DavyZ

I sold my '65 Ford Galaxie on ebay. The winner was from the midwest and claimed that his tuck's transmission broke down before he could pay me. He gave me $100 for my trouble to relist and to keep me from trashing his feedback. I sold the car to the guy most interested in the car (most emails and most polite too) at my "buy it now price," outside of ebay. Awkwardly, it worked. Davy

Yes, but 1) lower polar moment of inertia due to the lower deck height of the V8 and 2) as good or better front/rear balance if you install using the set-back position (JTR). What you didn't mention is if the engine is fitted with things like aluminum heads, intake, valve covers, waterpump, etc. All those things save a lot of weight. The TH350 trans is stout, I'm sure, but as long as you don't do any highway cruising, you'll be OK, otherwise it'll rev too high for sustained highway use. Are you going to post some pictures? Davy

I'm just surprised he didn't lock the doors of the van with the key inside and then go & confront the goons....with a bat of course. To say that I would be mad in a similar situation would be an understatement. Glad those chumps are going to jail, though! Davy

Man, sorry to hear you sold your hybrid, but at least you have a super nice ride that will last a while, hopefully with no problems. Maybe someday you'll get bored and come back to an older Z. Good luck with the new changes in your life. Davy

Good luck, Doc. I hope what gets done is in Bryce's best interest. Sounds like he knows what he needs and what he wants. Good enough for me! I wish you the best! Davy

...For the seller. That's why I don't believe in OEM stuff. I can almost buy a set of wheels for that. I mean, I'm happy EVO-Jet is getting some coin for the them (they are original and beautiful), but I can't stomach paying that much for any hubcaps. I am the King of Cheap. Davy

Hope you protected yourself on your birthday Davy

You don't mess around getting things done, do you, Wayne? Engine looks maaaavelous Davy

That was very impressive. I haven't seen that before, so now I will have to try it out!!!! Davy

My thoughts exactly. I do think that would look the most cool, plus you are turning it into a 2 door which is more sporty LOL! If you could swing it (and it won't be cheap), having the doors combined like you mentioned would look completely insane! Oh yeah, I really like the bully dog in the pics--too cool One more thing, make sure you get a picture of yourself and the dog in the car when you're done--both of you wear shades...it'll be car magazine material for sure! Davy

The progress looks really good! I think your cage/frame is certainly stout enough--can you say rigidity? I also am impressed by the design of the headers. The welds are not pretty looking, but probably more than functional and not ground yet, so no biggie. This car will deserve a place in CarCraft or Hot Rod for sure. I love this "little" project Davy

I have driven both Ford 302 and Chevy 350 powered Z cars. The Ford was very well sorted out and beautiful, but no more impressive than the Chevys. Granted this is seat-of-the-pants testing, but I was happy I am going with the 350 Chevy as my power plant. I agree with Pete that 200 lbs is a bit of a stretch between the two engines. I'm unconvinced it's that much...it certainly doesn't feel like that in the handling area. Davy

Extremely innovative DIY, yet very nice looking at the same time. I like the route you took to complete this set up. I'm at the "parts-are-collecting-dust" time of my own build. It looks like you knocked this out in a very reasonable amount of time. Your hard work certainly paid off. Please blow a piston...for me Davy

Yep, it's funny that 3 inches of snow in Waxhaw is enough to shut down the schools, but it is! My kids enjoyed the day off on the back of a three weekend no less and were out and about in the snow, sledding, making snowpeople, etc. Fun watching then, but I had to work, grrrr. Davy

I thought it could be Richard Hammond and he just traded off with some other guy when they both had to appear, but after seeing Hammond drive a bit (he's not too bad actually) I changed my mind I agree that the best thing is not knowing--that's part of the fun; like Santa Claus. Ultimately, though, it just doesn't matter Davy

http://www.e85refueling.com/locations.php?resultpage=1&state=gaGeorgia Wayne, before you go changing anything, look at all the sites GA E85 sites first. I don't see anything in Albany doing a simple Google search. The only one there I see is "private." Maybe there is something close to you though. I was mentioning the E85 since it may save you money in the long run, especially if locally available, because I have been reading about guys making BIG power with the stuff. I figure that paying $1.80 or so a gallon for E85 is better than paying $7+ for race gas. I have a SC station close to me that sells E85, so for me this is an option. I may or may not do it, but I have to obtain an EFI system first. Davy

I really like this install. The gauges are black and look great illuminated. I also really like your solution to the turn signal indicators. Great work! Davy

*GASP* Those are some very BIG numbers on the race gas! Cripes! Any desire to make the engine run on E-85 instead of race gas? We have one local station here that I know of that sells the stuff, so I don't know about availability in your neck of the woods. Race gas is sooo expensive compared to E-85. I know E-85 has it's drawbacks, but it's cheap in comparison. Of course, if this is a track only car, it doesn't matter much anyway. Davy

Clive, I certainly respect you for asking the question on the forum and listing your plan on the whole matter. I have been in the mortgage/appraisal industry for about 17 years. I sold my home in the SF Bay area for way more than it was worth and ended up moving to NC due to a job change, which allowed us to purchase two very nice homes outright. I happened to be in the right place at the right time, but having restraint in choosing our purchases was a wise thing because we basically have no debt now. So where am I going with this? Read on... Mayolives is basically telling you the overall status of real estate in general. He's right about the values being lower than they have been in years and that now may be a very decent time to buy. Jim brings up another very good point that you should consider before jumping the gun---"wait until the values start going back up before buying..." This is extremely good advice. I bought my first house in 1995, right when the values just started going back up after being stagnant after the real estate market crash in Dec 1989. My equity built up until my home had tripled in value in 12 years. We did out best not to leverage or refinance (unless for a significantly lower rate) or cash out---instead, we did our best to pay off the house. This resulted in a whopping amount of equity that allowed us to make the purchases we did in 2007. So what does this mean? Basically, you are setting yourself up correctly, but the timing should be right. We don't know what the housing market will do for the next few years. You may have 3-5 years before things start happening again (like what happened in from '90-'95). The economy may be stagnant or dip down further, but I doubt it will actually improve (I have no faith in our government to make choices that will actually help, no matter who is in office, but let me drop the politics!) so please take heed and be very patient with your purchase. Stay in the market on paper and look for the right opportunity at the right time. Make sure you do NOT leverage yourself too much or at all and see what you can do about paying off your bills/debt. You'll be freer and better off in the long run. Just my opinion. Davy

Another great documentary from you Great post! I think Yasin also had an install write up, but I somehow remember that his was on his ZX (?!). Great post! Davy

Although I do think this one looks better with the flares on his car tho, Paul Davy

Hey Wayne, let us know how you like that Edelbrock system over the Massflo EFI. I'm curious to see which you like better and why. I'm still in the market for a system (although some money would help me purchase one ) and I am always looking at what the latest aftermarket has to offer. Nice work on this new motor BTW. What do you predict the HP figures to be? Davy

The drawings are a pdf link near the end of his website pages; the top of the page is entitled "Drawings." Very slick! Davy

This one is going to be AWESOME! Those wheels & tires are huge---it'll look so mean I can't wait Davy

James, the cheapest way out, in my humble opinion, is to pull a 280Z rear pumpkin from a local junkyard and do the swap. It's rather easy and there are threads upon threads to cover whatever problems you may encounter. Most 280Z diffs are 3.54 ratios, which is much better than your 4.11 gears for what you have. You may be able to sell the 4.11 pumpkin on ebay or Craigslist to some kid that wants the low gears for drag racing or something... Davy