wheelman

Is it possible that the fuel lines aren't able to flow enough fuel at higher RPMS even with the higher FP? I'm swapping an LT1 into my Z and was forced to upgrade the fuel lines to 3/8" feed and return in order to flow enough. I didn't need to use 3/8" on the return, the rail has 5/16" attached but it was easier to use the same size for both. Just a thought! Wheelman

Dr_Hunt and Cozy, This is a 73 240Z which has all the fuel and brake lines run pretty much where I ran mine, thats why I decided to put them where I did. I also plan on running a drive shaft loop, I just don't have it installed yet. Before I fab the loop I need to have the drive shaft built and install everything so I can make sure nothing rubs. Unless I'm wrong the loop should prevent the shaft from contacting the fuel lines should it let go. One other thing to consider is that these lines aren't aluminum, not that it would make a huge difference if the shaft was to beat on them a while. Please guys correct me if I'm wrong!!! I thought about running the fuel lines along the frame rails but didn't like how exposed they would be there. Edit #1: DaleMX, You might want to reconsider using 1/4" for a return line. I'm running an LT1 and the feed and return lines at the rails are 3/8" and 5/16" respectively. I would think an LS1 will need lines at least as big. Wheelman

I used 3/8" hard line also and ran it along the upper passenger side of the tunnel. I tried to run it along the middle but there isn't enough room to get past the hand brake hardware unless you run one line down each side. Oh, BTW I'm running an LT1 so I had to run a feed and return, if you're running a carb you may not. I used loops with rubber coating on them I got from Home Depot to hang the tubing. It's found in the electronic department and costs about $1.50 per package of 6. If you want I can post a picture as I don't have the engine or tranny installed right now. Let me know. Edit: I decided to just post the picture anyway so here it is. I need to move the line that's closest to the center of the tunnel a little to the right where it crosses the tunnel brace but other than that everything clears. I also plan on shortening the line in the engine bay to eliminate the 90 degree bends, my bender is a piece of junk and the line kinked slightly.

Cody, My reasoning was that he ported the head but not the intake so the head will flow better but the intake won't. In this case it seems to me that the intake restriction will be the same as it was prior to the work so it will not really flow much more but the head will thus generating more vacuum in the intake than the stock head would. Besides my understanding is that vacuum at partial throttle is generated by the restriction from the throttle plate more than anything else so again the vacuum would only increase from porting the head because of the increased ability to flow. I'm thinking that there is very little vacuum in a manifold at WOT and the vacuum seen at a vacuum port in this situation is generated by the venturi affect and not intake track restrictions. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Wheelman

Check out this twin turbo kit on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7945046032&ssPageName=MERC_VI_RSCC_Pr4_PcY_BID_Stores Think that would fit under the hood of a Z? Wheelman

Cody, The vacuum is in the entire intake track from the valve to the throttle plate. If anything a ported head with better flow would increase vacuum, that is except that the cylinder volume filling with air (or actually not filling due to the closed throttle plate or other restrictions) as the piston moves down is what generates the vacuum. The only thing that might be affecting your vacuum other than a leak or missing vacuum canister is a large cam with lots of overlap. Clifton, I can see how valve timing will affect vacuum but how will ignition timing affect it? Mike, IIRC you didn't change the cam so you must have a leak somewhere. Put the vacuum canister back in, it was there for a reason. Wheelman

Don't look at businesses that require you to do all the work. What you want is something you can hire employees to take care of and then move on to the next money making venture. Setup a system for your employees to run and then let them, all you do is keep an eye on it. Dry Cleaners are good and so is realestate but the area needs to be the right type for either to work well. It's hard to make good steady money in realestate in an upscale neighborhood unless your selling it. Look for an average or low average area with rentals and invest there, let someone else pay the mortgage and you can also generate a decent cash-flow. I've currently got 5 units and clear about $750.00 a month positive cash flow after all expenses and I only spend about 10-15 hours a month in management and maintenance time and a little more when I have an empty unit. Video store (BlockBuster or HollyWood Video franchise) PayDay Loan store. Check into local laws first though. Landscaping company Mobile Car wash/detailing Self Service car wash Self Service Laudramat. Again needs a certain type of neighdorhood Fast Food restuarant Internet Cafe and Networked video game center Wheelman

Has anyone tried using a standard 9-pin serial port connector? I have the DLC from the donor car but I'm also going to connect a 9-pin serial connector to the communication lines of the PCM so it's easier and cheaper to build a cable for the laptop. I'm not sure whether I'm going to use TunerCat or LT1 Edit, which do you guys like better? Wheelman

