gretchen/jason

Oh gret im worried again , they shouldnt be worn they only have 500 miles on them not sure if the dowl insert is there as im still driving the car . Not sure if what im feeling is the cam i can turn the crank 2 degrees either direction before it get " very hard to turn " . By no means is it very easy to turn the 2 degrees it takes a bit of effort to do so . In other words i can rotate the crank by hand 2 degrees left or right before i need a socket and breaker bar on the crank bolt . This is going to suck if i have to take the engine apart again after i just spent 2 grand to have it built 6 weeks ago i fired it up aaarrrggghhhh. Jason

Yep the intake gaskets have ports on both ends not sure why as the ports near the firewall are always blockd off by the intake on every sbc ive seen so far . Jason

Yep thats what i mean i can move the crank 2 degrees left or right before engaging the cam shaft i just figured it would have no play what so ever . Thanks for the info im not so nervous now Jason

The block is dated for use for cars from 1970-1985 . The belts rotate clockwise . I have checked water flow as i have a inline filler and it flows corectly when the t stat opens . The t stat is a milodon high flow stat # 720-4363 160 degree stat from jegs , i boiled some water and got the t stat fully open then quickly placed it in the intake manifold to make sure it wouldnt bottom out in the intake . Keep in mind this is a supercharger intake manifold but the water jacket is the same as a aluminum intake . The water pump is a weiand pump #925-9240p in the jegs catalog . Im using a 6 inch crank pulley and a 6 inch water pump pulley , the radiator being new is from jegs cross flow #555-52007 2 row rad . Also black magic xtreeme fan that runs constantly as if i shut it down even at 80mph it will overheat . Deal is i can leave work hop on the highway doing 55 mph rpm is roughly 2,500 maybe a bit more i forget . The temp will be fine 150-165 then all of the sudden it hovers at 185 and will not go down . i can then exit the highway sit at a light temp at 180 then suddenly it will drop to 150 degrees !!!!! And all of this is happening when its 24 degrees outside in the mornings and 60 in the afternoon . This will happen at any speed highway or side streets , it was worse when i had the heater hoses atatched , it hovered at 220 degrees the would drop to 150 for no reason . To elimanate air in the system i fill the rad with the t stat removed untill i saw water in the intake then installed the t stat . The overflow tank works as designed as i check it almost everytime i go for a drive before and after . I'm actually going to try a mechanical t stat instead of the electronic one just in case the electronic one is to sensitive . And the electronic sending unit doesnt go past the thread in the intake so im thinking maybe its not in the water flow all the time . Jason

God it better not be a head gasket just had the engine built only 500 miles on the thing and i used metal head gaskets . Jason

I had a machine build my engine this included a edelbrock gear drive set . Well after 500 or so miles i was trying to find TDC as i took the dizzy out and forgot to mark the thing dumb me . Well as i grabed the crank pulley i noticed i could turn the crank about 2 degrees acording to the timing mark either direction before it engaged the camshaft . Now i know there is a certain amount of freeplay involved in setting the gears but is 2 degrees either direction normal . Or should i ditch the gear drive and get a good double roller chain . Jason

Oh i even checked it with the intake off of the engine using the oil pump primer . I cleaned the heck out of it once with brake clean and dried it and filled it with silicone but it found a exit someplace and leaked . I then redid it with JB weld and 2 weeks latter it leaked . Thanks for the info though at least i know what the plug is for now . Jason

On my sbc there is a threaded plug just to the left " sitting in the car " of the oil pressure port is this a oil port of some sort or oil passage . I can just barley see it between the head and the block . Im asking because after the shop rebuilt my engine and assembled the entire block heads and all there is oil pissing out near that aera . Its not the intake gasket as i removed the intake and used a oil pump primer and still got a oil leak .Plus id like to know what it would be used for as i see nothing it could attach to . Pisses me off 2 times ive had this engine built within 6 months and it now leaks oil and seems to use 1 quart of oil every 200 miles .But i cant be for sure untill i fix the leak which im assuming im going to have to remove the head after only 500 miles of use on a new engine . Jason

