Build Thread 1978 Fairmont. I bet somebody back home’s thinkin’…I wonder why he don’t write..?

See......its a disease with no cure...
The car is driveable,....fast ( relatively speaking), and reliable..( also relatively speaking)
Why do I have an urge to click " purchase" on the ebay listing that will allow me to buy a CD009 350z 6 speed manual, and the 1000.00 flywheel adapter to allow me to put a 6 speed manual behind the 2j.?.....

If I were anybody else, they would have me on a daily dose of schizo medicine to keep the" voices" in my head from talking too loud.
 
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See......its a disease with no cure...
The car is driveable,....fast ( relatively speaking), and reliable..( also relatively speaking)
Why do I have an urge to click " purchase" on the ebay listing that will allow me to buy a CD009 350z 6 speed manual, and the 1000.00 flywheel adapter to allow me to put a 6 speed manual behind the 2j.?.....

If I were anybody else, they would have me on a daily dose of schizo medicine to keep the" voices" in my head from talking too loud.

Your robo knees could handle a manual on your road trips to shows?
 
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See......its a disease with no cure...
The car is driveable,....fast ( relatively speaking), and reliable..( also relatively speaking)
Why do I have an urge to click " purchase" on the ebay listing that will allow me to buy a CD009 350z 6 speed manual, and the 1000.00 flywheel adapter to allow me to put a 6 speed manual behind the 2j.?.....

If I were anybody else, they would have me on a daily dose of schizo medicine to keep the" voices" in my head from talking too loud.
It's such a cheap and effective six speed gearbox, and an adaptor exists for it. Ive discussed things like thus including bat sh!+ 3 speed Top Loaders with Gear vendors spliters like a Eaton geared truck at extreme length on Fordsix and Four Eyed Pride for the last 10 years. Modern engines, even little 3 liter pip squeeze sixes, can carry insane ratio spreads from 1.95:1 top gears to deep 4 to 1 low gears. That Nissan Box was particularly awesome on a cost benefit basis over an automatic. It will feel like adding 25 cubic inches to your 181 cube six. Like every manual trans does. You've got the axle to carry the shock loads and they are around in signifcantly number. Goshen hid that little gem in his instrument case fer sure!

In Your case, CMA, you have had years of pain before knee replacement. As long as you keep the titanium warm, live a little!
 
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Ok,...moving in a serious direction towards converting the monster over to manual trans..I gotta admit, this is something I've been considering for awhile now, given that I never really plan to drag race this thing. A CD009 350z trans is pretty stout from what I'm reading, and behind more than a few high horsepower (1000) combinations.

The one obstacle for me is to find a clutch/brake pedal setup, and make sure that the clutch pedal will clear the EPS motor that is currently under the dash. If one of you guys can take a pic of your pedal setup so that I can be sure nothing will hit, ill move next towards getting the pedal assy.
Im gonna call the dude that makes the adapter here in a bit to learn about whats involved there, and start to put together the pro/con of doing this. I think that the 4l80 is overkill in my situation, and even though it works great, is probably costing me power, and im not making enough to warrant tolerating that loss.
 
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Here's my take, and it's worth EXACTLY what you're paying for it.

Don't do it.

I'm serious, don't.

The 4L80 is in the car, it works, it's handling the power, it lets you cruise peacefully, it saves wear and tear on the knees, any unexpected traffic is a non-issue, and did I mention it's already there?
I’m not sure you’re new here... When Mike doesn’t have something constructive to do, he starts talking about politics and other stuff that gets him banned.

Mike, enjoy burning your money. It beats the alternative.
 
Here's my take, and it's worth EXACTLY what you're paying for it.

Don't do it.

I'm serious, don't.