Wlecome to the board. Wow, looks like those frame rails are gone. I had(have) quite a bit of rust repair to do on my 240 and have grown to hate it. Once it's done its such a relief. Good luck with that. Search on this site and you'll find lots of info on how to repair/replace those. Wheelman

Here is a shot of the serpentine belt setup I built for my LT1. I had planned on doing something along these lines but didn't actually fab it until getting some pictures of MikeJTR's setup. He mentioned that he was working on it after I asked about the Street and Performance setup. S and Ps alternator only setup looks nice but costs about $600.00 which is a little more than I'm willing to spend. It also didn't look like it would clear the passenger side motor mount. Anyway heres the picture I owe MikeJTR a big thanks for sending me the pictures of his setup so I could copy it. Wheelman

Can someone post a picture or some drawings of a puller so those of us that don't have them can build our own? I've already replaced mine and used the "pound with a hammer" method which worked, but I didn't like doing it that way. My pins weren't rusted at all, they had some salt air corrosion but no rust. It would have been nice to reuse them but because of the method I used to removed them they were unusable. Wheelman

Nigel, Thats why I used 2" wide putty knives and left them between the bushing and hub until the edge of the hub was past the bushing hole. I saw this starting to happen as I assembled the first one and took it back apart to reposition things to prevent it. Wheelman

JohnC is right in this statement!!! This is basically a religious discussion based on personal view points and opinions. The basic idea of internal combustion has not changed and all available configurations have been tried at one point or another. 2 things have changed though: 1. Our ability to manufacture any given engine to specified tolerances. The processes used in manufacturing have improved which enhances quality control (QC). QC is a function of cost which means only the amount of required QC will go into a given product. The Japanese put more QC into a product which generally means it's manufactured to higher tolerances there by making it more reliable (very broad generalization!!!!). 2. Electronic control systems. The last 2 - 3 decades have seen more electronic control systems incorporated into our cars. The Japanese adopted these systems earlier than other manufactures there by improving the reliability of thier product over others. Again this is a cost issue. The arguement that Japanese engineers are more talented is not only unprovable but demonstrates a total lack a rational thought regarding this subject. Can their engineers out design ours????? Well maybe my dad can lick yours and maybe he can't but it's the same arguement, pointless and proves nothing. Edit: I can't believe I just added another post to this, and a long one at that. Wheelman

I used 2 putty knives a tow strap and a floor jack to get mine back together. I put 1 putty knife on each side of the hub, put the tow strap around the shock tube and the cross link inner pivot point so the hub wouldn't move outward and then jacked the outer end of the crosslink up until the hole in the bushing was pasted the hub then pulled the putty knives out. Make sure everything is greased really well or you'll never get the knives out without taking everything back apart (ask me how I know) and use knives you don't mind busting as they will bust if they aren't flexible enough ( I broke one on each side). 2" wide knives is a good idea also. Wheelman

Here is a link to some info on the Mustang 4-link, the problems with it's design and how to solve them. http://www.miracerros.com/mustang/t_suspension.htm I always thought an IRS was better in every situation as well. I did some research not to long ago when looking for ideas regarding my next project car and determined that it has more to do with how things are setup than one design vs another. One thing an IRS does provide is more adjustability in alignment settings such as camber and toe-in/out that a solid axle cannot. Think about using a Watts linkage and/or 3-link rather than 4 or 5 link. They are better designs that avoid the inherent bind up problems of the 4-link. I'm curious about whether a torque arm will fit in the Z driveline tunnel. I'm really glad to see this project progressing as I plan on doing a SBF Z sometime in the future. I probably won't go as far as swapping a living axle rear but I want a Ford power plant. I would like to see someone do a Modular engine transplant at some point as well although I think it will be difficult to get one in a Z because of the width of these engines. Wheelman

Zerrari, The flywheel Mike is refering to is for an externally balanced engine so it won't work on a pre 86 engine as they're internally balanced. The 400 SBC was externally balanced but then you run into the differences between the 1 and 2 piece rear main seals. Wheelman

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one to have problems with these things. I bought one of the those Proform tools to use on my LT1 balancer install and found it would not work at all, the stub is to short to reach when the hub is not already installed. Anyway I ended up having to use 2 longer bolts to get the damn thing on. Wheelman

