RPMS

I'll say a prayer for your dad, and for you too, Mike. You're both going through a hard time right now. How is your mother holding up through all this? I imagine it must be really tough on her, too.

How long have you been married? When women say something like "I'm not sure I want a Z", they usually mean "There's no way I'm ever driving a little death bomb like that again. I want a Lexus!" Just a thought...

I used to work with a guy that had a rotary engine in a 914. Light weight, 120 hp, and a super-low center of gravity in a wide-tired car made for loads of fun! He'd take cloverleaf off-ramps at insane speeds. Just about made me want to do one myself, but the Z is soooo much better looking!

Yeah, they're being ripped off, but not in the way you imagine. The hair dryer they're pushing as a blower doesn't have to overcome 900 psi of N2O pressure. The suction in the intake would pull the N20 into the combustion chamber whether or not the fan is present. Their pitiful excuse for an electric supercharger doesn't have to do anything but sit there and look sad. Besides, virtually as soon as the N20 is expelled from the nozzles, it equalizes to the same pressure as the rest of the gases in the intake manifold anyway. Just a nit I felt compelled to pick...

I've seen dyno tests with Splitfire plugs, and they do nothing. If you're replacing 30,000 mile old plugs with splitfires, you may well notice an immediate difference. But in back to back tests with brand new regular NKG's, there wasn't any difference in power produced. About Gauss's law, I must admit that I'm completely ignorant of what happens with electrical fields, and I'm likely to remain ignorant for the forseeable future. When the rubber meets the road though, I can't see how it would make a difference. As long as there's a strong enough spark to ignite the fuel mixture(and regular plugs seem adequate to supply this in millions of cars) having a "better" strong spark won't make any difference. If your engine is just barely managing to fire, whether due to poor compression or a weak coil or whatever, having a "better" plug might make a difference. But in an otherwise healthy engine, I have a hard time imagining that it will make any difference. As "proof", I'll ask whether Lamborghini or Ferrari put Splitfires in their engines? They can afford to use whatever plugs are best, and they don't choose Splitfires. Surely if they were better, they would be used as the stock plugs in at least ONE car manufacturer's engine, but no maker chooses them. Hardly a scientific determination, but doesn't it make sense? *later* Oh, I found this on the web, too. SplitFire Settles FTC Charges: ....The owners of SplitFire branded spark plugs have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that "economy, efficiency and improved performance claims were false or unsubstantiated" ...An agreement with the FTC bars the company, splitFire inc. (Northbrook Il.), controlled by Old World Trading, "from making deceptive claims about fuel economy, emissions,horsepower, or cost savings...(and) will be barred from misrepresenting the results of tests, studies or research and from misrepresenting testimonials"... the agency alleged that the company "did not possess and rely upon a reasonable basis to support the claims, that Split fire's claims that surveys confirm gas mileage increases were false; and that SplitFire did not have a reasonable basis to claim that (its) testimonials... reflect the typical or ordinary experience of customers..." That looks like proof to me.

My sister has Italian Greyhounds, and they look like tiny little whippets. You're right - get them running, and there's not much that can catch them! One of the most frequent comments she gets with them is "Hey, that looks just like Bart Simpson's dog!" Myself, I would never consider having a dog that I could exterminate by stepping on it in the middle of the night whilst on the way to the kitchen for a midnight snack.

I have another question to throw out there, pomnvpr. Maybe you have the answer to it. I've read lots about getting a "neutral safety switch", but nothing that directly addresses the question of backup lights. Is that handled by the same switch, or is there another switch internal to the transmission that takes care of that? Just curious...

It sounds like you blew a seal somewhere, if it happened all of a sudden. My floor jack had the same symptoms as yours, but they came on gradually. I brought it back to life by slowly pulling out the hydraulic piston while pouring fluid into the resevoir. Running the piston through it's travel a few times was enough to purge the air from the system. It works, but not quite as well as it did when I first got it. I'm eagerly anticipating someone giving the CORRECT answer to your problem! Maybe it'll help me, too. How much is a new bottle jack, just in case you can't fix yours?

