Phantom Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 (edited) Here are two historically significant LS1 powered Z's. The one on the left is owned by Phantom and was the development mule used by John's Cars, www.brokenkittly.com, to develop the first commercially available component kit for the swap into the S30 body. The one on the right is the one that Grenade 300 used to developed his install manual for the JCI components. It is now owned by DarthZ and has already been significantly modified and is slowly getting a wide body kit grafted on. These cars are owned by father & son and now reside in Washington state. Edited October 24, 2011 by Phantom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 More pictures please!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h4nsm0l3m4n Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 One thing thats always interested me is why John only opted to use the large bracket and factory engine mount on the driver side of the motor when designing the mounts. There is far less "stuff" on the passenger side of the car so I dont immediately see why a similar mount would not fit. Just curious if you have any insight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUNNY Z Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 One thing thats always interested me is why John only opted to use the large bracket and factory engine mount on the driver side of the motor when designing the mounts. There is far less "stuff" on the passenger side of the car so I dont immediately see why a similar mount would not fit. Just curious if you have any insight This. There are far better (and less bulky) options than the god-forsaken clam shell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted October 25, 2011 Author Share Posted October 25, 2011 (edited) RebekahsZ - Let me know what you're looking for picture wise. I've posted quite a few here on this site but can take them of specific areas of interest. As far as the motor mounts go - it's been 8 years since I worked with John to develop the kit. The only thing I remember was the issue with the driver's side to ensure the mount would allow passage of the steering shaft. Not everything done on my car made it into the kit, however. The best example is that mine has a torque tup setup that locks the transmission to the differentialusing a pair of 4 or 5" channel rather than using the rear transmission mount found in the kit. Edited October 25, 2011 by Phantom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Nothing specific. I just like your cars and wanted to see more of them together. You do have a couple of nice historical pieces. No action required. Congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78 LS2 Z Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 I think I saw your LS-1 car the first time when I was scavenging the "All Z cars" bone yard in Fort Worth several years back....Nice, clean car. I would say it is certainly one of the more recognizable and researched cars on this site, I immediately recognized it and didn't even look for the custom plates for positive ID. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 (edited) 78LS2Z - Yeah - I stuck the old Texas vanity plate on it for the photo. I have a "collector vehicle" plate here in Washington. It was a one-time fee with no renewals for the life of the car. The other nice thing here is that there are no inspections or emissions tests on the east side of the Cascades. The car is finally up for some attention this winter. It's gone 8 years and nearly 35,000 miles with nothing but oil changes and it's starting to make a few interesting noises. Say "Hi" to Jerry for me if you get back by the salvage yard. So when did you start the LS conversion? Edited November 2, 2011 by Phantom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78 LS2 Z Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 I started on my car in 2005 and have been lurking about for some time. I've (just last month) finally got the GTO LS2/T-56 into it's new home. I still have brake lines to run (replacing all lines), finish the exhaust, fab custom driveshaft and get the cooling system installed. I've waited this long, what's another couple of years....Actually I hope to have mine on the road by next summer, still need to paint everything but the engine bay. The maiden voyage will likely be without paint, just primer! Besides body work, what took me the longest was the TT suspension/Q45 rear conversion but the biggest problem is just getting time to do it....I've got everything I need but the radiator and time to do it. You and John's hard work and research is appreciated! This site has saved my life, if it could only save my knuckles... BTW I have the gas tank from your donor 98 LS-1 car, that was somewhat of a pain to get in as well with custom bracketry- but I have room for dual exhausts now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 I started on my car in 2005 and have been lurking about for some time. I've (just last month) finally got the GTO LS2/T-56 into it's new home. I still have brake lines to run (replacing all lines), finish the exhaust, fab custom driveshaft and get the cooling system installed. I've waited this long, what's another couple of years....Actually I hope to have mine on the road by next summer, still need to paint everything but the engine bay. The maiden voyage will likely be without paint, just primer! Besides body work, what took me the longest was the TT suspension/Q45 rear conversion but the biggest problem is just getting time to do it....I've got everything I need but the radiator and time to do it. You and John's hard work and research is appreciated! This site has saved my life, if it could only save my knuckles... BTW I have the gas tank from your donor 98 LS-1 car, that was somewhat of a pain to get in as well with custom bracketry- but I have room for dual exhausts now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 That's neat about the gas tank. It's been waiting for you for 8 years since