80LS1T

Well I used to fix Rams and now I fix Titans. My take on it... Nissan is way more reliable vs a 1500 Ram. You wont be in the shop every other oil change for an oil leak of some kind. Not to mention the Titan's tranny will last a lot longer than a Ram's will. Don't get me wrong Dodge has improved but they are still light years behind Nissan with their trannys! We have seen a few rear ends take out the center section on the Titan's but those are few and far between. Ram is definitely going to be cheaper. But you get what you pay for. You wont have any resale value when you sell it. Both have very similar sized interiors. I think the Titan has a slightly nicer interior. I not a big squeak, rattle, or wind noise person, so I can't be of much help there. Both trucks have tons of power right out of the box(5.7L Dodge vs 5.6L Nissan(Don't bother with the 4.7 in the RAM, it gets the same mileage and you'll be disappointed with the power of the 4.7L)). Both get like 15mpg. Neither engine has really any major problems. Titan definitely gets way less check engine lights. The only time it comes on is when the evaporative emissions vent valve gets stuck open and it sets a P0455(Gross Evap Leak) DTC. They have a TSB for this to install a filter kit so it doesn't get clogged with road deb-re/dirt/bugs again. I love the Dodge Diesels but it sounds like your looking for a 1/2 ton pick up. My vote is Titan!

Not every dealership is getting these cars. The dealership has to buy a special tool kit(IIRC, somewhere around $20K for the kit), a special alignment rack, send at least one tech to school, one manager, one service writer, and some other things but I can't remember. That's the reason we are not getting any in. I know our 2 neighboring dealerships are getting 1 in each and those are sold to the owners. So I doubt those 2 are going for a penny over INVOICE! We had one on order but found out that we needed to do all those special requirements and canceled it. We had to refund the guy that ordered it and told him to go to one of the other 2 dealerships near us. I was pissed to say the least! I have been looking forward to driving this car since it was first announced that it was going into production! HP doesn't make every car go fast...suspension helps a ton! Ask the road racing guys if they would rather have 500HP or a fully adjustable suspension with great tires with only 250HP, I bet all of them pick the suspension! I'm sure it's underrated like every other GTR has been but you can't compare what Nissan's dyno says to what this dyno says! We all know that, only same dyno to same dyno comparison are allowed!! Guy

My mom had a DELL, worst customer service I have ever had to deal with. Computer ran great when it worked but my god if you had to get some technical support......well lets just say I hope you have 2-3 hours on your hands to be transfered and keep saying "what? what did you say? I'm sorry I couldn't understand you..." because your calling India for sure where no one speaks good English and the acents are very very THICK! She now has a HP and it's been good so far and when she does have to call tech support atleast the people she's talking to speak clear english! I also own a HP and I have had great custome support when BEST BUY majorly screwed up my computer while it was still under warrenty. Basically Best Buy said that the parts to fix my computer were on MEGA back order so HP said that I was to get a replacement. So naturally I think cool I get a new HP! Well Best Buy tried to trade me into a Gateway. Well I wanted nothing to do with a Gateway(horrible customer service also IMHO). So I called HP and they thought that was very interesting to say the least! The guy on the phone said "hmm last time I checked HP doesn't own Gateway, so why would we want you to have a Gateway?" I called Best Buy and told them that HP wanted me to send my computer back to HP so that they could fix it and overnight it back to me if it was repairable. At this point Best Buy was like "oh ok we'll see if we can get it back for you". So I called HP and said they Best Buy was going to see if they could get it back from HP's repair center...at this point it got interesting! The guy at HP told me that they have no record of ever recieving it in from Best Buy! After about a week HP called me and told me that it was taken care of and that I could go in and get my new HP! Ha Best Buy take that! Best Buy lost my computer but HP must have called up that Best Buy and got it handled some how. I went in and got my pick of 2 brand new laptops, both of which were upgraded from mine! HEHEHHEHE! Best Buy F'd with the wrong guy! The guy at HP told me that they were going to investigate what happend to my computer and that someone was going to get in some trouble! Guy

