blueovalz

With a full 8pt cage, it weighs 2260 empty. The biggest saving were in the doors and hatch cover. The OEM fenders are real light, and my hood has enough material in it (with the ducting) that it is only slightly lighter than stock.

I've always wondered, is the toe and heal of the teeth reversed on this ring gear from a normal differential ring gear?

This sounds a lot like the way Mikes one-piece was done. Double and triple check your measurements 'cause once that glass goes on, its too late to change it. Be sure to brace it up real well. Any exposed holes that were used to hold the steel panels onto the car (lips on the hood side of the fenders) should be taped over. This will prevent the resin from "riveting" itself into these holes (provided the hood is not part of all this). All this said and done, I would think, since the parts are coming off the car anyway, that you instead would do this while the parts are on the car. You can fill the seams with clay (which by the way can be used much the same way as the sheet wax is). Without looking at the front end, I would say the dam portion and fender lips are going to be a problem with a true "one piece" due to the afore mentioned "draft" that Jeff brought up (but, again, that's just a guess).

Absolutely correct on that matter of the pedal length, because this ratio X bore ratios will give the ultimate advantage or leverage available. Another thing that is some times neglected is the pressure plate ratio when it comes to clutch system. A diaphram plate vs a finger type (not sure about the correct term hear) may require differing amounts of movement and/or pressure to release. If this is not taken into consideration, the bore ratios may be a moot point. So this muddies the water even more. This is why being lucky in picking the parts (my case) is better than skillful any day. This is why I like brakes. Bore to Bore, and in my case, ashes to ashes.

Excellent information here. The only thing I can add, is that you don't want the mold to kick too fast (i.e get too hot) when you make the mold. The heavy mass of the mold allows more heat build-up, and a chance of the mold becoming distorted slightly. Also, very thin (thickness of the surface) original parts will be distorted by the weight of the more massive mold while the glass is still wet, so a staged mold may need to be made to keep from distorting these delicate original pieces. Lastly, if the mold is to made of a large piece, then wooden frames blended into the mold will help stablize the shape of the mold (hoods, doors, etc).

IMVHO if it's functional, go for it. Key word for me is "funtionality".

Stroke is independent of the bore size. Stroke is more related to a volume issue and bore is related to the "mechanical leverage" issue of hydraulics. The ratio of the two (master/slave) should be about the same as OEM ratio, if you want the same "feel" at the pedal. If your slave bore is 20% larger area than the OEM piece, then you will want a master with about the same size larger too. If you were to leave the master the same (OEM) size, then your pedal will feel easier to push because of more leverage, but the stroke may not be long enough (not enough volume) to push the new slave piston the proper travel length to perform the work it was intended for. So the two must be considered together in the determination of a master, slave, or brake cylinder.

The shafts are peened after the end pieces are slipped on. You have to press the end pieces off (there may be a snap ring that needs to be removed first, but it's been a long time since I replace my boots). Then they are simply pushed back on after you replace the boot, then I re-peened the ends with a punch. They won't slide off or on easily because of the splines being peened, but a press makes it easy. They are only peened in a couple of places on each end.

The cross bar from tower to tower will help, but you still get a lateral flexing of the towers (now in unison instead of independently) because all you have done is create a parallelogram with this single bar. Sure, the towers will no longer flex relative to each other, but will now flex in unison until some kind of triangulation is made to prevent the towers lateral flexing relative to the firewall. The lack of lateral sheet metal connecting the front of the frame rails, or the top of the towers, to the rest of the chassis leaves them pretty much open to flexing unless they get them tied to the rest of the body with some kind of bracing. I even went a step further and triangulated the towers down to the block (only because the block is solidly mounted onto the frame rails). Unfortunately you can't triangulate the front of the frame rails because the oil pan interferes, so you do the next best thing.

John has the right idea. On my Z I used a piece of 1/4" X 1" X 6" steel bar (1/8" would have worked fine). I then drilled 3 evenly spaced holes, 5/16" diameter, and then welded 3 5/16" flange nuts (over the holes) onto the bar. Then I drilled 3 3/4" holes in the firewall so that this steel bar could now be welded to the firewall and have the nuts pass through the 3/4" holes in the firewall. Be sure to take advantage of the angles at the very top of the firewall for added strength (my bar butts up against the drip rail at the top of the firewall. Anyway, now that the mount for the bar is installed, you can make your bracing so that it can bolt onto this piece. For those of you with the hood latch still there, just build smaller versions of these on either side of the latch. A (not real good) picture of this is at: http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=1541023&a=11727986&p=41718673&f=0 I also did a similar thing on both towers, and then built a removeable "triangle" for the bracing. Terry

