BLKMGK

I'm with Chris - Edelbrock has at least on eset of heads that's not AS expensive as some of th eothers and flows well - it's what I've got Trick Flow has one too I think. All in all $800 for heads isn't bad! Never heard that you've got to modify the block to run Vortech heads - did he detail what this mod was? Super Chevy loves those heads! Go aluminum if you can though, you can run more compression and the weight will be less over the front axle. The Edelbrock "Performer" heads run $935 in Jegs (350-6089) and on a 350 with 9.5:1 compression, the right intake etc. made 420hp. These are what I've got I believe (I'd have to check to be sure). Look at GM's PM rods too. I'm not sure where the $200+ figure you got was from but the PM rods MIGHT be cheaper, I'm not sure. However GM claims that they're stronger than the old "pink" rods and cheaper too so they ought to hold fine for you... Keep us posted!

There's no "best" car to choose. The later ones have more creature comforts, the early ones less weight. Before you do anything check your local emissions regs. In my area a car must be 25years or older before it's exempt from emissions. Since meeting emissions with a swap is such a PITA and limits performance I chose an older car - a 1972 for me. However, if you look at the interiors the 260Z's have what I think is a nicer console setup. If you want to put in a decent stereo to go with the power the 260 looks to be easiernicer. 260's also got a bad rap because they came with crappy carbs - we don't care about that do we? If it drops the price, so much the better! 240s have ZERO side impact protection, pull the internals from th edoors and you can damn near juggle them - they ring like a bell. For that reason I've got sidebars on my cage - getting T-boned otherwise would certainly lead to bad passenger damage. Even with the cage I'm nervous, later cars had somewhat better side protection but I'd not want to bet my life on it (ahem). I'm not sure when power windows and locks etc. began showing up on Zs - maybe with the ZX. If that's the sort of thing you're looking for an emissions doesn't matter than perhaps the later cars wouold work better. For me the mission was to find a car in GOOD shape first, model was second so long as it was old enough to sneak under the emissions rules. Oh yeah, you might not like the newer car's bumpers - that could be a consideration too. Finding the lightest car around wasn't a big thing for me - building HP is fairly easy with a V8. (shrug)

Mike, Mike didn't try the tubes - he sold the ones off of my parts car and is going to go with a size that fits his existing tubes I believe. He's nearly there! As for the Outlaws - we'll see You gave me a good deal on these and I don't THINK I'll need a bigger rotor or anything. How hard would it be to upgrade? Cost? Will I need new rotors etc. or just the calipers? I'll probably try these out first - crawl before running etc. Might be working on it as soon as this weekend but I just don't know, holidays are killing my free time.

Oh DUH! I'm sorry, I didn't see the jam bolt. When they shipped them they put tape over it - I ASSumed this was to keep th enut from turning during shipping or something and never looked UNDER the tape - there's the bolt! I will give you my rocker height ASAP. I'd LOVE to be in the ballpark when I put it together Thank you! Much better than needing to buy jam nuts or taping the tube...

I'm with Pete - ditto what he said G-Techs can sometimes be found on auction sites etc - grab one and get a baseline so you know when you make progress. As for more power. Look to the heads first. Find out what compression you've got now and see if you can find some good flowing heads for it - aluminum with small chambers if you can. Small chambers assumes you've got low compression BTW You should pick up a ton of HP with good heads as the stock iron heads are probably pretty bad. I wouldn't be changing out pistons on a running motor unless the blowby was pretty bad and it needed a rebuild anyway. You may not hit 380HP but after swapping a few things it may feel fast enough. Oh - and if you do decide to really build a nasty motor, build it on a stand and then swap it in. Pulling a motor out of a running car and THEN building it takes the car off the road forever. Maybe build a stout shortblock and move it over - that would take less time. For that matter - GM sells the ZZ4 as a shortblock sans heads, might be worth looking at if you really feel the need to swap pistons etc.

