Stock Car Mafia

I pulled the gas tank and the fuel pump last night. I may use the stock mounting location, but am worried about caviation with a Walbro pump as it may be mounted too high? The clutch line was drained and the hard line was removed. You have to pull the cotter pin out of the clutch pedal to remove the clevis pin. Good christ that is hard to get to! I kept this and also removed the push rod to be installed on a Tilton/Wilwood clutch MC. The rest of the fuel lines will be removed hopefully today. The last Cup race is on today, and I'm pulling for Kyle Busch! I'll have this on in the garage and will be flipping to the Vikings/Packers game during commercial breaks. After work Monday I will be stopping to get a step drill for removing all the unsightly stock brackets from the engine bay. I need to borrow a truck and get some wood to make a decent work bench. I'll be calling every junk yard in a 3 hour radius to see if there are any Z31 Turbo's around. I need a LSD R200 and turbo axles...

I got some engine enamel mixed up for painting a few items....Valve covers, oil pan, engine mounts, trans crossmember, etc. It is "Son of A Gun Grey Metallic" used on Cadillac's.

Near the driverside pick panel, is the EFI computer cover. There are three 10mm bolts to remove to expose the computer. Remove the three 10mm bolts that secure the computer to the bracket and unclip the harness connector. There is another connection that runs to the ignition near the steering column. Disconnect that too. The computer should slide right out. The dropping resistor near the clutch master cylinder can be removed as well. There are just two 10mm bolts that secure this to a bracket. The thicker portion of the harness runs along the driver side of the engine bay. My engine has been pulled so all motor connectors have been unplugged. There are just a few grounds and harness clips that have to be removed. The thinner set of wires runs near the top of the firewall to the passenger side of the car. The relay box needs to be removed to disconnect one plug underneath. One more plug on the side of the box and the whole harness can be removed. The firewall grommet can be pushed out from the firewall and the plug can be pulled into the engine bay. It looks like a 1 3/4" plug will be needed to block this off.

This afternoon I was able to tackle pulling the engine EFI control wiring harness and computer.

I hope to get to pulling the stock tank, pump, and all associated lines tonight or this weekend. I want to eliminate all of the L28 engine wiring from the body harness. What has everyone done to accomplish this, or is there a forum thread where this has already been done? The engine mounts, tranny crossmember, and headers will be here sometime next week hopefully in time for the extended weekend! I sure as hell would like to buy Texis30O's supercharger as I love me a twin screw!

I ended up getting the R134a drained from the system. I just cracked the lines at the dryer an released the pressure. From there, disconnecting the evaporator and condensor was pretty simple. I hope to find some copper/brass fittings to plug the lines running in to the car. The gas is drained and the fuel system will be pulled soon as well.

A LS swapped 60's would definitely be an awesome build!

I like the way those turned out and it looks cleaner than just capping them, or running a hose from each end.

One thing I didn't do before I pulled the motor was drain the air conditioning. I know it had the new freon in it (not the old R12) but what can I do to get the shit out, without spraying everywhere so I can remove it?

Now on to the real meat and potatoes of the project....I started to pull the motor out this last weekend to clear up some room. Disconnecting everything was pretty straight forward. I pulled the stock exhaust too, and will use the piping for practice welds as its been MANY years since I have welded. The F%*king manifold bolts were a pain in the ass. The first one snapped so I said screw it and chopped it off to save time. Tada!

The pullout from the 05 GTO came sometime in September.

Here are some more pictures of the lens and LED install from Klearz. All it took was a good heat gun to loosen the glue and they popped off with a screw driver. Since it was all apart I hate the chrome bezels around the taillights, so I plastidipped those and also spray painted the license plate holder flat black. Here is the end result with the new LED's. I forgot to purchase the reverse light lenses so those are coming too. The upper and lower lenses were smoked a little bit lighter/darker than each other so Tina will be sending me a replacement set to replace them.

How about swapping one of those ls motors in room a miata? If only they weren't so ugly!