Short answer? Because there are a lot of uneducated people out there who will pay good money for crap like this. Look at the back of popular magazines and see how "The Moleculator" will break up carbon clumps hidden inside your gasoline to yield a 20% mileage improvement! Then see all the Vortex type contraptions that add swirl (and restriction) to your intake flow for another 10-20% improvement. What about Splitfire plugs? Blue Ion lights? Engine Rebuild in a Can? Platinum catalyst pellets in your gas tank? None do a damned thing, but all of them promise BIG improvements. It all boils down to optomistic people who are willing to shell out a few bucks to see if these things do any good. Heck, if faced with the choice of paying $1,500 for an engine rebuild or $5 for a jar of Rings in a Can, I can see how some folks might fool themselves into thinking snake oil just might work. Especially if they don't know anything. Thus, we're faced with the double edged sword of governmental interference. We all want government to stop interfering in our private lives, but at the same time we want to see the less educated among us protected from fraud. How many blatantly fraudulent claims can you make before someone in the government cracks down on you for a failure to deliver what you promise? Do you want the government to stick their nose into what you can or cannot sell, or do you want ignorant people to be the victims of fraud? It doesn't seem like we can manage to have both. You know, you could probably make a million dollars by developing a cheap computer program that fooled your computer into displaying 50% more memory than you really have. Then sell it as a "Ram Doubler". Oh, wait - that's already been done. Never mind...

I think there are about 10 different boosters out there, some of which interchange, some of which do not. You're lucky in that you'll be replacing both the booster and the master cylinder, so you really only have to match the booster to the holes in the firewall - you can then buy whatever year MC fits the booster you choose. Looking at the VB catalog, it appears that the 79-81 and the 82-83 boosters have different patterns on the studs that pass through the firewall. You could drill new holes to fit, but *I* wouldn't do that. One thing to keep in mind is the little adjustable rod that comes out of the booster and pushes into the master cylinder. Don't locktite everything together until you're happy with the brake feel. I had to adjust mine a few times to make the pedal feel right. Bottom line? Buy the booster from someone who has no problem with returns, then test fit everything before you torque 'em down.

As a second point of reference, I ordered the Precision kit about a year ago, and I was told that they had indeed changed the door seals about 18 months ago to a profile that was more friendly. I haven't had any problems with mine, like I've heard other people had with earlier kits. I paid about 220 for mine, and felt I got a good deal. YMMV.

Oh, Lordy! Thank your lucky stars if you haven't gotten a ticket by now. If your tires are larger, than they rotate fewer times with each mile traveled, and you're zipping by policemen in that snappy little sports car at 80 mph, rather than the 70 that the speedo reads, or the 60 that you think you're going! Please, try out this Tire Calculator and enter the stock size and what you're running now, just to be sure.

David, The numbers that matter aren't the rim size (15, in this case) but the tire diameter (205) and the aspect ratio (50). I could explain how the numbers relate to each other, but you don't want to sit through all that. Go HERE for one of the better tire calculators on the web. Just enter the size of the stock tire, and the size of the tire you're going with, and it will calculate all sorts of good things. Even tells you how fast you're really going when your speedo reads 60mph.

Rick, do you HAVE to put that picture of your car in your sig file? You're making me drool all over my keyboard.

That's not necessarily true of engines in general, because you're comparing apples to oranges. A 1000 hp dragster has a bit more torque to get the crankshaft moving than does a 300 hp street machine! All things being equal (the key phrase) a lighter (smaller) reciprocating assembly will want to spool up faster than a heavier one. Like Lone says though, a lot depends on geometry. That's why the massively oversquare engines in F1 cars can spin up to 12,000 rpm in the blink of an eye. It's easier to move the piston 2 inches than it is to move it 4 inches in the same span of time.

Sounds like it's time to head over to Pete Paraska's site! He's got a good writeup on that. If I recall, he's even got the wiring diagrams in there. If that doesn't give you the information you need, let me know and I'll walk you through it. I didn't use APC's kit, but I made my own setup that works well.

Thanks for the link! This guy's got a bunch of interesting information on his site.

I'm going to stay with the R180 for as long as I can after switching to a low-po 350. I tend to drive like a granny anyway, so it might last for years. On the other hand, it might blow itself to bits in short order, then it'll be UPGRADE TIME! Then I'll go for an R200, probably with the standard low ratio for high speed cruising purposes.

Not quite so much can be said about the poor Lamborghini Mucilaginous. That website made grab the Kleenex box.

