wheelman

78ZLT1, Do you know how much adjustability the combination of the Volvo inner and stock outer tie rods gives? I looked up the price of those inners and can get them for $25.00 each, which is a great price assuming they work and provide enough thread once the outers are modified to allow adjusting the toe to what I want. I normally run a little toe out but I don't want to be forced into that if I decide to align it more for street driving. I also just put new stock outers on the car so if I can retain them so much the better. BTW: Could you post some pictures of your rack assembled with the inner and outer tie rods? Wheelman

Ok, I'm in the process of gathering parts to do this swap. So far I scored a 99 Forrester rack from the local JY for $100.00 and a spare crossmember for $20.00. I think I have enough info from this thread regarding the plumbing fittings and how to modify the crossmember. Where I need some guidance is how you guys solved the tie rod issues. There is some reference to replacing the inner tie rods but nothing about the outer tie rods. There is another thread where a MOOG outer tie rod is mentioned but the taper is different from stock. What was the u-joint you guys used to connect the steering shaft to the rack? ViperRedLS1Z, It almost sounds like you just moved the LCA pickup points to account for the additional width of the Subaru rack, is this true? When you mentioned the width of the rack was ~1" wider than the stock Z rack did that include everything from one outer tie rod end to the other or just the center section? Wheelman

I used some metal strap to make a bracket for mine. What car are you swapping the LT1 into? Wheelman

I was 19 for the first and 38 for the second. Hmm, just noticed the double there, interesting. Wheelman

I bought my first Z in 1984, it was a 260 with weber down draft carbs. Through highschool I'd really been into hotrod VWs, had a 58 Kharmann Ghia with a built motor and fender flares. My older sister let me drive her 240Z one day and I was hooked, I just had to have one. After graduating I went off to college at USC and after one year found out it was too expensive and I really didn't know what I wanted to study. So I joined the Airforce and bought that 260. Not long after joining the AF I got married and had my first child so the Z had to go, sold it to a guy who wrecked it about a month later. I was able to satisfy my car habit for a while by working side jobs and built a 70 Ford pickup. Then I decided to get out of the military and move back to the Pacific Northwest. Ended up moving to the desert of central Washington and bought a house with a very small garage so no more car work. 10 years later we finally could afford a new house and I insisted on one with a garage large enough to actually use and told my wife that in 1 year I'd find a project car. I didn't really know what I wanted to build, the wife suggested another Z as we'd had many good times in that 260 and I always refered to it as my baby. So I googled to find Z related websites and ran across Hybridz. That was it I HAD to build a V8 Z. Within 2 months of moving into the new house I found a 73 240Z, bought it and drug it home. That was about 4 years and $6000.00 dollars ago. Now it's powered by a 95 LT1/WC T5 combo, has all new poly bushings, coil overs, struts, R200 with LSD and is basically my auto-x car. It still needs a little rust repair and quite a bit of body work but it sure is fun to drive. Wheelman

Shouldn't be any reason you couldn't use JTR's tranny mount with the MSA motor mounts. BTW: JTR motor mounts don't require any welding either. Wheelman

It's been a while since I installed mine so I might not be totally accurate here but there should be 3 connections on fuel pump basket. The largest is the fuel feed, the center one was connected to the vent on the top of the tank and the remaining one is the return connection. The evap canister had at least one hose connected that was a vacuum line which if you wanted to connect it would run to the intake manifold or throttle body in the engine bay. Here is a link to a picture of an LS1 tank with the evap canister. The small line hanging from the evap canister is the one that would connect to the vacuum line. I just let it vent to atmosphere. Wheelman

When I first mounted my Camaro tank I blocked off the evap canister connection point, then I found the tank would build pressure while filling. So I reconnected the evap canister, left the pressure sensor disconnected and just vent the canister to the atmosphere. Not the best setup but it works. If you can it would be better to connect a vacuum line to the canister to it can be purged. As for where it is, mine was mounted to the top front of the tank as it would be mounted in a Camaro so it ends up at the back in a Z. Wheelman

240Hoke, If you search through the older posts in the Ford V8 section of the site you'll see threads that discuss the same issue. Alsil fabbed up mounts for a 302 that were connected to the frame rails similar to yours and after running it that way for a relatively short time found the rails were twisting. He redesigned his mounts into a crossmember that prevents the twisting forces on the frame rails. Wheelman

On the highway running 70 mph in 5th I rev ~2300-2400 rpm. 3.54 rearend gears Not sure of mileage but better than my 5.0 Mustang. Gr8White, I think the deal the 2-3 shift is the aluminum fork breaks if you try to hurry the shift. I know the 2-3 shift is where I really have to be diliberate and take my time otherwise it binds. Might be I have some worn synchroz but none of the other shifts feel that way. BTW: Do these T5s have synchroz on reverse? Mine grinds everytime I try to go into reverse unless I double or triple clutch, and yes I only shift into reverse when the car is completely stopped. Wheelman

I'm running an LT1/WCT5 combination and really like it. As Dan Juday said the T5 with a mild SBC is a great combination that provides just about perfect gearing. There are times I wish I still had the 3.36 rear gears as the engine revs so quick it's ready to shift before I am but the gear spacing puts the engine right back into the power band. I dynoed the car and it's putting down 274 hp and 307 ft/lbs which is probably pushing the limits of the T5 but it's been reliable so far. I auto-x it and no drag racing so it really doesn't see hard launches but I don't baby it be any means. Wheelman

Did any of you guys notice the cut radiator core support? Yeah, it's a nasty car but after seeing that and how the radiator was holding the 2 sides together I wouldn't have those guys do any work for me. Wheelman

