Mikelly

MAS, those heads are woefully restrictive on that 402 stroker... You certainly need to upgrade to something much more "appropriate", so just go ahead and pull those off and box them up for me, MMKAY?? Hey, can't blame me for trying now, can ya? I'm researched out on heads... Not sure which ones I'll go with... I'm having lots of fun with my 386WHP, but knowing that there is about 30-40 more on tap is killin' me. I'll either go with a set of LS6 take offs that Jeff Creech rubs out for me, a set of the Dart units, or a set off a known combo. My LS1s are so hogged out that the port velocity is pretty much shot. Dave ported the crap out of them... AT MY SUGGESTION TOO! I know better... NOW! Mike

I think what you heard was them stating that the car was "capable of speeds in excess of 200mph..." I had it saved on my desktop until last night and then deleted it... Shoulda hung onto it... Mike

What amazes me with reports like this is when you read that the suspect fled the accident scene... HOW MANY ENZOs are in the general area? If I can afford a $600+K vehicle, my guess is lawyers fees and time in front of a judge wouldn't be that big a deal, even if you're a habitual offender... What a complete tool! Another case of idiots with more money than sense, giving the rest of us bad reps. Mike

I'm pretty sure when you answered the phone my comment was I hate you or I hate when you're right! Damn Damn Damn! Now if I can just get the TIME to get back into the garage... Mike

Pete, Unfortunately I'm stuck with this brand new Mcleod bellhousing, or I'd be all over that specific setup. Ground clearance alone would be sweet. Unfortunately, I have a header issue anyway, so I'm not even thinking about cutting the existing bellhousing as of yet... Until you get off your arse and whip up those custom headers for me anyway! Also, I'm pretty sure that the parts you listed can be found cheaper... Check with Port City, Coleman and SCP. Mike

This particular motor is in a 99 Chevy Corvette. LG Motorsports makes an excellent fitting 1 3/4" long tube headers! Won't work on a Datsun, but work great in a C5! 280Z28, Yea, I've done a bunch of research over the alst year. The heads I bought and used we're purchased from a vendor on ebay one month after I bought the Vette back in December 2003. The motor took over 16 months to build over time. Just a combination of me buying and shipping the parts to Dave in Arkansas, and Dave getting time to build the motor. I was in no hurry until this past June when the LS1 in the car blew up. In hind site, I'd not even built what I built. I'd go 402 stroker. But that wasn't an issue back in 2003 when we started. Mike

That would be a MUCH better way to go. Scavange all the parts you need and then sell the rest. You might break even in the long run! Mike

Yup. Mine are even hogged out a bit. I do have new numbers, as the last time we went to the Dyno things had changed a little with my exhaust. After a retune, I picked up 11 more HP and 10#ft. torque.. I'm now at 386/382. As soon as cash flow improves (Next week we're thinking) It'll get a set of Dart aluminum heads and a fast intake. I expect it'll be well over 430WHP with that setup! Mike

Actually the used market on good condition running 355F1s is only in the $60s-80sK range. That car, missing what it's missing, and dealing with the matting up of anything to the running gear shouldn't be worth $27,000. Maybe $15,000 but certainly not near half the price of a used 95-98 model in good running condition! I've got video of me running one of those down at VIR on Doug Carrow's website. The sound of that V8 is amazing, and sure gets the blood flowing. Mike

Then if you truly feel it is a no-win situation and you don't have a legal stance, I'd recommend she turn in her two weeks notice and quit. I'd also recommend not using them for reference (Unless you use company "B" instead of company "A"). This will at least guard her from being further impacted on getting another job. Also, you'd be surprised at how few employers check on references. Don't sweat it. She could certainly get a job through TSA (http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=2). The airports have a lot of openings these days for security folks! Mike

Yea, we were talking variences of less than 1/4 inch (And I want to say it was 1/8th inch but this has been 4 years back!). If it got much larger than that, then I'd be suspect of the alignment or stability. But when you're talking a few mm's then I certainly wouldn't sweat it. Mike