If you ever want to sell any of your R200 3.54's let me know

Cable what are you plans for power down the road? Depending on that, I'd pick my setup based on that, since any upgrades aren't cheap.

An electric water pump would be nice but I think I will get by with a 10% for now.

Zzeal, even if I use a 160 deg. thermostat would that be a problem? Maybe a 10% is a better way to go. My current pulley has the rubber coming apart and I don't want to use an SLP or any other knock off brand damper.

I think it's great that your motor has been bullet proof so far granted yours has quite a few miles less than most since you did it years ago. I'm curious if Texas300 had an issue prior to the twinscrew or not. I know people using maggie's in GTO's and so forth with no issues at all. This is the main reason why I will be putting the motor in stock to access any problems that should arise. It's less to diagnose if I do the "while I am in here" mods. I like what Sunny Z has done using the 5.3's for forced induction. These LS2's aren't cheap and I'd hate to have one go boom on FI. Hell if you got money though, let er buck!

So here are some ideas I am throwing around for my winter project: Motor/Trans: - LS2 with T56 that was pulled out of an 05 GTO. - Hawks Third Gen engine and tranny mounts - Super Damper 10% Underdrive Pulley - Aftermarket cam - C6/LS3 oil pan - Replace flywheel and clutch - Tilton/Wilwood Clutch MC with remote bleeder - I plan to use the stock harness and ECU which has been flashed to remove most non essentials. - Custom tune Exhaust: - Hawks Third Gen headers - 3" V bands to X Pipe with dual 3" exits Fuel System: - Fuel Cell - Walbro fuel pump - Corvette FPR - Earl's Performance Pro-Lite Ultra Fuel Lines - -6/-8AN fittings Drivetrain: - Driveshaft Shop 3" Aluminum driveshaft - R200 LSD or LSD insert for my current R200 - Custom build half shafts - Billet stub axles Suspension: - Energy Suspension Polyurethane Bushing Kit - Black - Ground Control Weld In Coilover Kit - Tokiko Illumina Shocks - 225/250 Spring Rate Some of these items will not be done in the first stage of the build to keep things simpler.

After the 4th of July I finally got my urethane front air dam and BRE type carbon fiber spoiler from the Z store. The air dam fit really well and I ended up using larger stock bumper bolts than the small bolts and nuts provided. The spoiler was damaged during shipping and the clear coat was not very shiny. I ended up having to pay for shipping back but the replacement was definitely better. I also purchased some smoked lenses and LED's with resistors from Klearz.com. They are a Canadian company and I have been very pleased with their products and support. Tina has been really helpful and I would recommend them to anyone else looking for these. My dad would kill me. I am having fun with exterior mods and not actually working on the car! My theory is I am still able to enjoy the car until the snow flies and then it can be stripped apart.

That's good to know dangerdan.

Wraps are pretty d@mn expensive too! I like the idea of a dark gray to keep the car stealthy. Alloy gray on the 05-09 Mustangs is quite an awesome color. Gray metallic during the day and looks black at night. Do you have any photos of your headlight conversion? I'd like to get rid of the incandescent bulbs i have if I find the right kit.

Man, just read through this thread for the first time. What a build! I really love the wide a$$ tires but I think the first round of fender flares looked really damn good! The plastidip is a cheap way of "painting" the car for temporary purposes.

Personally I think you will be ok with the stock size tires. There is a guy on here with a 5.3 turbo on stock u-joints (granted its the 280) but he has had only one issue and I believe that was on the dyno. He's got a ton of power but what gives first? The tires spinning. I say just take it relatively easy until you can upgrade! My fear is snapping a stub axle and sending a tire into oncoming traffic or breaking a half axle and sheering your brake lines or fuel lines...

NewZed thanks for summarizing all of those drivetrain posts! I would be less concerned with the few extra ponies on the dyno and more concerned with them strapping it down and not allowing tire spin. RebekahsZ did mention to me the R200 and stock 280z stub axles handled his LS2 power just fine with spirited driving on the road. Throw wider tires or slicks on there and things change real quick.