Gollum

Well everyone. The worst of the worst possible happened. I was working on the starter today and pulled the dipstick out since it was in my way and I kept bumping it.... water in the oil... dammit. I'd checked it not even a week ago and I havn't driven it in the last 3 days. It hasn't gotten really hot lately, and the last time it overheated really high the oil was fine. This all ticked me off more than I can express. I've had nothing but issues with this motor. More than I've posted on this board becuase alot of it I never needed help with. I can't seem to find anything that I could have done to cause this thing to overheat, other than the fan. But there seemed plenty of reasons why it wasn't the fan. This is kinda the last straw for me. I can take it apart and have the head checked, block checked. Then to have that fixed I might as well just get a L28et w/tranny from picknpull for $400 or so. (wich would be more worth my time). BUT, do I really want to do that? No. I don't really want to do that motor swap, and I don't want to invest any money into another motor i'm going to replace in the future anyways. Plus if it's a junkyard motor it might have junkyard problems. I dont' want to end up spending $800 on a swap that will only put 170 to the wheels. (and that might be a little optimistic) There's a good deal on a mark 3 supra turbo for sale. Looks like it's had a fair amount of work done to it. And juding by the area the seller is it's probly a kid who's put some money into it that wants something faster (richer area). So I might buy that, sell the ZX (maybe guage interest in parting it out first) and then keep my eyes peeled for a clean early 240Z or 71-75 celica GT. It's been a dark day for me. Maybe the car would have been ok if the fan had been on sooner. Only God knows now.

headers and intake shouldn't really effect smog much. It's just passing visual that can be a challange. It all comes down to the smog tech. If you've got a cat, you should pass the test as long as your A/F is close. Your air to fuel is almost everything for smog. Some smog shops even have the cart that shows what gasses are created at what air/fuel ratio. You might think lean is better since there's less fuel but it just isn't true. You need to use the least amount of fuel that still achieves a complete burn. Just a tidbit of info for ya. Oh, I consider might hate CA smog laws, but I know them through and through. But I also know it's not CARS that create the majority of smog in the world, and I find it sick that such a small percentage of society can control the way OUR cars are desgined and built for sake of "clean air".

Well, jon's right. There ins't any good CARB legal header for the L series. This is becuase of the high costs to get any part legalised. It just doesn't make sence to spend all that money just to sell parts to ONE state. You BEST bet, would be to get a header back from a junkyard car and smog it with that, then if you want to use illegal exhaust in the meantime put your other setup on. Unless it's obviously loud you shouldn't get pulled over for noise pollution, and i've never met a cop that would actually get on the ground to look for a cat. Can good luck getting a CARB sticker. It would be easier to fake it to make it look OEM by getting rust paint to make it old looking.

It hit 115 in vacaville friday (a city about 1/2 way between SF and sac). My house is near the coast, like I can see water from my driveway. That same day it was 100 in the shade my house with no good breeze to speak of. That's unheard of.

Well most of the cobra kits ARE engineered for a V8, just nitpicking

I still can't get over that run man. 9.1 on a shakedown run? That's increadible. You should be able to break into the 8's once you get the car more stable. And on a stock longblock? I find this nuts personally. ...btw... what do complete FJ20 motors go for in aussie currency?... dang that was a nice run... You've got my respect for sure.

I believe there were some steering changes in the later years even in the LHD models. I know the turbo's had a different rack (or at least that's what i've read) and in 82 or 83 they made that rack standard (again, just what i've read, i'll have to find that source again) Sounds like a fair amount of work yet to be done. I wish the best of luck to you. Your paving the way for future swaps, so just keep it all documented for all of us to drool over Oh, and thanks for the sig comment

Don't get me wrong maxtor, I respect your choice of the FE and understand your point of view. I was just saying that FFR kits are adaptable for the FE motors without sourcing custom parts. They'll give you everything you need (and can point you in the right direction if there IS something you'll have to outsource). And twoeightythreez, thanks for the correction, maybe if my motor wasn't so dirty I'd know it had an aluminium head Honestly I wasn't 100% sure about the head and was hoping someone would correct me. Wich is why I stated the block and head seperately. It's all good

Haha, irony. Two people in the east bay with the same problem When I started having problems the weather wasn't bad at all, but with this insane heat wave I wouldn't want to chance it at all. I'm putting the new starter on tomarrow (picked one up at pnp that looks like it's in great shape). So I'll know pretty soon if the fan was my issue. If there's still some overheating I might full drain the system, then refill, then try to get all the air out of the system and see if maybe if that fixes anything.

