madden87

i bought the car lowered so i don't know what springs are on it. They don't look cut, but the car does sit lower. It has iluminas all the way around. I sag real bad on my launch. I am pushing about 300 whp and I only use this car on the weekends or at the dragstrip. I am looking for some stiffer springs that will raise the ride height back up to almost stock. I don't like scraping on driveways. any suggestions? I have searched the forum, but did not find anything about stiffer stock springs except something about chevette springs. Not so easy to find out where i live. any help would be great

i probably have somewhere around 300hp, maybe. sbc 350 with dart heads and lunati voodoo 268 cam. I have 14 inch wheels with 205x50x14 nitto r1 tires. They are the drag radial tire. I run 12.3 at the track on these tires with a 1.7 60'. I need a better stall because i am not coming close to breaking them loose on the launch. i do leave them on the car while driving around town. they still break loose on the street if i mash it off the like, but if i light them up then launch on the street it is a whole new ball game. granted this is my weekend driver so tire life is not a concern for me. I have had them on about 8 months now and after 7-8 nights at the track and a lot of street burnouts i still have over 80% tread left. They say these tires work better at the launch with less tread so i say for the price you should get them. i purchased mine from discount tire for about $120 each just my $0.02

I know a "noisy or dirty" electrical system will cause problems for optical distributors, but will it have the same effect on hei's? I blew my module at the track a month ago so I replaced it will the accel performance module and the 48000 coil. this is on my hei distributor. i took it to the track once, and i shift at 5800 so that should not be a problem even for the hei so i am told. It worked fine. i drove it on the street for the first time since then over the weekend and i had problems starting the car. no spark. after letting it sit about 30 minutes it was fine. i am not so happy with the accel module right now. I will be upgrading the distributor in the next couple weeks, but wanted to know if the electrical system could be the problem, or just defective parts.

I live in arizona and it is time to smog my car next month. Just looking for some feedback on whether or not it will pass. I am allowed 400 hydrocarbons. I have a sbc 350 with a lunati voodoo 268 cam. it is not real aggresive but there is overlap. do you think I will be able to de-tune it to pass, or is it going to be a shade tree weekend of putting a stock cam back in so I can get another 2 year pass. I would love to hear from someone that was in the same situation to see what works.

I understand that torque is good, but I was under the impression that the z car is light enough that the torque factor is not as critical in an engine build as it would be if it was going into a 3500 car. I have been building my car to spin at about 6800-7200 rpm. I made this choice based on what I have read and seen on this forum. I don't see a lot of 383 stroker motors. I don't question the reason why people build them, but for my set up I will stick with a 355. Thanks for the info

I noticed that those rotating assemblys are for a stroker engine. I wanted to stay with a 355. I am already running out of gear before the end of the track because I have 23" tires and a cam that only goes to 6200rpm. I am replacing the tires with 26.2", but with nitrous I would like to be able to go a little higher than a 383 wants to. Am I correct in this reasoning?

Myfirst pass after the swap was a 13.8. That was on a stock motor with flat top $40 pistons. This motor was so tired that I was floating valves at 1000' and still ran that time. The best thing I changed on my car was the rear end. I went with 3.90 and a phantom grip for a locker. After a new set of heads, holley 750, voodoo cam, and a 3500 stall I ran a 12.3 consistantly last night. Would have been faster, but I have to back off the gas at about 1100' because I did not go with a cam with a higher rpm range. Anything is better than the original engine though. Good luck.

I will be building an engine in a few months. My friend has is helping me, but he is the type that is set in his ways. He is always right so it would be nice to hear a different view. I want an engine that will put me in the low to mid 11's on the motor, but still capable of handling NOS. I currently run 12.3 with a stock bottom end (flat top 4 relief pistons) and dart 200cc iron eagle heads. I have an extra 4 bolt main block to start the project with. I want to start picking up parts over the next month or so. What should I keep my eyes out for?

I will check the voltages. Thanks. As far as vapor lock goes it could happen, but I ran the fuel line on the outside of the frame rails and up the firewall away from the headers. Any ideas on a different way to route them possibly?

