BLKMGK

Okay, I've got a Cobra fan housing and what I was told was a Cobra fan motor from a wrecking yard. The motor has three prongs on it and looks liek every other Cobra fan motor I've seen so I believe this is correct. I have it wired such that the top prong is gorunded and I have relays going to the other two prongs switching 12 volts. I have setup my relays such that if I manually trigger one of them power to the other is cut off The only potential downside I see is that a failure in one of them might render the second inoperative (ahem). I have verified their operation with a volt meter and it works as I intended. So, I needed to now figure out which prong was hi-speed and which was low. I had been told that running the fan on high all of the time could cause it to burn up - this happened to a friend (hence my getting the housing!). I put a jumper from the wire that I intended to use a thermo switch to hot and the fan cranked up - cool! I then flipped the manual switch in the cokpit (heh, avoided the censor) expecting to see the fan speed up or slow down - nothing changed! Puzzled I played with the wires in various configurations on the fan using just one hot wire. I found a way to short them and I found a way to run the fan backwards just fine. However nothing I do seems to activate any sort of "hi-speed" operation. Desperate I ran juice to BOTH of the wires feeding the fan as this was how the wiring assembly that had been made fo rme was originally wired - again nothing changed?! Have I missed something here? I'm not actually worried abut cooling since the fan blows up oen heck of a storm but darn it I want a low and hi-speed and I do NOT want to burn this motor up! I know from my friend's experience that it won't burn up super fast but this IS a junkyard motor so there's no telling. How has everyone else wired up the Taurus motors? Any troubles? Could this motor just be goofy? Suggestions appreciated. At this point I may just not worry about it and enjoy the fact that I've got a manual option if I want it. Would you believe that when the fan is on and the hood off that I can feel a slight breeze at the BACK bumper of the car? It sucks paper up against the radiator easily and I've got a good 1/4inch gap between the radiator and the fan housing - it's NOT sealed. Nice fan Pete, how hard would it be to wire up something to sort of delay time the fan turn off if I wanted? Sort of a cheap turbo timer?

Aw now there you go throwing math and common sense at the problem - sheesh. Thanks, very good point!

Umm, why Paxton? Most of the Mustang people I know avoid them these days. IF you do go Paxton do NOT get one of the SN95 blowers that use the old "ball drive" system. Also do NOT go with a Powerdyne, they've had no end of problems. Vortechs (say an S trim) work in this power range and ATI blowers with an intercooler would probably put you past that figure Yeah, I freely admit I'm an ATI bigot. Look at the older P1200 or P600 series blowers used as they will certainly get the job done and then some! If you want to go NA then get a good set of heads, good intake (Cobra or GT-40 would work in this range and keep torque), mild cam, and enjoy. You could also run a blue bottle and be there with few changes from a stock shoftblock Last but not least - check out the Holly Systemax setup for Fords. I believe it's heads, intake (Nice!), and cam. Holley apparently did their homework on that package and since it's all designed to work together there shouldn't be any surprises. I'm NOT sure what it dynos out at but if you peruse a few mags or maybe check their WEB site you might find out. At the very least it would be proven parts put together for this. Givena choice I'd go blower. The feeling when boost comes on is incredible. This is also a pricey package so I completely understand anyone who opts to not do it. Used blowers are always an option though, the one on my Mustang came off of a race car and only needed bearings. Food for thought... P.S. Yeah, I've assumed an EFI setup - it's what I know best. For a carb I'm not sure, 'm sorry.

whew, I'm not nutz - thanks Not much of a picture is it? squint a little, it's a NACA duct I swear! Either that or someone sneezed on my monitor (lol). Where can you buy NACA ducts these days? I've looked through a race catalog o two and not really seen anything suitable. Just not sure something like this will fall into place unless it's made for this application but I'm not above looking! I wondered about maybe making that an air intake for the motor too but the cowl on my car is probably a better choice. anyway, do please let me know if anyone has better success with these guys than I did....

John, is 660CCA enough for a cold start, say in Winter? How about a hot start with a little heat soak? The RX7 guys have a small (okay, tiny) battery that they often swap in but I've heard all sorts of complaints and it's not like that motor takes much juice to crank ya' know? I saw some small 660CCA batteries in Jeg's but they were pretty pricey for the amperage they offered. I actually wouldn't have minded a slightly smaller battery but the price on this one was right as was the weight. Can you tell us more about the one you've got? WEB site to order maybe? I might like to get the heavy beast out of my Z and the woman needs a replacement battery for her car too.

