RPMS

Okay, now I'm a bit confused. I thought I had it all figured out, but now I see that I don't. My engine is a 1996 Chevy 350 with a fresh BONE STOCK rebuild. I bought an inexpensive flexplate out of Jeg's, and I still need to buy a damper. How can I make sure the flexplate is the right one, and how do I make sure I buy the right damper? *sigh*. I thought American engines were supposed to be simple!

After three months of shade, it's a miracle they have any grass left underneath that thing! Can you imagine trying to mow and trim around all those supports? Looks like they did it, though...

*sigh* Are we actually arguing this Corvette vs. BMW crap? Comparing an M3 with a Corvette is just plain stupid. It's like trying to compare yogurt with ball bearings. Both are fun cars, both are expensive new, and both hold their value if maintained correctly. But they are FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT CARS. Vive la difference ("Live for the differences", more or less), folks. The story is an effective illustration as to why you should never, never, never fall in love with a car you're about to buy. The poor sap was overcome by the red haze that served to mask the problems. Even with alarm bells ringing all around him, he still talked himself into buying the car. It was an expensive lesson, but hopefully one which he won't have to learn twice. Listen to your gut instinct - it's rarely wrong.

Hey, when you're in your early 20's, you're Superman, right? Bullets just bounce right off you. And since you're invulnerable, other folks don't die either, right? They just stand back up and dust themselves off just like in the cartoons. So you drive 100 in a neighborhood at night - what's the worst that could happen? It's too bad that it's human nature to do this sort of thing.

Thanks for the link! That's valuable information. This option has some advantages, not the least of which is that the emergency brake is incorporated into the caliper. Donor parts should be much easier to find, also. I wonder whether you still have to change over to a larger wheel to get it to fit?

I have one word: SHAG!

Dude, I suppose it would work, but you wouldn't be able to compression brake. What do you think about putting all the controls on a joystick? Left/Right = steering, Front/Back = accelerator/brake, and you could have a button on the top of the stick for your clutch. But then, what would you do with your feet while you drove? Depending on your dexterity, maybe you could take up knitting?

What the heck are you talking about, Sparky? Did you have happy fingers, or are you just yanking my chain? Or are you talking about something about which I know nothing? (a distinct possibility) The last time I cooked a port, I had to have my valves lapped!

You mean a shaker? The sort that bolts onto the top of the air cleaner housing and sticks through the hood, so it shakes back and forth when you're idling? Someone's done that on a Z, I seem to remember. I wish I could supply pictures, but I've slept since then. As I recall, it looked pretty cool. I think they stole the piece off an old Plymouth, or something.

You're driving around in an M coupe? You bahstahd. I am officially green with envy. My old boss had an M Roadster, and it was TONS of fun. He'd let me drift it around corners occasionally, while he was hanging on for dear life, chanting "Go faster! Go faster!" I'm putting around in an e28 535i. My engine may be bigger than yours, but yours is faster!!!!

a "Phantom"? Is that where you got your handle?

*sigh* Don't they always conflict? I'm no social butterfly - usually I've got NOTHING going on all weekend. But when it rains, it pours. HOWEVER. I might be able to show up on the tail end of things. Say, from 5-8pm, or something. We shall see.

That sounds cool - When are folks gathering? I've got a previous engagement later in the day up in the Plano area, so I hope the Z folks meet early...

Spiirit, I have some suggestions: 1) Explore other seating positions. If you have been used to driving American Iron, you might be sitting closer than "normal" to the steering wheel. My impression has always been that the Z is designed for a more straight-armed driving position, not with the elbows crooked at 90 degrees like an early Mustang or Camaro. Raise the seat up a bit, angle the seat bun back, and give yourself some legroom. This position allows me to rest my arm on the windowsill, so that my hand can rest on the mirror. Just sticking my elbow out is still out of the question, though. 2) Make a convertible! I'm only partially kidding here. Z's with a chopped roof are damned sexy, if done right. That way you can install Talon seats, and not hit the roof even though they have a taller seating position. This way, you have the best of both worlds - tall seat AND a sexy car.

No' date=' that's for a complete SINGLE headlight with ONE bulb. You have to buy two, making it 89.90 per pair. Autopal lights are much cheaper and very nearly as good. I've used both Hella and Autopal lights, and I have to say that there's not much difference between the light thrown by either brand. What you will notice is that the Autopal brand (made in India, by the way) will have a few small bubbles in the glass that you probably won't notice from more than a foot away. The City Lights may sound like a gimmick, but they're pretty cool. If you want City Lights, http://www.autooptiks.com/front.htm carries them. If you want them cheaper, go to http://www.classicgarage.com/autbran7roun.html Either way you go, you'll be miles ahead of sealed beams! The difference is truly astonishing.

Okay, who wants to host? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Bike.... Bike.... What about getting a motorcycle with a blown engine, and doing another conversion? I've seen bikes with V8's, maybe I could make an inline six 150hp street bike?

UHMW is fairly pricey, enough so that I'd want to have an application in mind before spending the money on it. If you can get some for free from work, grab it. It's sure to be useful sometime. In this month's Car and Driver, there was one exotic car that had a carbon fiber front spoiler with replaceable UHMW skids on the bottom so if you scraped the pavement, something cheaper than carbon fiber would take the bullet.

Geez, Tim! You've been on this board long enough to know the answer to this one. If you don't like what something looks like, CHANGE IT! A can of professional quality fabric dye will cure what ails ya. Change the blue areas to black (and eliminate that darned APC logo) and those seats would look just like Sparcos. And Davy, the seat harness holes only affect those folks who are actually running with a harness. Most of APC's customers will probably continue running the stock belt, which will then ride too high and strangle them. Submarining won't be an issue.

If it makes you feel any better, I think general consensus here on the forums is that the JTR book is most expensive when you DON'T have one. It's been an invaluable tool for planning out the swap, and for pointing out potential trouble spots that you'd waste LOTS of time finding yourself. So spend the money and don't look back. It was well worth the money I paid, and I don't say that about many things. And to answer your question about how fast my car does the 1/4 - well, it goes about as fast as a stock 240, since I ran out of money 7/8 of the way through the accumulation process. C'est la vie. Good luck on your conversion! Folks here are great and will help you out with just about anything.

Why's that? M, I'd love to meet some of the other Dallas area Z owners, but Monday night is a school night for me. We should get a BBQ together. Whaddya think?

Let's not forget that the base price of that monster is around a million dollars a pop. All that for a car that's as ugly as an old shoe. The least they could have done is make it pretty to look at. Oh well - when you're the three hundred pound gorilla on the block, I don't guess you need to look nice.

What about making a air compressor out of it? Just a thought An AIR COMPRESSOR? Damn boy, you're creative today, aren't you?? That would make one HELL of a big air compressor! I guess I could run the thing on the front two cylinders, and take the outlet air out of the back four, or something. Wouldn't be too smooth, but I'd never again be at a loss for air!

Somewhere there was a website detailing what the guy did to make the car that fast. I think he just cranked up the boost to turbodiesel levels, or something. Anyone know where that website is? Anyone?