the motor got pulled for my car. I used the KISS principle on my conversion so I stuck with the stock tank and fuel lines. John used a Y pipe into a single exhaust on the original conversion that dyno'd at 311 HP and 326 ft-lbs torque. A few months later I had it taken out, installed an X pipe and ran duals to the rear but rolled them over to the drivers side into a single muffler in the stock location. I also kept all the stock gauges to keep that aspect simpler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zgeezer Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 RebekahsZ - Let me know what you're looking for picture wise. I've posted quite a few here on this site but can take them of specific areas of interest. As far as the motor mounts go - it's been 8 years since I worked with John to develop the kit. The only thing I remember was the issue with the driver's side to ensure the mount would allow passage of the steering shaft. Not everything done on my car made it into the kit, however. The best example is that mine has a torque tup setup that locks the transmission to the differentialusing a pair of 4 or 5" channel rather than using the rear transmission mount found in the kit. Hey, Phantom, have you posted photos of your torque tube set up? Do I understand your post correctly, you have no rear transmission mount cross-member? How about posting a photo of your transmission/torque tube/ rear differential set up. Thanks, G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthZ Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 (edited) The torque tube idea was cool, but was a real PITA to set up...thus it didn't make it into the kit. We need to crawl under his Z to find a "phantom" noise anyway...will try to take some pics then. I will post a few more pics of the car. I just don't have any of it as it sits right now. Let me know what pics you may want to see of Phantom's car and I can take a few of those as well. His car is really nicely done. FYI. If you live in Texas, John's cars parts out v8 installation work to Larry at www.larrysspeedandcustom.com He is a good guy and the installation work is Very well done and he really cares about his customers. Tell him Eric Davis sent you out from this site. This little bit of info could save you a LOT of money versus going with anyone else for the work and he is already very familiar with our cars as his first work on these cars was with my Dad's set up in 2000 and just completed some work on my car a couple months ago. This was my answer to the exhaust / fuel tank.... The tank can be found here: www.tanksinc.com Edited November 5, 2011 by DarthZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted November 3, 2011 Author Share Posted November 3, 2011 Yeah - I'm in Redfing, CA right now so it will be a while before I can post any pic's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheesepocket Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 The torque tube idea was cool, but was a real PITA to set up...thus it didn't make it into the kit. We need to crawl under his Z to find a "phantom" noise anyway...will try to take some pics then. I will post a few more pics of the car. I just don't have any of it as it sits right now. Let me know what pics you may want to see of Phantom's car and I can take a few of those as well. His car is really nicely done. FYI. If you live in Texas, John's cars parts out v8 installation work to Larry at www.larrysspeedandcustom.com He is a good guy and the installation work is Very well done and he really cares about his customers. Tell him Eric Davis sent you out from this site. This little bit of info could save you a LOT of money versus going with anyone else for the work and he is already very familiar with our cars as his first work on these cars was with my Dad's set up in 2000 and just completed some work on my car a couple months ago. This was my answer to the exhaust / fuel tank.... The tank can be found here: www.tanksinc.com +1 on the Tanks Inc setup. I've put some pics of my tank install elsewhere on this forum, worked great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted November 18, 2011 Author Share Posted November 18, 2011 Here is a view of the back deck area of th4e car. You can see the rear strut tower brace, the Alpine 10" ported subwoofer in a custom enclosure and the Alpine 500 watt amplifier. Looking hard you can see the Alpine head unit. The system has a 1000 microfarad capacitor under the deck behind the drivers seat, a 6 disc CDE changer behind the drivers seat, a pair of 5" round speakers in the stock side panel locations right behind the seats plus there are 6" speakers in each door with 1" tweeters on the A pillars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted November 18, 2011 Author Share Posted November 18, 2011 (edited) I was going through some old drawing folders and came across these photos of the torque tube set-up. They could be more detailed but this is what I have at this point. Edited November 18, 2011 by Phantom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthZ Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 I was going through some old drawing folders and came across these photos of the torque tube set-up. They could be more detailed but this is what I have at this point. Been around the car for years, but never when it was on a lift. Wish i had that torque tube set up. Took a couple pics the other day. See beauty and the gnarly beast below. I also have DarthZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted November 22, 2011 Author Share Posted November 22, 2011 (edited) You can find about 88 photos of various parts of the build here: http://www.photobucket.com/280Z28 Edited November 22, 2011 by Phantom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alainburon Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 You can find about 88 photos of various parts of the build here: http://www.photobucket.com/280Z28 Great pictures and very helpful. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.