lesd

So which company will be the first to have an online calculator that would take most of those parameters and narrow the choice down ! Ya, I'm dreaming.

I bought that twin turbo kit ss sells, on pure speculation and a whim. Tell you what , the parts look pretty darned good. My kit even came with about 6 stainless J bends and a bunch of silicon hose parts plus some nice clamps. The box it shipped in was huge. The turbos are often bad mouthed as being made of glued together halves, etc. They *look* fine to me, and I've had about 6 turbo cars that I've worked on over the years. I looked up some of the Chinese turbo manufacturers and they are ISO rated, huge places. They supply turbos to mostly diesel trucks I think. These people are serious about making good stuff. The factories are the size of a football field. They dedicate a whole town to turbos and exhaust companies. I don't know if I'll use them yet, I havn't decided on twin or single turbo yet for my LT1 project. I'd say for the price, it's worth a try. You can throw away the turbos and still save money. Spare turbos are about $350 each. -Les

I've searched , but it must be buried somewhere, anyhow, what are the spline diameters ( 'major', or OD ) for the various shafts? I have some Armada shafts, 1.26" dia shaft size, and want to see if they can be recut shorter. -Les

Could you just pour some LN into the fuel tank? -Les

Not sure why people are mounting surge tank systems outside of the main fuel tank. What about this system: At bottom of main fuel tank , mount a tall 'coffee can 'tower, sealed well at bottom and mostly open on the top. Very simple. Dosn't even have to be 100% leak free, hey it's in the fuel tank anyway... The low pressure pump sucks from regular fuel tank bottom, and just dumps into the top of the tall coffee can, spilling over the top , a complete mess, but wait, that's right, it's in the fuel tank, so no worries. The injection pump feeds from a seperate port on the bottom of the 'coffee can' thing. Make the coffee can thing as tall as you can inside the main fuel tank, the taller the less chance of bubbles getting to the bottom of the can. Plumb the return line from the engine to help fill the can as well. Advantages: no space lost , it's in the tank. No fancy tank needed . it can even be leaky in there,who cares. Less hose nightmare. Disadvantage: Can't point it out to buddies to impress them at get togethers or car shows -Les

I've been doing a ton of searching and reading on the r230 read end swap. What I have learned is that there is a great deal of mis information mixed in with the real stuff. For example, for a while , people thought that a Q45 had a r230 in it. Or that the *Front* diff from an Armada was what you wanted for a 2.94 r230 conversion. Both false, but the data and posts are still out there. Plus lots of dead ends. No wonder some new readers are frustrated and give up searching and just post a new thread with the direct question... What is a Wiki ? A Wiki ( like Wikipedia.com ) is a user editable set of articles that constantly evolves and improves. Trusted forum members can be granted permission to edit the wiki. The 'Sticky' threads are a primitive start, all they are is a hint that there is some good and relatively accurate info in that thread, but a sticky thread can still suffer from posts with false info. Can a user forum like HybridZ have some kind of Wiki ? I don't know, but I'd sure benefit from it for sure. Just an idea. -Les

OK, so Q45 axels are too thin. I have Armada axels with CV's. The shaft size is 1.26 in. diameter. So these should be good candidates for a respline job, am I right? So my plan is to use the Armada carrier and 2.94 gears, and the 300ZXTT viscous unit. Incidentally , the spline on the ends are 32 teeth, and 1.29 in diameter. -Les

So do I have to go to a mall and, calipers in hand, dive under a q45 or 300ZxTT and measure to find out? Anyone know the dia. of that stick ? -Les

I just had UPS drop off my Armada 2.94 r230 on my front porch. No box either, kind of funny. Anyhow, it came with the Armada shafts as well. The shaft dia. is 32mm , and the spline end is 33mm . A quick count gave me a 32 spline ( maybe 31 ). Question: Can I use these Armada shafts for my r230 install by machining a new spline end, assuming it is oversized ? What is the diameter of the spline that goes into the 'usual' companion adapter ? -Les

How about the good ol r230 ? I'm going with that, with a 2.94 ratio. By combining parts from an 300ZXTT and Armada rear, you can get tall gears. 2.94 , 3.36 . And 3.69 from the 300zx TT . I rarely go to the track or strip, so I won't miss the low '60 foot time' type of ratios. On the street I should still be able to break traction even with the tall gears ( turbo LT1/ 4 speed auto, by summers end ) and the won't be embarrassed by the occasional cocky sport bike rider on the open freeway. -Les

Cool, I found a bone yard that says he has one, but they don't know if it's the 3.36 or the 2.93. I wonder if there is a VIN decoder that would tell ? Hand spinning it is kinda hard, the ratios arent that different. I want the 2.93. -Les

Thanks very much for the response, Rick! I have the r230 from a TT , and some q45 CV joints so far. I guess I could use a little help with the other parts I need to get a hold of. Will the axles Modern is selling for the r230 work? I guess the Armada front diff should be relatively easy to find. Anybody have a ratio list for these ? -Les Tony: Lets see how much these things sell for in So Cal. !