The 4L80 is in the car, it works, it's handling the power, it lets you cruise peacefully, it saves wear and tear on the knees, any unexpected traffic is a non-issue, and did I mention it's already there?
I think you guys think my knees are made of glass. I can manage shifting a hydraulically actuated clutch.
Re-read the case im making. In alot of instances, over-kill is a good thing. It guarantees piece of mind from breakage, it tolerates extreme abuse, it becomes the equivalent to "bullet-proof"

Except in my case where weight, heat, rotational mass, and friction are all working against the perceived gains because of the extreme duty nature of the beast.

When considering the purchase, I was advised by more than one transmission supplier that " I didnt need a 4l80 at my power level".

This is a fast fckin car, but Here's the three letter problem getting in the way between it being a 7, or an 8 second 1/8th mile et.
L.
A.
G.
Don't get me wrong, I don't intend to try and drag race the car with a CD009 manual trans...But I think the difference of loosening up the rotational drag alone will put this car into its power band significantly sooner than what's happening with the 4l80..

( I really do need to video the acceleration..it goes from me flat footing it and thinking " Any day now" to "Holy sht" in the time it takes to count to three.)
Now, all this could be idle chatter, just as much as the decision to wrap the car like its made out of riveted aluminum. Whether it is or isnt, doesn't really matter because either option could be considered "burning my money". The only difference with the trans, is that I can recoup some of that original investment.
A manual shifted 4l80 with a lockup converter has to be easily worth a grand, that 800.00 adapter, worth 600. That would put a price to convert over to a fairly robust 6 speed at somewhere around 2k after the dust settles...not too much of a stretch all things considered.
 
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Obviously you need to keep busy on your car so why not get a manual shift transmission. Sure you have had them before. I would hate to have an automatic. Like you said LAG. The fun of downshifting around a sharp corner can't be beat.
 
Put a t56 in it . The cd009 is old news and it shifts like pure dog :poo: . Ask me how I know? Because I have driven a 800 hp Supra with one . All my friends had them . Hated them even with shifters . They all have 2j swapped variants with t56s in them because they shift light years better .

T56 or get some data logs and get on the phone with whoever did the converter - send it to them and tell them what it’s doing and see if they can tweak it to match the combo better
 
Has anyone taken a pic for you of the clutch assy?
A hydraulic clutch with your hardware (knees and engine) is an easy choice.
Do you need to see clearance and on which side?
 
Here's a couple pics under the dash in my 87. I had to go make sure it wasn't being swallowed by the concrete anyway. :jester: Hopefully you'll be able to see what you need to see.

IMG_20210427_203900.jpg
IMG_20210427_203922.jpg
IMG_20210427_203930.jpg


For the record, I completely agree with a manual swap. They're just more fun to drive! :D
 
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Put a t56 in it . The cd009 is old news and it shifts like pure dog :poo: . Ask me how I know? Because I have driven a 800 hp Supra with one . All my friends had them . Hated them even with shifters . They all have 2j swapped variants with t56s in them because they shift light years better .

T56 or get some data logs and get on the phone with whoever did the converter - send it to them and tell them what it’s doing and see if they can tweak it to match the combo better
You're always the one that gets the " I told ya so" card....but I'm not spending that money.
If the CD 009 isn't the swap option, then im not doing it.

Stop comparing me to your friends..im not 30 years younger...Ill never hammer it like they do..
( But then again...maybe a video of the car hanging sideways till I get the sht scared out of me and lift might prove othewise)
If the CD009 isn't the alternative, then I gotta stay with what I got...a T56 goes way the fck off the " does this make sense" chart.
 
You're always the one that gets the " I told ya so" card....but I'm not spending that money.
If the CD 009 isn't the swap option, then im not doing it.

Stop comparing me to your friends..im not 30 years younger...Ill never hammer it like they do..
( But then again...maybe a video of the car hanging sideways till I get the sht scared out of me and lift might prove othewise)
If the CD009 isn't the alternative, then I gotta stay with what I got...a T56 goes way the fck off the " does this make sense" chart.
I’m not comparing you to them , I’m telling you it will shift like :poo: . The shifts are vague . Just being my usual voice of reason :coff:
 
I’m not comparing you to them , I’m telling you it will shift like :poo: . The shifts are vague . Just being my usual voice of reason :coff:
i had a tr3550 in one of my previous builds. i considered it “notchy”, and it didn’t go into gear smoothly. it was behind a 400 hp 347. it shifted like pure dog sht.
Im more about how i’ll use it..So let’s talk about the 90 percent then.

