock hole http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=105868 I am hoping this gives me enough room to make the TKO work without bringing up other mounting problems.

Gotta get the weight out over the front handle bars to lighten the down force on the rear wheels. It does look like there is something on the ground. I almost thought frost or ice, that looks like a Ca wall. Maybe grease since he looks like a kitchen worker.

I meant to add that the stock Z radiator is made of brass, a copper-zinc alloy. The cupronickel brake lines John suggested in a different thread is another copper alloy. If you have ever seen an old MG-TC, they used soldered copper pipe as radiator hoses. So not really a new idea. I worked summers in a nuclear power plant that used copper alloy heat exhangers to cool the steam exhaust from the turbine. Copper ions were breaking free from the condenser and weakening the piping containing the reactor coolant. They had a hell of a time replacing the copper-alloy heat exhangers with stainless steel ones because they had to be so much larger. About the only metal that conducts heat better than copper is silver.

Man.

I gave him all the information he needs to answer the question himself. Or at least enough info to learn the right questions to ask. There is no way this thread will ever contain enough info to keep him from having a tough time of it. This thread is lucky to have survived this long.

You need to hit the search function and start reading. The s14 swap has been done multiple times and has been discussed to death. You will even find detailed pics/weblogs. People have talked about the Supra swap, but don't know who has actually done it. The z32 swap has been done in part. The one you didn't mention is the Corvette rear. Once again, has been discussed in detail numerous times. Search

The floors are more than rusty. The floors are completely gone. The driver's side has been patched (and badly I might add) with a flat piece of of sheet metal. No way that thing hasn't been weakened structurally. My guess is there are no underside pics for a reason. As for the rest of the body I would really worry what is under all the recent orange paint. I thought 77's were fuel injected? Probably not a bad car for the right price. BUT, if you are worried about the price of a tow upseting your budget, then you simply do not have enough money to get that thing on the road. The price of the car and a set of tires will eat up your $1000. You will have to deal with that rust issue. And do you have safety inspections in Indiana? Will the car pass without bumpers? Does it just need a fuel pump, or is the tank all sludged up with varnish? You need to look at the car in person and take pics of the key rust areas. Check for bondo too.

Hard to believe you will notice the lost 20 lbs as quickly as you will notice the chassis flex. But hey, looks like you are keeping yourself busy.

Copper conducts heat much much better than aluminum. In that sense it would be good. But I think it might weight more for the same strength, and I don't know if it can be worked as thin as aluminum. Why not solder it?

I can show you some spot rust on my CA 240. The ocean has salt air in cali too. Just need to live little closer to the beach.

Those are the AC mounts, but that little bolt underneath the two bosses is the cross bolt for the front main cap. Looks like the whole front corner of the block would fall away once the front main cap is removed. Why do you feel that is not a very important area of the block? On the LS motors even the oil pan is a stressed, structural member of the block. I assume that damage occured when the car was totaled. That might be the only damage, or it might be the only visible damage. That thing must have been hit hard. The only way I would sink anymore money into a block like that is if I stripped it completely down and had the block sonic checked/magnafluxed (if that is possible with an aluminum block). Just my 2 cents.

Here is everything you need to get started. Especially item #2 http://forums.hybridz.org/announcement.php?f=62&a=2

Where did you guys see it was built on a Fiero? Or just guessing?

ON3GO is having pretty good luck with his Scion.... I couldn't imagine parking some of those cars in the underground parking garages at Crystal City. Daily drivers that are parked in public shouldn't draw too much attention to themselves.

Actually I was more interested in your rethink about the $300 hydraulic set up. So far the only LS to TKO bellhousings I have found are the Keisler and a Lakewood unit. Apparently the old BBC housings fit LS motors with only one misplaced bolt hole. But since I will probably get the tranny from Keisler I might as well get the whole package. I am not too concerned about sourcing an SFI approved unit.

Wile E Coyote. Genuis!

So in hindsight, was the Keisler set up a better way to go? I am looking to put a TKO behind an LS2 crate motor using a $200 Keisler aluminum bellhousing http://www.keislerauto.com/gm/transmissions/bellhousing.asp The $300 they quoted me for a hydraulic release bearing that I know will fit didn't sound so bad to me.

Clean your battery posts. Sounds so simple, my guess is you will go for the more complicated fix instead. But trust me. Clean your battery posts.

Which is why I was talking about torque plates.

I have called on several engine packages in car-part.com (not to be confused with carpart.com or carparts.com). It is basically a listing service for salvage yards to sell to each other, so yes it is up to date. Trouble is most salvage yards want too much for their engines and don't seem to be in any hurry to sell them whole.

In the service I had one buddy with a 280 and another with an RX7. We usually had 3 people in each vehicle. All I can figure is the 280's must be a lot more roomy than 240's. I can clearly remember sitting upright in the back hatch leaning forward. There is no way I could do that in my 240.

I'm in the same boat. Got the engine out of the Z and looking for a new one. Have to move bikes, saws and what not to work on the Z. But I have it good compared to you. From those pics you don't have a prayer. Three suggestions. You may want to try all three 1) Go verticle. Hang **** from the rafters or build shelves that hang from the rafters. I have my air compressor mounted in the roof trusses of my garage. 2) build a new shed and put a lock on it that only you have the key to. 3) Start getting rid of the junk a little bit at a time. You can dump some of it everytime you drive by the dumpster behind the local grocery store. Most of that stuff, especially empty boxes, they will never be missed once it is gone. Trust me. Those obsessive-compulsive types have so much trash they never remember it once it is out of sight.

Just switch to an LSx series motor. They anchor the head bolts into the base of the block and not near the tops of the cylinders. I read one article that says torque plates are not needed nor even useful.