pope_face

Personally I prefer the first two sets... I think the Revolvers are really nice... I like the Hayashi's, but I'm not keen on the colour... maybe if they were polished with either white or black powdercoating on some parts... but, that's just me. Luckily they're all four bolt, means I couldn't use them even if I could afford them...

I know the engines will handle the rpms, I'm just concerned about the fuel economy on the highway if I'm rolling for an hour or more at 4500 rpm... I don't drive on the highway that often, but if I do I drive far enough to want to keep my revs a little lower...

Brian: I know it's far, but I saw these and thought of you... :D The first set...

Mmm, thanks for the advice... I suppose I didn't quite think that through all the way. I suppose I just need to meditate on this for a while and come back to it. I'd love to do it, but there's probably just too much information for me to try to sort out at the moment.

I guess that gives you a reason to get coilovers... :D Looks pretty good though... I'd be running a slightly taller tire, but that's just me coming from a truck perspective.

Awesome, thanks a lot... I'd rather avoid having to change out the axles to the wagon ones, so I'll likely just try to stick with the truck ones. As for the actual ratios themselves, I've got the 4.88 ATM from the J13 that's in the truck... it's a nice gear ratio to have, but assuming a 1:1 4th gear ratio for an L-Series auto and stock tire diameter I'll have to be running at about 4000-4500 rpm just to keep up on the highway... I know the engines were designed for 6500-7000, but I'd rather not have to run that hard if I don't have to. I'll see if I can track down a 3.8 or a 4.1... that'll likely work best for me.

Ok, this is probably a stupid question, which is why I'm posting it here rather than in it's own thread, but I read today that a KA head will fit on an L- or Z-Series block... Apparently it can be done in order to get an FI swap onto either block without modifying the stock heads. Can this be done? And, more importantly, if the above is possible, could someone mount an Z-Series, or (specifically) an L-Series head on a KA? I figure if you can swap the head and the block one way, the reverse should be true as well. The only reason I ask is that I want a carb'd engine, but I want to be able to get an auto transmission with more than four speeds... I'm just assuming the KA has five- or six-speed autos available just because it's a newer engine, as opposed to the four speeds available with the L-Series. Anybody have any input?

When you say whole car, do you mean the cab/frame/fenders/hood/doors/etc, or just the cab? If you mean everything then it sounds pretty good... it'll save me a trip across the border. But, if it's just for the cab, I might have to keep looking. BTW, do you happen to know if they prime the car once they've blasted it, or is this just for the blasting itself?

Just to clarify, are you referring to the entire differential, or just the gears inside?

Alright, so I realized that there was a thread on this below with the Jason Grey info... I didn't know it was stickied in the engine forum, would someone mind stickying it here? My original question was about a list of final drive ratios and transmission ratios... but I suppose I can ask a more specific question now. Does anyone know which differentials can be bolted to a 521 with little to no modifications, or which gears can be directly swapped into a 521 housing?

There's a shop down by my place that I like to deal with... I'll head over and chat with them when I'm closer to getting wheels. I don't even have an engine yet, so wheels are still a long time off... I may not end up running stock diameter tires in order to fine-tune my highway speeds... Once I figure out the 4th gear ratio in the transmission I want to get, and the available final drive ratios, then I can balance wheel diameter and engine speed...

Mike: Mounting the transmission cooler in-line with the original rad is the way to do it, or can I mount it elsewhere providing I get enough airflow through it? If I'm at a stop light with it in park, will the fluid continue to heat up, or is this only during actual motion? I'm just not sure about the amount of room in front of the stock rad on the 521, so if I could get a small cooler and mount it down lower it might be a little easier...

Alright, thanks Tana... Mind letting me know if you end up tracking down a set somewhere that you don't need?

Care to extrapolate on that post, or are you going to just leave it at "a scary experiance"? 235/50/15 would make it... 117.5 mm sidewalls on a 15" rim... so on a 14" rim, you'd need... 130.2 mm sidewalls to get the same diameter. Assuming stock tires are 195/75R14's, the sidewalls would be... 146.25 mm. So your tires are... 32.1 mm, or 1.26" shorter than stock?

Redeye, any update on the costs for the sandblasting, or have you not picked up the stuff yet?

Wow... that was pretty hardcore. I remember being on the road in the middle of the night last January, and it started snowing at about 1 AM. I was trying to drive a friend home, and I was going downhill in fresh snow (first one to drive in it) and even though I was only doing about 20 km/h I ended up sliding when I tried turning... unfortunately I ended up turning partway and sliding diagonally into a curb... The car bounced off the curb, slid a couple feet back out into the roadway, and about ten feet further down the street before coming to a stop against the curb. I ended up destroying the front driver's side rim. I'm getting chains for when it snows... I've had enough sliding around in the rain as it is, I don't want to be doing it in the snow... except for in empty parking lots... :D

Tana, you wouldn't happen to have the rear bumpers for a 521, would you? As far as I know 521's came stock with rear bumpers, so I'll need them to pass inspection...

Brian, what are the dimensions on those tires? Are they the stock diameter, or are they smaller? I'm trying to figure out what size wheel I want to go with without getting a shop to mount a bunch of different wheel/tire combos to see how they look... I'll get a couple done for test fits, but I want to have an idea what I'm going for first.

I didn't think about that... I suppose when I swap over to an auto transmission I'll have to think about a cooler... Is it possible to just pick up any transmission cooler and fab up some lines to it, or does it have to be matched to the vehicle/transmission?

IIRC, I saw a picture of a long bed and a short bed side by side... it seemed like the rear wheels were a bit further back on the long bed... But, anything's doable... if you're going to get airbags you probably could just cut the frame a bit shorter and move the rear axle far enough forward to make up the difference... But, how common are long bed extended cabs? If there's only a couple of them rolling around you might want to keep it... it'd be a shame to hack it up to make it a short bed, and then realize that a long-bed is rarer/cooler/works better for you... Edit: Nevermind, it looks like the extra length is in the back... I suppose you'd just have to hack off a bit of the frame and bolt on a short bed...

Ray... you mentioned in your last post that it "depends on if the wheel is made for stretch"... When I'm looking for new wheels, is this something I should keep in mind? I always though I could stretch just about any tire on any rim, providing there wasn't too much of a difference in width.

I don't really know anything about transmission coolers, but I'm assuming the oil just circulates through the radiator in order to be cooled, correct? I think it's the same case with the external coolers... If that's the case you should be able to just leave it... if you're not hooking up your transmission, you're not going to be running fluid through it, and therefore don't need to worry about the plugs. I would suggest just getting a garden hose and filling up the radiator. If it holds water and/or if the water comes out where it's supposed to, then you can leave it. If it comes out the fittings, then plug them. Your old rad didn't have the fittings, but does the transmission? If it does then you may as well just hook it up.

Wow... that looks really clean. I can't wait to see it all done...

I don't really think it's ever 1 of 1... One day you'll be doing something to the interior or whatever and will decide to have another go at it... I'm not a fabricator myself... I do very little of it, but I know how to do it. Usually takes me a hell of a long time, but it gets done in the end. Just a matter of how much patience you have.

Looks pretty good... I would have narrowed it and brought the back end down so it looked a little smoother around the shifter... But this is probably going to be version one of many, right? Personally I would've made it out of sheet metal or plastic or something of the sort, but that just happens to be what I have access to and feel more comfortable using.