Pop N Wood

I like it. Have lived and worked just south of Baltimore for 12 years now. Before that I lived in LA and Nebraska. Real estate has gotten pretty obscene out this way. But other than that Maryland is a nice state to live in. Good people, good schools (in most areas) and the weather is not too bad. Not as nice as LA but no where as extreme as the midwest. A lot of work in this area too. Not much open space, but boating on the Chesapeake bay is good. For cars less than 25 years old, Maryland has binannual smog checks. Older cars get a treadmill test (worse than LA), but they just check the computer error codes on post 1996 cars. The newer cars have to pass a safety inspection when they are first licensed in the state, but only when they are first licensed. Sort or a revenue generating tactic for the local shops to sell wiper blades and head light alignments to all the newcomers. DC has speeding cameras and red light cameras. The speeding cameras are pretty easy to spot by all the calibration marks they paint on the street. The roads through the district are purposely laid out poorly, I have heard in an effort to encourage mass transit. Overall DC is a pretty miserable place to drive. I worked on the other side of the district for a few years otherwise I would have avoided it as much as possible. The Virginia area surrounding DC is more expensive and has worse traffic problems than Maryland. But they have even more high tech, defense and government related jobs. Overall I think taxes in the two states is about the same. Maryland might be a little higher. I have no idea what the smog laws are like in Virginia.

Not sure about DC or Virginia, but in Maryland cars over 25 years old can get either Hot Rod or Historic plates (only $55 every 2 years) and are not subject to emissions or safety testing. In fact, I tried calling the state smog office and the state police to see what the rules were with old cars and how I could get it certified. They had no idea what I was talking about. DC is virtually a communist state, so I would think they might be more strict. On the upside, they are pretty poorly run so they probably never allocated money for a smog office.

Ask a hunter or fisherman buddy if you can borrow his hand held GPS. Once you know how far off the speedo is it should be a simple matter to get the right cog.

I'll bet that is just what the neighbors were thinking. Blowed up real good. What engine and tire combo?

You seem like your heart is in the right place. I compliment you on your efforts. But at the same time you seem pretty clueless. It is disgusting to see it actually happen, but unfortunately the situation was all too predictable. Welcome to the real world.

You can still take the pieces back and get a new ratchet.

If you right click on the pic above you will see the URL is http://www.race-cars.com/carsales/ford/1076639389/1076639389la.jpg A clue a clue!

We shot a lot of Chinese in the Korean war. Bunches and bunches of them. Russian pilots too. I don't think either of them had a McDonalds back then.

If you want effective welds and are not worried about pretty welds, than the flux core wire will be fine. BUT the problem most guys complain about with the cheaper craftsman welders is they only have 3 or 4 heat settings. They are difficult to get set right for welding sheet metal. You will spend all of your time cursing as you either burn holes in the metal or get cold welds. A better quality machine will make you feel like Jessie James in no time.

Not quite correct. I bolted an R200 in place of the R180 in my 240. The diffs are the same length, but in the real early 240's were simply mounted differently. There are significant differences in the shells. The doors are completely different, including the latch mechanisims. A lot of the suspension parts are different. The 280's had thicker strut tubes, different front hubs, different stub axles, different steering racks. The 280 strut top hats are an inch or two taller than the 240. The 280's have subframe rails that go all the way under the car where as the 240's stop about 2/3 the way back. how much of this will affect you I don't know. I would drop a PM to zcarnut, because I know he has posted extremely detailed lists of the differences between the two cars. You might search through some of his old posts. If you go to the members page, there should be a button that will display every post he has ever made.

You are about where I was a year or so ago. Somehow or the other I have talked myself into believing a new crate motor is the only way to go. I could probably save a lot of money scrounging for deals on used stuff. But all it would take is one bad deal to wipe out whatever money I might have saved. But since I don't work in the auto field, it is not like I see used engine deals all the time. It could be a lot of work for me to find a deal. I know I am being overly paranoid since so many guys successfully build from used engines. 450-500 is not a given on an LS1 motor. If that is your goal, then from what everybody tells me an LS motor is probably the cheapest way to get there. Supposedly LS engines maintain their street manners at 400+ HP better than the earlier generations, so that is one of the huge advantages of the LS motors. But you will spend some serious money converting a 345 HP Fcar motor to those levels. The weight savings on the LS over an LT motor is more like a 100# Most guys keep the stock LT1-LS1 EFI and build on it.

I agree with Paz8. With all the work you did putting in the Corvette suspension an LS motor shoud be a walk in the park. Enouhgh people have done it that there is plenty of help available. goto http://www.brokenkitty.com for a bolt in LSx kit. The JCI kit, combined with JTR headers, should make the LS swap no more difficult than the LT1 swap. Or go to this link http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=105868 if you want to build your own mounts from scratch. With your new firewall this method will give you more flexibility in placing the engine. Do you even have the Datsun crossmember anymore? You will need that for the JTR mounts on the LT1 motor

Yeah, I would. The 240's are worth a good bit more than 280's and the 2+2 lowers the price even more. Straight, rust free bodies are where it is at. But some items on these old cars command a real premium. A new dash for a 240 sells for upwards of $1000 and I have seen bumpers sell for half that.

