Brad-ManQ45

Wish I could fit in one of those.....

I have pretty much had a manual transmission vehicle in the stable since starting to drive in 1970. After bbeing run over by a Lincoln Town Car running a red light on my motorcyle in '75 (leg and ankle) and having an idiot in a 2/4 ton truck towing a 25 foot boat rear-end me in a Starion in '86 (lower back & hip), I find I am simply not able to drive 45 minutes in stop and go traffic with the clutch on my '83 ZXT. Yes, it is fun to take out for a spin, but in the Atlanta area, everywhere you go is a traffic jam. I have had the ZXT since '91, and for 9 years it was basic transportation, but that was always against the flow of commuter traffic (sometimes 35 miles one way). When I moved further out and got a dose of driving it (15 miles each way, no interstate) everyday in our traffic like everyone else, I started driving the Q45 which I had bought as an "our car" for when we were both together on weekends and on trips (the ZXT and her Stanza both manuals and rather noisy on the interstates). When I get around to freshening the ZXT, I am seriously considering adapting a 200R4 or 4L60e to it and driving it more. The Flowfit seats are comfortable all day, more so than the Q's or the Lincoln Town Car seats. The Q is now my wfe's car and the Town Car is what I drive (got rid of the POS Stanza and bought her the Town Car, but she doesn't drive much, and between the miles and the cost of premium.....). I will say the that Lincoln sedats a far more comfortable than the Q45's though. The real reason autos are so popular is that they leave a hand free to apply makeup, hold cell phones and lattes and flip people off....

Stock tires on the turbos were 205/60/15...

So we have curious and curiouser....

Man, that doesn't, suck, it BLOWS. Sorry to hear about your misfortune. From what I've been able to gather, the WP blocks run at least $600 cheaper than the Dart. I'll be interested in hearing differences between the two...

Just make sure the body is fully in the garage and put a knife or wsrench in his hand and say he attacked you. Tell you were scared Sh*tless when he attacked you, which is why all the rounds in your gun were unloaded into his sorry *ss...

Grizzly gas a Porter 80 gal 2 stage on sale for $805, just got the flyer.

too small in every way.

Use dry ice and a needle-scaler attachment on your air chisel.

Or you could have a complete exhaust to the back for the wastegate only, w/small muffler. This is the best of both worlds, performance and sound-wise, to anyone that doesn't like loud....

That intercooler does look thick. But not like the two 944's that I'm gonna get welded together for my ZXT... I'm sure this one is more efficient than my setup will be - not as thick and looks to be larger across and probably height-wise also...

The 307 has the bore of a 283 and stroke of the 327. You can easily get the horsepower figure that you are shooting for with bolt ons. Go with a good dual plane intake and a 600cfm carb - or even a good quadrajet. I have always liked the idea of turboing a 302 Chevy engine, for gas mileage and rod/stroke ratio reasons. Definitely don't need all the low endf torque that a 350-400 small block produces, but a lot of top end! The 307 was the economy V8 that Chevy used when they wnet to the 350 small block for performance, it had good torque for its' size.

I wouldn't use rattle can primer - it is porus to rain. I'd go ahead and use Zero Rust, but then sand it all off (don't know how hard this would be). I understand your desire to get 'er done, but I honestly think you're better off waiting until you can get a compressor and paint gun and do the DPLF. Part of the delay can be alleviated by just doing the undercarriage first, which won't get rain, and use ZR on it. Not all your time will be wasted. As far as a paint gun, get a relatively inexpensive one for primer. HF has a pretty good one for ~$49. I predicate this last statement on the premise that after you get through with all body work, you will be putting on a coat or two of primer/surfacer and block sanding everything smooth, then a final coat of reduced DPLF as a sealer and then the final paint stages (bc/cc or single stage). I have oe of the HF guns and bought the 3 gun set from Northern tools on sale for $89. The 3 gun set has a detail gun and two different guns, one for primer and one for paint. These are all HVLP guns and my $400 compressor from HD handles them fine in my testing - at least at the rate that I will be spraying. I will not be using any of these for the top coats, just for primer when I get around to actullay not dismantling and welding. Running a restaurant leaves little free time.... I like going to the AutoBodyShop Forum and reading the posts on painting there, since the last time I painted was 30 years ago.

I have an '83 ZXT, on my V8 project car ('75) I'm going w/Ross' setup. I have lived with the ZXT's rear calipers since '92 and have no desire to multiply my problems.

Use ZR for undercarriage and interior. Use EPLF for engine compartment and outside. You can scuff the epoxy and shoot another coat on at any time later, after body work, etc. I wouldn't bother with ZR as the base for epoxy. I think you may have the impression that once epoxy is out pf its' recoat window that you can't scuff and respray it - you can. What you can't do is wait 'til it's outside the window, scuff and put other primer/surfacer or paint on it. Once DPLF is outside its' recoat window, you mearly have to scuff and spray another coat on, then you're ready for primer/surfacer and paint. Sorry for the repetition, but it does bear repeating.

Why not use EasyTherm and the stock sensors?

dr_hunt: Lived in El Paso 2.5 yrsw baqck in the early 80's, would travel through Socorro on my way to Alabuquerque, where I also lived for a while, and Santa Fe. Plenty of women there.....

I'm glad it wasn't any worse than that, and will keep him and our armed forces in my prayers.

If your car is inside out of the rain, then spray it with PickleX and don't touch it. If you have to leave it outside, then go with a good two part primer as stated earlier. Some would say do the body work and then appl,y the primer, others say spray the primer, then doi bodywork, sealing all the bodywork between layers of primer. You may want to go ahead and put a coat of sandable primer oin after the last coat of epoxy. It's easier to sand than the epoxy, which you will have to spray again after sanding if waiting longer than its' recoat window.

I would suspect that for the street (daily driver use) the 700R4 would work well for those that have the stock compression ratio turbo engines. Let's face it - they are a bit doggy down low. On a turbo engine, I don't see the wide gap between 1st and 2nd as an issue. On a stroker naturally aspirated engine, I would definitely give the nod to the R200.

Congratulations! Someday I too will feel that particular thrill...

That thing on the shock tower is the coil. Sounds like ignition module to me - the black box on the side of the dizzy....

And why is it not in the body section? He WAS referring to sheetmetal, right?

I'm biased. I have a '75 and an '83ZXT. Never cared much for the Z31's. BUT, I remember reading an article comparing an early model against a Z31 in ITS and there were certainly some points made there favoring the Z31. I personally detest the crummy rear calipers on the 280ZX's, but love the long hood. I would suspect that it would be easier finding a good condition Z31 for a certain price than the 280ZX, and you wouldn't have to fabricate engine mounts for the V6... All that said, there are definitely fewer 280ZX's on the road than the 300's, so I am in favor of keeping their presence felt...

In looking at your photos, I see a car that looks like it is sitting level, just looking at the floor and rockers...