Guest Anonymous Posted April 19, 2000 Share Posted April 19, 2000 I finished my front strut towers last night and they came out awesome!!!! I took MK's advice and put in a positive castor of +9.5 degrees. I lowered the height of both towers 1" to further reduce the CG. Struts will be sectioned 3" all around. Ny next question is this....I am going to be running a 383 stroker and want to get the engine as far down as possible. Typical oil pan depth is around 7.5". How shallow of a pan can I have with the 3.75" stroke crank? I plan on making a custom pan that gets the engine very low while keeping a capacity of around 8 quarts. How shallow can this pan be if I include scrapers, windage tray, trap doors, etc??? SpencZ MonsterZ Cont. http://members.xoom.com/SpencZ/index.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike kZ Posted April 19, 2000 Share Posted April 19, 2000 Why don't you set the engine back further then the JTR method so it's behind the front cross member. That way you can lower it as much as you like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted April 19, 2000 Share Posted April 19, 2000 Mike..the front crossmember is no longer part of the picture. I got rid of the whole unit when I cut off the front of the car. The new suspension pickup points are part of the spaceframe and don't require that piece. There is going to be a small crossmember between the pickup points but it won't be getting in the way of the engine like the stock unit does. SpencZ MonsterZ Cont. http://members.xoom.com/SpencZ/index.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted April 19, 2000 Share Posted April 19, 2000 Hey Spencz, lets see some more pics man! Damn I love what you are doing to that car... I hope one day to follow a similar plan, once I have the equiptment to do it! Drax240z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike kZ Posted April 19, 2000 Share Posted April 19, 2000 I know you cut off the front end, but where is your steering rack going to be? How are you mounting your engine, with a plate? What I meant was you can sink the engine between the frame, behind the steering rack crossover to get it lower. As for your crank clearence I'm guessing about 6 inches.But you want to spread the pan out to get it as thin as possible I presume. I think I would go with a dry sump, that way you could do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted April 19, 2000 Share Posted April 19, 2000 More pics will be up after I finish my 24exp roll. I'm at #8 right now so it will be a couple more weeks. Mike KZ...I didn 't mean to sound abnoxious if I came across that way. I am going to mount the rack in back of a forward crossmember instead of in front of a mid-mounted member. I'll try to get a sketch posted on my site in a couple days. SpencZ MonsterZ Cont. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted April 19, 2000 Share Posted April 19, 2000 I second Mike KZ's comments. Regardless of the eventual details of your front suspension, you'll have to have something that spans wheel-to-wheel to accommodate the steering, and it would be great to get the crankshaft pulley behind that something. That makes working on the engine MUCH easier, not to mention the improvement in weight distribution. Will the windshield and A-pillars remain in the stock location? If so, you still have something like 10" of space to set back the firewall, before the distributor cap hits the front windshield lip. That's because of the awfully deep valence panel that Z's have behind the hood, where the windshield wiper assembly is housed. I set back the firewall on my Z by 6 1/4", and even though I run a big block, the crank pulley is just behind the steering rack, and the valve covers are almost completely behind the strut towers. Your setup will have even more room - not to mention advantages like better flow through the radiator, and the opportunity to lower the hood line and solve most of the Z's front-end aerodynamics problems. As for the oil pan, keep in mind that with a low-profile pan, the show stopper will actually be the bellhousing! I have a 9" deep sump, and even so, it's no deeper than the lower lip of the bellhousing, and that's with the lip ground flat. Granted, I'm using a Lakewood "blow-proof" bellhousing, designed for a 14" flywheel - and the OEM T56 bellhousing is probably smaller. But still, before you spend the $2000 for a dry sump or even $400 for a low-profile drag racing oil pan, consider what to do about the bellhousing. You might end up with a [NASCAR?] multi-disk clutch, small flywheel and custom or semi-custom bellhousing. Drag cars get the engine very close to the ground, but they get around the clearance problem by running automatic transmissions with small diameter torque converters (or just clutch packs). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike kZ Posted April 19, 2000 Share Posted April 19, 2000 Hey Michael, when are we going to see some pics of your project! Sound interesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted April 20, 2000 Share Posted April 20, 2000 Take a look at a couple off the roundy round guys catalogs. Speedway has a nice add on to the stock pan, comes with trap doors and if I remember it is about 6 1/2" deep. The other great thing with a pickup and a scraper the kit was 30$ if I remember right. It is designed for the claimer motors and works really well. I've welded a few for freinds and they seem happy. Good luck I love the chassis work so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted April 20, 2000 Share Posted April 20, 2000 Michael, I agree that the bellhousing is a problem, especially with that big Lakewood blowproof piece. I have that also, as you saw when you visited. I too cut the falnge on the bottom, and it is a 1/4" to 1/2" lower than the stock SBC pan. But the oilpan is just behind the front tires, so that when you come off of a speed bump, it can easily get smacked. If the blowproof bellhousing gets smacked, probably there is no ill consequence. But smack the oil pan, and you are more likely have trouble. I've seen just that happen on a JTR'd V8Z. I saw the (Milodon) circle track pan that is 6-1/2" tall, and thought that would be a good alternative, but I worry that it might not be good for RIGHT turns. I don't know what the design looks like, but I'm a bit concerned that it is set up asymmetrically to only hol oil down in LEFT turns. Anybody know? Pete ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project - pparaska@tidalwave.net">pparaska@tidalwave.net - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modern Motorsports Ltd Posted May 7, 2000 Share Posted May 7, 2000 quote: Originally posted by pparaska: Michael, I agree that the bellhousing is a problem, especially with that big Lakewood blowproof piece. I have that also, as you saw when you visited. I too cut the falnge on the bottom, and it is a 1/4" to 1/2" lower than the stock SBC pan. But the oilpan is just behind the front tires, so that when you come off of a speed bump, it can easily get smacked. If the blowproof bellhousing gets smacked, probably there is no ill consequence. But smack the oil pan, and you are more likely have trouble. I've seen just that happen on a JTR'd V8Z. I saw the (Milodon) circle track pan that is 6-1/2" tall, and thought that would be a good alternative, but I worry that it might not be good for RIGHT turns. I don't know what the design looks like, but I'm a bit concerned that it is set up asymmetrically to only hol oil down in LEFT turns. Anybody know? Pete Howdy Pete:-) Good to be chatting w/ you here as well. I've seen a fair number of oilpans now and if it is a left turn only pan as they often say I'm sure what's been done on one side can be duplicated on the other. Hmm, just last night I was cutting up an OE LT1 windage tray to clear my recently modified LT1 pan. Will see how it works. might even install their 'low oil' sensor if I figure out how it works:-) Amzing how my '68 block was almost identical to my '98 block! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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