BLKMGK

1985 - last year for carbs! Automatic 5.0's were cursed with some sort of crappy TBI injection though. Should have a roller cam if it's from a Mustang and I THINK it was the first year for forged pistons too. Good motor rated at 210HP stock, torque I'm not sure of. With low tension rings it's 15 years old now and will probably need a ring job if it's got too many miles on it, possibly seals on the valves too. Overall I'd say it's a good motor IMO.

The last three issue of Chevy High Performance have ALL dealt with pulleybracket issues. This month is dedicated to serpentine setups - go grab it and take a peek. It seems a company named Zoops and March Performance are the two big players. I'm still pondering brackets myself as I've got a short water pump (smack) and want to run A/C on the passenger side. Not sure where the darned alternator is going to go!

Um, I don't understand. You mean you want T56 pics where the motor isn't set real far back? If so I'd expect the shifter to be coming up right about where the fusebox is. In the JTR setback it come right up through the hole but maybe a little further back than stock. Checkout Lone's site - he's been making AWESOME progress and has some good pics too! http://datsun240v8z.virtualave.net/ Perhaps some of those will help you out.

Oh yes, do PLEASE post info! I might be interested in some parts down the line too - I'm really curious about the later R230 LSDs As for the LSD in the 87.5-89 300ZX turbo - all were 3.7. Mikelly has one in his T56'ed car and had some toruble utilizing 6th with his cam. I think my cam is a bit tamer and HOPE to be able to use 6th with my 3.7 LSD An East Coast gathering sounds terrific just please give me a little more time to get mine together! So close yet so far...

Well.... my plan is this - I'll run a carb to get everything running smooth. Once I've got any drivetrain issues sorted out, wiring straight, gauges fine, etc. etc. then and only then will I consider EFI. I just decided that in my case, even knowing what I do about EFI, that taking that on along with the drivetrain swap was just biting too much off at once. I DID pick an intake that can be converted to EFI later on and I DO plan to have EFI down the road - just not quite yet! As for the 327 etc. - why high revs? What do you consider high revving? 6K out of a 350 or 383 isn't too shabby IMO. The higher you rev it the faster it wears, the more chance you'll have of breaking something, and the more money you toss into the valvetrain. If you really want to rev consider a destroked 400 down to 377 Big bore, short stroke - rev like mad I'd expect.

Don't laugh man - one of the stock type Z radiators I've got looks plenty stout and I've been looking hard at it. However I think some form of aluminum rad is going to take up residence in my car - for looks if nothing else 24inch Griffin or a Camaro radiator - still debating. BTW - I've got the JTR lower mount and someone told me a neat trick - goto the local home hardware type place and get those rubber cushins that you stick to the wall to prevent doorknob damage - place them under the radiator for cushioning Sounds to me like a darned good idea!

Header wrap can ineed be a problem if it soaks up oil - hard as hell to put out and no sparks are needed to get it going either. However if you coat the wrap with some of the sprays that are out there it shouldn't soak up oil or be darned resistant to it. I'm still not sure what I'll do for headers but the time is fast approaching!

Quill - you didn't happen to cut the OEM braided hose and look to see if it would take a fitting did you? setting up the regualr braided stuff isn't hard and if I can use an OEM fitting down below and just set it up on the top that would be great! I'm going to try and fit the motor again tonight but if I get frustrated I'll be cutting that hose tonight for a peek. It's not like I'm liable to be using that end for anything else anyway and it looks to be long enough. If that doesn't work out I DO have a 90 degreee AN fitting and the right adapters for the slave (shrug). Thanks!

Allright - stuck trying to put the motor in I turned to the clutch slave. My slave looks nothing like what JTR pictures and I figure it must be a T5 slave they show. My slave has a braided line coming out of it and what looks like a roll pin ataching it to the slave. So, should I simply cut that at the master and try to put a fitting on it for the Tilton master? How do ya' do this? Here I was all set to grit my teeth and tap plastic and my setup is completely different - phooey! Suggestions please - I can post pics if needed, maybe even document this for others if someone can guide me. Thanks!

Okay, I've got my motor and trans bolted together and on the end of a hook. I've got one of those engine tilters but it interferes with my hoist when I try to tilt it very much. So, are folks installing SBCs and T56s together as a single unit or seperate? Bench pressing that darned T56 up into place doesn't thrill me - especially when I haven't checked for clearance yet but right now I'm having a hack of a time dropping them in together. Advice? I think I may swing th etiler around 180degrees, slide the hoist boom out further and maybe put a piece of chain between the boom and tilter for starters. Talk about frustrating!

Before you get too wild with that car check out the bottom end. I believe the 79's used CAST pistons and a pretty low compression ratio. Unless you've gone through it I'd be careful about using forced induction. As for the Powerdyne - I'd not touch it! I've met too many people who have trashed the little rubber belt inside. I like ATI quite a bit but a used Vortech would work well too and can be pretty easily found if you're not looking to make super power. Can't help you on the intake but you might also investigate having your existing manifold converted to EFI. 30lb injectors should be pretty good for that setup IMO.

