BLKMGK

Frog, what do you mean by full setback? Are you saying you kept your stock latch? If so I'm INTERESTED! Part #s? A remote coil sounds like a nice idea too. Naturally I think the builder already specced a standard HEI for me (sigh). Or are you saying that any further back and the bellhousing would hit the firewall? I guess I'm just not real clear on the benefits of the F-body distributor (am not real up on Chevies either). Thanks for any clarification you or others can offer!

First and foremost before buying anything - buy the book from JTR. WWW.JagsThatRun.com shoudl get you there. Buy the book, read the book cover to cover, then consider which car to buy. My first choice would NOT be a 2+2! I'd also suggest that you look until you find a car in GOOD shape with minimal rust and unless bodywork is your thing - great paint. I've got a 72 240Z myself. It's light as a feather with ZERO side impact protection (shiver). A cage will take car of that. consider a 260 tho's or maybe the 280Z like Scottie mentioned. Yeah they're a touch heavier but IMO with as much HP as a 350 has it's NOT a big deal. I took a hard look at Mike Kelly's 260Z not long ago and I honestly liked his interior setup better than mine - a stereo in mine will be a PITA - the 260Z appears to take it much more easily. The sheetmetal for the 240-280Z (not ZX) is pretty much the same except maybe bumpers. Brakes - lot's of EASY brake upgrades out there. The Toyota 4X4 uprade is pretty darned cheap and makes the car really stop. Rear discs aren't really needed but might be nice. I'm switching to 5lugs to get better brakes and a better wheel selection (shrug). The 5lug setup cost me less than $500 if memory serves - that's not bad for 4 wheel disc. Don't rush this. Ask lot's of questions, look for the perfect car, gather parts. Lot's of us were or still are in your shoes. I bought two Zs before I had one I was willing to swap into and now am waiting for the motor to show up...

Thanks Pete - I'd hoped you'd found something I'd missed On a 450 horse motor is there likely to be a big difference between say 1 5/8ths, 1 3/4s, or 1 7/8ths inch headers? Enough to care about? I mean they're going to be block huggers so they may choke the motor anyway right? Would a larger pipe diameter help much? I swear I'm tempted to get cheap headers, wrap them, and then upgrade them later on when the car is running and the wrap causes them to become brittle etc. Sanderson headers look mighty nice though - all the way up to 1 7/8ths inches! Maybe just 1 3/4 would be okay - I want to be able to get to the silly plugs and not fry wires...

What exactly do the rules say? I think that they require a bladder and a container - yes? If so check out some of the roundy round circle track cells. I thumbed through a catalog and while I'm not sure on sumping and sizing they looked to contain bladders and containers - they also didn't cost as much as I think the Fuel Safe cells do. I used a Triangle aluminum cell with foam in it for mine. It's rigidly mounted and should pass NHRA type tech but I'm fairly sure it won't pass SCCA. I still need to vent it with a roll-over valve. The one sold by Summit and Jegs righ tnext to the fuel cells does NOT fit my cells return. It's supposed to be a 3/8ths fitting - NOT by my ruler it's not! The roundy round guys have some inline rollovers meant for remote mounting that are like $16 - I'm going for one of those instead... P.S. How many of those battery boxes do you think would pass real tech? I'm pretty sure most wouldn't in a hatchback. They are supposed to be sealedvented to the outside and I'm pretty sure require a metal container that must be bolted solidly. summit sells an aluminum one that appears to fit the bill - I've got one and it looks decent...

Tell me about it Carlo... We've got an Impalla SS and apparently it's the only vehicle around with that size tire! Played hell getting tires for it but stumbled across a GOOD deal mail order. We'd blown one tire right off the rim during the Winter and luckily had a friend with the same car who hadn't thrown away his old tires. Needless to say I've now got a spare old one in the garage too! Juggling rim sizes and tire sizes without flares to get the right offset and not rub is going to be a bear. I'll try stock sized Mustang wheelstires on mine first before expending too much cash but I've got to go 5lug first. Clint - getting into the 12 is pretty darned good no matter what. Many cars on the road today can't hit 12s despite what their owner's think. Doing it with that ECU is just icing on the cake! I hope he doesn't mind if I copy his car just a bit - I'm researching those wheels now on the TSW site

Bummer. AutoMeter is finding some real problems manufacturing the guage series I wanted -> http://www.autometer.com/hp/2000catalog/lunar_series/96_new_for_2000.html I actually got some advance notice on this via an E-mail exchange with an engineer over there and this latest update may actually have been to answer some of my many questions I didn't realize that the material lost life over time but I'm glad they're pointing this out. If they could give a reasonable lifetime I might still buy them (sigh). Looks like it's Ultra-Lites or Phantoms for me! Leaning towards the 4494 tach and 4489 speedo. A shame the electronic speedos don't have trip meters. The Phantom series doesn't have a tach like the 4494 else this would be a harder decision to make...

