snork

If I were to paint in the garage I would do exactly what neverdone said. Make sure you put a filter in front of the fan that is sucking in the air, and if you have picky neigbors a filter in front of the fan pushing the air out would be a good idea (overspray). Definetly wet down the floor, it makes a big difference as far as keeping dirt out of the paint job. In fact, clean the garage as best as you can before anything else. As for me, I have been thinking about painting my 280 GM code 8979 (pearl red) with some red metal flake from paintwithpearls.com, with ghost flames. Or maybe a ralley black ( flat black that I can use with regular clear) with a pearl white racing stripes. I use a SATA 2000 hvlp gun and love it. When masking the car, make sure the masking paper is solvent resistant. If not, you will have problems with bleed through, dust and so on.

Ya, I had a brain fart when I said el rancho. I am going to have my cross member for the motor mounts changed so that the motor will be dropped another 1/4 inch. I measured my harmonic balancer to each side of my rails and my measurements showed that i was about a half inch to the driver side of the car's center, but when i mounted the exhaust manifold on the passenger side of the car it looked like the exhaust pipe would barely clear the passenger side of the (frame) rail. The harmonic balancer is sitting just a hair forward of the rack and pinion. Plus, the carb is sitting about a little over an inch higher than the fenders ( stock two barrel manifold with stock 2 barrel carb). But right now that is just a small detail. I will probably put a shaker scoop, cowl induction hood or a nice chrome bug catcher on. Hate to cut up the hood, but oh well.

I have the shifter off and taped the shifter hole in the case shut. With the motor/tranny mounted I can see about half (give or take)of the shifter hole. Most of the motor( 90-95%) is sitting behind the rack and pinion.Is that how your motor is sitting? I guess I will end up trimming the floor for the shifter, but i am not sure what to do about the console.

Well, I have mounted my 302/t5 combo and have ran into some problems. When mounted in the z, the shifter is 2-2 1/2 inches from where the stock shifter came up through the floor. Did anybody else have this issue? My bellhousing is right against the firewall. In fact, the bellhousing bolts are right against the brake lines that go across the firewall. I am using alsils (I hope i spelled that right) engine cradle with motor mounts from an ('71) el rancho. Should I cut some material out of the motor mounts to drop the motor and hope that that will give me some room to push the motor back or should I "massage" the firewall some with a deadblow hammer and a 2x4. The motor is also interfering with the a/c lines coming out of the fire wall. Any ideas?

Ya, It has the factory external regulator. I have been able to remove all the wires except a yellow one. Its a yellow wire on the harness, then it turns into a white wire on the regulator's side of the connector. Do I just cut the wire (taped off of course) and leave it be?

I live in Montana, near billings. I have a wiring diagram, but like on the voltage regulator I have two blue wires. Which one do I use to connect to the altenator per JTR manual. Plus, can I permantly remove the two fusible links on the pansenger side of the car. Plus, how do I hook up the brain box? How did you hook yours up erehemantresni? All I want to do is clean up the engine bay except for the wires I need and the ac.

Well, I finally have the motor and (5sp)tranny out. Now I am stuck on the wiring. I have the computer and harness completely out and I am now trying to figure out the harness on the passenger side of the car. Which wires do I need and which ones can I junk. The motor i am using is a 1980 302 and I have the "brain box" that came with it. I am also wanting to be able to use the factory ac, so I have left all of that in place. I have a wiring diagram for my '77 z. I need help big time, mainly cause I am starting to freak out! I am using the ford altenator. I have the JTR book, but most of the wire colors dont really match up.

This harness is on the driver's side. It is the harness coming off the computer. I take it, it is safe to sh#t can the harness then? Part of that harness does snake onto the passenger side. Thanks for answering!

I have removed the engine/tranny from my 77 z for a ford 302. After removing the computer I was going to remove the harness that snapped into the computer. But I noticed that the harness went up into the dash. So what all is controlled by the computer in the dash? Plus, do I need any of that wiring harness to run the carbed 302? In the JTR book, there were only 7 or 8 wires needed to run the motor and gauges. I'm getting very discouraged right now, need help!

Alright, I'm finally starting to get my motor ready. According to High Performance Ford Parts Interchange book, my motor is a 1980 reman. A friend gave me his 302 heads off his 70 two wheel drive pickup. I remember him saying it had 1.94 on the intake. Looking at the chambers, the stampings on the head go (from left to right) C, then 18, then 302 with a T underneath it, then C9TE. In this book it says there is a truck head that has 58.2 cc chambers and its stamping is C9TE-C. Then in another caption it says there is a truck head with the stamping C9TE that had large chambers like a 351w, and not to use it because of losing compression. I do know these heads that I have are pre 1975. I am guessing that I have the heads with the larger chambers, but I'm not sure. So what do I have? As far as buying some good heads, I cant. I have to pay off the lawyer for a divorce first. I just have to make best use of what I collected for now. I will have more questions later, and I do try to use the search feature for my questions, but usually all I find is a headache.