Mike One other thing, since you said you wanted to bolt the front clip on. I just recently finished making my front clip a "bolt on" clip rather than a Dzued clip. I decided on the most appropriate places to fasten the clip to the car (special attention up front) and then used blocks of 1.5" X 1.5" by 1/2" (or thicker) glass that was then bonded to the underside of the body. These blocks are cut off of a "bar" that was 2" X 20" X 1/2", made of 10 (or more) layers of mat laid on an aluminum sheet. Once cured, I sanded the edges smooth, then cut the individual blocks off as needed. Then each block was drilled in the center, tapped, and heli-coiled for a 5/16" bolt prior to being bonded onto the bodywork. In the mean time, I fabricated 1/8" steel tabs to be welded to the chassis. With all these pieces made, I then bolted the steel tabs to the blocks using 3/4" long 5/16" bolts, then using 1 or 2 larger layers of mat between the block and the bodywork (this ensures that all the surface area is used and fills any voids due to imperfections on the surfaces), I then bonded the blocks to the clip in such a way that the steel tabs were in the correct position (touching the chassis)to be welded to the chassis. After the blocks (tab and block assembly) were bonded (cured), I then welded the tabs onto the chassis, WITHOUT unbolting the tabs from the blocks. After the weld is finished, you can then unbolt the clip off of the tabs, and remove the body. Doing it this way will ensure the tabs will align with the threaded blocks. I used 12 attachment points total for the clip. I took about 1 week to do this but when I started out I was only doing one block/tab per day. Toward the end I was doing about 3-4 at a time. If you have any gel-coat in these areas, remove it, and if not, freshen up the area with some coarse (36 grit works good) sandpaper prior to bonding. I have beaten, pulled, and pried, but the body is on solid this way, and the nice thing is I can remove the front clip in less than 15 minutes. I actually caught two guys attempting to remove the clip when it was Dzuesed on one day when I decided to take it to work. This is the main reason I decided to bolt it on since it would have more times it would be "unprotected" now that I plan to legalize it for the street. Terry

You've probably already figured it out by now, but yes, the mustache bar diff holes are forward of the centerline of the mustache bar mounting holes, and forward of the uprights. Also, the differential is solidly against the bar (no gap).

Fortunately for me, I can turn the pump on independently from any other circuit on the car and drain the tank if needed. If you can do this too, it would seem straight forward to remove the hose as you said, turn the pump on, and if nothing (or low flow) comes out, yes, I would say you're on the right track. Mine is also fused, is yours? Can you hear the pump run at all if you do the above? If the pump is working correctly, a high flow of gas out the tube will be the result. Terry

I guess a little more to the point is that I had the car front end way up high to get mine in due the the amount of angle that the assembly had to be tilted. I fact the top of the hoist almost rubbed the ceiling as I lifted it over the core support, but that got it in without dragging the floor with the tailshaft. Terry

I'm just a lowly T-5 kind of guy, but I had to put both in at one time (too close to firewall to comfortably stick the in tanny by itself) Terry

I'll chime in here too. I bought a 24 X 17 Griffin aluminum radiator. Works good, but have never had any fans on it (raced it). I am adding fans now for street duty. Again, I supported it by the side tanks by fabricating cups to fit the ends of the tanks, and then putting dense foam insulation between the tanks and the cups. Terry

Pete, Amen to the noise on that fuel pump. I have the same pump, and have had it since '85. I always thought that with all that noise going on back there that this thing can't last very long, but it's been the best. I have tried several methods to soften the noise, but it is still louder than the turbo mufflers. At least I know it's working back there without looking at a pressure gauge. Terry

I used an impact hammer from the back, BUT you must be very careful not to mushroom the end or damage the threads doing this. I made a "cup" that fit snuggly over the end of the stub, and then used a modified blunt punch that was about 1/2" in diameter. It took about 2 to 3 minutes to get one side out this way. I would periodically (during the press-out) screw the nut on and off the end to make sure the end was not mushrooming, 'cause unless you have a die for that size, this will ruin it. Terry

The '88 GT 5.0 was rated at 225hp. I do not know what the bow-tie was rated at. Terry

I think we need to know the volumn of the bottle at one atmosphere, and then use this, knowing the pressure, to determine the amount of air in the bottle. OR, find out what pressure the "20 cu ft" is designated for. 20ft3 At 100psi is a lot less than 20ft3 at 1700psi. I assume this is like a small welding bottle? Any dimensions? Terry

Hmmm, It sounded a bit low, but it seems I saw this one time, but the system was not a racing set-up but I thought only for a trick steet set-up. Anyway, I stand corrected. Thanks Terry

This brings to mind something I thought about at one point in my V8 swap, especially in view of my solid mounting of the engine and tranny. My thoughts at one point would be to allow the engine block itself to be a primary member of the crossmember. With a long inline, the engine mounts are usually midway along the block. With properly designed parts that connect the frame rails to the sides of the block, you could in essence use the block as part of the crossmember. I mean, the engine weight is only held up by 4, 10mm bolts on the OEM set-up anyway.The rack and front bar are another question, but again, it all matters on the block situation. This thought came up again with the GM I6 that they are making. Terry

I'm soooo confused (which post do I reply to). I've not looked recently, but last I saw, a fairly cheap one was about $600. Your typical dry sump system is a pan (fairly shallow and low volume, an oil pump (belt driven), oil lines, and an oil tank remotely located to hold the oil. The main hp gain (correct me if I am wrong here) is from the lack of "windage" losses as the oil is pretty much removed immediately from the crankcase area. Terry

I have used 3/8" aluminum on my Z. It is tucked just inside and next to the seam weld lip under the rocker. No chance of scraping anything there (unless it takes the lip completely off. Anyway, I have seen a lot of horsepower fed by a 5/16" line. I cannot see the bowls going dry on anything less than 400hp at constant WOT with a descent push type electric pump at the tank. I remember the factory 5/16" fittings and tubing with mechanical pumps on the engine in the 60's being used on the big blocks. Terry

jason You will need to take some time to look at the charts at various sites (bfgoodrich/tires, tirerack, performancetires, etc) to see what you want. In general, a 27" tire is easily obtainable which will reduce wheel RPM down to about 780 which is about 2700rpm at the engine, (these charts will give that information usually) and this only comes in 60 and 70 series tires (getting pretty squiggly at this point) depending on the wheel diameter. Beware though, a 27" tire will get close to bodywork, especially up front.