Well no new updates except that after 400 miles on a rebuilt " all new internal parts " engine my 383 has a oil leak that leaks about 1/2 a quart every 30 miles . So i riped apart my NEW engine to fix it . Seems a oil " plug " under the rear of the drivers head near the port for oil pressure wasnt sealed properly . So ends my testing of the heating problem for about 2 days . As i hope the JB weld i stufed into the spot holds or else ill have to take the head off the car " good grief " 80$ for head gaskets . But untill i tore it apart still holding around 180 -190 . I did see though when i had the intake off that the temp sensor doesnt go into the " watter jacket " All the way it sorta sits 1/8 th higher maybe a 1/16th into the adapter sleeve . So ill shorten it hope my oil leak is fixed and see what happens . Man what a bummer so far 7,800 miles with my v8 conversion and its cost me 8 grand just to keep it running , 2 gs on a crate engine from jegs that after 7 thou miles blew a oil pump then 2 grand to rebuild it then 2 g s for a super charger then now a oil leak dang " Cant we all just get along " HAaa Haaa Jason

Ok so another update , i was on my way to work and the temp started to spike 215 degrees . Now i have about 3 feet of heater hose in my passanger floor board as my heater core busted some time back so i took some hose i had and looped it on the fittings . The stock fittings are gone so it just is a continous feed of water . Well i grabed the hose and thought it cant be 210 its barley even hot . So for some odd reason i kinked the hose and the temp shot back down to 170 very very quickly . I unkinked it and bang back to 210 and so this went untill i quit kinking the hose . Soat work i got rid of all heater hoses and pluged the ports off on the intake and water pump and so far i havent seen anything over 180 degrees . Why in the world would a heater hose cause that problem . Jason

Looks just like mine did . I cant tell ya how it comes apart al i know know is the place i took mine to did it for me , i looked at it after they were done seems to me they sorta pushed them into the slot cant really tell though . Maybe all z cars are like that i dont know . All i know is they added bearings and bang problem solved for myt z at least . The current z i own now doesnt shake ill take a look at the bearing today and see if any bearings are missing im curious if they are all loike that from factory . Jason

OMG haa haa it happens to he best of us Just kidding . Well it was a freak thing how i figured it out , before i replaced the " balls " bearings i even wraped wire around the shaft in the coulmn to take out the slo just to see if it would work . but when i applied pressure upwards or down or even to the side it quit shaking . If what i did works for youre problem then ive helped someone but like i said dont quote me as i mechanic i always warn of other things to come or a may not fix at the moment cause . Jason

Thanks at least i know both are 16 lbs of pressure . Jason

So has anyonf cut the hood in front of the radiator to catch more air to force it into the rad . Kinda like blue ovals z hood just in front of the rad as a scoop of sorts sorta like a upside down wrx scoop in front of the radiator . Any pics if someone has , i have a extra hood i want to modify but if i could see pics of ideas before i start cutting would help determine what i do with my own hood . Jason

I had the same issue with my z , i did it all new rack new tie rod ends new eurthane bushings that hold the rack in place . I even welded up a bracket that helped hold the rack to the cross member but still the stering wheel shook . I tried rims off of a known z that didnt shake no luck i did my alingment at work my self 3 times replaced controll arm bushing and swar bar end links still it shook . Untill one day i pushed up on the steering wheel while driving it quit shaking !!!!! So i took the steering wheel off and rite behind it in the column was a bearing pack sorta like wheel hub bearings . Little tint pellets for bearings a couple of them were missing so i found a local very well stocked supply shop and found bearings " the balls " in the bearing and managed to fill in the missing ones about 30$ it cost me as they did it for me while it was in my car " great place " And lordy lordy the shaking went away dont quote me on it fixing youre problem but after buying AZCars controll arms $$$$$$ and rack and such yike who would of thought it could have been so cheap . Jason

Ok to start i have 2 radiator caps yes 2 caps . I have one at the highest point in the cooling system rite at the t stat neck a inline filler . Then of course one on the radiator itself . Should i just run one line from the inline filler to the over flow bottle and plug the one on the radiator or vice versa . Or should i " Tee" the two together at the overflow tank . ? Jason

So another update , after the test drive the upper rad hose , which i checked after the test drive was fine you could feel the pressure built up inside the system . So i let it cool down and for roughly 2 hours went back out to install the solid rad hose i have and the dang hose colapsed in on itself so it is now in the trash . Jason

