JustAFantaZ

Well, it does "look" like it's 3 inches, without having a ruler or being up close to examine it. I think that's what mas28O meant, but I could be wrong. Oh well.

I always stuck with the original ratio 3.55:1 (or was it 3.54?)' date=' but several times, I considered the 3.90 (3.91?). If the 700R4 had worked out, I might have gotten the 3.9#:1. Ideally, a fixed up 200-4R would be the best route with that gear in a Z. 1st gear in the 700R4 is probably too high(or is that low? hehe). Wow! Edit: My friend once got a 280Z 2+2 which we affectionately called "Ugly" that came with 3:90 diff. I'm not sure if it was an R180 or an R200 though.

You probably won't want one, but the TH-350 can be made to shift like that with a shift kit. It will hold 1st and 2nd as long as you want. I assume you are accelerating when you shift to Drive, which will keep it in 3rd all the way up. Sorry if it's not what you're looking for. I am in the process of rebuilding a Ford 4R70W which includes a shift kit which will hold 1st and 2nd as long as you want. I'm pretty sure it can be done for the TH-700R4 and the 4L60E/80E's as well. Answer: shift kit from Trans-go, B&M, Fairbanks, etc. or perhaps even a custom chip can do the same.

(long post) Yeah, $3000 sounds about right for a minimum stock V-8 swap. But stocker V-8 didn't cut it for me, no matter how good they make it look at JTR. I spent about $2,000 for the motor alone that had a Competition cam, and some decent iron heads. After burning it up, my friend mas28O hooked me up with City Motor Supply in Dallas to get some sturdy 4-bolt blocks for about $250 w/ core. Went through about 3 motors for various reasons, and I needed that connection. BEFORE I did the swap, I had already spent $1700 for body work and paint, about $1,000 for wheels and tires, and countless mega-bucks trying to get the inline-six to go fast which was mostly a waste. The best I ever got the six to go was probably low-15's, right about even with some stock 5.0's on the road at the time. Now having a mid to high 13-second Z wasn't enough for me. I wound up spending a lot more money on high performance parts like a Weiand Team G intake manifold, a Magnum 280 cam from Competition, a set of beautiful aluminum heads, Brodix Track I, Holly 750 carb, a performance HEI distributor from a local hotrod shop, gear reduction mini-starter. The heads alone, non-ported were $1400. The swap kit was a scarab kit and headers from Hooker Headers. I liked those headers, but if I had known about Mike Knell at the time, of course I would have chosen his kit. My first choice for a tranny was the 700R4, but those things never lasted in my car. Finally went over to the TH-350, burned out about 2 or 3 of them, until my friend got me his bullet-proof TH-350 with a nice shift kit. The stuff I probably saved money on was getting radiators and shrouds from the junk yard, using Pep Boys or Autozone starters, alternators, brackets, transmission coolers, electirc fans, K&N air filters, etc.. When I broke the half-shafts, going to the salvage yards for R-200's and shafts saved some dough I'm sure. My original Z was a 4-speed standard, upgraded to a 5-speed standard, so when I got the automatic, I used a Datsun automatic shifter from the junk yard. You need to get a custom cut Chevy drive shaft with flange to match the R-200( I hear they're using R-230's now out of Infinity's and ZX's? ). I also got an aluminum differential mount to stiffen it up a little bit. I got some Tokico 5-way adjustable struts for the rear, which was nice. Lowering springs didn't work out. Gas costs. At about 10.5:1 compression, I used 93-octane super unleaded, but it could have run on just unleaded I'm sure. On race nights, I would go to this one gas station which sold 100-octane VP racing fuel at the pump! About $2/gallon there, about double the cost back then. Later on, I added a 150-shot of NO2 ($400?), but that was only after everything else was working right. That bottle put me in 750cc sport motorcycle territory! On the motor, I easily beat Vipers, Corvettes, NOS and supercharged 5.0's, and any other four-wheeled car I came across except for those big-block hot-rods on the spray that had to be trailered out. Even then, I would give them a good run. And if I sprayed? Forget about it...C'ya!! Just taking a guess, I'd say I spent at least $7,000 directly related to the V8 swap. But that is SOOO much better than paying $80,000 or so for a Corvette or Dodge Viper, being in debt for 4 years, and then getting your doors blown off by a 25-yr old $1900 Japanese import with $7,000 in mods, right? And in front of your wife/girlfriend of the day? hehe Oh, and don't forget tickets! I had to get a lawyer to handle my numerous citations in court over the years. There's just something about a 400HP pocket rocket that can accelerate from 0-100 in the blink of an eye that attracts the attention of the cops and earns a reputation with them. I probably averaged about 2 to 4 tickets per year while I had the V8. BTW, is the 280ZX your only car? Do you have an MN-12 T-Bird by any chance? Just curious.

Has anyone pulled up next to you yet? If so, what did you do?

Congrats Mike! Hopefully you'll sell it to me when you get your next project going later on

Man, that engine bay is so beautiful! Isn't it funny that the motor is much cleaner than the body?

Greetings everyone! I just put up some pics of my old 280Z (350Z ) http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/album_personal.php?user_id=4132 What do you think? I parted ways with "Daisy" about 5 years ago because the car was such a money pit and I was trying to do well at school at the time. It was a major distraction. I'm just missing her right now. Sorry if I posted this in the wrong forum. I tried to post it in Announcements instead, but only mods can do that. I didn't know where else to put it. l8!

What's the latest news, mas280? How's the progress?

Congrats MAS280! I found some good Web sites with technical info about LT1Edit, but I don't think it's worth it unless you are into assembly programming and know how to h4x0r Motorola chips(or whatever specific chip it uses). It sounds like that other proggy is the way to go. I think what that other person said was right. You can't depend on Windows for critical timing apps like that. Unless it's NT or W2K maybe. Is anyone watching Court TV? There is a murder trial going on involving two teens that got killed during a drag race in San Diego. I can't believe they're trying them for murder. It was obviously an accident. It should be manslaughter, not murder. The connection is that both of the drag racers involved used to race fixed up Z-cars with each other. The car that hit the teen's car was a '70s Barracuda though. Hey MAS280! How much will you sell me the car for when you're finished breaking it in?

Hey Mike! That car was a LOT faster before you let Dean get his hands on it. j/k Dean. Yo Dean! Remember the time when I kicked your @s$ with my naturally-aspirated, independent rear suspension, VR225-60 tires having, little Chevy 355Z going down I-35? hahaha That was a BLAST. What ever happened to that orange rust bucket? Peace!