Stock Car Mafia

Thanks Rossman! As I can tell, I do believe it will be ok as the car sits now. I do have the ability to raise it an inch or so more if I really need to. I do believe the car will be a little bit lower after I throw the coilover kit in and get some wheels and tires, but hey I like to live dangerously

You got that right. We gave a few tickets away at work to a few of our customers and I can't believe they'd want to go in this weather!

I also got the mustang reverse light switch that I threw in the tranny. I now realize why Keith mentioned to remove the ears on the tranny...3 of them are in the way when you tighten it down. I cleaned them up the best I could and was satisfied. I also get the intake parts and relaxed in the kitchen and put it together.

I went through and used some SEM black seamsealer for the tranny xmember. Here is a closer picture of the tank mount setup I was going for. The 4 arms coming off the cage will sit on 4 angle iron tabs that are welded to the frame. The top nut was welded on to the arms and the bolts will thread through the bottom. It is pretty slick. I have put no thought in to the floor pan yet. haha The tank turned out really nice but the tank doesn't look exactly level when you look at it from the side. I already fully welded the tabs so I am a little bothered by it. I may just get some steel collars to raise the back of the tank. It will be a temporary fix that will probably remain permanent

The temps up here have dipped in to the negatives now. Thank god for a heated garage! The original owner sent me a text yesterday of the day him and his wife bought the car in 1990. His wife was the one who had a love for the car, so I send him update periodically just to touch base and show them the progress.

Well I just spend my morning drinking coffee correcting all of my spelling mistakes. Honest to god I never noticed them before but I promise I am not a bad speller at all. I blame it on the autocorrect on my phone. I am guilty of not caring about how I spell when I text. lol I plan on 2 solid days of work this week. That's of course if I don't get distracted.

Do you have a tube heater or a way to heat the place? I'd say work on your engine swap and get all the hard fab work done. You'll run in to a road block here or there where you can advance for a week or so, and that'd be a good time to do the suspension. Get it all powder coated when the old bushings are out!!

Lastly, I spent just a little time last night removing the frame rail brackets that were left from cutting out the spare tire well. I needed this cleaned up so I can start fabbing the hard mounts for the fuel cell. I thought I was supposed to have this done weeks ago? I was initially going to grind them down, but it was easier to use the air hammer/chisel to slowly work these off the frame. I will need to tack/button weld some small holes shut but I will clean everything up after all the hard work is done, including cleaning up some of my shitty welds on the tank frame. I have these brackets for sale if anyone is interested. lol

So I wanted to post a little update as I've been working a couple hours here and there for a few days. It's been busy outside the garage too, sorting out parts, planning, and just work/life stuff. One thing I didn't like about the Hawks kit, is the welded portion and the bolted motor mounts hung lower than the frame rails on the car. I did want to weld them up solid on the bottom but didn't like the look of the two lips hanging lower than the rail. I don't have any good pictures from prior but here is one for comparison: I just took a 4 inch cut off wheel and roughly zipped off the bottom tab of the welded portion. From there I grinded it smooth and tried to weld the gap upside down. The weld pool drip I would get made this process pretty hard. I ended up just welding little bridges spaced apart until I had filled in most of the gap. From there I ground it down, looked for more holes and kept filling. I believe it took about 3 welding/grinding sessions to get it mostly filled in. From there I just cut off a good sized chunk off the bolted portion of the motor mount. Of course I just eye balled this and got it pretty much flush with the bottom of the welded mount. I am happy but still would prefer to cut up another 1/16"-1/4" so the mount looks "symmetrical" all around the plate with a small gap. If I get bored we will see. These are things I probably waste too much time looking at that NO ONE else will notice. Other than the z members here

Bramagedained, I really appreciate that offer. I would for sure love to pick those up. I've been daydreaming about if something does go wrong with the sectioning, that I might be kind of hosed for a while. Of course I always overthink every situation and look at the worst case scenario. I'll shoot you a PM.

The driveshaft is being RMA'ed through DSS. It's a bummer as now building the exhaust will be on hold. I did get a piece of 4 inch round stainless steel from work that will be used to clearance the front diff mount for exhaust. I need to locate some new spindle pins as at some point I'll be sectioning the struts and I might as well get them and new bearings and seals while I'm at ithe (and the good stubs and companion flanges for my diff swap).

The kit is from Hawks Third Gen. I think it is a SUPER solid kit, it just takes a lot of massaging. I'm sure some may get away without cutting the crossmember but I did just so I don't lose any sleep over it or have to pull the motor back out down the road. I might have to order a slip yoke to give it a shot because I don't think there are any burrs on the yoke or output shaft. Maybe the shaft has a slight twist in it as this was a pullout. I've looked at the splines and they don't look twisted. I took some pictures but I don't think I have any of those ears or nipples rubbing the trans tunnel. I would assume because yours is a 240, that's why you had to. I only was frustrated that day. The great thing about having a garage is you can walk away at any point when you get frustrated. I did and went back out the next day like nothing happened

The columbia river exhaust builder kit came and I ordered a pair of their v-bands. I am not really happy with the quality of those pieces and probably will send them back. The Vibrant V-bands were better quality with a groove/indentation the pipe sits on and makes welding on easier. These ones from CR slip over the tube the whole extent and you set where you want the piping to end. It seemed like the bands won't clamp flush in the clamp either like the Vibrant set.

