Guest Anonymous Posted December 14, 2000 Share Posted December 14, 2000 Some of you may have read earlier that I have/had a cooling problem in my V8Z. There is a clogged stock 260Z radiator in there and I removed it to put the griffin radiator in. My question is about how to go about making the mounts for the radiator. Should I not make L bends in aluminum welded to the radiator and bolt that to the stock location? I'm concerned with the flexing and potential wear on the radiator. Also, I found that my 350 is from a 78 Monte Carlo. A friend of mine told me that stock they were about 180hp (with the cat). I have an upgraded Edelbrock carb and intake manifold and a small cam. Stock heads, pistons, crank, etc... If I am running around 220-230 hp right now (guess), what would be the best way to take it up to the 380 goal that I have? I would assume heads, pistons, rings to boost compression. Thanks ------------------ pics of my babies at www.rotarypowered.com/cym and at www.dodgeviper.net/260z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted December 14, 2000 Share Posted December 14, 2000 I'd suggest that you NOT mounting the radiator rigidly. The radiator support on the Z moves and twist a bit and mounting an aluminum radiator to it rigidly could cause leaks down the road later on. As for your HP, I'd say get a Gtech Pro or a home dyno (search the site for posts on this stuff - it's been covered) and just measure it. Very hard to tell what you are really making with a used motor, etc. ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted December 14, 2000 Share Posted December 14, 2000 I'm with Pete - ditto what he said G-Techs can sometimes be found on auction sites etc - grab one and get a baseline so you know when you make progress. As for more power. Look to the heads first. Find out what compression you've got now and see if you can find some good flowing heads for it - aluminum with small chambers if you can. Small chambers assumes you've got low compression BTW You should pick up a ton of HP with good heads as the stock iron heads are probably pretty bad. I wouldn't be changing out pistons on a running motor unless the blowby was pretty bad and it needed a rebuild anyway. You may not hit 380HP but after swapping a few things it may feel fast enough. Oh - and if you do decide to really build a nasty motor, build it on a stand and then swap it in. Pulling a motor out of a running car and THEN building it takes the car off the road forever. Maybe build a stout shortblock and move it over - that would take less time. For that matter - GM sells the ZZ4 as a shortblock sans heads, might be worth looking at if you really feel the need to swap pistons etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 14, 2000 Share Posted December 14, 2000 I have a G-Tech Pro and have used it in my previous car (RX-7) and got some really unreliable numbers. Anyway about the radiator mounts. Lots of stock cars had their radiators mounted with rubber bushings or rubber washers. Do you think that drilling holes a little too big for the thread and putting a nut on the end of the bolts and using the rubber bushings will let me mount to the stock mounting location? I can look back at the original mounting advise y'all gave me but I don't have a good sheet metal place or personal sheet metal ability to make those mounts. I've had the car off the road for too long now! Thanks ------------------ pics of my babies at www.rotarypowered.com/cym and at www.dodgeviper.net/260z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted December 14, 2000 Share Posted December 14, 2000 The bushing thing ought to work. Try to get some really soft ones. Also, look at how the OE's mount radiators for clues. My 92 Eclipse uses rubber bushings with a very big sloppy hole fit for the radiator brackets that are mounted to the radiator solid. ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 15, 2000 Share Posted December 15, 2000 I am running a new stock radiator and have not had any over heating problems to date. I may just be lucky. I am running an electric fan from a taurus that is mounted in the stock fan scroud. I have driven the car over this past hot summer that we have had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kc6wfs Posted December 15, 2000 Share Posted December 15, 2000 I'm running a stock 260z auto rad 3 core with 1 14" and a 10" SPAL fans. Keeps me cool so far. Dave Booth ------------------ www.geocities.com/kc6wfs/240z.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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