Ray

1. yes there is a difference in weight.. 2. Good question we could go on for hours.. 3. there is no real performance advantage in starting with a 280 as it starts out heaver and you would have to remove 500lbs of stuff to get the car back to where you would have started with a 240.... Alot of the differences in weight came from stuff that can be removed from the car... 280's had alot more wiring and under hood accessories, the dash and A/C are heavier, also more sound deadner and interior along with all the sheet metal improvements, the bumpers and shocks ..and as Terry said the weight difference isn't that great once you strip them down.... I prefer the 240 for the small bumpers and the taillights but alot of people are fitting the smaller bumpers to 280's and they look almost identical. It comes down to a mater of preference if you plan on doing a simple conversion the 280's seem to be better as they come with a r200 and more room in the driveshaft tunnel and better A/C. They are also quiter and seem to ride better. If you don't care about noise or heat then 240's are it...If you are doing a full blown caged car and are striping everything then 240's give you a weight advantage from the start. Good luck

The new holdens come with LS1's and t56's the same as what comes in our camaro's If you look arround here there is a LS1 swap that has been done. I have even heard a rumor that the motors, trans and accesory drives all come off the same assembly line, the Holden stuff is just crated and shiped to Austrailia...Any V8 is a great swap just look at the prices in wrecking yards and see what they are willing to do for you.....Good luck

Mercedes are great, The car you have should get 30+ mpg and will run 85 no problem. As for performance the 84's and later had a lousy exhaust, other than that clean the injectors and have the pump worked over and it will go forever 250k is normal before even a valve job. The reason it is a dog out of the hole is to help the drivetrain last forever... MB even does this on the gas cars with throtle tip in. Basicly they delay fuel delivery so the shock on the drivetrain is very minimal.... It may not be a V8 Z but these are great cars, just drive it into the ground

Crome Molly is lighter but it also is very rigid. It doesn't bent well.... the reason most race car builders us mild steel is it bends and absorbs impact in a crash better. Now for the question about heat treating Crome Molly... Most shops only aneel the weld joint after the car is complete due the the weld joints getting brittle. Crome Molly is great stuff for suspension componets and stuff that has to be strong and light, but for roll cages DOM mild steel works great just ask the NASCAR boys that is all they use....

PIX...PIX ...PIX please post some pix....

Mike can you post some other views of the mirrors??? anyone else have pix of different types of mirrors mounted on z cars????????

The trucks didn't get roller cams till 96 same time they got the Vortec heads.... all the TBI motors 88-95 are really the same. they are nothing special.. hyd cams 2 bolt mains and regular thin wall heads... as for 1800$ tell the guy he is smoking crack... down here 1000$ will get you a 98 or 99 vortec with the injection and computer... heck Myron just sold his LT1 on Ebay and didn't get much more than 1500 for it.... Look arround and spend your money wisely... There are alot of good people here and we have all have someone take adavantage of us or try and sell us somthing at a way inflated price... you are doing the right thing ask alot of questions.... learn as much as you can. If you look and know what you are looking at, there are some screaming deals out there but they take time....Make a plan with a budget and then double what you think it will cost for the car and you will be close..... Here is an idea where I am at with my current car and remember I am cheep and make alot of stuff myself and do all my own labor....and I am no where near finished 500$ 72 240Z 250$ glass hood, front spoiler good front bumper 200$ 96 vortec long block 40$ New Mallory dual point, and coil 50$ 750 Holley DP in need of a rebuild 850$ Gm Hot roller cam kit, vortec intake carb rebuild kit, timing chain, 100$ shorten valve guides, machine for pc seals and reasemble the cylinder heads 700$ T5 Trans. with everying and a centerforce clutch 200$ R230 with half shafts.. 250$ 300zx twin turbo wheels and tires... 100$ roll cage tubing... 170$ paint materials, 80$ 2 sets of spare rear hubs and a spare steering rack I am at 3490 and I am still looking for brake stuff, radiator, interior, some CV parts, a good serpintine belt system, another fuze box, some A/C stuff and 20 other things I cant think of right now. Now remember I have done real good on some parts 250 for the tires and wheels was a steal... 250 for the long block was great... I even got a Gm high rise vortec intake for 120$ but you have to look and take time. this took me about 6 months to piece together... BTW on used stuff a good rule of thumb even if it is still in the box is 50% of the new cost.... Good hunting BTW I would pass on the TBI motor for 1800....look for a good carb'd motor for 200$ or 300$ complete...mate it to a 200r4 or a 700r4 and you have a 200+hp combo that gets good milage. IMHO.....

