hornedcow
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Posts posted by hornedcow
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I'm in like I said, will be sending paypal shortly.
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CHRISTMAS!
Got the new bellhousing, hydraulic throwout, and water pump/tensioner. Also got the A/C kit but more on that later.
With the new bellhousing installed, looks like clearance is good all around on the exhaust. Which is good, because I didn't want to have to hack it up.
This transmission with this exhaust is uncharted territory, so good to know the exhaust and y-pipe clear.
Accessory drive is coming together, just needs the AC compressor - it mounts above the alternator. My kit arrived but the compressor housing aluminum is oxidized/weathered even though it was new in box. Good customer support so far, they are sending me another one. Will have that on Monday it looks like.
Just got a tracking number for the rear conversion kit, should be next week as well. -
I received my low mount alternator bracket, but that is all I've gotten from what I've ordered. It'll be Christmas next week!
Since I don't really have anything substantial to work on, I decided to do a shop project I've been thinking about for awhile - overhead shelving/storage.
Probably going to duplicate this elsewhere in the shop, but for now I did it in the front corner (by the garage door). Without going crazy I can get 12' x 3.5' of room without blocking anything. It's about 4ft tall in the front and about 3.5ft in the corner. I could run the supports out to the next rafter but then you have clearance issues with the garage door track, and it would be partially blocking the lights. The bottom of the shelving will be about 10ft off of the ground.
Here is what we have to start with ... wasted space!
Here is a rough idea of what I want to do
Getting the 12ft 2x4 threaded on the rods was an interesting task by myself, but I did it!
Framework complete
First sheet up. I will highly recommend an assistant for myself in the future.
Second sheet up.
The view is pretty nice up here!
All done for now - I've got more to toss up there later.
I am by no stretch of the imagination a carpenter so I am very happy with myself and the end result. It was very sturdy before I even ran any screws into it!
At the front, the 2x4's are screwed to the 2x6's. The plywood is screwed every few inches into the 2x6's, and the 2x6's are screwed through the metal beam. I had to clip the one corner or the plywood because of the buildings cross brace, so I stuck an extra piece of 2x6 to support to back corner from flexing. The threaded rod is supposedly good for ~1100lbs each so whatever I can carry up the ladder should be fine up there. -
Awesome! I was about to ask if there were any updates. I have calipers on standby, time to find some rotors.
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It doesn't appear that the CX racing headers will clear an SFI steel bellhousing with provisions for an external slave on the TKO. It looks like it could be dimpled or the bellhousing clearanced but the header is right where the slave should be. Could rework and make a bracket to use a pull type slave, but instead I'm going to go with a stock aluminum housing and then use a hydraulic throwout to keep things clear down there.
TKO puts the shifter about 4" too far forward, probably just going to make an offset handle and see how it feels. Transmission mount is a few inches too far back, which could be made up with the engine mounts but then that would make the shifter problem worse.
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Pulled the engine out and "painted" the engine bay
Looks acceptable now, we're not going for Concours level anyway.
Also melted a hole in one of my credit cards, but have ordered most of what I need to complete the car.
Today I ordered
Low mount alternator bracket (will get alternator from work)
Driver side mid mount AC compressor and bracket (I hate the look of the high mount setups and low mount won't work here)
Q45 rear subframe dropout (will be using diff, axles, hubs, and brakes. been looking unsuccessfully for months at any junkyard in the state)
T3 rear converion kit with LCA's
When it's all said and done the rear conversion kit will let me bolt in all the drivetrain and brake bits into the Z and have 100% new suspension components. Literally every piece of the rear setup will be replaced with upgraded components. Axles will be rebuilt with shorter and stronger shafts for the Z's track width, diff will bolt in, modern hubs, bearings, and brakes (and no more stub shaft!); and we will have adjustable LCA's and coilovers.
Things I still need to spend money on:
Fuel tank cleaning
Fuel tank mount for modern in tank EFI pump
Fuel pump
Water pump
Alternator
Correct harmonic balancer
Belt/Hoses/misc
Driveshaft shortening/balancing
Tires for new wheels
Not needed to run but will probably happen in same timeframe:
Aftermarket AC unit (leaning towards Vintage Air Gen II mini)
Drier
Custom A/C hoses
Later on down the road:
Additional chassis bracing
Front suspension
Front brakes -
Oooh yeah baby, nice and wet
Oh what's that? You want it dry? OK I can do that
Yeah baby line it up lets go
Oh yeah just the tip
Ooooo
Deeperrrr
Mmmmpfff
First test fit went swimmingly, passenger side header is easy install. Driver side appears it will need to be installed from underneath or put in with the motor, we shall see. Locations appear close enough that I should be able to use the stock transmission crossmember, which means I won't really need to fabricate anything at this rate. -
Well, that was easy.
