pparaska

David, the wife reminded me we have a previous engagement on the 23rd - can't do it. Maybe Capitol Raceway? They race later into the fall/winter. The R180 LSD is probably a 4 spider gear diff. Much stronger than the open two spider R180. With those skinny tires, it should hold up fine!

Mike, yeah, the stock bumper center section was just a bumper cover in my case. The 1" dia black pipe and heavy duty mounts (all welded together) probably kept the center of the car from getting more damage, but the load was transfered to the right bumper mounting flange on the unibody, which is pushed in and bent down. I imagine the hat stiffener it's welded to is also buckled, bent, etc. The floor area just ahead of the rear panel and just above that is raised up an inch or two. I believe the right side rare-in-the-US original Euro tail light came out unscathed - the lower outside bulb socket was knocked loose, but the lense is fine. The housing might be cracked but that's what epoxy is for . I think the lower part of the rear panel (now available from Zedd Findings and MSA) and difficult-to-find 240Z fuel tank ended up taking alot of the damage. Difficult to tell if the reinforced bumper helped much though. The car was a 90s Mazda Protege and I think the bumper just slid under mine (after hitting it with it's top corner) since he was hard on the brakes (skidding). So far Hagerty is saying they will take the estimate I get from the shop of my choice and do the work to get Geico to reimburse them. Pop - I had heard that if you don't have injury in a fender bender, don't bother calling the police - now I see why I'd heard that before. Oh, I wouldn't give Geico one dime of my money. They are the turkeys that give police departments radar and ladar equipment (not to mention bailed out a lidar gun manufacturer) for nothing...

I called Hagerty and decided to open a claim with them, to let them deal with Geico on getting it fixed correctly. That's what I pay them for anyway - keeping the car's condition protected from things that aren't my fault, but someone else's. Now to see if I can get the body/paint guys that did the car to fix it now... Get ready for one of my rants on the local police... No, MD doesn't require that we file a police report. If this can be handled without it, I will be happier. The less I deal with the local county police the better. As I always do, I just yesterday yelled "get a real job!" to them as I passed by the 4 patrol cars in the speed trap on the highway less than a mile from where I live and this accident happened. All these guys care about is giving speeding tickets. I've gotten my share. My guess is that they are in league with the MD highway admin who sets the speed limits ridiculously low around the state. It's a huge game that just feeds the county police, government, and insurance company coffers - one I don't care to play into. The governor of MD even hinted to this fact in a letter he wrote to me as to why he DID veto (as I requested) the MD bill that would allow photo radar in the state. His letter said, in effect, "the speed limits are set in a haphazard fashion across the state, and I don't think it's fair to the public to allow them to be enforced with photo radar". That's not a quote, but the gist of his response to my letter asking him to veto the photo-radar bill that MD's state House passed 87/47 and Senate passed 27-19. I hate this state sometimes. I'm definitely out of here once I retire. Howard County is a police state, as far as driving is concerned. There are probably twice as many officers as we need to keep us safe from crime, bad driving, etc. But the government and the chief need money for their coffers, so we have a too-big police force, with too many of them used for speed traps on roads that have too low speed limits. I see speed traps on my 2.5 mile commute at least once a week. Tell me there's not something wrong with that picture! Sure, the guy that hit me made a mistake. But he probably has gotten ridiculous speeding tickets and paid then for that mistake. No need for him to get another ticket - I don't think he's a particularly bad driver, just someone that had other stuff on his mind and wasn't paying attention. That happens to EVERYBODY sometime or another. I care not to make his life even less happy than it is now. He seemed regretful, upset, and his rates will go up, and his old car needs to get fixed. WHo knows, his wife is probably giving him grief about it as well.

