BLKMGK

Virginia is 25 years and older exempt. So.... Guess what I believe you're good to go buddy, congrats! Mine is a '72 FWIW and I've got no worries about inspection, emissions, etc. etc. Schweet! Hrm, just in case though double check wih DMV. This was supposed to have been a fairly recent law and I know that at least one attempt to change it has supposedly failed. Don't take my word as gospel though just in case as I'd feel REALLY bad if I ended up wrong (sigh). [ June 19, 2001: Message edited by: BLKMGK ]

My point was that much past 400HP things start getting expensive. Intercoolers need upgrading - two of them, turbos - two of them, and on and on. Right up to about where you're at with 400 some odd HP it's been fairly cheap. Now go further and watch the prices go upwards as you need things like injectors and whatnot. IMO the 300ZXTT is a great car, I almost wish I had one instead of my RX7TT as the motor is more durable. But having spoken to guys going balls out with the mods it's aparent that after a certain point you have to switch out lot's of stuff to go faster as things peak out. 400HP out of a V8 is a cakewalk these days and a blown V8 is just plain sick

I've seen articles on th efreon type setup and at least one Cobra kit car out there was supposed to have one on it - with a 2.4 turbo of all things. As for the A/W thing. I think this isn't bad for the stret at all so long as it's got a decent radiator for it. I water cooled the CPU in my computer awhile back (I ovreclock everything!) and ofund that after a day my several gallons of water ould get REAL warm. I was running it through a small trans cooler but still it got hot. So, I hooked up a small fan to it - WOW what a difference! what I learned was that airflow was VERY important over the device you want to cool the water. Chances are an A/W cooler won't ever get the water down to ambient but the closer you can get it down there the better. Water removes heat FAR better than air does, cool the water - maybe with Lone's freon idea - and the A/W cooler will work very well indeed. Even if you don't get the intake charge to ambiant if th eboost is high enough it won't be that big a deal since an A/A cooler migh be even less effective. Make sense? You'd really need to sit down, do some math, and figure out just how big a tank you'd need to do this right for street driving. BTW - the new Lightnings have a BIGGER tank this year than last and a bigger intercooler core too. Hrm! Think maybe they learned something?

Don't forget the aftermarket A/C systems too. Vintage Air has one that looks like it owuld be righ tat home...

I may have those articles squirrled away. Trouble is it woud be mixed in with the other 500 or so mags I've got! Series spanned several issues and included paintbodywork on the car in bright red. They ran some early EFI setup that I think was even MAF. Ahead of it's time to say the least!

Stock LSD will take 300 ponies no biggie. So long as driveline angles are good the Us ought to hold at that level. Heck, I'm looking to push 425+ through that same setup Big brakes, mild to wild, we've got it all going on here. www.fonebooth.com is where I'm sourcing my BIG brakes but there are other sources and options too. Pick a budget and away you go

You'll need the Centerforce SFI flywheel for this. Figure $250 + clutch. Don't run a run of the mill clutch if this puppy makes BIG power. My car will make in the 425+ range but I'm going to run a slightly upgraded clutch - I figure the lighter vehicle weight will help but it remains to be seen if this will be enough. If you're much over that ask around to see what's best. Make sure you check the holes in that flywheel too - mine came sans threads in one hole Anyway, that flywheel is made for this applicaiton. Looks really funky and is pretty heavy but...

Aw man, and I thought 11inches was going to be enough in this club Looks nice, can it be done in 5lug? (lol) Vented? How much work? Will check out pics!

Had them on my previous Z. I didn't drive it much but it didn't seem to make steering effort too bad. I guess if you feel the steering is too loose go for it (shrug). This car doesn't have them that I know about, steering feels fine to me so I'm not looking to get them right now.

