Dan Juday

$5200 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2452488001

O.k. I'll comment. I put a 305 tpi in my Z as well. Ths last summer I put a (an?) LT1 in a friends Tomahawk (280Z with Cobra body). The low down torque of the tpi is great. But having driven both cars there is no doubt in my mind that LT1 is superior. I have Baechtel's book as well and frankly it is out dated. LT1 upgrade parts are more plentiful and cheaper dollar-to-horsepower than the fading tpi stuff. The computer is easier and cheaper to reprogram. The LT1 comes from the the f-bodies with aluminum heads and T56's bolted to them. Now that the LS1 is becoming more available in the yards the prices of LT1's are dropping and will continue to. Heck, the Camaro guys are pulling there LT1's and swapping in LS1's. The one area the tpi has over the LT1, IMHO is looks. I love that big bad finned plenum stuck up in the air by those eight sexy curvy induction tubes. You do the LT1 swap and I'll park right next to you at MSA and pop the hood, but I wont meet up with you later to race.

Did you get prices for the Sanderson blockhuggers? And do they come ceramic coated? John says his custom ones come set up for the EGR. What do you think that means? And he didn't say if for $385 they come coated or not. Maybe I should e-mail him, hey?

Hey Jeromio, is it posible to do the LS1 swap without reprogramming the PCM?

Hey, I made my wheel spacers the same way. Mine are only 1/8" thick though, much easier. I cut them out with a jig saw, chucked them up in the drill press, and used a flat bastard (don't giggle you adolescent delinquents) file to true the o.d. Then I just used a hole saw for the center hole. Great minds and all... eh?

Right on! We're going to have quite a variety of Hybrids this year. The only thing missing will be a GN powered Z.

Welcome to Hybrid Mike. Mine is Chevy powered but I would think you could use the JTR trans mount without any problem. Do you have the JTR book? I know it's written for a Chevy install but if you've never done a swap like this in a Z it has a lot of helpfull info for any V8 swap. Just ignor the jibes at Ford power. There are some here that consider the JTR mount inelegant but I can appreciate the simplicity of it. If you buy the book it has plans for fabbing it yourself. You can make it with a good bench vice, a torch, and a heavy hammer. Or you buy it from the JTR web site for $55. So, you going EFI?

Oops. A correction and a clarification. Ted has 18" rims, eek! My rear tires are 305/50/15's and the fronts, under the SubtleZ fenders, are 265/50/15's. And a reminder, since we're up to three pages of praise now, thank you for all the kind words but I didn't do the work. Well, I did some of it, but the real hard stuff was done by Mach Autobody of Sacramento. Brothers Tony and Andy Mach and their crew of auto-artists made the transformation. If you like the work bring your Z to the Rio Vista show. Tony will be there and can give you on the spot estimates for the body and paint work on your car.

Those Southerners will never forgive the Coloradans for what they did to them in the Civil War!

Well, my son owns a new Ford GT and he was gracious enough to let me take these shots for you.

I was thinking the same thing about finding someone in Reno who could send it along. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm...maybe.

I concur with what Mike says. The T56 shifter pops right up through the middle of the hole. I only know of one shifter configuration with the T56. It fits better than the f-body T5. I used the stock slave and a Tilton 3/4" (or was it 7/8"?) master. I think the Tilton one is a little cheaper than the Willwood but I may be wrong. Either one bolts right up with only minor mods per the JTR book. Best way I fould to connect the slave to the master is with an adapter that Ron Tyler makes, $30. He's a member here. Sound like I did a little more pounding on the tunnel than Mike but I didn't use the front crossmember spacers.

Sorry to hear that. Feedback is king. Doesn't have to be 100%, but I'd never buy from someone with <96%.

Hey Mike, sounds like we will have to drive to Reno to get the headers. Wonder if he will sell them "for off road use only"?

Depends on wheel diameter and whether or not you're running coilovers or stock springs. I've got coilovers and I'm using 305/50/15's for a tight fit. Ted Fisher is running 335/17's.

Daytona Spyder on a 280ZX. ZX Spyder Reaction Research http://www.reactionresearch.com/automotivedetails.htm

Terry, you're close. I'm using fenders from two different kits that John sells. The fronts are from the SubtleZ kit and are detailed to match the stock fenders only wider. The 280YZ kit is a no-frills racecar setup. To make the two kits look like they belonged together I asked John If he would sell me just the wheel arches from the rear fenders of the SubtleZ kit. My bodyman then fitted and blended them to the fenders. Another point of inconsistency is the crease line that runs down the body at the height of the door handle. The YZ kit does not have this. John laid up the fiberglass extra thick in this area on the front fenders so it could be sanded away. The doors were them massaged in a similar fashion to remove the crease. Terry did a nice write-up with pics here just a little while ago on how to restore a nice straight crease line in your door. If things get tight and I have to part out the car I can use his write-up to make the doors salable again.