Tom - one issue with hammering in that area would be the throttle pedal I'd think. Mine is fairly close to the tunnel and I'd be worried about it binding up. I'm actually going to run 2.5inch exhaust both because of cost and because of routing issues. That's a mighty big pipe! One possibility - get yourself a circle track catalog. The chassis guys I'm working with are buying exhaust tubing meant for roundy round cars - it's OVAL for added ground clearance. Perhaps this would work for us too? They claimed that the pipe sections didn't cost all that much and there are adapters available to mate it with regular round tubing. I'll try to find out their source for everyone and maybe costing. DrewZ might be able to help here as well?

Tell your friend to hop on the FordNatics mailing list. There's a guy on there who's got an RX7 with a Ford motor in it and has documented the swap. Unfortunatly I've not got the URL handy. As for the HEI - where isn't it hitting? You have or have not relocated the hood latch? You should either relocate it or use the JTR bracket. The HEI actually slips under the bracket if I recall. Look at some of Mike Kelly's pics - I THINK he used the JTR bracket. DO make sure you get the latch working before you close the hood. I'd even go so far as to pull the motor and get inside while you test it - pulling the hood to fix a balky latch is supposed to be tough to do...

I'm not sure I agree that it has to be loud to make max power. I've seen a couple of tests where mufflers have shown some gains over open pipes and certainly some torque gains as well. Supposedly some of the racers while bitching about sound requirements are secretly using it to their advantage and gaining HP.. Personally, I am willing to sacrifice some power for a reduction in sound and the DynoMax upper end stainless mufflers may find their way onto this car unless I can find a reasonably priced "import" type muffler that's not too loud . I've had 3 chamber Flows on a Mustang and the resonance nearly drove me out of the car! Supposedly the factory mufflers are of two slightly different sizes to prevent this but I've never been able to tell by lookng (shrug). Droning or resonance is the LAST thing I want from even a quiet muffler! It's liek a wave of souond that travels forwards and backwards right through your skull - it really hurts. I put turboes on that car and it quieted right down - when the crappy Flowmasters rusted I replaced them with Dynomax and it's fine now even without the turbos. Pete - which Hooker headers did you find that were 1 3/4? The ones I've seen are 1 5/8ths and I've been considering Sanderson headers to get the larger size. Any regrets on the purchase? Were they coated and if so were they done well? DrewZ - don't suppose you've seen any import styled mufflers on a V8 by any chance? If so.. Loud or not? Did it choke the motor? Seen any reasonably priced? I looked at the Borlas but they're maxxed out at 2 1/4 it seems (sigh). Need at least a 2.5 inlet - I'll be running duals. Stainless is nice but I don't want to pay alot for this muffler (lol). seriously, $150 each wouldn't be too bad but much past that and I'd be hurting I think...

OMG - It's MY car!!!! Seriously - that's my car color and he's running the bumnpers I've got in a box in the other room (glass naturally). My mirrors aren't body color but as ugly and nasty as they are they may be soon Wow - I really thank you for finding and posting this picture - that really helps me decide what sort of wheels would look good on my car! Now if I could just find as good a picture of a car with minilites on it - any color. Geez, he even has the trim stripped just like my car. I hope to have a WEB site up in a week or so and I'm going to enjoy looking at his site. I hadn't considered going with a wheel as big as 18 due to tire cost but 17s or maybe 16s would work well. The TSW combo looks sweet and that pic is good enough to maybe swap other wheel onto it in Photoshop to play with and save me the trouble of taking a pic I've even been to that site - that yellow car makes me swoon too and if I needed paint still his car was one of my inspirations. Mike, what do you think? Like that better than Centerlines? I see he's 5lug too. Wow, thanks again - you've made my day! P.S. Cruising his site and found this -> http://www.eng.fsu.edu/~jthagard/otherzs/walker/mvc-043s.jpg How do I make a pic appear in a posting? Mike, that's a more "Honda" look. Not bad but I think the TSWs are a little better. That car has TONS of nice tweaks done to it including the muffler style I want and a nice gas cap mod. [This message has been edited by BLKMGK (edited August 24, 2000).]

