MikeJTR

See attached link for ZX V8 headers with rack & pinion steering: http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Parts_DATZX_Header-RackPin.html The V8 mounting instructions also show the header on the driver's side: http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Parts_DATZX_MountingInstructions.html

I also like what 80LT1 has done. 80LT1's website has good information that shows the ZX V8 swap can be done, and I believe his website has increased the popularity of the ZX swap. The ZX V8 swap is not nearly as well documented as the Z V8 swap, but the ZX has some advantages over the earlier Z cars: A larger fuel tank (21 gallons), power-steering option, rear disc brakes, a stiffer body structure, and more interior room. Also, the weight of a 280ZX is less than the weight of a similarly equipped 280Z. For example, a 2-seater 1976 280Z with a manual transmission and air conditioning has a published curb weight of 2875 (according to an old car magazine). My completely stock 1981 280ZX with manual steering, manual transmission, air conditioning, steel wheels, and a full tank of gas weighs 2825 (according to my scales). However, my 280ZX also has an R-180 rearend, and the 1976 280Z comes with an R-200. Back to the original Ford question. Randy 77zt seems to have the correct answer as to why the Ford V8 cannot easily be used in the ZX. The front mounted oil pump interferes with the front crossmember so the front of the engine cannot be mounted low enough without modifying the front crossmember.

JTR now makes V8 mounts for the ZX. They are completely different than the V8 mounts for the Z. See attached link: http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Parts_DATZX_MountingInstructions.html

JTR has brass hose splicers which allow cutting and connecting hoses for the best fit, and appearance. The webpage only shows a few sizes, but JTR does have splicers in 1-1/4", 1-5/16", 1-3/8", 1-1/2" sizes. See the following webpage: http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Parts_TPI-TBI_HoseSplice.html

Page 2-4 of the JTR books explains what needs to be done for steering shaft clearance. There is no need to do anything more than cut the corner off of the Chevrolet mount.

Jasonv8z, Just to avoid confusion, did you use Sanderson "Block hugger" headers on your ZX or did you use the Sanderson headers for the ZX? The reason I am asking is because the Sanderson headers for the ZX are not "block hugger" headers, and come away from the block.

To gain hood clearance, you can install spacers between the front crossmember and the frame rails. JTR has spacers, part # DAT-105 http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Parts_DAT200.html

The JTR radiator works well in the LS1 Z car. It's not a Griffin radiator, but it works well in the LS1 Z. The following link shows the JTR radiator in an LS1 powered Z: http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Parts_DAT-Z_LS1-AirDucting.html

Because you feel the vibrations when the car is not moving, the vibrations are probably not related to driveshaft angles. Often, vibrations are caused by using stiff transmission mounts, such as the polyurethane transmission mounts. These send normal vibrations through the unibody. It's often best to use the factory transmission mounts because most aftermarket replacement rubber mounts are stiffer than stock. Also, the exhaust system can sometimes cause vibrations. It helps to supprt the exhaust pipes near the rear of the transmission mounts. If you look at many full-size cars, a bracket runs from the back of the transmission to the exhaust system.

JTR now has shorty headers for the ZX with rack and pinion steering. See attached link: http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Parts_DATZX_Header-RackPin.html

For those who are aware of my phone problems, I went through a Formal Complaint process with the California Public Utilities Commission, beginning in July, 2001. After I filed the Complaint, the Pacific Bell/SBC Attorney ordered testing and repair work. 4 repair trucks showed up on my street. I photographed the internal documents the technicians were using. When the Pacific Bell/SBC Attorney saw these photographs at the First Prehearing Conference, he began to sweat. He resigned from the case. The photographs proved that 3 out of 4 of my phone lines were defective, and had been defective for years. The photograph that proves this is shown on this link: http://www.MikeAndMaBell.com/362.html After getting on this link, you can scroll to the "previous" and "next" photographs. To make a long story short, there is a partial phone number that can be seen midway down the document with the last five digits of "25093 RSA". I am the only person on the document with the "RSA" service. When the document I photographed is combined with other documents, it proves Pacific Bell was knowingly using at least one defective phone line to provide service to my premises since 1996, when it had offered me $2000. How did Pacific Bell/SBC respond about the phone number? Pacific Bell/SBC told the Commission the last five digits of the phone number are "85093" and that the phone number is not mine. Any reasonable person can see the last five digits are "25093." How did the Commission respond? The Commission sidestepped the issue. If it is ever proven the phone number is mine, the Attorney could be facing felony charges for defrauding the State of California. If Pacific Bell/SBC would have admitted the phone number was mine, the minimum fine would have been $800,000 which would have gone to the California State General Fund. The maximum fines could now exceed $150 million. The documents I photographed prove the Pacific Bell Regional Manager who offered me $2000 in 1996 was altering repair records and using defective phone lines to reduce maintenance costs. He is now vice president of SBC repair for Northern California. More to come...

