Bartman

I don't understand why you would want to do that. A relay allows you to take the load off your dash wiring, switch, etc. For instance when you upgrade your headlights with a relay you use the switch to activate the relay, and then get the power from a source that doesn't go through the switch. The power source would be heavier gauge wire with a more direct route to the alternator/battery.

There's more to this than just horsepower. The aluminum heads will give you a weight savings of about 50 pounds, which is pretty significant. It all depends on how much money you want to spend and where you eventually want to get too. It doesn't make too much sense to get a new cam that will work well on your stock motor if you're going to be making significant upgrades that will make it the wrong cam for your upgraded motor. If you're going with a cam are you going to go with 1.6 Roller Rockers? Depending on your mileage you will probably need new lifters and the new cam will probably require different length pushrods as well. I agree with saving your money and doing it all at once. I added ported and polished heads, new cam, 1.6 RR, new lifters, new pushrods, swapped to a vented opti, switched to a true double roller and added an electric water pump all at once. If you don't have the money now, just worry about getting a nice intake and exhaust setup and get that thing installed in your Z. You can upgrade it after you drive it for a while.

Momo makes a steering wheel hub adapter for our Z cars (model 3503). Then you can get any Momo wheel, or any wheel that mounts like a Momo. You can find a wide variety and price range of steering wheels that will mount using a Momo adapter.

My PS pump was gutted by the previous owner (Tim240Z), and it seems to spin as smooth if not smoother than an idler pulley would. Using the stock PS pump as an idler also ensures that the geometry of the serpentine belt stays the same, so I really don't see an advantage of replacing it with something else. Tim removed the little plates in the vanes to keep it from pumping and put oil in it to lube and cool the bearings.

Sounds like a good project. I don't have a truck and trailer to help you out, but I will be at the Japanese Classic Car Show in Long Beach. Be sure and stop bye and say hello.

Looks pretty clean, but it doesn't look like a Scarab. The engine placement looks more like the setback JTR position, and I don't they made a Scarab with a Ford engine. I think he's using Scarab in the generic sense of putting a V8 in a Z.

I got this cable from ALDLCable.com and it seems to be working fine. http://www.aldlcable.com/sc/details.asp?item=aldlobd1 I wound up buying the full Factory Service Manual for my car, but you can find alot of information online. Here's a link to a site that has alot of information regarding f-body LT1 which may have some good information for you as well. http://shbox.com/1/schematics_wiring.html

I have a couple of these (different colors), and they are on eBay all the time. Here's one of the one's that are up now: http://cgi.ebay.com/1972-Datsun-240Z-Black-Sun-Star-1-18-Mint-in-Box_W0QQitemZ170029945244QQihZ007QQcategoryZ43854QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I'm using an over-the-radiator solution on my LT1 engine, but instead of lowering the radiator I tilted it back. Someone else recently did some type of over-the-radiator solution on their LSX swap, but I can't remember who it was.

That was a good move on your part to edit your post...you don't need any competition.

How many miles are on it? $1500 sounds like a good deal for just the engine and transmission, let alone a complete car. You can save yourself a lot of money by having the whole car. Swap everything you can and sell the rest. There are a few members here that wound up getting their drivetrain for almost nothing after they sold off everything else that came with their donor cars.

I went with dual 2.5". but I would run an 'x' pipe instead of an 'h' pipe. An 'x' pipe should allow you to take advantage of the scavanging effect to increase your performance. You will find a great deal of discussion on this issue with varying opinions.

Looks like you got the right components for a good clean swap. Keep us updated on your progress. What are your ultimate plans, street, strip, autocross?

I think four grand is a little high, unless it's really clean. Have you seen the car in person? The pictures don't show too much detail, and the add doesn't have too much detail about the condition. What's "major" rust, how straight are the bumpers, etc. I think you could probably find a better deal, but it looks like it may be worth checking out. Like you posted earlier...definitely get a 75 or earlier in California if you want to swap.

As someone that's been around the block a few times (technical degree, Bachelor's degree, Certificate in Project Management, PMP Certified, and currently enrolled in Master's program), let me tell you my experience. Technical schools teach you something you can use, college just allows you to meet the requirements necessary to get your foot in the door. There are many positions that require you to have a degree. If you don't have a degree, you will not be considered. Having this degree doesn't necessarily mean you learned anything specific, but you made the commitment and put the required effort into obtaining it. You need to figure out what position you want and what the requirements for that position are. Would an employer favor an advanced degree or hands on experience or training? Call someone that you would like to eventually like to work for and ask what they're looking for in a potential employee. If you want to work for yourself you don't need a degree, you just need to get out there and learn the business you want to be working in.

