emeraldlion

Wonder how I missed that. Oh well, the engine itself makes up for it I suppose. Gonna have to search that one and read up.

That's some good info I hadn't come across yet guys, thanks. Especially on the a/c stuff. Around the dallas area 5.3 are goin 500 and the lq4 are going for about 900. I'm one of the fortunate that lives in Texas and this great state doesn't care what you do to your car. 25 years and older only have to pass safety inspection. As far as 5.3 vs. 6.0 I really have no preference figured get the most displacement you can afford and the weight difference b/w the two seems to be negligible considering the extra .7 displacement. The aluminum block 5.3's seem to be fetching a premium over the iron blocks. As far as carbs go I'm more familiar with them (go with watcha know) and cleaning up the wiring is a BIG positive for me. Plus I really like the old school look of the carbureted engine bay. I'm going for a blend between muscle and sport here. I would have gone sbc but the engines don't seem too much cheaper and the extra setback of the ls is always a plus.

While I don't exactly expect the velvet idle with the carb swap, I'll definitely keep the ls6 cam swap in mind. For a couple hundred it can't hurt. I love this chevy v8 pricing. I'm coming from modifying honda engines at that crap is wildly expensive for quality performance stuff.

Well yes and no it was the came. I couldn't figure out why someone would be down on the "truck" engine just because it was from a truck and not a corvette or camaro. I understand for autox or road racing apps the extra weight is a big thing, but for a fun weekend car an lq4 would be a blast. I was thinking maybe they had rv spec type cams in them or something that cause the engine to be low end monsters but if the heads flow and they have a ls1 specd cam then other than the weight penalty there shouldn't be anything wrong with it(which was the assumption I was leaning towards). I appreciate the comment on the water pumps. I'm used to just changing stuff like that out when I pull a motor or by a pulled motor but I'll take it under advisement. I agree I'd love to save the 150-200 bucks and not replace it to start off. I'm a very leery individual when it comes to things like that though.

Wow! Nice looking floor Zin. Look like you found a really clean Z. I though mine was clean but it even had a couple of small rust places in floor. Nice progress, keep the updates flowing.

Thanks for the cam info on the lq4 cable. This kinda clenches my plans. I didn't realize the lq4 used the same or similar cam specs(hadn't paid attention to it really). I've look at what it takes to swap the truck engines and I will be running the gmpp or edelbrock carb intake and carburetor instead of fuel injection so I'm not too worried about intake height variance or the water pump/balancer differences. I had planned to replace the water pump when I swap it anyways(peace of mind thing).

Will do, and I'm sure you're right. I've heard it's hard to get anything up there but frostbite. I considered doing some travel nursing in some remote areas but decided against(or the wife decided against). With that said what size are your cragars 14x8?

Just found your thread and I can't believe your wheel choice. This is the exact wheel choice I want for my Z I've searched google and the wheel thread but never thought to search this forum. My dad has worked for cooper tires for over 30 years and I can remember raving about the cobras when they first came out. I'm with you I dig the old school muscle look of the cragars and the cobra with white lettering just set them off. I saw a set on an old vw beetle once and they looked great. Great choice and if you decide to go a different direction I'll buy the wheels/tires off ya. Rest of the build is great too.

Never could get my brain around the charger grill opening but the work seemed to be quality, gotta respect that. I did like the hood too.

I laughed so hard I cried at the above statement not necessarilly at the wording but just at the abruptness and accuracy of the response. I wasn't expecting it. Gotta love people who have an appreciation for the porsche

Not that the rest of the posters didn't offer up decent information but mortensen offered the response I was hoping for. His experience with the motor being "done" by 5500 sheds light on the comments I read. I knew about the intake being taller the oilpan being deeper I was NOT referring to gen I or II SBC or lt engines but thank you for trying to steer me in the direction you thought I was taking. Again I appreciate everyone's replies.

Right I understand the benefits of the iron block for boost applications. I also understand the drawback of the iron block as far as weight penalties. Which are all good points obviously depending on a person's specific application. The couple of posts I had read it was brought up why someone would want to put a "truck" engine in the car that made all it's power down low. I thought maybe I was missing something, guess not.

