Dan Juday

Right on Terry! Did you check to see if the rear brake shoes were dragging? Could be the only problem. Get that sorted out so you can drive it to the Show and swap on the 5th. We all want to see it.

Welcome to Hybrid. The sbc swap is not difficult. If you have a 240 ('73 or older) you don't have to worry about smog here in CA. Buy the JTR book and read. Also, use the search function here. And if you live in NorCal come to the HybridZ show and Swap next month. You'll see lots of V8Z's there and get to talk to the owners. NorCal Show & Swap thread

SubtleZ Alex. You be bad in black! Don't mind the dough. That's what the Visa is for. Right?

Way to go Todd. No coincidences.

The 5.0 Ford is a great motor. But, like you've noticed, there is no kit for the sbf. With the kits the Chevy swap is easy. There are a few guys here that have fabed the mounts for the Ford but I don't hear much of them these days. Alsil, Jumbo240Z, SCCA. If I do another swap it will be with a late model 5.0 efi Ford motor.

I've seen that kit before. You can get it at Radio Shack. It's made by ZipZap.

I concur, that's the way to do it. I used Redline. Cost's about 5 TIMES as much as generic ATF! Oh well, only the best for my baby.

Lookin' tuff! You've make some progress since the last time I saw the car. Can't wait to see it in person at the Nor Cal show next month.

I run 15x8's on the front with 4 3/4" backspacing(1/4" positive offset?) with coilovers, 265/50's. I have a slight frame rub on full lock. I intend to add 1/8" spacers to clear the 4 pot Toyota calipers when I upgrade. Hopefully that will solve the frame rub. Be advised that I also run flares.

Sounds normal. Can you shift through the forward gears without grinding? You said it grinds going into reverse. Can you get it in or is the grinding too bad to get it into gear?

Ok, From the top of the throttle body to the hood is 2 3/4". I also measured from the top of my alternator to the hood, 3 1/4". Hope that helps.

No problem. I'll get back to you this afternoon.

I'm going to visit my car at the bodymans garage today. I'll measure for you. I'm using the crossmember spacer plates and yes, it is in the jtr position just for reference. Were would you like me to measure to? Just the top of the plenum front and back to the underside of the hood?

Thanks for the lead. For $33 it's worth a shot. McMaster-Carr

If it is low cost and high torque you want look at the tpi motors. A tpi 350 is tough to find in good shape/reasonable$ but the 305's are out there. I gave $2k total for my 305tpi with a T5 tranny with 58k miles on it. The tpi motor runs out of breath above 4500rpm but for auto cross you never get there anyways. Big bag fulls of low end torque.

I got a pair 240sx calipers at the pic-n-pull for $50.

Jason, Brad has great pics. He took the time to take "how-to" pics, wish I did. Yes, holes like Brad's pic. I only have two holes though, both about 1" dia. For a stock tank Brad's $60 made-to-fit sump is a great deal. You probably don't need as many holes as Brad has, I would think 2 or 3 would work fine. I painted my tank with body shutes (sp?) undercoating stuff. I concur, -6 should be plenty big enough. Those tires? 305/50/15's. Traction baby!

Very sharp. I would be concerned about running the lines forward under the tank though. That's a lot of exposer curbs and parking lot stops. Jeggs and Summit sell weld on sumps for about $50. That's what I bought. For efi just drill holes in the bottom of your tank instead of cutting a hole as big as the sump. Thay way you have a baffle and the sump acts like a surg tank.

Slow up, Tbro. Don't try to force it together with the tranny bolts. Get a clutch alignment tool. They're cheap and can be had at any decent auto parts house. You might think you can eyeball it but that rearly works, never worked for me. It's just a plastic replica of the input shaft from your T5. Put it through the clutch disk and then into the pilot bearing and then, making sure it is in straight, tighten down the pressure plate bolts. Make sure you tighten in a cross pattern like lug nuts and torque them to the specs. Then mate the tranny to the block with human force only. It can often take several trys untill everything lines up. When it does the tranny will slide home. Then get the bolts in it. Also, double check the i.d. on the pilot bearing. If it is just a tiny bit smaller than the one for the T5 you'll never get it together.

Dude, post in the late evening when their getting out of bed. All the down-under's are down-under the covers now.

Just got my latest MSA flyer yesterday. It says this,"After years of engineering we now have a quality reproduction weatherstrip kit." What they don't tell you is that the "engineering" was done on their customers. I just wonder if it is true and they have finally solved the door slammer problem. Has anyone talked to them lately about this? The price is right at $189.95 for the 18 piece kit. But if you still have to go to Nissan for the door seals then the deal breaks down pretty quick. Some of you so-cal guys drop in and ask the hard questions and then fill in the rest of us.

"A thousand words tells a picture"

I love the turnbuckle airdam angle adjusters on that Cavalier. Do you think he has the ultimate angle worked out for his top speed? What do you think the best angle would be for 85mph?

Welcome to Hybrid Vince. You have found a wealth of information on your car here. All of your questions have been asked and answered many times before. I'll offer you some of my insites but I strongly recommend you devote a few hours to the search function. One thread is just inadiquate to give you enough info to make good decisions. First off, I would suggest you install an overdrive tranny instead of the th350. The rear gear ratios available to you are too high for comfortable highway speeds. 700r4, 200r4, 4l60, or manuals, T5, T56. Roll cage and strut bars will likely provide all the reinforcing you'll need. Many guys here have fabbed frame connectors and found that that is all they need. Rearends are a big subject here and you really need to do your homework on this one (read "search function"). Basic overview: 240's, 260's, 280's, had R180's, good to about 250 hp. 280Z's and 280ZX's had R200's, good to 400hp. Both are open diff's, but in an IRS (independant rear suspension) wheel loading is near equal so one-wheel burnouts are rare. There are other reasons for wanting an LDS though so I won't presume. LSD's were available on special models on 280ZX's and 300ZX's and are hard to find and/or spendy. The R200 LSD is basicly a bolt in. The later R230 LSD is a much more involved swap. Don't make a decision based on this. There are other issues to consider back there as well such as u-joints and CV-joints. Read, read, read. Also, are you going Scarab, JTR, or MSA? If can't answer that you need to back up and figure out what that means first before you address these other questions. Glad to have you onboard. 8)

Before you start that door swap take a look at the jams. Nissan changed the way the doors latched from the 240's to the 280's.