Most people wouldn't really consider an LT1 "new school". I don't think there is any real advantage to an LT1 over a first gen SBC other than it is a cheap way to get a good performing fuel injection. In fact, LT1's were made for so few years that they don't have the aftermarket support of the first gens. Unless you use stolen parts, a 450 HP engine is not going to be cheap no matter what generation engine you use. And, if your smart, you don't just "add a turbocharger" to a 450 HP motor. A 600 HP forced induction motor is a purpose built machine. You will build it differently than you will a NA motor. The first thing you need to ask yourself is why do you need 450 HP? That is a really strong street machine and will cost some $$ to get there with an LT1 or first gen motor. If you were starting from scratch, then in my opinion the cheapeast way to get there will be with an LS1 motor. But I can tell you right now you will need to double your budget to put a 450 HP LS motor in your car. If I were you I would forget the LT1 motor (unless you really want fuel injection) and concentrate on building up the motor you have. BTW, most garden variety SBC's are less than 300 HP. But even with 200 some HP the car should be pretty fast. If you got an honest 350 HP you might rethink the need for 450 HP.

Boy. Don't know that I agree with that one. Guess I had better call the county inspector back and tell him he shouldn't have approved my sunroom wiring. I am not an electrician, but ground wires are commonly a smaller gauge than the hot/neutral wires. Well, if I look in my main panel, the neutral and ground wires are both solidly connected to the box. Guess the original inspector goofed that one up too. We can forget about anything I said about subpanels since that has no bearing on this discussion. The breaker needs to be matched to the wiring and the receptacle. 30 amps should be fine, so that means 10 guage wire. However, since your outlet is going to be outside, to be completely legal you should use a GFI breaker. And to be really picky since it is going outside through a conduit, you should not use sheathed cable and your ground wire needs to have green insulation (not bare wire) once it exits the dwelling. But my guess is you are not going to want a 30 amp GFI breaker once you see how much those things cost. Plus I think welders can cause those things to accidentially trip. Just get a plain ole 30 amp breaker and 10 guage wire. For your short run you will be fine.

If the only thing that is going to be plugged into the circuit is a single 220V device, then there should be absolutely no current in the ground/neutral wire. All the current should flow through the black and white wires. For a single outlet you only need the two fat wires and one tiny ground. If you are going to put in a subpanel, then you need the "big ole fat" neutral wire. A subpanel feed should have a 3 fat wires (black and red hot wires with a white neutral) and a separate ground wire. You then need to make certain you wire the subpanel so that the neutral and ground wires are NOT connected at the subpanel. That way you can put some 110V outlets in the subpanel, in which case the white neutral wire will carry current.

I'm still kicking around options here. Haven't really decided yet. I was looking at the TKO over the T56 because of strength, gearing and the fact the TKO has both mechanical and electronic speedo hook ups. If you look at the first link I posted, they have a table listing the dimensions and weights of the TKO, T56 and T5's. They also have pop up links showing the dimensions. http://www.fortesparts.com/catalog.cfm?catalogID=2 So the TKO weights 105# where as the T56 weights anywhere from 115# to 130#. For prices, in th elink below a new TKO 600 is $1900. http://www.5speedtransmissions.com/tr-3550.html So not cheap, but about the same as a new, aftermarket T56. The price of a new over used tranny goes up even more when I add a bellhousing, linkage etc. I want a new clutch anyway so that is a push. But from calling a couple of these tranny places, the TKO is a much stronger transmission (rated at 600 ft-lbs of torque). The first link shows the F-car T56's are rated at under 400 ft-lbs. Most of these places have seen numerous failed T56's, but not failed TKO's. So going with the TKO would save me needing to replace my speedo and should give me all the gears I would ever need. Just need to figure out where the shifter will pop out and whether the money I could save isn't worth the risk of buying a used/potentially abused T56.

I am examining some options here and was wondering if anyone has sucessfuly installed a TKO transmission and LSX engine into a Zed? The two big issues I have yet to resolve is where will the shifter come out when using JCI mounts and what type of clutch linkage I would need to use. From what I can tell, it looks like the TKO shifter will be 3.5 inches farther forward than the late F body T56. This link has pop ups which show the T56 and TKO dimensions. http://www.fortesparts.com/catalog.cfm?catalogID=2 The old style Chevy bellhousings are an inch taller than the LSX ones. If all of the above is correct, any ideas if this could be made to work with the JCI monts? I also thought the 240's (which I have) and the 280's have shifter holes that are positioned slightly differently. Anyone notice that with the JCI kits? For clutch linkage, I have gotten everything from just using the LS1 stuff to using the old school SBC mechanical stuff.

Well whatever it is it should be real easy to find once you start unbolting things.

There is a company in Austrailia that sells an ATB type diff for the R200 for half the price of a quaiffe. Can't remember the name so try a search.

Pep Boys has cheap univerisal ones. I got some 1/4 inch 4 lug ones there for cheap. All the only line places (Summit Racing, Jegs, etc) have the more expensive ones.

The studs should be longe enough that you have a couple threads showing once the lug nuts are properly torqued down. what you have now is flat out unsafe. Buy longer studs, or better yet, get a set of 15 inch wheels which do not require spacers.

Very cool. I think one major problem you will have measuring lift is getting the air flow into the engine compartment correct. Zeds have a huge friggin air scoop called a radiator opening that brings in a lot of air and causes significant front end lift. And for drag you will need something that measures how hard the car is being pushed backwards, not lifted.