Well, there's guys with factory five kits with supercharged 4v modular motors that are ginormous so i'm sure you could ask them how thier car handles. FFR kits will also accept nearly all ford motors and FFR will work with you to make sure you have all the hardward required for THAT motor you plan on using. I know FFR doesn't have the most "accurate" kit out there but it's the best quality/$$$ ratio that I've found. The superperformance stuff is nice, but like you said, it's seen in the cost of the kit. I hope it all goes well for you. Just make sure to find a GOOD DMV to get your SB100 at. Some DMV's don't have much experience with them so while you're sitting there on January 1st waiting for them to figure out what they're doing the rest of the SB100's could slip right out from under you.

Good point insane. If he legalised it and pulled the emission controls off there's a better chance the cop wouldn't notice (since there would be a plate saying "ford 5.0") and if he did notice it would be easier to swap out the emission stuff than the whole motor. I still think that if he did legalise it, it would be easiest to legalise it as a 72' 302. But again, it all comes down to a russian routlette. How long will it take to get pulled over by a cop that actually cares? And it it worth it to legalise the swap?

actually yes v8260. And now in CA if you refuse to pop your hood or claim that the latch it "inoperable" they have the right to tow your vehicle for inspection. And just jim, not going to argue beucase you clearly stated that it's not your knowledge of laws you want to debate, but what you think is the right thing to do in the situation. And I used to hang out at the local ref and yes I DID see pre smog cars that where there becuase they were cited. Just a little food for thought.

Ahem, yes I know I am corect. I know people that inforce these laws. And yes you can be cited for it, if the cop even knows the laws or even cares. Sorry I didn't understand your homur, I guess some smiles would help Look i'm not trying to be a jerk or anything, i'm just trying to educate people, becuase honestly the laws have become so convoluted that the people who are supposed to enforce the laws can't be educated well enough to do the job they're required to do. The better the people are educated about the laws of thier state the better they can deffend themselves 'IF' challenged by law enforcement. EDIT: Just for the sake of showing there is legal presidence for what I'm saying http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/StdPage.asp?Body=/Geninfo/Publications/Engine_Change_Guidelines-Jan_1994.htm This link gives a BRIEF overview of engine overhaul/swap laws. It doesn't even go into the little details such as using the donor gas tank if it was fitted with any emission reducing device (a common issue for swap legalisers). Also not the article makes NO description of years it applies to, just smog inspection OR registration. So basically it applies to all cars with any sort of emission device, pre 76' or not. Technically PCV is an emissions device so even the Z cars fall into that catagory. As I state, if a cop knows his laws and wants to be a complete jerk he can write you up for violations if he sees anything wrong. http://www.roaminangelsinc.com/htmls/law2.html Here's a clip taken from that article: More generally, if a configuration precedes 1966, no exhaust emissions controls would be required. If the configuration precedes 1961, no PCV system would be required. If a range of model years applies to any particular engine configuration, vehicle owners will have the option to select the model year of emissions controls to be used. Again, i'm not trying to be some jerk or anything. I just think this should be an important factor. Sure he could probly get away with it. I even know smog refs that would TELL you to try to get away with it beucase they find alot of this california swap stuff to just be a bunch of BS. BUT I personally love it when a cop pulls you over, ask to see the engine, and you get to point out all the legal things in your engine bay. Maybe this isn't a problem where you live in CA, but around here if it's honda and it's noticable modified in any way I'll guarentee it's getting pulled over at least once a month for no real reason. This applies to all the modern imports and it's becoming more common with older cars as well. As far as I'm concered, if the cops wanna give you BS and try to nail you on stupid tickets you may as well do your best to give youself some leverage to make HIM look like the idiot, not you.

I know this thred has gotten a little old, but I'd like to make a little point. Wouldn't the tranny change make just as much, if not more of the difference as the motor change? And sure the 427 would be heavier, but it's also a shorter motor to begin with. So #1 You'd be adding a good percentage of weight pretty close to the middle of the car with the tranny, and #2 The motor would guarenteed sit farther back. The L is cast iron block, cast iron head, and it's inline. If we're looking at a high HP turbo L series now you have to add the weight of the turbo, intercooler, and piping. The 427 shouldn't be THAT much heavier than a turbo L series and the weight will be much farther back. All i'm getting at is that I don't think a 427FE would kill the weight distro of a S30. And personally I like the idea of a 427W better than a 427FE, but that's just me. Not that I think it's better all together or anything, but I think it has many advantaged for what 'I' want a car for. If it's a drag purpose car I guess the FE would be the logical choice though. Just out of curiousity, what kit are you planning on going with for the cobra maxtor?