Recently, as I was browsing through the internet for my 302, I saw an ad for turning a persons exhuast into a flame thrower. Cool!, as i thought to myself, while everyone is getting a ticket for racing, I can just sit here at the local hang out and roast weenies! I thought it would be a nice touch on some side pipes. Has anybody done this before? Any draw backs besides the law?

for some stupid reason, i was thinking the heads had a smaller combustion chamber, but that wouldnt make sense if they flowed better than the stock late 70's head

stupid question. the gt40 heads wont work on a non roller block, will they? Im just tryin to figure out a way to raise the compression on my late '70's 302 with out doing any machining. I think it would be pointless to do that on a non roller block. Any suggestions?

To each his own. Im more of a candy brandywine person my self. to me thats more of a rootbeer color.

we actually had an issue with panelbond a while back. One of the bodymen didnt mud over the area where he had bonded it. When we got done painting and the threw the booth into bake, the panelbond actually bled through the primer and paint. It buffed out, but six months later when guy had wrecked it agian, we saw that the spot came back. Just remember, if you use panelbond, to put some mud over it, or make sure you have alot of primer over it. That might have been our problem, not enough surfacer over the spot.

I agree with josephg. Once the install is done, a person can either warm up the truck motor or wait till you find a decent deal on a roller motor and hop it up. That way, you can get the hard part done first and enjoy your z while you build your perfect motor. At least, that is what my thoughts are for mine(going through a divorce, i think. So i had to put mine on the back burner for now.). The late 70's 302 have more torque than the L28 did, right? I know the horsepower was about the same. Any takes on the C4? I could use a beer. LOL

That is the same question I am pondering. Im still looking for a 4 barrel manifold and carb. The motor came with a C4 that wont sell. Heck, I'll trade it for a 12 pack and a pack of smokes! Either ways the v8 should make the car alot more fun to drive.

I checked it on our computer and it came out as a Light blue metalic. Then i realized you were overseas. I had to go back and enter the code in "Ford-Europe" and you were right, K1 (not K01) came up as Magnum Gray and a whole other laundry list of colors. I thought Ford was Ford, apparently not.

ford color codes only have 2 digits. I work at a ford dealership in the paint shop. If it is a metalic grey or charcoal it would probably be CX but i could be wrong. Let me look up K1 and ill tell you if that is it. I will also see what other greys/ charcoals there is around that year. It looks pretty nice on that Z.

there is a book called " jegs that run" or jtr. it shows a person how to install a chev v8 into a z, most of what is written in that book will apply to any v8. In it, it talks about front to back weight distrobution. If i remember right, installing a v8 per that book, the weight distrobution will remain stock or mostly stock. Buy the book, its definetly worth the money no matter what v8 you will install. I hope that answered your question.

If my wife and I ever agree on a house to buy/build, it would have a 3 car garage. I would just partition the third stall off with a tarp/plastic sheeting of some kind ( just for the reason she is bitching about having shop built like a big oversized paint booth). As long as there is suffient air flow, I shouldn't have a problem (hopefully) with vapors. Wetting down the floor and keeping the car/project clean as well as the area you are spraying in, a person should end up with a good paint job. Dont forget about lighting. A person needs to be able to see what he/she paints. Trying to use the "force" only works sometimes. Trust me, I know. As far as guns go, I run a NR 2000 Sata (HVLP) at work. I can personaly say my gun makes less overspray and uses less material (base-clear) than the other painter's RP and Jet 90 (both are made by Sata).

I was doing searches for motor mounts/ x members for the 302 ford swap. i was going to buy alsil ( very sorry if i mispelled your name) cross member. Only to see on his website that he does not sell them any more. I was wondering if hitman47 got anywhere with them (motor mounts). I know he was working on a kit, but heard nothing more about it. So am i able to buy a mount/cross member, or will i just have to remove the front end ( i am 6 foot and 240 pounds, need the room) and hopefully cobble up my own? I am still looking for a t-5 , but wanted to start gathering all the parts that i'll need. i also apologize for violating any rules for starting this thread. i did the search for bout 45 min.

its a 77. right now its stock. i know i want to shave everything off the car, but i wanted to do something different with the doors. never considered gull wing kind, though.

I was reading a rod mag and came across an add for lamborghini style opening doors. anyone done this with a Z car, or any car for that matter? was wondering how much of a b#### it was to do. Also out curiousity, has anyone notice the down hill quality in 3M? Their green tape isn't like it used to be and their compound seems like it has been watered down. If i cut and buff with 1200 i have to use extra cut first then switch to the regular compound. Any coments would be apreicated. Thanks

i have ran it long enough for it to be burning the fresh fuel that i put in it. going to check the timing today, and the cap. it will rev up just fine the first six seconds after it has been started the first time. after that, it acts like the timing is off, just chokes and sputters and back fires.