RebekahsZ

I just towed my car 8 hours each way. 4000# truck, Z and trailer together weighs 4000#. I worked real hard to position the Z on the trailer so that it ADDED 500# to my rear axle weight. I put helper leafs on the rear springs. I put air shocks on and run them empty when not towing and at 90 psi when towing. The trailer is a Lone Wolf steel 16' trailer with dropped axles and electric brakes on all 4 wheels. The truck is an extended cab S10 with a 359 hp/389tq LS swap with a NV3500 5-spd and a heavy-duty radiator. I got 11 mpg in the mountains and 16mpg on the flats. It tows really sweet. The biggest cause of trailer sway is insufficient tongue weight. I use a Harbor Freight 3000# ATV winch ($50) to pull the car on and off because I can't open the doors on the Z when it is on the trailer. I hate that my ramps stow on the side-I wish they could be accessed from the rear of the trailer. And I wish they were aluminum-it's a back killer placing the ramps. You need to put an electric brake controller on your tow vehicle. I REALLY like having 4 braking wheels on the trailer. And I deactivate my ABS in the rain-scary! The ABS makes the train really hard to get stopped in the rain. But I run ABS in the dry because my cruise control shares the same fuse.

Did you need any offset dowels? How far was it off, if off at all?

If it will shift when off but wont when running it simply isnt disengaging. You may have a bad stack-up of clutch parts (flywheel, disc, pressure plate, throw-out, clutch fork, pivot). Consider cutting a visibility window in the bottom of the bellhousing so you can see what is going on in there. Most likely problem is still air in hydraulics but it could certainly be something else. If not air, then a parts in incompatability of some kind. Maybe you will get lucky and the pivot just needs adjusting. What size is the master cylinder?

Did you check the index of the bellhousing? Mine was off a good bit.

And more.

More photos of the event.

Here are some pics from hotrod.com, Hot Rod Magazine's website (and some that hit the cutting room floor). Thanks to Larry Chen for the great photography.

Get the swap done, then do suspension when you have time. Just keep it straight and don't go crazy on corners.

I just ordered some clear headlight covers for my 240z and was informed that they are on back-order. The email I was sent said they expected some in "next week." Anybody have any experience with long delays on this particular part? I need to have them on and installed within 3 weeks for a race.

Stock LS2. Only modifications are under drive crank pulley (to make it clear steering rack), JTR headers (easiest fit), and fake intake system (easily worth 100hp!). All other chassis mods were just to get it to pass safety inspection (the real challenge). I posted this in the GenIII forum to encourage us all. If I can do this ANYBODY can. This is a tired, worn-out car with a loose outer tie-rod and front and rear hub races loose in the castings. The camera is very forgiving - it's a good 20-footer.

Yeah, and you are faster than me! You doing GA 1/2-mile again? That was my shake-down for this (recognize my staying in 4th for the 150-run?). I will probably sit the GA 1/2 out this year and stay home to autocross or drag. Or try to remember my wife's name....

Find a shop that can "true" your tires? Don't worry too much about getting it perfect-I had a track day when I kept picking up OPR and that caused a ton of vibrations that I couldn't predict nor tune out. I just kept on driving!

Yep, that's him. Super nice guy-the kind of guy you'd like to live next door to. Thanks rturbo930 for fixing my videos. I hope to post more photos from the weekend later tonight.

The best tow vehicle would be a small RV like a clapped out Winnebago with rebuilt mechanicals. That way you can sleep over-night at events. If not that, then a used van of some kind, so you can store stuff inside the tow vehicle, then when you get to an event you could do the cot or sleeping bag thing.

I'm trying to figure out how to post the video link, but in the meantime, here is a screen shot of the YouTube video to help you find it. I haven't cut out the dead time, so if you want to watch it all, go ahead, but if you want to go straight to it, fast forward to 2:30. Go full screen to see cell-phone speedometer. The speedometer doesn't refresh fast enough to keep up, but it let me know I was on-pace for a record run. The last refresh was at 161, which was the standing record. Speed on this run was 167.23 mph. Went 167.5 on Sunday, but the gopro was fighting me. Shift to 5th is at 150 mph. Also in this reply are some pics of the car from hotrod.com. Then a final shot of the truck and trailer after we got back on the road after the wheel stud repair.

