jeromio

I got a 99 camaro console for my car - stole the idea from LoneStar1. I did a trial fit. It's a sconch wide, but it looks like it'll fit right in there. I'm also using the shifter, so, it may have to be trimmed in order to fit fore/aft correctly. I think for the shifter, I may need to cut a big hole in the tunnel. For the actual console, I plan to just drill holes and get some long screws. BTW, guys on LS1.com and some other camaro boards are always either selling stuff offa parts cars or their own cars after they wreck them. That's how I got mine.

KeeRyced man. $250 each? Damn. Thass 5 hunnert for the both seats. How about Simpson (http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=1874&prmenbr=361)? Or this one http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=3064',650,505,'SIM29061BK ? Or this Camlock one http://www.simpsonracing.com/Shop/ShowProduct.asp?category=33&product=83 which is still high, but not as high. I presume I want bolt in vs. clip in, yes?

Alright, well, I seem to have prematurely forced this issue upon myself. Welding up the new floor rail I seem to have caught my existing seatbelt on fire . So, here's my quandary. Whenever (if-ever?) I get this car done, I plan to drive it alot. I also plan to try and track it as often as I can afford the track fees. So, does anyone have any insight into racing harnesses that are fairly easy to get in and out of? I really don't want to have 2 different seatbelts - daily use/track use. Do I need to look for specific "stamp of approval" on the belts - like FIA, or SCCA or something? A friend of mine used to have a Datsun roadster which had the 5 point belts. Those were a major pain in the ass. Had to like, grab all the belts up and then sort of assemble them together at the latch each time. Ugh. This project is a death spiral. Now that I have to do harnesses now, that means I have to do the rollbar now so I can have something to attach them to. . . . .

You should try posting this question on the Conversions board over at LS1tech.com. Power steering delete should be no problem - I'm certainly not using it on mine. Just measure the belt with a piece of rope and get that length from a parts store. None of the other accessory brackets from a Camaro will work unless you remove the Datsun motor mount towers. You'll have to either fabricate some high mount brackets or buy aftermarket units ($$$). I get the impression that the driveshafts are different since the guys doing a4/t56 swaps seem to swap shafts too. The ECU does have different programming, but I suspect that you can use a T56 with an A4 ECU - it'll just complain and throw SES codes. You're lucky that you're in Texas since there seem to be alot of LS1 tuners there - esp. in Houston. You can just get one of them to LS1Edit your ECU for the trans difference along with all the other stuff - VATS, O2s, VSS calibration, etc. They typically charge $150 or so. Other things to grab? I'd see about cutting the ECU mount off the car. I'm currently scratching my head on how to mount mine. Also, I don't have the diagnostic port and I wish I did. I'm using the tank and all it's goodies with my car since they plug right into the ECU. Tank seems to fit pretty well in the Z (with no tire well of course). I'd grab all the relays and their harnesses too. That'll make it easier. I'm gonna have to go back and get those myself. Can't think of anything else. I think the radiator is too wide. A/C condensor and hoses - get those. Oh, I'm copying LoneStar1 and using the Camaro console. Has a nice compartment and 2 cupholders !

I could be talking out my hoohaw but I'd say the LS1 is alot lighter than a 350. It's certainly lighter than the L28 I pulled out. As to the issues with the swap, the wiring is not the issue. There's plenty of aftermarket options if you have the bucks (Painless or Speartech). There's a full on shop manual available on CDROM. There's lots of aftermarket parts for, for instance, simulating 2ndary O2s, MAFT, VAT, VSS, etc. Me, I'm just going all stock FBody stuff with a BDM and ignition key for the VATS and a FBody fuel system. Now, that's not to even begin to say this is an easy swap. It's not. It is oh so not. There ain't no JTR. And the accessories conflict with the Datsun mount towers. So you either have to ditch those, or fab or buy accessory mounts. That said, the LS1 is really a great motor with tremendous aftermarket support and a really amazing EFI ECU system with an available laptop programmability option. LoneStar1 bolted his in place, and with no mods (as far as I know) except for a nice free flowing K&N and exhaust, he's dyno'd at 300RWHP. That is not sucky.

