DavyZ

I agree with you Lone, in that part of the world, it almost makes more sense to go Rover V8 because of better parts availability. The Holden/Chevy/GM is better here for trannies and such, but oh, the power of 5.7L+!!!! Still, the Rover V8 is a tight little engine and can be modified to put out great power. Davy

Pete, I'm inclined to agree with you, but I think that to a certain degree, prudent use of carbon fiber has a "tough" look to it. Yes, the boyracer image comes to mind and I would hate to think that I would be defecting to the rice camp. However, looking at that new Porsche Turbo and all that carbon fiber....I just said, "Yeah Baby!" I figured it would look good. Pete, you brought up valid points on trying to make a business of CFing dashes as a business. I think the only way to go for a business is CF caps over the whole thing. It is more practical, its removable, and most importantly, it's returnable... That said, I spied some "colored" CF (the fake stuff) in Summit Racing's rice catalog. I think that judicial use of it on interior pieces would make a great, albeit strange contrast with the grey CF (the only real color). Anyway, just my $0.02 Davy

quote: Originally posted by JAMIE T: I think the LT1 is an ideal swap engine, and thats for any car, not just Zcars... Great, Jamie, maybe BLKMGK can swap an LT1 into his Mustang!!! lol Davy

Those are fiberglass copies, of course, that you can buy if you look in some of the riceboy magazines. You'll have to cut out the shape in your metal fenders and then graft in the fiberglass piece. Buy a book on working with fiberglass--I'm sure Classic Motorbooks and Barnes & Noble have them. You'll be able to buy the materials from places, just look on the web & use your browser or search engine. Use the search function in this forum and look up all the threads in the past 2 years about fiberglass, read them, and go to work. Or, be prepared to shell out the $$$ to have a body shop do it for you. Davy

Drew, that is a great idea! Hopefully we'll see some pics when you're finished! Nion, I like both kits he has--the boxed flares of the 940Z kit look great, but so do the extreme flares of te 280YZ kit. About headlights, the small projectors from an Acura Integra would work fine. Just use the regular beam lights and mount some driving lights on the grill for brights. Just a thought. Davy

I think looks are very important! That's the only reason why I would put CF on my dash--keep up the good work and let us know how it turns out. I'm sure it'll look great if you take your time. Davy

Scott, that was beautiful Sage advice! Davy

I seriously don't believe that color will make a rat turd of difference with all things considered for our purposes (sorry Oltmann not trying to be nasty, I just couldn't think of anything better than "rat turd" ). As far as painting the engine, Lone is right: get the engine really clean before scuffing it and fogging it. You can use Castrol Superclean on the nasty stuff, or even oven cleaner (keep all these things away from aluminum) and then follow up with lacquer thinner or 3M oil & grease remover, etc. I'd scuff it with a 300 to 400 grit and then wipe it down again with lacquer thinner. Then I'd fog it with some good quality engine paint. I bought some great stuff at the local auto paint & trim shop. It covers very well, looks almost "thick," holds gloss very well, and flows oh so sweetly. Davy [ June 29, 2001: Message edited by: DavyZ ]

quote: Originally posted by pparaska: I think the BRE and Z432 and the 3 piece "70s Camaro" spoiler all do two things: 1) possibly create a stagnant ciculation of air over the aft end of the hatch, allowing the flow to separate from the roof/hatch farther up the hatch than without it, reducing lift...2) Possibly, the Coanda effect creates a negative lift on the aft end of the car. The upward-curved (concave) spoiler entrains the airflow to move upwards, and a force downward results (negative lift). The back edge of the spoiler moves away from the airflow too abruptly and no longer can follow the spoiler's downward slope. Pete, perhaps we can solve this by increasing the length of the rear spoiler (riceboys here we come ) or by decreasing the angle of the "Camaro" 3-piece spoiler? It almost looked like Scottie's rear spoiler was not as angled upward as the typical rear spoiler, but I could be wrong. If you notice, a lot of 1/4 mile drag cars have large, almost horizontal sheetmetal wings. I don't think it takes much of an angle to keep the back end down. Davy

They either epoxy (bond on) on and/or rivet on. Either way works--then usually the "seam" is glassed over to produce a smooth transition from the fender to the flare. Davy

For $1500 the LT1 is a steal and it's coming from a reliable source. It'll get better mileage and be more streetable IMO. Myron, for everyone's information that engine comes with the computer, yes? Davy

Try www.shox.com for a cheap price on suspension stuff. Mike (scca) is great for brake stuff. HTH Davy