I'm to th epoint where user friendly is what I want TEC can actually help you program it - you give it a target A/F and it will "adjust" for it. That's using a wide band O2 BTW. Expect to see wide bands coming on stronger and stronger as the new LEV cars are starting to use them OEM The new DFI sounds interesting but I'll wait and see. Lot's of flash with the softwae it looks like. There's no reason why other's couldn't duplicate some of that. The ability to run NOS is nice but I hope it's flexible liek the TEC so that it could adjust boost using a stepper motor type deal. It sure is nice to see all these new ECUs. I've been following this sort of EFI stuff for at least 9 years since way back when DFI, Haltech, TEC, and the Motec were about all you could find. The more user firendly software is cool but with a wide band O2 is should be able to help us out by tuning itself when we want it to. THAT would be really nice!

Speaker - which wouldn't be accurate? The GPS stuff - at least my handheld - seems to be damned accurate. Was shocked to see how close it read to our Impalla's speedo. As for the push the button thing - it can be as inaccurate as you make it If you've really got to have it accurate I guess you could jack the rear up and spin th etires by hand counting revs. I seem to recall that the speedo prefers you to drive at least 25mph to calibrate.... I know - use a GPS to "test" a pair of mile markers, come back around and pace them off Does it really have to be that accurate anyway? I seldom drive at the speedlimit.

I'm with Ross - we need torque in our 2500lb cars like we need a 6banger Seriously, when I built my motor I told tyhem I wanted a single plane intake and told them upper end power was fine and not to try and go crazy down low. Besides, single plane intakes convert to EFI easier Performer RPM heads and RPM intake is what I wnet with. As for a 383 hitting 450HP - heck yes! The package installed on my car is good for 425horse on a 350 according to Edelbrock and according to a dyno run the engine shop did on their parts truck motor (lol). Some of th efolks running the numbers here think I won't get 450HP with my extra cubes but honestly that's okay. I can live with 400+ for now and will run a blower later if I really feel the need for speed. One of the reasons I used an LT1 block was for the ease of going roller. My shop said a roller wasn't needed for my goals but I do wish that I'd done it anyway. A big plus with rollers is that even with the same lift and duration compared to a flat tappet you can have faster lift rates. This means your valve hit's it's lift faster and can "snap" open quickly. More area under the curve means more power everywhere. We'll see - I can always convert to roller later when I'm switching to EFI. Don't forget the steel distributor gear too!

As for the subframe - if you really wanted to that puppy could probably be dropped out of there too. It's only 4 bolts plus the motor mounts to drop it down. You'd want to support the motor obviously but a crane could work or something could be built to span the shock towers and support the front of the motor. (shrug)

I'll pipe up being a stick fan who's owned a car with a built automatic. The auto I had was a TH350 in a Vega. Short wheelbase like the Z with a somewhat healthy 350 that had really bad oil pressure Anyway, it had a ratchet shifter and DOT dirt track tires on the back in a 4.56 geared 9inch. If I wanted to really dog it I'd ratchet it down to first, nail the gas hard and when it sounded as if was coming through the hood slap the shifter hard. It would then click the next gear instantly churn the tires a split second, bite, and haul a$$! Same with 3rd gear - it was instant! Driving in drive it would shift opn it's own just fine depending upon how much gas I gave it. I could downshift it at will on the street for engine braking. If this is the sort of automatic you're considering for the street it's certainly competition for a stick! On the strip it ought to be a little better even with the additional drivetrain losses as shifting is nearly instant. I'm not sure why that trans didn't turn me away from sticks completely, probably because I can modulate downshifts a little better on offramps etc. It really was a sweet trans and I was truly STUPID to sell that car! Vega GTs are tough to find and while that one needed a motor I was really dumb to dump it. If I knew then what I know now that would be one really cool car to have. I think the new owner ended up really screwing it up - nasty motor +NOS and no subframes really hurts the unibody... Lastly, how many of us with T56s are really able to use our 6th gear? I know Mikelly had trouble using his and I'm hoping my cam is mild enough to use mine. With really only a 3.7 posi being used here abouts it could be tough getting to use that second overdrive...

Start by soundproofing the rear! I was flat out amazed at how much quieter my car was when I put in the soundproofing. Hunt up the thread where I posted about that and check out some of the URLs others provided for cheaper sound proofing materials. I think I really like the bedliner idea too As for quiet mufflers, I think the Dynomax mufflers are pretty good and keep my Mustang pretty quiet. They might sacrifice some power but it's worth it IMO. This car might get their stainless ultras if I can't find ricer mufflers on the cheap. I expect those to be louder than their regular mufflers though. Hrm, you running dual? A crossover pipe? X pipes are supposed to be good for quieting things down. Where's a good place to get a cheap X? Dr. Gas sells them but they're a bit pricey I've been told....

