baddriver

Those prices look a little high, I'd check http://www.car-parts.com. a Lot of salvage yards list them around 1500. Of course, you might have to do a little (or a lot) more work to get that price.

I can't imagine why you would want to do this. Sure, the cam is cheaper, but if you care at all about performance, the small extra price you pay for roller lifters/cam will make an unbelievable difference in power and mostly low-end torque. I am sure you can get a roller cam with any lift and duration you want. If you are not interested in performance, why are you doing a hybrid swap? forgive me if I have misunderstood your intention, but I think most people would be happier with the performance of a roller cam over the flat-tappet cam.

Any coating you use, from powder coating to por-15 to rustoleum will work fine as long as you properly prepare the surface. A nice, clean rust free surface will take any of the products mentioned above. The only real difference I've found in coatings is the UV and chemical (salt) resistance. If you don't drive your car in the winter, I wouldn't worry about it, use anything you feel like, BUT preparing the surface is by far the most important step.

How do you use your car? For a hard launch at the drag strip, you want a high stall converter so that the engine can spin up and develope a lot of power. (This assumes you have a high revving engine, a high torque engine will launch harder at lower rpm) But, if the engine runs below stall speed while you are driving around town, your tranny fluid will heat up and you could cook your tranny. with 3.54 gears, you don't want a 3000 rpm converter for something you'll be driving around town. I'd stay close to stock or a few hundred rpm higher. Only use a high stall converter on something with steep gears (high 3's or 4's) that has a high revving engine and gets most of it's mileage 1/4 mile at a time. Something a little higher than stock will give you a bit more umph and work well with a performance cam. An engine with a huge cam will require a high stall converter because they won't idle. Many of the 700r4's came with a lock up converter. This lets the engine speed drop below the stall speed without the tranny slipping on the highway. Usually they don't get hooked up in engine swaps and the feature is lost. It improve gas mileage a bit, but if the system isn't set up to disengage when you slow down, it can kill the engine.

I don't know where you'll find the HP numbers for other cars, but if you want the F-body numbers, try f-body.org. Scroll down to F-body technical database. They have all the horsepower numbers for the camaros up to about 2001. I don't think it has the last year of the camaro.

A minimum of $3000 is a good start, plus the cost of the car, another $2500 to $3000 if you buy a good car. IF you are refering to the old carbed LT1 from an old vette. If you are talking about a new 1990's LT1, then add the cost of a fuel tank suitable for FI and all the hoses, fill tube, etc to go with it (this will run you an unbeliavble $600 or better. The fill hose alone is 100, and yes, you WILL have to replace it, and all the hoses), and of course if you want any kind of traction at all, add the cost of wheels (300-1000) and tires. Don't forget a few details like wiring the LT1, electrical connectors, fuel injection hose and clamps, filters, etc...... Of course, you'll need an R200 rear end, and there is no point in not getting the LSD from an 84 turbo, mustache bar, diff mount, throw in $100 worth of U-joints to bring this to about $600. Oh, and you'll want a radio, and some working guages, probablty better add another $500 just to get the e-brake working, replace some bushings, lights in the dash, throttle cables, brake upgrades... So, you can do a basic job for about $6000 total, but if you want your car to be able to use any of that power, you're into the 8-10 grand territory. Do you have a set of tools? I'll bet everyone here who has done this conversion has at least 5K wrapped up in tools, from air compressors, jacks, wrenches, electrical meters, etc. Don't ask what a paint job costs. You can easily spend $600 just buying the paint. Forget getting someone to apply it for less than $1000. ANd what's the point of all that power if you don't look good. The bottom line, whatever you think it's going to cost, multiply that by two. And then add a zero to the right-hand-side. You might be scoffing at this right now. You will not be 1 year from now. Have fun! Jeff E.

xylene is also an octain booster. 10% in gasoline is supposed to be worth 3-4 points. I know SPIIRIT won't make this mistake, but for the kids reading this, increasing octane beyond what is necessary for your cylinder pressure DECREASES horsepower, or at least, does not increase it. edit: I just followed the link above, and learned that my information is redundant. Sorry.

Take the liscence plate off, put it on a car dolly or trailer, take it back to the first shop, and tell them it's an off-road only car. It's not there job to monitor what you do with the car when you get it back. They can simply write "off road use only" on the sales reciept. It's worth a shot, anyway.

If you have already changed the puel pump, and the filter, regulator, o2 sensor etc are all working fine, it may be time to check for a clogged exhaust. This used to be a more common problem with early catalytic converters, but I haven't ever seen it on a newer car. However, a clogged cat or muffler will cause the behavior noted, runs fine at mid-throttle, bogs down and is slow at full throttle. The back pressure builds up and the engine can't breath. Look for a bent exhaust tube, or if the converter is pretty rusty, it could have deteriorated enough to clog. Just a thought. Jeff E.

Dmyntti, I believe if you remove the spare tire well, you would probably be able to add any tank you want. If you remove it completely, I've seen at least one Z using the camaro fuel tank. The main advantage to that is that the tank isn't 30 years old. Jeff E.

I have an early 74 Z that I am planning a fuel injection swap in. As I understand it, the current tank cannot be used without some sort of fuel resevoir because the tank isn't baffled suffficiently for a fuel-injected application. I searched the archives, and what I think I have learned, is that the '75 Z has fuel injection, and still used the full size spare, so that tank will fit on my 74, however, in 76 the Z switched to a different spare, and a larger tank was added that will not fit my car. Is this correct? Are other people using the early FI tanks in 74 and earlier cars? Thanks for your help, Jeff E.

You might get enough to cover the cost of machining and rebuilding the block, but don't count on it. A running 350 is about as easy to find as anything. If you want to sell it, sell it off as-is and let someone build it the way they want it.

My 260 has electronic ignition, with the transistor module mounted on the firewall in front of the passengers feet. I don't think the 240's had electronic ignition, so that wiring will be different. But, the 280's have fuel injection, so the wiring isn't the same for them either. I have the Haynes manual, and it came with wiring diagrams. They are accurate as far as I have found. The Haynes manual is cheap <$20 and well worth the price, but if you want in-depth info, go with the factory service manual if you can find one (ask your nissan dealer, take your checkbook.) Do yourself a favor if you do get the Haynes manual. Take it too a good copy shop and spend a few bucks getting enlarged copies of the wiring diagram. Then you can trace the lines in a marker close to the wire color, it will save you a lot of trouble in the future.

If it was up to me, I'd keep the water temp, fuel and oil guage, and go without the amp/volt meter. Loosing your alternator isn't quite the disaster that overheating or loosing oil pressure would be. A volt warning light would be easy to install. I would nominate the seat-belt warning light be used. While I was at it, I would add an oil pressure warning light and buzzer, because you really want to know right away if you loose oil pressure. In fact, the oil pressure guage in my opinion is less useful than an idiot light. The chances of you noticing the guage has dropped in time to save your bearings are probably nill. Still, I know a lot of people like the feedback. Oh yeah, What are you going to do for turn signal indicators if you change your speedo?

forget the v8 conversion, just paint it yellow. http://zdriver.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=4025 It's way faster now then when it was green.

I would like to replace my full size spare (260z) with a compact spare, the temporary doughnut kind that's super small, not the old inflate-a-can spare from the 280zx. Do the 300zx's have a compact spare that fits on older cars? I've also heard the supra's have the same bolt pattern. If anyone knows where to find a good spare that works for the Z, I would really appreciate it!