jeromio

OKay, well this is good timing then. Whatsyer plan for going from the plastic Camaro fuel pump pickup to the hardlines? I'm planning on getting some fittings brazed onto my fuel rail, so that end's not a problem. But the plastic is obviously not brazable. I know there's gotta be some kind of ferrule type fitting that can link plastic to metal lines. It's just a matter of finding it. My experience thus far with catalogs and websites for fittings is that they assume you know what all the codes and jargon mean - no pics and no detailed descriptions or specific use cases. I have added some more pics and info on the tank install at http://240z.jeromio.com/motorswap/camarotank.html

How about this: Air flowing over the bodywork creates friction which creates heat. Black absorbs heat, white reflects it, right? So the black car is sort of going with the flow, while the white car is fighting it. Or, the black car is better able to dissipate that frictional heat than the white car. I dunno - I did better in Physical Chemistry than Physics and I recall almost nothing of either at this late stage.... How about this, much more compelling argument: A multi colored car with lots of big, garrish sponsorship stickers will go much faster than any kind of plain white or black car since the owner will likely have received lots of dollars and put them towards expensive go-fast parts.

It's not an easy swap. It has all the accessory mounting problems of the LT1 plus a completely different mount position than the 350. AC and Alt: Specialty brackets can be fabbed or purchased (for about $600). Or, do like I did (lots of work) and remove the Datsun mount towers and make your own. Of course you have to make a place to mount those: http://240z.jeromio.com/motorswap/crossmember.html Coolant hoses are pretty much the least of my concerns. Here's what Gary did: Transmount: The JTR transmount can be used. I fabbed completely different one more along the lines of Tim's mount: Some things you forgot to ask : Fuel. you can do as Gary did and follow the directions in the JTR TPI book (sump tank and second pump). I am installing the FBody fuel tank and all of its innards. If I had the bucks, I'd put in a fuel cell, Corvette rail, aftermarket FPR, FPS and pump. That's about $1K worth of stuff though. You don't have to, but you should run new fuel lines. There's also VATS, Rear O2s, etc. You can just mail your PCM to Speartech or any number of other shops to have it reprogrammed though. The Speartech guy frequents the swappers board at ls1tech.com - he's very helpful. Guages are another expensive item. It'll be nice when I'm done, but I really should've just gone with a plain 350 with aftermarket EFI.....

I have my motor sitting about 1/2 inch further forward than LoneStar1's - A/C fittings clear (I put a 280 system in my 240). I had similar issues on the passenger side with the heater fittings. I figured 1/2 inch was not gonna destroy the weight balance - especially since the whole engine is Aluminum. How ya gonna make that 94 LT1 T56 work with the LS1??? The bellhousing and input shaft will have to be changed over, yes? When looking for guages, just get ones that work with 97+ Corvettes and or 98+ FBodies. I recommend VDO. I guess lotsa people use Autometer, but I personally have had huge quality problems with the set in my truck.

$70? I paid $35 for mine. I is an excellent resource put together by a member of this board (company used to be called idealz - think it changed though).

Yes. I am really not looking forward to wrestling with this thing once again so I can further humiliate my trans tunnl to allow for its excessive girth. To top it off, we just got my wife a Contour SVT which has a 5spd and it's killing me to think that when I'm done with this project (well, when it's drivable again that is), her car is potentially gonna be zippier and more fun to drive!! So now I'm on the hunt for an LS1 T56 and some more debt....

If you're only R&R'ing the carts (or adding spacers or whatever), then you only need to disconnect the brake lines and then unbolt the isolator (the three nuts on top of each strut tower). With the car jacked up (duh ), the collars can be loosened (the locking mechanism is typically an orthogonal allen bolt or else another collar tightened against the upper one) and adjusted all the way down (coilovers are soooo cool - who needs spring compressors?). Then you compress the cartridge (takes a little oomph) and splarmp the whole thing out from under the wheel well. In the rear, the shafts will need to be unseated, but that's a minor thing - they just pop out (unless you have an early R180). But ya gotta get those shafts disconnected first or else it's too hard to wrestle with the gas cart and yank the assembly out at the same time. Oh yeah, mark the position of the collars first (another duh - but that's the kind of thing that sucks to forget) or just note the number of threads. Oh, and if the carts have the D style shaft - be careful. The D slot on the isolator can be sloppy allowing for the cart shaft to get loose and spin. Then your only alternative is to vise grip the shaft in which case your cart is toast.

That's way too high for just the engine - especially with that mileage. (BTW, a C5 transmission won't do you any good - it's rearmounted) The guy I bought my LS1 from has another one forsale on ebay right now (username ls1_z28 I think). It's an LS1 with T56 all inclusive. I had a good experience with him. He's in SouthCarolina. Oh, since you're in Texas, check the LS1.com and LS1tech.com parts classifieds. I think there's always at least one engine/trans combo forsale in Texas on those boards at any given moment.

So, you have a 98 or newer, LS1 T56 that you can't use? Wanna sell it?

That's a pretty good deal. Those wheels don't suck. I presume you're hunting for a replacement fender? I think the consensus is that VB is the best thing going as far as fenders and such. You could try ZBarn too. Since you live in SoCalCarHeaven, I'd try pokin around the salvage yards for parts too. (Oh, and what he said was he's putting the 383 from his Impala in the Z. The Impala will get a BB in it instead) Be sure and take care of the frame (fix rust, etc.) before you plop the V8 in it...