That is truly weird. When I got my P1200 it had been used on a race car with cog pulleys. As a result the bearing was worn and the impeller shaft could be deflected by hand if you tried hard enough - it didn't quite touch the housing but it was close enough and there were a couple of slight scratches where it had lightly touched. I've since had that blower rebuilt and it seems to be good as new - can't deflect it at all! Is it possible that the belt is overtightening? How tight are you making it and are you using a spring loaded idler? It's possible to make the belt too tight and it's also possible for the belt to try and climb the pulley - this will make one side tight and the other looser. Even if th ebelt was too tight it would have to be bowstring tight and then some to trash that bearing I believe. The newer D series is supposed to have better bearings. The shaft is thicker than my P series and the bearings themselves are supposed to be just plain stronger. However the step up internally is also higher so you'll see faster shaft speeds with the same pulley. As much air as they move I'd expect the motor to go before the blower was oversped unless there's massive restriction in the intercooler? What intercooler are you using? Is this a cog belt setup? Is the oil return in the pan higher than the fill level? If it's not oil will backup the tube - turbos have this problem too.... I dunno' man - I'll be very intersted to hear what ATI says. Be sure to clean th eintercooler out real good too!

I'm betting front mount - shall we start a pool? I'll bet that the rear is rotating a few degrees at least when he puts it into reverse or forward from a stoplight. Saw this on a Mustang once except that with a live rear the whole axle was moving due to torn bushings - very scary! Of all the things Pete mentioned, and I'd check them all, I'm betting that the front mount is the only one of them that could allow for that much play...

I'd go with an overdriven transmission rather than switching out the rear. How short are your tires? Even with a 1:1 trans ratio 5K at 60mph sounds pretty high to me. If you go with an overdrive you'll be able to keep a nice launch off the line and changing from a 3.7 to a 3.336 doesn't sound liek much of a difference. Sit down and do the math using the ratios in an OD trans and see if it works out better. I'm not sure what the ratiios are but I have to believe it would work out better. I'd also take a long look at the tires you're running to see if their height is too low. Anyone got the formuals handy to run the numbers on say a 700R4? Would changing the tire height an inch or two be better? Might be cheaper and easier that's for sure...

Ya, visit Mike's page! http://www.fonebooth.com/brakes.html I wish I'd picked up the Outlaw calipers myself but instead I'm going to be going with the more stock style. Hope to start swapping soon, just too lazy to hit the garage so far As for wheels, I wouldn't go 18's - I'd go 17s instead. 18's will have so little rubber aorund them (about a +3 combo right?) that any pothole you hit will put those wheels in danger. Add to that the cost of wheels and tires in that size and it's just insane to do it. It would look like you'd wrapped a rubber band around the aluminum and probably ride like a wagon wheel...

Guys, for that price there's no way it's using a wide band O2 sensor. In order to get good readings in a numerical format you need to have a wide band O2. Regular O2 sensors are NOT linear and they're weighted for emissions not for performance. Check this site out - they modify other people's gauges in order to make them most sensitive in the range that we'll want for performance. This is STILL not the ideal solution but it's better than nothing - as is th egauge you're looking at. http://gadgetseller.com/gauges/

Don't forget the piece inside the trans tunnel if you've got a 240. I started to pull it out of my other car but without the proper drill bit it's a bear. I'll be grabbing a spotweld bit for this car - much less work!

Hrm, something ain't right. Is this blower the same one that blew before - rebuilt? Thus far I've seen and talked with at least 30 owners of ATI blowers and own one myself - albeit with little mileage. To date I've only seen one of those blowers die - a very early D1. It turned out to be a casting problem and ATI made good on it's replacement. What exactly is happening to the blower? Bearing going bad? Blowing an oil seal? It can't be the impeller coming apart - damn things are billet while everyone else uses cast! How tight is the belt? Cog pulleys? Details man, need some details.

Pics of the hood are up -> http://216.254.117.47/development/testweb.nsf However I've NOT got "finished pics up (grr). Camera is acting really squirrly but trust me - it looks nice. As soon as I get th ecamera acting right (won't transfer pics) or get a new camera (drool) I'll get more pics up. Camera was a $30 Kodak DC-20 - about the equivilant of these "Barbie" digital cameras but it works pretty good fro WEB use (lol).