I think that grad school is something that you can always do in the future. There are many programs that are geared for full-time professionals, and even some reputable online programs. If you want hands-on technical experience then I would go to tech school now. I would think that could get you a job you like and you can then gain good real world experience.

In general wheels with six lugs are going to be stronger than wheels with five lugs. I don't think the adapter itself is really a problem, but the load that was distributed over six lugs will now be distributed over just five at the wheel. Probably not a big deal, but the factory thought that the vehicle needs six, so you be your own judge. When most people on this site switch to much larger wheels they also go from four lugs to five lugs for more strength. Once you get over a certain size I think most manufacturers won't even make wheels with only four lugs. Why go with 24's anyway. It will make your truck ride much harsher and depending on the tires it will affect your speedometer calibration and probably decrease your acceleration. Adapters are not cheap, and you will need to determine the proper thickness to work with the backspace of the 24's you want to install. If you decide you really want 24's (or any other wheel upgrade) go to a reputable local tire and wheel dealer and get the right package for your vehicle.

I hope this isn't a hijack AK-Z, and maybe this heat shrinking disk will work for you as well. I can see how this shrinking disk would work on a dent protruding out from a crowned area, but will it work for a depressed area in a crown as well. Here' a very simplistic drawing showing a crown and a crown with a depression. Will attempting to shrink this dent actually pull the dent back up or just make it worse? In my case these "oilcan" dents cover a fairly large area, so if this method would work would I attempt to shrink the entire dent at once, or work on small areas at a time? Would you work from the center out, or from the edges in?

I have the same problem, and this is great Information. My dents are more of the large surface area, but small depth. Some of them you can push out from the inside, but the metal is stretched so they come back. I need to get the surface stable before I use any filler on it. Is this something I can fix by shrinking? I'm worried about shrinking it too much and losing the crown.

I don't get this whole concept that "if it's not a ___ than it must suck". I'm a car guy, so I'm interested in all cars. Of course I enjoy some cars more than others; but I generally like cars that go fast, handle well, look cool, just plain different, unusual, etc. I think that's one of the neat things about HybridZ. It seems the one common thread we have is that we all like cars. Regardless of whether its a Z or not. There are plenty of posts on other cars on this forum that members seem to enjoy seeing and discussing. This shunning thing shows how people can become so intolerant of things they don't know about...or refuse to know about for various trivial reasons. It sounds like your MRoadster has very similar spec's and is arguably a better car than the Vette it replaced, but - at least to some people - it's not a Vette therefore it must suck. I've gotten a little of this with my car as well from both the Z purists and the hard core muscle car/hot rod crowd. As far as they're concerned it's one or the other and therefore I am shunned. I'm okay with that and for the "real" car guys I enjoy talking with them about what I've done with my car and what they've done with theirs. At least now you can see who your friends are from the Vette world...and those who only pretended to be while you drove one.

I believe jnj recently upgraded to the 300zxt cv axle conversion from M & M because they got tired of stuff breaking. Time will tell how long this setup will work for them..I think they are trying to get into the 8's. If you're planning on building a car that will mainly be used for drags, it may be best to just go for the 9" like Phantom suggested.

Here's a link to a site that has detailed information regarding the opti including pictures. You can see that the vented opti is quite a bit different and requires a different timing cover. As Guy posted, if you have an early opti the cam pin needs to be lower than with a later opti. I did a lot of investigation and wound up upgrading my early opti to a newer vented opti, and I don't think they produced an inbetween model. http://para.noid.org/~muttvette/opti.html

An LSX engine may be a good choice for your build, but you need to take into account that you cannot install it using JTR mounts. You will need to be able to make your own or use the LSX specific mounts from John's Cars. You may overshoot your 15K-20k budget pretty quickly if that includes everything. You should upgrade your brakes, suspension, and rear end for starters. Then you've got your interior, paint and bodywork, wheels and tires; not to mention all the little things you didn't think about.

The front is easier to find and cheaper than the back. I got my front from MSA, and the quality on that one is pretty high. It looks like Black Dragon only carries the right side rear bumper (no center or left side). The rear is also where I ran into problems with MSA on the quality. I finally wound up using MSA's left and right sides and got the center piece on eBay. The costs, quality and availabilty of these items on eBay is always a big unknown. I've seen complete sets go for less than $500 over the past couple of years. If you have a 73 or later you will also need to get the brackets or fab up your own (this is true if you get fiberglass or carbon fiber bumpers as well).