datsunlover

Well... I havn't really taken an inventory lately, but off hand... -85 mazda RX7 in the back yard (set up for SBC, awaiting motor...) -front bumper skin from a 2004 Ford focus ZX3 -TH350 tranny w/convertor -T5 bellhousing (chev camero I think..) -hood/floor pan/engine lid/headlight/dizzy/coil/carb for a 74 VW Bettle -FI intake (L28, 1975) complete -harness/ecu/AFM/ect for same -set of SU's from a 71' -fiberglass drivers side 240Z fender -BOXES of guages/switches/wiring/little plastic things... -two N42 heads, one complete -3 valve covers (I don't know how I got 3...) -zx brake master cyl and booster -two zx dizzys -4 14" six spoke Z rims, 4 15" "alluminum slots" (6 lug pattern) -box rail 'diamond plate' covers (GM) -pair of GM truck tail lights -assorted gaskets/seals/ect -about 5 SBC ehast maifolds -2 GM alternators -3 GM dizzys -GM short water pump -front struts w/brakes off an 86 RX7 -2nd gen rx7 hood Man... I really gota get out there and organize the mess!! It's all in a one car garage (except the 85 rx7) and my Z lives in there too... not to mention the lawn mower, barbeque, snow blower and a bunch of wood/renovation suplies...

Hard launches are cool... not that my beast GMC one tone dually is compareable to a WRX, but there is something to be said for the 'off the line torque' of the old 454... many things/people/coffee have gone flying in the cab when I smash it to the floor. Actually, I was *almost* injured one day when all the loose change came flying out of the ashtray (under the dash) and pelted me in the knee cap.... I had to 'lay down the law' to a kid in a Cavalier (4 door, complete with fart can exhast and a rear wing...) Good times....

Don't know if you're reallly attached to the stock tach, but I got around this problem by slaping in an el cheepo 3 3/8" 'IeQuis' Tach from Wallmart. It sounds like a cheezy thing, but it really does look decent. (whiteface/red needle.. actually resembles an Autometer guage...) Simple hookup right to the tach output off the MSD box, and it fits just nice in the stock Z dash hole.

That would be my advice too; The SU's are a good carb IMO and I can tell you they will do just fine in the cold, given a proper set-up. I've started mine up in minus 15* C (yup, canadian here) and only had to give it about 5 minuits running on the choke. I also agree that the ZX FI is garbage. Think about it.. it's a 25 year old system! There are quite a few aftermarket systems out there now that would be FAR superior to the ZX's, and most allow you to tune it to exactly what you want/need.

Dang.. that is awesome.. I love to build one of those too.. ahhh... so many cars to slam V8's in, so little money to fund the urges.... *sigh*

I'm not around here much lately, but I can probly help you out with some TBI wiring if you want. I just put a 350 tbi into an 86 RX7 this past summer and although it has a few 'glitches' it works well. It has it's limitations, IMO its great for the street as it is fairly simple (therefore easily tunable/repairable) and it quite reliable from what I've seen. I don't have the cash right now, but I'd love to grab an Edlebrock TBI and intake for mine. From what I've heard it's good for over 300 horse which is PLENTY for the street, and with my 3:90 gear and 225/50/16's it'd probly go alright! Anyhow, I bought an 89 Caprice (ex cop car) and got the motor, 700r4 and all the wiring/ecu which came out pretty easy.. then it was about a week of going through the harness and with the help of a wiring diagram, figuring out what goes where and so on. Really not too bad though.. if you can use a muli-meter and understand a simple wiring diagram. Let me know.

Man.. for that kind of money (for used engines in your area) you'd be further ahead to look a little further away.. heck, for the motor/trans I wanted for my rx7 project, I bought a whole donor car (89 chev caprice, 350 FI and 700r4 in great shape) for $160!!! Just had to drive 40 mins and have it towed home. ($50) I'll rebuild it eventualy, but I got it for practialy nothing so I dont mind. I can't see spending anywhere near $1800 for a used 'unknown' engine, regardless of it's displacement or percived value. For comparason, a friend of mine is currently rebuilding a 454. (Mk5 block from a 91 dually. Ran ok, but it's a project truck and it was smoking a bit.. yah, lets re-build her!!) At a shop, the block was tanked, bored .020", heads were decked and new valves/ect done, and had the crank polished. Then he bought a comp cam (.503 lift, forget duration, power from 2000-6000 I believe), hyperutectic (sp?) pistons/rings, and everything else to assemble the motor (seals, bearings, gaskets, ect) and we're putting it together. Grand total he's into it at this point for just over $2200. Canadian too. Just some food for thought...