Any thing is possible... An intake could be fabricated real easy, as for the cooling and the accessory drves they should be ok the real problem will be the ignition ... you will have to use a crank trigger and some form of timing computer as the ls1 has no distrubitor to speak of....Elecromotive coil packs maybe....any one else have any ideas ???? oh ls1 heads with a 292 roller cam ...... can you say lots of hp....just have to run race gas.... [ July 15, 2001: Message edited by: Ray ]

The best hidden system I have seen was on a dirt car and had a baby bottle and solenoid glassed into the lood. they used the foward part of the cowl induction type hood for the bottle and solenoid and the hood pins as contact points... the motor ran a little fat on the secondarys to cover it up and was activated by a switch under the throtle pedal.... what is the first thing they remove when they tech a car....the hood.... real slick. I have also seen the systems plumed under the intake and some of the best are hidden in the intake track some where on EFI if you have big enough injectors and a good computer you can mount the nitrous feed anywhere in the intake track ahead of the MAF....... Several of the rice boys down here have the bottles mounted behind the front bumper to hide them and feed the air box...... talk about dangerous but it works....

go to yahoo groups and look up "blowthru" this is a group that uses carbs in blowthrough turbo apps..... lots of info and some really sharp dudes.....

How did you attach the Supra caliper ?????

opps [ June 19, 2001: Message edited by: Ray ]

Make sure you check the bushing in the front pump that the converter rides on... With your previous problem you may have roached it and the seal cant compensate for the excessive movement....also look at the gasket where the front pump is attached..

If I remember correctly the clutch discs are about 25$ reman.. when you rip the friction surface off by side steping the clutch at 5500 rpm... After you get good at it you can pull the trans, scuff the flywheel and pressure plate with a 3m pad on a drill and put it back together in about an hour... Btw the only thing I ever smoked with the 2.8 other than clutchs and tires was the pinion mount...and I beat on it bad... PS. I did break off the reverse gear in another 240 but that was on a bet that I couldn't do a burnout in reverse.. This was after 150' burnout in the forward direction....

looks really good, did you buy the core and do the rest yourself????

Trevor... for exhaust tubing the best way I have found is to pack it with sand and then heat the tube before you bend it... try it that way it shouldn't kink...and if you are careful it will look like a mandrel bend.... Mike... they look to be the same bender... what do the bends look like and what size dies does it come with ??? what size tubing and wall thickness are you using ????

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I am looking at buying one of the pipe benders that Harbor Freight sells and using it to bend roll bar tubing...anyone done this ??? Does it give a clean bend with out colapsing the tubing... All I have ever used it the Greenlee type with the aluminum dies...from what I have read the dies are the wrong size being that they are pipe dies...Pipe is measured on ID and tube on OD... any thoughts....

Im with Jamie lowball um start at 250$..but 400-500 is fair... BTW what other motors do they have.????

The only way I have ever cleaned ones that were that dirty were with a wire wheel with the heads disasembled... if it is really light you may be able to clean it with the motor running and run carb cleaner through it... If there is any real buildup I would pull the heads and clean them... Unless somthing really weird is happening you shouldn't have alot of carbon buildup unless the valve seals are leaking ????? Good luck...

1.75 or 1.625 is standard depending on application... Depending on what you are doing most shops use 0.095 or .120 wall tubing.. DOM is great but alot of roll cages and dirt cars are done with seamed tube. BTW the easiest way I have found to paint a cage is to paint the bars and then weld them in and touch up the weld area... Just food for thought... [ May 29, 2001: Message edited by: Ray ]

I have part of a S&W cage I got from Myron, but have been looking at what Hoover did with his for interior room. I am also looking at using chrome moly tubing in a smaller dia. Maybe 1' .095 anybody seen a cage done like this... Also I am looking for how some of you have done your attaching points for the main hoop..both mounting locations the upper and the seatbelt box...

Have you learned anything more since this post?????

Ya big boys are impressive locomotives.... They just moved the one on display in Omaha none of them still opperating only 7 of the 45 built still exist... If you ever get a chance go see a steam Locomotive in action GO it is an ossume experience. They shake the ground and the power is un real. We have 6k+ hp diesel locomotives and they don't even compare....

Engineers do run trains the others are just book worms .... BTW I come from a Railroad family 13 relatives at last count work or retired the UPRR including me... I understand your frustration with the manuals... Some of the best I have seen come from Toyota...Most of the rest leave somthing to be desired...remember when these cars were designed and built they didn't think that we would still be using them 30 years later either...