It is used for a low coolant sensor. For your application, it will not be used as a sensor, it will be used as a plug.

I am semi-interested in producing long-tube headers for the small-block into the Z car, however, from what I have seen, the transmission tunnel in the footwell area would have to be hammered in quite a bit to work with most of the automatic transmissions, and I don't know how people would feel about beating the transmission tunnel wider. Also, running long-tube headers under the starter can cause heat related starter problems. In addition, long-tube headers radiate a lot of heat into the passenger compartment. We recently had short-tube 1-3/4" headers made for the LS1 into the Z car. It took a lot of time, cost a lot of money, and we have only sold a few sets, although, there are only a few LS1 Z cars being built. We recently had long-tube LS1 headers made for the 1993-1995 RX7, and it was quite an expensive lesson. We did this because a number of people were willing to spend $800 for big-tube LS1 headers, and we think the headers may fit other applications. We have sold over ten sets, but we still haven't recovered our costs in this project. This is a link that shows the progress of the RX7 LS1 long-tube headers, complete with dyno runs: http://www.torquecentral.com/showthread.php?t=25045 Another link, which shows the headers, and prices is shown here: http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Mazda-RX7-LS1-V8_Order.html The RX7 LS1 1-7/8" long-tube headers did help the lower rpm torque, and high-end horsepower, compared to 1-5/8" Edelbrock shorty headers, but the headers are expensive to produce, expensive to store, and have a very limited market. If people on this board come up with a custom long-tube header design, I can look at having them produced by Sanderson Headers. which is located near us. The problem is cost, which could go as high as $750/set. The reason I am posting is to find out if people on this board are willing to spend $750 for headers for a small-block into a Z car. And are people willing to beat the transmission tunnel wider? And are people willing to put up with starter problems caused by the heat? Let me know what you think.

When I was in college (1984), my senior project was a water-injection system. To make a long story short, the water injection provided minimal power gains on an engine using fuel with a lower than required octane. The car required 87 octane, and 80 octane was used on the test vehicle. The water injection eliminated the pinging when injected into the intake system. The latent heat of evaporation (going from a liquid (water) to a gas (steam)), reduced the temperature in the cylinders, and prevented detonation (pinging). After road testing the car and adjusting the system to eliminate pinging, the car was put on a chassis dyno, and lost 20% of its initial horsepower. If I remember correctly (for my particular project), the system was tweaked for maximum power, and it allowed the engine to produce about the same power on 80 octane, as it did on 87 octane (without water injection). Most cars already use a form of "liquid" injection to reduce pinging under high loads. The fuel-enrichment system at full power dumps extra fuel into the combustion chambers, lowering the temperature of the fuel-air mixture, and reducing pinging. In my opinion, fuel enrichment is simpler, and cheaper than water injection.

This is my advice. I don't think JTR is going to make any LS1 Z mounts anytime soon. The market is too small. Get the John's Car mounts. They look like a good design, and people seem to be happy with them. Get the JTR radiator, air cleaner ducting, and 1-3/4" LS1 Z headers. These work well with the John's car kit.

Here's a link which shows MAS280's LS1 powered RX7: http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Parts_Mazda-RX7-AirDucting.html Yes, this is another shameless plug for JTR.

The coil on the LT1 is the same as on TPI and TBI engines from 1987 through 1995 cars and trucks. The LT1, however, does not have the extra wire for the tachometer hook-up. To connect the tachometer to the LT1, get a connector from the coil of a 1987-1995 car or truck.

We just found a part that will work to connect the Camaro T5 slave-cylinder O-ring fitting using dash-4 fittings and hoses. The adapter is available from Summit Racing, 800-230-3030, part #MCL-139026. Cost is $42. This part will be shown in future editions of the JTR book.