Crap.. I might be looking for another Vg motor for my 93 pickup then... Noticed a similar noise the other day and it seams to be getting louder.. ugh..

That was friggin cool!! I'm amazed how well he got the timing in sync with the music (which was very cool.. I'ma have to find some more like it.).. Very nice work. I don't wana imagine what the guys hydro bill is though...

Ready for restoration.... Should probly be in a junkyard already Great first car... If you're buing this as your first car, you won't realize how much is wrong with it cause' you're 'new'. Make good 2nd car... You'll need to keep the one you have now, to get around when this pile craps out on you. Great winter car... Good for bouncing off snowbanks and parked cars, otherwise worthless though.

Thats exactly how I built my V8 rx7.. well, the way I thought the whole way. I wanted it quick and dirty. Different, but reliable. I bought the car cheep, bought drivetrain cheep, built the rest on my own. Along the way I stoped sometimes and thought about 'what else' I could do.. you know, the while I'm at it thing, but decided to just DO WHAT I SET OUT TO DO. And I did. For about $2000 I have a car I enjoy driving, have fun with, and generaly beat on without worying about breaking it. I have a plan (the thing's not 'done' yet, but thats the fun of this hobby! ) and when I have the time and resources, I will follow through with it. Basicaly, I will build on what is there, without making bits of it obsolete (which would equal wasted money in the end.) I am well aware of how much cash can be wasted however, as I currently have about $8000 into my 75 280z, Basicaly a stock engine w/cam, 5 speed KA box, swaped rear diff, yada yada... lots of wasted time/money, and I have to go back and re-do a LOT of it... I know that I could have done more than I did with all the money I've spent, but hey.. live and learn.

You can get whatever someone is willing to pay.. for all that. I can see this thread beeing put away in the tool shed veeeery soon..

I just go straight to the dealer. From my expiriance, they can ussualy be a great help. Eg; My 350 in mazda conversion. I went up to the local Chev dealer, told the parts guy what I was doing, and after he got over the shock of it , dug up the factory wiring diagrams for me. (had to get it from a store room, as 89 and down isn't on their computers) I got copys of about 5 pages, and it lays out in good detail what does what, and which wire is what color. I basicaly spent a week splicing it into the mazda and although I had the mazda book, it was pretty much useless. IE I just 'found' what I needed in the mazda, and hooked it up to the chev ecu.

That sucks that they sold you the wrong length bolts, but seeing as you installed them (ie; not a ford tech) I think you'll be hard pressed to get any help from them... Judging from your diagram (assuming the scale is correct) i'd say you're ok. There is still plenty of good thread there, and if you get good quality proper length bolts, along with locktite in there, you should be fine. My .02$.

Went through the same thing, and I'm still living with it for now with my 75. When (some day, in a garage far far away...) I do a full resto on her I'm planing on just making my own pins. It helps that I work in a machine shop as there are a lot of automotive related parts that you simply can't buy anymore, or are quite expensive. Maybe somone here has a source, but my .02$ is to make friends with a machinest/tool maker and get something made up.

Seeing as the question said V8 and not neccesarily Z car, I'll throw in my V8 rx7 as good/reliable daily transport. And also another vote for the 700r4 tranny. A bit high reving on the highway in the RX7, but that's mostly due to the 3:90 rear... and smallish rear tires (205/55/16). For now, I'm running a bone stock TBI 350 and although it's not the best performance choice, it is simple and reliable. Also quite easy to find parts at reasonable prices. I drove it 4-5 days a week for over a month this past summer (had temorary trip permits so when the last one ran out, I just parked it) and had only minor issues, but it WAS a 'freshly' built car, some issues always crop up during the first few drives. (rad leaks, wiring glitches, ect) The last week I was driving it, it was just like 'any old car' to me. Get in, fire it up, and go.

