kamikaZeS30

Nice! Congratulations. I've noticed a lot more love for the 240Z lately in the magazines. Two of them featured prominently over the last couple of years in Super Street.

Okay, something about my set-up: I'm running a 383 with a dual-plane intake (not super high RPM), aluminum heads (190cc/64cc), shorty-block huggers, and forged bottom-end (crank, rods, pistons), 240 @.050" (both sides, I don't recall my LSA) and .466" gross lift (with 1.5 ratio rockers) and Edelbrock 1406 carb (I don't plan on racing, at least, not in the very near future). I got the car back from the shop after they supposedly "finished" the swap. They didn't. One of the big ticket items I am trying to fix right now is my fuel delivery. I'm running a generic aftermarket fuel-pump rated at 115GPH and 7 PSI. I didn't realize it previously, but the shop had just run the fuel through the stock hard-line, through 5/16" hose straight to the carb inlet. Needless to say the carb/engine would flood itself if I wasn't laying into it while cranking and then not letting the RPM drop much below 1500. Oh, and they neglected to do anything with the return line, which I discovered when I tried to fill up my tank, started a fire at the gas-station (I thought I was going to die that night). So, today, I received my Holley bypass ("return-style" P/N 12-803BP) regulator in the mail. I mounted it on the fire-wall, since I noticed the stock hard-lines are ridiculously close to my headers and I began re-routing them (carefully, so as not to crack or kink them, I used a tube bender). My question is, will the stock hard lines (I am assuming the feed line is big enough, as it successfully flooded the engine once already) provide enough flow for the return side? I am mainly concerned whether or not I will 1) be able to flow enough fuel to feed the engine (I don't plan on racing, but I don't think it'd be a good idea to run a huge risk of starvation at any rate) and 2) can I dial the pressure to the carb down enough to avoid flooding with the stock return line? I thought the stock return was 1/4" but 1/4" hose is a tad loose. I want to go AN, eventually, but this project is nickel-and-dime-ing me right now just getting it running. I was thinking AN -6 and maybe AN -4 for return?

edited: this is why I don't post in the mornings.

That is the one I have. Edit: Again, played with the clutch some more last night. It really feels like I'm only missing the last like 1/8" of engagement travel-- I just never quite get to the point where the pedal loses resistance because the clutch fully disengages before I hit the floor.

I pumped it some more last night, I'm finally to the point where the trans will shift when the car is off. I can't test with it running, until I get my FPR and filter installed, but I have this feeling that I am just getting air somewhere in the cylinder. Would having to install the AN adapters have cause the cylinder to be exposed to air? If that is the case, it is definitely a bleed problem and I'll just have to keep pumping it. I don't think my pressure plate or throw-out are bad, as those are all fresh-out-of-the-box parts.

Notice how my example used the same model year (or newer). I'm not an idiot. And, light-duty/passenger vehicles are interchangeable, "truck" engines are not swappable into passenger vehicles, then again, you'd have to look up what the definition of "truck" is. A lot of the smaller trucks, Ford Rangers, Toyotas, etc. for awhile had power-plants analogous to their passenger car offerings.

You can make a motor swapped vehicle compliant if you retain all of the original smog equipment from the donor vehicle. So, for example, to be compliant with a 1972 v8 swap in a 1972 Z, you'd need the PCV, canister and AIR pump, and ensure that you have CARB compliant intake, heads, carb, headers, etc. Not that difficult. You can buy most of that stuff off-the-shelf at your local auto-parts store. You could also have it installed by a technician. I don't see why this would be a big deal. You'd pay a fine, get the stuff fixed and then be on the road again.

Okay, well, I found the Wilwood master cylinder on their website, it's either a 3/4, 7/8 or 1", either way it's larger than the stock M/C. What kind of pedal feel do you guys experience with the 7/8" set-up? Maybe mine still has air somewhere in the line, it seems like it takes an awful lot of effort in the pedal.

