pparaska

It may be time to get a Heil-coil set - for spark plugs. They come in different sizes and lengths for sparkplugs. If the heads are on the motor, you might have to yank the head though. I guess if you used grease on the drill bit and tap, it might hold most if not all of the AL shavings, but it might be too risky.

I think any 327 bellhousing should work, except for maybe the Chevy II version, but those are as rare as hen's teeth, I'd imagine. What are you bolting to it, tranny wise?

Ron, I whole-heartedly agree - if you're only interested in straight-line performance, then the Scarab/Hooker mounts are the way to go. There might even be an advantage to having the engine weight up higher with the Scarab position, as it may help front to rear weight transfer. But if I was building a car and wanted it to corner well, I'd just start out with the JTR swap, use a Canton road race pan, and watch out for the driveline angles in the driveshaft. Not saying that the Scarab conversion handles horribly, but why not start out with the F/R weight bias more towards 50/50 in the first place?

Glenn, That's what BLKMGK (Jim) did. He still had the problem of turning off the cutoff switch and the car still running. That's because it was running off of the alternator, probably through a sneak circuit from the key switch. I was trying to lay out a method for isolating the alternator exciter (field) connection to power with a relay to keep the sneak circuit in check.

IF it's an R200 (I think some or all automatic trans 280Z's had R180s) and the motor is not REALLY built up (400+ ft lbs ought to be fine) and you don't put 10 inch slicks on the car and weld the spider gears, you should be fine. I'd not try an R180 though. There are lots of healthy V8Zs running around with open R200s with little or no problems. It's a pretty health diff for such a small car.

That yoke is not easy to find (R200 with small 8mm bolt holes and 2.25" pilot hole). BTW, an old JTR manual version lists the part number as NEAPCO/SPICER 2-2-899. That uses a smaller U-joint (1210 series as opposed to the standard Chevy 1310 series). I personally don't like the 8mm bolt size - 10mm or 3/8" seems more up to the job of holding the torque of a V8. The adapter that Michael Ol bought from JTR was much larger, took a 1310 joint, and had a different number on the part, I THINK it was 2-2-459 : http://www2.dana.com/expert/wc.dll?DSD~dedsec~4~2-2-459~ All the Spicer 1310 series flange yokes are here. Note that it's listed as having a 2.375 (2-3/8") pilot diameter. Maybe that's a typo? Maybe this is the wrong part number? Also, it lists 3/8" bolt holes. And it's hard to tell if the bolt pattern is correct, even though the bolt circle is given, but no angle or definition of the rectangular layout of the 4 bolts. Anyway, its less risky to just order it from JTR, but you might be find it cheaper and faster elsewhere.

How is the #2 exciter wire connected into the car? If it's running to the same place as the #1 output wire, that's the problem - it's always hot - but then you'd be draining the battery all the time when the car is off, so I doubt that's the case. If that #2 wire is connected to a key-switched circuit (as it should be, with an idiot light or a resistor), then the problem is that even when you switch off the cutoff switch, the #2 wire is feeding back through the other circuits that get fed by the ignition switch to power the ignition. You can solve that with a diode or a relay that cuts the the connection to the alternator exciter wire. Hope that helps

Good question. All in by 2000 seems pretty quick. I'd think by 2500-3000 would be better

Standing wave - man it's been a few years since I heard anyone mention that term - and it wasn't car related! I think you need a new Congonkulator too - worth at least 50 hp! A triple decker wing couldn't hurt!

Wow, more fodder for the Tremec bashing. Wishing I'd not bought one AGAIN. Oh well. I'm not going to powershift it anyway. And I'm prepared for it being a balky shifter.

Jim, How about this to make the Alternator get taken out of the circuit with the cutoff switch off: - Wire one side of the coil of a relay to a key switched +12V - Wire the other side to the OUTPUT of your ground cutoff switch Now, the relay will only be energized if the key is on and the cutoff switch is switched on (ground going to the output of the switch, the rest of the car, and the relay). - Wire the relay NO contact and arm contacts (86 and 87? on a VF40 relay?) inline to the field energizer wire (the one an idiot light would be on) of your alternator. (If you have a 1 wire alternator, I don't think you can do this, since it makes that field connection internally with the output lug. Of course, you could put a huge relay on the alternator output to solve this, but that'd be a stretch.) Now the alternator only gets it's field coils energized if the key is on and the cutoff switch is on.

I'd get on the phone with Comp Cams tech line. That cam alone will need some hefty springs. If your 461s haven't been machined already for 1.48" springs or larger, then you'll need to do that, I'd bet. I've never used larger ratio rockers, but that might mean you need stiffer springs yet. Surely Comp Cams can help you with that as well as Grumpyvette and others here.

Search on the forums here for the CS alternator stuff. I've posted some stuff about it here before. But to answer your question, you need to trigger the thing with a signal. I used a lead from the battery with a 12V lamp in series to the center small prong on the connector. That's the field energize terminal.

To use the JTR sourced driveshaft adapter, you'll need and R200 yoke from a 280Z (280ZX also?) that has the 2.25" pilot diameter. Only some of the 280Z's had R200s with this flange. The one I have has a 2.00" pilot diameter. I've found more R200s with the 2.00" pilot diameter. Unfortunately, I looked at all the manufacturers for auto,truck, and heavy equipment driveline stuff and couldn't find a suitable yoke for the R200's 2.00" type flange, with a decent sized u-joint. BTW, the R180 yokes won't work as the pinion is smaller diameter and fewer splines.

quote: Originally posted by nullbound: hey, thanks guys! pete, it's a 377, not a 383. and Doh. Actually, I like the 377 better. If I build another motor, it'll probably be a 377 or 382 (3.5" stroke) using a World or Sportsman block. I bet that thing is a hoot to drive!