Yeah, if the bottom end (block & pistons, rods, etc, are in good working order, keep 'em! Just do the top end stuff that is relatively easy to do and less expensive (heads excluded) to do. If I thought the engine was in overall good shape, I'd leave it alone, with the one exception of the cam and only if I didn't know the specs. I would only replace the timing chain if I knew the miles were high. Just some food for thought. You really don't want to do more work than you have to, because what happens is that the project ends up mushrooming (ask Pete) into a full blown rebuild and restification, which drains time, money, and years of your life. I should take my own advice on this list: 1) get JTR manual 2) get car 3) get engine & tranny 4) get misc things to complete car In a very broad sense, this is the general order in which to do things IMO. I pull that from the advice of others and from my own experience. Again, I should have followed my own advice--but at least I'm learning! David

quote: Originally posted by Craig280z: The caprice has iron heads correct? Won't this produce more horsepower than the aluminum heads? If so, is it enough to offset the weight difference? I guess the weight difference is factor enough in order to keep the handling performance of the car? Craig, the aluminum ones are usually a (much) better design than the stock cast iron ones, so they will make more power. But, all things being equal, I have heard cast iron is better then aluminum. Even if it is, just about anything is better than stock. The 700R4 is more common and larger than the 200R4. Scottie GNZ runs a 200R4 in his V6 turbo Z, and Dave Booth runs a 700R4 in his ZZ4 V8 powered Z. Both are "good" trannies and either will fit the Z. Davy

Dan, it looks like you are going to do a complete rebuild. By the time you are done, you could get more power for less dough if you buy a short block (engine w/o heads) or long block (engine w/heads) from a mail order speed shop like Speed-o-motive or RPM Engines, etc, etc. If you are seriously looking at building a motor, you might want to talk to a machine shop in your area to get prices. My Camaro motor has a good stock bottom end and I don't need to rebuild it yet--I'm keeping that in place and just adding bolt-ons and cam which I can do myself with the help of a book and a friend. I don't know a good definition of TDC, but here it goes: TDC is "top dead center" when piston #1 is at it's highest point and when the intake and exhaust valves are closed. It's in the "firing" position I believe. Double check that, because I don't have a book in front of me. HTH (hope that helps) Davy

Mike, have you been to www.bryanf.com and seen his carbon fiber writeup & pics? Pretty good stuff. I don't think you'll have too hard of a time, just don't get too thick and it'll fit fine. Davy

Donald, welcome to the forum! I'm not a Ford guy, but I think you are on the right track by having the car first, then the engine & tranny. One piece of advice: buy the JTR book even thought it's for Chevy installs--it'll help with many aspects of your conversion. Al (Alsil) has a really good website with a lot of great Ford info. Look for his posts and find the link to his site--read it very carefully. Have fun! Davy

It's pure art I tell you... Davy

Uhh Mike, that's why I don't go to Kragen! J/K

BLKMGK: don't you have coilovers too? I had forgotten Pete had coilovers until Lone brought it to my attention. Now I'm wondering without coilovers, what is the widest tire that can be mounted. I don't have my JTR book here at work, but they mention a 245/50-16 with zero offset or something like that in the rear if one does the spring perch mod. That is certainly something I will do in the future. Davy

quote: Originally posted by KicknZ: Don't mean to throw a wrench in the works but.... I have made some carbon fiber interior parts and considered making a dash as well. However the parts that I made came out so smooth and shiny that when the sun hits them the glare is intense! NOT something you want from a dashboard! Sorry to rain, but it would really bite if you went to all that work and then hated the results.. Fortunately, the first generation Z cars don't have much dash to look down on since the driver's position is down and back somewhat in comparison to say, a Honduh, where you totally see the tops of the long dash--bright sunlight would be a bear to the eyes!! I am also going to pursue the carbon dash idea and I'd like to see how they come out! Good luck Mike! Davy

Well, depending on how far you want to go, there are a couple of things I did to my motor that were mostly bolt-ons: 1)Made sure that the engine was at TDC and then stabbed in a performance cam, lifters, timing set, and pushrods. 2)Installed an aluminum performance intake manifold and Holley carb (still waiting on the carb from MJ) 3)Installed block-hugger headers and nice valve covers. 4)Upgraded my HEI disty by installing an Accel SuperCoil and recurve kit. Performance wires. 5)Got a good deal on ebay for an aluminum waterpump and stainless allen bolts for the whole engine. You can go as far as you want to--I have not purchased heads yet because I can't afford it right now, but that'll do me fine for the time being. When I get new heads, I'll install the performance springs, and Comp Cams roller rockers that I have. I used RedLine assembly lube for the cam & lifters and am very pleased by the tenacity of the lube to retain it's consistency and not run like other lubes do. I highly recommend it. Make sure you follow a very good book's advice when doing modifications and installs, otherwise you may screw something up. Having a knowledgeable friend to guide you is priceless and the work will go much faster. Davy [ June 27, 2001: Message edited by: DavyZ ]

Rich, I totally love that book you ordered. I swear it got me more excited than "How to SBC Racing Engines on a Budget" by Tarant(sp?) and Hawkinson. They don't call David Vizard, "Vizard the Wizard" for nothing! I would love to build a 350 or 377 ci destroked 400 sbc. I know "we should never give up cubes," but man that's a sweet motor. Might be cool just to do something different...on 87 octane no less with decent compression. Have fun building this project motor--it'll be a screamer!!!!! Davy

Yes, you need to post a pick! Body fabrication of any kind--even the seemingly mundane, is interesting to me. It truly personalizes and customizes a car. Pics, pics, pics! Davy

Again, I'm sure anything can be done, but it comes down to time and lots of money. I try to stay away from even looking at Hondas, because I really don't like them. When my car is finished, Hondas will be my whipping boy. Davy