Wilwood Master... I'm guessing this is a 1" bore size, it looks much larger than the stock 5/8". ...and this is what I'm being told is the "self-bleeding" Camaro slave. Sorry about the image, but my engine bay is a little crowded. The body is smooth like that top and bottom, has no bleed screw, and the roll-pin was in the forward part of the cylinder (basically the body of the cylinder ends where the header hides the view and that's where my AN adapter and fittings are).

Has anyone with a motor-swapped Z been pulled over and cited? It'd be nice to get their input. What their experience was, etc. As it seems like their language is intentionally open-ended because then it is up to court making the ruling, thereby providing a loop-hole. I would imagine that there is a huge lobby for the automotive industry and aftermarket considering it is such a large business. A cop drove by in my ally while I was doing some electrical work on it this weekend, asked me what was in it and I said "Chevy V8" his response was, "That's sweet, it looks nice. Be safe." Got back in his car and continued down the ally. It really all boils down to if you're being an ass or not. Or, if the cop just has a hard on for people with modified vehicles, because his wife made him buy a minivan.

Miles, that doesn't look like the slave I have. The one I have has the line going in directly on the "front" of the cylinder, not the top. I was told this was the stock slave cylinder for the Camaro T-5. I will see if the exact p/n is on the invoice and check the the p/n for the clutch/pressure plate kit. It may be because I'm using a weird combination of parts that even at full-travel of the throw-out it's not enough to engage the pressure plate fully. I didn't think of that, before. Then again, I wasn't the guy that put it together. I have a fairly standard rhinopac heavy duty clutch, the slave cylinder is listed a p/n "ew156024" but google search turns up nothing. It says that's the part number for a steering rack from a Fiat/Alpha Romeo/MG or something.

I am having this same problem with mine. The clutch and pressure plate are brand-new, so I don't know how the pressure plate could be bad already. The first thing I noticed was that my drive-tunnel wasn't clearanced enough to let the fork swing all the way. I cut a little bit of steel to allow it to travel, still doesn't work. I even went one size up from the Tilton(because I couldn't find anyone like NAPA, CarQuest, PepBoys, O'reilly, etc, that carries it) to 1". It's bigger than my brake master cylinder as far as bore size. The pedal feel is really damn stiff, and it's eventually going to fatigue the steel in my fire-wall, but it still doesn't work. Supposedly the Camaro slave cylinder is self-bleeding and doesn't have a bleed screw? If it does, I don't see it anywhere. Can anyone confirm this?

Okay, that's good to know. I am having MAJOR issues with my conversion that I just got back from the shop, they told me it was ready to roll out on Thursday. God, were they wrong. They hadn't bled the clutch (there wasn't even any fluid in it and they were trying to use the stock 5/8" MC), the brakes, and they didn't even bother to plug or block-off the return line. So, now I have a really pretty curbside ornament sitting in the parking lot behind my apartment. After working on it for twelve hours straight in their parking lot trying to figure out how to jury-rig the car to drive home, I think the shop owner realized he'd made a mistake and gave me a rather large Wilwood MC, it's big, 1", for free. It bolted right in. I'm pretty sure the Master Cylinder is no longer the issue, but I still can't get the clutch to fully disengage. I'm using earl's -4 AN braided SS line, a roll-pin adapter on the stock plastic Camaro slave and a -4 to 1/8" adapter with this Wilwood MC, if that helps. And, yes, I clearanced the trans tunnel enough to allow full travel of the fork. Any thoughts?

Not to dig up an old thread but does the Tilton 7/8" MC mount the same way as the stock Datsun MC?

^^That's because no one really wants to spend the money to buy an engine from a quarter-million dollar car to put it into something you could buy twenty of, fully-restored, for the price of said engine. There are engines that would perform just as well for tiny fractions of the cost. That's why the v8 swaps are so popular in the Z. It's a cheap way to make A LOT of power.