I may be able to help you out man... If you're talking about the rear struts, I have two used rear 'BOGE' strut inserts I'll give you, and two brand new KYB GR2 front's, still in boxes. I can't remember exactly what I spent on them.. $150 or so I think.. As for springs/caps, I can have a look through some old buy+sell papers, there was a guy with a bunch of 240-280 parts (entire front suspension, doors, tranny, ect) that I know of localy, wanted $200 for the whole mess iirc.. Either way, my buddy is still driving truck through the states evry week, maybe a drop off/meet could be aranged as well. I'm not online much anymore (don't know if you saw my last post about a month ago) but PM me if this will help you and I can give you my phone #(s) if you want to get a hold of me.

Looks pretty good to me man, and don't worry, it's gona be a little ugly no mater what with the flux core wire. Just make sure you clean the slag/splater off really good before you paint, trust me. Where it attaches to the firewall looks a little weak to me.. I'd try to fill that in a bit more with weld or maybe even some more metal. Something I've found when welding thin stuff (like body steel) with my little lincoln is you sometimes have to go in 'spurts' as oposed to laying a big long bead. Basicaly, a long run of little spots overlaping will get the same result, but the little bit of time between the welds lets it cool down just slightly, so you don't get blow through. I have a Lincoln weld pack 100 and I COULD get the gas kit, but I like being able to just plug in and weld anywhere. Out side or whatever, there's no gas to get blown away.

Heh.. well, sort of. I broke down and bought a nice new howe racing rad for the thing, and the next week evrything 'fell apart' so the rad's not in yet, the car is in a storage unit, and I never did get the chek engine light figred out.. Still, it was a blast to drive it ones last time up to the storage unit. Oh well, THAT is the stuff I can do if I have a house, cause it doesn't cost money (I already have the parts/info) just takes time.. we'll see what happens.

Ok, so most folks will be thinking.. "Uh.. who are you?" But for a few people that know me here, just wanted to say, Hey, I'm still alive. Things went bad about a month ago with me and the girlfriend and I ended up moving out. After a week or so, I figured out what was wrong and realized I just made a big mistake.. It's hard to explain.. cause I had to leave the situation to understand it and know what to do. Long story short, me and the girlfriend are back together and after much discusion, we've decided that we're buying a house. We're both quite tired of living in her parents basement apartment, and in apartments in general. We've talked in the past about doing this, but until now I didn't feel that we made enough money to handle it, and frankely, I wasn't sure if we were 'ready' for it. It's the old 'you don't know what you have till it's gone' thing... After two weeks on a couch at my moms, I realized I need her more than I thought. So we've been looking at places recently, and figured out what we need/want..and can afford. May put an offer on one soon.. I won't have a lot of $$$ to throw around at cars/projects for a while, but I'm ok with that.. (besides, the house will take up a good chunk of time/money) I figure in another year or two, we'll both make more money anyway, and I'll finaly have a place that is MINE to do things I want. (Yah I know, the bank will tecnicaly own it.. meh. You do what you have to do.) For now, I'll be happy just to HAVE a place to stick my Z and the RX7, even if I can't work on them for a while. I'm even thinking of selling one of the cars if need be, for some cash to put into the house... I can always buy more cars later.

MY vote is for the FD. I had my last ride..for a while.. in my V8 FC last night (see my post in non-tech about me having to move.. suddenly) and I can only imagine how much better an FD would be.. newer car, more evolved than the FC and REALLY cool looking.. I mean, the 2nd gens are nice and all, but just don't compare to the 3rd gens..