I think street car might be a bit of a stretch! LOL I don't see to many street cars with wheelie bars on them! LOL Sweet car none the less! Keep the vids coming and I would really like to see the rest of that last video too! Guy

That 3/8" shouldn't be a problem. I think I have something like 2-3" of extra clearance with my LT1, probably so a conventional distributor can fit back there. Guy

Happy Birthday to Hybridz's craziest movie maker! Guy

Well here's how I would go about finding out if your dealership is cool with mods... Let's say you own a 350Z and want to put an intake and exhaust on it. Take it in for an oil change and once it gets back in the shop, ask the service writer if its ok for you to go back and take a look under your car while it's up in the air. Once your in back by the tech, start asking questions about installing aftermarket accessories. If the tech seems cool with it ask him if he thinks the dealership will frown on these types of mods. If he says "oh god no we don't care, we'll fix anything" then you know your good to go. If he says "ehhh I don't know maybe...?" Then you might want to ask some other techs while your back there about installing mods. You can usually find a "young" tech who is really into cars and wants to do work like this(I'm that guy! LOL). Just try to get buddy buddy with one of the techs and your probably going to be good to go with the dealership. The techs usually know what goes and what doesn't go as far as mods and warranty. And they usually won't go tell there manager that your going to do "X" mod and that they should void your warranty. Guy