Yup, And Wilwood actually made and sold a kit of "spacers" for a long time, until it was found that the racer types were just going to the hardware store with a caliper and finding the right thickness washers... I sold a brake setup with the Wilwood spacer kit (Used) in a package deal on a brake caliper/ hub/ rotor setup to Morgan Fructchnowhatever his last name is and he swore up and down I'd screwed him over. For an engineer, he sure was slow to understand that SPACERS center the caliper over the rotor when there is a minimal clearance issue as opposed to just machining a complete "bracket" for the caliper. Those kooky ungineers... All book smart and such! Mike

Yup, we almost bought one when we ended up with that dreaded 95S10 Blazer. We test drove a few different 97-98 models and they were nice. Only thing I didn't like was it was front drive, and the only other thing that concerned me was the same thing that concerns me with ALL gm cars (Including my Vette)... Electronic gremlins plague them. But they are simple enough to work on and the superchargers are pretty solid from what I've read. Have fun with it! Mike

This is typical corporate wranglings. They aren't going to fire her. If she gives a two weeks notice, all they have to do is sit back and let the "whistle blower" run out her two weeks and quit and they are done with her. She's complained about the work environment and mentioned the magical "discrimenation" word that has them concerned. So the Supervisors brand her as a "problem" employee. It's that simple. She'll be hard pressed to have any recourse at this time. HOWEVER, if you guys are smart, she'd do well to stay, let them start up again, catch it on tape (*If legal in your state), corroborate it with co-workers/ witnesses, and SUE the living hell out of company A for allowing it to happen. I'm no fan of frivelous lawsuits. That said, When you take practice in a busines of type "A" where one assumes responsibility for employee well being in the workplace, then that responsibility is a partnership to be upheld across the board. Company "A" is willfully failing by not allowing for a workplace free of discrimination. The key here is to make sure to capture everything in a manor that you can prove it. Some of you will remember my supervisory issue back in early 2002 where I had employees make a claim against me and kick off an internal investigation. How did I defend against that? Documentation. In order to protect yourself as an individual involved in employement, doesn't matter if you're a supervisor or subordinate, it is to your best interest to document everything, even conversations, when you think someone is skirting on the edges of legality... When I had phone conversations, I'd immediately sit down and type an email to that individual, capturing the context of the conversation and the agreed upon tasking, or problems still outstanding, and I'd CC my supervisor and anyone else I thought should be in the "know". Same thing with any face to face conversations. I had over 600megs of WORD documents to cover my arse when I went before the executive review board. What saved my career? Documentation. If your wife wants to clear her name, and help the company get rid of problem supervisors/ issues, she needs to document it. Or she can just leave and go elsewhere, and let some other unsuspecting person become victomized by the same people in the same roles. I'd talk to an attorney and the state employment commission before doing anything else. The fact that rumor by her peers of her impending termination is enough to kick off an investigation. The workplace has obviously become hostile, and THAT breaks the law in most states. Typically you can give the lawyer a small retainer to secure their services... Of course from there, when you use them, it'll cost you, but might be money well spent. See if you can get someone to give you a free consultation first. That'll tell you if you have a chance... But go to the Employment commission as well, as they may be able to recommend legal representation at favorable rates and experience. Mike

Rick, This town has exploded since I moved here some 18 years ago. I was 22 when I moved out of my parents home in Orange County, Va. and eventually into an appartment in Fredericksburg. This town has just exploded. I live over off Leavell's Road, out towards Courtland High School. I've got a modest home in an average subdivision, but our town's population has grown to staggering numbers. We're well above a Million residents in the surrounding counties that use/shop/live in and around Fredericksburg. Most drive North into Northern Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland to work. You can see some pics of our place and "stuff" in general here: http://photos.yahoo.com/dat74z Lots of folders and pics of "stuff"! My guess is if you came to Fredericksburg now, you wouldn't notice it at all! Mike

To late... And Uh Tony, after re-reading that thread you linked above, I'd tread lightly... REAL Lightly... Man, I posted a long response to this yesterday and it is gone... That sux... Damned server died... Oh well... Lvcien, Here's an honest answer to your dilema... DON'T spend A DIME. You aren't ready my friend. You personally don't have the skills right now to take a questionable pile of parts and make a decent engine out of them. Furthermore, you lack the ability to identify good SBC parts for a combo, over bad SBC parts. That isn't a knock on you, it's honesty. Look, you've commented that you're on a budget. The last thing you want to do is spend your money, get this shortblock and find out you're out some cash on some parts that you can't use. Search for threads by Grumpyvette and hit those links he always has, and book mark them. Read, read, read those links and the data, and then come back and ask more questions... You really need to educate yourself on the buildup much more before you dive in. I say this only because you have a tight budget, and if you blow your wad of cash, you're dead in the water... Measure twice and cut once is the old carpenter's advice to the young "helper"... Here, it's research all your options, plan the build out accordingly, spend time on paper with pen and calculator, and then do it all again. Trying to save you a LOT of grief man! Oh, and yea, all of you... :search: :lmao: Mike

