Zzeal

A Davies Craig EWP is an Australian made electric water pump. ( They should'a named it Craig Davies, don't you think?) I got it from Hoerr (pronounced "hare") Racing. It's a cute, light, quiet little pump (aluminum, 2.6 lbs., flows 2377 gal./hr. @ 10A max) that plumbs into, and is supported by, your lower radiator hose. With its digital controller I can adjust the engine operating temperature on the fly, and at shutdown the pump (and elec. fan) will run for up to 3 minutes (typically about 1 minute), to reduce the coolant to 14 degrees (f.) under your operating set point, completely eliminating heat soak. The whole idea is to eliminate the mechanical water pump impeller, which can sap 13-15 h.p.. They have a kit that totally eliminates the mechanical pump on a chevy small (and big) block (and some fords), but not yet for an LS. They've gotta be developing an LS kit, and I'm wondering how they'll reroute the serpentine belt without the water pump pulley. Being too impatient to wait for a kit, I bought an Edelbrock pump, with a very accessible (and replaceable) impeller and did some surgery on it (an impellerectomy!). I mounted the controller on a hinged panel under the dash, which can be pivoted up out of sight. I liked the whole concept of the thing, and now I'm very pleased with how well it works. Steve

Here are some shots of the shielding I made for my "cats", on an S30, LS2. The aluminum is .050", type 3003, the heat cloth is Thermo Tech, which is adhered to the aluminum with clear silicone (I used part of a tube in a caulk gun). I avoided using a spray adhesive which are often… (mostly) highly flammable. I've heard of car fires due to just that. BTW, I can't take credit for this idea, Pegasus Auto Racing clued me. The silicone is great to work with. It dries quickly, but it gives you enough time to reposition. I also sealed the edges of the cloth with the silicone to keep liquids from soaking in. I wasn't going to post this, I'm sure no one else is running cats like this… but what the he!!, might as well get it out there and maybe help someone, somewhere! Steve

THANKS guys!! Keith, the fire bottle and mount came from Pegasus.

I'm just about finished with the interior…. still pondering a parking brake, but here are a few, final pix. Steve

After building a dash, I needed a place for my registration, ins. papers, and minimal tools. This is a rally car map pocket from Rallysport in Canada. I mounted it on the bulkhead, directly behind the passenger seat. Steve

Damn, Keith, you're fast!, very impressive, take a bow! No doubt you'll be in an upcoming Hot Rod! Steve

Thanks, guys. Good thing I didn't know what an absolute blast it is to drive, I'd probably have rushed to finish the build…. and cut some corners. Additional photo's emailed. Steve

I've always liked the shape of an S30, but I've never been crazy about their tail light design. So, to make it cleaner and simpler back there I modified the stock tail light panels in fiberglass to accept some (cheap) HHR lenses. The HHR lenses start out angled, so they had to be straightened, and it took a lot of futzin around to do that, so when I do it over I'll use some euro looking (expensive) Hella lights. I'm still getting used to the car's new butt, it being such a departure from stock. I like it, but I have a re-design in mind utilizing the round lenses. Steve

Thanks, everyone, for the compliments, I really appreciate it!. Thanks too for the heads up about the fuel level, whatsnow123, great info!. And I hear ya Keith, my 225's, as you know, don't offer much in the way of traction, I'd really get my senses warped if I ran slicks!. I'll see if I have some more ducting pix. Steve

Here's my 6+ year project, not finished, but finally on the road. It's a solid '73 from California, rattle canned black for now. I've been trying to decide on a paint, wrap, or "dipmycar" scheme. It has a stock LS2 and 6-spd. out of a GTO with a Speartech engine harness. I had a professional weld in an inconspicuous (as possible) full cage. I screwed around with the grill and tail lights, but otherwise it's a typical build, with JCI mounts / TTT suspension arms / Q45 diff. / Modern Motorsports axle stuff / Ariz. Z Car Wilwoods / Coilovers w/Bilstein's / 16 X 8 Rota RB-R's w/ 225/50 sticky Yoko's / Z28 Gas tank / Ron Francis wiring / Single 3" Burns Stainless muffler and Random Tech cats / Fire system… OK, those last two are not part of a typical build. All this stuff adds up to the most outrageously fun car I've ever owned. I knew 2400 pounds (1089 Kilo's) and 400 torques would be entertaining, but I underestimated the response, the thrust, the sound!…it's exhilarating!. I still climb out of the sucker with a big 'ol grin on my face. Please click on the link for many more photo's. http://s351.photobucket.com/user/oob-la-dee/library/1973%20Datsun%20Z?sort=6&page=1 The replacement grill was needed after doing some aero ducting to the rad. I blocked off air from under the bumper, behind the turn signals, and foamed the gap between the rad support and the bottom of the hood. I'm going to get into the taillight specifics in a separate "show your rear end" type thread. The ONLY way this successful build happened was because of this wonderful community- THANK YOU HYBRIDZ!!! Steve

The mounts have 10mm nuts incorporated into them. They align with the seat mounting points. The front mount recesses are needed to provide room for the fore/aft release handle. They are NOT easy to bolt in! Sorry for the delay in answering, been on vacation.

I'm using a C-6 pan on my '73 / LS2 / JCI mounts Like you say, decent baffling and good ground clearance too.

I've had a good experience buying from James. He responded right away to my initial, and subsequent emails, even though it sounds like he's spread very thin. I only had him do a fiberglass cowl panel, and for not a whole lot of bucks. A rare occasion of getting more than I paid for. It's a quality, hand laid piece, very substantial, and it fit well. And while I'm giving "attaboy's" to suppliers, I've got to compliment John Washington of Reaction Research, for his product, a fiberglass hood. I was impressed too with his follow up emails. I'd do business with either of them again. Steve

I'm very pleased with these (OMP- OA/1010) aluminum pedal covers. They fit the pedals of my '73 well, and provide lots of reassuring traction on the brake pedal. I didn't need/want the included gas pedal, so I cut it down a little and turned it into a dead pedal.

