RebekahsZ

Does this only happen after you eat a big, greasy hamburger?

Could it just be from the big rpm drop going from 1.43 to 1.0 gear ratio? What rpm are you shifting, and what does it drop to on the shift? What size rear tires? What kind of rear tires at what air pressure? Dirty fuel from using 40-year old tank; check your filter? You racing 1/8-mile or 1/4-mile? Is the car missing, sputtering, or just losing power while running smoothly? I wonder if the computer is programmed to pull timing in 4th? Was this motor ever on nitrous?

Post your LS cam specs. Before and after time slips and or dyno charts appreciated. Include spring, lifter and pushrod specs. Video of lumpy sounds too. Include vendor contact info and $ spent. It's cold out, lets do some bench racing.

I've seen guys get pissed in the classifieds when guys insist on photos with the cover removed. This is why. Many of us have bought an open diff that came from a car that is SUPPOSED to have a CLSD or VLSD. There's a lot of weird parts floating around after 40 years.

Sunny Z, lets try to be ready for drag week in 2015. We can convoy together. I will try to get a hitch made in the next 12 months.

Honestly, I would ditch the cable X and get a GPS speedo. I have the cableX and mounted it on my firewall using a couple of 1/4" bolts to secure it. It is between the throttle ordeal and the heater. It's a bitch to get to and while I have the power to it and the cable installed, I haven't ever finished programming and adjusting it. It's just such a pain to get under the dash. Next winters project is speedhut gauges and I will toss the cable X. Be careful not to drill a hole thru your brake booster if you mount it where I did. I only missed the booster by a few mm.

Don't give up! Read somewhere of my agony last year and I'm good to go now and all smiles. I had the same problems. 99.999% chance the whole problem is air. Limp it down here in 4th gear this weekend if you can't get it. I'm no gifted mechanic but maybe together plus a couple beers we can get it right.

OldAndy, you always are.

Very cool. My first car was a 1956 Ford that my dad picked out for his father when he was home on leave from Germany with the Army. I inherited it in 1982 when my grandfather went in a nursing home. When I got the car, I cleaned out the glovebox and found some very cool sunglasses. I took them in and showed them to Dad. He said he had been looking for those since 1956! I have not had as good of luck mixing cars and women. In high school I took off those old glasses to walk my girlfriend to the door. Before seeing her into the house, I broke up with her. When I got back in the car, I sat on those glasses and crushed them. I got married later and had to sell the Ford because my wife was so jealous of the time I spent working on it. So, now I own a Z and I also own a glasses shop! Still have the wife and shes still jealous. Stay away from heartless women and lay down the law early. And put you glasses in the glovebox.

I think we are at a generational change. A bunch of us have finished our swaps and are just basically maintaining them. Plus it is 26 degrees (freakin freezing) in Alabama-probably sub-zero in New Jersey or Iowa, so only Sunny Z is crazy enough to get out the welder in this weather. There are a bunch of guys in the process of getting started-I know two guys who are actively looking for their powertrains and are starting to collect parts. When they start asking questions, if we want more discussion on this thread, lets all agree not to scold them for asking questions (Did you search?!"). But rather just give them the help they need? Open up your build books and give the new guys part numbers, sources and such?

Did you really say you "twerked" it?? I dare you to post a video of that.

I'm still hoping for a Valentines Day performance that will prove worthy of letting me drive back down to Barber in the morning. I ain't afraid to cheer for a guy driving a Corvette! If it has pistons and fat rubber, Im all about it. Never been to Barber and want to see the man in person. Let me know of you cancel the trip so I can sleep in and earn a few more points on the home front.

I have a build log "blog" in Member Projects, then I post specific issues in the specific forum of hybridz.org. I put chassis wiring stuff in the Model Specific forum. I put LS powertrain wiring stuff in the Gen III section. I put drivetrain stuff in the drivetrain forum. If I find something in any forum that makes me want to ask a specific question, I usually PM the author so I don't get scolded for not searching adequately and to avoid getting a bunch of speculation from folks who don't know what they are talking about. I don't think we have any big problem. I just need rags to come to Alabama for some home brew and to help me put a supercharger on my car (and pay for it).