Good idea on the skid plate except my radiator mount pokes through where you have the silver tape installed . Ive done a few more driving test seeing as at speed 60 mph and 2,600 rpms the engine cools fine . So i ran around at my usual in town speed 40 mph at 1,800 rpms and the usual happend it got hot . So i figured what the heck shifted to second at 40 mph raised the rpms up to about 2,300-2,500 rpms and the temp went down , still at 40 mph . So perhaps the size of my pulleys are turning the pump to slow in traffic so im going to try a 5 1/2 water pump pulley instead of the 6 inch pulley i have now if that helps ill then try a larger crank pulley 7 inch instead of my 6 inch and post the results . Jason

I have tested the t stat in a pan of water on the stove when i bought it , i also measured how much " taller it gets " when opend . I measured my intake where the t stat goes and had enough room for it to open . When i ordered the water pump " high flow " i bought the t stat recomended for that pump . I do have 2 yes 2 radiator caps on my cooling system as i bought a in line filler and one on my radiator . For a update I was bored since my post and moved my coolant overflow hose from the " inline filler" to the radiator filler so far it seems to have taken care of the colapsing hose for the moment that is . The hose i guess seems soft even though its a week old so ill be installing some of that stuff ya see at autozone the chrome solid flex hose . Jason Just another question , im adding this line as ive been reading through the aero section and it seems all the radiator ducting is for a vehicle at speed which i have no problem with . If no one knows this is a supercharged 383 in my z 2 row cross flow alum rad black magic xtreeme fan , pulls air through the entire rad core . My z has the factory " skid plate " the plate that mounts under the car between the rad suppor and the steering rack . Does this help the vehicle any with low speed cooling should i get rid of it . I couldnt find to much info on it even when i did a search .

Ok to start of i have a new aluminum pump anti cavitaition high flow , also a high flow t stat . New radiator only 1,000 miles on it not cloged . New radiator cap " i have several caps " thought i bought a bad cap so i have 4 of them . Engine has 400 miles on it no clogs or anything like that . With the cap off i can clearly see the fluid flow no problems there . When i put the cap on and rev the engine it sucks the hose flat . Its a new hose at that this is the upper hose im talking about , i was told the rad cap was bad even though it was 2 weeks old i just bought it . So i got another and guess what same deal and to go along with this problem when at idle with the cap off the car cools itself just fine . Reinstall the cap and bang 210-230 degrees all this with a 160 degree stat . Same cruising through town it gets hot " 40 mph equals 1,700 rpms " On the highway its great cools fine . I do have a 6 inch crank pulley and a 6 inch water pump pulley should i get a smaller water pump pulley for the cooling issue ? As for the rad hose colapsing i have no idea what it is . I do have some of that solid chrome flex hose should i use it ? Jason

Well my fuel cell has a roll over vent installed its just getting rid of the vapors that bugs me so im going to try to put a charcoal filter on the end of the hose from the rollover vent to see what happens . Im thinking of " clogging up " the hole to a point but yet leaving it to where it could vent if pressure built up . Speaking of gas running out the vent i was at the gas staition filled up the tank put the cap on it and i guess the pressure of me putting the cap on made the vent hose turn into a syphon hose and promptly lost about a half gallon of gas on the ground . Jason

I will contact you for the struts when i get some extra money , i also purchased my cowl induction hood from you very nice hood . I let it sit for about 4 months before i installed it only to find out it wasnt tall enough for my air filter . Im not knocking youre product its great but with my supercharger i had only 3/4 of a inch between the carb flange and the bottom side of the hood i know a guy who is great with fiberglass im going to see if he can rasie it about 5 more inches make it about a 9-10 inch cowl scoop . Jason

Ah yes ive drilled a hole in the t stat to help with that problem . Ive found my camera pics will be posted shortly Jason Well the camera doesnt work go figure but as in the pic above i guess ill get rid of the hose i have now the chrome flex hose and see what i can find in rubber to add a filler neck seems like the best option .

Cool thanks for the info ill contact az car next week . I do drive the car to work sometimes and of course to car shows , i really buillt it for th wow factor and its just plain fun with a supercharged 383 lets say a toy i always wanted . Jason

I know jegs has a engine limiter bar that welds to the frame then bolts to the head and you cut it to fit . Im thinking of ordering one myself . Jason