SH4DY

Funny, I actually just got an '08 Explorer diff heading my way courtesy of ebay. I need to reach out to DSS about a custom set of axles and see what that damage is compared to the Apex kit. Does your car not squat? I'm stock fenders and with 245 dr2 Hoosiers you can see where they touch, presumably on the launch. That was with the stock cxracing springs though (240lb). I've got 500lb springs in there now but never got back to the track to try them.

The 8.8 IRS may not be cost prohibitive if I fabbed everything up on my own, but I'd still be limited by the IRS suspension geometry and wheel/ tire size. Also, it's not the strength of the R200 that I'm concerned about. There are cars using them going way faster than I am. If I went with an SLA I could easily fit the 275/60r15 drag radial I want to run in the stock wheel wells. Right now I'm limited to a 245 (currently running a 245/45r17 Hoosier DR2). I'm also not talking about a production 9" - I'd be looking at a Currie/ Moser 3rd member and possibly a Tin Soldier or Moser housing. After axles, that's close to the TechnoToys 8.8 swap cost (~$6k) but can handle 2,500+hp. Another alternative is finding someone to make a custom ring and pinion? I'm sure that won't be cheap though. Or find an old Kameari gear set? I'll look into the 8.8 IRS some more. Maybe if I can find someone to buy my current setup I could offset the cost.

I currently have a 3.7 R200 with an MFactory LSD, WHP 300M stub and CV axles. On motor, the car made 465rwhp and trapped 128mph in the 1/4 which was about 6k rpms in 4th and was pretty much ideal. Well, that was almost 300hp ago. I twin turbo'ed it and now it makes 745rwhp (at only 7psi - plenty of room to grow) which should get it to trap in the mid 140's. With the current gearing, that would require a shift to 5th since I don't wind to wind this motor out more than 6,500. So here are my dilemmas: The 3.36 Ring and pinion for the long lose R200 seems to be unobtainium at this point and the 3.54 isn't enough to get the mph I need in 4th. WHP has closed up shop so even though these axles are rated for 800hp, if I break them, I have no recourse. The R200 pinion flange only has M8 bolts (this is a T56 car so there is a lot of driveline shock). So what do I do now? There's 3 options as I see it: Leave everything as-is and just lift before the end of the 1/4, and hope the axles and diff stay together. Buy a sequential shifter and shift to 5th, and hope the axles and diff stay together. Sell all of the IRS stuff and go with a proper SLA (4 link, Ford 9").

If you want lots of bottom/ mid-range power, avoid a lot of overlap. The tighter the LSA the more "chop" you'll get at idle which will give a novice tuner fits. Upgraded springs are required for pretty much every cam out there and you'll also want to upgrade to LS7 (Delphi) lifters and you will need a custom tune. Summit actually has some good budget friendly LS cams (I think they hired someone that worked for Comp to design them).

I can vouch for Chip and the MFactory unit. My car makes ~450rwtq and this unit has had no issues handling it, even on drag radials. No one wheel peels here or dealing with clunking/ popping from a welded diff.

Looking for Ring and pinion for a longnose R200 with either a 3.08 or 3.36 ratio. Thanks PM me if you have something for sale

I know there are some Z's putting up some crazy fast times but I wanted to share my results from my first drag racing event with the Z this weekend at Street Car Takeover at Virginia Motorsports Car. The build list is pretty extensive: but the short of it is: LS1 based 383 w/ ITB's makes ~465rwhp, GTO T56, WHP CV axles and stubs, factory long nose R200 with Mfactory Helical LSD, Hoosier DR2 245/45R17, CX racing coilovers. First pass (ever in this car) it went 11.6 @ 124. I launched around 3k slipping the clutch and shifted pretty easily. The car had also gotten really hot in the staging lanes and wasn't super happy. Let the car cool down for a good hour or so and got back in the lanes. Second pass netted a 11.4 @ 126 with no changes to the car. Actually slipped the clutch harder and it slowed down the to 60' (1.9 vs 1.8). Loaded the car up after that to look over logs (forgot my laptop) and get it ready for the race the next day. Logs showed it was a little rich (ethanol content was slightly down) and videos showed the car squatting a lot on the launch and shifts. I added a full turn of preload to the rear springs and went from 10 to 3 click from full hard on the dampening. Left the fronts at 16 out of 32 on the dampening. Only pass I got to make on race day was during eliminations and I brought a spit ball to a gun fight - I got gaptized by an AWD k-swapped civic. Anyway, I couldn't be happier with the way the car ran. I launched around 4k barely slipping the clutch and netted the following: A couple pictures of the car: (Yes - I hand laid the carbon fiber for the stack and the air boxes) Not sure where to go with the car from here. I think the 10.8 was one of those moments when all the stars aligned - I'd be lucky to get it to 60' like that ever again. It has a weld in 4 point roll bar right now but if I put any kind of power adder on there, she'll need more cage for sure. She weighed in at 2,935 lbs with me in it which is ~200lbs heavier than I was expecting (I'm 170lbs), but makes sense considering the gauge metal I used when replacing the floors/ tunnel, adding the tubular frame rails, roll bar, etc. Don't really want to hack it up at this point though. This is the last time I'll get to race it this year but the wheels are definitely turning about what to do this off season.

