RebekahsZ

I'm running 39-spline billets from Chequered Flag Racing. How many splines on a 9" axle? I just wish the diff end of the axle was bigger than 29-spline. That's the weak end for me, and where I have broken one axle in 145 passes. But I have about half your power. I really think you deserve to give your setup another try. I watched tour video, and your car is too sweet to chop up right off the bat. I really think you owe it to yourself to try some billet stubs and bias ply slicks at 12-15 psi to provide some strength where you are weakest and some drivetrain cushioning. Give such a setup a year and enjoy your build before you go in a totally new direction? Do some Texas Mile and roll racing stuff thats less "shocky" and just have fun? How about a way to control boost until you get outta the hole and get your first two shifts behind you-kinda like staged nitrous?

I wonder how you get exhaust around that tranny mount? Looks good but takes up lotsa space in the tunnel. Go for it!

I went with a Lokar LS dipstick. It's shorter, flexible and cleaner looking.

That's the thing. No matter what kit you buy, or if you make your own, there will be little things that need a little (or a lot) of tweaking. All this aftermarket stuff is imperfect. No two aftermarket headers turn out exactly the same coming off the jig. There is often 1/4" here or there that will require grinding, bending, dimpling, or actual cutting and re-aligning. I doubt you can find a set of those "group buy" long tubes unless somebody bought a set and just has them lying around collecting dust; that was a very limited production run. Some, but not all, of those headers had to have the collectors cut off and re-aligned to be able to fit a 240z. Before starting a swap like this, you should either know how to weld or have a good buddy who does. Go buy an electric cut off wheel, a grinder and a 3# sledge. Then dive in. Be patient. The quality of the finish will depend on how much patience you have. I bet I installed and pulled my motor 10 times before it was good enough for me and there are STILL things I wish I had done better/differently. I recently paid somebody $13,000 parts and LABOR to do the same swap on my truck. I wish I had done that myself. The swap on my Z turned out much better. But, at the same time, there is more room in a Z engine bay and I have zero accessories on the Z. And I plan to keep it that way.

Oh hell, it's $20. You priced a cup a coffee or a car magazine lately? Pay up and quit your whining! The "demoted" thing IS kinda weird. I bet it is some kind of auto-generated, computer/social media jargon. Don't take it personally(I don't think it is meant to be personal)-I been demoted twice. The chicks still call me "Daddy."

I guess the best mounting system would depend on what you want to do. If you have a fab shop and plastic engine and tranny to mock up with (and know what the heck you are doing), you could probably do best to make your own for your specific purpose. But if you want a system that somebody else has already designed and has been used by a bunch of us with success and is pretty close to bolt-in, the JCI kit is hard to beat. In the standing 1/2-mile (a pretty good dyno) with my stock LS2 with unequal, poorly designed JTR Sanderson block hugger headers, I ran neck and neck with a souped up LS6 that ran Hawks mounts and long tube headers. The contribution of long tubes to actual performance is just so negligible. The tranny crossmember is a little flimsy, but so what? The driver side mount is kinda bulky, but it works.

Simplicity-yeah, but the no heat is getting a little old. Still issues-I dunno if this is related to the swap or if its just because it is an 11 year-old truck. Haven't started going thru it (work, now cold and dark), but it acts like maybe the master cylinder went bad. I wish there was a larger diameter master cyl that would bolt right in(the S10 master cylinder mounts with a quarter-turn flange instead of bolts) (Ive searched and I would have to cut out a section of firewall and weld in new) to be able to mimic the nice stiff pedal that the Z has. The truck has always had a gentle pedal, and it just feels wrong to have a powerplant that can fry the tires from a roll, but the clutch feels very soft and sissy.

Hydraulic clutch just went soft on my truck this morning. Picked up Z from fabricator who rebuilt the door hinge mounts on the drivers door. Looks like the need to daily drive the Z will keep me from starting on winter mods AGAIN until I fix the truck. May 3 keeps getting closer and closer! Why is a 42 year-old car the most reliable of the 4 cars my family owns?

Looks good.

Try to go back and grab that camaro.

JCI works. That's what I have. Nothing crappy about it. Nothing is perfect and nothing is BEST. You will have to massage every aspect of the install. Thats just the nature of a swap. If you want to make no modifications along the way, probably better get a Mustang.

How well do those work if your fender is 50% bondo?

I'm with you-have fun. That's what these cars are really about anyway.

Perfect.