I'm gona miss this site.. and in general, having internet access.. Almost as much as I'm gona miss playing with my cars for the next while.. To make a long story short, me and the girlfriend split up tonite. First year was pretty good, but the last year and a bit has been a steady decline... Thing's are ok for the moment, but I'm still waiting for the worst... (you know, locks changed, stuff on front lawn, possibly on fire.. ) I hate this... Seeing as the appt. we're sharing is in the lower level of her parents house, you can easily see which of us is going to be moving.. Unfortunatly, I have 4 vehicles, (3 mobile, one parts/undrivable) a garage full of tools and car parts, a shed with over a dozen tires/rims and a bit of 'house stuff' to boot (you know, clothing, some guitar/music equipment, TV, dvd's, ect) so now I'm faced with sticking my 'stuff' all over town basicaly, at friends places, and some at my mom's house, where I guess I'm gona be living for a while.. She has an old (read> SLOW) computer and dial up.. Besides, I can't bring my cars there, and the only places I have for them are outdoors, and all over town.. so it looks like no worky on cars for the winter.. I don't really feel like it right now anyway, but I know in a few months it is gona drive me nuts... Man... what a world... Anyway, just wanted to say; thanks to anyone who has helped me out, and that this is a great site. I'll miss it, and hope to return soon..

Well, as for the ALDL, I HAVE one, but I'm unsure if I have wired it correctly.. I have one of those little cheepie 'scaners' that you plug into the ALDL, and it's suposed to flash the check engine light in sequences, to give you the trouble code. (BTW, my 'check' light is actually the 'exhast overheat' warning light on the mazda dash, I found the wire from the sensor on the passenger side floor, and wired it to the ecu as well as the brake switch.. but I can't see how that would cause this issue..) Thing is, if I plug in the scaner, and turn the key, the check engine light just comes on and stays lit. No flashes or anything.. Then, it seams like it buggers the ECU or something, cause the car won't start after. I have to disconect the battery cables and wait 10 minits or so.. About the IAC.. that's the sensor on the throttle body with the BIG arse nut holding it on? And what does it do for a startup sequence.. clicks or something? See, I know this problem(s) is something I have screwed up, because the engine/trans worked near perfect in the doner car; Nice idle, smooth shifting, and didn't stink of overfueling..

I have been searching through the archives and I think I confused myself more.. Heres the thing.. I have a TBI 350 with a 700r4 in an 86 Mazda rx7. It's running ok, but I have a few problems.. which I think 'may' all be related. I know there are some guys here who really know the GM FI and wiring systems, so I'm hoping to tap into some of that knowlege.. First off, it's idling a little on the high side (no tach yet, but I'd guess about 14-1500 rpm) which ends up with quite a bang going into reverse or drive. Then it wants to GO and I have to really hold the brakes to keep the car stopped. I've heard that the TPS can be the cause of this high/iratic idle, but at $90 for a new one, I'd rather check evrything else first... Second; 1st gear lasts about 2 seconds, 2nd about 5, and unless I hold it manualy with the shifter in 3rd, it'll get into 4th way too soon. I've checked and adjusted the TV cable, and havn't had much change.. Also, this happens with very little throttle down. THEN, with some more throttle, the check engine light comes on. And it goes out when I touch the brakes. Third; When stoping, it doesn't shift out of 3rd/4th untill the last second. As I roll to a stop, it feels like 2 or 3 quick downshifts in a manual tranny. (actually jerks the car forward on the 2nd-1st shift!) I'm assuming that's the convertor not unlocking.. is that reasonable? Now.. I have a theory, but I'm not sure anymore after reading through some links and old posts.. (most are dealing with carbed non-efi tranny issues) I have the spedo 'working' in the car, but it mis-reads WAY to fast. In town it reads about 80kph, although I KNOW I'm not going that fast.. more like 40-50. (I'm actually hiting a speed governor at 200kph, and it's shutting down.. I'm thinking it's about 140kph actual) I have a speed sensor from the mazda spedo head (cable driven spedo, VSS runs off the back of the guage) wired to the GM computer, and I thought maybe THAT is causing most, if not all of my problems.. IE; the computer 'sees' 80kph (almost a highway cruise speed) and tells the tranny to get into a higher gear. But the engine RPM is low, and throttle position light, so it thinks something is very wrong and turns on the check light. Could this also cause it to not want to unlock the convertor until the last second? I thought about wiring in a seperate bit of wiring to the brake switch, or even to a togle switch to control the lockup, but tought that would confuse the ECU as well.. Any ideas?

Id say go for the Z31.. Seeing as it came after the 280zx, you would think/hope it was an 'evolution' of the design, and perhaps a bit more rigid..