RebekahsZ

Hard to argue with that! Be sure to post your progress so we know how it turns out.

Finally getting around to this since I have an autocross coming up. Just ordered 2-piece 1" shaft collar from mcmaster carr. I'll try to post pictures.

Opposite side just had the usual "sweat" on the hub, not enough to drip. Gonna keep an eye on it for now, stub axle swap planned for later this summer. If it keeps leaking, I'll just move that up and be more sparing with the grease next time. Everything is cleaned up and back together. Thanks!

Same holes as stock. Sway bar mounting holes and end-links often don't line up perfectly when you first install them. Leave everything loose until all the hardware is on, then tighten everything up. On the end-links, just snug them up, don't over-torque them or the polyurethane will crack prematurely-ask me how I know. If you don't want your bars to squeak, you can put several wraps of teflon tape around the bar in the area where the bushing contacts it. There are silicone-based lubricants that can be helpful with squeaks later. Last time I ordered one of these kits, it had to be made to order then direct shipped to me. Be patient and follow-up periodically: nobody is keeping parts on the shelf anymore, so expect it to take several weeks to a month or more from production to hitting your doorstep. Use betamotorsports when you can-his price will be the same, and if his price is more, you paid for his expertise and experience, worth it. Try not to order around the suppliers on this forum unless the price difference is huge-$10-20 won't be significant over the life of your project.

The mounts come with the bar. Don't worry about 1" vs 1-1/8".

I would get a new sender compatible with your gauge and try that before doing all that work.

Diff vent revised due to crimping of the vent hose. Tweeked wiring connectors on fuel level sender and that (seems) to have have fixed it. I removed the fuel sender and it looked like about 1/4-tank, and now the gauge says 1/4 full. I guess I won't know for sure until I fill 'er up. I did hook an ohm meter up to both my old sender and the new one: the old one was rather eratic, the new one was much more smooth in operation and ohm readings. Ordered 28mm wrenches for aligning the old Modern Motorsport adjustable rear LCAs. Ordered shaft collars from McMaster Carr to limit steering angle due to TC rod rubbing of wide tires. Ordered a bunch of new driveshaft bolts from boltdepot.com in anticipation of an exciting summer. For the first time I can remember, I am truly awating parts.

I looked at a couple of F-bodies and the stock lower hose looked good, but when I went to the dealer and every parts house in town-I was told that the GTO and F-body lower radiator hose was no longer available....

Sounds perfect. Now to see if I can get open ended nuts for the Weld Draglites. Although, I understand it isn't that hard to cut the ends off (ouch-my finger!). Thanks for the info.

I've never pulled my studs out. How does that stud compare length wise to the stock z? I

Need to look at calendar. Little rock, Memphis or b'ham are all do-able at first glance. Feel free to pm me if you get serious.

Nicest fender vents I have ever seen. If heat soak was a problem, vent the hood and let it out? I had heat soak trouble at the strip with just an L6 with pacesetter headers-that's how I justified my cowl induction hood! Better yet, your car is so cool, you should just run a hood delete-we all want to see that motor anyway.

Wouldn't it be a shame if we all got together for show and tell (I mean a car show) and all our cars were the same? I got a lot of negative posts when I put my dummy stacks "out there" but I've enjoyed the heck out of them! Right now, one is holding a 13mm wrench, one has a socket handle, one holds a screwdriver in it and all of them have a plug wire stored in them. They've been really handy when wrenching on the car. Do your own thing and keep up the good work!

Whooped it yesterday and finished getting trailer ready. Got rear suspension mods done (longer springs and longer adjustable links) and three tires on the car. Finished front droop limiters. Today after church I hope to re-do some of my differential vent routing and get my fuel gauge working-gonna start with the ohms test on both my old and new senders. Then I'm just waiting on the headers.

I really appreciate Matt. #1 because he sold me my CLSD for a fair price and #2 because he shows us what our cars COULD be and #3 because he gives good advice,although the truth can be painful. The time/money commitment of a road racer and an autocross or drag racer don't even come close to one another. I think one of the most important things we can do is to set goals and expectations. Matt is great for that. So is MiKelly,so is johnc. Thanks guys for being on this forum. I'm gonna keep it at the Boy Scout level and admire the heros from afar. Please keep posting cool videos!

I just did my own stainless exhaust and mine isn't nearly as nice. That price was about right. Can you give is a Sandy update and how you guys stand? It went from front page to no mention a lot faster than I expected.