The headers have no emissions fittings. They are not smog legal in California. The outlets are 3", and the headers come with 3" to 2.5" angled reducers. The headers do not come with O2 sensors fittings, but most muffler shops can install O2 fittings in the headpipes.

The LS1 1-3/4" headers for the LS1 Z V8 are now available, and work with the John's Car LS1 V8 mounting kit. Prices are : $350 for the plain headers, part # DATZ-405P $475 for the ceramic coated, part # DATZ-405C Shipping weight is 16 lbs. http://www.JTRPublishing.com The website will not be updated for a while. If you want to order by phone, call 925-462-3619, and ask for Greg. If a woman answers the phone, it means the call was forwarded to an answering service, in which case, you can leave a message, or tell the lady at the answering service that you would like to order the headers, and she can take the ordering information.

The LS1 1-3/4" headers are ready to sell. Prices are : $350 for the plain headers, part # DATZ-405P $475 for the ceramic coated, part # DATZ-405C Shipping weight is 16 lbs. http://www.JTRPublishing.com The website will not be updated for a while. If you want to order by phone, call 925-462-3619, and ask for Greg. If a woman answers the phone, it means the call was forwarded to an answering service, in which case, you can leave a message, or tell the lady at the answering service that you would like to order the headers, and she can take the ordering information.

I'm sorry, you are correct. The Camaro LT1 passenger side manifold outlet does stick out more than the exhaust manifolds used on the 1988-1992 Camaro TBI manifolds. The 1988-1992 Camaro TBI manifolds can be used on the ZX's with the steering box. The mounts we are making for the ZX V8 swap position the front of the engine about 1/2" lower than the MSA mounts, and the mounts have slotted mounting holes to allow moving the engine rearward by about 2" if you don't mind hammering the firewall and modifying the hood latch bracket for distributor clearance. The mounts also slotted to allow positioning the engine side to side. The transmission mount we are making positions the transmission about 1" higher than the MSA transmission mount, which provides better driveline angles. However, the transmission mount we are making is much more difficult to install than the MSA transmission mount. Hopefully, the photographs and some basic instructions will be on the JTRpublishing.com website within the next few weeks.

Edelbrock also makes a header for the 1993-1997 Camaro LT1 that almost fits the driver's side of the ZX with the steering box. The header looks similar to the BBK header, but the rear-most tube on the driver's side comes up higher and it contacted the powerbrake booster. I have tried a number of different headers and manifolds on the V8 ZX and came to the following conclusion: Headers can be made to work with the steering box, but they would be expensive, and as "80LT1" pointed out, the LT1 exhaust manifolds can be used on the driver's side (and passenger's side). I have been selling V8 Z parts since 1990, and the 1979-1983 ZX V8 market appears to be very limited, and most people want to keep costs down -- I doubt we will sell more than twenty V8 ZX kits a year, and I doubt we will sell more than ten sets of headers a year. One of the reasons we are getting into the ZX market is that we hope to sell more radiators and mounting brackets to people who already have V8 ZX's, but have cooling problems. Also, we already offer the same aluminum radiator kit for 6-cylinder ZX's, and it is selling well. Because I am trying to sell low-cost headers for the V8 ZX swap, I think the best solution for people who want to run a lower-cost header is to change to the rack-and-pinion steering. The rack-and-pinion steering weighs less than the recirculating ball set-up, and it has a more precise feel.

I want to thank you for your concerns. JTR does not have a patent on the motor mounts, but using the JTR name in the Ebay title is misleading. JTR has been in business since 1989 (over 15 years), and we sell various engine swapping parts for various vehicles. The volume of parts we sell is very small, but we keep our overhead low by working out of a home. JTR is a very small business with two brothers, and an answering service. Based on our experiences, there is no way the person on Ebay is selling as many kits as he claims. Welcome to the world of scams and exagerations that seem to be common to Ebay.

Any 1986-1992 Camaro 153 tooth V8 flywheel will work with the 1995 LT1 with the T5. The 1986-1989 Corvette flywheel will also work, and is the same as the 1986-1992 Camaro with the TPI engine. The TPI Camaros and the Corvette use a lightweight flywheel (about 16 lbs). The TBI Camaro use a slightly heavier flywheel (24 lbs). Having used both the lightweight flywheel, and the heavier flywheel, I prefer using the heavier flywheel as it makes the car feel smoother. However, the lighter flywheel will make the car feel more lively in the lower gears with the lighter flywheel.