pparaska

Speed (Dick) has it right, IMO. If you're on the street, then you probably don't want to be leaving lights dumping the clutch at high rpm, or cruising at high rpm. Unless you grew up on sport bikes. But even still, you'll draw alot of attention driving like that, and probably the wrong kind. If on the track, yeah, it doesn't matter. Except if you don't have your gearing right .... Johnc had a great point about other factors, as well as things not being equal. And on that matter, consider the manual transmissions and ratios available for doing the SBC swap (since that's the object of this comparison). Probably T-56 or Tremec TR-3550/TKO if you are going over drive. They have wide gear spreads, and low first gears. And what rear gears are you really going to put in? 3.545:1 or 3.7:1 most likely, since that's what's available mostly. Sure 4.11:1 is available, and so is 3.90:1, but not very easily found. I can tell you that my lumpy cammed 327 climbing the hill after turn 3 at the NHIS road course last week could have used some more TORQUE below 4500 rpm in 3rd gear. It kicked in there. Sure, I could have revved it further in 2nd, but I didn't want to rev it to the moon, and it didn't run well above 6000rpm anyway (a Holley Projection problem). But I wouldn't want to hear it do that much anyway. I did have to drive it 450 miles home . Under load, with the SAME driveline parts, the 383 will tweak the 327's nose. Climbing that hill after turn 3, I had visions of my 406 on the engine stand. Sure, I could pull away from even some modded 300ZXTTs, but I wanted to feel like I was ROCKETING up that hill. The 406 would have helped that. And how often do we really get the optimal parts setup (engine,trans,rear gears, etc.) anyway?

Check my post about my experiences at the track at the convention last week. There was at least one 3.2L stroker L6 that I couldn't close the gap on with my 327 V8Z. His car is stripped a good bit (Tony's) and mine weighs 2800 with A/C, 3/4 tank of gas, and all but a few bits of carpet installed. I will grant you that I'm still having some tuning problems with the Holley Projection, but I doubt it's more than 30 HP from where it should be. If you're going V8, don't expect to kill nearly everything on the street unless you build it for 400hp or more at the crank. JMO.

I knew that - just returning the play...

Kevin, that was very well put. Those 305 AFR heads were part of that engine's success. Heavy Z, that's a great point. With the 6.209" rods and the 3.25" stroke, and a block at the standard 9.025" deck height, a 1.19" compression height piston would be needed. That's a fairly tight ring package. But not as tight as the 1.125" comp height my 6" rodded 406" engine has. It's a trade off though - less side load from longer rods vs tilting of the piston due to the short compression height. I doubt I'll get more than 50,000 miles out of the 406 before something else goes in anyway (Like an LS6).

Art, did you notice the amount of gray hair I have? My memory misses about as bad as my V8 was the night of the drags. Art was there at the show, the drags, the track day. I had a good time talking with him and giving him a hard time. He's just so fun to kid around with. Sorry, Art. I always forget to mention someone. Don't take it personally . My drag racing adventure was pretty dissappointing. Thanks for hanging with me - much appreciated. I wish I had a dollar for every time that week that some young person asked what kind of car it was and then looked stumped when I told them it was a Datsun!

Being an admin has it's priviledges - like unlocking locked threads . Don't ever take silence by the mods as a vote for or against someone's thread. I was busy as h3ll at work last weekend and at the convention this past week - just got back on HybridZ today. L6 people add to this site as muc hor more than V8 people. Without the L6 racers we wouldn't have many of the chassis, suspension and braking experts that we have now. And we wouldn't have many of the turbo experts that we have now.

Joe (rags here on HybridZ) agreed with a comment I made to him the other day at the Convention track event - 327s seem to be pretty detonation resistant even with 5.7" rods. I've had a few in the 10:1 and 10.5:1 compression region with lopey cams and double hump heads and I've NEVER had a problem with detonation on 93 octane.

Matt, if you notice in the Pict#4 (For larger view, click here:) http://home.comcast.net/~pparaska/image/drivelinemods/front_diff_mount_installed_highlightedv.jpg that shows my front crossmember for the rear a-arms, my diff isn't mounted to that crossmember at all. In fact, just above that crossmember you can see the bolt heads of the bolts that go up into the Ron Tyler designed diff mount. The bolts go through the bolt holes in a Chevy transmission mount (TH350, etc.) that is has it's stud going through Ron Tyler's u-shaped diff mount. More info here: http://www.home.earthlink.net/~rontyler/diffmount.html and here: http://home.comcast.net/~pparaska/drivelinemods.htm#Differential_Front_Mount Ron lists these as the advantages of this method of diff mounting: - No more torn bushings. - No more vibratons under acceleration from the diff lifting. - Allows you to adjust the pinion angle to a more desirable position for V8 swap My Z has 6000+ miles on it since the conversion. And quite of them under full throttle, some on the street, some at the drag strip, some on the road course. No driveline vibration has ever been noted. And no breakage of the driveline.

zbobo - did I meet you there? I met rags (Joe), his dad, baracu (Lu), Dave Weitz, his 510 buds Lou and Keith, Roostmonkey (Brad), Jaun of JSK, and maybe others?