Davy - if your car is worth anything at this point, Hagerty may insure it "in-progress". I got mine covered by them just after it was painted, before I trailered it home. I went and took pictures of it just out of the paint booth and they covered it for $20K, just on my word of how much I had in the car (the drivetrain and suspension and wheels were on it) and how much the paint/body work cost. Richard - he knows now. He asked if it was a "dealer car" like a brand new car. I told him "no, it's a 30 year old custom car". He said "oh, like it'll take alot of money to fix it." I said "yes." He was a bit shook up. Of course, having me (6'2", 225 lbs, a bit athletic looking) jump out of the car within seconds of it being hit and cussing (not at him, just as I was getting out and then looking at the car) probably scared the crap out of him - he's a guy that's probably 5-6", not athletic looking. He also seemed to be a pretty nice guy. He seemed more upset than I was by the time we left the scene 15 minutes later. He was probably happy that I didn't want the police there. I didn't see the need - no one was hurt, he seemed legit, and seemed to have valid insurance paperwork. BTW, this is the same stretch of road, not 1 mile from the local county police station that almost CONSTANTLY has speed traps on it. But no fuzz today! Figures. Glenn thought I was jumping out to rip his face off or something. I was just jumping out to see how bad it was - my only thought at that instant was - "$HIT! how bad IS it". I was glad to see it wasn't very bad, considering. It could have been MUCH worse. Seconds earlier, a car passed from the rear on our left at 60+ mph. We were LUCKY, all considered. Yeah, his fault and all, but I've done similar stupid stuff. Like following only 4 car lengths behind a minivan at 35 in the rain, and seeing the minivan (without the driver every touching the brake pedal) swerve right and JUST miss rearending a stopped car. My poor judgement left me holding the bag - I hit the brakes as soon as that van swerved and I saw the stopped car - but I couldn't slow enough (and there was traffic, I didn't think I could swerve safely) to not cream it with my heavy 76 Cutlass. I got the ticket, I got the judge who didn't care about my story and let it stand. I got the years of increased insurance premiums. The minivan driver, probably never even looked back and saw it happen. I hold the minivan driver somewhat responsible, but I should have left more room in front of my car. But at least I was paying attention!!!

bad stuff happens (well not horrible, no one was hurt!) I even feel guilty mentioning this, seeing as what happened 4 years ago today... But it was a somewhat momentous occasion. It seems Glenn (gmmcoy383) is always around when the neat stuff happens with me and my Z! The fact that he was there today, probably kept me from being in a different mood where I might have screamed at the driver who ... wasn't paying attention and hit the brakes too late (and didn't try to use the several lanes on either side of my Z he could have to avoid the collision) : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Like I was telling my kids, no one was hurt, it's just metal and paint! I'll probably wait until the adjusters have looked at it and get under there and replace the tank with the one I got from Doug a while back but haven't bothered to install - thank goodness! After all, this puppy won't be sitting in any body/paint shop when my Friday At The Track happens on November 4th! Good news - no one was hurt, the car is drivable, the driver has insurance and by 3 hours after the accident the insurance company had called me back with a new claim number and said they'd be paying to fix my car. I can probably have the shop that fixes the car just cut the ends off of the stock center bumper section that I used for the custom bumper and weld them to a new center and have it dechromed and painted. I don't think the 1/4 panel needs to be replaced - just some hammer, dolly and plastic filler ought to fix it - that'd be preferable to having the entire quarter replace, IMO. Bad news - the insurance company is Geico, only uses certified auto repair shops (probably no one that just does custom paint and body work). I'm sure I'll be hassling with them to get them to return the car to it's previous condition. As Glenn pointed out, I'll probably have to play hardball with them. I'll pull Hagerty in to see what services they can provide to help get it done right. Ultimately, I want a check from Geico that matches what my body/paint guys that originally did the car want to fix it. Glenn did have to pry the plate that bolts into the wheel well in front of the filler hose away from the tire. The tank is a different shape now, but probably still holds near the same volume - just farther forward a bit . Oh, more good news. With Glenn driving and me messing with the fuel map on the MegaSquirt, the car is running much better.

Seems like Mike kZ is always helping out. Like helping me get around his area to buy parts and helping fix stuff! Glad to hear it's going well and another HybridZ-spawned car lover relationship has been born!

AWESOME! (more awesome than Datsun used to advertise, in fact ) 75-80 Drag-a-way? Dude, you MUST call me if your are going again! 240-228-7416 at work. I'm 1/2 hour from there! Too bad they're supposedly closing it (freaking whining people who moved in to developments around there!!!) Scottie, thanks for the tips - I thought running the rear Illuminas soft would help the weight transfer, but I'll try 5 there, 1 front. Oh, do you mean bias ply in the front with ET Drags? Because they are bias plys and you shouldn't mix?

I beg to differ on saying that raising the inner pivot point of the control arm by a certain amount (say 3/4") is the same as installing the misnamed "bumpsteer spacers" of the same thickness. I believe the following to be true. (A) The "bumpsteer spacer" lower both the ball joint and the tie rod end by the same amount. What that does for a lowered car is return the control arm and tie rod angles to near where they are stock, and returns you to a similar at-rest area of the original bump steer curve. ( Raising the inner pivot for the control arm CAN bring the 2 lines that (1) connect the inner and outer control arm pivots and (2) connect the inner and outer tie rod pivots, into a more parallel relationship, which CHANGES the bump steer curve. Raising or lowering just the outer tie rod end with spacers can have the same effect. The bumpsteer curve on the Z can be a good bit "curvy". If it's too bad, you'll feel it as bumpsteer as you go around a turn and hit elevation changes that move the wheels up and down. The "bumpsteer spacers" just move the location of the "at-rest" position in the existing bumpsteer curve. Only the solutions in paragraph ( (as well as modifications to the location of the ball joint and steering rack height) can change the SHAPE of the bump steer curve. If a car has bad enough bumpsteer, this is what you would want to do, by making the bumpsteer curve have most likely less variation as the wheels move through their vertical travel.