I need some advice from somebody who has been thru this and won. I have a 240z with the Desert Z disc brake conversion. I replaced my rear hub bearings about a year ago and replaced the seals, packed the bearings, packed the recesses of the hubs as indicated in several of the threads here on the forum that showed pictures from the factory FSM. Tore down brakes today to change out a coil spring and found grease had slung out of the hub, stuck to the back of the rotor near the flange and run down into the brake shoes and slimed the back side of the rotor. I have cleaned everything up first with simple green then brake cleaner and am about to bolt back together. What I'm praying is that the leak may stop??? Wishful thinking? Perhaps I over-packed vs the seal is no good. Or am I likely to find that once the seal starts leaking it just contines until I re-do it all...? Big sad-face - I can't get a break!

What's the thread size and pitch on those studs? How much longer are they? I'll be going to longer studs later this year....did you just pull them into place with a nut or did you press them in? I'll be doing the CF studs that come with the 39-spliners and I'd like the front and back to be the same so I don't have to have a separate set of lug nuts.... Keep up the pace-I'm anticipating your successful posts from the strip this year!

I burned a connector and the ground wire of my LS2 computer while working on the car. Burned the wire it's entire length and I had to replace the whole wire as it snaked thru the harness for about 10 feet! Luckily the connector was salvageable. I had a short to ground on a loose wire-it was all my fault. Did you figure out why you burned it up?

I've been very surprised at the lack of "dress-up" stuff available for the LS series. Try to make your design simple-maybe you have something that would be marketable. Take a look at Billet Specialties newest coil covers-beautiful, but the price is $1200! That would be a big profit for you if you found a market, but i had to draw the line somewhere. These are the motors to have for the next 30-odd years. Good-on-ya!

Love them. I spent $161 on the plastic ones from Holley. I couldn't find any big block valve covers that didn't have breather holes. Thought about relocating coils but I really like the easy wire routing that the Ls system provides. Well done. See my build thread for the plastic version.

JCI top hose-perfect fit. Bottom jci hose was totally unusable. Bottom hose is cut and splice trial and error from parts house.

JCI has your driveshaft made to order. You will need to measure the specifics of your differential flange for him and you will want to give him the measurement from the back of the transmission to the differential flange. Ask for a 3" driveshaft (his standard is 2"). See if he can get aluminum. I think the front yoke is standard Chevy stuff and the u-joints and rear flange are stock things he has on the shelf, but evidently there are a bazillion different differential flanges for the R200, so you need to call him with your specifics and measure twice. John is really cool-call him and discuss your needs-it is worth a phone call. Get the ph# from brokenkitty.com.

There is no right or wrong answer. Don't buy the sway bar to save shipping-make it a separate issue based on how your car drives. If your z lacks camber plates, your adhesion limit will come from lack of camber and a stiff front bar will make this worse. Honestly, the rear bar doesn't do much. I did an autocross a few years ago and I did one run without rear sway and one with sway-I ran the same time, but my inside rear tire was always spinning. Before I had camber plates, I tried the same thing with a stock swaybar and a 1" swaybar. The 1" swaybar caused more low-speed pushing (understeer, ie: you want to turn and the car keeps going straight) around turns, the stock bar was better. But, with the stock bar I FELT more out of control because I was sliding all over my stock vinyl seats because of all the body roll. I felt out of control, but the car went faster with the stock bar. Don't worry about your bars until you have race tires, race seat/harness, coilovers and camber plates. Then worry about the bar. One more thing: until you get an LSD, don't run a rear bar-it keeps you from getting the power to the ground coming out of turns (it makes inside tire spin WORSE). If you decide to do your own thing and insist on getting swaybars, try to get the one for the rear that mounts behind the differential. The one that mounts in front of the diff tends to conflict with your exhaust and your driveshaft. I can't remember which is which any more. Back before the miata and the S2000, I was often FTOD (fast time of day) with a worn-out, totally stock 240z with the only modification of dedicated autocross tires (195/60/14). Tires is your number one upgrade! I had stock bar in front with worn-out endlink bushings. My competition was a totally tricked out and stripped VW rabbit and an Eagle Talon turbo, both of which were on race tires too.

Try to envision what it is gonna take to install and remove the driveshaft. I'm not sure what play you have in the CV-style driveshaft, but everytime I remove and install my motor or rearend, the length of the driveshaft has to be slightly longer or shorter (nothing ever lines up the same, exactly. Also, your differential and transmission move around some in the car during operation. Make sure you leave yourself wiggle room for these minor imperfections. Just don't assume it will line up the same everytime.