Mikey303LSZ Posted December 4, 2015 Author Share Posted December 4, 2015 Somewhere around this point I fired the car and put a few hundred miles on it (no issues, no problems except for a turn signal switch, a bad ground on the horn and a little leak at the water pump). What a BLAST to drive. It ran good but felt like it could use more power. Since I was getting ready to do a 4K, 9 day road trip I was going to have to replace the water pump. About that time a buddy of mine was upgrading his LS2 heads on a Corvette to AFR ported heads so I grabbed them for this car. The heads had 25k miles & were the right price so why not? During the water pump R&R "while I was at it" I installed a TexasSpeed 224 cam, LS7 lifters, LS2 heads, matching springs, retainers, push rods and updated the problimatic LS1 oil pump with a Melling. My intent was to do my own tuning but ran out of time. I took it in for a dyno tune - ~340HP at the wheel. Not too bad for a cobbled car/engine. I suspect the cam/heads added 60 to 75HP making it a wanna be an LS6 with a slightly larger cam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey303LSZ Posted December 4, 2015 Author Share Posted December 4, 2015 Thanks for the kind comments. The build took awhile and WELL worth it in the end. The HybridZ posts kept me inspired and up to date on options for the car. In a few of my posted pictures you will see pictures of cars taped to the side of the blue two post lift (next to my car). Each day as I walked through the garage to go to work, take out the trash etc. it reminded me of the hard work you folks put into your cars and the outcome I would have if I just stuck with it. It was equivilent to the skinny bikini girl posted on the refrigerator door as a reminder to stick with the program. I hope my photos inspire your builds as they progress and hopefully inspire to keep plowing ahead in times of low motivation. I'll try to finish the post this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Gadsby Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 You guys have definitely been motivating lately. Just gotta push through the rust... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey303LSZ Posted December 5, 2015 Author Share Posted December 5, 2015 (edited) Along the way I bought a few different tire sizes, brought them home, checked measurements and made the commitment. Along the way I took the car to a friend's shop for a 4 wheel alignment. Even with the rear camber plates I was not able to set the camber up for a street setting. It works for now and it's great for the track - ultimately not the way I would like it. I'll looking at some adjustable rear control arms as an upgrade at some point. Edited December 15, 2015 by Mikey303LSZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey303LSZ Posted December 5, 2015 Author Share Posted December 5, 2015 (edited) When I first started driving the car I started out using stock rear axle shafts. I never had a problem with them but from a risk perspective they can be problimatic. I swapped them for a set of Wolf Creek Racing axles prior to the Power Tour. The new axles feel smoother on the highway and I'm sure they're a little stronger. Upgraded the headlights to Truck Lite brand LEDs. Wanted to take the current load off the old wire harness/switch - they are really nice and bright. Investigated the wire harness/relay setup but figured I'd put the money into LED technology vs a wire harness/relays. Along the way I took the car in for Colorado pre '81 emissions testing. Passed with flying colors (these results were pre heads and cam). MUCH cleaner than a stock '73 240. Edited December 15, 2015 by Mikey303LSZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 (edited) awesome build. quite motivating and i like some of your solutions that I'll probably steal for myself Edited December 5, 2015 by auxilary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey303LSZ Posted December 5, 2015 Author Share Posted December 5, 2015 (edited) awesome build. quite motivating and i like some of your solutions that I'll probably steal for myself Perfect! That's how we learn and avoid issues. Good luck... Edited December 5, 2015 by Mikey303LSZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey303LSZ Posted December 5, 2015 Author Share Posted December 5, 2015 (edited) Had about 500 miles on the car, upgraded heads/cam put another 75 miles on it and decided it was ready for the 2015 PowerTour. We were on the road 9 days and logged 4000 miles. As part of the event I ran it a few times at Memphis Speedway. Just wanted to get a feel for what it would run in the 1/4 mile. It was a ~95 degree day. It ran a 12.6. I was pretty happy considering I had about 150 lbs. of misc. luggage, tools, cooler of water, 33PSI in the tires etc. In comparison there were 2 Hellcats running (12.4-ish) and a few new Corvette