I have a summit 140gph fuel pump with a dead head regulator. I set the fuel pressure between 6-7 and it drops after driving for a while. Has anyone else had this problem? What do I need to do to fix it?

I went the cheap way and purchased the accel module and brute thunder coil. I think I paid about $100 for both. I ran a 12.5 before it started popping, a 12.8 20 minutes later, and a 12.3 after replacing the parts mentioned above. I think it was well worth $100. Since then I went from a 2400 stall that seemed worse than stock to a 3500. I will be at the track again this friday to see if I can hit a 12 flat. My previous times were with a 1.94 60' at best.

A friend of mine uses them. Not only has he not had any problems but when he shimmed it wrong on his 14:1 motor and messed it up they gave him a full warranty. I have one sitting on my shelf waiting for the next motor.

I have an HEI distributor and I think I messed it up. A couple weeks ago I went to the track and on my first pass I ran 12.5 with no problems. On my next pass I ran a 12.8 and it sounded like popcorn under my feet (exhaust was removed). I drove it home from the track and it was fine, but when I took it out to test it the next day I found out the problem only occurs at higher rpms. I have been told that the HEI's are not good above 6000 rpm. Is that true. my cam only pulls to 6200 so I don't go that high. Is it possible to upgrade the HEI or do I have to go with a different distributor?

I had tried different brake pads, but I did not notice any difference. I am thinking that the larger calipers require a different mastercylinder, but I don't want to waste the money before confirming that.

I can not hold my car from creeping forward when I am standing on the brakes and giving it gas. My set up is a sbc with a th350 tranny. I only use the car for drag racing. I installed the toyota 4x4 calipers in the front and since then the car will not hold. I use to be able to stand the brakes and light the rears up. Now I just move forward. I understand I changed my caliper volume with this upgrade, but I don't know how to increase my pressure in the front. I just want my front brakes to hold and if anything light the tires up since at the track I will have real sticky slicks on it so that should not be a problem. I am looking for any info to try. thanks.

I finally made it to the track to test some of the new parts I installed. I did not use the 750 carb. When I put it on it had a vacuum leak and of course the local parts store did not carry the gasket kit I needed. I drove it to the track and dropped the exhaust after teching. My first run was 13.06 at 103mph. I was not upset. My shifter cable was out of adjustment so I was launching in second, not first. I fixed that problem and the night got worse. My times were averaging 13.5. I was ready to call it a night because the other cars we brought were also down. I put the exhaust back on and made one more pass. It was 13.8. But with the exhaust back on I noticed the engine did not sound or feel right. I adjusted the carb and advanced the timing and pulled off at 12.94 at 108 mph thru the exhaust with a 2.1 60' time. I still to not have a stall so I bog bad off the line. The last run made me feel better and the parts I added. I will order the stall next week. I am looking at a 3000. I know it is a little big for this car, but the motor will be pulled and rebuild after the first of the year so I am buying the stall for that engine.

For the most part I am guessing. I have never seen all the lifters make noise before so I am asking what to check. Cam lobe lift is .510. Spring are single 1.46 with 120lbs seated at 1.8" and 275lbs open at 1.25". Piston to valve clearance is fine, but as far as everything else I have not meassured them. Lunati said to set the lash at zero and go 1/4 turn so I did that. They also said to use 10-40 oil. I did that. They sound the same. It is fine at idle but about 1500rpm they all clatter. The only other thing Lunati said to try was just let it break in. That did not sound right to me so I am now asking for experienced help. Grumpyvette, everything I have read says you are the guru so what should I try next??? I will list everything that I replaced in this little project: Dart 200cc heads with 64cc chambers. 2.02 and 1.60 valves. Springs are listed above. ProComp hardened pushrods to go with the guideplates. They are standard length. Voodoo 268 cam and their lifters that came in a kit. Victor Jr. intake manifold. I already had 1.52 rocker arms. The pistons are .030 flat tops with 4 valve reliefs. When I changed the oil I drained it into a clean pan to inspect it for and metallic shavings. I did not find anything. I also cut open the oil filter and it was clean as well. The tech at Lunati did not seem like it was anything, but it is not his motor so let me know what I should check next. thanks

My distributor is not advancing correctly at higher rpm's. It is an hei. I really only use this car at the drag strip or around the community to the store and back. What distributor should I look at getting? Right now I shift at about 6400 rpm.

