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I figured it was about time to start my thread on my 240Z that I've been building for a few years.... To start the background on the Z; I found it on ZCar.com in central Florida however it did live half it's life in Texas. Pictures looked pretty decent for a 72 and mostly unmolested. It had recent paint, classic hubcaps and upgraded 280Z block; 5spd and R200 diff transplant. After reviewing the pics and video, I made up my mind to commit to this one. The 175/70-14 donuts were so bad; they almost looked like original tires but what the hell, she was going to be a track car- right? I contacted the owner and found a flight on Jet Blue to Orlando for $99. I flew down on Saturday morning and my old boss picked me up at the Orlando airport and we drove over to check it out. Everything was as expected, nothing to make me fly back to Charlotte today. I did cut some of the fuel line and re-tighten some of the clamps just in case. Paid the guy and drove off to Charlotte. Car ran great up to Columbia where I stopped to see family and take a break from the drive. The biggest problem was the exhaust leak but with both windows down, wasn't too bad ~ Hit the house about midnight that night but she ran great and no issues. I drove her for about a year before the planning stages began. My last 240Z I built was 12:1 high compression L28 that I built back in 93 with forged pistons, floating pins; cam and all the fixins... L28's are pretty good but have limits and are still iron blocks. Looking at other alternatives; I started looking at RB swaps. The biggest issue I found was going to get parts for them, but wasn't a huge issue considering our global transportation system and JDM suppliers on the west coast. You can get a RB engine and wiring harness pretty decent price but then you want to get bigger turbo (s) and all the fixins...Some say the RB26 has too much power and RB25 is better...both can put out gobs of power and take your paycheck just as easy as making that power. There's some good suppliers of RB swaps these days too like McKinney. Then I started looking at VQ swaps like A Hoke. I like the idea of staying in the family but it wasn't that important- Weight and power were the main requirements. There were some VQ swaps out there that look pretty good but then I started looking at the power and decided no VQ35. Hmmm, what about VQ37? still pretty new and prices were still pretty high for a VQ37 with tranny and harness. I started to think about the old american love of sticking a V8 in a small foreign car like Carol Shelby. Why not? The SCARAB was our answer to this question. But the early generation small block engines were heavy and not what I was looking for in a car to track. After seeing Dave Palarmo's LS1 240Z at the 2008 ZCON @ mid-ohio I thought that was a nice setup. Doing some research on it; the LS engine is a few pounds different than the L28. Buying a LS1/T-56 combo was easy to come by but many of them have oil issues (lack of owner responsibilities in changing the oil) and ragged out / tranny issues with hard shifting over 80K+ miles on most of the combo's. Started looking at the various LS engines and options. The F-Body SS Camaro's and Firechickens were around and running car would cost about 4-6K depending on the condition. Better the condition the better the care I thought...THen started looking at wrecked GTO's for LS2 engines with lower miles. About the same in price. I put the word out and found an LS6 at the right price. A fellow track junkie and known around the circles; I was pleased to find this beast with about 4800 miles on it and already had a hot cam installed. So off to the rodeo I went. I started to strip down the Z and for the past three years- due to three crazy kids, wife and job...I'm "almost done!" kind of...at this point I'm just ready to get her started and shake out a few things- mainly what is left to do: Run brake lines (MC to wheels all aorund) Finish fuel lines (today?!?) Dash decision - Aluminum or stock (going twords aluminum to just do it...) wire it up Radiator Exhaust Battery wires THE LIST [Drivetrain] LS6 Engine - Fuel Injected with cable throttle body. T-56 Magnum- Enough to hold 600 HP. - Stock will not work (for long) Q45 / CV shafts. Driveshaft shop Aluminum driveshaft DXD dual friction clutch Interior Roll bar Auto-Meter guages Start switch Battery relocation / lighter battery Exterior ZG flares BRE spoiler [Chassis] Bad Dog Racing full frame rails New floor pans Stripped and painted underpan Stripped and painted front clip [Fuel] Fuel cell - 16 gal Summit circle track Russell Fittings Bosch 44 fuel pump Speedway LS conversion regulator For now- stock fuel rail [suspension] TTT rear lower control arms Coilovers - Koni Shocks Quick steering couplers / bump steer spacers TTT T/C rods TTT Lower Control Arms [brakes] AZC Wilwood on all 4 corners (6/4). Heavy Duty Rotors SS Lines all around Wilwood 1" MC 280Z Booster Pics attached... Thanks to Matt Isbel and Mike Kelly for inspiration as well as the countless hours on HYBRIDZ allowing me to second guess everything and upgrade upgrade upgrade... This is my first real track car so I'm sure I've screwed up somewhere- feel free to tell me -much of this has been a great learning experience from restoring cars since I was a kid helping my Dad to what I've built to date. So far I'm really happy and wish I could be ready for ZDAYZ but looks like that's out this year- Hope to get her to CMP this summer... Right now, I'd like feedback on the fuel setup - how much fuel starvation will I have and do I need to sump it? Any concerns with my setup like heat soak or fuel starvation issues I can avoid? Thanks in advance for the feedback
