BLKMGK

Agreed. To date I've seen problems with two Prochargers - one an early D series and the other my blower that was raced with a cog. The early D series blower turned out to have a defect and it was replaced no problems. It helps that all of this is being done through a dealer and not one on one with ATI I guess. As for boost - please bear in mind what exactly boost is a measurement of. It's a measurement of intake restriction - nothing more. The idea is to move CFM into an engine. I have with my own eyes seen what happens to boost levels on a BLOWER when intake restriction falls off. I had a new intake and severely ported heads added to a Mustang that had been running a Paxton with about 8lbs of boost. Boost instantly fell to about 5PSI and that only at max RPM. However the CFM was the SAME and the car was FASTER! If this had been done on a turbo car the wastegate would've kept the boost the same and power would REALLY have picked up. A P1200 moves enough air to make boost on an unloaded engine. For a centrifigal blower I found this pretty darned impressive. The car my P1200 came out of was dangerous on the street simply because it would pull the wheels and steering control would be lost! Can you say drivetrain breakage? If you think 15lbs of boost will get you 500hp out of a 383 you're nutz! Try closer to 650+ with good heads and exhaust The builder who's doing my 351W claims it'll make 600-650hp with 10lbs of boost based on engines he's done with the same heads, pistons, and cam. My intake on that car will be the restrictor. yeah, I think it's time I got the blown 351W finished and on the street. I'm dying to know if the HP claims are valid - I'm hoping the power is lower to be honest as that much power on a stock crankblock is close to the max it'll handle. P.S. I forgot to mention - ATI came out with a NEw blower! This sucker has NO oil return or pressurized oiling. No more hole in the oil pan ala the old Paxton - schweet! My friend's shop has sold 4 kits so far but none have been installed yet. I'm going to wait and see how those cars do before I get too excited about these

Are you sure you don't mean 235 60's? I've got 225 50's on 15inch rims all the way around on mine I'm pretty sure (fron I'm sure at least) - no rubbing that I've noticed and my fenders are NOT rolled yet.. Not sure of the rim offset or anything but it's a Panasport rim if that helps - most liekly 7inches wide. The tires seem a bit short to me and I've been pondering sizes for a 16 o 17 inch rim. Anyway, not sure I can answer your question but I found a formula the other day that might help a few of us with these kinds of questions. Trying to figure out plus one and other sizes was driving me up a wall - this formula should help! It's from this month's Popular Hot Rodding (width(mm)XAspect RatioX2)divided by 25.4+wheel diameter=tire height For example: 275mmX.40 (ratio)X2divided by 25.4+17=25.6 inches That's for a 275 40 series tire on a 17inch rim. I ran the numbers on my combo and compared it to the height Mike Kelly told me his was - yup I'm a bit shorter than his. I bit taller tire would be good for me I think as it'll keep me off the speed bumps. Figure for each inch taller I'll get a half inch of ride height.

I'm not a Z expert but I THINK I've heard that the 2+2 cars actually had a LOWER ratio rear in them! This is due to it's heavier weight so before you consider swapping it in you'll want to check this out. ZCAR.COM would be a good place to search if no one else here knows for sure. In the end I think you'll be happiest with an overdrive tranny - even a 3.54 will be making some noise at a 65mph cruise. Get it running with the trans you've got and then decide I suppose, I think the physical sizes of a T350 and a 700R4 are such that you might be able to use the same driveshaft with both but I'd double check to be sure if the cost of a driveshaft matters much to you.

Do yourself a favor - get hold of the TPITBI swap book from JTR. Generally they tell folks to stay away from the 'Vette motors because the accessory drives have such whacky routing and packaging but at the price you got I'd take it and run like hell! Congrats - that's a terrific deal. The swap book will also help you figure out which computer and harness to grab. Some are MAF, some have anti-theft stuff, etc, etc. P.S. Not sure what you can do to see if it's hot but you might try calling your local police station and asking. I sure hope it's not - that would really screw the deal up...

Just a quick word of advice - don't use cogs on the street. The deal is this - when you let off the gas with a regualr belt there's some slip, not much with 12ribs, but enough to cusion the blower impeller and bearings. With a cog there's ZERO slip. You let off the gas, downshift, anything - that impeller shaft gets yanked all over the place. You need that little bit of slip, my bearings had to be redone on my modded P1200 because of a cog. Heh, I've actually used traction compound myself on a Paxton - they sold some too I think. Are you using the ProCharger spring loaded tensioner? Doesn't sound like it. It's a sweet but expensive piece - I had to buy one. Would love to see pics of your setup EFI is a good idea IMO, I can't imagine a blower working too well on a carb but I'm sort of biggoted towards FI myself! What intercooler? Sounds pretty sweet but I think I'll concentrate on just getting th eV8 into mine first then EFI and then maybe a blower if I'm crazy or can get a screaming deal...

