8/30/07 Update - Engine seems to be running increasingly rougher lately with some backfiring out of the carb. I took the car to a guy that I know that does some hot rod work. He identified that the wrong plugs were installed in the car and that the more that the car was driven the plugs were starting to foul. Vortec heads require special plugs that are longer than the ones that I had in the car. He also identified that the Edelbrock 750 carb was too big for the intake and that the carb and intake were getting way too much fuel. He recommended an Edelbrock 600 carb with electric choke and cut the fuel pressure way down. The car has the factory fuel pump (36psi) but has a dial to turn down the pressure. The pressure was way too high and the fuel couldn't be ignited. He also suggested an MSD ignition set up as he felt that there was not enough spark witht the Mallory coil/distributer set up that I used from the other 350 engine that was previously in the car. He also installed the high performance aluminum radiator and chrome puller fan that I had ordered from z car parts.com. The little Z car is really running nice now. I can wait to really open her up now. The video links that you can click on are before these upgrades. I will post some additional engine pictures tomorrow after I pick the car up from his shop. The plugs that were in the the Vortec heads were way too short so that the electrode wasn't able to make a good enough connection with the fuel. He thinks that this was also part of the cooling problem that I was having along with a lot of wasted fuel that the wasn't being ignited. Pics will be posted tomorrow.

Click Here: Here's a recently added link on youtube of the car running

Click here for a short burnout and drive by on youtube.

- Previous engine/engine bay

Temporarily placed a water temp gauge and oil pressure gauge(didn't really trust 30 year old stock gauges with this engine.)

4 bolt main
Completely machined - bored .30 over to a 355 ci.

New Crankshaft
Reconditioned rods with ARP bolts
Speed Pro Hyperutetic Pistons
Big .510/.533 lift cam
New lifters
Double roller chain
Hardened push rods
Vortec heads
Stainless steel valves
New springs and guide plates
Roller tip rockers
New 8 inch balancer
Edelbrock Polished performer Intake
750 Edelbrock Carb
New chrome oilpan, timing cover and valve covers.
HP 425-450

Pulleys and water pump ready to go. Headers installed

Transmission fit quite nicely. Working on the transmission mount

8/9/07 3:51 a.m. Here's the latest engine installation pics. This was around 9:00 p.m. on 8/8/07

old engine

7/31/07 - Photos of my other Z car on page 2
Page 1 - Latest updates - Let's get started.
Page 2 - New engine/transmission pics

Here's my 1977 Datsun 280z that had a old chevy 350 installed before I bought it This is my 2nd Z car. My first is also a 1977 that I bought about 6 months ago. It wasn't running and still isn't. The original plan was to fix it up (get it running, fix some rust spots, and get it painted) but basically changed my mind due to the amount of work and $ involved. See pic of yellow car. This little car got me hooked on wanting a 1st generation Z car. I definitely didn't want anything newer than a 1978. The 2nd generation ZX cars (79-83) and 3rd generation 300zx cars are what I grew up around in high school and I didn't really want one of them as they are so many of them still on the road today. (My 18 y/o son has a black 1979 280zx) But even though I'm 38, I really don't remember and still don't see that many 1st generation Z cars around where I live in N. GA.

The car has a 350 engine with a turbo 350 auto transmission. The engine was making some noise (a little ticking noise at about the 3k (and higher)RPM range when I bought it and uses some oil. I think it probably has a lot of miles and probably has had some abuse (some by me....since I've had it)

See hood scoupe that was added from an older Camaro Z28.

See the outline of where hood scoupe was added to allow room for the 4-barrel carburetor. The black area has a rough texture similar to bedliner spray.

Engine and engine bay doesn't match the quality of the exterior of the car. This will change soon.

Good Bye AT! Hello T56 6 speed from 94 Camaro Z28. There's no way I would keep this car an automatic!

Before
After