Mark, you would do better to start this thread again in the Gen III V8 forum when looking for advice/suggestions. Not many people cruise the Member Projects forum-it is more of a blog forum than a "Hey, I need help!" forum. Be thick skinned when folks scold you as if you haven't made any effort to look for solutions yourself. When you need something, try using the google search, then follow any sites that google suggests that seem to come from this hybridz.org site. The google search function is sometimes as good (or better) than the search function in the upper right corner of this site. Having met you last night, I know you are straight up guy and that you aren't just whistling dixie. From the looks of your car above, I expect your swap to be show quality. Hopefully you can figure out how the PM (private message) function works. When you do, send a message to ZFan1, EasTnZ, and m1noel. ZFan1 has an LS-style auto trans (4L80E) in a first-series 240z. EasTnZ just did a truck motor swap, so you can learn from him the secrets of front accessory interchangeability, and m1noel has a yellow 280z that is super clean and show quality like I think you will like. If you need inspiration, look at anything by Sunny Z, or CobraMatt, or MiKelly, sq_creations, 280zcar, Phantom, rags, (I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of folks). To review last night's conversation: Try to get a full "pullout" that includes engine and transmission with computor, and wiring harness. Try to get the dude to include the shifter handle, radiator fans, fuel tank and fuel pump, and (if drive by wire) the gas pedal. Easiest swap is with a 1998-2002 "F-body" Camaro, Firebird, or TransAm. That is the powertrain that the JCI mount kit was designed around. But it has been 12 years since those car were produced, so low-mileage pullouts are scarce. Most powerful stock engine is the LS3, but we are talking $10k for a pullout, and the T6060 manual tranny has a goofy driveshaft and a weird remote shifter. Next most powerful stock engine is the LS2 from a 2006 Pontiac GTO. You are looking at $6500 for a T56 manual trans combo pullout with low mileage, but only about $5500 for an auto trans combo pullout. I haven't seen anyone do this, but see what you think about using the GTO fuel tank and in-tank fuel pump. You can save about $1500 by going high mileage, but why do that? If going from an LS2, you will need an F-body alternator and rear alternator bracket and an F-body or Corvette oilpan, windage tray and oil pick-up. That's about it for now. Oh, by the way, your doors and hood are missing. Your car is amazing. Keith

I just drilled 4 holes thru the floor so I can use a socket on an extension. Now I need (4) 3/4" floor plugs!

That is awesome fabrication, but why the heck would you want to keep the rear seat brackets the same as stock?? I HATE working on my seats simply because of the difficulty getting my arm around the seat and up into that little F-ing pocket, while dropping the nut and washer about 30 times before getting the nut started. The front bracket is a piece of cake. Any chance of a re-design of the rear brackets to make installing seats easier?

It's not as pretty as that knob, but I use a Hurst Sidewinder knob. I have a white knob with a red button for my thumb. I use it as a line-lock/roll-control instantaneous switch for burn-out in the water box. I also use it at intersections like a e-brake to keep me from rolling backwards on a hill. Beware of the thread pitch. For my MGW T56 Camaro shifter, the thread pitch is the same as a Ford 5-speed. The GM T56 6-spd knob has wrong thread pitch for my stick. So, I have a 5-spd pattern on my 6-spd stick, but I'm pretty sharp for a country boy, so I can remember! The black knob doesn't have a pattern on it, but I like a white knob. If you go this way, again, be sure to check the thread pitch. And, yeah, $60 for a piece of plastic is insane. I don't know what you are referring to with "powering thru the lockout." I don't know if my programmer did anything special or not, but I have no problems with a reverse lockout-I just drive the car and it behaves like any manual shift car should.

Sending PM for clarification off-line.

Dirty clutch fluid is part of the game with these inside-the-bellhousing clutch hydraulics. It doesn't seem to really hurt anything, but I flush my system a couple times a season. Once you have all the air out, flushing is no problem IF you keep your reservoir topped up. If you let the reservoir run dry, it's back to the damn drawing board trying to get the air out. If I can get the air out of mine, you for sure can get yours right. Get back on it tomorrow.

Kirkey Intermediate Road Race seat arrived today. I feel like Goldilocks: the 17" seat was too loose even with the cover on. The 15" is too tight even without a cover. Sooooo, I just ordered a 16" from (Summit had them in stock, but had no covers in stock) and a cover for it (Jegs had covers but no seats). This weekend's project is to get a seat mounted on the adjustable rails. I think the 16" is gonna be the ticket. If so, I'll send the darn 15" back to Jegs. After talking to MiKelly, if the shoulder wings are too wide, it will be time to bend them in with pressure and a dead-blow hammer. It sucks to be so picky on seat fitment, but I want to be able to autocross and road race as well as hit the road for a cross-country cruise or do Drag Week. Time's a tickin'.