Hrm, I've got nothing that looks like a jam nut or split nut here with the shipment. I considered duct tape Can that be put on after I've figured out the height of the car without pulling the springstrut? Or just slap a hose clamp on it? Heh, I'd buy jam nuts but at something like $16 apiece I'd probably pick the wrong part number and end up eating the cost. Heeelp! I hope to get the car to sit at the SAME height it is now - it's perfect. Hopefully this won't take too much trial and error...

I'm not sure how difficult the swap will be. I'd make my first step getting the wiring diagrams for both the Ford and the Datsun and go from there. Mating the two harnesses could prove challenging - I don't know. Ford and others DO sell swap harnesses but that would raise your cost and you DO already have a nice donor car The engine harness unplugs fairly easily, not sure about the rest. I'd suggest taking pics before you pull things apart and labeling everything. Use th eziplock baggies for freezer stuff that let you write on them and lable all bolts etc. that you pull off. Weeks or months from now you'll be glad you did this last step - trust me

www.jagsthatrun.com that's where you'll get a book on swapping a V8. You may also find copies of it up for sale on E-Bay. Read the book, read this site, ask questions when you've learned what's involved in the swap. Yes, you'll need a new transmission. I believe there's even a forum here dedicated to discussin driveline stuff. http://24.4.88.29/cgi-bin/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&forum=Drivetrain&number=7&DaysPrune=100&LastLogin= Lot's of info here but it'll take some effort on your part to absorob it all. This isn't the most difficult swap in the world since there's little fabrication involved and a book detailing what you need to do. Oh yeah, there's this great WEB site here with lot's of people all doing much the same thing that can help when you get stuck... Folks, we need a FAQ badly! I'll help write it if help is needed. Oh yeah - if you've found a good 350 cheap, jump on it. If nothing it'll be as quick as the previous motor. Also, what exatly was going wrong with the motor you've got now? Cutting off why? If it's a wiring issue there's no guarantee that it won't still exist with the new motor so be careful. Would really be rotten to swap in a new motor only to find the same problems!

welll.. Price was $300 plus shipping, I don't recall shipping but it was a tad pricey. Figure at least $100. My bodyshop bill was $1300. For that they fitted the hood, painted the hood on top and underneath (unfinished underside BTW), replaced my front windshield using my gasket, replaced the rear window gasket with my part, finished, painted and installed 'glass bumpers. To do the bumpers and hood they had to match the paint on the car, "blend" it into th efenders, and clearcoat the whole front end. They also installed the later ZX style vents inthe hood and painted them to match the hood. So yeah - I blew some cash but the total wasn't ALL for the hood. Hood weighs exactly HALF what a steel hood weighs - saved like 15lbs (shrug). Looks NICE! I've NOT yet taken any pics but will try to take some maybe tomorrow. I'll put them up over here -> http://216.254.117.47/development/testweb.nsf when I do. No pics of the Mustang posted yet and don't let the doc size scare you - it's not correct (grr). Finally got my WEB server built!

Hrm, I ordered for th e240 but have NOT checked the struts - I too could be in for a surprise I guess! Don't know if the struts have been sectioned either - car sits fairly low and I never seem to hit a bumpstop (shrug). BTW - what shoudl I use to lock the lower spring cup in place? I've got the adjusting nuts but nothing to lock them to keep them from creeping downwards(?). Is that an issue? FWIW guys - $400 for a 4 corners w/springs of good quality isn't THAT bad. Kripes, we spend a grand on wheels in some cases, the rest of the suspension ought to be worth $400. Oh - for the RX coil overs can run over a thousand bucks! Adjusting the damn things, in my case, requires compressing the spring and moving a stupid clip. Talk about stupid! This was already on the car when I bought it so I can't bitch too bad but the height isn't going anywhere too soon - it's damned low though.

Unless it has an aftermarket aluminum driveshaft from SVO don't use that shaft - have one built. You'd have to have it modified anyway and I can tell you from experience that these driveshafts aren't too hot. They have a metal tube inside them with vulcanized rubber on each end - as time goes on the rubber wears out and the pipe inside starts rolling around. Severe vibration and weird sounds ensue shortly afterwards - not cool!