WooHoo! John spoke to his shipping company about the previous quote and got a new one. Can you say $75 shipped! It won't goto my door but will goto the "terminal". I'm not sure if that's the freight depot or if that's to my friend's business address which is where I wanted it to go. This is a BIG difference in price down from the $180 he was quoted earlier. Says the shipping crate is nice too. I'll let everyone know when it arrives. The SubtleZ pics don't give a real good idea of what the cowl hood looks like so if I'll try to take some pics of it when it shows up. Have some fuel cell pics too - need to build a site darn it....

Here's a better one from Street Rodder - www.tptools.com Sorry I didn't have that handy before! Yeah, you can make one but these are better. You get a light, a recycle system, and a vacuum designed for sucking up abrasive dust. Trust me - there will be TONS of dust...

Somebody PLEASE post a part # for solid U-Joints! I thought I saw it here somewhere but I've nto yet tracked it back down. I got STUPID and ordered Spicer joints from Motorsport just before the subject came up here. Not only did I pay darn near $30 apiece for the silly things but when I got them they had GREASE FITTINGS! Dang it - these are supposed ot be performance oriented U-joints and while th ecatalog didn't say specificly that they were solid I ASSumed they would be. DRAT! Now I get to send them back after waiting weeks, I hope they handle this well. In the meantime something is making crackling sounds in back and I'm suspecting a U-Joint. I now have an LSD R200 and I bought seals for it so as soon as I find a flange it'll go in and I'll swap the U-Joints too... Argh!

Harbor Freight and Northern Tool sell them. www.northerntool.com is one of the sites... Pick up a copy of Street Rodder - there's always an add or two in there for blasters and other assorted restoration tools. I use one of those little portable Sears roll around ones myself with no cabinet

Well okay but what about venting then? If that sucker takes gas vapor and recondenses it into gas to return to the tank instead of killing birdies and making my garage a ticking bomb then I'd like to use it. What does it do and how does it work?

Heh, I think in my case the cage might get in the way of that. The rear wheel well just in front of the rear tower has pipe welded to it... I'm thiking of some sort of SMALL box across the back like the box I've seen being sold elsewhere and maybe a pair in the kickpanels. My Miata has nothing but speakers in the doors and it kicks pretty good with no amp - but also no bass I was surprised since the speakers are so low in the compartment.

Okay I've got a 72 240 and am wondering how the heck I'm going to put a stereo in it. I've got a heater panel for the car that hasn't been hacked up already and don't mind cutting it neatly for a DIN head unit if I must. However speaker placement puzzles me greatly. It looks like Zs only has speakers in the far back corners. I've seen boxes for the rear but I seem to recall them being pricey. I can build a small box, no biggie but what about the front? Is there room in the kick panels for a decent speaker? Don't think I'll run an amp just maybe a 4 channel head unit of decent power. Just want a little sound and am curious as to how others are doing it. No chopping up door panels unless Mike can make some nice carbon fiber replacements Thanks!

Okay, I'm not sure what's actually called but on the older 240's there's a triangle shaped metal tank back by the fuel filler. It's got tons of hoses running in and out to the fuel tank and the filler... I now have a fuel cell - this tank is obviously disconnected. The fuel cell must also obviously vent - right now it's venting to the atmosphere. Would hooking it up to the stock vent tank be a good idea? I don't liek just venting gas fumes to the atmosphere - especially in my closed in garage! If I could vent them like the stock Z (mine never had fumes inside the car) then perhaps I would do the environmet a favor and not blow my garage up - yes? Of all of those hoses - which hooks up where? I didn't see how they were attached when the chassis guys removed the tank. Anyone got a better idea? What are others doing about this? I still have to plumb my rollover valve but that should be "soon" so I'd appreciate some ideas ASAP. I'm currently leaving a window open in the garage...