First, loosen all the clutch pedal linkage bump stoppers to make sure the pedal is getting full stroke and full return. Then try bleeding some more. This was the ticket last time I let my clutch master reservoir run dry. I always seem to forget this step. It takes more stroke and return to bleed the system when it is full of air than it does to release the clutch once you have all the air out. Once you have a firm pedal, you can go back and fine tune the clutch pedal stops for perfect engagement without excessive pedal movement. If I remember correctly, once I loosened all the pedal stops, it only took a few pumps to get all the air out. For some reason, I always forget to do this and I fight and fight and fight bleeding the clutch. I can get irrational and all red in the face fighting the DAMN clutch. I feel your pain. If that doesn't work: Bleeding the clutch master was/is the most painful part of this build for me. I think a lot of our pain is air in the master cylinder, so we can't generate flow in the line and slave adequately. I recently saw that Tilton now has small master cylinders with bleed ports on them-that is the one I will buy next time. Gentle bleeding with a mighty-vac with suction limited to 5-10 on the guage and the suction fitting shoved into the larger of the holes down in the bottom of the reservior with the strainer screen removed-this has been helpful. And, make sure that you are elevating your bleeder line so that air rises from the slave to your bleed port. If that doesn't work, put your wife's favorite bath towels all over the fender and engine compartment and put one of her Tupperware bowls under the master. Then get somebody to help you pump pedal while you "bench bleed" your master with the line removed. You put your finger over the line fitting port when the pedal is coming up and remove it when the pedal is coming down. Then quickly attach your line before the master reservoir can drain dry. Very messy. Get your assistant to push slowly on the pedal so you don't squirt all over things. And fully remove your finger-if you only partially remove it, you can create a nozzle effect and squirt high pressure fluid EVERYWHERE. A speed bleeder in the remote bleeder line helps a lot. My remote bleeder line has a speed bleeder, but I can also use zip-ties to position it inside the fluid reservoir so that I don't waste a lot of fluid. I don't think you need a larger MC. m1noel accomplished good clutch release with only a 3/4" MC. I have a 1" and it is STIFF.

Here's a compilation of photos regarding ZG flares. These photos come from hybridz and a google search. I have mounted my flares, but not done the metal work yet.

Here's a compilation of my research on rollbar/rollcage design. 81300-mongos-z-car-build.htm

Got 3 out 4 hood pins done this weekend. I am trying to retain the factory hood hinge so that I don't have to remove the whole hood and set it on the floor where it can be stepped on or run over. This creates some trouble because the hood closes on a radius instead of just being taken straight on or off. Decided to use the captive pin system sold by either Sparco or Speedwaymotors.com. I chose this kit because it should keep me from losing a pin every once in a while; and I won't have to run cables around the corner from somewhere to keep from losing pins. Trying to use existing locations for the posts to avoid having to add brackets. This leaves the location of the hood bumpers near the cowl and the radiator support gussets. The hood bumpers were easy because there is a relatively flat surface on the corners of the hood, and the cowl where the bumpers are is flat and level. The radiator support gussets don't have a level surface to attach the posts to. The screws that hold the pin assemblies to the hood are very close to the hole that the post pass thru, and that crowds things. I used a dremel tool with a burr to do all the cutting and drilling on the carbon hood to avoid the cracks that form when using a drill bit. I installed the posts first then used modeling clay to help me decide where to drill the big holes. It's not perfect, but it's good enough. Will have my hot rod fabricator (a genius with a welder) spot weld the post adjustment nuts to the car next week and this part of my project will be done.

Then be the first. Guys do it all the time at the drag strip, I don't see why you couldn't do it if you could figure out all the routing. And soot is only a problem if you run rich or burn oil. And if you do, you can clean it off. A turbo absorbs lots of noise. I ran 36" straight pipes under the front fender with a V8 and I have a buddy who ran 8" stacks directly off his headers out the top of the hood. It really wasn't that noisy. Certainly not as noisy as having headers dumping under the car, trapping the sound between the floor of the car and the street below. But don't expect your neighbors or the cops to like it. Go for it.