90 percent of the time i drive this thing it’ll be normal, to mildly aggressive. the remaining 10 percent will get wailed on.
You're telling me that this trans is so bad i’ll hate it during the 90 percent?

Unlike me trying to adapt the 4r70 ( and ultimately failing, and having to follow your initial advice with the GM trans).
Putting a CD009 behind a 2j is a common thing ( as you have already stated “ all of your friends had them“)
Im betting everyone of those friends also have a much more serious purpose than driving the car to regional car shows though.
While i’d like to say that being able to run a 10 second or faster 1/4 mile is important, making it an all around better combo is much higher on the priority ladder.

Now you know the rest of the story...Are you still standing by your opinion?
 
In the “what else is going on“ news, i’m gonna change out the plugs, and open the gap. i don’t know exactly where the gap is now, ( i think maybe .025) but I have a slight misfire at idle. I understand that a too tight gap could cause this, so i’m gonna open it up to .030. I think that the coils i have are good enough to light the plugs at that gap. ill take it to get the front end aligned after that.
Then I wont know what to do with myself until the Scott rod panels get here on Friday.
 
I'm not, I'm just encouraging it so you'll do the opposite!

I also encouraged the 4L60 over the 4L80, and some other damned thing you went the opposite way on, so I was helping you out! :nice:
In hindsight it was probably the better choice. But at that time, all I could think was I need something that’ll handle 600 rwhp w/o worry..
Stupid me.
 
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Well....50 miles of me n nothin but Monster.

I took the LJK mounted camera out with us..But.......The Video is too atrocious to post. It is blinded by the relative darkness of interior looking out into a blazingly bright day. Its gonna have to go into the trash bin. The audio is also too annoying to tolerate as something is banging around in the mount.

But you woulda got to see me pedal this thing trying to drive it through the 1-2 gear change until it just gets too far left to keep my foot in it..I’m seriously wondering if that is a normal torque steer thing, or whether there is a need to measure the left/right wheel base and compare them.

I’ll keep at it.

The rest of the drive was just a cruise, w/ nothing worth watching other than me gawking around looking like an old man.
Im gonna have to figure out how to drive with a box on my head.

Opening the gap seemed to to fix the idle misfire..and the engine runs great to the rev limiter. It drove good enough for me to reconsider taking it to an alignment shop, so i didn’t. The AC works good enough to keep the car cool inside, with the only thing that I can say is wrong will probably boil down to a loose connection,..it won’t redirect the air from the floor/dash vent mode regardless of where the selector is...maybe i’ll care enough about that to attempt a fix someday, for now, the car will cool off inside, so it’s a low priority thing.

That puts the car in the “ done again” category,...A twilight zone kinda place for me. It’s too weird to not be doing something to it.

*edit, and.....you don't know how important this part is...
20210428_105025.jpg

Seven thousand, three hundred and thirty four rpm....and not a drip from anything..if this was the old monster engine, oil would be puking/dripping everywhere after on hitting 6k.
 
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Mike, get me some datalogs so I can see when the turbo lights off. I also need to sanity check you since the turbo update
It'll be hard for you to tell "when the turbo lights off.", I always roll into the throttle. When you see the TPS go to 99.9, it takes one second to go to 8 psi, then another half second to get to 17 psi, and another 1/3rd sec to get to full boost. So a little over 1.75 seconds to make full power. Just about exactly what my 60 foot times were at the track. This last time out it made 21.9 psi maybe..with nothing more than the IC change and the rebuild on the cold side. It potentially lost 1-2 psi from where it was last time out I think.
 

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