I feel like I'm a little late to the S30/LS2 party. I knew it would be a fun get-together, but I had no idea of what a blast it would be. I joined the party just last week. It was an addictive, sensory overload experience, like having my own raucous, wicked fast amusement park ride!. Now, I've got to put it away for the winter… pegs my "oh crap-o-meter".

Mercury Racing Teases 4-Valve LS Cylinder Heads at SEMA 2014 Read more: http://www.hotrod.com/events/mercury-racing-teases-4-valve-ls-cylinder-heads-at-sema-2014/#ixzz3IOUGYqMS Follow us: @HotRodMagazine on Twitter | HotRodMag on Facebook http://www.hotrod.com/events/mercury-racing-teases-4-valve-ls-cylinder-heads-at-sema-2014/#.VFw3eomcl9c.facebook

Any condition considered, i.e., if they were really ratty, I'd just paint 'em.

Where does the driver weight go?…. if it's a guy, it usually goes to his midsection. ...sorry

Popular Hot Rodding built an LSx and swapped the heads, cam and intake. The cam was a 230/232 - .591/.595 - 114 lobe sep.. They described it as a maxed out cam for the street. A friend of mine tried a similar cam, a 224/232 - .590/.590 - 115 lsa in a modified LS2 and wasn't very happy with it's rough street manners. I'd first look at LS1howto.com's cam section, then call some cam manufacturing tech people for their advice. Steve

Here's a way to make a "T-bolt" muffler clamp do double duty as an exhaust hanger. I started with a Summit hanger, cut it off at 2-1/2" and slotted it to accept a 1/4"-20 coupling nut. I "mitered" the end of another coupling nut on a bench grinder to conform to the T-bolt. Then, it's nice to have a friend who's a welder! All this stuff is stainless, so this time I'm slathering the threads with anti seize… I recently got caught out, unexpectedly, by the 'ol stainless galling, seizing routine. I didn't think loosely assembling the stainless would be a problem… ended up having to cut the nut off of this bolt!. The other side came apart, luckily. This ends up being a rather pricey hanger though, because stainless. The stupid T-bolt alone cost over $20, hanger another $20, nuts and rod were $6, and if you had to pay for the welding, yikes!. Anyway, I just wanted to get the idea out there. You could maybe do something similar, using less expensive pieces parts. And while I'm prattling on about fabbin' stuff… here's something else that could maybe help someone who's new to cutting thin, sheet aluminum with a jig saw. The finest blades I've found locally are Bosch's 17-24 Progressive Tooth T-118-A's. These are still too coarse for 1/16" (type 3003) aluminum. they apparently clog up with the aluminum, ,sometimes kick back and even bend the piece you're cutting out. I've found if you source some finer 36 TPI blades, like the T-118-G's, lube up your cut line with a wax stick, or with a little light oil, and run a variable speed saw at about half throttle, you get nice, consistent cuts, and without the anxiety. Steve

These are Recaro's out of an '05 Evo. They're "9"'s, I dunno about "8"'s. They fit just about perfectly, and we mounted them smack on the floor for lots of noggin' clearance.

Should you decide to swap pans the LS2 Corvette pan is a good choice with good clearance and decent baffling. It came on the early C6's, from '05 to '07. They went to an LS3 in '08. You can see I need to re-locate my lower control arms!

Rocks eh, so you're talking about general road debris that invariably finds the front of your car?... or do the locals throw rocks at you in your 'furrin car after you've beaten their drag strip favorite? I'm inclined to ship you the aluminum sample and let you make the call. I think it would depend on how securely you mounted it, how far away from the rad, and you know fabbing aluminum is a whole different, ornery, animal. Consider a stainless 2 X 2 mesh in a wimpy, un-caddy looking lighter gauge wire. They've got .08, .063 (same as the aluminum in the pic), and .047. But you won't see it without raising the hood, eh? It's a compromise but it'll stop those pesky rocks. Steve

Keith, this summer I went to my local McMaster, about a 45 minute drive, to get some wire cloth samples (12"X12"). Like you, I couldn't interpret what all the mesh sizes, wire diameters, etc., would look like. I was trying to come up with a nice Cadillac looking stainless to form a grille for my '73. Turns out, their #85385T16, Stainless, 2X2 mesh, .105 wire dia., 62% open, looks great, very Cadillac-ish but mega expensive and surprisingly heavy. (There's a heavier .12 gauge one too, which would look even better.) My buddy and I were amazed with how heavy the 1 foot sample was. Colin Chapman would totally disapprove. So, I'm still undecided, and unknowing about the grille material. I'm blocking off part of my grille and the Caddy looking cloth is only 62% open, and I don't know if that's allowing enough air through. If I were doing battle with the beatles I'd probably use McMasters #9227T402, (See pic), aluminum, 2X2 mesh, .063 wire dia. and 76% open. This stuff is crimped and not smooth and pretty like the Stainless, but it's adding lightness. Yeah, a determined beatle could maybe make it through occasionally, depending on how fat these guys are. I'm going to use this aluminum cloth to back up some holes I'm cutting into my hood. It would be too lightweight though to use as a grille, and they don't offer a heavier gauge. Steve

It's a Digidash2 from Galek Motorsports (.com). The owner, Chet, imports them from England. It's a nifty unit and easy to read, even in direct sunlight. I happily ditched a goofy looking hood I had over it. Steve