CV half shafts from an 87 or 88 300ZX will not work - Too long. The 280ZX turbo CV half shafts will work with either a RossC adapter flange or the ZXturbo's flange. I have the latter setup on my car. 240ZTwinTurbo (James Thaggard) has info on building shafts from 88 300ZX turbo Limitied edition CVs and AMC Eagle CVs and shafts for use with the VLSD also. Those Eagle shafts can be hard to come by though. For the plain shafts with U joints, ask the part counter guy for joints without the grease fitting. These are solid (as opposed to hollow) and therefore stronger.

Well crap. I took apart the 3.54 and it's rusty inside. Lacking goodness. So, it's the 4.11 for now. I may as well start looking for deals on tires....

A quick Search: http://www.hybridz.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=001330

I posed this question a few weeks ago - I don't think anyone here knows of or has found anything. I tried a fairly extensive search (by hand) of the various CAD/3DS/Lightwave, etc. mesh sites and turned up nothing on Z cars. Found a surprising number of Toyota 2000GTs though. Anyway, there is a void. Perhaps you could fill it? I'd be glad to test out any meshes you come up with

The detailed discussions of brakes, suspension and chassis upgrades is what first drew me to this board. In my experience, the Chevy (and the Ford and other engine) forums here tend to have alot more information on general engine performance/upgrade/troubleshooting than they do about the actual swap. Way more. And especially in the early days (before we had all the instant buy-a-kit type options from people like MikeSCCA and RossC and others), the Brakes/suspension forum was easily the most active. For my car, I did all the suspension and brake stuff first. I didn't feel that either system was adequate for even the plain ol' carbed L28 in stock form.

Okay, so, in routing the fuel lines, etc., I've basically removed my diff which is a 4.11. Right now I'm thinking that I may as well go ahead and switch to the 3.54. I can prolly also get some dollars for that 4.11 too (make the wife happy, or at least, less upset ). But will I have regrets? My original plan was to try out the 4.11 and then switch. I know alot of these FBody guys with LS1s swap to 4.10 gear sets as a performance upgrade. But then their cars are quite alot heavier. LoneStar1 runs a 3.36 and he seems pretty happy (although he posted a story ahile back about a Z06 lookalike outrunning him ) I'm torn. Thirdly, I know that hte 4.11 is problem free, whereas the 3.54 is a mystery - never had it on my car (got it offa parts car).

I'm pretty happy with my DeWalt. But, if I were to buy one now, I'd buy the PorterCable (they didn't have one when I bought mine). They have one that has the quick release, high amp motor and it's reasonably priced. Milwakee is always a good bet (if you can afford it - tend to be more expensive). Oh, and this may be a stupid comment, but it almost sounded like you were suggesting porting the flange before welding the tubes on. That may not work so well. Ideally, you have the tubes running inside the flange, such that they actually mate to the head ports. Obviously you can just weld the tubes to the outside of the flange (provided the flange has relatively small, head sized ports). But by the time you weld the tubes on, you'd have to re-port the header anyway. Also, with Chevy headers, since those inner tubes are real close together, it's harder to do the welding on the outside. Also also, the weld beads on the outside may interfere with the flange bolts. Here's another stupid comment (but better safe than sorry)- the flange needs to be bolted to like a steel I-beam or something (maybe an old head) when you weld on the tubes. Warpage sucks. I just re-read that and it sorta sounds like I'm bein a know-it-all dork-butt, but, like I said, better safe than sorry.

