454 powered 300zx

[shannonferguson2000]

If you can see in the pics I ended up with less than 1/16th inches of clearance from water pump to the Spal fan shroud. I can probably gain another 1/4 inch or so from some more massaging of the headlight assemblies.

[shannonferguson2000]

My fabrication partner.

[Ziggy1621]

That's tight fitting! Your pup needs a little grease to look legit Ha! Looking good

[shannonferguson2000]

A funny feeling led me to remove my transmission pan to find that if I would have buttoned everything up and drove the car my transmission would have made it about 4-5 miles. The shop that I had overhaul my transmission left me with a broken throttle valve spring and a stuck tv boost valve which would have put me in a super low pressure situation burning up all the new frictions. IF YOU DIDNT LAY YOUR HANDS ON IT NEVER ASSUME IT WILL BE DONE CORRECTLY. PEOPLE ARE LAZY AND THE DAYS OF A JOB DONE THE RIGHT WAY HAVE PASSED. SAGGING PANTS AND HALF A$S RUSH JOBS ARE THE NEW NORM IT SEEMS!

[Ace2cool]

WOW! Seems like you can't trust anyone anymore, huh?

[Ziggy1621]

Thank God for funny feelings

[SBC300]

Glad to see its coming along again. Those aluminum pulleys have a thick nose, you may gain a lot of clearance going with a stamped (stock) BB pump pulley. I ran dual fans with a northern radiator and it never got hot. It was on e98 though...
Keep after it!!!!!!!!!!!!

[shannonferguson2000]

SBC, I was considering taking off a little material from the aluminum wp pulley, but going the stamped steel route might be a better option. Ill have to compare the two to see the difference. Where did you get all the carbon you used for your gauge cluster?

Hope to have all the wiring done next week and go ahead and do a break-in session, there are just a hundred little things to button up on my punch out list.

[SBC300]

The dash was aluminum with 3m dinoc. The only real carbon fiber parts were the rear interior tub deck and the seat.

[shannonferguson2000]

Thanks for the info, I'm dying to get her back on the road, and of course my daily 300 now needs a plenum pull to replace few bad injectors.(running on 5 for sure)

[DCaff300ZX]

A funny feeling led me to remove my transmission pan to find that if I would have buttoned everything up and drove the car my transmission would have made it about 4-5 miles. The shop that I had overhaul my transmission left me with a broken throttle valve spring and a stuck tv boost valve which would have put me in a super low pressure situation burning up all the new frictions. IF YOU DIDNT LAY YOUR HANDS ON IT NEVER ASSUME IT WILL BE DONE CORRECTLY. PEOPLE ARE LAZY AND THE DAYS OF A JOB DONE THE RIGHT WAY HAVE PASSED. SAGGING PANTS AND HALF A$S RUSH JOBS ARE THE NEW NORM IT SEEMS!

WOW, glad you followed your intuition!
That's just not right, but like you say things like this happen too often...stay after it!

[mechanicalmoron]

posting to add this thread to "my posts".

This is awesome. And the amount of trouble that you've had, and the fact that you're still at it, is awesome too.

[shannonferguson2000]

A ton of progress today, I should be posting a start up video tomorrow!!!

[shannonferguson2000]

Camouflage...

[z32loverboy]

Haha! nice camo!! I can't wait to see the start up this go around. I am/have been a huge fan of your swap and work done!

[shannonferguson2000]

Break in went well, if you don't count the small fire. I only lost two plug wires and one transmission pressure gauge line. I ran it for thirty minutes at 2500 rpm to break on the camshaft and didn't stop during the fire.(just blew it out with air).
I will post a video not including the fire as soon as I remember how.

[SBC300]

What caused the little fire?

[shannonferguson2000]

SBC300, the number 1 plug wire was bent up out of the way but when the headers started to glow it drooped down ,touched, then ignited. It only started to misfire right at the end of the session . No leaks so I can't complain.

[shannonferguson2000]

High pitch whistle was from a NEW but badly leaking billet PCV valve. You cant really hear the cam because my go pro camera was in the water housing.
**As an added note my transmission passed all the pressure tests for all gears, so for now its looking like it may live.

[Ace2cool]

Dude, I love this build. So close to completion now!

[SBC300]

Shame shame shame.... Fireup and not a single beer in sight. My disappointment is high!

I put these on every motor I work on. ( http://www.jegs.com/i/Moroso/710/71994/10002/-1 )


Feels good to be that close eh? Let me know when you need a nitrous plate kit, I have a spare laying around.

[shannonferguson2000]

Thanks all, SBC, I think I had an Odouls later that night, Im ready for the nitrous plate, Im really suprised nobody noticed my 100 gallon radiator, I spent like an hour welding that thing up.

[Ziggy1621]

I was wondering, just didn't want to be 'that guy' to ask

[Ace2cool]

Nah, I knew what it was, but I've done plenty of redneck stuff as to not even begin to question it. My buddy was feeding his lukewarm water from a sink and just letting it dump on the ground.

[DCaff300ZX]

Nah, I knew what it was, but I've done plenty of redneck stuff as to not even begin to question it. My buddy was feeding his lukewarm water from a sink and just letting it dump on the ground.

[shannonferguson2000]

I finally got my cooling system wired and filled with water enough for a quick test drive. I was very impressed at the water/engine temps. When the SPAL fans turn on it sounds like a jet engine taking off. The short test drive was lack luster as my carb and timing are way off and my transmission.was shifting "funny". Next Tues and Wed will include tuning the timing, carb, and adjusting the trans. Also I plan on shooting a proper test drive video after tuning on Wed.

[shannonferguson2000]

Well there's not going to be a test drive video this week. Oil pump(new Melling hvm77)has decided to no longer pump more than 30psi at any rpm. f*** you Melling and your Chinese made junk oil pumps, no really, f*** you you f*** f***. f*** your quality control or lack there of, Ive heard of this happening with new pumps, but I mean come on , enough is enough.

[DCaff300ZX]

Holy CRAP Shannon, more BS????
I hope there's not internal damage...<shudder>
I hope some of these guys who think they can cut a corner here and there building their engines take notice of how even apparently quality parts can still have issues...SERIOUS issues.

[shannonferguson2000]

Well the answer from the vendor was, "It happens". I can only assume it was made on friday. Luckily for everyone it was just not pumping properly and no trash or damage was found. Just a PIA to drop the steering rack to remove the oil pan to replace the pump. Fingers crossed next week I'll be posting a test drive video.

[SBC300]

Melling pumps have gotten really bad the last few years. I switched to Titan pumps on all my motors but bring your checkbook, they are not cheap.