Just a few more pictures of the defrost vent and the fuse box situation. The defroster works really well - needed it on Saturday going to Cars and Coffee (temps in the 40's in the morning). The center console is also installed (finally have cup holders again!!) but it's going to need some massaging and maybe some extra padding under the carpet in some spots to make it look like it really belongs in there.

Little more complete picture. For the heater/ defrost I'm using a Vintage Air unit (gen II heater). You can see in the picture the aluminum piece where the dash meets the window gasket. I used the little ducts that come with the heater and notched the dash for them to fit, then secured them to the trim piece and drilled some holes. The ducts are pretty small - maybe a 6" opening, .5" wide or so. Fuse panel is now mounted behind the glove box and I'm still working on getting the center console installed (had to cut out the factory mounting points for it to sit flush with the tunnel). I also tore down and cleaned up the factory turn and headlight switches and they seem to be working fine. I'll get some more pictures but overall, I'm really pleased with it. Looks a lot better than what I had in there and the gauge visibility is significantly better.

Inspired by @clocker thread, and a $50 dash I found on Craigslist, I decided to try and tackle the NB ('98-'05) Miata dash and center console swap. Width size, it's pretty much perfect although as he points out, if the dash is centered in the car, the gauge cluster winds up being right of center. Not the end of the world though. I also had to trim the back of the dash to fit the contour of the Z firewall. Maybe .5" or in the center and closer to 1"-1.5" at the ends. Even the center console fits almost perfectly. After I was happy with where the dash was, I then modified the Miata dash support to mount to the factory Z pick up points. That involved a good bit of cutting and then adding mounting points to the ends and the plate that gets sandwiched by the steering column like the factory dash. I had Speedhut gauges already that were sized for the Z dash but unfortunately the Miata cluster is very small and wouldn't accommodate them. So, I fashioned and mounted an aluminum plate in the hood. The speedo is going to wind up going in the center of the dash a la Mini Cooper - because speedometers are just a distraction on the track. (Gauges are centered with the steering wheel) Currently I'm working on a panel for the rear of the dash to cover the defroster ducts (and some boogered cuts I made cutting the dash). (It'll be painted black) Eventually the lower portions will be painted black and the entire thing will be flocked.

Fan is off and it's that cold. Has nothing to do with the fan. Stopping the coolant from flowing through the heater core via the heater controls seems to keep it in the 160-170 range which I'm OK with.

You guys are missing what I'm saying - the cooling system is cooling too well. It's getting too cold. I'm not worried about the temps during stop and go traffic - I'm more concerned about the coolant temps not getting above 150 on a cool night.

Standard practice for the last few LS swaps I've done to help maximize cooling with less than ideal radiator setups. When not using a heater core (more full race oriented), the absence of the additional coolant volume becomes apparent pretty quickly at low speeds. Drilling holes is the step between a stock t-stat or just running a disc to slightly restrict the flow. This setup has an unshrouded fan. 5/8" coolant hoses to a Vintage Air heater/defrost unit. Originally I just had the t-stat housing looped but adding the heater core dropped coolant temps 10-15 degrees when sitting in traffic (blower motor off). Inside the car is a sauna, but the motor is happier.

...again though, all of that goes out the window (the venturi primarily) when running an aftermarket pump/ external fuel pressure regulator (which most people run when doing swaps) because the internal regulator gets bypassed. On a stock F-body, sure, I'm sure it works great. But we are flipping the tank 180 degrees making fuel more prone to move away from the basket and in my case (or anyone with a different pump and external FPR) modifying the basket. Feel free to keep it all stock, I'm just telling you that with high power/ high grip, you're going to have issues unless you modify it. This is from real-world experience.

