Jim's 1972 240z LS1

[240z72]

DAZ: Thanks for the pics. What are you running up front? Personally I think I will have to do flairs. I havent been able to set the car down on its wheels yet and squat the suspention so we will see.

 

Keith: Ive been trying to get ahold of JTR to see if I can exchange my headders for the ceramic coated ones. I also aborted the heat shields. I started to look at it and its funny you said I might have issues with access because thats what I opened my eyes to notice. :/ If I ever get ahold of JTR and for some odd reason they wont do it I may have this company called Jet Hot coat them for me. Honestly I think im going to get a quote from them because their coatings are most likely better.

 

Phantom: Thanks man!! Ya Im shur Ill be happy with around 300hp for awhile. I am also having my PCM flashed. I dont know what kinda numbers I will be getting but one day Ill know. The mounts showed the resarch and development in how easy they went in. Honestly the only issue I had was the bolt kit was missing a bolt. That was easily fixed with a trip to the hardware store.

 

UPDATE:

Since I last posted. I finished rebuilding the heater box. Came out great. Looks and works like new. That will go in tomorrow. I then pulled out the whole front suspention for new bushings, struts, cleaning and paint. Also to install my coilovers. I dont have anything fancy for coilovers. I finished spraying the underbody. After disassembly and cleaning I tore into the hubs and repacked the bearrings and ordered seals, ball joints and tie rod ends. I think the rack is fine. Feels nice and tight. I will try and have these roters turned as they look like new stock roters just a bit rusty. As I have no idea if or how long the seals in the stock calipers will hold out. As the brakes havent worked in years! I might try and rebuild them or buy some good used ones. I did some reading and found a ggod combo is stock front with maby some slotted/drilled roter and some good pads. With a mild disc brake convertion in the rear. We will see what happens. I remember when I had my 72 all dialed in thast thing would stop great. It was all stock.

 

Last but not least. Alot of key things came in on saturday including my remote bleeder. I installd that and was able to stab the tranny to the motor. Poped in nice and felt good. The stranger off Craigs list was honest it was a ls1 t56. Now lets see if it works!! lol. Sad note, the lower left bellhousing bolt the goes into the pan is stripped. WAS stripped. I dident do it !! lol. So I will be playing with that next. Anybody know what the torque spec is for the bellhousing to motor bolts? The damn Chilton book dosent say in the specs. I dident look very thuro though. Its most likely in a different chapter. Heres a few pics I snapped when I dident have my hands covered in grease, paint or diesel....

 

Heres how it looked after I pulled the wheel and brake line.

 

After paint.

 

Almost forgot to post this but I got my coil packs in for my valve covers. I dismanteled them off the brackets and wrapped the harness. I reused the plastc channel thing they came with and zip tied it down. Best I could do and I think it looks fine. Im not tring to win any shows here.

 

Heres a pic of the motor and trans togeather.

Edited October 15, 2012 by 240z7273

[SUNNY Z]

Good god man, buy some jack stands. I'd like to see you live long enough to finish this project!

[_X_]

I had to laugh out loud a bit at the pseudo jack stands but at least they work!!!

Nice work so far tho man. And really sweet job on getting the ls engine all nice and spruced up!!

[RebekahsZ]

Tranny to bellhousing: 37 foot-pounds, Bellhousing to engine: 37 foot-pounds. I wouldn't worry about a single bolt from the bellhousing to the oilpan-there's plenty of bolts on that thing. In fact, when you put a LS1 T56 on an old-school small block, you have to leave the top bolt out-there's no hole in the block for it!

 

Looking good!

[240z72]

Good god man, buy some jack stands. I'd like to see you live long enough to finish this project!

 

Hey man do you ever have anything good to say? hahah. Just kidding. Its was good enough to pull the suspention. It was alot more soild then you might think I wont try and drop my motor in like that though. Thing is I couldent find a set of 6 tons over the weekend. So I made due. Still alive .

 

_X_: Thanks man! Ya I really dident want to start moding it yet but the deal came around and I couldent pass it up for the price so I bought some cosmetic stuff.

 

Keith: Thank you for the help. Thats what the guide says for the tranny to bellhousing bolt. Guess they though your suppose to figure it out. That is very true. I just dont like to have stripped bolts I will play with it for a bit but if its a huge deal Ill just pass on it.

