namz7791

June 20, 2004

I did the search but still need some input.

I have a 77 2+2 with a mild 355 chevy and an Edelbrock 650 cfm carb. I plan on running the Holley red pump. The instructions recommend putting 2 filters in parallel between the fuel tank and the pump. Also states that the pump is gravity fed on the "in" side. Are those of you running this pump doing the 2 filters? Are you mounting the red pump in the same location as the stock Z fuel pump? Did you replace the stock datsun fuel line with a 3/8" line? Any photos of setups would also be greatly appreciated I did purchase a holley adjustable pressure regulator and noticed that some run them and some do not

I plan on not running a return line. I also plan on plugging the vent line that currently runs to the engine compartment that used to be hooked up to the charcoal cannister - is this acceptble? The tank is vented in the rear also I assume?

I did the JTR conversion and it went great Fuel, exhaust and cooling is all that is left

Thanks in advance for the advice!

June 15, 2004

Anyone have a manual that would tell me how many quarts or pints of Dexron 2 auto tranny fluid an 89 GM WC T5 will hold? Putting in the custom driveshaft tonight and want to fill her up.

Thanks in advance!

June 14, 2004

I purchased and used the JTR kit and got everything in the right spot.

I am leaning toward it being my slotted holes or the "hammered" floor. When I slotted my holes I took the bottom of the Z mount holes as the bottom of my slot. Using a cutoff wheel could easily make a 1/16 high on one side and a 1/16 low on the other causing the total tilt of 1/8". I tried tightening the motor mounts holding the engine level but everytime I released the engine hoist the engine would reseat itself with the bolts at the bottom of the slots. Have considered putting a small shim between the motor mount and the JTR plate?

Any other suggestions?

June 14, 2004

I got my 355 Chevy into my 77 280Z 2+2 this weekend

After several different iterations I have the engine with in an 1/8" of level side to side and just can't seem to get it any closer. I layed a carpenters level across the fenders and made sure it was level and then measured down to the top of the valve covers and there is an 1/8" difference between the two. When I lay a level across the top of the carb the level bubble while not centered is between the lines so very close.

Do I need to sweat this 1/8"? Seems like on uneven roads etc the engine will lean a whole lot more than it is now. JTR didn't cover this.

Also, being new at this wow what a lot of work!!! Especially hammering the floor of the 2+2 to get the tranny mount flush; on my 2+2 2 bolts hit a high formed ridge and the other 2 a low spot with my T5. I guess it just takes patience and a big hammer.

Any input on the level thing would be greatly appreciated!

June 10, 2004

Couple of questions regarding my WC T5 install.

1. I do not have a manual for the 3rd gen Camaro, only for the Suburban that I got my engine out of. Of course it doesn't say anything about the pilot bushing for the manual trans other than put a new one in with a clutch change. I am assuming that these bushings are not greased. Is this correct?

2. Also, the suburban's bell housing had the bolt torque listed for the bolts from the tranny to the bell housing as 75 ft-lbs. These seems like it would be very high for the aluminum Camaro bell housing. Does anyone have a 3rd Gen manual that lists the correct bolt torques for attaching the T5 to the bellhousing and the bell housing to the engine?

Thanks!

June 8, 2004

I am ready to go with my SBC and 89 WC T5 into amy 77 Datsun 280Z 2+2. It appears that there is no good way to fill the T5 once it is in the car with the Dextron 2 or equivelant. If I fill it before hand it will leak out when I install it .

If I take my yoke off my driveshaft to install the filled tranny then I would think that it would still leak while I am getting my driveshaft sized since I will have to have the yoke for the driveshaft shop. I checked with my local auto salvages and no one has a drive shaft that I could cut up in order to have a spare yoke.

How did the rest of you manual shifters fill your T5's? Does anyone make some form of disposable plug for the tailshaft of the tranny's? How about duct tape?

Thanks for the input!

June 3, 2004

Took my 88 355 sbc to the dyno yesterday and hit 305 hp and 356 ft-lbs torque.