John's a great guy. I also got a tour of his place in AZ when I placed my order. Met up with him at MSA last year as well. His fiberglass is simply superior to the competition both in design and execution. His service is professional and accommodating. When I wanted only chuncks of this fender or that airdam John was happy to supply my special order at a very reasonable price. And speaking or price, I have never heard any of his customers say they paid too much.

I don't want to sound like one of those "do a search!" guys but this was hashed out a while back. I know because I weighed the parts myself and posted it here. Terry, a.k.a. BlueovalZ has a fiberglass hatch with some type of plastic window in it. He can shed some light on the process or maybe offer sources for a glass hatch.

Thanks guys for the kind words. Terry, it's Viper Blue. I don't know the code but it's the only blue they use on the Viper. Have you decided on a color yet? How about a nice deep burgandy? No more pics till I get the last of the glass in. I got the mirrors mounted and I'd love to show you some shots of them but it just looks goofy without a windshield. And then there are the front marker lights and the hood vent scoops... It's just not quite ready for prime time yet.

I know most of you guys have given up waiting for me to post some more pics. Well for the patient I have a reward. Several people lately have been badgering me to explain how I got those taillights in my car. So I have bowed to the pressure and have gathered a few process pics to help explain how it all went together. First off I need to tell you that I am not a body man. Like Clint Eastwood said,"A man's got to know his limitations". Enough yappin', you're already looking at the pics anyway. This first one was taken by Eric Neyerlin of Zparts.com and shows the rearend stripped but mostly unmolested. This was the most critical part of the process, fitting the lights in the right place and at the right angle. I cut the metal out of the rear quarters of two different Z32's to have something to weld into my car that the taillights would bolt up to. The string is the low tech version of Terry's laser level. Then it was off to the body shop to have a new rearend formed around the taillights and the exhaust (all in steel). They fitted and bonded my fiberglass fenders from Reaction Research and blended the airdam, headlight buckets, and front fenders together. They also covered a few holes and removed the crease lines that runs through the doors. A shot of the artist at work. In primer almost the finished shape. And the finished product. I need to order new rubber for my hatch and rear glass. Anybody selling some in new or like new condition? A shot from another angle so you can see the shape. Hope you enjoyed! Come see it in person at the Rio Vista show in April or MSA three weeks later. Dan

Thanks Rufus for your kind words. You had better order your plane ticket now because I'll be there. Like Aaron said, they are Z32 taillights and they are certainly no bolt in mod. After many hours of cutting away the rear panel and fitting and positioning I finally came to the conclusion that the whole rear end had to be reformed for them to fit properly. I bought the lights off ebay and then scrounged the Pull-a-Parts for two unmolested chunks of 300ZX rear quarters. I wanted the metal under the lights so I could weld it to the S30 tail and then the lights would just bolt in. Note: All 300ZX's in the yards have at least one rear corner smashed. They came from two different cars and here is another strange Z fact. You know how Nissan used thicker metal in the 280 than the 240 for the same body part? Well they did the same thing with the Z32. I don't know what years the cars were that I hacked up to get the parts but they are a different gauge sheetmetal. Go figure, those guys can't make up there minds. Anyway, after I finally got the lights just where I wanted them I tacked them in place and then took it to the body shop (well there was a brief nine month detour we will all forget now). I showed the artist exactly where I wanted everything and how I wanted it shaped and he did the work in steel. Everything you see from the hatch down and from fender to fender is custom fabbed in steel. I visited the shop often to ensure things were comming out as I planned. They did all the fiberglass bonding and seaming as well and then smeared it in several coats of Viper Blue and clear. When this weather lets up I'm going to take some more pics of the rear end and post them here with before, during, and finished shots. Keep an eye open. And if you cant wait 'till MSA come to the prequel in Rio Vista on the 3rd!

John you're bummin' me out big time. What's up bro, holidays got you down? You got to get out of this funk. Stop looking at this Z stuff as a money maker, it ain't. It's not you, you're an artist. It's just an itsy bitsy 30 year old market, not enough there. You've got to look at it as your art, your creative outlet! If you make some money that's just a bonus. Just trying to cheer you up buddy. Hey, I know what would help. Come on up to NorCal in April and get a look at your handy work in person!

Steve C.'s Tomahawk has the 3.54 rear gears, open diff with a bone stock '95 f-body LT1/T56. 65mph requires 1400rpms in 6th. Drop the loud pedel and it walks smartly to 90. It doesn't jump, but drop it down into 5th and it will. First gear is short enough with the 3.54's, go any lower and I think it would soon become useless. Good for nothing else but converting solids into gases. JMHO

Don't mean to flame you, but it's hard to believe you did a search on the Taurus fan and couldn't find what you needed. That whirly bird has been talked to death. On my car I attached the driver side to the rad support with a simple piece of sheetmetal bent into a "Z" shape. The passenger side just slips in the grove between the core and the tank and the top is attached with the stock (but modified) Camero radiator mount. On the next swap I just made two "Z" brackets, one for each side. I don't recammend the plastic pull through zip ties. Vibration causes them to abraid through the tubes and the result is a hard to repair water leak.