I need to know EXACTLY what you want. I like the P series myself, I saw oil seal and bearing issues with the D series when they first came out and they seem to mount further out to the side. The D series might move more air than the older P series. I've got a modded P1200 that will make 10lbs of boost minimum on a 351W, I won't want more than that on that motor. Anyway, do go with the 12rib, do NOT go with a cog - it'll trash the bearings. My P1200 on a race car had the cog and it had to have it's bearings rebuilt as a result. The P600 isn't bad but not race level power. A P1200 isn't bad, not sure what all else thay've got to be honest. Figure out which head unit or kit you want and let me know - I'll find out what sort of price I can get. Used blowers are also worth looking at but ASSume they need bearing work, it's not too bad usually. If the impeller shaft can be deflected AT ALL have it rebuilt just to be safe. They may have a used blower or two at the shop, should I ask about those? It's a head unit only tho' most likely.

I'm not sure the D series is the same size as the P600. I've got a P1200 and it's about the same size but guys running the new D series have found that it mounts further off to the side. In one case, a 351W Ford in a Mustang, the guy had to cut sheet metal to squeeze it in. You don't have to do that with a P600 or P1200. BTW - some of the newer D series are MASSIVE. 20+lbs of boost on a V8 is pretty sick Damn things are pretty noisy too. Anyone interested in seeing pics of the various ProChargers? Not on Zs but I can take some of my Mustang's blower, one of the really big ones, and one on a mod motor Cobra pushing close to 500hp...

Holy Smoke - check out the prices for that Camaro motor! http://www.s-series.org/htm/windstorm/project-windstorm-stage3.htm $400 sans PS and alternator? For that price it came WITH the injection?! Now THAT is a screaming deal. These guys carry T56 too for those of you looking -> http://www.tacreationsusa.com/ They've got a whole page dedicated to V6 motors and are located in the SouthEast so that should save some us shipping maybe. Sweet! You can get the 6 as big as 3.8 liters in the $500-$600 range. http://www.tacreationsusa.com/v6engine.htm Oh man - if I wasn't in a hurry to get this done and drive it this would be pretty tempting. I hope someone takes this project up and let's us know how it works out with a blower and T56

I like the idea of a rev happy motor, SBCs make some awesome sounds coming down off an 8K shift However I've decided not to build a motor that will rev to the moon. My concern is parts wear primarily. When your motor starts hitting a high C strange things happen. Things like valvesprings coming apart, keepers breaking, lifters dying, rockers going, and even dampners coming apart scare me off. You have to watch valvetrain weight, spring rates, rotating assembly weights - you get the idea. I'm NOT saying don't do it just pointing out that high revving motors take more care in the parts selection and can be more maintenance. For a Z a higher revving motor is probably not a bad idea and destroking a motor is a good way to get there. I once spoke to a guy who had destroked a 351W and he said it was the fastest revving motor he'd ever driven Keep us posted on your progress and let us know how it turns out. The V6 idea, the GN drivetrain, and a 377 all sound like really cool combos to put together to me. Good luck! P.S. If the 400 crank is an issue go with an aftermarket crank instead of having one turned down. SCAT makes one and I'm going with an Eagle crank (and rods). On a budget I'd bet the SCAT would be cheaper and honestly I don't know that I need the strength of the Eagle stuff but I'm getting it fairly cheap and hope to only do this once. Besides, I might want to run NOS or a ProCharger

REALLY appreciate the pics - he's got one of th eguage packages I've been considering - including the tach! I'd like to know what heads he's running too. Those valve covers are awesome but I think he had to weld the filler in as I think they come "blank" from GM. Very nice look! Any details on the induction would be helpful as lot's of us would like EFI. Would liek to know details on the suspensionwheelstires. Can't quite make out what size tires he's running but the package looks very nice. Is he running coilovers? Can you tell us the spring rates? Seriously, there's lot's there to like and to learn about and I for one appreciate you telling us about it. Just the guage pics alone made my day! Thanks!

