Mikelly

All came in and it looks good! Those who didnt jump on this seriously missed out.

Hoping to get some major progress on the project between now and year's end. Picking up Will's 8.8 Rear swap parts from Fedex today and hope to have the car "nominally back on all four wheels shortly. Also hoping that I'll have the trans completely back together this weekend, and the CV axles built this weekend. Once I get the other bits I have scattered around back inhouse, I hope to have the driveline "DONE" and the car ready for some tuning in January.

Picking mine up today from FEDEX!!!

Minor update... The transmission is going back together slowly. Playing around with all the components and triple checking everything. I'm wrestling with the shift rails and their sequences before I seal up the front of the case and start installing everything for good. I'll also need to confirm the input shaft thrust. Pretty sure it'll be same same since nothing was changed with its bearing/race. It's been a good refresher on how syncros function, and what really happens internally when you Push the clutch in and row the lever for another gear. The 8.8 Pinion is another issue all together. I'm having a binding issue between the ring and pinion when everything is assembled. Not had the success setting it up that I'd hoped, but live and learn. Reality is that the bearings I replaced were fine and I could well have just slid in the damned LSD and called it good. Ugh... It'll get done... Mike

You got $$$!!

Your assumption that the "community" is HybridZ alone, and it isn't. I get between 10-50 questions/discussions going elsewhere and here offline concerning any number of related topics. And people like rsicard like to ask questions for the sake of pointing out some one's project flaws. Not going to entertain future discussions with people on this project. This build is my diary for the car. Anyone is free to ask my dicision offline about a direction or part. Beyond that, there are a handful of people here who have built and tracked/raced their V8Zcar projects. Those folks have my attention and I truly value their input. Everyone else is arguing from baseless positions with the expressed purpose of chest thumping. I do it from my own standpoint because this is my thread in my project page. I don't go to other people's pages pointing out all their errors or expressing my opinions about their inferior designs or directions. 60 pages here prove my point of some of the "input" and "help". As to the other parts of my rant above, well that is from elsewhere as well... As I said above, we have fewer examples of available cars, and even fewer examples of part makers. Attacking them, which happened elsewhere, isn't going to be beneficial to us as a community. We don't have the luxury of having Zcar parts laying on shelves ready to ship out to our doorsteps at our buying whims. This is not a Mustang. This is not a Corvette, or Porsche. It is not the most desired sports car ever made. It is a small niche community. We all of us need to remember that when we get frustrated over things not going our way when a vendor has to make parts from scratch. Again, you don't have to follow, and it isn't "all about hybridZ". it's all about the "Zcar Community" as a whole. Mike.

Little bit disgusted with our little Zcar community right now... between the sniping from some who continually want to be the smartest kids in the room, and some who have recently gone out of their way to attack vendors, I can honestly say that this is a sad lot. I have owned a lot of makes and models in my 48 years, and none of the other marques I deal with have this issue. This is a FORTY YEAR OLD CAR. NO VENDOR is going to have your parts sitting on a shelf waiting for your once per lifetime order. There are a total of 18 of us who order parts annually and that doesnt pay the rent. Get over your collective selves... Back to your regular self absorbed programming.

Photos of the plumbing for my inferior, soon to fail T56...

I will take a picture for you tomorrow, but I use the fill (Covers 1/2 syncro and gears, and the boss/hole near the backup light sensor on the passenger side which will hit the shifter rail, but use -6 line and fittings so you have more pressure and it will spray further. The drain plug will go to the pump feed, then run it to the fill plug (3/4 pipe to -6) and then across the top to the passenger side up by the backup sensor to that bung (threaded to 5/8th or 1/2 pipe to -6). Edit Circled in red on this stock picture is where I drilled, threaded and tapped:

Notes for myself here... Wilwood rear pads are 7112 Wilwood front pads are 9425

And I suppose the other mainshaft at questionable use and mileage wasn't? Anyone who has followed this 59 paged of build will fully get what I'm about to say... At some point IT'S ALL WEAK LINKS. The guys at thegearbox.org use this same setup in their racecars. In a 2500# car, running a pump and three ports for fluid re circulation in a roadrace application if I break this one, then I'll build another with the viper bits. But the cost would have been double and based on what I've been reading and what others have experienced I doubt it will be an issue for me.

Made the decision a month or so ago to upgrade my discbrake system on the car to something more substantial. So the Mustang Cobra/wilwood two piece kit for all four wheels will be forsale shortly. Anyone interested should contact me now. I have multiple sets of street and track pads along with the braded brake lines and speedbleeders included.

What would you buy to replace it with and what would that car do that this car doesn't do for you? Hey, I go through a lot of cars, so... I'm probably qualified to mention a few pros-cons about this scenario. Mike

Car was checked out and given the greenlight. Thanks guys!

Got the T56 completely stripped down today and parts in the parts washer. The new Mainshaft will require new bearings, but everything else is going together very well. I bought new steel blockers, carbon syncros, and other bits. The 5th and 6th cluster are now installed on the counter shaft. 3rd gear is installed now along with the new blocker. Hope to get those parts in and get it all back together asap. Getting close to having the box back together.

Ford/Aston Martin.

Anyone got suggestions on breaking the Ford CV axle apart?

You sure Greensboro NC isnt to far Russel?

All CV Axle parts are in... All T56 rebuild parts are in... Time to start getting dirty. What I'd like to see happen is the differential completely done and back together along with the axles together. I've like to be able to install the rear diff and get the car back on the ground ASAP. Will should have the parts in the mail on Tuesday, and if all goes well I will have the diff in by the Sunday after Thanks giving. If all goes REALLY well I'll have the Aston Martin/Cobra bits installed in the trans and have it back together as well. As of now I'll break even on the transmission swap and the rear diff will have cost me $1000 out of pocket.

Hopefully this will be the last major overhaul for a while... time will tell. Mike

I have a friend looking for someone to inspect a Zcar chassis in the Greensboro area. Contact me offline if you have some experience checking these chassis out. Mike

I'll chime in here since I just unloaded a 2012 Mustang GT last December. That front grill assembly is very restricting on air inlet and is actually an identified source of overheating on the Mustangs when used in severe (read track) conditions. They actually offer a front grill/driving light delete because of this issue. On the Zcar, who knows, apples to orangutans, and all that. However, in the mustang market those front grills are commonly taken OFF due to this issue. So you might be able to pick them up at a discount. Mike

You got cash

Will let me know when you need the rest. I wont be shipping those hats out. I can have them cut down locally. Mike

...In other news, I just ordered new main shaft, cluster, gears, rebuild kit, blockers, shift forks, and other bits to completely overhaul the T56. Gonna be a beast of a transmission.