Ray

I used plastic polish on the outside. The inside I used the stuff they use in the shop here at work to clean the soot off the locomotives (BioDyne by Bowman Dist.)... Just laid them flat took the baulbs out and poured it in and let it sit. The stuff is like really strong castrol super clean (IE dont inhale...). My drivers side took a couple of times to get it clean... Make sure the stuff you use doesn't damage plastic...Good luck ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal. [This message has been edited by Ray (edited March 22, 2001).]

I agree with the other guys here the cam is to mild for the heads and the lower end, if you are building that much of a lower let it rev. If you are going to spend that kind of money why not build a Honda rod motor. Alot of the drag and sprint car guys are building them. What they use is the smaller honda rod bearing size on a chevy style crank. lighter rotating assembly and stronger rods... The drag guys are spinning the motors over 9k and the sprint car guys are loading them real hard in the 7 to 8k range. The cranks run about 1600 and the rods 700 to 800. All the other stuff is the same. They rev really fast !! You are in the heart of Nascar, you should be able to find a couple of different engine builders that have built a few and know about them. The Sprint car guys came up with it so I would start there. Since this is a relatively new combo ask alot of questions of alot of people.... Good luck ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal. [This message has been edited by Ray (edited March 22, 2001).] [This message has been edited by Ray (edited March 22, 2001).]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!Volvo wagon !!!!!!!!!!! It must have all the liberal bumper stickers and two baby seats in the back and a blown LT1 under the hood.... I don't suffer from insanity I enjoy it.... ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

Hey John do you have any pix of the interior I was wondering what the prelude seats look like in there ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

Depends on what you are going to do. The early motors 87-89 all have forged pistons. They are real popular here in Houston. Alot of the Mustang guys take the stock short block, rering, chang the cam, put good heads on them and spray them. They seem to last and put out alot of HP. If you are looking for good flowing heads the later explorers have GT40x heads but cast pistons.... Look arround 5.0's are everywhere and the stock parts are really cheep. 100 to 300 down here will get you a really good long block... ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

I'm with Ron on the 4 link. Mono leafs work great on dirt and asphalt roundy round cars but I have never seen one on a drag car??? A few of the guys I work with have back halfed comp cars. I will ask arround and see who is doing there work...doesn't hurt to get a second opinion... BTW.. do you know of a good body shop in Conroe?????? ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

I have seen 2 z's here in Houston with LT1's and A/C in them and both had the passengers side frame rail sectioned about 3" and a peice of metal put in at a 45 and then boxed. It actually looked ok. Now remember this is forward of the crossmember and not really taking any force except the swaybar. As for moving the compressor good luck. You may want to try using the bracketry off a late model pickup. They use a gear driven water pump and mount the compressor up high...

In 90 or 91 I saw a Trans am that Herb and Matt Adams built that had a turbo 6 and a ZF6 out of a vette. They were trying to get an exemption to run it in production classes in SCCA.... ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

That is good news.... think if you had kept driving it....look at one and two they are usually the first to go dry... good luck.. Just a thought.... I have had good and bad luck welding pickups.. If you get an aftermarket pickup they are thick enough usually to TIG no problem.. but on the stock pickups I have found that JB Weld works best. They tend to be to thin and when you weld them if you arn't careful the heat will weeken them enough to cause them to crack and break later on...Never braized one though.. ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

The 700r4 has a square trans pan the 200r4 has a odd shaped pan... most trans rebuilder sites have a chart... ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

I will say this again take a look at the Vortec heads they flow as good as the RPM's up to .500 lift and are only 219 each assembled !!!(no core charge either) from Scroggin and Dickey. They still have the GM copy of the Performer RPM as a takeoff for 129. So for 567+ shipping you get 2 new heads and an intake.... take a look at the Sallee chevy site for the flow numbers and compare it to the others.... its cheep and a good head.... BTW if you are looking at the RPM's look at the Fast Burn heads they are great up to .600 lift and have a very efficent combustion chamber...and are arround the same price... The more you know the better off you are and the less it will cost for the same performance....... ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

You could take a 2 inch cowl like and modify the front to look like the 67 427 hood with out the spear in the middle... similar to the ZL-1 camaro the GM race shop did a couple of years back.... just a thought... I am staying with a simple 2 inch cowl hood its easy.... ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

Just for piece of mind you might want to pull the pan and check the bearings if you are putting it on a lift.. While you have the pan off look arround and cut the oil filter apart, this may give you more to go on is it is somthing weird... One thing I didn't ask was has your oil pressure changed any??? As for the piston if only the pin moved and the whole piston hasn't cracked the oil rings will still be in tack and doing there job... Everyone has brought up some good points, I agree do some basic trouble shooting before you tear into the motor. Let us know what you find??? BTW In the mid 80's I saw quite a few 302 Ford truck motors with this problem.. They would knock bad with a load on them but ran fine and had no other visable problems. When we pulled them down the only real problem we found was the piston pin boss was hammered and had alot of clearence. Ford even had a service buliten out about a bad batch of pistons in 302's... these motors all had medium to low miles most of them we just honed and put new pistons in...FYI ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

