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'73 G-Nose 5.3/T-56 Work In Progress


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Awesome. I am following your build closely as I am just beginning an L33 swap on my 73 240. Im curious to see what kind of power you make when you get it tuned. What cam did you go with? I cannot see the video you posted above bc I am at work.

 

The cam and valve springs were hand-me-down parts from a buddy's engine.  At this point I wish I had bought a new cam but I kept the budget small since I plan to (hopefully) build an LS3 for it one day. Actually I want to do a short stroke LS3 with a 4.8 crank, and a cam to move the power band north and kill some low end torque... maybe even try to spin it to 7500-8000.  And the big part is a set of Jenevy individual runner throttle bodies.  More as a show piece than to build power, but they will look and sound cool, and throttle response would be ridiculous.

 

Anyway, the cam is an Edelbrock. I took a pic of the grind numbers when I installed it, but my phone died at one point and I lost all my pics, so I don't exactly remember.  its one of the first four from this list, and I think its  #2216:  http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive/mc/camshafts/chevy-ls.shtml

 

I will be pretty happy if it makes 350 whp with this setup.  I don't know what to expect with the headers, and the cam being a bit of an unknown variable, but anything over 350 is a bonus in my eyes.

Edited by Domesticated
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I drove the car around the block this weekend, brakes and clutch working well.  Need to make a pedal stop for the clutch, it travels too far for the master cyl.  I hope to get it down to my buddy's shop to get the exhaust done in the next week or two.  She runs pretty good on the base tune once the computer started adjusting the fuel trims, can't wait to have it on the road and drive it properly.

 

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So I picked up a pair of rear Brinkworth flares and taped them to the side of the car to see just how little my wheels/tires fill them out... I've got about 1.5" to work with to be more flush, so I'm going to buy two lower offset 15x10 wheels to replace the x8's I have now.  I think the 235/50 Toyo R888 will look better on a 10" wide wheel anyway, they bulge quite a bit on the 8s.  That should fill out the flare nicely.  The front mystery flares just needs a bit of spacer to fill out, and of course it could always be a lot lower. For now the flares will be painted black.

 

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Is this vid with open headers? What are your exhaust plans?

 

Yep, still open headers and obnoxiously loud.  I'm having no luck getting any of my buddies to trailer the car 15 miles to where I work (a co-worker is going to fab my exhaust).... so I'm working on getting a clerical error on the title sorted out with a notary and as soon as I have a license plate I'm just going to drive it there.  I am doing dual 3" stainless all the way back with a Summit racing x-pipe kit, universal high flow cats and Spintech super pro street mufflers tucked on either side of the fuel cell and 4" rolled tips.  I had Spintech's on my 04 GTO a few years ago and it sounded fantastic, I'm hoping this car will turn out similarly.  Its probably a surprise to most people that I want to run cats, but I think the LS engine sounds waaaay better with cats, not nearly as raspy.

 

Awesome looking car!  I like the color you picked.  Good luck with getting everything wrapped up and hope to see you enjoying the car this summer!

 

Thanks, its actually the color/paint I bought the roller with.  I would like to someday do a full color change.

 

I rolled the car outside and knocked the dust off over the weekend, realized I didn't have any decent pictures of the outside.

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Tail-light panels installed... I can't wait to see this view with exhaust tips!

 

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Dash, gauges, steering wheel:

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Hilariously tall shifter handle.  This is clearly not a show car, but I would like to do something different with the dash center panel eventually.  Still yet to place headlight switch and a couple other things there... In the background you can see the American Autowire Hwy 9 fuse panel. I've been very pleased with this kit - once I've tidied up all the wiring and don't feel embarrased by its messiness I'll take some pictures.

 

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LED lights added to gauges:

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One of my LEDs was dead so the volt gauge has the original AutoMeter bulb for now:

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The rear hatch area is pretty much done.  I have the side panels and taillight panel that I bought new when Black Dragon was going out of business, still need to install them, but I'm waiting until the wiring is 100% done.  I went to Lowes and bought a cheap 4x6' heavy rubber-bottom carpet mat and cut out for the rear floor.  Cheap, durable, possibly will deaden some sound.  Still want to do something with the strut towers as well.