My CLSD does clunk and bang on slow turns like in a parking lot. That clunk is very alarming, but my diff is quiet in a straight line and even in corners if driving hard. I have a video somewhere in the drivetrain forum if you just page and page down you will find it. But I would want to narrow the problem to either the axles or the diff. If you still have your stock axles, you could validate the diff tomorrow. Heck, chasing a noise, you could have a rock in your hubcap (yes, I've done that), something loose in a brake drum, or a big zip tie on the driveshaft (cruel practical joke).

Ah, I think this matter of pulling one axle is if-y. It depends on the preload built into the diff. The locking of the LSD depends on how much torque is coming into the input shaft forcing the the ramps against the clutches. I can still turn one wheel on my diff separate from the other when it is up on the jacks with no torque coming into the diff from the driveshaft and it had 45# of breakaway torque when I assembled it. Check the wolf creek website to verify different kits (or call tomorrow). They sure could have sent you the wrong kit (we are all human). They should be able to give you a shaft measurement to verify. Wait-I'm sure they have two different kits. I recall they told me a couple years ago that to upgrade the R180 kit to the R200 kit that they sell you a shorter shaft but you re-use one of the R180 shafts.

If you don't have travel ANYWHERE, it probably doesn't matter. I think the axles are most compressed when the suspension is hanging. So, if you have some ramps, but can block the front wheels so you know it won't roll onto you, you might try it with the car resting on its own weight. Pics might help us help you so we can see what suspension alignment you are running. Did you buy the R200 wolf creek axles? I think they sell different length axles for R180 and R200.

One last investigative exercise: try to pry the inner stub axles out of the diff. If they pop out a bit, then you maybe aren't in bind. Or if you have coilovers: raise the ride height.

Yeah, mine had play. Not something you want to do: but tear it apart and install stock axles and see how it drives... Sorry, bro.

You can check for bind (shafts too long) on the wolf creek axles easily. You can grab the shiny axle shafts and shake them left and right to feel the useable travel or free play between the CVs. Try putting a jack under the suspension to repeat the process at a variety of ride heights. If you have play at all ride heights, axle bind isn't the problem. Wiggle all the aluminum adapters and be sure they aren't loose. All those hidden bolts deserve lock tite. Are you running a rear swaybar? If so, check to see if the axles rub on the end links. Check to see that the CVs don't rub on any brake lines or calipers. Is the driveshaft loose? Is the clunking inside the diff? Did the diff clunk with the stock axles? Does it seem to matter whether you are going straight or around a corner?

Weed burner-I will be contacting you next winter to setup a slipper. I'm all in, but I have some other stuff to get done first. But I'm a believer.

That must be why they call it a "rake." The hell with stance nation. I'm down for rake nation!

Savage42, does the scraper have to be measured and trimmed or is it a straight forward leftie-loosy-righty-tighty install? I think several of us want to do it before summer-would you consider a thread?

I don't have one (knee bar) cause I didn't want to delete my heater or my radio. Funny-neither is operational at the moment, anyway!

I don't know where you are located where it is still warm enough to race but I'm jealous. The car wont squat if it doesnt hook. Hook then squat. My car doesnt squat at all in the burnout area. If you get the chance, get a buddy to video the car a bunch as it launches (cell phone works great). Paint a stripe on the front and rear tires with shoe polish so you can see when and how much it actually spins. Get one of the grand kids to help you slow down the video so you can actually study it. You will get conflicting advice, so use whatever works. I race with a guy with a stock fendered, stock suspension (soft) with 26x10 MT ET Drag slicks and a T350 and he doesn't spin. I talk with jnjdragracing who runs blown SBC and A/T (glide?) with 28x10 MT ET drags, stock suspension and hard foam bumpstops after an inch of suspension travel (so basically no suspension) and he doesn't spin and totes his front end all the way down the track. I think tires are gonna be your solution. Borrow a set of rims and see what it would take to run them. I have AZC disc kit and I have to run 1" spacer adapters to clear the calipers, but with flares fenders, who cares? They were like $44 from eBay. I inspect them regularly and the studs stay torqued and have never loosened up. Look at my YouTube channel (search RebekahsZ) and you can see some of my launch videos and learn what you can from them and laugh about the stupid ones. Track conditions can vary so much day to day. I don't have enough power to rest do the 28s justice-I e only run them at our stickiest track and I was dead-hooking and running slower than I did on 26s. I let my tires spin a little so I can just drop the clutch and forget about it. Too much tire spin=slow. Too little=slow. It's all about trying to find "just right" and that formula varies with the track and even the weather. Wish you lived next door and we'd share some tires, but there won't be any consistent racing here till May. You can't worry that much about the suspension behavior until you hook at least enough to move the suspension. Then come back to shocks and spring rates. Those things do matter but not at the point where you are now.