Why stay with only 5.0 L if you're going to a V8? I'd do a stroker 351 (377) or a 383, 406, or 434 SBC Gen I, or a 427 LS1 if you really have the dough.

Thanks, John! Testing.... BRAKE_______________DRY BOILING___WET BOILING__SUGGESTED FLUID_______________POINT (F)_____POINT (F)____LIST PRICE AP SUPER 600________590___________410__________$18.00/16.9oz. CASTROL SRF_________590___________518__________$69.99/33.8oz. NEO SUPER DOT 610___610___________421__________$15.00/12oz. MOTUL RACING 600____593___________420__________$15.00/16.9oz. MOTUL DOT 5.1_______509___________365__________$6.50/16.9oz. ATE SUPER BLUE______536___________392__________$11.99/33.8oz VALVOLINE SYNPOWER__503___________343__________$4.97/16.9oz. ATE SL______________500___________329__________$7.95/16.9oz. CASTROL LMA_________450___________311__________$3.50/16.9oz. AP 551______________528___________288__________$12.50/16.9oz.

COOL! I have the parts for the EDIS, except for a trigger wheel, but plan on going to MSnS-E, so go ahead and send me your MSnS-E .msq file too! Thanks!

SWEET! Don, could you email me your .msq file? It ought to be a good match for my 406, once I change the # of injectors, etc. The VE map is what I'm most interested in. Low 11s and 19mpg - that's pretty impressive!

Don, thanks for posting that! I'm fumbling along trying to get my 406 MS-I map even close. Even though yours isn't 8x8, I can still use it to come close by just leaving some rows and columns out here and there. Can you provide specs on the engine? Compression? Heads? Flow? Cam specs? Headers? Size? Exhaust? Thanks! Pete

Yes, the large journal 327 (and the 307, same journals, stroke) crank will drop into a 350 block, no problem. To build a 302, you could use the 283 crank (which were all small journal) in a 350 or large journal 327 block, and use bearing spacers. Nothing wrong with them if done correctly.

Well, I continued to see water dribbling out the lower studs/nuts. And the water kept disappearing from the recirculation bottle - more than I'd think would be taken up by any initial water pockets. Drained the oil pan and found that I had a dark chocolate milkshake in there! Ugh. I pulled the #1 rod bearing cap. No really bad damage, the bearing babbet looks a bit polished in a few places is all. I don't believe it's enough to open the clearance. I decided that if that rod was o.k., the rest of the rods were probably fine as well as the mains. If not, I'll just have to pull it later and rebuild it. THAT will really piss me off if I have to do that! I've pulled the heads and put in head bolts with permatex non-hardening sealer on the threads - that's always worked for me in the past. I'm doing a pressure leakdown test on the cooling system at the moment. It looks o.k. ARP really pisses me off about this. This is SUCH an known problem that the internet is full of it and the machine shops say it happens all the time. The guy at the local speed shop said he learned this lesson on a 502 he built. My feeling is that they should advertise head studs as "race only, you may get water in the oil" or impliment instructions and a good sealing compound like that "LocTite 567 PST Pipe Sealant With Teflon (very important and not very expensive!)" quoted in the Turbobuick's tech page that Scottie pointed to. Of course, I'm partly to blame, going for all the go-fast parts. I was trying to save the threads in the block, to tell you the truth. I've had problems in the past with the threads getting worn and worried about stripping out the threads. The only GOOD reason for going to studs is if you have an aluminum block, or are puttng more combustion pressure into the cylinders than bolts should be used for - like the GN motor when boosted well beyond stock levels. But ARP needs to AT LEAST advertise these stud kits with some caveats, and put them in the instructions. What they ought to do is come up with a better procedure and sealant.

Let me just say that I have a 327, bored .030", then with 10K hard miles on it (very rich carbs, washed the cylinders). It may clean up with a hone. But I'm in Maryland. I'll be pulling the heads off of it soon, the my 400 has my attention right now. I won't go into whether you should build it or not - that's preference.

BEAUTIFUL 240Z! That is one of the cleanest swaps I've ever seen, if not THE cleanest! The power - that's impressive! Can't wait to hear the 1/4 times! Wish I could see the vid - streetfighter is down...