Sounds like a death wish to me. 540 rwhp in a bike!!! Wheelman

OK, I've got a new cam and valve springs installed in my LT1 and I'm trying to get the damn harmonic balancer hub back on. What is the F-ing secret to this. I've tried using anti-seize and I bought an install tool that said it was for small or big block chevys. Turned out the tool won't work because the threaded stud on the end barely reaches through the hub itself let alone to the crank. So I decided to try using the bolt to put it back on, applied anti-seize to the inside of the hub and the nose of the crank and started tightening it down. It appeared to be going on and then got tight so I cranked a little and then backed out the bolt to make sure it wasn't stripping or over torqueing (yes I already busted one bolt trying to do this without anti-sieze). Sure enough it was stripped. Now I'm thinking Holy Shit the F-ing crank threads are probably stripped as well. How the hell am I going to get this thing on without taking it to a machine shop to have them do it. Anyway sorry for the langauge but I really hate it when things like this happen. It's not like I'm putting an after market part on that doesn't fit, this is the hub that came off the engine when I tore it down to swap the cam. Any suggestions!!! Wheelman

Flibouy, Thanks for all the info and encouragement. I'm doing the exact setup you are even to the point of using a WC T-5 although I'll be running only the alternator. I wish I'd found the info about the Ford truck master before I bought the Wilwood unit but It'll still work. Tim, So now what are you up to? I thought you were spending your time on the Opel GT swap. BTW: How is that going, did you finally decide to go with the Ford 2.3 Turbo engine? Wheelman

Datsunlover, If you need a non-75 driveshaft I have the original from my 73 240 I'll sell you cheap. I'm not sure about the condition of the u-joints right off hand as I'm at work but I can check them out tonight when I get home. I don't remember feeling any play in it when I removed it but I'll check anyway. PM me if you're interested. Wheelman

You might want to do a google search on RX-7 swaps. I know there's a kit to swap an SBC into a first gen RX-7. There's even one running around the town I live in. What year RX-7 is it? Maybe a later model 13B motor would make a good swap. BTW: Where do you live?? Wheelman

I have 2 stories like this but neither are my own adventures. 1. A good friend of mine was at a party at my house and we were drinking jelly-beans. These taste like jelly-beans but you light the top layer of alcohol which you then blow out before drinking. Well this guy was way under and forgot to blow it out first. There was flame coming out of his nose and mouth but he didn't even know it. He felt it after a few seconds and was able to blow it out but it burned all his nose hair and mustache. He smelled burned hair for days after that but was not really hurt. 2. I was in the Air Force working at a Nuclear Lab. The section of the lab where I worked processed atmospheric gas samples and we used lots of glass tubing. Some of us were trained to work with the glass using methane torches. We always worked under a fume hood which was supposed to be turned on. One day the "brightest" amoung us decided to see what would happen if he filled the fume hood full of methane and then touched it off. He proceeded to run the torch unlit for about 15 minutes in the hood and then grabbed a striker and clicked it once. Blew the fume hood to pieces and threw the goober across the room minus "ALL" the hair on his head (including eye lasses, brows and mustache). Unfortunaely he wasn't hurt bad enough to make an impression and he went on to other dangerous adventures. Needless to say after that the Lab instituted some preventive measures to make sure it wouldn't happen again. Wheelman

I guess the standard answer here is that with enough money, time and skills anything is possible. OK now that thats out of the way I would think getting the Corvette tranny to fit in the rear of a Z32 chassis would be a major fabrication job. LS1s have been transplanted into at least 2 Z32s that I know of so that part is a known. If I were you I'd sell the vette rearend and get a T56 to mate to the LS1. Just my .02 worth although tranplanting the full vette drivetrain would surely make a very unique car. Wheelman

zgeezer, First off let me state that I'm not a cam expert but I do have some thoughts. Here are the specs for the stock 01-02 LS1 cam: 197/207 int/exh @ 0.05" duration 0.467" / 0.479" int/exh lift 116 LSA Based on these values I would say that the LS1 cam will probably make more "average" torque in the RPM range you mentioned than the HOT Cam or the ASA cam but not the LS6 cam and will fall off sooner than all of them. The LSA (lobe separation angle) of the ASA and Hot cams are fairly tight which will tend to push the torque band up in the RPM range. The LS6 cam has much higher lift and a wider LSA which would make me think it will produce very good torque and also be able to sustain it higher into the RPM range. Again let me state that I'm not a cam expert so take my statement for what it's worth "nothing". Wheelman