Heya, bub. My thoughts, for what they're worth, are thus. All other things being equal, I'd think that a smaller V8 would spool up faster than a bigger one, and would produce less HP and torque. Comparing a small V8 with an inline 6 of similar displacement, I think the 8 would produce more torque down low than the 6, but would have a lower redline, and would probably generate less horsepower. My observations stem from back when BMW put a small (3.0 liter) V8 in the e34 530i. My 535i (inline 6) would just about run away from one on a racetrack, but the V8 had the advantage off the line. A 528 didn't seem to have the low end grunt of the 530, although the horsepower ratings were in the same ballpark. All things NOT being equal, I think a small displacement 8 that was built to rev to 6-7k rpm would be a heck of a fun engine in the Z. Keep everything lightweight and not change the character of the car too much. That's MY opinion. Your mileage may vary.

YES! We caught another one, guys!

Howdy, Sag! I'll take a stab at the questions one by one... 1. How hard is it to do this conversion? If you want to do it in 2 weeks on a budget of $1,000, it'll eat your lunch. If you have time, patience, and a little money, it's not difficult at all. Like they said above, get the JTR book and read all about it. It's very well documented, and there's almost no fabrication required. Like they say in mathematics, just plug and chug. 2. Is there alot of fabrication? Not if you go with a Chevy 350, 4-speed auto, and follow the JTR book's recommendations. The more radical you get, the more fabrication you have to do. 3. Does it require welding skills? Not that I've ever heard. Now, refurbishing the floorpans on a rusted Z will, but not installing the V8. (By the way - don't be scared of welding. It's not complicated or expensive, and it will make your friends look at you with awe when you tell them that you can weld. ) 4. The most technical thing I've done to a car is replace a timing belt on an 85' Dodge Daytona Turbo... am I dreaming? If you managed to smoothly shift gears in a manual transmission Dodge Daytona Turbo, you're going to be able to do this swap. When I got out of my sister's Daytona, I shook the dust from my sandals. That was the most miserable excuse for a transmission I've ever encountered. 5. Could I have a mechanic do some of the more difficult tasks involved. Sure, but I don't think you'd have to. The toughest thing about the V8 swap is getting the headers to clear the steering shaft. Everything else (assuming carbureted 350 and auto tranny) has been so well documented that you shouldn't have a problem. The main problem people seem to have is that they try to rush through simple procedures instead of taking their time and doing it RIGHT. This ain't rocket science, bub. Just look at some of the people on this list for evidence of that! The other option I'm looking into is a Fisher Fury kit car which I would use a Motorcyle engine for and I'm told just regular garage tools would be required. I can't help but think that they're blowing sunshine up your butt. NO kit car is that easy to build. "Some assembly required" is code phrase for "You'll never finish it." The Z has about a billion advantages over a kit car. When done properly, it's going to be a solid, well thought out car that can be enjoyed on the street, in rainy or cold weather, and won't require a trailer to take it from place to place. Just my .02.

If you're looking for aftermarket valve covers, good luck. There's a real dearth of good looking aftermarket covers out there. Edelbrock makes a decent pair, but they're something like $125 a set. Chevrolet makes adapter plates that will allow use of the earlier style valve covers on a centerbolt head, but they're also well over $100 a pair. You'd have to have a really incredible set of perimeter bolted valve covers that you just HAD to use to justify that sort of extra expense.

Oh, but what fun would THAT be? Look at it this way. You've already got the body down to a bare shell, so why not use this opportunity to upgrade the unibody and make it one hellaciously stiff-bodied Z? Most folks have to do rust repair and panel replacement when they repaint their cars anyway, and you've got the equipment and the time to do it right. John is right in that being a unibody car, the effectiveness of the Z's suspension depends heavily on the rigidity fo the mounting points. So look at this as an opportunity to do the job RIGHT and reinforce the frame now, while the body is stripped down to a bare shell. That's just MY opinion. I don't see any reason to junk this car because of a little rust. Now, if there's perforating rust on over 10% of the car, that's a different story. But as it stands right now, I say fix it, and look at this as an opportunity for improvement.

Huh? Pay attention to what? What are you guys talkin' about?! [Foghorn Leghorn/ON] That was a joke, son. It went right by you! (that boy's about as sharp as a sack of wet mice...) [Foghorn Leghorn/OFF]