Now for the hard part, everything else. -
IT BEGINS!
Spent the last few nights cleaning out the shop - it was long overdue and there was crap everywhere from the last few projects. Still some clutter, but much better than before and a decent work environment.
Probably the cleanest it will be for awhile, it's about to have a Datsun parts explosion take place.
Hopefully start having regular updates now, as my free time should be going towards this.
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It's really hit or miss with reman axles, because the longer they are producing them the more variance you'll get. You may get a reman of a parts store new axle, reman of the ford axle, or sometimes even a new axle (or some bastardization of all 3). I work in parts, I'd either order some remans from a local source so that they can be inspected before you take delivery of them or find a used set of OEM axles from eBay or a junkyard/recycler.
Let me really muddy the waters on the cv axles. I originally bought the Cardone 60-2112 axles (not new) since I read they were remand Ford products.
When they came in, they were 2 totally different axle shafts. The cv housing on one axle was painted black and obviously used. The other axle was shiny and new. Evidently, I was shipped a Cardone Select 66-2112 for some reason along with a 60-2112. Neither cv housing was stamped with a Ford logo.
Both axles were secured to the "star" with the infamous clip. However, when I got everythig apart only the "new" star would slde on the 930 axles. The "used' star was just too tight to slide on the 930 axle. This cv obviously wouldn't work.
So, a simple fix I thought was to order another Cardone 66-2112. Wrong! Everything appeared the same as my first 66-2112. It even had the same number stamped on the cv housing. However, the axle was not secured to the cv with the clip, it was pressed in! The star or inner race was a different thickness and even the balls looked to be a larger diameter.
Wow. What am I doing wrong?
Where are you guys buying your axles from? What part number?
Thanks for any help you can give me.
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I've had rotors and wheels done at several different machine shops, if you have one in your area it's not a big deal to get done (to whoever is considering this setup).
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Keep us updated, I'm looking for a set.
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I am ready for the next run, was ready to do the TTT setup but I like this option better!
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Rotary only states that 4" is required for up to a 10k lift, as long as it is a reinforced 3000psi mix. Nonetheless, I have deep footers under my 10k lift and about 5" under the 9k lift.
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You can store a car on the two post lift too, and have lots more floor room to work with vs. a 4 post. Of course, racking a car vs. driving on a 4 post takes more time to set the arms, etc.
My garage is 30x40, very similar size. Are your doors on the longer wall or the shorter wall? My garage is deep since the door is on the short wall. If I cleaned really well I could fit 6 cars in it (with 2 up in the air).
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Think I made my mind up on the rear setup for the car.
Going to go with the T3 setup and a Q45 donor. That will get me the R200, LSD, good ratio, disc brakes, no stub axle to break, coilovers, and adjustable LCA's. I think every component in the rear will be new! If I don't like the VLSD, there is a helical LSD upgrade (not the OBX, wrong number of splines) for not too much money later on down the road.
Last week one of the local yards had a 95 and a 96 Q45 (looking for 90-96). Looked yesterday, and they only showed one. Went to yard, and they actually have none. Will need to keep an eye out unless someone has a rear subframe from a Q they want to sell! Should be easier to come across than a 300zx TT rear, although the Q45's are almost getting too old to be showing up in yards around here now. Hopefully one will pop up.
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Got more done on the harness today!
I went to the junkyard to snip some pigtails from a donor vehicle, so I can lengthen a few connections without either having to have two unions per wire or having mismatched wire colors. Lengthened the ECT, TPS, and IAC, which sorts everything out on the top end. On the bottom end, I will still need to lengthen the alternator pigtail and then I should be all set.
Also got the correct injectors I am going to use, so I clipped them in the rail and verified correct length on all the sensors. Looks good! Needs a good cleaning and it should be real nice. I have some new loom on the way, so I don't need to reuse the scraps I have left over. I also changed the routing for the bottom half of the harness, on factory applications it runs down the driver cylinder head and then down to the alt, ECT, CKP, and A/C. I ran it down behind the intake and along the side of the block under the cylinder head so it shouldn't be visible.
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I doubt there are any out there that are for sale but just on the off chance I figured I'd make a post for it.