Having worked in Elko I understand your problem... Have you tried Salt Lake??? The other option is Reno, or Winnemucca. I know that this isn't what you want to hear but you may have better luck there also don't forget Ogden UT. If you find one in a larger city is will most always be cheeper, more compitition between yards and you can play one aginst the other.. There isn't much in Elko... As for the 400 mopar it is a big block and I know it weighs more and is alot wider, but look arround even a free 318 will get you started with the motor mts and placement.... Good luck Ray ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

Rick it actually sounds like a collapsed piston... rods usually knock at idle more beause of the lower oil pressure. If you caught it early enough where it didn't score the cylinder you may be able to just hone it a little and throw a new piston in... Does your motor have cast pistons??? If so you found the weak one.... Have you isolated which cylinder it is??? This may be cheap to fix.... ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

I was looking at having the shafts that came with my r230 shortened and resplined and use the 280zx turbo outer cv, and that way not have to fab an adapter plate.. are the outer cv's on the 280zxt normal splined CV's ????? Has anyone thought of this?? Mark what did the shafts you had made cost??? Thanks Ray ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

When I did the 14bolt in my blazer I left it out about an inch and a half, but this is with a long yoke, with a normal yoke they say one inch is ok.. if you get out to far you will have a vibration problem... ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

Where is it I searched to r230 in a 240z and found nothing....

Talk to the TPI guys, most of them use smaller heads to maximize the ram effect of the TPI. I have heard of cases where porting the heads or using large port heads on TPI actually hurt performance.. but check with the experts, TPI has been out almost 15 years and alot of different combos have been used, When I had my Camaro I rode in several different TPI cars the best ones seem to use 383 or 400's with small 190cc heads and ported or aftermarket TPI units and big injetors. They all peaked at about 5k RPM. If you want 400hp and to use large or ported heads you may be better off buying a mini ram or building one out of an old tunnel ram...Look at some of the crate motors that are fuel injected and what some of the aftermarket guys have done most of them are more than willing to send you a spec sheet and a parts list. Most of them have done all the Dyno work and spent money to build a combination that works and the information is usually free...All you have to do is copy it... Take a look at the Scroggin and Dicky and the other dealers with a web site. They almost all do motor work and build motors for people and then Dyno them. If you poke them for the info they will give you the specs on what they have built and can build. Some of them will even fax or email you the Dyno printouts... BTW if you do get a chip burner let me know I am going to need a chip done done for my Blazer when I swap the TPI on to it, ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

yes the motor is fuel injected in the factory configuration, but the way most of us are using it is with a carb. The reason for this was that the injection system that comes on the late model pickups is very difficult to modify for High Performance due to its design...But as I stated earlier compare the two motors and then use the parts from the production motor to basicly build a crate motor. Lot cheeper and easier. Also all you really nead is the long block out of the pickup and nothing else. This should run you about 300 to 500$ for the assembly at most wrecking yards.. I have been quoted as high as 1500$ by some smoke wrencher but look arround. There are so many of these motors some one will sell you one without the injection, just make sure that you get the intake bolts(they are special!!) ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

Take a look at the Rebuild/ buildup thread.. We are working on the crate motor thing with alot of good opinions.... ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

Sorry I missed the TPI thing, Datsuns are light cars and TPI was designed to make Torque down low to move the 3500+lbs camaros and vetts... Will is right about the 350hp for a stock TPI and that is for a speed density with 22lb injectors.. To do it properly you would have to convert to a mini ram and get bigger injectors and the eprom flashed...Remember if you have ever driven a stock TPI car they fall on there face at about 4800rpm that is where the length of the runners limit the Hp. Now poeple have played with the runners and the base to improve it but you still have the same basic design and there lies the problem. As for the vortecs the intake is different and the ports are about 1/8 of an inch higher than a TPI manifold.. So to make them work with it you would have to redrill the bolt holes in the vortec head where the manifold attaches and then deal with the port alignment. It has been done by other people with some success but probibly isn't worth it. ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

What does it weigh???? nice sleaper ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

Look at the Sallee site for the head flow figures, the Vortec head flows almost as much as the Dart Sportsmans.... And yes they will work up to 400hp with little more than a spring change. The only problem is they don't take well to porting, mild cleanup ok but you will actually hurt the flow with a full on porting job.. and at 219 each (Scroggin and Dickey) they are a steal.... BTW 400hp in a 2500lb Datsun will run 11.'s and be very streetable... a 300hp motor with a 125hp spray kit will idle like a stocker and still run 11.'s (AKA RickB) name another car besides the Viper that can do that and be driven everyday.... ------------------ Remember it is only a piece of metal.

Really sticky tires the kind my Dad used to hate, cause if back out of the driveway with them on it leaves black marks in the concrete !!!!!!