Dan Juday

Not the movie but just as sexy. That's how long it took to complete my second EFI V8Z swap. '95 LT1/T56 Fired the motor for the first time today. Very scary. You think about all the wires that maybe you got crossed, poor connections, or just wrong. Anything you forgot? But no. Primed the fuel lines with the original GM prime wire, turn the key and varoom. Wonderful sound, open headers. Tomorrow bolt the hood back on, tie up a few little items. Trailer it to the muffler shop on Tuesday to have the exhaust done and that's it. Oh sure, there are a few other things that will need to be addressed, but it will be fully roadworthy in time for the San Leandro get-together next Saturday. See y'all there. Sure hope the K&N air filter arrives by then. I might have to borrow a pair of my wife's nylons!

Another reason to buy an expensive Momo steering wheel besides style and posh? Another 4" of collapsible hub. I've actually seen a Momo wheel after an accident. Wheel smashed around the shaft, hub fully collapsed, driver brused but no broken ribs.

Get wrenchin' Mike. I don't want to see these parts in up in the Buy, Sell, Trade forum. Hmmm, maybe I do.

Dave, you've got to get a pic of that Vortec Z. That thing looked so botched at MSA. It was embarrassing to see it put front and center like it was a masterpiece of V8 convertions. I'm sure all the L6 guys just snickered as they gave it a quick glance. For those that didn't see it imagin the motor is a big chunk of rubber that you can't quite mash down into the engine bay so you give up half way. The sad part was that the guys that did that thing sat there with big proud grins on their faces.

I used the JTR kit both times. On the T56 with the motor pushed forward in the slotted motor mount towers the shifter came up right smack dab in the middle of the hole. With the T5 the motor was set about an inch farther back and the shifter again comes up about the middle but offset to the left side. I had to trim about a half inch off the edge of the hole for it to clear. This is using the f-body bellhousing which rotates the tranny about 15 degrees. If you use a straight up bellhousing I bet the shifter will fit better. Either way once you get the console and trim pieces back on you never notice.

Having installed both but very little road time on them I can give you some install insites. You will need to spend another $75 on the T5 for a speed sensor that also drives a cable, available from JTR. Except for the slave cylinder (if you are using the f-body bell with stock slave) there is no tunnel clearancing required for the T5. The T56 requires some fin trimming and tunnel clearancing. Stock f-body slave on the T5 requires trimming of the accelerator peddle. Early T56's with the external slave should NOT be modified per JTR, IMHO. The plastic T5 slave has more material at the hydraulic connection and can be drilled out safely. The T56 slave has a narrowed down section at the line connection and will leave that area extremely thin when drilled and tapped for a 1/8"NPT connection. I contracted with a machinist to make me an adapter from the GM proprietary roll-pin style fitting to 1/8"NPT and used two hoses. adaper cost me $30 plus shipping. The T56 shifter fits much better in the Datsun shifter hole than the f-body T5, better centered.

If you're looking for a complete fiberglass body of very high quality and don't mind if it looks somewhat like an AC Cobra, I've heard that there is going to be a Tomahawk going up on the block soon. It's a completed car though. The kits are pretty much N.A. And again there's that shipping thing, it's in San Francisco. FYI, my Z has lots of Reaction Research glass on it. Good stuff, professional operation. Not cheap, but if you're paying a body man to fit and finish it, it's cheaper than the cheap stuff that takes more time to get "right". Speaking of cheap crap: has anyone noticed that Showcars has pirated a bunch of other peoples pics? Including a shot of my car.

Find the short Joe, or you will just blow another link. Might look cool the first time but after a few the thrill wears off and you run out of money.

Very nice Brett! I like your creative rearend treatment. Your car must have only been a minor offender. My car's been in paint jail much longer and yours beat mine to parol.

Just pulled a set OUT of a 280Z. They don't fit very well, too large, too tall in the seat and they bulge out in the wrong places. If you are a tall guy or just like slide the seat back it interferes something bad with the rear wheelhouse. Can't help you with the wires, these were never connected.

I have the motor for you, it's just out here in NorCal. '88 350tpi Z28 with four speed auto, 92K miles, $1500. It's a very clean motor that was owned and well cared for by a woman. One owner. Her son wrecked the car. I'd like to buy it myself but I can't justify it. It's at a yard in Stockton. If you do a tpi swap you don't want the Corvette motor, more difficult wiring. The price may seem a little high to some people but this is there swapper special, comes with anything and everything mechanical you want off the car. These guys know what they're doing when they pull it too, no cut wires on the harness.

Bingo.

The tpi motor is about limitations. You will always be throwing good money after bad if you want to get more out of that motor than stock. There are not going to be anymore new aftermarket goodies made for that motor either. That market is going to the LT1 and LS1. You will not be able to tune your tpi computer like you can with the LT1 OBD I. There is a very good reason why you can pick up tpi motors cheap, you get what you pay for. Spend the extra bucks for the LT1 now, you'll thank yourself later. So what's in my Z?

Went by the Hot Rod shop today. My bad. They are Sandersons and the price was for uncoated, coated was $375, ouch. Sorry.

I've been watching the news and I knew things were getting bad up there in the great white north. But now you've run out of moustache bars?? Wow, that sucks. Paid $5 to pull one at the local yank a part. They didn't know what it was even after I explained it to them. I told them I'd pay $20 for it. They said motor mounts are $5 and I could leave if I insisted on arguing. Well, they are working in a junk yard. You ain't making one soon. That's spring steel. Got a nice metal furnace? Have one shipped from the States. We got a million of them here just rusting away.

Would like to borrow a FACTORY service manual for a '78 280. Any condition short of illegible. I'd like to borrow it for a couple of weeks but if I need to I'll buy it. I'll be at the Stockton meet on Friday or I'll pay shipping if you can help me but can't make the meet. Thanks guys, let me know, I need this soon. Dan

I just put a pair on an LT1 angle plug D ports. 3/8" flange, nice fit, clear the plugs and the steering shaft fine. But like Pete said, if you have D ports the match is bad. I talked with their tech support about it. They said it is the same pattern as the Hooker and they have not had a sealing problem reported. I don't like it though. Some places there is only a 1/16" wide surface match. If you buy them buy good quality gaskets. The ones they send you are crap. I just saw a nice set at a local Hot Rod shop for the D ports that look like a much better port match. They were only about $30 more than the Patriots. Can't remember the name right now (oldtimers). If I drop by there this week I'll check it out.

That's one bad mo, bro. (Opps, is that that gangsta talk that will get me banned?) Hey, you bringing that to Stocton on Friday?

Thanks Mike, I'll take you up on your offer soon. Are you coming to the Stockton meet next Friday?

Hey Mike, What would it take to talk you into coming over the river and showing me how that tunercat works?

Those simple looking JTR mounts have a lot of engineering behind them. If you want to forge a new trail to the same destination go for it. But be prepared for a lot of work if you want it to fit as well as the JTR set-up. Also, you don't have to buy the $350 kit. If you buy just the book it includes the drawings to make your own mounts cheap and easy without any welding. Only interference I've found is the A/C compressor. But, A/C would be nice. 8)

Good thing you found it before you blew it up. Ron Tyler went through two at $190 a pop before he found out how to do it. Thanks Ron, saved me too.

Don't worry Davy. I'm sure that after your babies have flown the nest you'll get started on that Z.

Good one Ernie. My wife loved it too.

Hey Tim, Found your valve covers on ebay. They specificly state they have the cut out for the alternator. Here you go... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2425300760&category=33627