Okay, I'll weight in. I say go sleeper as much as you can. I'm not putting anything on my car that says V8 or 6cyl for that matter. I'll have duals - one on each side - and a fuel tank sump w/braided line peeking out but I hope to keep it fairly quiet. frankly I like a quiet motor - not silent - but not so loud folks have to roll up their windows when I pull up. These Mustang guys w/offroad exhaust and 2 chamber mufflers drive me nuts! I hate it when the thing crackles too. If I can find some REASONABLY priced ricer mufflers I'll do that too. We'll see

I ended up with a Triangle 10gallon tank. Cut out the spare tire well, welded steel supports, bolted it on with the top tabs, it mounts flush with the rear deck. It's got a little welded steel "house" that looks liek the top of a hat box to cover both the sender and the filler. Dzus'ed door for fill purposes. NOT exactly how I wanted it (wanted rear fill) but short of a custom tank this is what I got. Tank is foam filled and Alston Chassis was the only place I could find the darned things! $260 some odd dollars and yes it's aluminum. No straps, it's bolted to the welded frame. be sure you coverseal it well though - my cover is only loosley riveted for now and fumes enter easily!

Stopwatch?! AAAH! Get yourself a G-Tech man - accurate and repeatable. Even if it's not perfect with the local drag clocks it's repeatable enough to know if you're going forward or backwards with mods. Got one myself but nothing at home powerful enough yet to care about

A TBI is much like an electronic carb. It uses injectors and low fuel pressure to inject the fuel inthe intake much like a carb does. The advantage over a carb is that it's more accurate metering (done right). It's also got the carb's advantage of vaporizing fuel in the intake to lower air intake temp. Unfortunatly it's got some of the carb's disadvantages too - it's got the same mixture issues as a carb. Fuel can fall out of suspension etc.. The reaosn why most folks, including myself, don't think much of TBI motors is because most of them are low powered from the factory. We often think of the lower end Camaros with low compression V8s. Truth is if it were hopped up and reprogrammed a TBI would work at least as well as a carb if not better. However I think the real advantage lies in port injection - exactly metered fuel with less worries about the intake plumbing. This way you can go nuts to get long runners for torque, 2 stage intakes ala SHO, or whatever and the fuel is always exactly right injected straight into the port - no suspension issues. (shrug) Different strokes for different folks. Obviously the technology behind a TBI isn't all that bad - it's just not usually used in performance vehicles from the factory (that I know of) for some reason.

heh, actually right now it's got an EEC-IV back in it. Custom chip has been burned for it to my engine - we'll see how it runs in a bit. I'm concentrating onthe Z right now - the Mustang needs a bit of chassis work done before I'll be happy driving it anywhere. Appreciate the offer though - I may yet go back. I did TRY to run it with this new engine combo - it wouldn't hardly start. Going from 30lb injectors to 42 and going from a turbo 302 to a 351W was just oo big a swing. I was afraid I'd wash down the cylinders trying to get it tuned... We'll see once the bugs are out - I may yet wind up DFI or more likely SpeedBrain. I do still have the DFI on the shelf

Ya, I know my tables were screwy. When I got my DFI I had th elittle manual that comes with it and... zip. Yup, nothing nadda' and no help in sight. It actually ran pretty well at WOT but I suspect that things like the spark table were WAY off. I'd graph out the fuel table and tinker with it, datalog, and just plain go nuts trying to get it to run better. Frankly - the DFI software didn't make things terribly easy. Some of the Electromotive stuff LOOKS easier - set a desired AF ratio and drive - it self tunes (to a point). Without some sort of wide band O2 it's also a real bitch to know what's going on - in that car you couldn't just swap out plugs for readings either (sigh). I finally got pretty frustrated with it - it drove pretty well but I knew there was power to be had left in it. Last diddled with it about 2 years ago when the car came off the road. As for the idle - brand new the injectors wouldn't idle. Same injectors with an EEC-IV - back to back - idled fine. Played with timing and most anything I could find - nope. About 6months before I gave up for a motor rebuild I DID get hold of an EEMIC (sp?) training manual - that helped some (shrug). I think a SpeedBrain may be more my speed for that car - starting with a stock baseline would be VERY nice. What seems most clear here is that in order to do this well you should have someone experienced give you a good baseline. From there someone to give you advice helps. Without it you'll be lost as I was and damned frustrated with the DFI software let me tell you! BTW - it runs fine on a luggable 286. Who needs Windows?

Consider a fuel cell guys. I just had one done in my car and while I did lose the spare tire well I now have TONS of room under the car for mufflers and whatnot Only 10 gallons but it's foam filled and solidly mounted. you have to be careful about how low you mount them though - mine's flush with the rear deck to prevent it from hitting curbs when I back in (gulp). -8 to the front and I'm good to go!