I used the 5 smaller tabs, PN 12378254. They are part of a current TSB for an intake manifold leak on some Chevy products. So a Chevy dealer should have plenty in stock. Here's a link to some info on one of the bulletins. http://www.impalahq.com/HowTo/CoolantLeak.html I've read several places that if you just drop them in the radiator tank or hose, the crushing operation isn't needed. That's done in that bulletin because you're putting the pellets in the expansion tank of those cars, and if you don't crush them first, the small lines from the tank can clog. That's net wisdom, for what it's worth. More stuff from googling: http://www.flashoffroad.com/Diesel/No8Cyl/CrackedBlock.htm WOAH. Fixing a pinhole leak in a cylinder wall with ginger root and almond shells? Crazy! Here's GM Tech Links article about them: http://www.gmtechlink.com/images/issues/mar04/TLMar04e.html#story7

Congrats!

EXACTLY why I think our FAQs should NOT have links. This engine weights listing should be an FAQ. The link to Dave William's site may be one of the few places I'd want to see a link - that's because I personally know Dave and could always track down his latest version. {Heh, the link I posted above is DEAD for Dave's site - I'll get the latest location from him.... ....Fixed now (see my first post above)...} BTW, I'll forward this thread to Dave - he may want to add some of the new info to his table.

IMO, ARP is at fault here. There instructions only say to clean the (shipping) oil/coating off the threads of the studs and to clean the threads in the block and use ARP thread sealer. I did all of that religiously. It's obvious that I'm not the only one who's followed their procedure and had leaks. Their procedure is not any good at keeping leaks at bay, and needs to be revised, as well as their thread sealant (which looks VERY MUCH like typical white teflon sealant you get in the hardware store). The "Seal Tabs" fixed my only for a day or so, and I worry about heater valve clogging or jamming, since this part has a weak seal even new and tends to seap ever so little. I'm amazed at the vegetable technology that enables the seal tabs to work, but it still seems like a band-aid to me. The proper sealant and procedure is out there (as Scottie linked to) so that should be what is done. Scottie, thanks for the pointer to that article. Can we get permission from your turbobuicks buddies to copy the content here to our FAQs? I prefer to have the content local, not just a bunch of links. We would of course show the link to where it came from and attribute it to their site, author, whatever.

Took me a while to find this thread, but I KNEW Scottie had trouble with a head stud seaping coolant. Exactly what I found today while getting an initial idle tune on the VE map of the megasquirt (now running an Innovate! Motorsports LC-1 WBO2). I used ARPs thread sealer on the studs - plenty of it. That didn't keep all of them from leaking! I just got back from the Chevy dealer with the PN 12378254 "Cooling System Seal Tabs". I hope they work, as I don't want to be pulling the head. The local machine shop says this is common with head studs and they have always worked for them. I don't use Dex-Cool, so it should be o.k. Anyway, the newer formulations of Dex-Cool and the cooling system seal tabs are supposedly compatible with each other. The dealer parts guy mentioned they use them as part of a TSB on an intake manifold leak - I didn't ask what engine that was. If that doesn't do it, I'll get some yamaseal and tear her down. The mailman (who's a gearhead with a nice SBC 67 Nova) said the car (with the 406) sounds like it has a big block now . He wants to replace his little 327 with a 400 now.

Looks like an FAQ. Cyrus, want to take all the info here and format it nicely for the FAQ forum?

Editted, organized, condensed. That's what an FAQ response should be, IMO. That thread seems to have some great info - the problem is it's not readable as a Question - Answer or is it organized to be a Primer. Not throwing stones, Doug, just saying that I'd like to see this forum as a nice clean set of questions/answers or primer on specific topics. There's a ton of good threads on this site - they need to be editted down to a readable format and offered up as an FAQ submission for this forum. Thanks!

Just a start - taken from jeremio's site: "Typically the Chevy 350 block is used. This block can be configured as a 305, 327, 383 and many other combinations (283, 302, etc) depending on the crank, rods and pistons used. Both the Scarab and JTR conversions use this block. The last year of production for this engine was in the 1999 Chevy and GMC trucks and heavy SUVs. The last Car application was the 1997 FBody (Camaro/Firebird) LT1. Starting with the 1997 Corvette and the 1998 FBodies, followed by the 2000 model Trucks, GM switched to a completely redesigned "modular" engine family called the LS1. In Corvettes and Camaros, the block casting is aluminum and in the trucks it is iron. All of the engines, a 4.8, 5.3, 5.7 and 6.0 liter, have aluminum heads and "composite" plastic intakes. Though the displacement numbers are similar to the previous generation engines, the mounting positions are different. Therefore the normal JTR (and Scarab) mounting methods will not work with these engines. So there is no "kit". It is also important to keep in mind that the rear of these blocks are different as well, such that there is no transmission interchange. There are distinct versions of the automatic 4L60E and the manual T56 for these blocks that are not interchangeable with the old style (LT1, for instance) engines, and vice/versa." Also, there is this stuff, from Zhome.com, but mostly compiled by our own PaulR, some of it from old z-car mailing list traffic by me and others from the early 90s: http://zhome.com/rnt/v8.html