Is there any possibility of getting taller gears in a r230 diff that came from a 300ZX TT ? I have a r200 with the rare 3.15 ratio, but will be going with the r230 for the extra strength and limited slip. I like freeway driving the keeps up with housewives in modern cars. ( translation, I hate revving the piss out of the motor going 75 - 80 mph ) My next transmission will most likely be an 200 4r. (0.67 4rth gear ratio) The Armada front diff has taller gears, but no VLSD , so incompatible , yes ?no ? -Les

That situation, pulling to the right , ( due to a locked wheel ? ) is what I'm scared of. I get this horrible vision of that happening at high speed, the car veers off the road, flips several times, etc. I'm getting conflicting info on the r230. I read that the Q45 has an r200, then I read that it is a good source for the r230. If I go searching the local wreckers, what would be my best target car? Other than the parts from Modern and mounting structure, what else do I need to replace my R200 with the r230? Thanks guys! -Les

I was thinking that even a non CV r200 would be OK as long as the 'slack' is taken up with an auto transmission. But would it take the shock of full throttle 2nd to 3rd shifts ? What's it like having a U joint seperate at 80 mph? It could be rather dangerous I would imagine, with a shaft flapping around, etc !

Was there a big boost leak ? The air sounded like a steam engine Or maybe someone was purging a compressor in the shop? Looks good!

Hi, Good Majors? How about a skilled trade that you can turn into a business for yourself? I'm talking about Tiles, electrical, some kind of industrial repair. What? Not a 4 year degree , you ( and your parents ) gasp! I'm not so confident that an engineering degree is a good bet these days. Don't get me wrong, I have a Computer Science degree , U.C. Berkeley. I have a job in the technical side of the movie industry. A very narrow niche. I would worry about out the sourcing of your job. In So. Cal , engineers make about 1/2 of a guy that does a skilled trade business. I don't think the college reps and recruiters like to talk about that It's regarded as being low class, uncouth. However, if you are a talented engineer, then you will do OK. Something to think about! ( *scary* stuff, I know ! ) -Les -(73 240Z , 327 chevy converting to LT1.)-

HF tools are indeed kits. I tune up the machine and then they seem pretty good. My drill press is over 4 years old, and still fine. Lathe burned out it's motor controller when I overloaded it, had to replace a $15 part. If it fails, place in trash and buy another two. Still cheaper than a quality 100% USA made machine. I'm pro American, and proud of it, but I have come to the realization that they ( the Chinese ) will win. Their products are dirt cheap and the quality is improving faster than the Japanese quality took to become 'high quality'. In the old days, 'JAP' ( pardon the non PC term ) stuff was considered cheap and bad quality. *now* look where they are. Sorry for the rant:? -Les

Well, when I drove a 91 300zx twin turbo I managed 165 on a deserted 3am HW 5 run. stock turbos, big HKS intercoolers, chipped ECU, boost was at about 15psi. Very stable, CD player was playing, and everything was quite sane. Slowing down to 100 seemed like a ridiculously slow speed, right after that ! Similar part of the same road I once encountered a pair of BMW 850's traveling together at night. They were rather cheeky, so I reeducated them a bit, again to 165. Slowing down to 135 or so, they wouldn't give up. I gave them a good 100 yard lead, and enjoyed another blow by. Stock 300's are chip limited to 155, but I don't even know if the 850's hit that, or they had a similar speed limit. I eschew BMW drivers... I would like my current 1973 Z project car ( under construction ) to hit those speeds, but I don't think the old Z's are up for it. -Les

3rd gen rx7 also has a setup like that. They had to have a reason to do it that way, because the arm weighed a lot.

I've used a few links of chain before. worked well, no noise either.

Can the battery switch be on a bracket off the rear bumper ? Then for street usage, you could remove it and not have kids turn off your car .

Thanks for the L.A. engine shop tips, guys! Does JMS do imports only? I need a domestic motor place. -Les

That hurts. I'm in LA too, and will need a machine shop soon. Who should I stay away from, if you don't mind saying?

A turbocharger adds exhaust back pressure to the engine. An engine is basically an over glorified air pump. The VE ( volumetric efficiency ) is a measure of how well it works ( pumps air, really ). Exhaust back pressure must be balanced with the intake pressure with the selection of correct turbocharger to get power. I don't even want to think about the peak cylinder pressures would be like on a 35 psi boosted motor if it *didn't* have a lot of exhaust back pressure to hold it back! more basically: I don't do no good to run 35 psi boost if the exhaust can't get out.... -Les