Pop N Wood

If I were you I would consider the 385 fast burn engine over the ZZ4. Only another 30 HP over the ZZ4, but better heads. Add a cam and roller rockers and you get 430 HP. http://www.sdpc2000.com/catalog/1578/products/2598/Fast-Burn-385-w-LT4-Hot-Cam-Upgrade-High-Performance-Series-Street-and-Strip-Engine.htm In my opinion, the big differnce between the two engines will be price. Pull a used LT1 and you get a complete, fuel injected engine and tranny combo for well under 2 grand. A complete ZZ4 combo might run $7k for just the engine, and that will be carb'd and not FI. http://www.sdpc2000.com/catalog/1578/SDPC-High-Performance-Series-Street-and-Strip-Engines.htm

Thanks for the input. Just trying to get an idea what the market price for such engines are. I have been watching the Bristol place for a year or more now. This is their standard price for such items and they get low mile deals like this all of the time. This aution will most likely end with no bids. Most of them do. Leads me to believe I could probably call them and get a better pick up price. Their 99.7% positive feedback rating, and the fact they have sold thousands of these, makes me believe they are about as safe as any ebay dealer. They do have a pretty complete package. They even include the pedals. The price with an auto is $600 less. They have an 02 Fbody with auto and 39K miles on auction now for BIN of $4200. So it's not like if I let this deal go I will not see another one again. So the $4k qwik240z payed is ball park. Except IIRC you have a Corvette motor which for some reason commands a good bit more. The smart thing for me to do is wait till spring to pick one up. I need to get the Z licensed first, that way the motor swap won't be an issue with the safety inspection. That should keep me busy until after the snows are over. With enough prep work over the winter I wonder if I could get one installed within their 90 warranty period. But having that thing sitting in the garage would be a hell of a motivator....

Looking at this pull out http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/02-Trans-Am-Camaro-LS1-Engine-w-6spd-Transmission-27k_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33615QQitemZ8017219294 Complete 02 F body LS1 with t56, only 27k miles and a buy it now price of $4900. What do you guys think of this deal? The seller is close enough for pickup and is a place I can trust. Seems like all the ones I see any more are on the high side of 4 grand.

Kind of hard to tell by your description. Cracks can obviously be welded or a new section of pipe installed (the solution I would pursue). If not, auto parts places sell pieces you can clamp over the pipe. If that is not an option because it is too close to the hanger or something, they also sell a glue type stuff that is suppose to fix leaks. Never used that so can't say how well that would work. I would also check very carefully the piping closer to the engine. A hit like that could have jamed the piping back into the engine cracking the manifold. The closer to the exhaust ports the crack is, the more likely it is to affect the running of the engine. A crack under the door jamb sounds pretty far back to me. Good luck

Did you actually look at the car, or just talk to the seller? Battery tray area looks to be solid rust. Maybe just a bad pic. For $550 how could you go wrong. But that car looks like a buttload of work. Lots of missing pieces and a lot of the work looks hacked together.

What's the saying? Two great people separated by a common language...

Well I don't have a dog to run away, but in Australian English it is tyres. They talk funny down there. If you are in Orange County, then get ahold of JohnC. He most definately "knows what he is doing" and can make your Z handle like no other.

If I can hijack this thread for a bit, I know you can find vaccum leaks with propane or starter fluid, but how does one track down exhaust leaks like this? Just start torquing bolts?

lt1's with auto's can be had from ebay dismantlers for $1500 to $1700. The 93 versions are less desireable than the 94 and up ones because the ECM is programmed with a chip and not software. I think in 94 they went from speed density to mass air flow (or vice versa). I forget what the difference is, but supposedly the 94 version is better from a modification and tuning. T56 manuals for that engine have to come from the LT1 equiped cars. They are actually more expensive than the LS versions since the LT1 tranny's are more readily back fit in the first generation SBC. $1200 is not a bad asking price for a complete vehicle. Take a look at it and try offering $900.

I have two versions (an older one and a new one) and I won't give up either copy even though I am planning an LS swap....

You might want to read through some old posts on expanding foam. Do a search. There are some drawbacks to foam.

Backfires in the exhaust can be caused by an exhuast leak. Maybe you cracked an exhaust manifold. Also check that you didn't knock a vacumm hose loose.

Back in the 70's when Z's were the hot cars, I personally knew 4 people who had rolled a car, and all 4 of them were driving a Z. One guy had cut the top 10 feet off of a row of 30-foot tall pines. Kelsey Grammer, the guy on Frazier, rolled his Viper .... in his driveway. I think that was just before he went into drug rehab. I had Firestone tires on my Toyota. When all this lawsuit stuff came out, I took a closer look and noticed one of the tires was starting to separate on the inside where it couldn't readily be seen. Not condoning the lotto attitude people have toward lawsuits, but sometimes they have their place if they raise people's awareness or force the manufacturer to admit they really have a problem.

Go to autotrader.com and plug your info into the online calculator. The numbers I got are $3500 to $5700. Pickups hold there resale value better than cars. People like having an old truck for a third vehicle so their price never really drops below a certain value.

Was thinking the same thing. Get a job working as a mechanic while still in school. You could even drop down to a part time class load for a semester of two if need be. You're parents will probably be supportive of this idea if they think the alternative is dropping out altogether. School is not only a place to learn a skill, it also gives you time to figure out what you want to do with your life. Also change your attitude a bit. Instead of the "woe is me" you ought to be thinking how fortunate you are to have all these options. You're life right now is a blank check. You have managed to avoid the dumb mistakes that seal most young men’s futures. You can be anything you want. This choice shouldn’t worry you; it should excite you. One other option, I know a lot of people who were facing such a cross roads who ended up in the military. Gives you a few years to do something different, can give you a good technical background and most importantly gives you a few years to figure out what you really want. I got my engineering degrees after I did a 6-year enlistment so it can be done.

Shorter steering Knuckles should do the same thing: http://www.zcarparts.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=23-4181

California is a big state. Oceans, deserts, mountains, forests just like Oregon, farm fields all through the central part of the state. Get a few miles from the ocean and it is a completely different climate The area most people think of as "California" (LA-San Deigo) has the same leaves on the same trees year round. Not much green either. That is always what struck me when I would go back to the Midwest. Too much concrete and not enough green.

A handheld GPS will give you a better speed reference then anything based on distance. The only trouble is did autometer provide a means of manually adjusting the calibration, or do you have to use there two mile method?

#8 By driving a measured 2 miles http://www.autometer.com/download_instruction/1029A.pdf #3 From the bottom of the forum page HybridZ Statistics Threads: 40,845, Posts: 333,887, Members: 4,675 Welcome to our newest member, mkplnt

A properly done V8 swap will not add any weight. In many cases it will weight less than the L6 you have now. You have violated a couple of the cardinal rules of HybridZ. Read some old posts and see what I mean. You can use the same set of springs and struts with the V8 as the L6. Many guys on this site do just that. The only reason to change the suspension is if your goals for the car change.

Are you some type of dental floss tycoon or something?

Looks like two guys got in a bidding war. Someone should contact the loser and sell them theirs.

Mail him naked pictures of you doing the girlfriend. That ought to push him over the edge so when he gets in your face you can shoot him.

Oh man. Did you see the LED mudflaps on that site?

Search through Mike Kelly's old posts. He had some bad experiences with G force.