In the case of the Z swap, IMHO, it comes down to which is best documented. The Chevy is. Do you want a 6speed? Yup, GM is easiest. Most power? That's a crapshoot. I'm a Ford guy. I know lot's about Fords andhave been involved with them for going on 16 years now. The late model FOX stuff I know plenty about. I'm putting a SBC in my Z There were just things that I wanted that were easier this way. IF motor mounts had been made for the Ford swap and a 6speed "deal" available for me I'd probably have gone Ford. But they weren't so I went Chevy. I expect to get at least as much power from this motor than I would a Ford (shrug). Some advantages to the Ford swap though... Ford parts, at least the EFI stuff, seems to be cheaper. Manifolds, MAF meters, injectors, throttle bodies - it's everywhere. Wrecked FOX bodied Mustangs litter the junkyards. The motor is lighter too. All in all it's a toss up and I guess it depends on what you want to do. If you want a 6speed then Ford is more expensive. If you want it simple with no fabrication then GM. If you want a lighter motor an ddon't mind the work - Ford. There's no one right answer...

Make sure yo ucheck into their strength before you get too excited. Some years are supposed to be pretty fragile. I personally wouldn't mind having a nice aluminum IRS setup under my car though

Be aware that the 8.8 C-clip eliminators leak and aren't designed for hard cornering loads - no biggie on a drag car bit... The right way to setup an 8.8 is to use 9inch ends which also allows you to use brake setups like the one from the Explorer. I too would like to know more about the VLSD setup - especially for an R230 rear. Lone, how tall are your tires? I too would like a usefull 1st and 2nd but would also NOT want a 6th that couldn't be pulled.. Anyone looked into swapping gears in the trans? There are a couple of versions aorund, perhaps some juggling could be done? I seem to recall the R230 ratios are even lower than 3.7 right?

I'll try to take some tonight, no one's ever asked me for those before You'll get to see the neat rollbar wrap. I did have to notch the padding near the steering wheel as otherwise my hand rubbed it The front bars make using the dead pedal tough too which bugs me some but not too much. Will try to get the pics tonight while I'm out there...

Let us know if you go cryro and how well they wear - that's supposed to really increase life but I've always wondered if it was true or not. Mike, crossdrilled wear faster? I thought they just cracked more and ate up pads like a cheesegrater, no? Looking forward to getting my brakes

Hrm, I wondered about powering up both of those poles - doh! I had been warned not to run the high speed all he time as it WOULD burn the motor out. Hrm, this will be a PITA to wire around. What happens if both poles get power? I'l reread the JTR stuff and see if I can figure out which wire goes where. I had thought this was one of my last things to wire, apparently not. BTW - Autometer wrote to let me know that my speedo shoul be going out to me either last Friday or today. Apparently the LCD speedos didn't go into production until the 13th of this month. Seems I get one of the first!

With a blower it wouldn't be that big a deal. Say 10-12lbs of boost and a good EFI setup. Why is leary of a blower?! If he wants to do this N/A he'll be needing to stroke that sucker and maybe look to a 400 based SBC. Sure it could be done with 350cubes but it would be pretty nasty to drive on the street IMO. Why not build a decent 350 and slap NOS on it for that matter? Why the big attraction to that number BTW - what does that equate out to in the 1/4? Or is that simply a mine's bigger than your's sort of number he's picked?

We kicked the foam idea aorund not long after the Sport Compact Car guys did it in their 300ZX. I still think it's a good idea but it's low on my list now that the interior is in and I've got DynaMat everywhere I'd like to foam the rockers - maybe when I pull the fenders down the line I'll consider it. There are some longtemr rust issues to consider when you do this - must use the correct foam and NOT the standard issue insulating foam from Home Depot

Low mount alternator? Is the motor setback like the JTR or is it mounted Scarab style right over the stock mount pads? I tried a low mount alternator with the JTR and it ran smack into the setback plates. It apparently fits in a ZX fine...