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Speaking of the rear hatch, I never mentioned that I just bolted the stock hatch on for now.  My fiberglass hatch needs a lot of work and I don't feel like working on it right now.  The car is so close to driving, I just put this back on and mounted it with hood pins (the original latch was shaved by the previous owner).

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I bought a pair of these Trackspec hood vents to replace the vents currently in my hood.  I don't really know why, but I really don't like the vents and how they stick up - I think these flush mount vents will look much cooler.  They're arriving tomorrow via UPS, so I'll probably get the hood cut out for these soon:

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This is off-topic but I wanted to share a story about a chance run-in with another Z owner.  Back during the Thanksgiving holiday 2016, I visited some family in San Antonio, TX.  I was at my cousin Tim's house, showing him pictures of my car, and he said his neighbor had a bunch of Z cars in his basement.  Of course I was intrigued, and he suggested we walk down the street and knock on the door.  We caught the neighbor, Trey, on his way out the door... but he was super cool and gracious and took me down to the basement for a minute and I was STUNNED.  The guy has four Z cars under his house (and a plethora of parts).  Not the least of which was an immaculate right-hand-drive 240ZG, he told me he purchased it from a guy in the Air Force that brought it back to the States.  I'm only just now noticing the later taillights.  He also had a black L28 turbo 280z, an early series 1 awaiting restoration and another complete car that I believe he said was his first Z car he'd had since the 80s and had logged something like 300k miles.  Maybe he's a member on here? I assume he's known in some Datsun circles but I didn't get a chance to ask.  Needless to say, it made my trip!

 

It was pretty tight in there so I didn't get the best pictures, and kicking myself now for not getting a group shot or one or two of his other stuff.

 

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I got the Trackspec hood vents today.  They're pretty sweet pieces, but then they better be for the sticker price.  The ones I bought are supposed to be for a 1st gen Camaro.  They fit nicely too, and I'm in love with the look versus the old ones:

 

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Woo! Another Charlotte/Raleigh V8Z!

 

I hope to be at upcoming C&C meets in CLT and LKN :)  Apparently there were like 5-6 Z cars at the last LKN event, but I was in the garage running wiring.

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I really dig those vents on the hood!  Did you have to cut out any structural bracing on the underside?

 

Nope! They just barely fit inside the structural bracing, though I did have to drill through the lip/edge of the underside bracing for a couple of the rivets on the outer edge of each vent.  My hood is fiberglass, but the inner structure looks identical to an OEM metal hood.

Edited by Domesticated
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Also, would you please reveal the model / part # of those fine vents.  http://trackspecmotorsports.com/

 

Thank ya

 

If they're for a 1st gen Camaro like he said, then they would have to be these: http://trackspecmotorsports.com/shop-by-vehicle/camaro/first-generation-camaro-67-69/1st-generation-camaro-t1-hood-louvers.html

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Is that the ride height you plan to run? I wouldn't install the flares till your ride height is established.

 

No, I do plan to get coilovers and lower the car further, so no drilling or cutting until that happens.  I don't think the rear needs to go much lower with the Brinkworth flares, but the front does need to come down quite a lot.  I've got another car I'm hoping to liquidate soon to get some suspension parts and CV axles.  I plan to get a coilover that doesn't require weld-on camber plates; really wish I had bit the bullet on those before I painted the engine bay lol.

 

If you get a chance, can you give a length by width measurement on those vents. Very cool project by the way.

Jim

 

They are about 9 x 14.5"  I don't know why Trackspec doesn't put this information on their website, it would be nice if they would share the templates in PDF so you could lay them out on the car before buying.

 

Also, would you please reveal the model / part # of those fine vents.  http://trackspecmotorsports.com/

 

Thank ya

 

Correct, they're the 1st gen camaro t1 set.

Edited by Domesticated
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Today was exhaust day!

 

Materials:

JTR headers w/fabbed 3" 90-degree turnouts (were already on car)

Summit Racing ball/socket flanges (stainless steel) 

Thunderbird (ebay brand) 3" universal high flow cats (4" OD, stainless, I'm running cats to cut down on rasp)

Pypes 3" X-Pipe "trans tunnel" kit (stainless steel)

(4x) Summit Racing 90* mandrel bends (stainless)

Spintech Super Pro Street mufflers (#9441, mild steel)

4" polished tips (rolled, slanted edge)

 

I think it turned out really well and I couldn't be happier with the sound.

 

 

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