Thumbing through this month's Sport and Compact Car I came across a blurb that confused me. One of their articles was about a TT 300ZX, a nice car. reading the drivetrain mods I came across something that might be a mistake but then again might not be so I figured I'd ask here... This racer supposedly swapped his rear for the rear in a NA 300ZX to get a lower ratio. Okay, I can understand that. Except the article said he "swapped out his R230 for the R200 found in the naturally aspirated 300ZX"! Is that possible? R200's in the natural cars, R230s in the turbo? Might it be an LSD? Probably still the same mounting mods would have to be done but... Is this worth looking at ya' think? Having not looked at how the R230s even mount I don't know what hassle it would be but I've chatted with at least one person who's done the swap so I'm pretty curious.

Speaking of foam - some of us were talking about this after one of the latest Sport and Compact mags used this to stiffen thier 300ZX. I noticed that VR's site sells a structural foam so if anyone is looking around for it this is a potential source...

I THINK that either ProCharger or Vortech actually has a blower kit for this motor in an F-Body. If you're really interested my friend deals ProCharger and I can ask about it. If they don't make a specific kit and you're willing to fab one I may also be able to get you just a head unit - possibly used - for a reasonable price. He just sold off a HUGE D3 unit and got hold of another slightly smaller on in a horse trade. Take a close look at this motor in the slight older F-bodies. A coworker had one and it's intake looked just like a little TPI - very neat looking. I also seem to recall GM's skunkworks building up a really nasty Camaro with one of these, possibly twin turbo but I'm fuzzy onthat part. It's NOT a bad motor, especially if you use the roundy round race parts. Headers might need to be custom maybe but this could be a pretty cool little powerplant especially if it's got forced induction Keep us posted guys - this is a cool project IMO.

Mike Kelly and I have actually been discussing this of late. I was able to get a deal on that Camaro radiator of $190. Mike on the other hand had a better idea for his car - the Griffen "universal" radiator sold in Summit and Jeg's for about $190. It has bigger tanks than the GM radiator and is completely aluminum. Just as a quick aside - the radiator shop told me they cannot repair Ford plastic radiators ala Cobra but CAN repair the GM so repairability shouldn't be an issue for either of these. However the question fo rme was which radiator. Mike bought a 26X19 radiator. A pull of the tape measure revealed only 25.5 to 25.75 inches of room between my frame rails. Mike was nice enough to measure his Griffen and it comes out to just 25.5 inches, not 26! It would seem that perhaps Griffen hasn't measured their radiators very well. The other option, and one I'm tempted to take in case Griffen got their act together, is their 24X19 radiator. Before I do anything I'll measure the hole in the front shell to see how much of the core would be exposed regardless. Now then - mounting. Mike came up with a trick way of doing his that didn't use the JTR mounts. He's also found a nice chrome piece to hold the top of the radiator, not sure where he sourced it from. I don't know the details so hopefully he'll post them. I've got the JTR mount on order but could wind up using his method instead myself....

Can you guys give me some idea as to how much these bars weigh? They're mild steel according to their site - is this DOM pipe or does it have a seam in it? I'm talking to someone about having a cro-mo 8+point cage builtinstalled and it's running just over a grand (ouch). If this is DOM pipe I might just be better off starting with this and skipping the cro-mo weight savings. Sale is almost over so I'll have to figure this one out in a hurry Thanks! P.S. Side bars in my case will be used simply because the 240 has ZERO side impact protection. I'll be running a roof bar along the windshield too but not the knee bar. [This message has been edited by BLKMGK (edited June 29, 2000).]

Heh, that makes sense! I didn't even stop to think about how hot those little nubs must get when the switch heats up! I'd better get that harness in quick or I'm liable to have the same problems you did. Glad to hear it worked out but I'd still watch the amperage on that sucker - it's got to be getting hot in there.

Okay - more questions on gauges! Looking closely at the Autometer stuff I'd like a tach with peak memory and a shift light. I CAN find an in-dash Ultra-Lite tach that has a memory but not so in the Phantom and neither has the shift light. I CAN add a Summit peak switch to the Phantom tach (and a light$$) but I'm not sure I like the looks of it - why didn't they mirror the Ultra-lite tach with memory in the Phantom series?! (grumble) Looking still further I've found a silver SuperComp2 tach - pedestal mount - that has both the thin shift light I want, the memory, and a nice lower 9K limit. My worry is that it won't mount in the dash as nicely as an "in-dash" tach would. Has anyone tried to put a regular tach into their dash? Any pictures out there of the in-dash or pedestal mount gauges in the Z dash? I saw SuperDan's postings but found no pictures (waaa!). I'm just about to order my gauges and if a pedestal mount tach works I might even be able to go with the Phantoms I wanted in the first place. Help! Last but not least - anyone seen the AutoMeter Carbonfiber gauge series in person? The pictures look like crap and a silver needle seems funky but whenever I've seen carbon fiber stuff in person it's looked pretty sweet. Do these AutoMeter gauges look any better in person?