Yeah, go fuelie if you can. Ford even sells a harness for "streetrod" use that would make the swap easier. Oh, for headers you can use stock style Ford shorty type headers depending upon how you mount the motor. A friend has a 302 mounted in his 240 but never finished the swap (sigh) - shorty headers worked well and the T5 lined right up!

The LS1 is a whole 'nuther animal - be careful about trying to stuff one of those in! Hrm, I do seem to recall one of the sheets Pete did as coming up with 425HP. No matter - they did the same combo to a 350 and the dyno showed 425horse so I don't think a 383 will be worse. Anyway, I did choose forged stuff. I wanted the added piece of mind and I may very well spray of put a blower on mine - I just don't know yet and don't want to have to redo it. Sine we talked about GM "crate motors" - the ZZ4 and Fast Burn motors DO use forged cranks and th ePM rods they have are actually stonger than th eold "pink" rods that GM used to use - they just aren't as rebuildable is all. They ARE cheaper though so replacing them shouldn't be a biggie. Obviously there's lot's of opinions on how to go about building a motor. If you goto three engine builders they will give you three opinions on how to get where you want to be. GM will also sell you a motor that makes a dyno verified number too. (shrug) There's no one best way to get where you want to go in this game I'm afraid...

I'm not sure I understand the question - you only care about performance ANd cost of parts? I think the two are mutually exclusive. If you only care about performance you're going to squeal cost-wise. If you only care about cost you'll end up with medium performance (shrug). Look at the GM crate motors. Watch your auto classified sections. Ask the machine shops if they've got any motors that have been abandoned (you'd be surprised). Talk to people at the local car cruises to see who's got extra stuff. Lot's of ways to do this!

Door panels - tough to make because of the curve at the top but that's a big one on my list. The little dog bone looking pieces behind the door in front of the rear wheel wells. Steering column cover - make this in fiberglass and then carbon fiber the top. Carbon fiber conducts electricity remember Panel under the hatch - simple to make I'd hope. Panel covering the dome light area. Dash cap of course - swapping the entire dash would be a PITA and tougher to make. Center console. Mike, I've got two you can use for a 240 for measurements etc. For that matter I've got a bunch of interior parts you could use for this effort, no biggie. Hood would be cool but IMO that's reaching. Start small like the dog bone thngs and door panels. I'd bet that door panels would fly out the door! ZCar.com guys would be all over this - don't tell them till I get mine I'm in it for the looks mostly. Weight I'm not worried about - we've got HP for that problem. Door panels would be nice because I could put speakers in the doors and not trash a nice door panel. Aircraft Spruce sells the materials you'll be wanting FWIW. I've come close to trying the dog bone panels myself with an eye on doing door panels next if I did a decent job on the simple stuff. I decided to wait until after the sawp was finally done.

http://www.zcar.com/forums/read.php?f=1&i=92129&t=92052 ZBarn sells an R180 to R200 "kit" -> http://www.zbarn.com/70to78/used_steering.htm I had some other links too but can't find them I've got to do this swap "soon" too. Have Mustache bar, R200LSD, and the pinion flange to convert my LSD to a 240style - you won't need the pinion unless you switch to an LSD.

Go 5lug Mike And if you go with an R wheel do not get the knockoffs. Excessive has had a bunch of Mustangs come through there with the cheapo's and Chris says he can tell the difference as soon as he goes to pull the wheel. One hurts his back, the other doesn't - guess which ones don't! Also look at some of th eregualr Cobra wheels. I don't think they are quite as wide but they look pretty nice too. The RX7 parts board - www.thepartstrader.com always has suspension stuff for sale. There's also a Z board there but it's almost all late model stuff - like 5lug wheels Not sure what I'm going with yet but will try my Mustang wheels on for size, probably a late model Cobra wheel, and possibly the Konig Tantrums off of the RX7 just to see. With 5lugs you can get 300Z, RX7, Mustang, or Supra wheels and probably more. A shame GM wheels won't work too...