Pop N Wood

Actually I am not kidding. I see people going through all the work to fit pipes like this and have wondered just how necessary it is. I was hoping someone would come back with something less anecdotal and more quantitative. Just challenging people’s assumptions to see what I can learn. There is no doubt you risk quality control issues when a weld is used to fill in a gap and I know it is always a good idea to do things in a workman like manner. But I don’t think it is intuitively obvious that a butt weld is less strong, let alone so much weaker as to be unsafe. Start throwing in variables like using the next larger size tubing or adding cross braces at critical joints and one might end up with a cage that is stronger, albeit heavier, than the 100 hour cage. To pass on a story, when in the Navy I watched them cut a 10’ by 20’ hole in the side of a nuclear powered cruiser sitting in drydock. Something like 1†thick HY80 steel. 2 years later, after the ship was floating next to the pier, I watched them try to weld the original piece of steel back in place. The ship had flexed so much that there were 4 to 8 inch gaps and overlaps where the steel plate no longer lined up with the original hole. I then watched a crew of welders spend 2 weeks filling in the 8†gaps with stick welders and electric heaters. They then used these carbon sticks to “air arc†the welds to look like big, fat 3†beads. I took a closer look at the hull and that was not the first time they had done that to this 30 year old ship. If that was good enough for a warship, hard to imagine a cage with some 1†fillet welds becoming a liability rather than a asset.

You might want to take a look at the ad for the LT1 before you start criticizing it. It really isn’t a bad deal when you look at everything that comes with it. Not arguing the performance potential of a 305. My post originally included a suggestion of going to a marina to trade a boat anchor for one. No kidding. But I stand by what I said. You seem to keep missing the word “economicalâ€. It is because no one wants a 305 that makes them such a deal. Also weren’t you the one who suggested going speed density and retuning after every mod? Adding $300-$500 to every bolt on could really add up after awhile.

And what would be unsafe about it?

The high initial buy in of an LS1 simply precludes it from being thought of as economical. It may be the cheapest way to 400 HP at the wheels. But if that is your goal you need to be realistic about a budget. Just the reprogramming being talked about above can run into big bucks for tuning software and a laptop. My suggestion is to install a near stock engine and resist the urge to modify it. A TPI 305 is near perfect for this. People practically give those engines away. Get the car on the road, then start saving money for the hipo engine. How much you can save will tell you what type of engine you can afford. This way you will have a drivable Z while you build the dream engine. All too often engine projects never get out of the dream stage. Don't get caught in a cycle of never getting your Z on the road because you are waiting for something that you will never be able to afford.

You guys are all too fancy. Just butt the squared off pipe to the side of the other and make multiple passes with the MIG. Fills in real good.

Hot damn! That post got me excited! Could almost hear the top gun music in my head picturing those switches getting flipped one after the other.

Show me where I can get an LS2/T56 combo for $4K and I'll buy it. The handful of LS2 complete pull outs I have seen have all sold for closer to $8K.

Getting an insurance company to SELL you a stated value policy is the easy part. Getting one to make good on one seems like a whole nother issue. It has been my experience that insurance companies' questions get a lot more pointed when it is their money and not yours. I would actually like to hear from anyone who actually collected a stated value on a totaled vehicle. I have received insurance settlements on both damaged and one totaled vehicle. But in all those cases it was pretty easy to determine the worth of the vehicle. How much more difficult is it when even apraised values can change from year to year?

I thought Tremec is building the T56 under licenses from Borg Warner? The GTO web sight claims there are some subtle improvements in their later version of theT56 over the F body version. Slightly different gear ratios too.

All of which is why I will only carry liability on my 36 year old car. Trying to argue, "what it is worth" with an insurance company is a losing proposition in my opinion. Couple that with most people's over inflated worth of their own vehicle. Just because you dumped $30K of new parts in your car doesn't make it worth $30K. Jim would be better served getting his Supra money back in the form of chiropractor fees and a pain and suffering settlement. And now will come the hand full of guys who "forced their insurance company to pay what THEIR car was worth"....