Engine is runnig 9.3:1 compression with flat tops and the 65 cc heads that came with the TBI engine that I rebuilt. I am using the Comp cams 270H grind with the performance products Cyclone intake (edelbrock performer RPM air gap clone). Heads had a 3 angle valve job but no porting or such. Dyno guy didn't think that we would hit 300 because of the heads but I guess it is fairly easy to get a smallblock to the 300 hp range. Good set of heads and 1.6 ratio roller rockers are coming next year so should get close to 350 hp.

Interesting side note is that I am running an Edelbrock Performer carb 650 cfm and the dyno guy swore up and down that a Holley would really add to the engine so he stuck on a holley 650cfm double pumper. He gained 6 hp and lost a little torque so I guess a properly tuned carb is what is important not the brand!

Well I hopefully will get it in this weekend . Wish me luck!

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May 28, 2004

I have read alot of information on pinion angles and JTR covers it in there book when looking up and down.

What is the best way when using the JTR kit, chevy 350 w/ T5 and a 77 280 Z 2+2 to align the tailshaft of the tranny to the drive shaft in the left and right direction? I assume that this is as critical as the pinion angle which all the reading indicates it up in down or parallel to the ground. I will be installing my engine next week end and am wondering about the left and right for when I start drilling the holes for the JTR tranny mount.

Do you use some form of small square and string to align the centerline of the tranny shaft and differential. As you can see I am confused about this .

How did the rest of you get the alignment right?

Thanks!!

May 27, 2004

Thanks for the comments! Which side of the frame are you putting the rubber bushing on? Do I want it toward the control arm or into the engine compartment?

Thanks Again!

May 27, 2004

Ok I have done the search and have read the write ups on using urethane bushings on the T/C rods. Seems like alot of people here and at zcar.com are not using the urethane for these or are using some combination of urethane and rubber or drilling out the urethane.

I bought a complete urethane kit from Prothane and am up to the point of installing these bushings but am really wondering if it is safe. I called Prothane 1-888-PROTHANE and talked to there tech department and indicated what I have been reading about T/C rod failures with Urethane bushings and he indicated that I was the first one they had ever heard of this from and that there company has never had a complaint or failure that they were aware of.

Are these failures happening to everyone on all brands or have the failures been only limited to certain brands of bushings? I believe I read one thread that indicated if you kept the bushings lubricated then it isn't an issue.

Any insight to whether I should buy new rubber bushings or can do the urethanes safely would be greatly appreciated.

May 25, 2004

In the JTR manual it says to use a dampner that is 7.25" or less in diameter so I installed a 6.75" dampner; so far so good.

I was getting ready to install my original pulley which is the one used in a 88 suburban and it is a bigger diameter than the dampner maybe 8" or so. JTR doesn't cover the pulley sizes so I am wondering if any of you guys had to get different pulley for your dampner or does it stick out passsed the steering far enough with the JTR kit so it is ok to use?

Thanks for the help!

May 19, 2004

The while I am at it got the best of me and I took the complete front suspension out of my 77 280Z and am in the process of rebuilding it - new tierods, ball joints, struts and of course urethan bushings.

Question - the manual says to tighten everything with the car on the suspension. However, my motor is out - can I tighten everything with the engine bay empty, should I have a couple of guys stand on the crossmember to simulate the engine weight or should I snug up and wait until I get the engine in for final torqueing?

Anyone ran into a similar issue? How did you all handle it?

thanks!

May 18, 2004

I bought a WC T5 and complete 3rd gen camaro coversion package from a salvage yard in New York which included flywheel, bellhousing, slave cylincer etc etc. The tranny has a 90 day gurantee from when I received it which is coming up really quick.

Unfortunately I have fell into the while I am at it syndrome and will not get the car running by the time my warranty is up. The salvage yard will not extend it either.