I agree with Grumpy that that cam needs some good compression (like 10:1 or more). What is your ACTUAL compression? Also, I agree that you might want to check that the cam is degreed in correctly. I screwed up one of those 3 keyway sets before, making the cam timing very retarded - the car was a dog. I also think 2-1/4" could be limiting you, but that should only show up at the top of the rpm range. How large is your primary ignition wiring? Just wondering if the ignition is getting enough current/voltage. If everything is right with your setup, it should be pretty awesome compared to most cars. It should be impressive.

Nice! That's a sweet 383 you have there - 430 might be a bit conservative!

Just saw this thread. Another MS Mechanical engineer with structures background here. That bend is very tight and thin. There's alot of bending and shear going on in that area. For all the reasons Dave and Dan mentioned (property degradation with heat, brittleness of 6061, NO FATIGUE LIMIT OF ALUMINUM) I'd agree that steel is the only way I'd go on this design. On the other hand the Arizona Z car rear brakes I have on my car have an AL bracket. But it's a flat plate type of bracket, no bends. This makes a HUGE difference as there are no nasty out of plane bending and shear going on in a tight corner (stress concentration).

I had a buddy have a buddy make a driveshaft adapter since I couldn't find a 2.25" pilot flange for the diff. He used a powerglide slip yoke, and a ~0.4" thick steel plate welded to the yoke next to the u-joint. The distance from the flange surface to the u-joint centerline is less that 1.5". What I like about the 2.00" (actually 1.969") pilot R200 flange is that the bolt circle is larger and the bolts are larger than the 2.25" pilot flange. The 2.00" flange has 10mm bolt holes and the 2.25" flange has 8mm bolts. The problem with the yoke that I had made was the guy did it so that the bolts threaded into the driveshaft adapter- not a good thing since bolts in shear should not have the loads transmitted through the threaded portion! I'm currently going to drill out the threads so that the holes are 3/8". I spent $3.80 a piece for NAS1106-13 high strength aircraft shear bolts. These bolts have a 13/16" unthreaded shank and just enough threads for an AN nut and an AN washer when the R200 flange and my adapter are assembled. NAS bolts have a 160000 psi tensile strength and a 95000 psi shear strength - better than Grade 8. They are also less brittle than grade 8 bolts. It seems I remember Carroll Smith saying to NOT use grade 8 bolts in shear, but I'm fuzzy on that - I need to read up on that. The NAS bols are very high quality and close tolerance bolts. They come drilled or undrilled in the shank for a cotter pin when used with a castle nut. I made up some shims to make up the difference between the 10mm hole in the differential pinion flange and the 3/8" bolt shank. (just a strip of shim stock curled around in the hole - works well) It's important to not have slop in these bolted connections. The OE bolts are very good for this reason. Also, when putting the parts together, take up any slop in the bolt holes/bolts by rotating the driveshaft in the direction it sees when accelerating the car forward while holding the diff from turning. While holding the driveshaft against the bolt shank in this fashion with the bolts barely finger tight you take up that slack in the important rotation direction. Now tighten the bolts. If you're not using cotter pins to keep the nuts from backing out, use lock tite. This same procedure should be followed for the halfshaft bolts. I'm open for other ideas.

Congrats, Dan! Sounds like it's time for some drag strip tires/wheels!

Not a problem. I just like to keep things in the correct forums so that when people search, they will find it in the forums they are looking through.

Call me anal retentive, but stuff about driveline vibrations, fuel pumps, etc. don't belong here. Check the Carb, Misc, driveline forums if you don't see your topic here.

I'd say that the 72 was probably the best 240Z. But there are many restored ones around. I'd just build what you want to drive. There are lots of 72Zs around that are original, so as far as keeping yours stock for history's sake, I'd not worry about it. Past that, I can't see a reason to leave it stock unless YOU like it that way. To me, if you want a V8Z and the one you have isn't one of the first 500 made (1970 series), then do the swap. Don't worry about what other people say about ruining it - it's your car, do with it what you want. Sure the resale on 72s may be going up, but I doubt it will top out above $10K ever (the same as the three year depreciation on alot of high dollar luxo-boats). A very nicely done V8Z can be sold for that much also. But make no mistake, a pristine 240Z will be easier to get good money for than a V8Z. But making a nice V8Z takes about as much as truly restoring a 240Z. And you NEVER get the money out of either - it's throw away money! From my subconscience, I just got this news flash: "It ain't no rare Ferarri, just build it."

Being an older dude that remembers the crazy stuff I did (not sure how I can remember it, don't go there ) I also think a V8Z could be too much of a handful. BUT a really mild V8, maybe a cheap 305 out of an 80s car wouldn't be totally a bad way to go! It'd not be incredibly fast, it'd be reliable, and you'd get your hands dirty (and maybe get some family members to help and do some bonding with the project).

Scottie, all, I've been wondering, is port flow (as measured on a flow bench as much as a factor when you have forced induction? It'd seem that having large volume ports that don't flow extremely well on a flow bench wouldn't limit power/torque as much as they might on a NA engine (both with FI, to take carb signal out of the picture).