Windsors did indeed start out as grocery getters but they've come a good loong ways from that now Stroker kits get you to over 400cubes if you want and blowers can be bolted on with a minimum of fuss. Parts availability can't be beat especially if you want an aluminum head. Bearing speeds ARE supposed to be an issue but honestly I've not had a need to spin a motor over 6500RPM in awhile. Most of mine are done by 6K except for the rotary . Higher speeds put higher loads on a motor all around, I don't mind having an engine all done by 6500 (shrug). Anyway, I've seen some writeups on the 400's. Talk about a stepchild Those motors never got any respect but they've apparently got some potential for performance. Not sure if they weight much more though and in a Z I'd be worried about weight. There's no sens in giving up our weight advantage if we can help it. Hrm, read an interesting blurb on a NASCAR site today hunting aorund - NASCAR motors are all around 350 cubes (I knew that) and are mostly destroked motors, this I didn't know! I spoke to a guy once who had destroked a 351W, he claimed it revved like mad and made lot's of power! Very interesting but can't help but wonder about bearing speeds, anyone know how this is overcome? Ah well, I'm SBC for now but if I did anohter Z it would no doubt be something interesting like an EFI Windsor or maybe a Buick like Scotties [ July 03, 2001: Message edited by: BLKMGK ]

The 84 and 85 Mustangs had a cutout too. Ford removed it when they went EFI as it's a noticable voltage drop when it kicks in. You could actually see the lights dim...

Neener neener, I've got an O-ring! Want to bet it leaks?

This is a FAQ - do a search. Some of th ediscussions were pretty interesting with the most interesting one (IMO) being the use of pickup bed liner in liquid form! I used Dynamat myself but had I heard of this bed liner I think I'd have dpone that instead as it sounds perfect. The Dynamat spray cans don't go far BTW and have really high pressures that spray crap everywhere if you're nto careful. I think my site even has pics of where I put the Dynamat and the aluminum foil stuff (boought at Home Depot BTW). Note that you do NOT have to cover every inch of the pan with this stuff - that's not how it's supposed to be used. IF you choose to use Dynamat you can buy their "trunk kit" and have enough to cover most of the Z's pans and panels. That's what I used. Buy a wallpaper roller and use a heat gun for best results. If you've got more questions about what I did after searchng fire away and I'll try to help. At least one of us here has engineering experience in sound deadening on subs so there's plenty of help on this subject here

Do ZX mirrors swap on well? Duh, I never thgought of that! I know where I might be able to get some too! Are they power or anything? What about the 300ZX - were those corner mounted mirrors or door mounted? I kind of want to keep mine door mounted since I've already got gaping holes there... Hrm, stupid question but has anyone got a good pic of a ZX that I oculd see mirrors in? This might solve my mirror dillema - thanks!

Oh boy, I REALLY want to see those pics! Do please document this as best you can and tell us any snags you run into. If my clutch LSD goes this will be high on my list of alternatives and any pioneer work you do will be appreciated by all!

Check your mounts - could they be flexing? Mustang blower guys often have this problem. At idle and whatnot it's no big deal - belts are fine. As RPM grows the crank will actually try to "walk" up the belt since there's load on the other end trying to keep up. The mount will flex, allow the belt to be drawn down, and the slack side flips off the pulley. For an alternator this could probably also happen - deeper pulleys might also help but most of the ones I've seen also underdrive the pulley. Look at your mount, maybe just shoring it up somehow would help?

Were teh 280ZXT computers really that sophisticated? I didn't think they were that smart and were primarily analog - no? Wow!

Allright... picked up some Autolite plugs that crossed with the Champions. They looked shorter but they've got the EXACT same problem! These are Platinum plugs though so I went ahead and loosened the header and bolted on in. I can imagine the joy of doing this down the road some hot Saturday afternoon - bleah! Heard back from Edelbrock "tech support". "Shortest one I know of, you might want to contact the plug companies". Gee, thanks! Got the real impression he thought about that for all of 5 seconds. Plug is in there now but I cannot put my finger between it and the header - it's tight. I'm betting the plug boot WILL touch and will burn - joy! These headers are coated so banging on them or torching them is a no-go. I might get energetic and swap sides just in case tolerances are coming into play here but with Stage8 locking bolts this is a serious PITA - I lost a clip today as it was. What's everyone else's experience with plug clearance? What heads, what headers yadda yadda. If any of us are doing better let's at least get it out here so the guys coming after us have a head's up!

Thank you Davy - means alot actually. In the past my car's have looked decent but never anything to write home about under the hood except maybe a little polish well alot but anyway... This car has just gone together pretty well. It's simple, hasn't required too many wires, and just looks "nice". I never really looked at it from an aesthetics standpoint until folks here commented on it and yeah, it's coming out allright. Can't wait to drive it and get it dirty (lol).

Umm, the distributor has a seal? Heh, do tell please! I'm new to SBC but my Ford never had any sort of seal - just drop it on and go. Wazzit look like?

Right side has a starter. Honestly it's pretty far back though so I'm NOT sure it would be an issue. IF I think of it I'll try to snap a close up of that side for you and of the driver's side steering rod on a US car to help you picture it. Ya' might have to remind me though - been really busy lately...

I didn't realize they had an aluminum header version - niiiice! I've seen a price somewhere but I don't recall exactly what it was. I want to say in the neighborhood of $6K (iron head) but don't take that as gospel at all. It really is one heck of a motor if the mags are to be believed! As for a WEB site, I'm not sure. I've only seen this in mags so far and that only recently.

I want something sort of round and fluid looking like the RX7 with LED turn signals in them. Mike/SCCA was going to try and use late model Miata mirrors and that sounded pretty good to me - Mike any progress? My mirrors look like weathered garbage...

The Mustang with stock rear gears couldn't pull it's top gear in 5th to begin with. At 55mph 5th was pretty low even with optional 3.08's in my car. Driving a Mustang back to back with 3.08 and 3.73 or 3.55 gears makes a night and day difference - for the better. where you'll run into problems is tire height, how tall is the tire combo you're going to run? [ July 03, 2001: Message edited by: BLKMGK ]

Well, it's been awhile but I did see the engine mounted, with shorties, and the shifter did indeed come through the stock hole. I can't speak to height though as I simply don't remember but I saw it with the stock intake bolted on and it looked about right. One of his primary misions was having the shifter come through the stock hole and he let the rest of it fall wherever. I think he had some old MAC headers on there and when I mentioned headers to him on Saturday he said that he had stock style haders on there just fine. Since I've not actually tried it myself I certainly couldn't argue with him about it.

WOW! Just got off the phone with Denny over at Denny's driveshafts up in New York www.dennysdriveshaft.com What a nice guy! Their "heavy duty" driveshaft in the length that we require (T56->R200Neapco) is going to be $189 prior to shipping. This is a serious shaft but not quite their top of the line model. Since we all have issues with breaking things other than the driveshaft it wasn't recommended that I go with the top of the line model. I was also told not to worry about an aluminum shaft since the weight savings would be nearly nill on this length of shaft. He'll have it on my doorstep when I return from Las Vegas in about two weeks ready to bolt in. Solid Us that are maintenance free and if I ever need work done to it they will do the labor for free and just charge me for parts if I ship it to them Scottie and others - he seemed VERY familiar with 'Vette rears and builds shafts for them. He does do SOME CV work but I'm not sure how much he can do of the type we use. I didn't ask him if he could build stub axles though, I figure someone who builds custom axles would be th eone for that. Anyway, so far a VERY good experience and a super nice guy to talk to on the phone. I gave him my measurements from Picture B and the flange to back of trans measurement I posted here earlier and he says I'll have no worries when it shows up. Whew, another step taken! Starting to count down here guys...

Heck, just go into a DSM forum and ask - they yank those things off and upgrade all the time! BTW on the link I left above someone is selling some Volvo intercoolers that might be helpful to some of you turbo guys...

Umm, yes it is. Hlafway down th epage, side shot of an IMSA equipped car, "air dams" right under it. Picturer of a hood to the right of the IMSA car has a duct with an arrow floating over it. The details I posted above are IN the page and if you search on duct it should come up. I pulled the information earlier today from that page, it's not changed in over a year. Short of snipping a portion of the graphic and posting it I'm not sure how much clearer I can be. That's the ONLY place I've seen replacement ducts that aren't in the stock style and I've looked quite a bit for them.

Got some radiator hoses. Lower one is a flex piece that's 15inches long, doesn't look too bad. Upper is a molded hose, not sure what it came off of but I had to cut an end off Naturally the place I went wasn't a NAPA and there was no cross #. Kripes some of these local places stink, thankfully there are some good small shops but their hours generally blow. Here'a shot of it, you can barely see the lower hose and I left labels where they could be seen ->