Well I have been turning wrenches "professionally" for 5+ years now. I am an ASE Master Tech and have a 2 year Associates Degree in Automotive Technology so I guess you could say I have some expertise in the automotive world. I would like to consider my self as a very good tech with a very good reputation but I always want to know more about cars and how they work. So there I was at work the other day and just thinking to myself if only people knew what really goes on at the dealership when your car is there being maintained or fixed, maybe just maybe they would appreciate what a good dealership does for them. First things first...not all dealerships are money hungry. Sure there are always exceptions to the rule. The first dealership I was at this was not the case. It was a Dodge dealership and for the most part the only thing that mattered was getting the customer to pay. They would oversell flushes and service like it was going out of style. I never really bought into all those services and only recommended what was really needed. The Nissan dealership that I am at now is just the opposite. We only recommend what the factory recommends for service/maintenance items. If any fluids look bad we test them if we can before we recommend service. This is the way it should be done. Tune-ups are done when the factory recommends it, not when we feel like it. Everyone seems to think that you can't bring your car to a dealership if it's been modified in anyway for fear of the warranty being voided. When I worked at Dodge this was not the case. We did not care what was done to the car. If you brought your Dodge 2500 Diesel in with a fuel/timing controller on it and the engine was blown, guess what...you got a new engine. It was money in the dealerships pocket so why do they care? Sure we would have made more money if the customer was paying but they probably would have just taken it down to "Joe's Fix It Shop" and had it done for less that we would have done it for. At the Nissan dealership I work at now we don't care either. Bring in your 350Z with a turbo on it. Check engine lights on for a failed O2 sensor, we wont say the turbo caused it, we'll just replace it. There are dealerships out there at will void your warranty but you should be able to figure out if the dealership your taking your car to one of them or not. Usually, the no pressure to buy stuff service writers are the ones would just don't care whats been done to your car. The one's who try to sell you everything under the sun while your in their shop service writers are the one's who are going to void your warranty, they only car about $$$! Not all mechanics are hacks. I have worked with my fair share of good and great mechanics. Then there are those hacks. I would say that 1 out of 3 mechancis is a hack. Guys who only care about what a job pays and how fast they can do are the ones who take short cuts where they shouldn't. This isn't the guy you want fixing anything on your car(especially if its electrical). The guys who are willing to take that extra 2 minutes to do the job right and not have the come back are the guys who you want working on your car. Sure those 2 minutes add up over a pay period but who cares, at least the car isn't coming back for something you should have done right the first time. The mechanic that will go for a ride with you so that you can show him what's wrong with your car is also someone you want fixing your car. I have worked with guys that refuse to ride with customers. These guys are lazy and just want to throw parts at your car until it's fixed. When a service writer tells you that we can not verify your concern it's not because we don't care, it's because your car either isn't doing what you said it was doing or we can not duplicate the concern. If your concern is really bothering you, go for a ride with the tech to show him what to do to make it do what your complaining about. This works out for everyone. Now for my do's and dont's list!! Do's.... *Do drop your car off if your have problems that may be hard to diagnose. If you wait around for it to be fixed the mechanic will be rushed to find the problem and it may not get fixed right. *Do show up on time. not early and not late...ON TIME. This is a huge problem. When you show up 30 minutes early/late you are taking time away from someone else's vehicle. I know you wouldn't want your vehicles time to be diagnosed to be rushed because someone else couldn't make their appointment on time! *Do bring small gifts. If you have some major working being done don't be afraid to bring in a box of cookies, no I'm not joking. I can't tell you how much of a difference this small gesture does for me as a tech and for the service writer. I know I think to myself, "wow that was nice, I really going to go the extra mile for this guy to make sure everything is in tip-top shape for this repair/service" When you do stuff like this it really puts a mental note in the service writers head to make sure that your car gets handled with extra care because you are showing him that your a nice guy/gal. Trust me on this! Donts.... *Don't assume that getting your oil changed at a dealership is too expensive. You really get what you pay for. When you take it to a dealership you get someone who works on your make/model every day, we know what goes wrong with your car pretty often and usually can alert you before it becomes a bigger problem. We also don't use aftermarket oil filters, only factory filters. *Don't bring your car in on a weekend. There are usually young inexperienced lube techs working. They are usually underpaid and really could care less about your car. This is when oil is not put in cars and when lug nuts are not tightened. Not only that but who really wants to be at work on Saturday? *Don't bring your attitude. This does nothing for you. You will piss off the service writer who in turn tells the tech who in turn does a half as job on your car. Case in point we had a customer who every time he had his car service he would say we wrecked something. We never did but he would find a small scratch or normal wear and tear on something and blame it on us. After replacing parts on his truck a few times we finally pulled the plug on his little parade and now we refuse to do warranty or maintance work on his vehicle. I'm not saying don't complain, just that if your going to don't raise your voice and swear. This will not get you anywhere. Talk it over with the service writer or service manager and get it handle like 2 adults. Not only does this usually work but next time you come it we won't think of you a an A-Hole! You know the old saying "you catch more bee's with honey than vinegar!" couldn't be more true! *Don't be the last appointment for the day. If they close at 5:00PM and your appointment is at 4:30pm, chances are that your car will be rushed because most guys want to get out of work on time. If you can't make until then because of work, schedule your car to be dropped off early in the day and have a shuttle come pick you up from work. Most dealerships have a shuttle service and it's free! Drop your car off before work and get a ride from the shuttle service and have them come pick you up after work. This greatly improves your likely hood of your car's work done properly. Nobody likes to be rushed! *Don't be afraid to ask questions about what is being done to your car. If you don't understand something the service writer is telling you ask more questions and have them "dumb it down" if they have to! They are there to answer questions, it's their job! That's all I can think of right now, but other tech's please feel free to chime in on more "dos and donts" Guy:biggrin:

Who did the wiring for the harness? The PCM provides power to the fuel pump relay not ground. When I wired up my car this past winter I assumed that the PCM provided ground and wired it accordingly. This did not work as you could have guessed. Make sure you have power going to pin 85 while cranking and pin 86 should be ground all the time. It sounds like your pins 30 and 87 are good since it does prime up. My LT1 stock harness did not have the oil pressure switch hooked up to the fuel pump wiring and I did not do anything to the harness to bypass it. I am not using that sensor/switch and mine starts. Do you have any codes? I just had some issues with my LT1 not starting too. I thought it was an ignition control module but it turned out to be a bad connection at my opticrap. After reading some trouble shooting guides on "alldata" I found that if your throwing a code 16 your fuel pump and injectors will not work. My fuel pump did prime but I was not getting an RPM signal to my PCM so I had no spark. I ended up cleaning up my connection and packing it with dielectric grease and my problem was gone. While I was trying to get that connector off of the opticrap my fuel pump was turning on and off. Make sure your getting a RPM signal to your PCM or it wont turn the fuel pump on. One more thing, make sure you have the correct opticrap connector. There are 2 versions a long and a short one. If you have a 95' opticrap it should have the long one(about 4" long). Guy