Ok, finally took the pics I promised. Sorry it took so long. So here's the rack in my ZX, and it's the ONLY type of rack i've seen in a ZX so they're fairly common around here apparently.

$200?! It's $330 here...

Ahem... Just becuase there's no smog doesn't mean they can't send you to the smog ref. Example: It's ILLEGAL to put a 427 in a 67' mustang that origonally came with a 302. Yes they were optional, but it's still illegal in CA. Do people get away with it? Yes. But here's our issue. If our friend here Chris gets pulled over and the cop sees a ford V8 in the engine bay he has every legal right to send him to the smog ref. The smog ref handles all illegal engine modification verification for the state. So the ref is gonna say "umm, you don't have an engine bar for a motor swap" and will either force you to legalise the swap or put the old motor back in. In the meantime you won't be legally allowed to drive your car. Sure he can just swap the motor back, but who wants to swap motors all the time just becuase cops are a PITA. It's less hassle in the long run for him to get it legalised and when he gets pulled over say "yes officer, that's all 100% legal and verified by the smog ref". Just my .02 cents (I'll guarentee all this info is correct as a friend of mine is a local ref that deals with the majority of swaps since other refs send cars to him nearly EVERY DAY. Also, I don't think it's that he CAN'T assemble the holley, it's weather he WANTS to assemble the holley. Wich is more worth the time and effort? EFI = stable, reliable, highly tunable. CARB = Less things to go wrong, easier to tune, less weight, ect. I personally can't answer that question becuase I don't have experience with both. As much as I'd recomend going carb'ed I don't have any real experience with it, so I can't attest to it's reliabilty and such.

Once again I find other ZX with a steering setup different than mine... I'll take some pics and post them to show what I'm talking about. With my rack's setup I should have more cross member clearence, but less width clearenece. EDIT: Pics Posted. This is my first time attaching, so if it doesn't work they're in my member gallery. Notice that it sits just inside of the frame rail, but notice that on the underside there's lots of height clearence and it sits a few inches closer to the crossmember than the other power steering rack setups.

Hey I know that cobra! (yes I hang out on the FFR boards every now and then) I've been following ALL the 4v 4.6 swaps in facort five cars. Pretty wicked. So supercobra (if your listening, i see that this was your first post) did you ever figure out the hood clearence issue? I guess I might have to go to the other boards to find out.

Don't forget, IF you run into issues with a cop pulling you over and saying "what? a ford v8 in a Z, that's illigal!" you're gonna be able to legalise a 302 carb'ed as long as you do it right. If you legalise an EFI 302 you're stuck and they might not ever let you go back to a carb motor. This is something we didn't go into when we were talking about smog laws. If a car is EFI with EVAP, EGR, CATs, ect. Then you can't change over to an EFI without all that let alone a CARB setup. Now, there aren't even many refs i've talk to that know a ton about pre carb cars going efi and knowing what the laws are about going back and such. It's all very complex, but there's the chance that if you go EFI, legalise it, that they might not let you go back to a carb setup becuase that would be agaist the laws for the car of wich the donor engine came from. Here's where it gets fuzzy, once you've done a motor swap, the laws aren't clear if the car is to be treated as the origonal car, or as the donor car the engine came from. Now, your car is origonally a carb'ed car, so any motor swap you do just has to meet the requirement of 'must be from a newer car'. If you wanted to legalise the swap you tell them the motor is from a 72 mustang. As long as the parts look OEM they wont' give you a hassle. They'll run it on the smog dyno to baseline the vehicle (wich goes into state records) and then if everything check out alright they'll make you up a nice little sticker that goes into your engine bay with some bar codes on it with the VIN and a section stating "72 Mustang 302". If you go this route (wich you might have to if you ever get pulled over by a nasty cop) then once it's all finished and legalised you're 100% carefree from that point on. Then you could nearly any part you want as long as it's not obviously racing parts (like a 8 inch tall lower intake, dual 4 barrel carb setup, ect)

This segways perfectly into my new signature, wich I think is the definition of hybridz. You see sack face, this site was founded by people who were sick and tired of purists giving them a bad time about thier V8's in thier Z cars. So they, in thier very anti-purist mindset, started a site that's become home to ALL inovative Z hybrids. So to say "it's nice to keep it nissan" stems from a purist mindset that conforms to an idealology. Personally I don't care if someone uses a VW bug motor IF it fits thier needs.

New 14 inch S blade fan arrived today and now it's in the car. The bad news (wich seems to always exist with me) My starter has started grinding and has me worried, so I'm not even attempting to start it. I plan on buying one tomarrow or friday and installing it same day. Once that's installed we'll find out if the fan is the issue. It's all nail biting I know.