My lifters are making a lot of noise. They are fine at idle, but all of them get very loud after about 1500 rpm. I just installed a flat tappet voodoo cam with their hydraulic lifter kit. The valve springs are 1.46 single springs and I am using 10-40 oil with a zync additive. I followed the instructions for breaking the cam in but they still make noise. Has anyone installed one of these kits? Any advise? I did call Lunati and they recommended setting the valves to zero lash they a 1/4 turn instead of 1/2. I did that and they sound the same.

Thanks for the advice. I was going to stick with the performer rpm originally, but my firiend said to go with the victor jr. because the intake ports on the head almost match the 1205 gasket. The local track is only 35 miles away so I will try to go back to back weekends and let you know which combo worked better. I hope it is the victor jr. so I did not waste my money, but it would be nice to see my friend wrong just one time. I have not seen that yet.

Just an update. I am still waiting for the heads, but I will list what I went with. I ordered the Dart Iron Eagle 200cc heads with 64cc chambers. I went with the Lunati Voodoo 268 cam. I believe the specs on this cam at .050 are 227/ 233 degree which with 1.52 ratio rocker arms gives me at .510 lift. After talking to a tech at Dart he recommended I go with 1.437 springs so I did. My friend rebuild this motor about 5 years ago, but could not remember what pistons he put in it. (I got it for free so I did not care). When we got the heads off I had a nice surprise and found.030 over flat top pistons. Not forged, but not dished either. I have a performer rpm intake, but I did not thing the runners would be sufficient so I ordered the CNC matched Victor Jr. from Summit. I will also ditch the 600cfm holley carb I have on it now and install a 750cfm. I ordered a 1" spacer also. Is it worth the sacrificing bottom end for top end with my set up since my cam only goes to 6200rpm? The initial reason for the performance upgrade was because I had to back off the gas at about 1000 feet because I was floating valves at 5300rpm. I have a 23" tall tire with 3.90 gears. I was done at 94 mph. This new combination should get to about 110-112mph. I will ask for wheels and tires for christmas from the wife. The heads should be here on Tuesday. Sucks that today is Wednesday!!! Any thoughts on my choice of parts? Let me know.

I also have a 260z with a sbc. I used a 24" Lokar cable connected to the stock cable linkage coming out of the firewall for my throttle cable. I had to cut it down about 8", but it works perfect. If you are bending the pedal then there is a lot of binding going on somewhere. I would check the linkage before worrying about the pedal.

The engine is a plain jane sbc 350 with 8.5:1 compression or so. It is stock. The mixture is 50/50. I don't care if these headers rust out. They were cheap and usable until I decide what I really want. The radiator is from JTR. The water pump does work. I have a 180 thermostat in it right now. I do have an aluminum shroud on the radiator with a 16" puller fan. I don't remember the cfm off hand. The fan comes on with the key right now. I have a temperature switch wired up, but the tab was broken in the box when I received it so I have another one on order. I did drive home the other day with the hood on the safety catch and it did run cooler. Let me know if I am leaving anything out.

I am having problems with my engine running hot. I read that this is a common problem with 350 z's, but is there anything that helps bring the temperature down? I wrapped my headers before installing them and purchased the radiator from JTR. Any ideas?

I have seen a lot of people argue the point, but what is the difference between aluminum and iron heads? I understand the weight difference and that you can run a slightly higher compression ratio with aluminum because it displaces heat faster. Is it bad to run aluminum heads on an iron block? Also, since my bottom end is stock would it be a problem running a 49cc head. I don't know what the compression would be, but I would assume it would be on the borderline for a set of cast pistons. Thanks again for all the information.