Yes, there will be tangential forces on the piston, but you have assumed a frictionless world so they won't matter. Yes, the energy exchange will always be 100% effieicent because without friction there is nowhere else for it to go. Energy is conserved, so as the kinetic energy of the piston is translated back and forth to the rotational energy of the crank, I would think the crank speed would have to speed up and slow down. The RPM should oscillate. The change in RPM will be dependent upon the relative mass of the piston and the crank's polar moment of inertia. Did we finish your homework for you?

Free porn or porn free? As free as the wind blows.

Why does the AZC part have a big hole in the center where the stock piece actually protrudes? There is something scary about aluminum steering knuckles. Hopefully the design has been tested over along period of time. Hard to imagine something like that holding up for 30+ years without elongating the tapered fit holes.

The piston is accelerated by the force of the burning fuel. This not only accelerates the piston/rod, but pushes on the crank arm accelerating it. The piston is then slowed down by the crank arm pushing back on the rod. In the process of being slowed, the energy that was in the moving mass is transfered to the rotating crank. The energy in the moving reciprocating assembly is either converted to torque at the crank or dissipated as heat due to friction.

Try wiping your seats down with a one of those cling free dryer sheet. the chemical in there will discharge the static charge.

Isn't that the Eastwood product Pete Paraska used to seal his tank? The stuff that kept comming lose and stranding him on the side of the road?

You may want to tone down the rehtoric. Part of your problem is some of these guys are thinking several steps ahead of you. Track width is absolutely an issue since that will dictate the length of the half shafts. Your problem isn't angles, it is length. A very good question, but a very questionable assumption.

The bolts have to be stronger than the stock rubber mount it came with. But having said that people (corzette?) have posted picks of metal straps used as diff mounts that snapped with a single launch. The forces are being applied rather abrubtly so static tensile strength can be misleading.

I am about to do an LS1 swap into a 240. My estimated budget is between 7 to 8 thousand right now. That is just the stuff I know about to make the swap. No suspension, brakes, paint and what not. Just engine & T56, mounts, hoses, driveshaft, exhaust, headers, instrumentation, HP Tuner, tank, fuel lines, service manual and an engine hoist. If I believe what everyone says about budgets, this one is on the low side. Once it is running I can worry about budgeting for chassis braces and 36 year old stub axles. Fuel injection definitely adds cost and complexity over a carbed set up. Early (98) LS1's with auto and 97K miles can be had for what you say. A late model F body LS1/T56 combo (2001 or 2002) with reasonably low miles typically run over $4k. http://stores.ebay.com/Fparts_LS1-LS6-LS2-Engines The extra 2 grand for the better engine and T56 seems like money well spent to me. I don't have the luxury of thinking "could probably". I am going to do this so I need to be realistic.

We have had guys run 9's on an R200 and U joints, so don't know that I agree with your basic assumptions. The majority opinion here is R200 with some type of LSD, the CV conversion and at least 280 stub axles (if not Ross's billet stubs). Drums are actually adequate and don't need to be replaced. The one big advantage of rear disks is they keep the wheel with the car should a stub axle fail. Not sure what is hodgepodge about this set up. All Nissan parts. Not sure how Nissan would have done it differently. In fact, add the 240 SX rear disks and you will have exactly what I plan to use with my 71-LS1-T56.

Quit wearing polyester clothes.

That will work. Have seen similar designs. My favorite diff mount option is the one that cuts the stock mount in half putting one part above crossmember and the other half underneath, then fab up some metal extentions so the two pieces bolt together mid way. Sort of a clam shell approach. I'll bet there are over a dozen different approaches to fixing the front diff mount.

Blaming the unions for GM's problems is, without a doubt, a truely short sighted outlook on the problem. A complicated problem to be sure. Kind of hard to say GM is a well run company given all their problems of the last 30+ years. But I guess blaming the union is as good of a way to oversimplify the problem as any. Besides, they only filed for Chapter 11 protection. Doesn't mean they are going out of buisness. Just means they are going to stop paying some debts for awhile. Hopefully the upper management will be once again drawing huge bonuses once they remerge from bankruptcy protection.