Get the cable from AKM Electronics Inc. (http://www.akmcables.com). The cables are bit spendy but after you've flashed your PCM a couple times you'll see it's well worth the price. Ask all the questions you want, maybe if you ask enough and post your solutions this thread can be made a sticky. As for the wiring, it's not difficult, just time consuming and tedious. I did it on the floor in my basement, went through all the PCM pins, determined what they did, removed the ones that weren't relevant to my install and tested continuity of all the others. I found I had to cobble together a vehicle speed sensor (VSS) but if you're running a T56 or 4L60E you should already have one. If you're running a T5 like me post that and I'll see if I can track down where I bought the pulse generator and which one it was. The one I got is in line with the speedo cable. Think twice if you were planning to run without one, I tried, the PCM uses it's output to control the IAC and you'll have stalling problems without it. Wheelman

Zgeezer, Have you actually used those outer ends? Are they the same for both sides? You said the taper is not the same as the S30, are they different enough to require machine work? I'm getting ready to start ordering parts to install a Forrester rack, if these ends will work without requiring machining it will make the swap much easier. I found a place I can get them for ~$18.00 each. Wheelman

If you get TunerCat or LT1Edit and a cable you really don't need to send out for a basic tune. Once you get the software it will be easy to disable the VATS and the AC related stuff. You will need an SES light or a resistor to simulate it otherwise the PCM will throw a code and go into limp mode. You don't need an oil level light but can put one in if you like. I didn't connect the oil level sensor in mine and have had no problems with the PCM throwing a code. I sent out for a custom tune but it was really a waste of money. Once I got the tune I found the timing and fueling cells were the same as the stock Camaro tune I started with. So for me it was waste of money as I had already figured out how to disable the VATS and change other settings so everything was working. Wheelman

Are you sure those are actually 280Z strut tubes? Seems to me if you order sleeves for a 280Z they would be the correct size, that is if Tim used actual 280 tubes when he built the rear end. Might be worth a call to him to find out what he really used. Wheelman

Looks like an interesting concept but I'd be concerned about vibration issues with a daughter card that large plugged into a 40 pin socket. The surface mount design will make for some difficult soldering unless you're experienced with small components. Personally I'd rather wait for the GPIO board that communicates with the MSII via CAN. Plenty of bandwidth for data transfer, lots of IO ports and fully configurable. Wheelman

Grumpy, This post reminds me of an incident I witnessed and was adversely affected by. Back in the late 80s I was in the Airforce and living in base housing so I was surrounded by a bunch of aircraft mechanics. I had purchased a 1970 Ford pickup with a 289 and C4 and had a built 302 sitting in my car port from a different project (long story). My neighbor (one of those aircraft mechs) and I decided to swap in the 302. Everything went fine until it came time to tighten the bolts to pull the transmission up to the engine. Just before we lowered the engine into the bay I had installed the torque converter and thought I had it fully seated into the transmission but didn't. Everything lined up fine but there was about a 1/2" gap between the engine and tranny so my neighbor starts tightening the bolts to draw the engine and transmission together (the engine was still hanging on the hoist chains). The bolts got real tight but the gap remained, my neighbor is running the wrench (he's the aircraft mechanic after all), instead of taking everything apart to see what's wrong he just pulls harder on the wrench and finally puts enough pressure on one of the engine block mounting ears to break it off. Needless to say I was a bit upset and shocked that he didn't know better, he hurried home and left the rest of the install to me. Fortunately I was able to use some JB weld to fix the ear and finish the swap, it would have been a huge mess if he'd broken something I couldn't easily and cheaply fix. This is a perfect example of what you were talking about. Wheelman

Bart, I'd seen that article before and even considered the mod when I was having problems with the engine overheating, but since I put in a cooler thermostat and wired my Tuarus fan to run only on high speed I've had no problems what so ever. In fact it may even run a bit to cool on the highway. BJ, Thanks for the picture. Do you have any idea or feeling of how much air flows through those? Do you know if it helps with eliminating lift? Wheelman

To make the "gills" functional won't you have to cut holes in the fender wells to allow the air to escape the engine bay? Can this be done without compromising the strength of the front end? Where are you planning to cut the hole(s)? Where did you guys get thos "gills"? I like the looks but haven't seen them for sale anywhere. Wheelman

Severe lack of grey matter between the ears!!! Wheelman

DTS300Z, It would be easier and faster to just hook up the laptop, flash the PCM and go than fight with loosening the bolts holding the opti in place. The adjustable ability of the MSD opti is provided by slotted holes in the mounts, not the cap. As for opti problems, I've heard that almost all the horror stories about them come from pre-vented versions, not the 95 and later models. Wheelman

Bart, You might try contacting Ground Control. They may be willing to work with you to get the correct length and diameter sleaves. Wheelman

Bart, I'm using the MSA rear bar and shortened my endlinks to provide clearence to the CV joints. I took about 1/2" out of the spacer and used the bolts that came with them. They hang down below the control arm a little but worked fine. You'd have to look at how much thread is available to tighten them down once you've cut the spacer to see if you even need to replace the bolts. It's a little hard to see just how close things are on your car but you could get some tubing of the same size as the spacer and then experiment. Be sure to look at the clearances at full droop and compression before deciding on a length. Wheelman

Bart, Those are some nice numbers!! I'm going to have to see if I can get my dyno graph scanned in so you all can compare them. My torque starts out at about 270-275 and peaks at 307 at almost the same RPM as yours. But my HP doesn't peak until almost 5900-6000 RPM. I only made 274 at the rear wheels but the curve is much flatter than yours. My iron headed LT1 is pretty much stock except for the cam and high rev valve springs. Just shows what these LT1s can do with minimal upgrades. Edit: Here is the scan of my dyno run. The scales for the hp and torque are not lined up, thats why the lines don't cross at 5250 RPM. Wheelman