C7s running 12.8's & 12.9s. The car made it back home unscathed to the exception of a blown A/C fitting (didn't crimp it tight enough) and a REALLY leaky windsheild gasket. I had to bail out what seemed like 1/2" of water on the floor boards one morning after a full night of rain. I pulled up the front carpet and set it on top of my luggage to dry for a few days while driving with the window down. NOTE: For those of you with old windshield rubber you may want to replace it before you experience rain. The car draws a lot of interest and lots of folks talking about their old 240 or someone they knew who had a 240. A few friends including HybridZ member 75280z got me excited about taking the car to a 2.5mile track for a little road racing. One main point in terms of preparation for the first time racing was to upgrade the brake fluid to something better than standard DOT4 to reduce brake fade. My intention was to upgrade the fluid prior to a local Datsun club day and I ran out of time. I spend the better half of a week trying to find a local store where I could buy a helmet for the event and didn't get to the fluid. The day was AWESOME. What a blast. On the back stretch the car hit ~115MPH (per GPS) and surprisingly zero brake fade with regular DOT4 fluid. I'm really happy with the Silvermine brakes and the coil over/suspension upgrades. Next year I'll try a set of sticky tires install the rear sway bar that never got installed and see how the car performs. I also owe my dog a ride. She was patient during those long days in the garage... Edited December 15, 2015 by Mikey303LSZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey303LSZ Posted December 5, 2015 Author Share Posted December 5, 2015 (edited) SunnyZ inspired me on the winter turbo project. Picked up a set of used truck exhaust manifolds last weekend. Keeping the A/C - hoping to sneak the left bank hot side between the F-body alternator and the A/C compressor. Time will tell. 6psi should wake it up and keep it reliable. Wife says, "why do you need to make it so fast?" Reply - I enjoy fabrication and learning something new. Edited December 15, 2015 by Mikey303LSZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastTnZ Posted December 6, 2015 Share Posted December 6, 2015 Great job on the details! It all looks great! Keep us updated on the turbo build. I'm hoping to thread the needle as well with my truck manifolds down and forward too this winter between the AC and alt setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texis30O Posted December 6, 2015 Share Posted December 6, 2015 Where are you located? I saw TX plates on it and thought you could be fairly close..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey303LSZ Posted December 7, 2015 Author Share Posted December 7, 2015 I'm in CO. My Dad is near Denton, TX where I picked up the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stock Car Mafia Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 Oh man! Another turbo build Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zfan1 Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 Is your father's name Jim by chance, ex state rep? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey303LSZ Posted December 12, 2015 Author Share Posted December 12, 2015 No, his name is not Jim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Oben Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Great job documenting and sharing the info with us. Your build is an inspiration for those of us still working. Thanks for sharing. Richard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey303LSZ Posted December 15, 2015 Author Share Posted December 15, 2015 (edited) Great job documenting and sharing the info with us. Your build is an inspiration for those of us still working. Thanks for sharing. Richard. You bet. Feel free to ask questions along the way - glad to help if I can. Edited December 15, 2015 by Mikey303LSZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey303LSZ Posted February 1, 2016 Author Share Posted February 1, 2016 (edited) Started on the in-tank pump. Edited February 1, 2016 by Mikey303LSZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey303LSZ Posted February 14, 2016 Author Share Posted February 14, 2016 Beautiful Colorado weather today. Got the car out and logged 60 miles. Was driving by a gravel yard so I decided to pull in to check the weight of the car - I've always wondered but never verified. The scale read 3040 lbs with me and my wife. I decided to drive by the local landfill on the way home so I checked the weight there too - 3020 lbs. Subtract my wife's and my weight and the car is ~2710 lbs +/-20. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Dude, you are SO in trouble! No Valentine for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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