Okay so I've been reading through most of the threads that pertain to swapping the lm7 and lq4 truck engines, and I've read more than once where someone was averse to the idea of putting a "truck" engine in a sports car. I don't quite understand what would make these engines especially the lq4 any less desirable than the ls1 other than the extra weight from the iron. Is it just that the cam is spec'd for the low end? A simple cam swap would fix this. If this were the case the ls2 would be out as well as any of the older bbc race engines. I mean an l88 would then be considered a "truck" engine, and the l88 is a MEAN engine. Maybe someone could shed some light as to why individuals would not look favorably on the lq4 and lm7 engines. With the price difference they seem to me to be the only way to go unless you have endless dough to blow.

Or the ebay standalone harness that has cropped up.

Yeah I did some searching on this and other than maybe one post on ls1tech didn't find much else on it. Found what seemed to be an address for the company but now website. You might want to call the comp. if you're considering. I think I have decided to take the carbureted ls route so I didn't really follow up on it.

I know most just use JCI's mounts, but has anyone mounted the ls using front and mid-mount plates like terry oxendale used for his sbf? I thought this would go a long way in stiffening when paired with sfc.

In order to register the car you have to have prrof of recent inspection though. Even as a classic. Take to an inspection station tacked on to a jiffy lube or something. No emissions here in dfw yet on 25 or older like the above guys stated

Did you have to do any work to get your BRE spook to fit the 280 valance?

That's what I had read and always known to be true( mostly from older 1st gen camaros). When I was reading through the thread about "what would you change next time" someone mentioned they would run the square tube tight along the rockers, maybe I misread somehow.

Thank you John, that alleviates some of my concerns. I tend to run towards the paranoid anal retentive side of things(which isn't always a bad thing I'm sure. So would I be correct in assuming that when it was mentioned running the subframe connectors along the rockers it would be in conjuction with tying those into a cage or roll bar to create subframe connectors?

I've been sifting through post after post recently. I want to put in subframe connectors in my newly acquired 280z in an attempt to stiffen things up for my future ls1 swap. My car will not be a track car, just ocasional autox. I found a fellow hybridz member who has offered to weld in paraska style subframes for reasonable price, but I'm worried about keeping things level and square. From what I'm reading installing rails in this fashion is more complicated than it appears. I read in one thread someone suggesting welding subframe connectors flush against the rockers front to rear. I'm wondering if anyone has more insight on the possiblities of this method, and if it is an option where would you tie the front and rear together?

No, honestly it's not a "because I want to and nobody has" not that I don't have a tremendous respect for the individuals that do and have the capablity to do this. I wouldn't spend so many hours on hybridz learning so much if it weren't for those people. the thought I had was that since this engine shares bays with lsx engines then potentially it had the ability to share the ls1 mount kit made by JCI. I also have no idea of the exact dimensions of the engine. If they are far off from the ls1 then it won't be worth it to me. If the engine is much taller, or wider than the lsx engines then I don't think it will be an option for me. I was hoping it might be similar in spec possibly slightly shorter, and be able to share the mount kit. I think direct injection is the plane to be heading for performance engines and this seems to be a solid engine. I appreciate the responses guys. Thanks for moving me to appropriate sub mods.

I had a feeling I was going to get it for being in the wrong forum. Sorry ahead of time. Would rather not do either of those but I understand what you're getting at, thanks for the suggestion anyhow.

Let me start, mods I know it's not a v8 but considering the relation to gm and use in cars also housing lsx engines I thought this might be the better place to post. Just tossing around the thought of tossing in the new llt engine from the cts/camaro/g8. The 3.6 DI version seems to be a pretty impressive engine. I've been researching a bit and haven't been able to locate exact dimension but would assume it would be close to the previous gm 60* v6. The engine reportedly weighs about 385 lbs. Benefits I see are the potential for being set back farther, mildly increased fuel economy over an ls1. Through my reading I've read in more than one place that the crank and rods are forged, and the cast aluminum pistons are pretty light, although the 11:1 compression isn't exactly boost friendly we all know it's about quality tuning to prevent detonation. Right out of the box 305 hp 275 tq and 7k cutoff isn't bad and direct injection is the new frontier(so I've heard). I'm wandering if anybody has any dimensions? Potential problems are block height, and width. The DOHC cam engines are always wider, pictures I have viewed show the engine as fairly compact though. Mostly looking for a sounding board. Other than the potential cost of the engine if it involves too much more work than an ls1 swap then I'll probably abort. What do you guys think?

Ahhhh. Okay that is a little more clear. Still would like pics of all the possible dealer options that people may have.