My fabricator/crew member made short work of installing new studs once we got 4 at Advance, 5 at O'Reilly's and 1at Auto Zone. It is great to have a buddy along who is more qualified than I. Now running open nuts for improved inspection ability and back on the road. Watch the thread for the next couple days and I will get photos and maybe videos added. The gopro was challenging as usual.

Update: weekend went too well. Started day 2 with improving 167 run with another 167 run that was a fraction of a second faster. So 167 seems to be the max for the current setup. The air was cool and still and I laid down a good clean run. Spent rest of day in pits learning from drivers and builders. The cars and workmanship at these events are just insane. I spent a lot of time with a photographer named Larry from Hot Rod Magazine who has a 240z with a coilover kit that was sectioned and setup by johnc at BetaMotorsports. I tossed him the keys and we went for a spin around town. He did well with my car and I think I have him convinced to get AZC brakes. I think it is convincing to see a car haul down from 160+ and still get shut down for the first turn-out off the track. I'm sure he drives a lot of cool cars, and it was great to see him grin driving my car. Everybody at the event had a Z-story of some kind! The car is stable at speed. I think the trick is to get set up straight and just tuck the elbow in against the door bar and refuse to move it. If you correct excessively, the car does get twitchy. The trick is to be gentle. The SOUND is the real joy of it-to hear the engine do its thing! What a great power plant.... On the down side: I just about lost a front wheel on the truck while towing the 8 hours home. I dunno if I failed to torque that wheel after inspecting my brakes before the trip or if the tire store fatigued my studs with the impact wrench. More likely the first. But we are camped out for the night at a roadside hotel waiting for Auto Zone to open in the morning to get some new studs. My crew chief is awesome and came up with the idea of sharing studs from the over wheel to strengthen the wounded side. There are some ARP long studs with open end nuts in my future.

Set records today in A/BFMS, and AA/BFMS, racing up and set a record in C/GMS. First two records were unclaimed records in higher engine size and fuel classes. C/GMS is the record I came to set-improved that record by 6mph at 167 mph.

Tremec rep says either bad u-joint or cracked gear. Time will tell. Spare used T56 arrived yesterday.

A GTO pedal is straight. Wonder if you could swap it?

Thanks. I will check that.

Miles-open the bleeder on the MC or the SC?

I'm running an NV3500 transmission with an LQ4 putting down 350hp and 389tq in my S10, and it is doing fine. That 5-spd trans is found in full-size GM trucks and V6 S10s. If you consider this trans, I can take measurements for you and talk about how to marry it to the LS motor. You don't need any adapters for it.

When I disassembled and reassembled my clutch hydraulics to swap my bellhousing and inspect my clutch, bleeding was much easier this time than ever before. The trick? Cap the hydraulic line and the master cylinder to prevent fluid loss/air intrusion. Since the line is AN3, I bought an AN3 plug and an AN3 cap from Summitt Racing. After spreading an old T-shirt under the master cylinder, I disconnected the hydraulic line at the master cylinder and quickly capped both the line and the master. Minimal mess. When it was time to reassemble, I just took off the caps and hooked it back up. When it was time to bleed I only had a few bubbles, and bleeding took about 10 minutes.. These caps are a good investment. Rember to set your pedal stops under the dash to allow full pedal stroke before bleeding-you can readjust them after you have all the air out. BTW-I also have a 4' remote bleeder with a speed bleeder that I raise way above the slave and master cylinders in the engine compartment during bleeding. This was so much easier than starting with a dry system that I will try to totally fill and cap my hydraulics with the trans/slave out of the car in the future.

Moon discs over discontinued Monocoque front and Weld Draglite rears. Tires are 24x15 Mickey Thompson ET Fronts, rears are 275/60/15 Mickey Thompson Drag Radial Pro. Coilovers, konis, camber plates, shortened rear control arms to narrow rear, discontinued BAMF flares from Z Force Productions (defunct).