I seriously doubt that if any Honda STREET CAR is revved to the 9000 rpm range very often, and kept there long enough to make it accelerate well, that it would last 200,000 +miles. BTW, The S2000 was just redesigned due to too many complaints of it's power band being too high in the rpm band.

And there's a problem with this? <BSEG>

I have to agree - Compression. Cam as well. More exhaust duration, later exh closing will add to the bark. I heard a 421 SBC in a 68 Camaro today. The owner claims it should run 9.50s in the 1/4. All motor, no NOS, etc. He claims 14.5:1 compression. Idles at 2500 rpm. Now that thing barks! The compression can be heard in the exhaust note.

Yeah, I know it's a bit out of context, but the issue isn't how the engine is mounted to the Z's stock motor mount perches on the crossmember, but how much weight is actually put on those perches. Using the JTR set back plates moves the center of gravity of the engine/trans 3-4" rearward over the Scarab position, and that moves the center of gravity of the engine trans back that far as well.

There are no stupid questions and there are no unimportant members here. Nuff said. Glad you found your home and your model of car!

I still have no Tunes in my Z other than the solid lifter valvetrain noise, Pete Jackson "quiet" gear drive whine, and the dual exhaust . But I'll probably throw an ancient radio/cassette into the car for the trip up and back to the Convention next week - 7 hours is a long drive with just the engine sounds.

As with most topics, this has been done before. Check this out: http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4472&start=0

My experiences echo all that's been said so far. My exhaust: http://home.comcast.net/~pparaska/exhaust.htm Hooker block huggers (1-5/8" primary, 2.5" collector) 2.5" mandrel bent pipe throughout Dr. Gas 2.5"x2.5" X-pipe just below the back of the trans duals to the rear left side (2.5") Two Dynomax Hemi Super Turbo mufflers (center in, side outlet) right at the bumper It' idles with a low rumble (deep burble), not too loud, but not quiet. At cruise, there is no drone, except down around 1700rpm, but I don't cruise there much. It has what I'd call an enjoyable, not-too-loud even tone. At 1/2 to WOT in the 2500 rpm and above, it sounds like a lightly muffled NASCAR. That's the X-pipe. Scott, this sounds like exactly what you want! I need to get a digital capture of my exhaust.

Jon, no way - I'm not going to "let you have it". That's what you like, and that's cool! I agree on the big wheel diameter thing. I've learned my lesson about 17s on a Z. I bought them when I thought the extra 10 or 20mm or section witdth that a 17"wheel allows on a stock fendered Z (rear) would be an advantage. The wheels on my car were custom speced by the previous owner (Jim Biondo) to be as wide as possible in the stock fender - 17x9 with coilovers. But a 15 or 16inch wheel with a bit less width and 235 or 245 tires would be better for my triple purpose car (street, road course play, drag race) uses.

Terry, the BlueovalZ is a beautiful car, IMO. You did nothing in the previous rendition (when it was the blue race car) or this street rendition that I consider faddish, bling, etc. You had a vision of what would help functionally (vents above the front tires, laid back radiator, flared body for big tires/wheels) and made it all hang together like the Cobra Daytona did! I love the look of your car - it is devised as a swoopy, integrated race car, that started as a Z. Bill, I agree about high powered Zs needing flares. To get the back end to stick! That's form following function! I just prefer that it's done to look like an integrated mod, like Terry, Van, and others who molded and blended attractive flaring into the rear of the Z. JMO