Went to bolt on the pressure plate for my clutch today and got a VERY nasty surprise. Seems of the 6 pressure plate holes only 5 were tapped! I checked with Mikelly and he confirmed there were no dowels or anything used and that all of his were tapped. I figured this was the case since the stock LT1 flywheel I had was tapped all the way around but... Very aggravating since I'd had to struggle to torque down the ARP flywheel bolts. Speaking of which - "standard" ARP pressure plate bolts will NOT fit this type of clutch - too short (grumble). I was forced to reuse the stock ones. Anyway, after I spoke to Mike I called my friend who runs the Mustang shop. He giggled, seems he had the same problem just days ago on a darned dampner from another company. He told me to yank the flywheel off and bring it to him. Sure enough the hole was drilled just fine and simply needed tapping. He had a VERY nice MAC tap set and had the hole tapped in less than 10minutes - gratis. A real relief since I don't trust my Taiwanese (sp?) taps for anything this critical! Got home, slapped it back on, and moved to the set back plates. It figures, even after running bolts through the tapped holes in the JTR plates I had troubles and had to pull out my own tap set to clean up some of the holes! I'm thinking that perhaps having a nice tap set around would be a good idea but I still felt better letting someone else tap that flywheel. Tonight the motor sits on the end of the hook, trans in place. I need to clean up the engine bay just a bit, install the freshly powdercoated crossmember, and slide the motor in. I hope to do this tomorrow unless it gets real cold out I can hardly wait - my friend really saved me today, I was in a real panic over this. Whew!

Hey, I'm just thrilled that Electromotive has dropped that damned software pricing! I get copies of their software "backdoor" but one of the biggest reasons I didn't go with their stuff on my Mustang was the cost of the software - it was nutz! Since then I've been getting it from a friend but still - this is awesome news. Mike, take a look at the TECII software. The datalogging is damned nice - graphs and all done in a manner that can actually be read (and that was th eold DOS version - I've not yet loaded up the WINTEC). I don't mind the laptop requirement and their shop is literally just up the road.... Hrm, perhaps it won't be a FelPro system put on my Z next Winter after all Still, I'll be interested to hear how th eSDS works out for folks with V8s. There are times when too many bells and switches to pull can just mess you up rather than help and the TEC certainly has zillions of those!

Heh, those wheels and tires will cost big bux. Brakes all the way around if you don't go for the super duper would be like $800 up front and a yet to be determined amount in back. Not cheap but it will stop like an anchor has been thrown out and take advantage of whatever tire you throw on it.... As for the OEM looking wheels - check around. Like Mikelly found out - some companies make look alikes in various patterns. The Cobra R never came out in 4lug - until the aftermarket did it

Ah, by larger I meant contact patch. I intend to run as wide a tire as I can in the stock fenders and in the back it will probably be a drag radial like the Nitto as I understand it's not too bad on the street. Taller tires do indeed give the wheel more leverage - this is why I shiver when I see jacked up trucks with stock brakes! However in my case I'll be going from whatever size rotor Nissan installed to a 12.19X1.25 rotor - a bit bigger in itself which will provide more leverage to stop. I hope that my tire height won't change that much to be honest but I'd like to get the sidewall down some. I've even considered going to 16's instead of 17s, 18's are a big no way! The car I'm looking at for wheels has 18's on it but I think the 17inch will work out well -> Those are 18X8.5s - I'm looking at 17X8 for 245 series tires. [This message has been edited by BLKMGK (edited March 16, 2001).]

I thought we already had this discussion once before? Scottie came up with some paret numbers for bellhousing and flywheel I thought...? Was that a different motor maybe?

Hmm, I have flat tappet in both my SBC and in my Mustang motor. In both cases I wnet flat tappet because I was told that my HP desires could be met without the added expense of a roller cam. After reading that article, and some others in the past I'll admit, I'm wondering if my choices were wise. I guess I'll see how the Z does but it looks like a fairly simple upgrade to roller on my LT1 block could be an easy HP gain (sigh).

Wheels are 15X7 with 225 series tires. I'm using the struts with coilovers so those won't go. Not sure what the springs are rated or anything like that. I'll see what they weigh to check shipping from 20111. Dunno' what they're worth but I don't expect to be using them on anything.

SpeedPro time proven?! That system has been out what 3 years? If that? Electromotive has been around FAR longer and has some pretty awesome datalogging as well as waste fire and coil packs. Pricey though and I've heard mixed reviews. DFI and Haltech have also been around longer than SpeedPro. To say the SpeedPro is the only time proven system is pretty funny All systems have pluses and minuses - there's nothing perfect. The Motec might have everything you want but costs gazillions! At some point you've got to settle on "good enough" and just go with a system. Try finding out if there's anyone in your area experienced with a particular system. If you run into problems and the local guys know a totally different system you'll be kicking yourself...