Hehehehe glad I could be of service!

I remember selling you that "ZX tranny mount" ...I can't believe it doesn't fit? It came with the V8 mounting kit I bought from MSA? I guess you figured it out though! Good to see some progress! Guy

We have one of those at our dealership. We use it to haul garbage out. It really does go pretty darn fast. Way faster than a golf cart! I bet it does 24mph easy. I think you'll be surprised at how fast it goes. As far as I know they are street legal as is. They have blinkers, head lights, tail lights, horn, a wiper, and seat belts! Would I drive it around on the streets, maybe in a small community but definitely not in a decent sized town...too many dumb drivers not paying attention! Guy

Well atleast the next guy will have a nice running engine! Are you going to drive it for a while this summer before letting it go? How rusty is it? I know I'm ready for these shitty roads to clear so I can get my car out! Guy

I really doubt a "glass shop" is going to do all those mods for you. Your better off finding a custom car builder and seeing what they will charge to make the modifications. What are you expecting to pay for this "operation"? Guy

Probably not for atleast 2-3 weeks till its out driving again. Roads are a mess still. We had more snow this year than we probably have had in the last 10 years so the roads are just caked in salt. There have been a few nice days though already so I'm just itching to get it out! Driving a 4 door Dodge Stratus sucks! LOL Guy

No the roads are still salty here in this lovely state of Wisconsin! Man I hate winter! Of course if I didn't have a 4 month break from driving my car I would probably never get anything done.... Guy

Well I am finally coming to an end with my winter projects! I rewired the whole car(minus the engine harness), just finishing up my nitrous kit, and installed a new sounds system. The nitrous kit is made by "Dyno Tune". They have become very popular over on the F-Body sites because they are good quality and don't cost near as much as say a Zex or "NOS" kit does. Not mention there customer service is great! My system includes the nitrous kit(capable of 150HP with the supplied solenoids), bottle warmer with pressure activated switch, fuel pressure cut switch, dual purge kit, "Dyno Tune 4 way switch center"(it has my opener, heater, N20 arm and purge button all on one switch panel which is mounted in my a-pillar pod), blow down tube, and a window switch. I also added an MSD retard box, which will only retard when the system is armed. (By the way the bottle is not flat, it just looks that way in the picture. It's about 2-3" higher in the front) I also made a 3 gauge A-Pillar. It is housing my fuel pressure and nitrous pressure gauges along with my switch center for the nitrous. It turned out pretty good but I will probably take it back down next winter to touch up a few spots that didn't turn out the best. I just copied what Yasin did (http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=113339&highlight=a-pillar). Now last but not least I installed a new sound system. I had an old CD player in there that had an orange lite face and it just didn't match up with anything. So I bought new front speakers( big ol' 4 inchers! LOL) and new rear speakers (6"), a new Pioneer CD player with a blue lite face and MP3 auxiliary port, 2 10" subs(wanted 8's but couldn't find any in my price range and plus these 10's are almost the same color as my car!) and then I bought 1 800W amp to power them. The box that the subs are in is on the small size(.65' per sub) but I preffer it that way. I just wanted a little more "bump" nothing too crazy. Guy:biggrin:

If you want a bigger cam don't bother with LT4 HC, there are better out there that will make more power and still have great driveability. I know I wish I would have gone with something a little bigger. Nice to see another V8 280ZX on the road, even better that its an LT1! LOL! Guy