When I spin the input shaft the tranny seems to shift in and out of all forward gears and reverse and doesn't make a lot of noise while spinning it by hand so I am hoping that means that it is ok. My local tranny shop wants $300 to look at it meaning they want to take it apart which means I might as well spend more money which I don't have to rebuild it.

Anybody familiar with the T5 that may know a quick and easy way to see if it is ok prior to the warranty expiring? Supposed to have around 80K on the 1989 camaro that it came out of.

Thanks!

May 11, 2004

Completed the rebuild on my 88 Chevy 350 and was getting ready to install the new HEI distributor then confusion.

I have 3 manuals that cover this engine and each one does the distributor a different way

The way I see it is that if the engine is on TDC on the compression stroke, then you could theoretically call any wire terminal on the distributor number one as long as you wire the remaining firing order correctly from the assumed number 1.

My engine had the newer style distributor so I purchased an HEI from Summit. I assumed that the first wire terminal clock wise from the electrical connector bump out was number 1. I installed the distributor such that the bump out is basically at 3 o'clock if 12 is at the middle of the back of the engine. This puts the vacuum advance at around 7:30 and allows plenty of room to adjust the timing before the advance hits the intake.

Can someone confirm that I assumed correctly or have the actual way to do this?

Thanks in advance.

May 3, 2004

I am finishing up my rebuild of my 88 Chevy 350 and am using the stock 65 cc heads with flat tops (CR at 9.3). My cam choice was a Comp cams 270 with .470" lift on intake and exhaust.

A buddy of mine has a new set of Comp Cams Magnum roller rockers that he will give me. Only issue is that they are a 1.6 ratio versus the stock 1.5 ratio. The way I figure I will end up with around .501" lift. I bought Comps "K" kit so have their springs and lifters for the 270 cam. I am using my stock pushrods and am wondering if increasing the lift with these roller rockers will cause problems.

Does this affect idle quality? Do I need to use guide plates now. Will the holes in the heads where the pushrods go need to be machined? Will this much lift be to much for push in studs?

Any insight on whether or not to use these would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks to all!

April 26, 2004

I received my Holley red pump and adjustable fuel regulator from Summit and am getting ready to install. I have a 77 280 Z 2+2 with a slightly warmed Chevy 350 ready to install and am running an Edelbrock 1406 Carb.

The way I understood the tech at Summit was that the red pump does not need a fuel return line to the tank. So I install the pump with a fuel filter between it and the tank and then attach to the Z fuel hard line. Then from the hard line in the engine compartment install another fuel filter and then the regulator as close to the carb as possible. The fuel return line and the vent line in the engine compartment can be capped off (no emission check so no charcoal canister). The tank will still be adequately vented from the vents on the tank in the rear (stock tank).

Can some one confirm that I am understanding this correctly or if I am digging myself into a mager messup.

Thanks ahead of time! (I did search this particular forum and actually skimmed thru all 40 pages but didn't seem to find exactly what I needed and the JTR manual doesn't cover it completely. )

April 19, 2004

Thanks for the input!

Yeah, I never thought that the arm would bend first either

April 19, 2004

I was able to use my press to get the spindle pins out of the rear control arms.

I tried to do this to the old bushings also and the only thing that would give was the control arm itself

Luckily, I have a spare but only one - so what is the trick to get the actual bushings out for replacement with the prothane polyurethane bushings?

I vaguely remember some one burning the bushings out of a moustache bar - is this the best way or should I be cutting them in pieces? Please help before I have to look for yet another control arm

Thanks for the help and this is a 77 280Z.

April 14, 2004

Got the intake and pan off and the engine was pretty filthy so decided on the rebuild.

Looks like I am going to have to bore, hone and turn the crank so much for the budget. I have decided to forgo the added expense of balancing and torque plates as I am not planning on doing any racing and just can't afford it right now. Several local rondy round guys that I know indicate that they don't balance there engines and run 5 to 6k without a problem so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

For now will just have my 193 heads redone and use domed pistons to bump my compression to 9.3 to 1 so that I can run a better cam. Intakes are very limited for the 87 newer heads; anyone had good luck with the Holley Street Dominator? This seems to have the best flow of what is out there. I was thinking either a Comp 268H cam or a Lunati cam recommended for the Holley intake.