You are right in that the pump sits in an enclosure but it's not a sealed "bucket" - there are passages to let fuel in from the bottom and unfortunately if running one of the bigger Walbro units, there is trimming needed that can do away with the check valve (its just a small rubber flap) so fuel can drain from the bottom if not submerged. You could probably seal it if you wanted but then you'd be only relying on the return fuel to fill it. Not ideal on a thirsty motor depending on the racing you're doing. There's always the option of running a surge tank as well. Also, my issues with the level dropping weren't even cornering - just straight line acceleration.

I'm also running this tank and under hard acceleration with less than 1/2 a tank, there is a ton of fuel movement (gauge will go to empty). And, being a plastic tank, not really much you can do to modify it in terms of baffling. I basically can't run less than 3/8 a tank if I plan on really racing the car. I also cheated the fuel level sending unit to read slightly lower than it is just for some safety. I have yet to try some of the Fuel Safe foam blocks to dampen the movement (had bad experiences with cheaper foams breaking down with race gas), but they should help - just need to stay on top of checking filters for any material breakdowns. Just a heads up for others thinking of going this route.

Any of you guys have issues with the radiator overcooling? I'm running the Champion radiator with a drilled (4 small holes the size of the jiggle pin hole) 180 degree stat and FAL Hurricane fan. During the summer it would get to 205-210 if sitting in traffic and ambient temps were 85+: not ideal but I could live with it because as soon as you get going over 30mph the temps go down to 175 and hold. The problem now is that the ambient temps are getting in the lower 60's at night and while cruising, the coolant temps are getting down to 140-150 unless I close the valve to the heater core. Anybody else have this issue?

I took it to the first cars and coffee meet of the season and a photographer there got some really good shots of it on IG: https://www.picuki.com/media/2346689941668111156 Some more exterior pics after wet sanding, cutting, buffing and waxing: As far as the MAP signal: I tapped every runner and have them run to a vacuum manifold on the firewall. Clean signal. I'm running in "ITB" mode on the MS3Pro - its blended between MAP and TPS. On my car pretty much anything over 15-20% throttle is 90+kpa so the tps tuning is a must. I lowered the coil dwell to 3.1 from 4.0 and that seemed to help the popping through the intake a good amount. I'm also in the process of lengthening the intake trumpets, for two reasons. One, I don't like drawing in hot air right off the motor and two, all the calculators I can find say the intake tract length is about 8" too short. Two birds with one stone. Maybe 3 if it helps the filters last. I also re-did the exhaust. For the 5th(?) time. Trying to quiet it down and get the damn fumes out of the car.

Lot's of changes and developments over the past few months. Lot's of Skillard stuff, Redid the headers/ exhaust (single side exit now), went to the dyno.. All kinds of stuff. Oil Catch can I made to fit in the factory washer reservoir spot: WHP axles (left) vs ZXT remans Skillard front splitter (2") and the side market deletes off eBay (I think a member on here?) Interior shot with the dash I made using the factory substructure: I changed up the headers/ exhaust quite a bit - now they are 1.75"->1.875" with multiple merges. I went this way because the old exhaust was rubbing on everything even tucking it up as high as possible. To get it to fit under the car I would have needed to oval the entire thing which I didn't want to get into. Luckily with all the merges, it's actually pretty quiet even without any real muffler. What it looks like all together. It's completely heat wrapped now. And finally: I finally made it to the dyno. It was kind of bittersweet. Who am I kidding - it was a kick in the dick. My Speedhut wideband started reading erratically and the MS3Pro followed suit making changes to the fuel map that made the car undrivable and caused a backfire through the intake trumpets that melted one of the screens on the ITB's. So that was fun. I disabled the wideband corrections, cleaned up the fuel map and changes the spark plugs all while still on the dyno and it was a brand new car. I just used the dynos wideband the rest of the time as the Speedhut unit continued to be flaky and erratic. At the end of the day I called it quits at 390rwhp SAE uncorrected - the fuel was pretty spot on and timing changes weren't making any difference in power. Yes, for the parts that are in this thing I had expected much, much more - I was thinking 500-520rwhp. So I was pretty defeated until the next car that went on only made 276rwhp and it was an LS1 with Intake, headers, full exhaust and tuned. Soooo, to be +40% over that... that's actually probably about right for a 383 LS with ported heads and a cam. You just get so used to internet heroes with bolt on LS's making over 400rwhp, you forget not all dynos are the same. I'll post the graph later on - peak power is around 5,600 and it's pretty much nosed over by 6,800. With the cam thats in it I was thinking it would carry the power higher but the 52mm ITB's might be restricting it up top on this size motor. Overall, I'm happy with it. It sings a sweet song.