 

I got a call from Speartech today but I missed it because it was around 10am and Iwas asleep!!! Working night shift now so im dead at that time. So I only assume that my harness is about to go on the chopping block. Yay haha. Well time to go out and hit it again!!

[240z72]

Update:

 

Installed my heater box. Hooked up the heater hoses and installed the new shut off valve. Also installed my heater fan after cleaning it out and testing it. Ran good.

 

 

 

I wasent able to get my roters turned as the ghetto parts store said their machine broke. I was able to measure it out as the guy working there had no idea how to use the caliper. This is after I had to use a paper clip to turn it on....They have plunty or room to be freshened up. I have a friend whose dad works at Ford and he offered to turn them for me for free. Once I get them back Ill be able to install my hubs. I did manage to get my coilovers installed. Along with the new struts.

Must say im getting the excited feeling like Im getting somewhere. Mainly I need cv adaptors, radiator, fan, plug wires, brake pads, brake shoes, and my harness. My harness is being worked on now so I should have it soon. Then I can wire everything up YAY!!! hahah. From what Ive read the wiring is not hell. I just dont want to burn anything up.

 

I also got some jack stands today

Edited October 16, 2012 by 240z7273

[240z72]

Update.

 

Was able to get my front suspention up and in. Had roters turned. They came out nice. Were a bit warped but I plan to upgrade later. Got everything set a torqued. Need to set ride height and have an alighnment done. I wont be able to run my 245's without looking stupid. Flares will need to be installed. Been looking at install threads. Dosent seem too bad. Just dont want to mess up. Mainly with the back as I can change the front fenders.

 

Started doing some wireing for the fuel system. I just reused the original sender wires for the fuel cell GM sender. Traced out what wires I needed. Also found that the harness is wired for a fuel pump. Its just taped off. Its the stock harness and its a 72 car and they wouldent have EFI till 75. Kinda interesting. Heres some pics of how I set it up.

 

Harness end at firewall

Harness in dash

Behind guage

This is the fuel pump power wire down by the fuse box

 

All I have to do is run the correct wires to each and I should be done with that. I do need the nuts for the fuel pump as I lost mine for now.

 

 

I recived my harness today. Woke up to the sound of the UPS guy driving away! I jumped in my truck and chased him down haha.

Here it is laid out.

Here it is basically tossed on the motor.

This is the fuse box and fuel pump relay with OBD2 port/check engine light. Along with all the power/ign./signal wires.

 

Just at a glance I might have to extend the O2 sensor pluggs. Also tidy up a bad connection made by the PO on a splice. All seems to fit well and looks like I will be able to mount the PCM just inside the cab on the passenger side like I wanted.

Edited October 24, 2012 by 240z7273

[UofA_ZCar]

Looking good. Which company did you order the harness from?

[240z72]

Thank you sir. The company is called Speartech. Good people. Owner is John. Hes a good guy. Called me every step of the way. Would use him again if I needed to.

[Daz]

DAZ: Thanks for the pics. What are you running up front? Personally I think I will have to do flairs. I havent been able to set the car down on its wheels yet and squat the suspention so we will see.

 

I plan on 225/50/16's in the front !

Edited October 24, 2012 by Daz

[240z72]

DAZ: Thanks for the pics. What are you running up front? Personally I think I will have to do flairs. I havent been able to set the car down on its wheels yet and squat the suspention so we will see.

 

I plan on 225/50/16's in the front !

 

Thanks bud. I have 4 245/45/16's off a turbo z i had. I also have some 195's lol. They may have to do till i get the flares on.

[240z72]

Big step made today. Went in with the tranny and motor. For good I hope. I tried my best to set it up so I wouldent have to pull it out again. On the 72 240z I dident have to remove the trans tunnel mounts for the stock crossmember but I did have to pound out a recess for the reverse lights sensor. I also had to pound some area for the tanny mount. I used some 1/4" steel plate for added strenth for the floor as I will be drilling four holes on each side for the mount. I dident mount it in yet. Went to a friends house to use his drill press to drill the plates and it got late. Will finish up the mounting tomorrow and start on the electrical.