THAT is one pretty car! Screaming yellow floats my boat and if memory serves he did the paint himself in his garage, very nice job. I knew that someone was looking for the correct halfshaft and had access to parts books to do the cross checking. Really cool that the problem may have been solved! However, aren't the VLSDs as rare or rarer than the clutch type? Is there something other than the special edition white car that had them? I'd love to be able to swap in a rear out of a TT car to be honest - there's enough of them around (assume they're LSD) that it would seem to be a good candidate if it could be done. Other than basic mounting how far off is the halfshaft lengths and things like that for the TT rear, anyone know?

Some general info I learned on a Turbo'ed V8 I can share and hope it helps... At an idle my intake air temp would rise pretty high. Heat off the intake and stagnent air flow allowed the intake air to get pretty warm. Moving off idle it would drop some but would be noticeably above ambient by at least 20 degrees or so (been awhile, I'm fuzzy here). Matting the throttle I'd hit about 10-12lbs at WOT and intake temps would PLUMMET! Pretty quickly I'd see intake temps pretty close to ambient. So long as the intercooler is effecient, sees decent airflow, and the turbos aren't being run out of their airflow range you ought to see much the same thing I'd think. This is assuming that your air intake gets fresh air too BTW. Speaking of the intake - check the pressure drop there before the turbo inlet. If you see vaccum (sp?) you've got work to do as thismeans there's a restriction. Restrictions on a turbo inlet can really hurt performance a great deal. Obviously you won't see below ambient unless you run spraybar (water spray on the intercooler - race planes do this mostly) or use a waterair intercooler and ice (drag race). Changes in ambient temps made BIG HP changes in my car to say the least so keep that in mind. A hot day could cause some nasty detonation and a cold one can cause you to go lean. It sounds like you've got an intercooler now and are considering changing it, yes? Have you instrumented the one you've got now? You'll want to know pressure drop across the core - intake/outlet and you'll want to know temp drop too. Somewhere there's a formula for computing effeciency of the core, if you've got the readings or want the formula I can try to dig it up - I've got a book on turbos here somewhere. Honestly the numbers don't mean as much to me as performance tho' If you do the instrumenting and it looks bad then I'd consider a swap but do identify where the problem is first. High temps on the turbo outlet could mean it's out of it's map. High pressure drop across the intercooler could mean it's too restrictive for your boost range. If the temp drop is low look for airflow obstructions over the core, even paint on the core can screw this up! Do be careful of your tubing lengths as this will cause lag and pressure drop that might negate a more favorable mounting position. The new ballbearing turboes look to be pretty sweet and if I hadn't gone a different direction would've been the upgrade path for my old twin turbo motor... Good luck!

Ordered the harness today from Jeg's. $89 with handling, ouch! However since it says it's for the H4s I figure this will make it a little easier to wire. If that wire on the right side isn't soldered then yeah it got real hot. Mine has a BIG ball of solder on it! Right side away from driver - correct? That's the wire that goes towards the lights - the one nearest the driver on the rightmost side carries the juice from the batteryfusebox. Anytime a high amp circuit sees resistance it'll heat up. The way the fuse tabs on the Datsuns were done they get corroded, resistance climbs, and heat becomes an issue. You want to try and keep those high amp loads down if you can. Replacing headlights with higher wattage beams like my H4s just makes this problem that much worse. I was a bit ticked the previous owner didn't put relays in, he had to have had problems. The little switch doesn't have real good contact even brand new, it's no surprise this part heats up when we add more amps or age corrodes the contacts...

Hey, thanks for the informative post! Yes, BIG difference to Arizona Z It's nice to see someone willing to take a few minutes and give everyone the facts. I'm not sure I'm up to doing all sorts of massive conversions to my car anytime soon but I WILL keep you in mind should anyone else ask or should I need something like a hood! I've got a glass cowl hood on my Mustang that uses pins and the stock hinges. I thought it would be a real pain day to day but it's not at all. My old Vega GT (V8) had one too and I really liked it. When I'm further along I have a feeling that added cooling could be needed and one of your hoods will probably fit the bill if the local paint shop can match my paint color. Can you give a ballpark cost to ship out to Virginia? Chris, Mike, anyone else want to maybe consider a group buy? We'd save on shipping if nothing else. I'm not in a big hurry but if anyone else out this way considers it keep me in mind. Also, other than the hood what else might you have that we'd be interested in? Glass bumpers are pretty nice, Mike Kelly has them and I've got some in a box for my car. Sounded like you had a dashboard replacement - is there a pic anywhere? The fenders look to use bonded on flares - yes? Lot's of Z folks are interested in flares especially those who need the extra rubbertraction Anything new coming down the pipe perhaps? Open to suggestions maybe? It's nice to see someone continuing to keep the Z going. Some of the vendors seem to be dropping out and that makes it all the harder for those of us left. Thanks for taking the time to stop by, I for one appreciate it!

