Well, I've been having a hell of a time with the Z28 lately. A few months ago, the PS pump started leaking. I bought a new pump just incase the old one was bad. I pulled it all apart and found the pressure hose O-ring was leaking, I looked around for a suitable o-ring and found the new pump came with some extras. I booked one of them and put it all back together. While at the parts store, I'm looking for PS fluid. I see some "Conditioning/stops leaks" fluid from Lucas. I figure, what the hell. This thing has 112K on it, could probably use some "conditioning". I put one bottle of the lucas fluid in and filled the rest of the way with regular fluid. Let me just say that the Lucas fluid is THICK. I crank the beast to life, and everything is okey dokey. My wife drives the car the next morning and calls me to tell me that the steering is making a moaning noise when she started it that morning(but went away after a second). I tell her it's probably fine, the thicker fluid just needed to get circulating. We drove the car this way for about a month(it finally stopped moaning in the mornings). One evening(raining, dark, 10pm-ish) while driving home from the movies, I loose all belt driven accessories. I pretty much figured we had tossed the belt, so I turned the stereo off(huge amp), and anything else that didn't involve getting home in the dark. Once we got home, I popped the hood to find the PS pump pulley laying on the cooling fan shroud, and the belt perfectly intact. Strange? I put the pulley back on with a PS pulley installer, put the belt back on, and vroom! The Pulley immediately cam off again just like it did the night before. WTF!!! I went to re-install the pulley only to find that it SLIPPED on easily. POS!!! I thought for about a half a second, what I could do.(light bulb). I'll bolt it on using the hole in the center of the pump shaft(used for installation purposes), brilliant! I do it, awesome, we're riden' again.

Mean time, I get a chance to install the SPEC clutch and Aluminum flywheel, new plugs and wires, and change the oil. All goes well. It took about 8 hours to do EVERYTHING, including cleaning of ALL removed parts before re-installation. We followed the break-in proceedure for the clutch(400+miles, no full throttle, all city).

Let me back-up, Pretty much all of the mods below were done at the same time last summer(excluding the clutch, etc...). This thing would REV!!! Very fast and smooth revving. Dyno'd 341whp, 340w/tq 109K miles on the STOCK clutch.

Fast forward to after the clutch installation day. Car seems lathargic, heavy, slow, etc... Hmmm. I did put Mobile one 15W50 synthetic in there, maybe it was dragging the motor down. I had been using lighter weight Redline. Still, I DID INSTALL AN ALUMINUM FLYWHEEL. That should've helped some. This didn't really surface until I was able to get down on the car after the break-in period.

About one month later... Car has been running hotter(238-240) than I'd liked for a few MONTHS. Saterday afternoon, car OVERHEATS like a ****. Fans running, check... I pull off the T-stat housing, check the t-stat in boiling water, I doesn't open. That is Hypertech 160* stat. Off to the parts store for a new t-stat and gasket. Got a 160* one and checked it in the boiling water. Worked perfectly. put it all back together after back flushing the entire cooloing system. Bled it out, and we're cruising again. Temps are way down now, SWEET.

THE VERY NEXT DAY, Sunday. On the highway coming home from our favorite amusement park, heavy traffic, in the rain. Car develops a WICKED miss. I'm like DAMN, the opti got wet or something. So, we keep plugging along( I have to rev the motor to keep from bogging it down everytime I pull off, and remember, I'm in stand-still traffic) A few more minutes goes by and I hear some fluttering under the hood. I figured I had run over something, but had not seen it. A few more minutes goes by and I hear the fluttering again, but this time I lose ALL belt driven accessories. Dang, not again. I pull onto the shoulder and get out to inspect the damage. Belt's toast(it walked up the alternator) Shreaded. the PS pulley is flopped over, but still in place(sorta) due to my trusty bolt. The pulley had wollowed out the mounting hole so much that it had been flopping around.I call my brother on the cell phone, who is a few cars ahead of me in the traffic, tell him what has happened and that I'm heading to a buddies house that is only about ten miles ahead, and a few mores miles off the interstate. We get the car safely there(strong battery). Monday, I went to my buddies house and pulled the car apart to fetch the PS pump and related stuff. I found the belt had chewed nearly all the way through a plug wire(that was less than a month old). I ordered a new pulley from the dealer on Tues., they could have it by wednsday. I worked until 10pm wed., so I couldn't pick it up that night, worked late the next night, but had Friday off(It was my anniversay) Friday morning I go out and pick-up the new pulley. Later, my buddy picks me up, we headed to AED to pick-up a new set of wires(they keep Taylor wires in-stock locally). I told the guys at AED what had happened, and that I only needed one wire. They scrounge around the back and find a few new single wires in a box. I get the longest one since I didn't remember which wire was bad. We are cooking now.(Thanks to Johnny at AED). Back at my bud's house we assemble the new pulley on the pump. I drain the PS pump fluid(to remove ALL of the Lucas CRAP that I had un-wisely used.) I filled-er up with fresh PS fluid while he fixes up the new plug wire with the Opti boot. Put it all back together, and vroom. The Car takes a while to recover from having the battery diconnected while the alternator was off. I tighten up a few loose header bolts, and we hit the road. I drive about a mile from his house and he tells me that this is about the spot were he likes to let his car loose(big-block camaro). So, I make a u-turn and get on it a little(still alittle scared to beat on it hard after the new pulley install) We got sideways pretty easily in first(from a roll) AND second at about half throttle. I dropped him off at his house and headed home. On the way home, the car felt strong. The fast revving nature is BACK. It'll hit the rev limiter before you know it(almost immediately in first with much tire spinning). I'm happy with the current configuration, and can't wait to get the DR's back on it, and maybe some dyno and track time soon also.

That is my long and happy ending story...

Until next time something BS breaks...