I've done this before on a different project. The simplest thing to do is to cutt off the flange, trim the ends of the pipes (angled so it moves the collector where you want it), then weld it back on. You can sawzall the thing off, leaving a cm or so of metal (on the top in this case) to then play around with optimizing the angle. Then measure it, cut, trim to that angle, weld it back on. You obviously have to have the thing re-coated (if it was coated to begin with). Your pipes will end up being about 3/8 to 1/2 inch shorter, but that usually isn't a problem.

I posted motor and trans on ZCar.com classifieds. Got a lotta flakes, but I did end up selling it for about 1/10th of what I had in it dollar-wise (but only if my labor cost is zero ). Not too much demand for them. You could try ebay too. As to the R180 and 4speed? Forget it. My son and I have been using the 4speed as a "How it works", take it apart kind of clinic. The R180 is yard art - right next to the driveway. No really. It looks just like a old west long-horn skull. People think I made it. My wife hates it, but I'm reluctantto ditch it.

No. The LS1 has absolutely no relationship with any previous GM engines. None. Zero. Someone else asked about this whole starting from block thing, and we all agreed that that would be waaay to expensive. Buy a complete motor. And also know that, as I've already stated, these motors have no relationship to the 350, so the mounting is also different. JTR won't work.

Pretty much any auto parts store.... Just measure the length you need with a piece of string around the pulleys you have. Keep in mind you need to ensure that the belt wraps well around the water pump pulley.

This'll be a sucky answer, but I'm fairly certain that the rears are different - longer in the 280. I could be wrong though.

So, off topic, but I hafta (jealously) ask: Does this imply that you're pretty much wrapping up your swap? Man, I suck....

Here's one of the threads (man it was hard to find - didn't show up from any obvious search terms . Luckily I remembered putting pics up for the thread and ended up using that URL as a search term): http://www.hybridz.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000519 Stony adds a key piece of info that may be your problem: Here's another thread: http://www.hybridz.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000748

Perhaps no one mentioned this because it is obvious, but I for one found out the hard way that one of the tierod ends is reverse threaded. And now I can't remember which one, although I think it was the passenger side.

There was another member who posted several months ago about a similar problem that he had with axles and diffs. A search of the drivetrain forum may help you. I currently have an 85 200SXturbo 4.11 R200 in my car with the 280ZXturbo CV shafts. The CV shaft should be identical to the 280 Ujoint shafts where they go into the diff. I have installed and removed my shafts a few times for maintenence or whatever and they've always popped out and back in just fine. I have the driver's shaft installed on the driver's side.

I've had this problem on 3 different cars and each time it turned out to be tire/wheel problems. Either the wheel was out of balance, or the tire had a blorp on it or some combination.

Mine were worn way out. And yet, First one, I wrapped wire around the coils, took the nut off with the air wrench and WHIP-ZING-SPOOSH! - I was glad there wasn't anything in the way. Score = spring 1, wire 0. For the rest of the springs, I used spring clamps.

Boy, if ever there was like, an anti-motto for this site, "don't fix it unless it's broken" - that'd hafta be it. No way would I blindly trust the engineering team that came up with, for just one example, that idiotic diff mount scheme. On balance, I wouldn't worry about the strength of the arms as is. But if you're goin for a Pete Paraska, leave nothing to chance, make it all as good as it can be kind of a project, then go for it. The control arms - that metal's really not that thin. It's at least 12ga, prolly thicker. The rest of the car, yeah, that stuff is crazy thin. Maybe 22ga (or the metric equiv.). I'm currently welding a new 14ga floor support on my car - burn thru madness. I agree the welds on these cars are sloppy. Days before the use of fancy robotics. I thought about welding the front arms. But, I decided not to. I was gonna do it for cosmetical reasons, but I envisioned a death vortex of labor and snapped out of it.

I gotta think that the TBird rear assembly would be cheaper and easier than any kind of Nissan arrangement. That thing already has a whole subframe that goes with it so mounting has got to be easier. Also, I've seen lots of stuff on the net documenting various strength and other improvements for that setup.