So's my wife, Ben! Mike

Road and Track is the Magazine You're thinking of Baastad. It was the comparo between the Ford GT, the New Viper and the Z06. They were all underrated. They were all reading higher than should have been for 15% driveline losses... That's suspicious in my mind. One car reading higher than expected and you figure "OK that car is underrated from the factory", but ALL THREE? I'm more inclined to think it was the dyno, personally. Most guys over on CorvetteForum are seeing in the 445-450 WHP range when they dyno. The factory exhaust manifolds are massive, so headers are a real hatrick for power with these. Normally on a C5 LS1/LS6 based vette, the LG headers are good for about 25-30 HP at the wheels with a mild software tune. They suspect that the LGs on the LS7 will only net between 15-20. BUT, the car has supposedly been de-tuned a bit and has a fairly small cam. Couple guys are already working with cam makers on a custom cam, and Lou from LG is working up a complete packaged for the Z06, to include headers, CAI, CAM and couple other small things. The install and tuning will be the big $$$ hit. Probably looking at $8000 when all is said and done and out the door, but then you're probably looking at well over 550 to the wheels. Doc, I had planned on attending southeastZ, but I found out last night that I've been selected to do VIR North Course with MazdaDrivers club that weekend, so I am probably going to go play on the road course that weekend instead... They are giving me one day free, since I lost a day last year when the car blew up! Mike

Bastaad, The "out the door" price on the Yellow, with ALL options, including navigation, audio, polished rims, all memory packages, heads up display, taxes, tags, out the door, the cost is $78K+. Base price without ANY of the special color options or navigation/ audio, and with painted wheels, it's starting at $65900. Also, they are rated At the crank to 505HP. Some of them have recorded about 470 to the wheels, but most are coming in around 445-455 range to the wheels. As for being gouges, there are a number of dealerships throughout the country adding as much as $30K to that price I posted above. But I've found 6 dealerships within 200 miles that will sell at invoice! Doc, I'm likely stuck with mine for one more year. It's a good kinda stuck though, since I'm gonna bolt on a Fast intake and some Dart aluminum heads onto it and be sitting at somewhere north of 430WHP! Mike

Yea, there were people there, but hey, I was focused on the car. Last weekend local Corvette Owners were going to get together at a little Diner I have just up the street from me. Then we got dumped on with 10 inches of snow and it was cancelled. So this weekend guys were going to try to get together for lunch instead... ONE guy drove down from Northern Virginia in snow flurries, in his BRAND NEW 30 day tagged Z06. And he was the only other guy to show. He and his buddy got out of the car and I walked out side and just walked over the car for 15 minutes. Seeing this car in person is simply amazing... Not passing in traffic, but SEEING and sitting in it. He offered me a ride in it, but there was no use as the air temps were in the 30s and I'd not been able to "experience" it, So I declined until next time. Some of you guys make comments about people buying these giggabuck cars and how distasteful it is, but this guy is maybe 26 years old, and has an All wheel drive eagle talon drag car and a 240SX with an SR20DET swap in it. And he's already got parts on order to modify his new Vette. He's expecting well over 500WHP! Amazingly he and his buddy spent quite a bit of time looking over my 99 Coupe and all the work I'd done to it. These two cars were sitting side by side, backed into parking spaces at the front of the resteraunt and I must confess that I was lusting looking at the arse of that Vette... J-Lo ain't got nuttin' on that car. The rear tires and fender flares are amazing, and I swear the car looks a foot wider than my C5 and I've got 295-35-18s on the back of it... No camera, and I wished I'd brought it just so I could snap some comparison pics of it... I want one bad... And I may just have to pony up the $75K entry price next year. Mike