I spent most of yesterday dropping the motor xmember, cutting and tacking in some 1/8" plating, and putting it back in to check the gap, and then taking it back out again to weld it up. Overall it wasn't that complicated and I believe my welding has improved. Underback side of the passenger side. Underback side of the driver side. I ended up grinding more on this side before tacking in the side pieces.

Well I ended up taking the motor out for tomorrow. The bottom of the alternator, motor crossmember, and steering rack bracket/clamps all need to be clearanced to make more wiggle room for when the motor twists. The trans tunnel will be banged on more and the flywheel and clutch, new pilot bearing, and bleeder/clutch lines will be going in. I was going to paint the oil pan but am going to leave it bare, so I will RTV seal the oil pan gasket and retorque that. On the other hand, this gave me more room to dick around with the slip yoke. I am pretty damn sure the dirty b*%ch is oblong and doesn't want to slide on nice. I forced it on probably an inch or more with a mallet and wacked it back off. On the inside of the yoke about 5 or 6 splines are shiney which tells me the yoke splines are too tall. Any way to remedy this?

Well I will have to say, this is the first time with the project that I am getting pretty F%*king flustered. The damn driveshaft slip yoke will barely go on maybe 1/2" before binding and not going on any further. I can't even get it to the oil seal! There is enough room to rotate the driveshaft so I am getting it lined up straight before sliding on. It just seems like it is a little too tight. How in the hell do you clean off the output shaft or the splined portion of the slip yoke to make it fit? I feel this should be pretty damn straight forward unless I'm a total fool.

This is the reverse light switch part number I am starting at and will keep reading to see if it is right: 1R3Z-15520-AA

I took out the original gas pedal as well. I am going to get some steel plating (don't know what size gauge yet) and will mount this to the 3 stock screws and then mount the LS2 pedal to the plate.

Here is the surprise. I picked up a Z31T CLSD with 3.70 gears and a pair of axles to go along with it. I am still waiting to hear back from the seller, jyz77, if the bearing caps were put back in on the proper spots. The diff was apart before it was shipped. I picked up the last set of 6 clutches that Savage42 had for sale, just in case I need those down the road. Does anyone know where you can get a rebuild kit for this diff? I want to source out the races, bearings, seals, and shims in case I do need a rebuild. The stage 3 clutch, 18 lb. flywheel, and slave cylinder came in as well! The wiring harness also came in. A relay for the fuel pump is wired in but no relay for the switched ignition or 2 fans. Looking at how the harness sits in the car, I am almost positive I will end up puttin the computer where the old EFI computer from the L28 was. This way I can utilize the hole that is already in the firewall and will still be able to use the stock plastic cover. I will have to dremel it out for the 3 harness plugs however. I just realized too, when plugging everything in that the reverse light switch will not fit without pounding out the trans tunnel more. Is there possibly a 90 deg. plug that will work here instead of the straight plug I have?

Thank man, here I thought there was. I just need to suck it up and piece one together, it isn't that complicated. I have my measurements for it all. I haven't read any rulebooks yet, it just sounded like a good idea for the tank

I'd use the red ring. I really wish I would have mic'ed mine while it was apart. Test fit it with the red ring. Throw some vasoline on the ring and it should fit niec and snug with a tad bit of force. You will know it's the right size based upon how it "clicks" in.

I thought there was an intake tubing kit that either JCI or Jags that run had put together? I'm spending too much time time to find it and maybe someone could point me to the right direction for intake tubing? I could custom build one from siliconeintakes, but right now, I'd rather just have a bolt in kit.

Auxilary, let us know if they work! I didn't see scorob's post on the part numbers but people like him and Keith make this place a great resource for guys like us!

For the price of both, I would go with the cxracing ones. Everyone and their mother has the shorties and some seem to have issues with the 3 bolt flange gaskets. The need to replace the gaskets and the tight spots to get the bolts out make everyone wince. I say step out of the mold and be another member to try something new!

1. I do believe the are reusable. Just make sure to use blue loctite on them and torque them to spec. 2. Look at the pickup tube that came with the pan. If the collar the o-ring goes on is tappered (narrower where the o-ring sits) then use the red one. If it is the same diameter on that collar, use the blue one. Double and triple check this as you don't want to damage the motor. Take a picture and post it up and we can help you on here. 3. I got the matching C6 dipstick for the pan. I have one for sale.