Okay, I'm getting into the home stretch with wiring and am feeling pretty good However I've got a couple of questions (naturally). My 240 wiring matches up with the JTR colors perfectly (whew). However I'm NOT running an HEI which JTR refrences quite a bit nor am I running a points box. I'm also running a one wire alternator... I've got the whitered wire hooked to the alternator, correct? I've got the solid white wire hooked to the battery hot side. I've got the coil wired to the tach and distributor. I've got a Holly oil pressure switch wired to the fuel pump, ignition switch for pressure while cranking , and to the coil. There are several wires originally on the driver's side refrenced by JTR. So far I don't think my ignition is going to get power so where do those wires go and which go where. I believe two are blackwhite. I thought I had this all straight but those wires are puzzling me. A little help plz as right now I see no power getting to the distributor. Doh! I began wiring up my electric fan and test ran it off my charger. WOW does it blow some serious air! It was pretty stable too which was a relief. Not sure which pin is high speed and which is low but I'll work that out unless some can clue me. It's a Cobra fan but the Taurus ought to be close, ground was top pin. I'll run high speed manually and would like to have the low speed on a thermo switch. What switch has everyone found to be reliable? My previous fan had a switch that was adjustable but I don't trust it and have no wiring diagram - most of the wires are simply black (sigh). Jeg's has several in various price ranges and there are otehrs in rod mags. Any one in particular better than another or vice versa? Just need to trigger a relay not actually run the fan. Will slide it between the fins most likely, just need it in the ballpark to kick in the fan while idling in traffic. Thanks!

I'm not sure that any of us have used that builder. My builder was a Ford race motor builder out West that also does Chevy when no Ford guys are looking Looking at that site the biggest "issue" I'd have is his use of iron heads. Aluminum heads could save you quite a bit of weight! In a race car weight is your enemy so aluminum heads would be a nice thing to have. You could certainly upgrade to those later if you wanted - his prices are attractive. You might want to call them up and see what they can offer in the way of aluminum. Look closely at GM crate motors too. Warranty and aluminum heads delivered to your door. The ZZ4 and the new 383 motor are pretty nice and would meet your HP requirements. Expect to have to buy a flywheel, and to spend $250 if it's SFI rated. If this is a track car only and not drag raced a T5 might work fine for you. If it'll be driven on the street, highway cruised, and beat on from a stop then I'd look for a T56. The T5 weighs noticablly less FWIW. Some incidentals to keep in mind: Radiator - $200 (aluminum) Distributor - $100 and up if not included Ignition - $150+ (I'm just using the distributor though - rev limiter and multispark later!) Clutch master - $75? It's a Tilton unit. Aluminum water pump - $150 or more (new) Carb - $150 or more Fuel lines and fittings - $150 or more (guesstimate) Shifter - $100 and up for aftermarket stuff Starter - $200 and up (my OEM was $250!) Alternator + pulleys - $250 and up Driveshaft - $??? You get the idea. There's more to this than a motor and trans. If you've not got an R200 you'll want one - with an LSD if possible. Just make sure you know what you're getting into an dbe prepared to blow the budget. IMO it would be worth it At least buy the JTR book and see what it takes. It's not really a weekend project like a 3.0 might be but in the end you'd have some serious power!

The breather I'm using actually has a PCV valve inside of it. No baffle under that but I believe it's ahead of the rockers anyway. If it sucks oil getting anything to baffle it will be tough! No drippers or anything liek that underneath - just smooth aluminum. We'll see how it goes, I've got roller rockers so I hope it'll be okay.

Which bushings? For the rear I followed what Drax did but before you get that far you have to get the suspension pins out. THAT is the PITA, once you've done that getting the bushings out of the rear arms is a walk in the park! Search here for tips on the pins....

Umm, "depends"! Do a search, read all of the zillions of posts about this, then decide how much brake you want. Have you upgraded the front brakes and if not are you going to? Without doing the front, where most braking occurs, there's probably not much sense in doing the rear brakes anyway... Try this -> http://www.fonebooth.com/brakes_zcar.html

I guess this is why my bar sits the way it does. I'm 6'2" and push the seat all the way back against the bar but am fairly comfortable. I guess this does give me a bunch more room huh? I think this is how your's will have to be done. Don't feel bad though, mine was done "wrong" the first time too. The top hoop was run UNDER the plastic piece that holds the dome light. When I pointed out that this wasn't how I wanted it and that my HEAD was HIGHER than the bar they fixed it for me - no charge. If you told them where to put it and they did exactly as you said then I'd expect they will charge you. Especially since moving it back will require new side bars and new bars along the roof if you had those done. Doh! Sorry to hear about this man...

Test 'em - you never know. Who made the relays? Lot's of the cheap units I see on the shelf claim 30 amsp but they look nowhere near as beefy as the Hella units that Painless shipped with my setup. Maybe they can handle it, maybe not. I'd still manually trigger them and see.