wheelman

Isn't the paddle shifter setup and a rebuild of the 4L60E going to run you about the same price as a T56? I agree with Pete, I'm running a stock world class T-5 behind my LT1 and haven't had any problems yet. A G-Force T-5 or a TKO would be a good option. Wheelman

Start out with 4, then start the engine and cycle the transmission though the gears, let it warm up, put it in park and check the level. If it's low add 1/2 quart, check again and repeat until its full. Cycle the gears each time to ensure the valve body passages all get filled. I'm not sure about a 4L60E but the auto in my daughter's mustang ended up wanting about 6 quarts from totally empty. Wheelman

I have a GMC Safari van (4.3L Vortec V6 and 4L60E) that I've towed several cars (My Z, a Subaru SVX and an 89 Mustang) and a 14ft popup tent trailer with. I've been very happy with it, good power/torque, comfortable to ride in and get decent mileage (18-19 around town, 22-25 on the highway, 15-16 when towing) If you plan on trailering the Z I'd think about a bigger rig though, the trailer will add quite a bit of weight to the already 2500lb car and if the tow rig is to small the trailer will push it all over the road. It also goes without saying that if you get a used tow rig be sure to go through the brake system, you'll need the best brakes you can get. Wheelman

Last year I was on my way to an Auto-X event and passed a mid 90s camaro on the freeway. Didn't really think anything of it but kept my eye on it just in case as a young guy was driving. Well this guy followed me to the Auto-X event and as soon as I shut down and got out he was there asking me to pop the hood so he could see the V8. He bugged me that entire day and was at the next event asking if I would give him a ride. I didn't want to, looked like he hadn't showered or brushed his teeth in weeks, so I gave rides to some family friends and my daughter. Anyway this a$$hole waited until I was working the course then scratched "F**K YOU" in the rear light panel. Not big enough that I noticed it right away but I know it was him. So, yeah my hybrid has attracted some crazy people. Nobody bothers me on the street though, I've had a couple guys follow me wanting to race until I get on it a bit then they always keep their distance. I get more attention when I'm in the Mustang. It's a 93 5.0 convertible thats stock except for dual exhaust, it writes checks it can't cash. One day I was at the local hydraulic supply store and a guy in a civic pulled in and bought a pair of sun glasses!??!? Well I pull out and he follows close until we get on the freeway, then he gets next to me and revs a couple times, I can hear his BOV so I think "HMMM, ricer boy wants to play" and slam the petal to the floor. The mustang shifts down and starts to accelerate and this Honda takes off like a rock from a sling shot. I got played big time. Turns out that civic is owned by the owner of a local tuner shop and puts out somewhere around 500hp. I don't think I could have even taken him in the Z and it's a lot faster than the mustang. Wheelman

Start the car and let it warm up, drive a short distance, if you can, then park it, cycle the shifter through all the positions, leave it in neutral and running then check the fluid level. Once the tranny is warm and while the engine is running the fluid should be at the full mark. You could be low on fluid, have bad connections between the PCM and the tranny or the tranny might be shot. The tranny is from a Caprice right? If it's an ex-cop car the tranny might be in bad shape. The car I got my engine from was a retired cop car, 3rd gear was totally gone. When the tranny "shifted" into 3rd the engine would rev, grab a little, rev some more, grab a little bit more and then nothing. To get it home I had to shift to 2nd, get up to about 50mph and the go right to 4th which would cause the tranny to skip 3rd gear. Is that sort of how yours acts? If you give it gas the engine will rev but the car doesn't accelerate, if you rev higher you feel a jerk and the car takes off but never really accelerates very fast. If that's how it's acting then the tranny is slipping and probably needs more fluid or a rebuild. Don't drive it very much while it's acting that way or you'll burn the clutches and/or the bands which definitely means a rebuild. When you pull the tranny dip-stick is the fluid red or a reddish brown/black? Is there even fluid on the dipstick? Wheelman

Phantom, Thanks for the complement, I didn't know you'd gotten a chance to look at it. So what exactly do you need to fix in your car before you'd feel comfortable auto-xing it? Wheelman

Small inexpensive dohc V8? Look at the Toyota 1UZFE, 4 liter, dohc, 32 valve, RWD setup, all aluminum. One has been swapped into a Z already so it won't be unique but they're good engines with some aftermarket support and they are cheap. I'm pretty sure there's even a working megasquirt setup for it. Here's a buy-it-now one on ebay with 79,000 mile for $750.00 + shipping. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1990-lexus-ls-400-engine-tested_W0QQitemZ260116792033QQihZ016QQcategoryZ33615QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Wheelman

Hey Rhnmsf, There is more to WA than Seattle!!!!!!!!! :icon56: Just like there is more to OR than Portland. :) Wheelman