Wow, a yard that not only caters to people doing swaps but does them themselves! They've got a decent WEB site too which is a plus. Selling the motor with all of the wiring and brackets is pretty cool too. I don't think I'm quite up for tackling a full-on EFI swap this time around but those guys sound like a good source. How are their prices? One yard I checked into for the T56 awhile back was fairly rude pricewise but very helpful otherwise. Anyone done the LS1 yet? Looking at their pictures I could hardly stop myself from drooling over that motor. Imagine people's surprise when you popped the hood on that sucker!

Oh man - I've been curious as a cat about this myself. the JTR TPITBI book had some information on this I believe but it wasn't too helpful other than brackets. Seems like using the original A/C components would make the most sense if the car had them but what works best if it didn't? I've seen people selling the parts for upwards of $400 or more - ouch! I'd be interested in hearing more about how the StreetRod kits work out and how intrusive they are to the passenger compartment. I've got aways to go before I'm going to have to worry too much about this but the more information the better! Thanks!

I really like that hood and as finished fiberglass parts go $300 isn't too rude. Looks like a hood I had on a Vega GT once SpeedRacer have you ordered from them before? Parts fit? They finish the underside well? How was shipping pricewise? I noticed on Saturday just how much heat Mike's car was putting out under the hood. He's got the later model vented hood whereas mine is currently a stock 240 hood. I'm a bit worried that I won't have enough airflow! I looked to see how his vents were mounted but I don't think they would work well on a flat hood. If I've got to get and paint a hood anyway it might just as well be glass I'm told the hinges in front can crack them if you're not careful - is there a way around this short of removing them? Any way to maybe weaken the torsion springs? Liiiike that SubtleZ! P.S. Had the SAME experience with Arizona that everyone else does. I really think he doesn't want any business! MotorSport now sells fiberglass bumpers BTW if anyone is interested. Arizona not only gave me attitude when I asked, wanted a $1K order, but also said they weren't sure they would make any more since they didn't sell well and often broke in shipping. Sheesh, a real grouch on the phone too! [This message has been edited by BLKMGK (edited June 27, 2000).]

I went through this myself for the first time on Thursday. Worse, the parts car I've got has a switch with a different connector on it and they're supposed to be the same year (72). Anyway, as was said pull the column cover free. The switch on top of the combo switch controlled my lights. The one on the left was for parking, the other was for headlights. The wire on each switch nearest the driver while sitting in the seat was the "hot" wire - check it with a volt meter. If it's not got power follow it back, check fuses, etc. On my car it had power but when fliped forward only the parking lights worked - the forward wire on the far left side got power but not the right side far forward. I unplugged the combo switch and removed the whole assembly - there will be some seperate heavy guage wires and some smaller ones in a plug. The heavier ones are what apparently get smoked as mine had been repaired previously. This time though it was the little copper seesaw in the combo switch. I knew voltage was going in but not out so I removed that single piece of the switch and cleaned it - three screws is all. there are some small little rubber nubs with springs in them - be careful of them when you take the swtich off the top of the combo stalk! Since you smelled something burning you may have smoked a wire or the little copper seesaw things. Be careful and check it out closely as it sounds like something might have grounded - electrical fires are bad news! Make sure you solder in any wire you splice in as it seems that high resistance connections on a Z are bad news judging from the fusebox and my experiences with the combo switch. Consider a relay which is what I'm going to use myself - see below. My switch was brand new from the previous owner and still gave me problems. He had installed H4 headlights which have apparently upped the amperage enough to heat the switch up (plastic cover slightly melted and it gets hot). I'm going to be changing this such that the switch only carries the load for a set of relays instead. Painless Wiring sells a kit for H4 lights and I'm going to try it out on my car. Is anyone interested in this being a tech article? I don't know how hard it will be to splice in but I'm going to try and not hack up the harness too badly. My headlights ought to get more amps and be brighter too - bonus! Let us know what's wrong with your's as it seems this is a common problem on the Z car...