Not much has been going on with this lately. My cheapo eBay radiator has a leak in the core (Champion 3 row ordered) and my Speed Hut tach was doing some crazy things (they sent me a filter I have yet to try out). I wound up having to use the '10 Mustang GT e-brake lines to get my parking brake to work with the Silvermine BBK (SN197 Mustang rears). I'm also converting all the brake lines to -3AN (hard line) ends. Car still isn't close to driving though as I'm STILL (7+ weeks) waiting on my shortened axles from WHP. Supposed to be here sometime next week. We will see. Brakes should be done by then and hopefully I can get it on the dyno some time in December. Starting to get burned out working on this damn thing. This car has been nothing but delays and problems. Gave up on the custom dash for now, went for function over fashion: Got the exhaust finished:

Alright, now that I have the car running: You absolutely need to have each throttle body adjustable. It will run like absolute dog sh*t unless they are synced, per bank and bank to bank. And the adjustments are very small, like 1/4 turn on an M4 bolt. I also went through the painstaking process of drilling and tapping every single runner and then tied them into a vacuum manifold to get a good MAP sensor reading. No Alpha-N needed, it tracks on the VE just like a normal manifold does but you need to ramp up the tps accel enrichment because it revs very, very quickly. Getting the crossover linkage sorted out was also a massive pain in the ass. If I did it again I might flip the TB's 90* and use an adjustable heim joint or something like this: https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/15795/10002/-1?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIx9e22LT55AIVFIrICh0mgAz7EAQYBSABEgKwhfD_BwE But, for the minimal amount of driving I'll realistically be doing, the current set up should be fine for now.

I know this is an old thread but does anyone know the part numbers or where to find the inner bearings? Both the tripod and the caged bearings. I have the Trakmotive (Rock Auto) NI8442 (NI-8442) and NI8435 (NI-8435). I got the passenger side apart pretty easily but the snap ring must be bound up in the outer driver's side end. Wound up hitting it hard enough the cage shattered and ball bearings went flying. And even then the inner part of the bearing still won't budge from the axle. Any help would be appreciated.

Making some progress again. I've spent the last month trying to get the body sorted out and painted. It has definitely tested my patience. First time I sprayed it, it came out like shit because I didn't spend enough time blocking the primer. Sanded it all back flat and sprayed again. Was pretty happy but burned through the paint prepping to cut and buff it. Wet sanded it all with 400 grit and pictures below are the 3rd try. It's a single stage so there's orange peel put plenty of paint to cut and buff it after it cures. Started working on a fiberglass/ carbon dash skin. Motor runs: I ran it out of gas syncing the throttle bodies and thought I had screwed something up. Definitely need to get the gas gauge hooked up. I did learn than the lines hold roughly a gallon of gas... Still a long way from driving but she runs and she's all one color so that's a plus. MS3Pro and engine fuses/ relay panel:

Well, after talking with WHP their kit does require shortened axles even though the site doesn't specifically say they are required when using their CV conversion flange. I'm going to try and shorten them myself (cutting in the c clip groove further down the splined portion as outlined on this site) - I'm sick of throwing money at these damn axles. If I can get them at least a 1/2" shorter I can increase the track with the RLCA's and should be fine. I'll report back.

I finally got around to installing the upgraded WHP 39 spline stub axles with the zxt inner hubs. When I initially installed the axles they were too long (or the rlcas were too short) to get the coilovers to line back up in the strut towers. The picture above is how far I had to adjust them out to get everything to fit. Right now the axle is horizontal but the ride height needs to come down another 1" at least. That should help get the axles above horizontal at the hub and help with binding but I still think it'll be close. Can anyone chime in about your rlca measurements (i don't have the stock ones to measure) or see if the above looks about right? More pictures to get an idea of current camber and height: