BLKMGK

Hrm - HP goal? This is a driver right? Well, see if you can't get a GM crate motor or a salvage LT1 - with fuel injection if you can handle the wiring. Yeah, it's not a 383 but it would be more inline with a budget build. It won't have but maybe 300HP or so unless you get the ZZ4 motor with the "HOT" heads (383hp!). Then, when it's running well and you can afford it consider the blower Just be gentle on those Hypereutectic pistons and stay away from detonation. With that package you'll have more than enough power. For that matter - an LT1 out of a Firebird would be pretty good sans blower. You'll probably have nearly 900lbs less weight if not more! Can you say 'Vette eater?

Yeah, that was pretty sexist I guess My SO just isn't the sort that would appreciate getting sideways down the road. She'll have the Impalla's wheels spinning once inawhile but it's not because she likes it. I've just never been fortunate to run into too many gearhead women and the streotypical female doesn't like noise or burning rubber. I've heard that some do though! (lol)

I wasn't thrilled with the side vents but he has no hood without them. (shrug) It certainly ought to vent the heat nicely! The vents weren't too expensive but I've seen NACA replacement ducts that might look better. If I can find those I'll at least try them down the road. I think several other places have been found that sell replacement hoods but I'm pretty happy with mine once it was fitted by the bodyshop - it took some work.

Hunt aorund here - someone had managed to get the T5 metal one working with the T56 I thought. You might also try the junkyard to see if they've got one. There are at least a coupe of speciality junkyards out there for the Camaro stuff that ough tto have them. Check the back of the various mags. Heh, this is why I made sure I got the slave with my trans. However if a good easy to do swap could be done with an all metal slave I'd be interested. Just don't want to have to do a ton of bracket trickery

Crossdrilled or anything? Man, I feel for you. I don't look forward to replacing my 7's rotors. Crossdrilled like Swiss cheese but with ABS it hauls that puppy down hard! I'd love to have ABS on the Z...

Yup, I screwed up. So far I've not had to remove the coating except in one or two spots. We'll see - they WILL be well lubed though, my Mustang has some urethane and the squeeks are terrible!

Uh boy - I didn't hacksaw out the bushing's outer shell - and it's powdercoated now. Dummy. I've got to either cut down the bushings or pop those puppies out which will now be doubly tough. (sigh) As for the stubs - only thing holding me back on that is getting the peened over bolt undone. I'll be seeing Mikekelly tomorrow it seems so I'll ask him to look at them. Repacking would be a good idea and one of the dust covers needs some work too. If I tear them down they'll get powdercoated too Fun and games. Thanks for the info - wish I'd asked before the coatings were applied. Dummy.

I think it's a bit easier to build HP than drop weight - to an extent. I wouldn't go with Lexan, especially in Nevada where the UV would be darned brutal though. If you've got your candidate and it's a ZX in good shape then by all means - go for it. Others have done this swap and it seems that they've documented it well enough to get you started even if it's not what most would do. My biggest reasons for the Z were that it had been done, documented heavily, and the smog laws. NOT because there was some reason the ZX couldn't have been done - it can. The mounts you should custom make or get threough MSA from what I've gathered from others. The JTR stuff will set the motor too far back. Getting power steering to work might be an issue and headers could be tricky too. Wiring is different than the JTR book I'm betting but if you pay attention to what goes where on the stock motor you should be okay. Folks here are doing it and helping one another - join the party! As for the motor, I went bigger because I wanted a bunch of HP and it's easier with more cubes. A 327 will rev higher than my 383 and to make the same HP would be more "high strung". That being said - there's nothing at all wrong with using a 327 and I think at least one person here has done it. If you've found one for the right price or that's what you want then go for it. Just be careful that you don't make it too high strung for daily driver status

Well, I think I overpaid for my trans - I was just so excited at having found one and it WAS less than what a specialty salvage yard wanted - "only $1700+shipping"! Shipping ended up being a bunch and the guy was so shocked that he knocked a good bit off the price for me. I don't recall the total (I'd cry) but it was say $1800 or a bit more. For that I got the trans, clutch, old flywheel (useless to me now), masterslave, and the bottom of the shifter - no handle. Since then several members here have scored them for MUCH less by being persistant. I intend to use the STOCK GM clutch, yes used, on this puppy. I figure that as light as the car is it ought to work fine. I'll check it for wear and make sure it's not absorbed any oil though. The flywheel was in perfect shape so I don't think it was beat up too badly I guess I've just gotten spoiled with clutches for the Mustang. The T56 stuff is faily expensive and the RX7 stuff is right up there too - and I NEED one of those ASAP. Ah well, it'll be worth it. Oh, I'll be using a Tilton master with mine per JTR specs. Sourced through Pegusus. Stock slave modified per JTR also. Their mod for the hose gives me th ewillies but several others have had no probs so I'll just have to deal with my fears P.S. Another trans option to possibly consider - the ZF. There's a thread here about it. I don't like what I've heard about that trans but it apparently has worked fine for others so it's worth considering I guess. At least research it if you really want a 6speed.

Hrm, I've not seen much about people using the ZF to know if it's capable of handling really high HP but there are more than a few blown Vipers running around with the stock T56. Granted, that T56 has slightly different gearing and other upgrades supposedly but.... It's also a matter of how you treat the trans. My stock T5 lasted over 2 years in my Mustang with 450hp in front of it and a ton of torque - till I beat it hard one day I would hope that the T56 in a light car like the Z would take a good 600HP - hopefully I'll never find out

Wow, came out VERY nice. I wish he'd write up a bit of text to go along with it and let us know what problems he ran into. He certainly did a nice job of fitting it in!

Drew - where am I likely top find that lube? What's it normally used for? Energy sends more lube than MSA does but it may not be enough and I'd like to be using tons of it instead of dribs and drabs. Thanks! Oh and Pete I did find this thread after I'd asked and did your mod - thanks!

In my case I bought a whole new glass hood for the SubtleZ. It took some work to put it on but I think in the end it'll be worth it from both a looks and cooling standpoint. It saved me 15lbs up front too http://216.254.117.47 for more pics - click on the photo gallery header - we need to do a little work [This message has been edited by BLKMGK (edited February 17, 2001).]

I've got one of their Urethane front spoilers in my spare room and one of their rear wings there too - I'm not going to use them on this car, they were bought for another. Anyone in VA looking for spoilers? Buy them from me and skip the zillion dollars in shipping (sigh). The pieces look very good to me and are made by other companies - you might be able to get them for less by going direct. Xenon made my front spoiler Not sure on the rear one. Their front 'glass bumpes I DO have. These pieces are AWESOME and look just like the ArizonaZ ones on Mikekelly's car only they cost less and don't come from a grouch. Much recommended but they will need some cleanup and prep before painting. I think their price for these is very fair and was something like $150 each.

Isn't Darius running a viscous LSD from a later 300Z? Could someone crawl up under his car and take oh a dozen or so shots of his rear suspension for us? I've seen a few pics of another car done this over at the site that sells the aluminum back braces. Here's where I got mine -> http://www.kaynor.net/v8-240z/

Okay, I'm reassembling my rear suspension slowly but surely and I'm using urethane from Energy Suspension. Needless to say parts are scattered all through their "kit" and instructions are pretty much ZERO so figuring out which bushing goes where is a real chore (grumble). However, that's actually not my current problem... On my rear arms, just back from the powder shop, I'm unable to insert the bushings on the outer ends where the strut bolts on. Looking VERY closely at it and at a spare arm I'm seeing what looks like the out shell from a bushing in there. When I removed the stock bushings I simply heated until the stock bushing dropped out - no outer shell on it. Is there an outer shell on the stock bushing? 'Cause it looks liek if I were to remove that piece these bushings would drop right in. Trouble is - if it's in there it's not only siezed but it's now powdercoatedsealed in! Ideas on removing it if I must? Hack saw in the inner hole maybe? I'd like to NOT trash the coating (ahem). If I had a lathe I'd simply turn down the outside diameter but no lathe here yet (sigh). I'd appreciate some advice guys! I'll try to take some pics of the progress - we're finally moving forward now! More on the progress in another post

If you'd like shoot the pic my way and I'll host it on my site for awhile. I've just begun bolting my rear suspension back together after coating - the rear brace I'm going to run just clears my cell and should really help stiffen up the two plates in question but the foreaft loading is still not real stiff. Thankfully it shouldn't see loads like that! For the price, that back brace is very nice even if you choose not to run a finned rear cover IMO...

I'm with John on forged pistons. IF th emotor is going to be NA and not blown or sprayed then by all means go Hyper or maybe even cast (!). Heck, stock GNs ran cast pistons but IMO that's pretty scary (lol). What I have against Hyper is the number of failure's I've seen. Both stock and aftermarket! Hit a little detonation on the bottle or run a tad lean on the boost and you're liable to rattle a ring land right off. One guy I know ran a couple of runs on the bottle with a new set of KB Hypers - he claims it was a safe mixture. Found two pistons with broken lands on teardown. This guy was a BIG NOS fan, sold the stuff, and had been using it for years so he was no punk kid with it. Hypers are more brittle than forged due to the higher silicone and can be run with VERY tight tolerances. OEMs like them because this means less blowby and piston rock (I guess) and that gets the MPG up. Plusses for them but not for those would would bump the cylinder pressure way up with NOS or a blower. Ask any 4valve Cobra guy with a blower - lot's of them are trashing stock pistons (ouch!). The aftermarket ones are supposed to be better and are certainly great for naturally aspirated motors but otherwise I'd be VERY nervous. Scottie - why didn't you go forged? I'm really surprised...

If you've already got the ZF then use it but if you're given a choice between two transmissions the ZF isn't the one you'd want. It's supposed to be noisier, heavier, bulkier, and the dual mass flywheel is supposed to be a PITA to work with. This is from the JTR book so take that for what it's worth. They devote a ton of pages to it and then tell you not to use it - the T56 pages are apparently newer and don't tell you enough. The TPITBI book has more info on the darned T56 than the Z swap book! Just be aware that if it goes parts are supposed to be tough to get - ZF is apparently not well liked by JTR for this very reason. Even if you did have to get a new driveshaft to run a T56 later on that should be no big deal - run it if you've already got it IMO. Heh, unless someone wants to offer you a ton of cash for it to replace the broken one in their 'Vette!

I'm with Lone on this one. The Tremec I've got in snother car (Ford) IS nothcy and thta's with an aftermarket shifter. Th eT56 on the other hand is supposed to be a dream to shift - if it's anything like a T5 I'll be happy. It's also supposed to be darned strong and that 6th gear could be nice if you can run the motor at those kind of low RPMs. As for locating one - I've not heard them being scarece but expensive yes! Clutches are also not cheap. Get the JTR book(s) for more details. They tell you how to setup the clutchslave - hint: get the GM slave with the trans

Any of th eaftermarket masters worth looking at? Any that bolt up? I MAY be looking at Outlaws all the way around and if so I'm pretty sure my piston volume will have gone up a good bit...

Ah - I got ya' now! Heh, IF that worked it would be AWESOME! The Outlaw calipers through you cost less than the SX calipers from the parts store. You'd still want Willwood spots but it would still be a step in the right direction at least. My fingers are crossed!

Thgose two "flimsy" pieces that hang down are actually supposed to be hardened steel! When I bought the aluminum brace for my car it came with a pair of those already drilled as I was advised drilling that metal would be "a challenge" for the normal bit. It might not be quite as flimsy as it looks. Just got mine back from th epowder shop - looks good!

The stock gauges are electrical. In my case I'm going with Phantom gauges in the stock holes. I'll be using a 5inch tach, 5inch Speedo (electric), water temp (mechanical), oil pressure (mechanical), and fuel level (electric for my GM sender). I'm not real worried about voltage and had no hole left over for it anyway. I MIGHT try to wire up an idiot light or use a Cyberdyne voltage gauge in the cigarette lighter socket. So far I've not mounted these gauges yet but that's the plan - I've yet to buy the speedo or tach.

Read my article - the Painless harness is not what you want unless you don't mind wasting a few bucks. It's what I used before I knew better - the MAD harness is cheaper. I'm trying to save ya' some money is all