So live and work in Vancouver (no income tax) and shop in Portland (no sales tax), best of both worlds. Technically if us Washingtonians buy something in OR we're supposed to report that and pay use tax to WA state but who's going to do that, I certainly don't. Not sure about emissions across the entire state but in the Tri-Cities there are no requirements for smog inspections, just register each year for about $40.00. I know Spokane requires a tail pipe snif but not sure of the Vancouver or Seattle areas. 1 key difference between income and sales tax is with a sales tax I can control how much tax I pay by controlling how much I spend, can't do that with an income tax, unless I decide to earn less (not a good method to avoid taxes). BTW, WA doesn't tax non-prepared food and most other essentials. Wheelman

What Phantom said!! I'm a member of the Sand and Sage Sports Car Club in the Tri-Cities WA (Kennewick, Pasco, Richland) www.ssscc.org. We are an auto-x club so don't do car shows but have a great time burning up the local parking lots. I saw Phantom's car at a recent show in Yakima which was connected with an event we hosted there, very nice car, lots of incredible work done to it. I don't think he had the opportunity to check out my car, it's not much to look at but is a blast to drive. The Tri-Cities also has a local show and shine at the end of June called Cool Desert Nights which includes a show, a cruise and slow drags. The event takes over most of Mid-Town Richland for a full weekend. www.cooldesertnights.com Spokane used to have the Auto, Boat and Speed show at the fair grounds but it's been a while since lived there so don't know what it's status is. Wheelman

I removed the pins from the connectors, once you take one of those connectors apart you'll realise there is no need for a special tool. Wheelman

Ok here is whole break down. 95 B-Body LT1 (iron heads) ~102,000 miles when pulled from donor 3.5" F-Body MAF LT4 Hot Cam Stock lifters High rev valve springs Stock rockers (for now) 15 lbs flywheel Stock Throttle body but bypassed Home built cold air intake with huge K&N filter All emissions equipment removed & disabled in PCM (egr, air pump, etc..) No PS or AC I Started with a tune from PCMforLess and adjusted to work with larger MAF and my T5 tranny. Headers are Hedman Tight Tubes. (Shorty Block huggers, 1 5/8" primarys, 2.5" collector) The remainder of the exhaust is 2 1/4" dual into 2 1/2" single and a Hooker Aero-Chamber muffler. One thing to remember about the original configuration of these B-Body LT1s is they are setup for low end torque so swapping in a hot cam will do more for them than it will for an F-Body LT1. I've also seen data from tests that show the iron heads flow about 20% more than the aluminum ones so again the cam swap will have a larger impact, assuming the higher flow rates are real. Before I dropped the engine into the Z I pulled a main bearing cap and 3 rod bearing caps to check the condition of the bearings. They showed some wear but were in good shape so I waited on a rebuild. I think there are a few places I could gain more power without pulling the heads. The exhaust is a bit restrictive and hurts the top end. Rockers would help and possibly a bigger throttle body but I'm very skeptical that these do anything to help overall power until the engine is pulling a hell of a lot more air than mine ever will. Playing with the timing might gain me some as well, thats my next area of experimentation. Edit: Forgot to mention I use TunerCat and DataMaster. Yes data logging really helps to understand whats happening with the AFR, timing, closed/open loop, etc... DataMaster is real nice but spendy so I use the "demo" version that lets you log for 30 seconds so it can be a bit tedious. Hope this answers your questions. Wheelman

Everything but the cam, valve springs and flywheel is stock. I'm running a stock Camaro MAF which is 3.5" vs the B-Body unit which is only 3". I'm also not running any emission equipment, PS or AC. I have messed with the PCM tuning a little and the AFR was pretty good but I don't know how good the timing is. The heads are iron B-Body heads which are supposed to flow better than the aluminum ones but who really knows and the CR is only 10:1 instead of 10.5 or 11:1. Wheelman

Jon, I was just listing the folks on here I respect and that are knowledgable in a given subject, you are one of those. Obviously it's not a comprehensive list as that would be much to long to type in. Wheelman

Bart, You might try several locations for the front and rear stands. Place them where I did and take some pictures and measurements then move the fronts to the engine crossmember and measure, then place the fronts back on the TC buckets and move the rear to behind or under the diff somewhere and measure again, etc.. I think we'd all be interested to see your results. Wheelman

I can't really say how much of the reverse "sag" was retained or how it affected the door gaps as the doors need major adjustment anyway, sorry. I can say though that the new rails stiffened the car enough so that if I get my jackstands on an uneven section of my garage floor only 3 will support the car and the 4th is loose. It's always the same section of the floor so I know when I've got the car in the wrong spot and move it so everything is level. It's a bit disconcerting when I bump one of the stands while I'm under the car and it moves. This happens with the front stands under the TC buckets or the engine crossmember. Everyone keep in mind I'm an amateur mechanic and don't always know the best or even correct way to do something, I figure it out as I go. So if JohnC, Doc Hunt, Grumpy, Jon Mortensen or one of many others here say I screwed up what I did, listen to them. I'm only putting myself at risk in my car. Wheelman

