blueovalz

I'm not sure that the OEM support offers that much resistance to any twisting that a large sway bar would present to the front of the frame rail forward of the crossmember. Crossbracing (X bracing in particular) would help a lot there. And with the sway bar mounts close to the crossmember anyway, this may be a mute point. My biggest concern with stiffness up front (after I finallized the triangulation of the tower/pick-up points plane), was that the new radiator did not experience any undue flexing that would cause it to eventually leak (tanks, etc). This was accomplished with 1/4" rubber foam weatherstripping lining a 3/4" square tube frame that was simply welded onto the sides of the engine bay where the OEM support used to be. Every point that the radiator made contact with the frame, I isolated it with rubber. This frame offers no real resistance to any flexing of the "box" up front though, and I've not seen evidence that what flexing exists is of any detremental harm to both the radiator, chassis, or the handling of the car.

You may have also seen the PCV vacuum sources that are put in the headers. Basically its a 3/4" tube, that is inserted into the side of the collector. The end is cut at an angle so that the leading (oncoming exhaust gas side) is shielding the angle cut side. The pressure drop in this tube is a function of exhaust gas velocity. The tube is then hooked up to the crankcase. Summit sells them.

All these points have merit. Only making one part of the diff mounts solid will cause flexing in that part, which is sure to fatigue, and crack the sheet metal crossmember up front, or the mount itself. And the cushion effect of these OEM mounts offer some advantages too. In the extreme case of my car (solid motor, solid tranny, solid diff mounts, with 315 wide tires and 240 axles but using the turbo halfshafts) I've had good luck so far. Road racing (IMHO) is a lot easier on the drivetrain (shock load wise) than the drag scene. Even with years of use in this configuration, I've never broke anything except the old U-jointed shafts. Tom, if you get a spare mustache bar (for OEM use later if you want to switch back), I'd weld flat round plates on the top of each curl, and then bolt these plates to the bar mounts by first unscrewing (removing) the studs, and replacing them with bolts.

I'm impressed with the lip. It appears the maker used the OEM Z fender lip when it was created. Lots of work on that.

My next big engine project: by 4 IDFs cheap on ebay, and make a manifold. So far I've found some 40-IDFs (on the small end of the spectrum) for $400. Spend another 100 to make a manifold, and whalla! BTW, two separate cobra set-ups (not original cobra by any means) went recently for $2000, and $2500.

Come to think of it, the Ford/GM versions draw from the rear of the housing instead of the top as shown in this picture, so this must be one of those direct from the manufacturer high dollar chargers.

Either the T-bird, or the 3.8L GM motor. They are almost identical. It just so happens that I was looking at these on ebay. So far, $300 seems to be a going price for a descent version.

This picture impressed me in the very simple and effective way the builder achieved forced induction. The fuel delivery is based on Holley's Projection.

One other item on this subject that should be kept in mind. In the case of the photo, It would appear that caution against over-torquing the nut is important. But this may be an issue from the factory, because I for one have never had the capability to torque the nut back to specs after removing it.

Dealing with the old Mustangs, the axles were held into the housing with a pressed-on metal ring. A bolt-on end plate then kept the ring situated in the housing. It was off course a bit of work to get the ring off the axle, but in reality, no more trouble than the effort needed to remove the stubs from the bearing carrier. This, and the fact a disc brake set-up would also restrict any "offing" of the axle should be of comfort to us.

Thankyou Denny411. I've needed to change out the propeller flange on my conversion several times (same rear end), and never replaced the crush sleeve as I should have. With that said, I've never had a change of any sort with the rear end charateristics after performing the swap.

Unless you spend a lot of time quarter miling the car, the 3.54 will be about the lowest ratio you will want to go with. The T5 5th gear allows this ratio to be tolerable on the highway, and with the increased torque from the SBC, you won't miss the 4.11 gears, even with taller than normal tires.

John's point is the primary reason I chose a 6 point drivetrain solid mounting scheme. The front engine plate is attached to the crossmember, the rear engine plate is attached to the firewall/frame rail corner, and the tranny mount is, of course, in the tunnel. With all points solidly mounted the engine/tranny stiffens this "hinging" acting quite a bit (acts like a spine). My only concern was cracking or breaking the aluminum tranny case or bellhousing. This has not happened in over 10 years of use.

I'm confused (not easy to do these days) about the ".030 between the pads and the rotor". Is this the gap between the pads friction surface, and the rotor contact surface (or am I asking the obvious and just don't understand)?

There is everything from bonded-on, to Remove-and-Replace fiberglass parts for the Z. Lots of choices and sources, and pricing. Just take some time to investigate all your options, 'cause there will be a lot.

In the issue that 260DET brought up, the larger master cylinder is from the first year ZX, onward. The earliest ones adapt most easily using the same bolt pattern, spacer, etc, and will provide about 11% increase in firmness (yeah, it's hard to measure firness) based on the piston area ratio between the two.

If indeed you are looking at a convertable, this will make the use of the Dodge cap even easier. The top side of the quarter panel (trunk) can be used just as Dodge did in mounting the cap.

JW, A "steering quickener" indicates to me you want to decrease the ratio of steering. If you do this, yes the wheels will turn at a faster rate, but the effort to turn the wheels will be greater (similar to the effect of going to a smaller diameter steering wheel). Going back to a larger diameter wheel will help some. Personally, the power assist rack (Ford Mustang/T-bird) that I installed is great in slalom, and slow street driving, but almost too effortless at highway speeds.

I believe all the SBF oil pans will either be double hump, or front sump, but no rear sump only. The oil pump on all the SBF engines is up front, so the small hump on the double humps is for the pump itself, then the pickup tube is extended so that it picks up the oil in the back larger sump.

DrewZ, here is a pic of what American rice (circa 1980) looks like. Of course, this was my very first fiberglass work, and I went wild! The Dodge gas cap is indeed recessed (on the back panel), but you will need about 1" all the way around it for it to work correctly.

Ten hard 90-to-0 stops will make anything but a good racing set-up feel mushy

If you want to recess it, call the guy to make sure it will work. I think that the hinge is set up so that the cap has to be mounted on top of the panel and cannot be recessed. It will stick out (or up) about 1" minimum. They do look good, so that's your call on if you want to use it. I've always liked the racy appearance. It may be pitted somewhat too.

I put one on a '66 Mustang (with my very first fiberglass work ever) rear end that I made out of fiberglass (I was rice before the rice were). They are very bulky and heavy, but the pop-off cap was too cool. It came off a Charger (you know, the cap was on top of the rear quarter)

Expensive? Nah. I almost bought an old cobra set-up like this 15 years ago for $1300. Last month one went on ebay (very good shape) for $5580. I had the sad perception that I would hang in up to 2k and try and take it (yeah, right!)

There are differences inside the rack (bronze bushings are smaller on the 240), but from the outside, they are the same and can be interchanged.