I like the MSA engine mounts, myself. I used them with slight modification to keep the engine lower and closer to the firewall (so much so that I cannot use an HEI distributor). I ended up having someone make a trans mount for me, as I didn't like any of the ones JTR/MSA/JCI offer. It was basically some .125" wall thickness square tubing on each side welded to a rather hefty plate which mounted to the back of the tail-shaft (where it was originally on the T5), this allowed me to re-use the stock early-240 trans mount bolt holes and maintain rigidity (by using thicker stock steel) and provided better drive-line geometry. It allows plenty of room to tuck some 2 1/2" exhaust piping all the way back, as well, and you don't have to drill more holes in the body to mount it.

Unless you have a magic supplier, I was able to gather the parts for a somewhat built up 383 for cheaper than I could source an LS1 swap (Was looking at a minimum of $3000 for a running LS1, suitable trans and factory ECU). Not to mention the extra work and money involved with converting the Z to handle EFI (baffled tank, pumps, etc). I don't see how it gets much easier (or cheaper) than a gen1/2 small block swap. Basically you can order all the "custom" parts you will need pre-made (motor/trans mounts, driveshaft, throttle cable/bracket, hood latch bracket, npt fittings for sending units, etc.) and it's a carbureted engine so all of your stock fuel delivery can pretty much remain the same, 'cept you might want a larger volume Holley fuel pump. I went with the small block because I spent awhile pricing everything out. An LS1 would be sweet, but I, personally, feel that you would end up spending a lot more money, especially if you're talking new custom standalone engine management like Megasquirt or something.

Yeah, figured that out on the fly, today. Actually it was more of a gamble. Went to first-start my v8 swap today, couldn't figure out why nothing was happening. I recalled the information in this thread, threw on a butt-splice, before you know it, I was shooting flames out of the carburetor. lol. Does anyone know WHY they call it "+" and "-" if both wires are 12v+?

Did you check the distributor and your timing?

Wait, what? I thought those wires were different polarity, i.e. the all white one is ground, the white/red is positive? Guess I'll have to loop them together. I am in the process of moving any and all connections from the alternator to the stock wire-harness to the bat+, fusing it with a 70amp fuse and just running the alternator to bat+. I can do that because the alternator I'm using is self-exciting.

From those pictures you posted, your dash harness does not look like it's in need of replacement, all of the insulation looks intact. Those yellow wires look like they're for sending units (oil press., water temp [i think temp is only one wire it's like white/yellow or something] and fuel level), and the blue wires are for lighting of one sort or another (headlamps, dash/gauge lights) and the greens are for indicators and controls (HVS, turn signal indicators, etc.) at least that was the color scheme on my 1/1971 Z, if I recall correctly.

http://www.google.com/search?q=ABS+plastic+welding+rods&hl=en&safe=off&prmd=ivns&source=univ&tbs=shop:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=GMaITdrRK-W_0QHjrdHlDQ&ved=0CD4QrQQ&biw=1280&bih=619 Just make sure you wear a mask while you're doing it. For best results you should use a small angle grinder to "V" the crack and then fill it with the rod. I would weld the plastic from whichever side you think will hold best and hopefully be easiest to finish/clean up afterward.

It's not impossible to make enough reinforcements to combat the missing roof, it will just take some extra work and probably add some extra weight. But, if you have to add 50lbs, no big deal, you're still looking at something with less than 2800 lbs (assume engine swap weight, driver and tank of gas), pushing over 400 ft. lbs. of torque. Aside from your choice of rotating assembly, your build sounds very similar to mine. I agree with rsicard on going with low-expansion forged pistons, they can be had relatively inexpensively and are totally the way to go in a high compression motor.

If you have a good soldering iron (900+ F), you can order ABS plastic welding rods for a reasonable price, I'd do that and then sand/finish the weld.

Okay, I think I understand a little bit better, now. I'm not trying to be argumentative, I am trying to pose questions in such a way that I might get an answer that I can learn from. So, the S30's suspension (looking at the "side-aspect") favors a slightly forward CG to counter-act squat, or is all of this isolated to simply the angles in the rear-suspension?