Yes, tarring an entire group at once (applying a generalization) is always a bad thing to do. Generalizations are never 100% correct. But I have a mode of operation in my life that is counter-culture to some extent. I've always hated fads. I hold people that follow the latest cool thing at arms distance in my relations with them. To me it is unintelligent and non-thinking to just follow fads, especially when they are just to be different or to be accepted by a certain "group". I'm speaking in general here, not specifically about JDM stuff on Zs or other cars. So I have a habit of trying to distance myself from fads so as to not appear like one of the sheople, but as someone who actually thinks for themselves. I may even go as far as to go counter to a fad in my decisions (e.g., flat black, small exhaust outlets, not having short hair, not driving the latest "in" vehicle). There's a little peak into my psyche. Oogling JDM hardware has become a fad in the import scene and the Z community is not immune. Sure, some of it is functional and looks like it should be there. IMO, the Z432 rear spoiler that I have on my Z is one of those pieces - I think it accentuates the rear of the Z's Kamm tail look and also is functional for reducing LIFT at higher speeds that I sometimes hit. (and yes, I realize the Kamm tail is visually appealing to me, and not necessarily aerodynamically efficient.) It also (according to a PhD aerodynamicist we know) may help keep the flow over the back of the car attached better to POSSIBLY help with the exhaust backdraft problem the Z has. Sorry if this hurts anyone's feelings (it shouldn't - it's just my opinion) but bolted on flares look TACKED ON to me, and I think they ruin the smooth flowing lines of the Z. They were developed to allow wider tires and wheels to be bolted onto the racing Zs back in the day. If you talk to the designer, I'm sure he'll say that bolting them on was a practical consideration (as it should be) and while the shape might be aesthetically pleasing to some, the visible bolting is not purely pleasing. Until you get into the whole "lets make it look retro like the old fast race and street Zs in Japan". Nothing wrong with that, but it has less to do with pure aesthetics than it does with "having that look". The G-Nose was also designed to take care of an aerodynamic problem. But I've come to see it as an aesthetic aberation as well. It makes the nose of the Z too long and pointy to be pleasing to my eye. in many cases. It does seem to look better on darker cars, to me anyway. Fender mirrors have always looked strange to me. At a recent Z car show, I got two responses as to why they were put there on Japanese cars. One reason given is that it takes less head and eye movement to take your gander from the road ahead to the mirror when they are forward like that. But the reason that came from a Fairlady expert (Kirk Towner) was more telling - they were put there because in Japan (at that time) taxes on cars were determined in some part by the overall width of the car. The door mounted Z mirror made the Z move just slightly into a higher tax bracket. Putting them forward on the fender (so that you didn't have to look through the A-pillar) allowed the Japanese Z's to be overall narrow enough to move into a lower tax range. Note it wasn't about functionality or even aesthetics - it was about the practical matter of taxes - just like the 2 liter engine size tax break point. These are just my very subjective opinions on what is purely aesthetically pleasing (to me), not taking into account the retro, historical, or period look aspects of how they make the car look. I have no problem with others wanting to put them on, but I think many times people do things to obtain a particular "look" (e.g., historic racing Z car, etc.) and shut their mind somewhat as to what is really purely aesthetically pleasing. This gets to "classic lines", etc.

I know exactly where they came from. I know about 50s and 60s stock and race cars. The "faddish" part was the new following that thinks that because it's JDM, it's "the best", no matter what the brand of car.

thats a great use for a cell phone. get the tag number and description and phone the police.

Tomo, sounds like a great idea, especially if you categorize it and KEEP IT UP TO DATE (i.e., fix broken links or remove them). I'm horrible at that on my links page. BTW, just make a post with a link to your links page and people can do a "save as" on the link to have a copy. Then you could just open that file locally on your computer and the links will still work.

Randy has two good points - you may need to shim the starter - the starter usually comes with directions for this, especially if its aftermarket. The shims are available at most parts stores in the red "HELP!" aisle. Also, Randy's point of a good ground cable is excellent. I am using a Taylor 2 gage positive cable and 2 gage welding cable from the (-) post of my battery to the trans/engine bolt near the starter, along with a big ground strap to the body. This is for a relocated battery, just behind the passenger seat up on the package shelf. I know some think 2 gage is not enough. But with the tiny Dodge Omni/ Plymouth Horizon size battery relocated to behind the passenger seat, a gera reduction starter, and thermal coating on my headers and exhaust, I've never had a starting problem. BTW, those "pedestrian" cheaper Radiation Thermometers (temperature guns) use the Stefan-Boltzman law to back calculate surface temperature W = "alpha" * T*T*T*T (T to the 4th power) W = Radiant Heat flow from the surface over the focused area of the gun "alpha" = emissivity of the surface T= actual surface temperature. The problem is the cheaper guns use a single wavelength focal plane, and must assume an emissivity. They are usually set internally to an emissivity of about 0.90, which is close for many painted and bare metal surfaces. Here are some emissivitys of different materials and coatings: http://www.electro-optical.com/bb_rad/emissivity/matlemisivty.htm The ceramic/metallic coatings like Jet-Hot, etc. have an emissivity of about 0.10 to 0.20. What that means is that they put off 10 to 20% of the radiant heat that an uncoated header would. And their "apparent" temperature when tested with these cheaper RT guns is much lower than the actual surface temperature, because of the gun's manufacturer made the cheaper model guns with an "ASSUMED" hard-coded emissivity of around 0.90. So don't be fooled. However, that low temperature reading does mean something - that the radiant heat off of those headers is now just a fraction of what it would be if the headers were bare, rusted, or painted steel.