You may be right... However, there are some of us that have owned our little nightmares, I mean projects for going on decades. Sometimes you have to walk away from it just to clear your head, for months! I've owned no less than one Zcar and sometimes as many as 4 at a time, since 1987. Next year it'll be 20 years since my uncle (Died last year) got me into Zcars. I sometimes wish I could get rid of mine, Only because now I have the time, but not the space for something more "interesting" to me. Will I ever be without a Datsun? I don't know... Would be hard to comprehend. But knowing what I know now, I'm not sure I'd have started this journey 20 years ago with this particular platform. Maybe I would have, who knows... Mike

I went to TSC and bought grade 8 bolts for everything that was a mounting bolt for anything on the drivetrain. Great thing about TSC is the bolts, nuts, washers are all charged by the pound! Mike

One thing we all need to keep in mind is that all this data on HybridZ.org is subject to maturity and change. What might be a great solution today is outdated tomorrow! The Richmond or OTHER 4 speed options are not a bad option if you go with the aftermarket cases out there. If you choose to go this route, call Paul Cangialosi at http://www.5speeds.com and chat with him about his experiences and options with newer cases for the older Muncie internals. The older Rockcrusher style cases had serious fatigue/flex issues over time that would kill the internals and cause so much movement within the case that the case would eventually crack in a numbre of areas. Paul has solutions for this issue supposedly (If my memory is correct!) As to the Ford units out there, you can use the McLeod adapters, but once you buy all the parts to adapt the ford transmission, My guess is you've reached the $1800 cost that D&D performance charges for their TKO600, which is a MUCH stronger transmission, but at 100# weight of just the tranny without bellhousing. As the other guys have mentioned, once you crack open a stock transmission and starting beefing it up, it does add weight. I think the best approach would be to forget about weight all together and focus on STRENGTH! I know what I've said in the past, and I've got the luxury of a twin post lift and trans jack out back in the shop... I'm ok with pulling a light weight tranny out for a rebuild, but I'm not sure others with less access to tools would be as open to such duty. Mike

Man, I've missed this thread, which means one of two things... Work is going well, or I'm getting lazy... Gforce power ratings are very respectable IF you have another vendor buy them and then finish the fitment of the gearsets by hand. The vendors from the threads that Pete and TimZ have started, along with the info in the thread I posted about 5speeds.com losing their Gforce work are all worth checking out... We've got a Gforce fortified T5 in Jim McNemar's Red 240Z and it shifts lik butter. But keep in mind that Paul Cangialosi hand filed the gears and removed all burrs, casting imperfections, and other fitment issues before installing the gear sets into the trans. The weight savings of the T5 over the TKO600 I have is about 25#. The savings of those two compared to the T56 drops significantly if you use an SFI approved lakewood or McLeod bellhousing... That little upgrade costs about 30-35#. And as I've found, then you might be stuck with the more expensive hydraulic release bearings offered by Tilton or McLeod. Don't even think about the cheap HOWE option as it isn't rated for anything above factory power ratings for lower powered V8s. An LS1 would kill it for sure. The gear offerings from Tremec for the TKO and from the various vendors for the T5 are nice to choose from, but you can also do that with a T56. I've preached the word of doing away with the T56 in a number of applications, but I believe that the T56 is a GOOD partner to the LT1/LS1 family of motors for two reasons... The PCM is designed aroung the use of the T56 and compensates for the gearing choices, and so are the cam profiles. Putting the T56 into a carb based traditional SBC will be more difficult, and cause more problems with tuning and drivability, but can be accomplished with the right cam and tuner associated... What all that means??? I'd put a T56 behind an LS or LT1 motor if the car is being used for a lot of daily driver types of use with a little playing on the side... But If you'r going to do some hard rag racing or track day stuff, I'd recommend either a TKO, or a "Custom" T5 (Remember, I'm no fan of Gforce and Bubba) or getting the parts from D&D Performance and beefing up your T56 to Vette/Viper standards before you install it! As always, the standard warning is applied... These are my opinions and thoughts based solely on my experiences with all the above combos. I'm fortunate to have had my hands on all the parts you guys are mentioning. Mike

Yup, the clutch fork is hitting the firewall/ tranny tunnel on the driver's side. Bill I'll get pics out this weekend... I'll likely end up with that $350-ish hybdraulic bearing setup instead of the clutch fork/ throwout bearing... We'll see after I look at it this weekend. Mike