Dan Juday

I had a pastor friend that had one of those. I was shocked the first time I rode with him. Dead stock that thing was quick.

Here's a shot from the bodyshop days in full bling-bling blue. FYI: Not available in an Aussie version either.

I include this in this thread only for record. This is the dash in my car. It is a fiberglass top-half cover that is made to fit over the stock 280 dash. It fits the 240 dash but not quite as well. It is from the Tomahawk Cobra-esk kit made by Rory Bateman. Availability is nil though. I live only an hour away from Rory and tried to get him to make me one for two years. In the end I bought it from someone who bought a kit and decided not to use the dash cover. So if you want one all I can offer is "good luck". Couple of notes. It fits the 280 dash without modification. The 240 dash needs some slicing and dicing to the padding to fit. Also, this cover has a fouth 2 1/2" hole for another gauge to be mounted. However, some of the metal dash structure is directly behind the hole and needs to be cut away for a gauge to fit. The cover is molded in one piece. I had my bodyman paint the face matte black and the top the body color. The whole thing in Viper Blue just looked too gaudy. Last note: On the 240 it covers the glove box door button. 280's have their button on the door. In my case I drilled a hole in the glove box door and installed a latch from a 280. Kind of a pain but the alternative was to drill a hole in the cover to stick your finger in to push the original 240 button. I thought that would look a little cheesy.

2.8 Liters (2.96 quarts) Or make sure the car is level and fill it up 'till it starts to run out the fill hole.

Dave, I notice from the pics that on your front control arms the sway bar mount is welded to the front of the arm. There has been some concern voiced here (in other threads) that that having it mounted there, rather than on top of the arm, will induce twist by the vertical forces of the sway bar. I can see this putting bending stress and wear on the T/C rod mount and may even lead to loosening of the adjustment locknut on the arm. I'm not and expert in this area or a racer myself so forgive me if I'm off base. I do respect your history with these parts. Just an observation that I'd like your feedback on.

I remember you! You came down with a buddy. I was so impressed that you drove all that way just to come to our little get-together. Congrats Brian on your first start. Open headers? Ahhh.... the memories. Get off the dime Kevin! You've been on this site for how long? And you still haven't started your swap? You know, that slogan of yours has an expiration date.

Ted Fisher stuck some rectangular ones in the grill area on his YZ. Here's a bad pic from the Reaction Research site. I like your idea about pop-ups. There is lots of room in the fender for them. Snag a pair from a Miata or a TR7 or how about a C4 Corvette? I've seen pics of a Z with pop-ups mounted in the hood. Looked a little funky 'cause they were too close together. Corvette rollovers in the fenders? Ya that's it.

Ouch! Yes quite unfortunate for the poor gal. Although, I've heard that "Alex" in Chinese sounds a lot like the two words for excrement and cranium. Just kidding, sorry, couldn't pass that up. Yes I stole that from Alien Nation.

You can install coilovers and keep the shocks you bought so long as you don't section your struts. If you don't plan on lowering your car more than 1" to 1 1/2" you are fine. More than that and you should consider sectioning. I can highly recommend going with coilovers. It's a $400 initial investment but you get more clearance for wider tires, height adjustability, and springs are easier and cheaper to change should you find you want to. Buy them from Ross Corrigan a.k.a. Modern Motorsports LLD. Great guy, member here. Ross' site also has info and kits on five lug conversions but I don't know if they are available for the S130 body. You probably don't like billet style wheels but Billet Specialties sells semi custom wheels made to your specs, bolt pattern and backspacing, for a very reasonable price. They will also make 10" wide rims in four bolt, something Centerline will not do.

Out of the '91 factory (Helm) manual for the Firebird with T5 tranny to V8: Transmission-to-Flywheel housing (bellhousing) bolt 55 lb. ft. Clutch Housing (bellhousing)-to-Engine bolt V8 70 lb. ft. Your clutch kit should come with a little dollup of grease in a "handy whipe" type packet for the pilot bushing. If not just use some high temp wheel bearing grease. Just enough for a thin coating on the mating surfaces.

I met a mechanic who was badly burned, face and chest, from LP gas installed in a Buick A/C system. The gas was installed in a "shop" in Mexico. If you do this make sure you warn anyone who might work on your car.

Thanks for posting that Charles. Same motor I'm running only with a T5 behind it. Validates what I've been telling people when they ask. What kind of rear tires are you running to get those times? Have any traction problems?

Yes, propane is a very efficient refrigarant, but I'd never put it in my cars A/C system.

Never see it? Who says! Jim Darnell and his black beauty at the NorCal Rio Vista show 2002. Pic by Eric Neyerlin of Zparts.com

Hey, we have only two types of tea here in California too! But, well,... they're both herb tea. Best food I ever ate was in Atlanta.

I think TurboMeister lives in their home town. Send Hanns over to rough them up, he's a big guy.

What a rip off! Give me this guys number and I'll tell him off for you! Seriously, that is a great deal. We paid $2700 for a '95 LT1/T56 package with 100k miles on it and thought we did well.

What? None of you guys know about a tranny fluid pump? Cheap plastic pump with 18" of 3/8" clear plasic tube stuck to it. It screws onto the top of the bottle. You buy it at any auto parts store right next to the tranny fluid for $5 and if you break it or lose it when you get done, big whoop. The plugs on the T5 are easy to get to. The T56 is a little tougher.

Sissy bar exhaust tips and oil cooler lines coming out of where a headlight should be. O.k. Can't wait for these mods to become all the rage among the ricers.

You are way ahead of the wave on this one. I'm sure there are plenty of guys even on this site whos jaws dropped when they read your post, mine included. Still a great idea. I can't imagine a better candidate than the LS1 for the swap. Seeing that engine bay, whatever goes in there needs to be compact, light, and up to date. If you can engineer, fab, weld, and sort out all the electrical yourself I bet you can do it for $10k (on top of whatever you get for the Z drivetrain). If you plan on hiring out forget it. Twin turbos and stroking would be cheaper. You'll be the star here... and hated like the devil everywhere else.

Sounds like you are on the right track extending the pivot. Can you post some pics of the Camero master installed? If it truly works you may be the first person to successfully pull this off.

I used a solenoid. $15 from the junk yard. The only problem is finding one that is skinny enough to fit in the hatch. Most of the trunk release ones are too big around. I found a power door lock solenoid out of an Infinity that fit really well. It swings (like the flippers on a pinball machine) rather than pulls so I just bent the latch actuating arm up like a ramp. The flipper swings up the ramp and presses down the latch and "pop" it opens. I had to add a spring to retract the flipper because as a door lock it power rotates both ways. Ran the wire up the hatch and in just like the rear window defogger wires. Momentary switch in the glove box. Best part is, this mod keeps your car ALL NISSAN!!!!!! Oh wait, the switch came from a Firebird.

Good info Rick. All the A/C I do stays in one place. While auto A/C is pretty simple it helps to know the idiosyncrasies. R12 is very freakin expensive here in Cali. And I'm sure Scott will want to use the GM compressor as it is an easy bolt on with his motor. If I read you right we should expect about a 30% decrease in capacity with 134a? Can you recommend a blend that might work better? Dan

Opps, closer look at the picture. Looks like that power head is not removable. Drop me an e-mail Scott. You're only 30 minute away, I'd be happy to help you with this. Dan

Don't remove it. That's a TXV, better than a fixed orifice. It's likely for an R12 system but you can get another power head/sencing bulb for it to convert it to 134a.