[RebekahsZ]

Hooray! Congrats. Did I understand you right: you didn't have to cut out the stock 240z trans mount?

[240z72]

Thanks Keith. Yes you read right. I did not have to remove the stock mounts that are in the trans tunnel. But the right side is very close. (see pics) I dont think it will give me problems if it dose hit under a load I dont think it will do anything. Heres a few pics of the clearence.

 

Heres the clearence for the tail end and only the reverse light sensor that had to have the trans tunnel air hammered out a bit.

Reverse light. The pic is upside down.

 

Heres the harness passed threw the firewall and the fuel line finished up. Also reinstalled my fuel rail.

 

I finished all the mounts and torqued everything for the motor and trans. Next Ill start the electrical and install the dash. Everything seems strait forward except for wiring up my alternator. Its on the other side and Im not shur if i just need to run a positive and ground off it. As the harness came with the connector that pops into the the back of the alternator. My guess without looking into it would just to run a positive cable to the battrie and run a ground to the block and ground to the body.

Edited October 28, 2012 by 240z7273

[Domzs]

Looking good . Keep it up .

[RebekahsZ]

Couple things. First: looks AWESOME! Second, I need to learn how to use an air hammer-your dents look good, mine done with a 3# sledge look aweful. Can you pm me with a pic of the tool and tip you used? I'm gonna need to clearance some for exhaust. Finally, if you ever think you might put a roll cage in the car, you should consider narrowing your dash so the front legs can come down ahead of the front door edge-wish I had done that. I do everything backwards!

[240z72]

Domzs: Thank you! I will. Trust me, I can see light at the end! Or smoken tires haha.

 

Keith: Thank you too! Heres a pic on my air hammer. Its a Snap-on. The tip i used was just a round end punch tip. I dident hold it solid against the metal as I thought it would punch threw the thin metal. Instead I held it back a bit and lightly hit the metal with the punch. The angle with the tranny in the car made it impossible to hit it hard enough with a hammer or even with a puch and hammer.

 

Well today I cleaned up the harness a bit and installed my dash. Sorry Keith I dident cut it up for a cage yet. One day Ill do a cage and Ill just pull the dash. Then Ill label the few wires I was ushur where they went haha. Most of the connections are easy and only go one way. Buttt there was a few I wasent shur about. I did get most of it hooked with no issues. I then wanted to test things so i hooked up a battrey to the cab feed and turned on the lights and accesories. No smoke! Heater fan works great. All dash lights work well. Brake lights work and headlights. Honestly kinda sad about the color of my guages. I used red filters for the bulbs. My old guages I had befor looked great in red but the filters from Autometer are basically pink. So I am most likely gonna swap them out. Sadly I did have two issues no turn signals and no hazards. I know I messed something up with the connections because they both worked when I tested the car when I first got it. So I will be going over everything trying to figure out whats up. The odd thing is when my hazard switch is off it sends power to the flasher. When its on the flasher is dead. I must have a connection wrong. Blinkers are dead there is no power going the the switch at all. Fun fun fun fun. But for some better news I got the PCM mounted. I used some strap and bent them at 90*'s and drilled 2 small holes threw the cooling fins on the PCM. Welded the straps to the fire wall and hung it with a few bolts. After I took the pics you see I used zip ties to secure and clean up the wires feeding the PCM. Over the next few days ima see what I can do for finishing up the electrical. I will try and figure out hwat I did wrong with the hazard and turn signals alond the way. I want to keep moving forward on the build and not get stressed out but electrical issues.

 

 

Heres the PCM. Its crooked in the pics because it not tightened down yet.

 

Dash installed!

 

First life this cars had in quite awhile. Its nice to see it commen back to life.

Edited October 29, 2012 by 240z7273

[RebekahsZ]

Love the white faced guages!

[SUNNY Z]

Love the white faced guages!

 

You must need another cup of coffee, Keith! Those are the ultralights like mine. They have a silver face with orange needles.

[240z72]

Yup Sunny is right they are the Ultralights. Silver face. Just sad about the color filters. I dont want pink guages!

 

Well I figured out my issues with the lights. Just had a broken connector on my hazard relay and had to run power to the turn signal switch. Done and done. Im going to install a set of relays to run my ingition on stuff. I dont feel good tapping into the already stressed stock harness.