Looking for the kit that member wfritts911 came up with for mounting the Ford 8.8 IRS pumpkin into the S30 along with new axles, knuckles, uprights, etc.
If you can live without it, let me know! Otherwise I'm going to have to go another route ...
Thanks!
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You do realize that to mate a TKO600 (designed like Gen I/Gen II transmissions) to an LS motor, you just can't simply bolt them up. It requires lots of mix and match and specific bellhousing, flywheel and clutch combinations.
Mike Mileski
Tucson, AZ
Yes I will need a specific pilot bearing and a certain bellhousing from the old GM 4 speeds IIRC. This would mate a T5 to an LS or a TKO since they share the same bellhousing bolt dimensions. Mine already was behind an LS though, it came with the correct input shaft, SFI bellhousing, and (used) clutch setup.
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I have looked at the low compressor mounts (A LOT) but the problem is they are too long to use the stock cross member. The JCI mount seems to be the one of choice, driver up high. So unless you make your own passenger side mount, notch the frame, and oh yea, the headers become a problem also, the low will not work.. In short not worth it There are some mounts that use the new super small compressor but it also mounts to the top. If that set up was not crazy expensive I would consider it and center mount the tensioner. The advantage to me for the passenger side mount is routing the wiring and hoses. Just my opinion, HTH, Richard.
That is helpful, thanks. It looks like you can use it right on top of a F-body low mount alternator and it's not a super high mount so it isn't too unsightly. Sucks that they don't make a mirrored image of it for the passenger side, because those are some long ass A/C hoses if you run them around the front of the motor into the evap housing on the passenger side firewall. All the work to keep an engine bay tidy, followed by a 6ft long A/C hose.
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Been working more on the harness, I de-pinned all the connections from the old fuse block and removed a few more things from the OEM harness. The injectors I am going to run are EV1 connectors, so I had to change the 8 injector pigtails from the truck harness to the EV1 style.
Since I plan on routing the harness behind the intake (and running a different intake) there are many wires that will need adjustments. The driver side bank of injectors all had to be lengthened (got that part done).
I still need to lengthen the ECT, IAC, TPS wires, and shorten the MAF, CMP, O2, and grounds.
I've been researching the accessory drive options that will fit in this chassis. I'd like to go with the F-body low mount alternator to keep it tidy up top, so I'll need to get the corresponding water pump and balancer. But does anyone know if any of the factory compressor mounting brackets work in an S30? I know that you can buy top mount A/C setups but I don't really like the looks of them. Who else has an LS with A/C?
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I was borderline on just getting a T5 and rocking it until it broke and then getting an upgraded unit but I ended up finding a good deal on a TKO600 5 speed trans. Sets up just like a T5, dimensions are about the same, about 20lbs heavier than a T5 but still a good amount lighter than a T56, and cheaper too. I picked mine up used for less than $1500 and got a bunch of extras with it. You can get a 600 with a .63OD 5th gear, almost as good as the T56 OD.
Rated for 600ft/lbs. You can get a TKO500 as well, good for 500ft/lbs. Uses LT1 style external hydraulic clutch slave setup.
I'll be test fitting everything shortly, I know the trans itself will clear everything fine, only possible hitch is the clutch slave/exhaust clearance but hopefully that is a non-issue
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Chomping at the bit to get started, just a little hesitant to start tearing down as I have two lifts and one will be out of service for awhile as soon as I start =p
Here as some more goodies
Fuse block kit - will be a lot nicer than parts store fuse blocks, gives me more room for future accessories, and puts all the relays in one easy location. IP66 rated!
Also I've had the exhaust kicking around for a little while but didn't take any photos of it. Should make the swap a lot easier. Only part I'm planning on fabricating is the transmission mount.
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Thanks for the replies!
I do have a stock 6.0L cam sitting around but it would be a really marginal improvement I think for the effort involved. Of course, the effort involved on a stand is a lot less than the effort involved once in the car.
The L33 cam has a longer duration than the iron block 5.3L cam IIRC, but not as long as the stock 6.0L (which may have more lift as well)
L33/TKO600 73 240Z
in Gen III & IV Chevy V8Z Tech Board
Posted
Here's what the accessory drive will look like completed, only with a longer belt.
Need to pick up some more hardware to make things permanent. Hopefully test fitting it back in the engine bay soon so I can make the transmission mount and drop it back in for good. Here's to hoping the exhaust won't interfere with the transmission crossmember relocation.