Damn. That is a nice truck. I really really like those 69/70 Chevy/GMCs. There's a surprising number of them on the road and they ain't cheap to acquire either. Last I checked it took $5k to pick one up in decent running condition. Really nice ones go for $10-15K. The only real downer is the in cab fuel tank - but that's easily fixed.

Auto parts stores should have the oil flush. I believe the major incompatibility issue is with the oils. Regardless, you'll want to pump the system down to vacuum first and that will obviously clear any residuals. Is this a leaky system that's empty, or is there R12 in it now? That R12 is worth saving - only because it's soooo expensive. If it still has R12 in it, I'd work out something with someone (like a shop) who has the retrieval system. I kick myself for not buying a 5 lb tank of R12 when I could've - "Hrm, $25 - that's like 5 6 packs of good beer." Idiot. That 5lb jug is worth like $500 now....

Thought you was sellin' the bike to get a go kart... How am I supposed to live vicariously now?

I'm planning on gettin me one of them stainless Mac jobbies, so I'm anxious to find out how it sounds. What diameter didja get?

Pipe bender no equal Tubing bender. Tubing tends to imply thin wall which is more kinkable than pipe which is typically much thicker. Stuff like roll bar tubing is sort of in between, but still quite kinkable. In summation, the $99 tool is more than likely a pipe bender (or tubing ruiner) that simply forces a die (arbor) against the pipe which is kept in place by 2 rollers on either side of the bend. No pulling, all crushing (or kinking). For Pipe this is okay since it's real hard (impossible?) to crush. You're way better off using preformed mandrel bent tubes for your exhaust.

What's a mechanical ujoint? I have this same issue with my LS1 swap. I went to my local parts counter and he had to fish around until he finally came up with a hybrid ujoint that fit both the Camaro driveshaft and the Neapco adapter. It was rather pricey - $30. I then went downstairs to the machine shop to ask them how to remove the existing (and no fitting) UJoint. Apparently those little 2hite plastic nipples on there are remnants of the plastic that was injected in there - forms a clip that locks the cup to the collars. So I gotta torch both ends and then hammer that joint out. 'Sgonna be tricky.

Those Crown Vics are based on a 70 year old auto design: Frame, front engine, rear drive, live axle, rear tank, body on top. Modern sedans have the tank under the rear seat, between the 2 axle lines. Much more crash-worthy. I dunno that the hunk of steel behind my tank will keep me from blowing up in a 60mph rear collision - I'd probably get crushed or killed from the impact regardless. It is good for some psychomalogikul reassurance though....

I tried using a spool of Al in my Lincoln. The spool was $7 and I figured it was worth a shot. It would work for about 30 seconds max, usually half a second. I tried different tips and even a larger bore liner. It's just not really feasible to push that soft wire thru. I've only ever bought welding stuff from the local shops.

I gotta tell ya to do a search on this one. There's at least 2 very long, in depth threads on welders. As to your aluminum requirement - forget it. To Mig weld Al, you have to have a special gun that has the wirefeed spool directly on it - and it's pretty expensive. Al wire is very soft and kinks instantly so you can't use it in a regular wiredeef setup. You can hook up the special gun to most any welder though (at least I know there's one that works with the Lincoln weldpaks). You also gotta have Argon for Al, whereas for steel you typical want either straight CO2 or an Argon CO2 mix. It is very uncommon to have one setup for both Al and steel, unless you have carloads of dollars to put into a Tig.

Nope. There's a clip in there that snaps to lock the shaft in place. You have to apply some force to get the shaft in or out.

I messed up my car's weight distribution real good by installing a big heavy chunk of 2X3 tubing behind my tank.

I did consider using hard tubing (steel or plastic) and then a section of neoprene or poly (available at HomeDepot). The bendy parts definately cannot be regular tubing cuz it's tight turns and the tubing would just kink. That fluoro silicon stuff is way out expensive. Hrm. My list of unexpected minor little issues (fill hose, ujoint, pcm location) is growing steadily....

So, I gots that FBody tank all installed - except for the filler (minor detail ). Should I be looking for fluoro-silicon lined, poly, teflon or just rubber....? I gotta have something S shaped. It's pretty tight in there, so I'm thinking it's gonna require some preformed elbows ($$$). Anyone have any ideas, sources, comments? I mightconsider sealing up the old filler and creating a new one that's a straight shot to the tank. It would need to be about 6-8 inches further forward. But I really shouldn't consider that since I need to get this project on the road. I am going to end up adapting something for the filler since the stock filler is like 3 inches wide and the camaro tank inlet is more like 1 inch ID. Also, I know on my truck the S-shaped filler hose creates problems with filling the tank - nozzle has to be just so or else fuel backs up. Ugh, nothing can be simple. Tank fits nicely though.

So, I was gonna put my driveshaft in today since I am starting on the exhaust system. Except that the Camaro driveshaft that I've already had shortened has UJoints that are not compatible with the Neapco adapter. The bearing cups are too big. So, I gotta go depend on the mercy of the parts counter guy to find a funky UJoint. I've done this in the past for my truck, but I hadn't planned on having to do it with the Z. I really hope I don't have to go and buy another shaft and have it shortened. I guess it was dumb to think that the new stuff (98 and up) would be 100% compatible with the old stuff. Arrrggh.

Stock tank requires the spare tire well.