Bart, I installed frame rails similar to the BD units and to eliminate the sag in my car I supported the car with jackstands at the TC rod buckets in the front and the front diff crossmember in the rear. This put the engine weight in front of the jackstands and reverse sagged the body. Not sure this is the "best" way to do it but I could see the sag change as I lowered the car onto the front jackstands. I also used 2 floor jacks to keep the rails in place while I tacked them in, then removed the jacks and finished the welds. I wish I knew then what I know now about stitch welding instead of seam welding the rails. I seam welded mine but now I know that it would have been stronger long term to stitch weld and use seam sealer. Wheelman

Piston, I've installed sub-frame connectors and went through the car eliminating alot of rust. There's still rust in there but the major sections have been removed. I've also replaced all the bushings, installed sway bars, coilover springs, camber plates, new struts, CV joint axles, LSD, etc.. So I know pretty much every inch of this car and am confident in it. When I first Auto-Xed it I was concerned about the tranny holding up but it seems to be doing fine. I don't have power steering either and my arms have gotten pretty sore at a couple events. This one wasn't bad at all, but it also wasn't as tight as some we've set up. I consider installing PS from time to time but then I have to take everything apart again, maybe when I rebuild the tranny and/or motor. ProjectSR20, Yeah, It's to bad you weren't aware of the event it would have been nice to see another Z there. As it was there were 3, a 280, my 240 and another Turboed 240. The club normally does 1 event a year up there and 1 event in Packwood all the rest are local to the Tri-Cities. If you want to attend an event the club's website is www.ssscc.org. The full season schedule is there. If you decide to come down for one let me know and we can do lunch or dinner, maybe have a beer or 2. Wheelman

Bart, Yeah, I don't think I've posted any pictures here in quite a while. There's still LOTS of body work to do but it looks decent from a long distance. Those rims don't hurt either, they draw your eyes away from the really rough spots. Auto-X is a blast, if you give it a try be prepared to be addicted from the first run. That run was actually one of my slower ones of the day. My fastest time was a 41.8 second run which is about 1.5 seconds faster than the one in the video. Cygnus1, The car is very stable and smooth. I've installed 225F/250R springs along with the MSA sway bars which really helped limit body lean and the Falken tires make for good handling. I managed to spin it again on Sunday though. There was an off camber corner transition where I came in hot and lifted throttle just as I entered. Shifted weight forward and around she went, almost got the timing lights. Wheelman

The stock #s for my LT1 are 260hp and 330 ft/lbs. It came from a Caprice 9C1 and was setup more for torque at low rpms. Edit: The dyno numbers are at the rear wheel and the stock #s are at the flywheel. I think the general assumption is the drive train consumes 15% so the flywheel HP should be 315 and torque 353. I swapped in an LT4 hot cam which pushed the power band up higher in the rev range. The event was at the SunDome and was hosted by the club I belong to thats based in the Tri-Cities. We usually host 1 event in Yakima and 1 in Packwood every year. The club class I run in is a combination of all the SCCA Prepared and Modified classes so it can include very fast cars. On Saturday there were 6 cars and I came in 3rd. On Sunday there were 3 cars and I came in first. I have a couple videos but I'm not sure how to post them yet, once I figure it out I'll post a link. Edit: Here is a link to 1 of my runs on Saturday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azjf_6PF2uo Wheelman

This last weekend I attended an Auto-X event in Yakima, WA and one of the participants opened his shop so a few of us could do some dyno pulls. The Z generated 274HP @ 5700 rpm and 307 Ft/lbs @ 3500 rpm. The Torque curve is very flat and starts out at just under 250 ft/lbs @ 1500 rpm and rises from there to 307 @ 3500 rpm then drops slowly to about 225 ft/lbs at 6300 rpm The HP curve starts at about 100HP @ 1500 rpm, rises in a smooth curve to 274 @ at 5700 rpm and falls to 250HP @ 6300 rpm. Not quite as high as I figured but I'm still very happy with it. The AFR showed around 13.5:1 until about 4700 rpm and then richened to around 12.7:1 by 5600 rpm and stayed there. I'm happy with that, right in the power AFR range and very stable. The next thing I'd like to explore is what the timing is doing. Find out if the knock sensors are detecting anything and pulling timing. Also experiment with adding or removing a degree or 2 to the base to see how it acts. Doing all this on a dyno gets pretty spendy though so I might have to settle for the Butt dyno. Wheelman

My eyes hurt!!! Wheelman

I watched that video several times and only heard him squeak the tires twice. Once after passing the last group of 3 and then right after passing the last blue one. Thats some amazing driving. Wheelman

I guess I made the right decision to go with the PowerBrute. I've got about 150 miles on it now, at first it was little noisy and I'd feel it pop and release (for lack of better terms), but it has really smoothed out. The only time I feel it now is when I make a very sharp turn and I'm going slow like in a parking lot. Wheelman

Xander, Have you found it to be noisy or do you feel any binding in it? Wheelman