Thanks for all of your comments and any new ones are always appreciated!

April 9, 2004

I bought a 1988 Suburban with a 5.7L TBI engine. The engine runs good, doesn't smoke, uses little oil and has 145K on it. When I was pulling the engine to put in my Z I could turn the motor over with little effort by grabbing the flywheel when I was undoing the torque converter bolts (this was with the plugs in). I am not familiar with the newer engines but I know on the older engines in good shape it took a lot of effort to turn the engine over by hand with the plugs in.

Should I chance it and stick the engine in or should I tear it down and do the rebuild. My budget is tight but I don't want to have to take the engine back out again in 6 months either. I didn't do a compression test so have no results for that. Also, since I am doing a carb conversion I need to get an intake for the newer style heads and am finding that choices are limited.

Another option I was considering was just replacing the heads with some rebuilt corvette heads from the 70's that a buddy of mine has. I have heard some say though that doing this can cause the lower end to go out do to the increase in compression with the tightened up heads.

What would most of you do in this situation? Put it in, rebuild without machine work (which is expensive hear in the Twin Cities) or go for it and do the rebuild to prevent taking it out again later?

Thanks for your opinions.

March 31, 2004

I have a T5 out of an 89 V8 Camaro which has the electronic speedometer drive in the tailshaft.

I want to use the JTR speedo cable so I can keep my stock speedometer. Does anyone know if the T5 has a reluctor on the tranny shaft to signal the speedo pulse generator or if it uses a drive gear to drive it? Also, if it has the reluctor is the hole required for the clip for the drive gear still drilled in the shaft or did GM eliminate this? I am trying to decide how much of a hassle it will be to convert to the manual cable or if it would require taking it to a tranny shop to convert.

Might be cheaper in the long run to buy an electronic speedometer if it is not a simple take out pulse generator and install driven gear and housing for cable.

Please help!

Thanks!!

March 19, 2004

Well I bought an 88 Suburban with a 5.7L TBI motor that runs excellent. Has around 145k on it but figured it would be a good motor for this summer to work the rest of the bugs out of the swap.

Eventually plan on rebuiilding to around 300 to 325 HP. Should I keep the stock 2 barrel TBI or switch the intake now and get the carb that I will be using next summer after the rebuild? Will TBI support 325 HP?

Also, the 87 and newer heads take a different intake. Should I invest in an aftermarket intake or can you not have these particular heads reworked enough to get good flow. Budget will only allow the carb and intake for now; not new heads.

Please provide some insight. I am yanking the motor out of the burb tomorrow.

March 12, 2004

Well, got the 2.8L out and am beginning the JTR book prep for the V8. Was wondering how many of you do the bumpsteer mod where you re- drill the crossmember to relocate the control arm?

I am not a very good welder and am afraid that I will ruIn my crossmember trying to close up the old hole and welding on the backing plate. Also, trying to align the holes perfectly with the equipment I have available is also scary.

The car will have a stock suspension except I am upgrading to the energy suspension urethane bushings. Car will not be lowered and will not be road raced other than an occasional red light drag race.

I like the way the car handled with the 6 and if the 8 does not make the bumpsteer worse than I can forgo this part of the conversion? Experts please put in your 2 cents.

I did the search on bump steer but they all seemed to cover the spacers for when the cars are lowered.

Thanks!

March 10, 2004

Thanks for the info!!!!

March 9, 2004

I recently replaced the oil sending unit in my 78 with a brand new one and it works fine. This car is trash (frame broke in half ), so now want to use this oil sending unit on a 77. Both have the 2.8L

Problem: The 78 has 2 wires going to the unit and the 77 only has 1 wire. I looked at the Z manual but haven't been able to figure out where the extra wire should go. I am not an electrical wizard but feel that one of them is a ground.

Any help on using this sender on the year older car would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

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