pparaska

I think it's there as a limiter on how much you can move the panel downward by leaning on it, etc.

Drax, my wife would just say that all guys over estimate the actual dimensions of things in that 6 inch range

Jim, your buds at work may have a point about it being in too close to the crank and hitting the flywheel. Anyway, go to any parts store to the HELP parts section. They make a pack that's an assortment of different thickness shims.

Jim, on my aftermarket mini-starter, I pulled the gear outward and wound some wire around the shaft behind it to hold it out while I made the measurement that Mike C mentioned. Trouble was getting in there with the bellhousing on and everything mounted in the car.

That hole behind the distributor hole on those 327 blocks connects to a passage that opens up in the back wall of the lifter valley. A "tin can with a pipe on the end" looking thing fits the pipe end into that hole. It bolts down to the valley bottom. There's a little cone shaped piece with a hole in the middle/top for a bolt to go down into the block to hold this piece in. The cone has a pipe coming out the side of it. An inline PCV valve is connected to this with a hose, with the other end of the PCV connected to manifold or carb full vacuum. Yeah, if you still have the can, get rid of it, put a 1-1/4" freeze plug in the hole behind the distributoy, and use a PCV valve in one valve cover, and a breather in the other one. I used a breather that conects to the air cleaner base. The ones that have holes in the bottom seem to always drip oil. Supposedly the MOPAR breather is very good at separating the oil out of the vent stream to the air cleaner.

John, Thanks.

Check THIS out. Note that the one American made engine he calls out that he WON'T offer an extended warranty on is the Cadillac Al engines. Very interesting. Jamie, I hope you've got this figured out. Galvanic action is not nice. If the engine was dry while it's been sitting or it had the good coolant in it, you should be in good shape. Maybe a brass hunk bolted in the lifter valley would be a good idea [ July 31, 2001: Message edited by: pparaska ]

I love those Centerlines! Buds in highschool, (over 20 years ago) had those on 70 Cudas, 66 Novas, Camaros, etc. They were the $h1t!

Hey, if it's a really rough looking driver, AND you strip everything off, tape up all the underside, underhood, door jambs, EVERYTHING, it can be o.k. Just o.k. though. If you live in a rough area, or have to park it in tight spots at work everyday, this might not be a bad idea. But I'd rather spend the money on tools, gun, etc. and try it myself, if I were going for a so - so job.

Thanks John, BTW, any indication one with a 2.25" pilot is available? The R200 pinion flange I have is 2.25" instead of 2.00", and the NEAPCO part is for the 2.00" one. I have a custom made adapter, but the guy that built it made it with threaded holes for the 4 bolts, no room for a nut. I don't like drivetrain bolts in shear in the threaded region.

Heck, looks to me like a 4 rotor would fit! At that point, a turbo on it would not really be needed for some nice torque!

MacDaddy, the whole sorted story about what's happened since those pictures is at: Topic: Pete... did you get your car back? I pulled the motor and trans on Sunday. I have to rebuild it and clean tons of urethane overspray off of the engine parts, some of the underside, the engine bay, exhaust, etc. Not a happy camper right now. It looks more and more like a Fall or Spring virgin drive of this thing . Hope to meet you in person soon!

The link to the alignment tools is: I'm up for one. Too bad that wooden carrying case is $76! I guess you're talking about the: "Complete with Hands-Free adapter: part #1040 $234.59 model, only for about 200 clams? Pricey, but I'm there. Later would be better than sooner for me. Oh yeah, guys, the little rectangular box that has the digital level in it that's the brains of this alignment tool supposedly is removeable. You could use it as a killer inclinometer for driveshaft, pinion, trans angles to get u-joint measurement angles too! [ July 31, 2001: Message edited by: pparaska ]

MacDaddy, Welcome! It was articles like that 82 R&T one that made me think I wanted to do a V8Z so long ago. So that piece of V8Z history you have there is very dear to me! I'm up in Laurel MD, not too far. I get down to see Mike Kelly every so often, and I'll be down there a few times in Sept. for Mike's demise, oh, I mean he's getting married then . Anyway, I'd love to meet you sometime and see that Scarab! Plus get a ride! I'd also like to hear about the adventure in CA where the engine went! Sounds like a great thread for the "I'm tellin' ya" forum! Cheers,

I have one in my Z - a TR-3550. I drove it about a half mile on a quick trip up and down the street. Unfortunately, I pulled the motor and trans yesterday to fix a bad crank/bearings. I've heard that they are fairly strong, but some say they are very notchy shifting. I didn't find mine notchy at all, but I didn't drive it enough to know. Since driving it that half mile, I added a Pro 5.0 shifter, which supposedly helps. Hanlon motorsports and Fortes, as well as Darkhorseperformance.com sell GM converted Tremecs. The recent HotRod magazine had a 4spd to Tremec swap article. Wish I had more mile behind mine to give a better analysis to you.

Thanks guys. I think I might weld a small bracket inside my steel blowproof bellhousing to attach the hoses toward the back of the housing, just incase.

Terry, nice pics. How did you repair the hoses? And how did you route them this time to keep them out of the PP area? I pulled my car apart last night and want to make sure I don't run into the same problem. I'm using the same hyd TO bearing.

The short answer is, YES. Even a low performance 250 hp 350 V8 will be a kick in the pants. The car is so light, it will respond to th torque of this low performance 5.7Liter very well. Add a cam, intake, carb, for little money and wake it up.

SHWEAT! That thing looks great! I bet the Mustang in the background is jealous

About $30.

You can use these adapters, 280ZX Turbo CV halfshafts (get one left, one right), and any 280Z-300ZX (Z31) R200, except the rare SS 300ZX which has the viscous LSD in it. -Install the R200, -pull out the little stub shafts on the outputs on the side (pop them out with a crow bar), -slide the CV shafts in place (short one on the left). (Maybe put in new seals before installing CV shafts, for good measure?), -get this adapter welded to the 280Z flange (if you don't buy it that way from Ross), -install 280Z stub axles (if you haven't already), and - bolt the CV shaft to the adapter.

It goes in this: For more info, check out: Winslow Motorsports Cheetah And for general Cheetah info, check out: The Cheetah I saw one of these on a Speedvision show (My Classic Car?) the other week. Too bad the owner never really got on it during the ride Dennis took. The owner said the halfshaft was just behind your butt! Styling is a little goofy, but damn that's got to be fun!

Scottie, Ross, you guys ROCK! I have been emailed for YEARS about the CV swap, and most people want to upgrade to the 280Z stub axles. For years it was only Jim Biondo's design (only one set ever made, bolted on my car) to speak of and about four people talked of making copies of it. That's why I sat down at the computer and drew them up! Anyway, the inventive, accomodating Scottie came to the rescue and did a run of his weld on adapters a while ago. And the demand is still there. I know Scottie lost sleep and money packaging and mailing those puppies, which is why I paypalled him a bit extra to help out. Now Scottie was going to sacrifice time, sleep, nerves again and do another run, because a bunch of people across the US and probably some other places wanted them. Ross steps in to set up a company and investigates both designs, decides on the easier, and better-shaft-free-play design of Scottie's, then decides to take the project off of Scottie's hands. Bravo! You guys are terrific!

I think Thurem is swapping a new HD WCT5 guts into a GM case, etc. Man that Tremec TR-3550 is heavy. I almost broke my back this evening taking it off the motor - with it all out on the floor! That T-5 is about 30+ pounds lighter!

I'm in no hurry either, but I'm very interested. How much can you get off the list price if we can find 10 people or something?